Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?
         

What do you think you will read next?

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.

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ATTITUDE HELPS WITH THE HEALING PROCESS?*

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**HONOR SYSTEM**
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PLEASE NOTIFY ME IF YOU HAVE
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Continue reading “GIVEAWAY ENTRY PAGE “WOODROSE MOUNTAIN” by RaeAnne Thayne ENDED“ →

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
*Grab your current read
*Open to a random page
*Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
*BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
*Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

With Joe Castle still unconscious in a New York Hospital, Warren Tracey was hated everywhere he went. His name was toxic.

page 123

….of  A SEARING WIND trilogy by

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear

18 Daniel M Leave a Blog Post Comment

26 DeeAnn S Leave a Blog Post Comment

An email has been sent to the winners and they have 48 hours to respond with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to those who entered.

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading 

This week’s question:
Would you choose to review a book if its description sounded interesting but the cover was terrible? [thanks to The Bookish Brunette for the idea for today’s MM question!]

My response:
Absolutely.    I would say that 99% of the time, I don’t see the cover until I have accepted to read and review a book.    Covers do matter but it’s the plot that I am more interested in.   I have read some great books with not so great covers and wonder who and/or why designed and decided to choose that particular cover.     However, if I were to be in a book store, then covers would play a role in deciding if I pick it up to read the synopsis.

What about you?  Do book covers play a role in your reading?

March is being hosted by Diary of an Eccentric

Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour. According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

                         Partners In Crime Tours     WOW Tour –Author

Facebook link

Another week has flown by!!!    And it was a busy one for me on all fronts, as I recall and will now share what happened.

Reading:
I finished 3 books this week, The Good Father by Noah Hawley and one that has been sitting on my “requested review shelf” for quite some time, The Proper Care and Maintenance of Friendship by Lisa Verge Higgins and, White Elephants by Chynna Laird.   All great reads.   All with a similar theme and that is relationship dynamics.  I have noticed that lately, instead of my usual suspense/mysteries that I enjoy, I am reading books, which fictionalize kinship connections that are profound.   Maybe it’s due to the time and place that I am in my real life.   But on an overall reading productivity, I hope I don’t jinx myself, but I finally feel that I am back to my regular pace of reading and am finally making some progress with my back log or it could be that all 3 books were excellent.  I just hope that this stride continues.

Blogging:  
I wrote up 2 reviews, hosted 2 Guest Authors, posted 3 giveaways and picked winners for 2 books.   I drafted some posts for future guests and giveaways.  I don’t know about you, but I like to prepare some posts way in advance, just in case real life interferes.  This way I don’t scramble at the last minute trying to pull it all together.  I am getting a bit more comfortable with WordPress, I still have a lot to learn, but it is getting a bit easier since I made the switch.   I also had a lot of work to do with Partners In Crime Tours,  with 2 current tours still in progress and 3 more gearing up for kick off.

Real Life:  
The weather here in New England has been spring like and I’m loving it.  Have the windows opened,  my daffodils  are sprouting and checking the calendar and counting the weeks until my husband and I go on vacation!!   I have already started my mental list on packing, the most important items to pack for me, which books will be coming along.   I have a couple in mind but not going to say until the time gets closer.

I am still in the process of breaking down my Mom’s house, which is hard both physically and emotionally.   I always come away with an array of feelings during this process from sadness to missing my Mom and seeing my childhood home dismantled to relief that I am getting close to being done, to put it on the market.   Trying to accomplish this has been an overwhelming mammoth undertaking, especially due to my own physical limitations and being the sole person responsible.  But I am trying to be optimistic that, with the help of a fantastic estate woman now helping me, we are nearing the end.  During this process, I have also learned a lot more about my Mom that I didn’t know, which makes it so much harder, because now I have so many questions that will not get answers.  Have you been in this position?  Would love to know and share to see how you handled it.  Did you have the same emotions?

How was your week?  Would love to hear!!!