Interview with Five-Time GH Finalist Sharon Wray

Today I am being interview at the Firebirds blog (2012 Golden Heart Finalists) by my lovely GH sister Pintip Dunn.

Won’t you join us?

(or you could just scroll down )

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PINTIP: I am so thrilled to bring you a very special interview today. Not only do we have five-time Golden Heart finalist Sharon Wray, but she is accompanied by the hot men of her two finaling manuscripts, JULIET’S ROGUE and ROGUE’S REDEMPTION. Sergeant Rafe Montfort and Major Nate Walker are tough ex-soldiers willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done and protect the women they love. Oh, and did I mention they were hot?

But don’t just take my word for it. Read on and find out for yourselves!

(Note: We are sitting outside at the Firefly Cafe in Savannah, GA drinking sweet tea while the men are trying to act like they fit in. But their combat pants, black T’s, massive biceps, and Rafe’s arm tattoos have just scared away our waitress. Oh, well. We didn’t really need that second brownie.)

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PINTIP: Congratulations, Sharon, Rafe, and Nate! Apparently, readers love your stories! Sharon, have either of these men’s stories ever finaled before?

SHARON: Thank you so much for interviewing me today, Pintip. Rafe’s story has finaled before, but this is a first for Nate. Although I never think I have a chance, Rafe was convinced he’d final again (yes, he is that arrogant). But Nate was my long shot so we were both surprised. I’m sure Nate figured if he finaled, he get more “horizontal time” with his heroine. That’s my Nate. Always the dreamer.

NATE: I just wish I’d finaled alone. Now I have to go to Atlanta with Rafe.

RAFE (grinning): I’ve finaled three times. And I won the Daphne Du Maurier contest. Nate came in third. Or was it fourth?

NATE: You’re a mon–

 SHARON: If you call him a monkey buttshine, we’re ending now. Can we move on, Pintip? Please.

PINTIP: I’d love to hear from the men themselves what they think the appeal of their stories are. Rafe?

RAFE: How about a sexy hero protecting a stubborn, beautiful, and intelligent heroine (whom I adore), bad-ass arms dealers, a three-hundred year old curse, a 12th century manuscript, a sultry Georgia sea island, and romance. Too be honest, I’d prefer more sex and less talking. But that’s just me.

NATE (laughing): You? A sexy hero? All I saw was a pain-in-the-ass ex-Green Beret who disobeyed my direct order and ended up in prison. And didn’t Juliet slap you? Twice?

RAFE: My lovely wife has forgiven me. Besides, I know Sara put you through hell. Especially when she walked out on you and took all your weapons. And your clothes. Didn’t she slap you, too?

NATE: I don’t remember that part. But my story has an even sexier hero trying to ditch a beautiful, intelligent heroine (a Smithsonian Archivist specializing in Colonial American history) tormented by an arms dealer who needs her to translate one of George Washington’s unsolved ciphers from the American Revolution.

RAFE: She was being followed. And you ignored her.

NATE: I didn’t know about the cipher. I mean, it sounds ridiculous. A pirate’s cipher used by General Washington during the Revolution? A cipher that unlocked a series of hidden tunnels holding high-tech weapons and drugs in old cemeteries along the South Carolina coast? That’s nuts.

RAFE: Yeah, especially to someone who’s spent his life fighting bad guys with the most advanced technology available, then finds himself disgraced and living with his men in a rundown southern mansion without electricity. So when Sara showed up unexpectedly, demanding help, Nate was unprepared. I liked that part.

NATE (sighing): Who, besides my wife, translates 17th century Latin ciphers anymore? And wanders around old cemeteries? I’ve got to say, though, the Latin-thing is hot. Speaking of which, we could’ve had more sex and less talking, too. Is there still time to revise?

SHARON: No. Pintip, next question please?

PINTIP: I could listen to (and look at) these guys talk forever. But if you insist. Sharon, can you tell us a bit about your writing schedule? How long do you write everyday, and how do you balance life with writing?

SHARON: When the kids are in school, I write. I take short breaks to make beds, do laundry, dishes, pet the dog. Once they’re home, I’m off the computer for the night. During the summer, I get up early and get two hours done before the kid stuff begins.

PINTIP: That’s impressive, Sharon. I think we all struggle with the work/life balance. What about you, Rafe and Nate? How do you balance careers with love and family?

RAFE: Considering I ditched my wife, left my A-team, and went to work as an assassin for an arms dealer before ending up in jail for five years, I’d say not well.

NATE: You’re an idiot, Montfort. She meant how do you balance these things now.

RAFE: Since I won my wife back after a hell of a lot of work and even more groveling, I have a plan. No more mercenary work. No more lying to the people I love. And I’m committed to making my wife feel safe and loved forever.

NATE: When did you become a romantic?

RAFE: About the same time you did. So let’s hear how you balance everything, Mr. Perfect-who-follows-every-rule-even-if-they-bite-me-in-the-ass.

NATE: Rules are there for a reason. Maybe if you’d followed my orders–

SHARON: Enough! Nate, either answer or we’re moving on.

NATE (smiling): Yes, ma’am. I married the only woman who will put up with me. As long as I don’t piss her off, I’m good.

PINTIP (smiling): I’ve never had this much fun in an interview. Nate, as an ex-Green-Beret, trust is essential between you and the members of your team. Can you talk about how it felt when one of your trusted team members turned on you?

NATE: That’s a hell of a question. After years of living and working with each other, we form a bond that’s deeper than friendship, more important than blood. It becomes a part of you, until the mission and the safety of your buddies is your only priority.

So when one of our own set us up in Afghanistan on murder charges, then watched as we all went to prison and were dishonorably discharged, it felt like a knife through my ba–I mean, gut. Unfortunately, half of our men are still imprisoned. We’re outside the intel community. We have no money, fewer weapons, and are alone in our mission to figure out what happened and why.

RAFE: Jeez, Nate. You talk a lot.

NATE: Rafe? Shut the hell up.

PINTIP: Wow, Nate. I see why readers fell in love with your story. I’m starting to fall a little bit in love myself. (clears throat) Rafe, you’ve had experience doing something you believe in deeply, although it’s been very difficult under the circumstances. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

RAFE: I’d rather not.

NATE: Coward.

RAFE: Ass–

SHARON: Answer the question, Rafe. Or no more sex. Ever.

RAFE (scowling): First of all, everything I’ve done–and will ever do–has been to protect my wife. But while I worked for the arms dealer Aidan Mitchell, I got caught up in one of his enterprises–ridding the world of mercenaries who refuse to follow the rules of war. And, yes, there are rules. While killing is never easy–and I’m done with it–sometimes it’s necessary. And that’s all I’m going say about it.

PINTIP: Right. Well, why don’t we move on to a more cheerful topic. Sharon, have you chosen your GH awards night dress yet?

SHARON: Yes! On a whim I bought a long, grecian-styled, chiffon gown with one shoulder strap made of pearls and crystals. And it’s orange. Not pumpkin orange, more of a summery coral orange. Now to find shoes…

PINTIP: Oooh, Sharon, that sounds absolutely dreamy. You are going to look stunning in it. Nate and Rafe, can you chime in with some fashion advice here? What would you like to see your girl wear on a special night like this?

RAFE: I like naked.

NATE: Ditto.

SHARON (horrified and embarrassed!): Pintip was talking about me! Not Juliet or Sara.

RAFE (blushing): I’m sure you’ll look nice in whatever you choose.

NATE (staring at the floor): And thin.

SHARON: Good grief. See what I have to put up with?

PINTIP: I do see. And I’m kinda thinking you are one lucky girl to have men like these in your head all day! But this can be a tough business. Any advice on how to stay motivated?

SHARON: I’m terrible at motivating people (just ask my kids. And my dog) but I do have some advice on how to get and stay focused.

PINTIP: Just for the record? Totally disagree. Sharon has motivated me on a number of occasions. But go ahead…

Know what you want to write. The genre, the style, the recurring themes.

(Know them. Love them. Be true to them.)

Don’t count the years. Or the manuscripts.

(Nine years and eight manuscripts–but I’m NOT counting.)

Don’t compare yourself or your work to anyone else. 

Stay true to your strengths.

(They will carry you through when you feel like giving up.)

Find your weaknesses, both personal and professional, and slay them ruthlessly. 

Be as honest as you can with yourself about your own work and be open to fair criticism.

Learn to recognize destructive criticism and toss it out before it ruins your writing day (or year).

Be kind to yourself.

(Give yourself little rewards for every query sent, every contest final, after EVERY rejection.)

Make goals.

(One of mine is to have a new manuscript every year to enter in the GH–or to sell!) 

Keep your head down in the work and out of the noise.

 (This one, my favorite, came from my amazing agent Deidre Knight who told me the most important thing is the current manuscript. Nothing else matters. If the entire publishing industry implodes, you’ll be the one who has a brilliant new story that someone will be desperate to read.) 

PINTIP: Thanks so much to all three of you for being here today!

SHARON: Thank you, Pintip! We had a wonderful time!

