Friday, February 12, 2010

Happy Early Valentine's Day


To help everyone get in the mood for Valentine's day I have Rebecca Clark here today to reveal her characters through Valentine's Day questions.
Welcome Rebecca!

What would your hero do for your heroine for Valentine's Day? Why?

Zach and Audrey’s first Valentine’s Day together will be a very different experience for Zach. He’s used to showering his girlfriends with gifts and jewelry, and whisking them off to exotic and exciting locales. He’s very generous with his money. But Audrey’s not like the other women he’s been with. She’s not into material things and is very much a homebody. She just wants him to be generous with his heart. So he needed to think outside the box. He took a class on gourmet cooking, so he plans to make her favorite dinner. He’ll set a beautiful table using her late mother’s dishes and crystal, because Audrey is all about sentiment. He’ll also have some early spring irises on the table, because purple is her favorite color.

What is your heroine's feelings toward Valentine's Day?
Audrey is a romantic at heart, so Valentine’s Day has always been her favorite holiday. She adores anything that has to do with love and happy ever afters. It’s been a long time since she could share this day with someone special. To her, it’s about spending time with the man she loves, not the gifts.

What was the most romantic thing you special someone did for you on Valentine's day?

It was 1986 and a few days before Valentine’s Day. Because my boyfriend and I went to separate colleges across the state from each other and wouldn’t be able to see each other on the actual holiday, we’d decided to celebrate early. When I got to his house, something yummy-smelling was bubbling on the stove and the table was set with his mom’s beautiful china. When I saw the upside-down cups on saucers, my first thought was: I wonder if he’s hiding an engagement ring under there—we’d been talking about getting engaged soon. When he went to check on dinner, I took a peek under my cup. Nothing. Darn it. During dinner, he said he’d been thinking. Because both of us had two years left of college, it really didn’t make sense to get engaged just yet. Outwardly, I agreed, but inwardly, I was kind of bummed. After we finished eating, he went into the kitchen for the coffee, calling back for me to turn over our coffee cups. And what appeared under his cup? A small velvet box, of course. I hadn’t considered checking under his. We’ll be celebrating our 23rd anniversary this year.

Bio:
Rebecca Clark has wanted to write romance novels since she read her first Harlequin Romance at age 11. After marrying her college sweetheart, she worked in the graphic design and PR field for several years before becoming a stay-at-home mom for 12 years. These days, when she’s not writing, she works as a personal fitness trainer and group exercise instructor. Her favorite class to teach is Zumba and thinks the world would be a happier place if everyone Zumba’d. She makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband of 22 years, two kids, a German Shepherd beast who thinks he’s a lap dog, two cats, and a gecko. In her abundant free time, Rebecca enjoys reading, watching Criminal Minds reruns on TV, and doing absolutely nothing.

Blurb:
It's a classic case of mistaken identity...only this time, it's no mistake.

Mild-mannered teacher Audrey Thompson dresses as her flamboyant but cowardly twin in order to break up with her sister's fiance, Zach Banister. Before she can do the dirty deed, she starts to fall for him herself. Her plan goes hilariously and seductively awry, as things tend to do when you're stuffing your bra and borrowing your sister's stilettos. Little does Audrey realize, however, Zach is also playing a game and has his own agenda.

Excerpt:

Well. It was now or never. Adrenaline blasted through her veins, heating her skin. Taking a deep breath of courage, she navigated the first step downward while holding the banister for support. Her ankle wobbled on the four-inch heel. She took another step. This time, she swayed precariously. Her head swam with visions of being splayed out like road kill on the Banister slate.
The threesome below turned her way.
“Ava,” Zach greeted with a smile in his voice. Its deep tone echoed the answering quiver in her belly. She imagined what her name would sound like rolling off his tongue. She froze on the second step from the top, afraid to move. Who in their right mind would ever install hardwood stairs? Nerves rattled around her gut like coins in an empty soda can.
“Darling, we were just talking about you,” he said, moving toward the bottom of the staircase.
Darling? Oh, crap. How was she supposed to break up with a man who called her ‘darling’ in such a sexy way?
“Come down here, and I’ll introduce you.”
Judging from the hostile postures of the women, Audrey decided she’d rather have a root canal. She hoped they couldn’t see up her skirt from their lower vantage point. She said a silent prayer of thanks she hadn’t taken her sister’s advice and was, in fact, wearing panties. Could she call a thong “panties”?

You can find me on the web: www.RebeccaJClark.com
www.shywriters.blogspot.com
www.facebook/RebeccaJClark.author

11 comments:

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Hey Paty, thanks for having me here.

:)Becky

J.A. Saare / Aline Hunter said...

This looks so good! I can't wait to read it. Did I mention the cover is amazing?

Your story is also incredibly sweet. ;-) What a wonderful way to propose!

Jaime

Anonymous said...

Love the premise of this story! Sounds like it's hilarious. I'm glad Audrey decided to wear, at least, a small scrap of something under that short dress. LOL

Fun blog post Paty and Rebecca! Happy Valentine's Day!

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Hey J.A. I'll see you Monday on your blog. :) I love my cover, too. The artist did a great job.

Piper--Thanks for stopping by. The book was really fun to write.

Genene Valleau, writing as Genie Gabriel said...

Great excerpt, Rebecca! Sounds like a fun story!

And what a sweet story about your DH. So glad you got your own happily-ever-after!

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Hi Genene,
Yes, I'm very lucky to be living my own happy ever after. Thanks for visiting.

Amanda Forester said...

What a great way to propose! I love hearing about how people got engaged--guess that's why I love romance novels - and yours sounds like fun. Happy Valentines Day!

Amanda

Unknown said...

Hey Amanda, I'm a sucker for real life romantic stories, too. Probably why we write romances, eh?

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Paty, thanks for having me on your blog.

And the winner of my stiletto book thong/bookmark is...Piper Lee. Piper, if you could send me your snail mail addy to rebeccajclark(dot)author(dot)gmail(dot)com, I'll get that in the mail to you. Congrats!

Rebecca J. Clark said...

Whoops, I didn't realize my son hadn't signed out of his google account. LOL. The above message was from ME, not a 14-year-old boy.

:)Becky

Anonymous said...

Yaay! Thanks Rebecca! Now I'll have a book mark for when I read your book, BORROWED STILETTOS.

And I laughed when I got the email in my inbox from trevorsucks7. I thought maybe it was something one of my teenage sons sent me. Teenage boys are SO WEIRD! LOL

Thanks again for the book thong/mark!

Deborah Schneider said...

It was fun signing with you yesterday, and I hope your Valentine's Day was very romantic!