Guest Author RaeAnne Thayne

Are you like me?  Is your passion for books so strong that it can sometimes cause anxiety?  It happens to me.  There I said it.  There are so many great books I want to read but time and obligations do not want to compromise.    For instance like today.  When Eliza, from PlannedTVArts, contacted me to read and review today’s guest’s book, I knew when I read the synopsis, that it was a book I would enjoy.  And I thought of all of you and wanted to share.  So I invited her to visit and she accepted.  So please help me welcome USA Today Best Selling Author Ms. RaeAnne Thayne!!

ABOUT RAEANNE THAYNE

I’m not one of those people who knew from birth she was destined to become a writer. I always loved to read and throughout my childhood I could usually be found with a book in my hands. To the disgust of my friends, I even enjoyed creative writing assignments that made them all groan. But I had other dreams besides writing. I wanted to be an actress or a teacher or a lawyer.

Life took a different turn for me, though, when my mother made me take a journalism elective in high school (thanks, Mom!). I knew the first day that this was where I belonged.

After I graduated from college in journalism, I took a job at the local daily newspaper and I reveled in the challenge and the diversity of it. One day I could be interviewing the latest country music star, the next day I was writing about local motorcycle gangs or interviewing an award-winning scientist.

Through it all — through the natural progression of my career from reporter to editor — I wrote stories in my head. Not just any stories, either, but romances, the kind of books I have devoured since junior high school, with tales about real people going through the trials and tribulations of life until they find deep and lasting love.

I had no idea how to put these people on paper, but knew I had to try — their stories were too compelling for me to ignore. I sold my first book in 1995 and now, more than 30 books later, I’ve come to love everything about writing, from the click of the computer keys under my fingers to the “that’s-it!” feeling I get when a story is flowing.

I write full-time now (well, as full-time as I can manage juggling my kids!) amid the raw beauty of the northern Utah mountains.

Even though I might not have dreamed of being a writer when I was younger, now I simply can’t imagine my life any other way.
You can visit with Ms. Thayne at her website.

GUEST POST

Topic: Do you draw on personal experiences?

In all my books, it seems like some element of my life experience trickles in. I think it’s impossible for writers not to use those flashes of serendipity in their work. Like magpies, we collect them and tuck them away in our little nest of ideas to be extracted later.

You hear a funny snippet of dialogue between a mother and child in the grocery store and think that would be perfect for your latest book. Or you see a man walking down the street and want to recapture just that take-no-prisoners gait for your hero. Or you find yourself trying to reconstitute in a book exactly that pure, soul-soothing moment when you stood alone on a beach, just you, surrounded and embraced by the murmuring sea.

Of all my forty books, however, I think I drew most on my personal experience while writing WOODROSE MOUNTAIN, my latest release for HQN. In it, my heroine Evie Blanchard is a former pediatric rehab therapist who has come to my town of Hope’s Crossing, Colorado seeking peace and serenity once more after a tough emotional year. When Brodie Thorne pleads with her to help in his daughter Taryn’s recovery from a serious brain injury, Evie doesn’t believe she has the strength to be dragged into their lives. Of course she is, against her will, and in the process all three of them find healing and joy.

Writing about Taryn’s struggle to regain a normal life and about those who care about her and want the best for her was a very personal journey for me in many ways. I have a son with cerebral palsy and I am his primary caregiver. I know plenty about wheelchair lifts and transfer systems and the dedicated people who help children with special needs work to expand their abilities. I also know what it is to be a parent of a child with challenges and the hope and fear and sometimes sheer helplessness that comes from trying to give your child his or her best chance at success.

I loved writing this book. I found it wonderful and even somewhat cathartic to be able to give Taryn and those who love her a happy ending.

There’s something else I drew out of my tangled magpie-nest of experiences to use in Woodrose Mountain – the simple but true message that when tough things happen to shake a person’s world, it can be dark and scary. But I know – and I want to remind my readers, through my characters – that it is possible to move through them, to grow and stretch and change, and once more find joy again.

ABOUT THE BOOK

USA TODAY bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne returns with WOODROSE MOUNTAIN (HQN Books, April 2012, $7.99 U.S./$9.99 CAN.), the enchanting second book in the Hope’s Crossing series that explores the ways shared challenges can bind a community together.

Evie Blanchard was at the top of her field in the city of angels. But when an emotional year forces her to walk away from her job as an occupational therapist, she moves from Los Angeles to Hope’s Crossing, seeking a quieter life. So the last thing she needs is to get involved with the handsome, arrogant Brodie Thorne and his injured daughter, Taryn.

A self-made man and single dad, Brodie will do anything to get Taryn the rehabilitation she needs…even if it means convincing Evie to move in with them. And despite her vow to keep an emotional distance, Evie can’t help but be moved by Taryn’s spirit, or Brodie’s determination to win Evie’s help—and her heart. With laughter, courage and more than a little help from the kindhearted people of Hope’s Crossing, Taryn may get the healing she deserves—and Evie and Brodie might just find a love they never knew could exist.

THANKS TO ELIZA FROM PLANNEDTVARTS, I HAVE
ONE (1) COPY OF THIS BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

CLICK HERE TO BRING YOU TO
THE GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE.