I'm thrilled to have Laurie Alice as a guest today. She is both a friend and a web client, and we're about to unveil a brand new web site design that I'm sure you're going to love. Her life is a true inspiration to so many. Enjoy learning more about her and her latest book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Award-winning author, LAURIE ALICE EAKES, does not remember a time when books did not play a part in her life; thus, no one was surprised when she decided to be a writer. Her first hardcover was an October 2006 Regency historical from Avalon Books and won the National Readers Choice Award for Best Regency, as well as being a finalist for Best First Book. She is also a finalist for the ACFW Carol award in the short historical category (winners to be announced in September). After selling her first book in the inspirational market, she also wrote articles and essays for Christian publications. A brief hiatus in publishing climaxed with her selling thirteen books in thirteen months, to publishers such as Barbour, Avalon, and Baker/Revell.She is an active member of RWA and ACFW, and started the Avalon Authors group blog. A graduate of the Seton Hill University Master of Arts Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, And a Bachelor of Arts graduate in English and French from Asbury College, she is an experienced speaker, and has made presentations at local and national RWA conferences, as well as local universities and libraries.
Until recently, she lived in Northern Virginia, then her husband’s law career took them and their dogs and cats, to southern Texas, where she writes full-time and enjoys the beach whenever possible.
You can find her web site at:
http://www.lauriealiceeakes.com
When the Snow Flies
by Laurie Alice Eakes
Published by
ABOUT THE BOOK
Audrey Sinclair Vanderleyden sets her heart on fulfilling a promise to her deceased husband to continue practicing medicine, despite oppositions from their families. But the old physician from whom they bought a practice stands in her way and refuses to honor the contract. Audrey must give up medicine and return to her family, or marry a near stranger.
A gunshot wound robs Nathan Maxwell of the ability to continue practicing medicine. He must find another purpose to his life. Marriage isn’t an option. Only a desperate woman would want a blind man for a husband.
Audrey is desperate, but marriage to Nathan isn’t the salvation of her medical career she thought it would be. For Nathan, the union challenges loyalties and exposes what he’s lost.
Readers, buy your copy of When the Snow Flies
today!AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1. What gave you the inspiration for this story?
One day, I was playing the childhood game of predicting what sort of man one marries by counting buttons on one’s clothes and reciting: “Doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief…” And thought that would be a fun concept for a series—having characters who were a doctor, a lawyer, a merchant and a chef. Then I decided to make them females. Since I write historicals, I picked a time period in which a female could be one of those professions.
2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that were theirs and theirs alone?
One of the characters in When the Snow Flies, the first book in the series, is blind from a gunshot wound. Although I have no experience with gunshot wounds, I do have a great deal of experience with blind people and know their capabilities, much more than the average person thinks possible. I also know the frustrations of limitations, so worked to convey this through the character without making him a victim or whiny.
3. If your hero/heroine were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?
My heroine, Audrey, is probably lemon sherbet, sweet, but a little tart-tongued, too. She’s bold. You won’t mistake her for anything other than what she is. At the same time, she’s refreshing in her determination for herself, yet compassion for others.
4. Are there any themes in When the Snow Flies that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the story progressed?
Hope and determination are the strongest theme in the story. Loyalty developed along with hope as the story unfolded.
5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?
This sounds kind of arrogant, and this book was not difficult to write. It flowed out of me as though I were dictating from my subconscious. From requested full manuscript, to sending it to my agent was six weeks. I had the first three chapters written at that point, so wrote the next 13 in those six weeks. I found some of the scenes emotionally draining.
As for most fun, the scenes between hero and heroine, especially later in the story when they are starting to realize they love one another.
6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?
Other than with the Heartsong book club, which is just now sending out the third New jersey historical, The Newcomer, I have my first mainstream book coming out in February. Lady in the Mist is the first in the Midwives series from Baker/Revell. Set in Virginia in 1809, it’s a romantic suspense story, where the midwife heroine finds herself involved with an English indentured servant to discover who is abducting young men from the coast and forcing them into the British navy.
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Wow! That story sounds fascinating! Definitely not one I've seen in other stories or plots. Looking forward to reading it. Thank you, Laurie Alice, for being in the spotlight with us.
ENTRY RULES Readers, answer the question associated with the spotlight in the comments, then leave your email address for your chance to win a FREE autographed copy of When the Snow Flies. If you do not answer the question, you will not be entered.
Question: Thank you for reading this interview. Now, for a few moments, I want to interview you. Will you please share a story of hope and determination or loyalty either you have experienced or witnessed happening to others?
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