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GENRE: Contemporary Romance
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BLURB:
Experienced muralist Kada took charge of her family's Palm Springs motel to give her mother time to grieve. As a grant deadline approaches, Kada must convince her mother to manage the motel so she can return to her art. Late in December, Kada encounters a horseman approaching the property. Dane, the reserved son of a local farming family, is a loyal workaholic with limited spare time or experience outside the valley. When lightning startles his horse, he lingers at the motel and stirs up Kada's emotions about leaving the desert oasis. Wary of mixing business with pleasure, she struggles with her attraction. As New Year's Eve approaches, will the cowboy convince her to chart a new course?
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Excerpt:
“I’m Dane Palmer,” the man on the chestnut horse said. “My family owns the land next door.”
“Oh, thank goodness.” She shaded her gaze. “I’ve heard about you.”
For as long as her family owned the motel, the Palmer family owned the surrounding farmland. Once or twice, the Palmer patriarch offered to buy the Starlight Motel, but Pops resisted and counted the family as friends. They produced the area’s top vegetable crops, cultivated table grapes, and managed fields of fruit trees. Every once in a while, Dane’s mother, Mariah, came by the motel to visit and give her business advice, but Dane and his younger brother remained enigmas. She exhaled. “I’ve met your mother.”
“I’m sure,” Dane said. “She gets around.”
The second man laughed like a rusted pail swinging in the wind.
Dane glanced at the seated cowboy. “This is Walter. He’s the farm’s crew manager.”
Tipping his hat, Walter nodded.
She tented her gaze. “Could you two get down? Between the horses and the low sun, I can’t see you to save my life.”
Hanging his hat on the saddle horn, Dane handed his horse’s reins to Walter. He threw his leg over the horse’s saddle and slid down its side with an easy, athletic grace.
Standing, he was six feet tall, long, rangy, and reserved. He wore boots, jeans, a dark shirt, and a fleece-lined leather jacket that beat back the wind. A hat had smashed his sun-kissed brown hair against his forehead, but he wiped away the mess, cocked his head, and held out his hand.
“Pleasure to meet you,” he said.
Excerpt Two:
Her skin warmed from the heat of his palms. “I can’t afford to sit around the laundry room and gossip with the guests.”
“Trust me, Kada, I’m not here to gossip.”
“You’re ready to pitch in on odd jobs? You’re such a good neighbor.” She swallowed past the dryness in her throat. She had a three-date rule, but if she never started the first date, did the rule apply? “Thanks for helping with Lucky.”
“Any time.” He tipped up her chin. “Are you sure that’s where you want to stop? You brought me your number and rode out into the desert with me, but now you’re skittish?”
Her throat felt parched, but she wanted to lean forward and test his intent. Instead, she kicked her feet against the machine’s vibrating drum. “I’m not skittish, but I’m not into quick romps on a washing machine.”
He raised his eyebrows. “I wasn’t suggesting a quick romp.”
She wanted to test the innuendo behind his offer, but the sequence felt out of order. Before she considered kissing the handsome farmer, she needed dinner, candlelight, and time to breathe.
Her body offered a different opinion. Clearing her throat, she hopped off the washing machine, ducked under his arm, and ran her tongue along her teeth. In the tiny room, his skin smelled like fresh lime, warm spices, and a hint of honey, but his shirt held the leathery undertones of a hard day’s work. He looked handsome, and she wanted to taste his kiss, but she needed a different setup. “Or long romps.”
Excerpt Three:
Kada’s cry of delight bounced off the casita walls. Looking up from the desert pavers, he watched her launch herself into an older woman’s arms. The pair grinned, and their smiles shone brighter than the swaying patio lights. Staying back, he leaned against an adobe wall and watched Kada and Mrs. Ritchie greet each other. The pair did the hug-shake mother-daughter thing he never understood. In twenty years, Kada would be just as beautiful as her mother. She soaked up her mother’s presence like a drought-stricken plant. He envied their connection. His mother gripped him hard, examined him, and spun him back into the world to do good work.
“Just look at you, runnin’ around the desert like Pops.” Ms. Ritchie gripped Kada’s long, black hair and rubbed it between her fingers. “If I hadn’t seen you for myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. I thought you would stay in Los Angeles, but here you are, the queen of the desert!”
He cocked his head and imagined Kada tearing into a sourdough loaf over drip coffee. She would look at home on the winding streets wearing a wrap-tie dress, but he preferred her stained jeans.
“I thought I would stay in Los Angeles, too, but you needed me.” Reaching to the side, Kada shifted into her father’s arms.
Lean by most standards, he sported the small belly that developed from a desk-bound lifestyle.
“Hi, Daddy.”
He kissed her forehead. “Princess. Good to see you.”
