Where Can I Find a Woman Like That? Meet Author Angela Claire

Welcome Siren author Angela Claire to the Boost today!

We chatted with her recently and here's what she had to say...

TBB: Tell us your latest news.

AC: My latest news is that my sequel to Heart of Stone just came out from Siren Bookstrand. It’s called Jesse’s Girl and it follows two of the characters in the earlier book, Regina and Jesse, who were always circling each other and claiming not to notice each other. I’m glad I finally got to write their story.

TBB: How did you come up with the title for this book?

AC: Well, it was funny. I had come up with this minor character in Heart of Stone named Jesse Whelan. He was a lady’s man cowboy who flirts with the heroine and, I thought, was just in the book to cause the hero to get jealous. As I wrote Heart of Stone, though, Jesse developed into more than just a pretty face. I started to get interested in him and his relationship with the town heiress, Regina Winthrop. When I decided to write their story, the name of that old song, Jesse’s Girl, popped into my head. Regina really was Jesse’s girl. I was annoyed when I found out that the song spelled the name differently, though!

TBB: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

AC: I think it’s that I like to write humor into my characters. If I don’t get a couple of chuckles out loud when someone (like my husband or my sister) is reading my books in front of me, I consider myself offended. And I’m the type who, when they do laugh, is obnoxious enough to stop them and ask what part they thought was funny. I had this line in the prologue of Jesse’s Girl that I was extremely proud of when I was writing it. The setting is that Regina is overcome with grief at the death of her father and throws herself at Jesse and he finds himself in the bizarre position of trying to talk her out of going to bed with him because he thinks she’s not in her right mind. I wrote:

She sat on the edge of her bed. She seemed more nervous now. He was glad of it. It would make it easier to talk her out of this wild idea, not that he’d ever imagined he would be trying to talk Regina Winthrop out of going to bed with him. Clearly, this was a world gone mad.


I love that line about a world gone mad! I could just see poor befuddled Jesse acting against all his instincts to be a good guy in that situation.


TBB: What does your family think of your writing?

AC: That’s a hard one. My husband and one of my sisters are both very proud of me and encourage me and read my stuff. My other sisters are a little more hesitant. I think they don’t know what to think. My oldest sister, though, went out and bought a nook so she could read my stories. I was so touched! I told her she better skip over the sex scenes, though, which she apparently did. My other sister sent me flowers on the day my first book, Saving McCade, was published. So all in all, I guess I have to say my family is pretty supportive.


TBB: What was your first reaction when you found out that you were going to be published?

AC: I closed my office door and then, because I’m a lawyer, I read the contract Siren sent, worried I was going to find a clause about me paying them money or some such thing. When I got through the whole contract and it was clear I was going to be published… really published…I jumped up and down and called my husband. I was thrilled!


TBB: What has been your biggest reward as an author thus far in your career?

AC: My biggest reward has been people reading my books and liking them. It sounds ridiculously simple, but I didn’t realize how much of a charge I would get out of seeing what people thought about what I wrote. Really…I hang on every word of every review! God forbid I ever get really famous! I’ll be exhausted.

TBB: Thanks for joining us today, Angela. Do you have a message for your readers?

AC: I hope you’ll give one (or more!) of my books a try and let me know what you think. Thanks!

TBB: Please share a blurb & excerpt with us before you go.


Blurb:

Cowboy Jesse Whelan has dreamt of town princess Regina Winthrop—screwing her brains out anyway—since he first laid eyes on her. But she was too good for him, and too well guarded by that psychopathic father of hers. When Regina throws herself at Jesse on the night of her father's death, he can't bring himself to take advantage of her. Jesse comforts her instead, and then leaves town without a word.

Regina has never forgiven him for it.

A year and a half later, Jesse is back, mysteriously flush with cash and intent on claiming what Regina once offered to him. Regina has taken over her family ranch and learned some hard lessons in Jesse's absence, but she sure as hell doesn't plan on learning what she was begging him to teach her that night.

Will Jesse win Regina's love, or will both their dark family legacies threaten to overwhelm them?


Excerpt (edited for content and length):

“Hey, you’re not thinking straight.”

“I am,” she whispered. “I am thinking straight, and I feel like if I keep thinking right now I’ll go insane and put a shotgun to my own head.”

The admission, coupled with his memory of Old Man Winthrop’s brains spilling out over the rock of that canyon cave and Regina’s face pushed against his shoulder to shield her from the sight, caused a visceral response. He pulled her into his arms, terrified that she could even think of doing something like that to herself even now. “Hush now, honey.”

He held her full against him, her long russet hair soft beneath his fingers as he stroked her scalp soothingly and then her back. She felt so right. He’d always known how right they would be together if they ever got the chance. Now wasn’t the time, though.

Nonetheless, he wouldn’t be leaving her alone tonight, not when she sounded so desperate.
“I’ll stay here with you then. Right outside your bedroom door if you want. When you’ve had some sleep, you’ll feel better.”

She buried her face in his shoulder, and he thought he felt just a touch of moisture on his shirt and with it a touch of his own panic. Jesus, if she started to cry, he didn’t know what he’d do.

...

“All right then. Let’s go upstairs.”

It was a first step at least to trying to get her to sleep. Regina smiled, took his hand, and led him up the long, ornate staircase to her fancy, white-frilled room at the top.

She sat on the edge of her bed. She seemed more nervous now. He was glad of it. It would make it easier to talk her out of this wild idea, not that he’d ever imagined he would be trying to talk Regina Winthrop out of going to bed with him. Clearly, this was a world gone mad.

Want More Angela?

Visit her website here:
http://www.angelaclaireromance.com/


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