Howdy ReaderFriends! Today’s entry is going to
be a little different than the norm (shouts in Cheers voice “NORM!”), as it’s
part of READ A ROMANCE MONTH 2015!
As a participating author (shout out to Lorelei of Lorelei's Lit Lair for recommending me and crafting a truly excellent kickoff post) I’ve been asked to
talk about this year’s theme—the joy of romance—answer some fun questions,
recommend some favorite books, and host a giveaway. How cool is that? And seeing
that I’ve got a new book releasing on August 4, it’s perfect timing to give a
shout out to COMING HOME TO MUSTANG RIDGE and the recently released long
novella, STARTING OVER AT MUSTANG RIDGE (only $2.99!).
And now, without further ado …
THE JOY
OF ROMANCE
When I sat down to write about the joy of
romance, a new heroine popped into my head, in a little scene of her own, set
at my Mustang Ridge Dude Ranch, high up in the hills of in gorgeous Wyoming. I
thought I would share it with you! Here goes …
“So…” Anastasia leaned across the long indoor
picnic table, nearly putting her elbow in a plate of fat, buttery biscuits in
her hurry to get close enough to whisper without actually going to the trouble
of coming around the table. “Which one is it going to be?”
Joy leaned in, partly to meet her best friend
halfway, and partly because everything on the loaded table smelled so darned
good. It better, seeing how Ana had used the luxury guest ranch’s reputation
for top-notch country cooking to convince Joy to come with her on the week-long
vacation … and conveniently “forgot” to mention that they were booked for
Single’s Week.
“I’m going to try a little bit of everything,”
she stage-whispered back. “Especially when we get to dessert.”
That got an eye roll. “I’m not talking about
food. The men, Joy! What do you
think?”
That I’m nowhere near ready
for this. Two years ago, she had thrown herself into getting Joy Love
Bakery off the ground, vowing she wouldn’t even think about another relationship until she had her life under
control. Maybe the business was doing a decent hover these days, but that
didn’t mean she was ready to move on. Still, vacation was vacation, and she
figured she could tolerate the nametags and awkward getting-to-know-you
conversations to get to the trail riding, roping and cattle drive promised in
the glossy brochure.
She scanned the long dining hall, where exposed
stone work and log beams gave a rustic feel while a well-stocked bar and stage
area promised a good time, and pretended to consider the dozen or so wannabe
cowboys scattered around the room, mixed with an unequal number of eager faux-cowgirls.
The men came in a wide range of shapes, sizes
and coloring, suggesting there should be something for most any girl’s taste.
She could almost imagine an auctioneer up there on stage, giving them an
auction-worthy rundown: Do you like tall,
dark and handsome? Then check out Taylor from Texas. He’s got a great smile, a
bit of wear and tear on his jeans, and a good job in the oil fields. Want
someone with more of an eco-conscience? What James lacks in height, he makes up
for with a great smile and a company that builds zero-energy homes. And the
list went on.
“Come on, Joy!” Anastasia pressed. Wearing stiff
new boots, skintight jeans and a sparkly shirt that showed just enough of her
curves, she fit right in with the other ladies. “Which one is it going to be?”
Wearing boots had some scuffs and her jeans had
some wiggle room she thought she would appreciate when it came time to actually
ride out on the trails, Joy was fine with being underdressed. It was vacation
enough being a thousand miles away from her apron and hairnets—she loved the
bakery, but she hadn’t done much else for too long. And this was going to be an
adventure, regardless. “I’m going to take my time,” she said, “get to know
them. You know, book, cover, that sort of thing.”
Ana made a face. “You’d better pick someone
quick and introduce yourself before someone else gets her hooks into him. And
don’t roll your eyes at me. That’s why we’re here!” She sighed happily and
steepled her hands beneath her chin as she looked down the table. “To meet
someone interesting and have a fling—or at least the potential for one. The
kind that puts that swoopy rollercoaster feeling in your tummy and makes you
feel like anything is possible!”
Was that what romance was like to Ana? Lucky
girl. As far as Joy was concerned, romance wasn’t a rollercoaster so much as a
steamroller that flattened you and left you behind. “Go on and mingle, already.
I’ll be right behind you.” By way of the dessert table, because this called for
fortification of the chocolate variety.
“Promise me…” But Ana’s eyes went past her to
the door, then lit. “Aha! I knew they wouldn’t have an odd number of singles.
And hel-lo, gorgeous! Ooh!” she squeaked, her hands doing a fluttery thing over
the biscuits. “He’s coming this way!”
Joy turned, expecting to see the sort of guy who
usually got Ana’s inner rollercoaster car starting up the long incline that
inevitably led to a fall—six foot or so, broad shoulders, narrow hips, leather
and/or ink a plus, along with an I-don’t-give-an-eff attitude that Ana
interpreted as being an evolved human being, but almost always turned out to be
a literal not giving of an eff.
Instead, she got a guy who was an inch or two
under Ana’s magic number, with curly chestnut hair and the face of an imp all
grown up, complete with a devilish sparkle in hazel eyes that were locked, not
on Ana, but on Joy, with an intensity that said his being there was no
accident.
“Aiden?” Her voice went up at the end, heading
for dogs-and-bats territory.
The devilishness spread from his eyes to his
lips, which curved in a smile that weakened her knees and almost sent her
plopping into the mashed potatoes. “Joy. It’s good to see you.” He said it like
he meant it, the bastard. Like he hadn’t promised he’d be back from his
rainforest gig in six weeks, max, and that afterward they would make plans,
make a life together.
This was the first time she had seen him in
almost three years.
Ana whipped her head between them. “You two know
each other?”
Joy’s insides gave the anticipatory shimmy-shimmy-shake that a rollercoaster
car made as it started up the incline, and nerves wrapped her from head to toe.