Easing off the wall, Dane figured he could slip back into the cantina, take his salad to go, and sink into one of Walter’s tales. The old cowboy had plenty of stories about what went wrong
when a man took his gaze off the land.
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AUTHOR :
Amy Craig lives in Louisiana with her family and a small menagerie of pets. She writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense featuring intelligent heroines. In her spare time, she plays tennis and expands her husband’s honey-do list. Before writing, she worked as an oilfield engineer, project manager, and incompetent waitress. Mm
INTERVIEW:
* Did you use any of your own experience as inspiration?
The Starlight Motel is roughly my tenth romance novel. It’s set in Palm Springs, CA and features Kada, a muralist at a turning point in her career, and Dane, a cowboy farmer who’s master of his domain.
When my husband and I relocated from California to Louisiana with our geriatric dog, we drove through Palm Springs. The agricultural influences amazed me. I always thought of Palm Springs as a 1950s Hollywood resort, but its character goes deeper than Sinatra and desert sands. Don’t get me wrong, those aspects are part of its identity, but I wanted to explore the farms and single-story motels dotting the windswept highways, too.
Kada also has more than one identity. She’s a devoted daughter, an artist who needs to regroup, and a caring, compassionate woman who walks the line between responsibility and self-sacrifice. Dane’s not about to let anyone push him around, but what has he missed by being so hardcore?
* On average, how long does the writing process take?
Writing takes about 3-6 months. Editing takes about six weeks to three months, depending on the editor’s pace. Formatting and publication can take longer and hang on the publisher’s schedule. For self-published books, you can go live in twenty-four hours!
Most authors have one work in progress (WIP), one manuscript on submission, and one manuscript in editing/publications. If you think juggling three balls is a challenge, start small and hone your first story without worrying about what comes next.
* When did you realize you wanted a career in writing?
I love to write, but I didn’t let myself spend the time to create a novel until I was about thirty. Sometimes, you need life experiences to fill your head with connections and ideas. It’s never too late to write!
* If you weren't an author, what other career paths would you have taken?
When I was an engineering student, I needed another class to stay full-time, so I took introductory Italian (I already spoke a decent amount of Spanish and didn’t want to read Spanish literature). The class was fun and easy. For the last assignment, we created Italian advertisements. My instructor loved mine so much he suggested I should be a creative instead of an engineer. He was probably right, but I stuck with engineering long enough to become a kick-ass project manager. Then, babies. Their sweet, chubby cheeks lured me away from a well-paying job, but they gave me time to write and return to my creative side.
* Out of the characters that you created, who is your favorite?
I love the main characters in THE STARLIGHT MOTEL, but I would have a drink with Randi. It’s not uncommon for minor characters to suddenly demand more attention. Randi, the motel’s best and least predictable employee, is this kind of character.
Originally, I intended her to be a background character who added flavor but didn't draw much focus. However, her unique traits quickly pushed her into the spotlight. A statuesque woman with coiled braids, Randi is obsessed with the placement of microgreens, recites jazz album tracklists by heart, and wears killer heels. Her intricate personality made her impossible to ignore.
Randi's detailed knowledge of local parties and events, coupled with her unpredictable work habits, made her an invaluable foil. Her eccentricity and expertise brought a vibrant energy to scenes that would otherwise be too sweet.
Incorporating Randi more prominently required some balancing. I had to ensure she didn't overshadow the main plot while still allowing her to shine. She humored Chef Benito, Stephanie, and Kada, but she only showed up for half her cantina shifts, adding an element of unpredictability to the narrative. Her presence enriched the story, providing depth and a touch of humor.
* What advice would you give to someone looking to be a writer?
Plan to write more than one book.
* What kind of research (if any) was required for any of your books?
I didn’t spend a lot of time researching motel management for THE STARLIGHT MOTEL, but I did research creating murals. When I dove into a university’s website about its Printmaking / Art And Art History Program, I found a grammatical typo on the page devoted to attaining a B.F.A. in Studio Art. Being a nerd, I emailed the professor. He responded! I need to go back to the website and see if he fixed the typo.
*How long after you finish a book do you start another one?
The third book in a mafia series, THE BROKEN BODYGUARD, comes out September 3, 2024. It’s the third novel in a Romantic Suspense/Mafia Romance/Corporate Romance series called the Sun Valley Mafia Series. Working with two publishers, The Wild Rose Press and Totally Bound, means release dates occasionally overlap! In THE BROKEN BODYGUARD, which can be read as a standalone novel, a corporate bodyguard finds himself protecting a stubborn cowgirl and untangling windswept land politics in Patagonia, Argentina. Every time I pick up the manuscript, I want to go back to Argentina!
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GIVEAWAY
Amy Craig will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
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