Interview & Giveaway with author Joanne Kennedy

Today I have a special treat! Author Joanne Kennedy recently took time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions for all of us!  Ms. Kennedy is the author of the recently released Cowboy  Trouble.  The publisher was also kind enough to sponsor a giveaway of 2 copies of her book! The gieaway will follow the interview! So lets get started!

First of all thank you for joining us on My Overstuffed Bookshelf!

Thank you! I love your site – it’s so lively, and I get a chuckle every time I see your sexy librarian pin-up on the home page.

1. Can you tell us a little about your book?

Can I ever! There’s nothing I love to talk about more. Cowboy Trouble is a mix of humor, suspense and romance with a dash of spice, all wrapped up in a small-town setting with lots of quirky characters. It’s about Libby Brown, a big-city journalist who flees a romance gone wrong and moves to Wyoming to fulfill a childhood dream of owning a farm. Her transition to rural living is a challenge, but she gets a lot of help from Luke Rawlins, the cowboy next door, who looks like Elvis, talks like John Wayne, and cooks like Martha Stewart. He’s irresistible, but she’s determined not to succumb to a rebound romance. 

When Libby gets embroiled in the area’s one and only unsolved mystery, Luke pitches in to help her uncover the secrets at the heart of her new hometown—and to show her that they’re meant for each other despite their differences. 

2. Which characters were the easiest to write about? The hardest?

The easiest was Luke. He’s the heart of the book—sweet but strong, charming and irresistible. He’s very real to me. I also really love writing animals. The Verminators, Ivan, and Wild Thing the feral chicken were all fun to write. 

The hardest person to write was Crazy Mike. He’s mentally challenged, and I wanted to portray him fairly without succumbing to stereotypes or offending anyone. It was hard at first, but as I got to know him better, he became very real, too. I learned a lot from Mike. 

3. When you first started writing, did a certain author(s) inspire you to write?

One big influence was Janet Evanovich. I love her humor, and she makes writing look easy! I think she inspires a lot of new writers. My other big influence is Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She is incredibly skilled at combining humor with real emotional depth. Natural Born Charmer is my favorite romance of all time because of how well it strikes that balance. I’ve read it over and over and learned a lot from it.

4. Can you tell us a little about what your next book is about? 

One Fine Cowboy comes out in September. It’s about Charlie Banks, a psychology grad student from New Jersey who’s also an animal rights activist. Her advisor sends her to Wyoming to study non-verbal interspecies communication at a horse training clinic. Charlie’s convinced that cowboys are animal abusers, but Nate Shawcross turns out to be a quiet, gentle man with a deep understanding of animals. There’s an immediate attraction between Nate and Charlie, but they’re from such different worlds that they might as well be two different species. It takes a lot of non-verbal communication for Nate to convince Charlie that they can build a life together.

5. Next up are 5 random favorites: 

   Color: Green. Spring, rebirth, and it looks good on me.
   Drink: Chamomile tea cures everything – but a straight-up super-dry Tanqueray martini (with a twist, not an olive) is good, too:)
   Music: Girlie singer-songwriter music. When I was twelve, I wanted to grow up to be Joni Mitchell. I still do.
   Book: For romance, Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. For cowboys, Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (it really is the Great American Novel). For humor and voice, anything by Janet Evanovich.
   Food: Small-town diner breakfasts.  

6. When you sit down to write, what are 3 things that you must have?

My dogs at my feet, a cup of tea at my elbow, and a story in my head.

7.  I am a fly on your wall for a day.  What do I get to see in your life?

If I’m home, you’re one bored fly! I write a lot, so it would be a lot more fun to be a synapse in my brain or something. If I’m out or working, I want to know what you see. I think my dogs host dance parties or something while I’m gone.

8. Do you have any websites that fans can keep up with you and your books? Twitter?

Thanks for asking! I have a website at www.joannekennedybooks.com. It’s relatively new, and I love visitors and comments! Come check it out!

Thank you so much for joining us! Feel free to stop by anytime and say hi!

Thanks for having me! If readers want to comment, I’ll stop by for the next week or so and answer. I’d love to know what they look for in a romance. 

 

COWBOY TROUBLE by JOANNE KENNEDY—IN STORES MARCH 2010

Fleeing her latest love life disaster, big city journalist Libby Brown's transition to rural living isn't going exactly as planned. Her childhood dream has always been to own a chicken farm—but without the constant help of her charming, sexy, cowboy neighbor; she'd never have made it through her first Wyoming season.  

Handsome rancher Luke Rawlins is impressed by this sassy, independent city girl. But he yearns to do more than help Libby out with her ranch…he's ready for love, and he wants to go the distance. When the two get embroiled in their tiny town's one and only crime story, Libby discovers that their sizzling hot attraction is going to complicate her life in every way possible…  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joanne Kennedy has worked in bookstores all her life in positions ranging from bookseller to buyer. She is a member of Romance Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and won first place in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest and second place in the Heart of the Rockies contest in 2007.  Joanne lives and writes in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For more information please visit http://joannekennedybooks.com/. 

CONTEST:

Thanks to Danielle from Sourcebooks I have 2 copies of Cowboy Trouble to giveaway. That means 2 winners!!!!!

Here are the rules:

1.  You must be a follower of my blog.

2.  Leave a comment with your email address.

3.  You must live in the USA or Canada only. No PO Boxes.

Contest will end on 3/15/2010 with the winner announced on 3/16/2010.

GOOD LUCK!