“We … um.”
“Need to talk,” Aiden filled in for her. He
stretched out a hand—tanned, broad, capable, dusted across the back with
masculine hair and a nick or two that said he still worked with his hands,
still tended to forget his work gloves. “Can we take a walk?”
She was tempted to swat the potatoes into the
towering stack of corn on the cob on the next table over, and escape in the
ensuing melee. Instead, she took his hand and said, “This better be good.”
*******
(And that, folks, is the joy of romance for
me—the potential for a wonderful rollercoaster ride of emotions and an amped-up
version of a question we ask ourselves every day: I wonder what’s going to happen next??)
(P.S.- Sorry for the cliffhanger. I meant to
just have a cute little scene of two people meeting and riding off into the
sunset of happily-ever-after, but I’m just not wired that way! If you want to
follow this blog and/or sign up for my newsletter, I’ll finish Joy and Aiden’s
story one of these days, and let you know how it turns out!)
QUESTIONS
1 - Tell
us about a moment in your life when you experienced sheer joy.
The other day, Arizona and I took the baby for a
nice, long walk to get ice cream and hit the beer store (as one does). We
passed an older woman in her yard and exchanged waves and a “Hey, how are you?
Nice night!”
We hadn’t met her before in the neighborhood,
but I recognized her from the T-shirt she wore, advertising a local orchard up
the road. I used to stop there sometimes for a cookie or muffin, back when I
was living on a perpetually cash-strapped farm up north with my ex, and would
pass the farm stand in my travels.
“What would it have been like,” I mused as we
kept on going, “to be standing there back in the day, with her ringing up my
morning glory muffin, to hear a little voice whisper from somewhere, ‘One day,
you’re going to wave to this very same woman as she gets out of her car after
work. You’re going to be walking with the love of your life and your son—a baby, at forty-two! The bills will be
paid up, and when the cars come by, your man will put himself between you and
them, not the other way around’.”
And that, my friends, was a moment of sheer joy.
2 - Tell
us about a place that brings you joy, or is attached to a memory of joy.
Once upon a time (aka going on five years ago),
I drove down to the ferry dock an hour or so south of the farm in the World’s
Fugliest Truck to pick up my Match.com date, who was coming over from the
island to meet me. As much as we had been emailing fast and furious in recent
weeks, he was still a stranger with a computer and some blurry pictures. Would
he be anywhere close to the six-four he claimed? Would he be as clever and kind
as he seemed online? Would there be sparks?
The answers to those questions and others were
yes to infinity and beyond. And these days, when we use that same ferry dock to
take Wallaby to visit my in-laws on the island, I always feel that same joy and
hear a whisper of This is where the fun
began.
3 - Tell
us about a sound that brings you joy (or a memory attached to sound — music,
laughter, wind chimes… ?)
I love the sound of equine hooves thudding on
the ramp of a trailer. Back when I had horses, it meant we were going on an
adventure, or coming home from one. These days, I don’t have horses (thus why
the bills are paid up, LOL), but I volunteer at an equine rescue, so the noise
of hooves on a trailer ramp either means that one of our rescues is headed off
to a new adoptive home, or a new rescue is arriving to begin rehabilitation.
What joy!
4 - What
recent book have you read that brought you joy. (Or a book you read in your
life that brought you so much joy you’ve never forgotten it.) Why?
Codependent No More. I know it’s probably not the
usual answer to this question, but when I first started reading it at a
particularly low point in my life, it was like I had been wandering for a
really long time (despite the best efforts of my friends and family) and I had
finally found a path I could follow back to myself. That was a moment of joy in
the darkness. Even today, with my life in a very different place, I refer back
to it now and again when I find myself wanting to cling and control rather than
going with the flow. And that brings me back to the joy of my present self.
5 - And
for fun, the joy of choice ;o) ~ Pick your Chris! Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pine,
Chris Pratt, Chris Rock, Chris Evans or Christopher Plummer (circ. 1964 aka
Capt. Von Trapp)?
Sorry, I’m going to reject your Chrisses (Is
that a proper plural?) and substitute my own geek love: Christopher Gorham, aka
Auggie Anderson on Covert Affairs!
Love, love, love him showing a blind man leading the rest of the CIA around by
their computers, and when he’s shirtless … hello, HAWT!
DRAWING
Please sign up for my newsletter! All new
sign-ups this month will be entered in a random drawing for a $50 gift
certificate at Amazon or BN.com (winner’s choice). The winner will be announced
here at my blog on Monday, 8/31.
RECOMMENDED AUTHORS
I love books! Books, books and more books! So,
in no particular order, I highly recommend Lois McMaster Bujold (space operas
and fantasy), Linnea Sinclair (sci-fi romance), Samantha Cayto (sci fi erotica,
etc.), Sherry Thomas (historical romance), Hannah Howell (historical romance),
Gail Chianese (a debut contemporary romance author and buddy of mine), Kristan
Higgins (contemporary romance and women’s fiction; a buddy, though far from a
debut author), and JR Ward (who I suspect needs no introduction (but check out Bourbon Kings!!!) and is my partner in
crime when it comes to mooning lake cops, which is a long story, and not yet
past the statute of limitations …).
BIO
Jesse
Hayworth (aka Jessica Andersen) is a farm girl from
way back, complete with tractors and livestock. Now farmless and driving a
Subaru named Roo, Jesse lives on the East Coast with three kitties she rescued
from various bad situations, the husband who rescued her from Match.com, and
the son who rescued them both from the bad habits of sleeping through the night
and going mountain biking on a whim. She loves writing about wide-open spaces,
animals, and true love, and she hopes you’ll come along for the ride!
