Emma Cane-Interview and Giveaway with the Author

With the recent release of THE COWBOY OF VALENTINE VALLEY and A PROMISE AT BLUEBELL HILL The Reading Cafe would like to welcome author Emma Cane.

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TRC: Hi Emma and welcome to The Reading Café.

Emma: Thank you so much for having me!

TRC: We would like to start with some background information. Please tell us something about yourself.

Emma: I write the contemporary small-town series Valentine Valley for Avon Books. I sold my first book back in 1998, after thirteen years of trying and three completed books. That was my first historical romance, written as Gayle Callen. I just finished writing my 32nd book, somed of them still historicals as Gayle. I’m married, with three grown kids and two adorable dogs. I love to read (of course), watch TV, crochet, travel, and snowshoe and hike with my husband and dogs.

TRC: What or who influenced your foray into writing?

Emma: I went to Catholic school as a kid, and I had a great English teacher, Marilyn Reiser, who started me on my writing journey. But Star Trek was really influenced me. I loved the idea of outer space and alien worlds so much that I wanted to try my hand at it. The first stories I wrote were about teenagers in space, and my high school friends passed them around to read. And then I read my first historical romance, and that was just it. I fell deeply in love with romance, and my first high school attempt at one was a Western historical romance. I find it funny that now I write modern day books set in the west, since all the historicals I publish are about England.

TRC: Would you please tell us something about the premise of:

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THE COWBOY OF VALENTINE VALLEY

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Emma: THE COWBOY OF VALENTINE VALLEY is the third book in my Valentine Valley series—but you definitely don’t need to read them in any order. Josh Thalberg, a cowboy and leather craftsman, thinks his world is dandy—until he meets reformed Hollywood bad girl, Whitney Winslow, who’s opening a branch of her upscale lingerie store, Leather and Lace, in Valentine Valley and thinks leather necklaces created by Josh will wow her customers. She keeps pushing her advice about promoting his work—until a publicity photo she insisted he take goes viral and Josh becomes the most desired cowboy in America.

A PROMISE AT BLUEBELL HILL

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Emma: Secret Service agent Travis Beaumont is supposed to be preparing for the wedding of the president’s son in Valentine Valley, but flower shop owner and activist Monica Shaw has a secret that might jeopardize his assignment. In her heyday, she was an activist. It seems the widows of the Widows’ Boardinghouse think a presidential wedding is the perfect time for another protest—putting Monica squarely between them and hunky Travis, who has a job to do.

TRC: What was the inspiration behind the fictional town of Valentine Valley?

Emma: First of all, I really wanted to do a small town where everyone knew each other. Next I chose to set it in Colorado ranching country because of my son, as I mentioned above, but also because I’d visited the area and knew how gorgeous it was. And of course I wanted cowboys! Not that all my heroes are cowboys… 😉 But I really wanted a town known for romance, where people fell in love or renewed their vows or came there specifically to propose or get married. And the name Valentine Valley was born!

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the Valentine Valley series and can each of the novels be read as a stand-alone?

Emma: Yes, each novel has its own main characters and can be read alone. You’ll meet characters from other books, but I hope that just makes you want to read about them. Right now I’m under contract for two more, SLEIGH BELLS ON MAIN STREET, which comes out in November, and another to be published in spring 2015. I hope to keep going after that, as long as the readers enjoy them.

TRC: How do you keep the plot unpredictable without sacrificing content and believability?

Emma: Good question! As someone said, there’s not a plot that hasn’t been done before. BUT, it’s the author’s style of writing that makes each book different. And of course, the characters. I spend a lot of time figuring out their backgrounds and flaws, coming up with several goals and conflicts for each of them, and making sure those goals clash. If they’re happy and nothing stands in their way, the book is over in Chapter One. Characters that feel real make you, the reader, believe in the world I’ve created.

TRC: You also write historical romance novels under the name Gayle Callen. Do you have any plans for a new release in 2014?

Emma: The newest book, REDEMPTION OF THE DUKE, publishing in May, is about Adam, the unexpected Duke of Rothford, who feels the need to make up for the mistakes he made during the war. He discovers that the sister of a man who died under his command is working as a lady’s companion. Surely he can improve her life. But Miss Faith Cooper wants nothing to do with him, until Adam is forced to take matters into his own hands.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Emma: I’m a plotter, which means I figure out much of the plot before I begin to write the book. As I mentioned above, I know everything about the characters, and I usually know all the main scenes. So most of the time, I’m the director. 😉 But when I’m writing, and those characters come to life, sometimes they make me realize they would never act the way I have planned in a certain scene, or they want to do something completely different. I usually can’t plan love scenes—they tend to happen because of what’s going on in the book, not advance planning. I don’t fight those instincts. I figure it’s my subconscious trying to get the book right.

TRC: Writer’s Block is a very real phenomenon. How do you handle the pressures and anxiety of writer’s block?

Emma: After fifteen years of writing professionally, I still have days when the scenes won’t come to me. That’s the signal that something is wrong, and my subconscious is letting me know it. I have to put aside anxiety and trust myself. Staring at the screen usually doesn’t work. I think about the problem, and then I go do something else, housework, reading, exercising, anything. Eventually, my mind solves the problem without me even realizing it’s been working in the background the whole time.

TRC: On what are you currently working?

Emma: I just finished writing the fifth book in the Valentine Valley series, SLEIGH BELLS ON MAIN STREET (November 2014), where single-dad Tony, who owns a popular tavern, discovers that his ex-wife has dropped back into town for the holidays and drives him crazy. Next I’ll start plotting and writing the sixth book of the series, due to be published next spring.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food – ice cream

Favorite Dessert – and also chocolate. 😉

Favorite TV Show – Scandal

Last Movie You Saw – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Dark or Milk Chocolate – Milk Chocolate

Secret Celebrity Crush – Liam Neeson. He became a big star after the movie “Taken,” but I fell in love with him during the Scottish historical movie, “Rob Roy.” Yes, he was wearing a kilt…

Last Vacation Destination – England, to visit my daughter as she studied during her semester abroad, and of course, to research!

TRC: Thank you Emma for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of THE COWBOY OF VALENTINE VALLEY and A PROMISE AT BLUEBELL HILL. We wish you all the best.

Emma Cane and Harper Collins are offering a paper copy of the first book in the Valentine Valley series A TOWN CALLED VALENTINE to ONE (1) lucky commenter.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

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3. LIKE us on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.

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5. Giveaway is open to US / CANADA only

6. Giveaway runs from March 28 to April 1, 2014