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Wow. Just wow. I don’t know about you, but after that interview, I cannot wait to get my hand on these stories! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

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Juliet’s Rogue: Juliet Capel, from a small Savannah sea island, knows the devastation of true love. Abandoned by her people after she married Rafe Montfort, a Special Forces soldier from the wrong family, then scarred by his desertion and imprisonment, she vowed never to rely on others or fall in love again. But when Rafe returns sexier than ever, with tales of an arms dealer who believes she holds the key to a medieval biological weapon, she accepts Rafe’s help. He has the strength, the guns, and the experience. All she has is a curse.

Ex-Green Beret Rafe Montfort has lived a violent life since leaving his men and his wife. But when he’s unexpectedly freed from prison, he discovers the arms dealer he’s still tied to needs Juliet to unlock secrets their feuding families have held for centuries. Secrets protected by the Capel Curse. Now Rafe must convince the only woman he’s ever loved that breaking the curse—reliving a tragic love story from the past—is their last chance to destroy the weapon, release Rafe from his devil’s deal, and keep Juliet alive. Except Rafe knows if Juliet can’t learn to trust, and love, again they will lose each other. And maybe the entire world.

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Rogue’s Redemption: Sara Munro, a Smithsonian Archivist, knows her hypothesis that pirates built secret rooms beneath the oldest cemeteries in the South is the joke her department. Her belief that the locations of these rooms are hidden in the only unsolved Revolutionary War cipher hasn’t helped her reputation. Yet, despite the scorn of her peers and the unwanted attention of a brutal arms dealer, Sara refuses to give up. Not even when, while searching for answers in a Savannah cemetery, she discovers a secret paramilitary operation led by sexy ex-Green Beret Nate Walker.

Nate, on a mission of his own to find out who betrayed his A-team, isn’t happy. Although Sara is beautiful, smart, and sexy, he doesn’t have time for her nonsense about cipher keys buried in the tragic story of two 17th century lovers. He has to figure out why he and his men were dishonorably discharged, why ten of his men are still in prison. And he has zero interest in reliving this doomed three-hundred year-old love affair–until he realizes that Sara’s legend is not only real, but is being resurrected by the arms dealer he fought in Afghanistan. Now, in order to stop a massive drugs-for-weapons conspiracy, he must help Sara solve the cipher, take down the arms dealer, and learn that forgiveness, not revenge, is the only road to redemption.

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A librarian/archivist who also studied dress design in the couture houses of Paris, Sharon is a five-time RWA Golden Heart Romantic Suspense author repped by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. As she waits for the “Call”, Sharon writes stories of adventure, suspense and love and blogs on her own website, Kiss and Thrill, The Dashing Duchesses, The Firebirds, and Blame it on the Muse.

When she’s not writing, she’s snapping photos of her own hero/husband, her boy/girl twins, and her garden while negotiating backyard territory rights with her dog Donut.

**All photographs courtesy of Sharon Wray.**

Juliette Sobanet’s Midnight Train to 1930′s Paris

Today I’m privileged to welcome my amazing CP Juliette Sobanet to the Dashing Duchesses as our honorary Duchess of the week.

A Montlake author of four charming, best-selling womens’ fiction novels with a French twist, Juliette has agreed to share her Parisian-inspired pre-WWII world and her new serialized novel Midnight Train to Paris. So grab a croissant and a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate for those of you who, like me, can’t speak French even though I studied it for eight years!), and please join me in welcoming our honorary Duchess Juliette.

SW: I am so excited your are here today, Juliette. And since I know their Graces, and our readers, have a ton of questions, I’ll jump right in. What inspired you to write books about pre-WWII Paris?

 JS: The seed that started it all was my love for time travel romances. I had just completed Dancing with Paris, which is a time travel / romantic suspense novel that goes back in time to 1950s Paris. I had so much fun writing (and as you know Sharon, rewriting!) that book, that I knew I wanted to go even further back in time with my next novel. Since war wasn’t a necessary element to this particular story, I decided to go back to pre-WWII France in Midnight Train to Paris. I’ve had a ton of fun researching the time period and transporting my characters and readers back to the thirties!

SW: (Yes! I remember rewriting Dancing with Paris!) How challenging is it to write magical realism?

JS: I have fallen in love with writing magical realism, but it is challenging to know when to draw the line with the magical/fantasy elements so that I still tell a story that feels real and true to my readers, without being too out there. I’ve found that it’s important to define the rules of the game (ie: how the magic works) and stick to those rules so that there is some sense of order amid the chaos! For example, with Midnight Train to Paris, there is one magical object that helps transport Jillian and Samuel back in time, and that object plays an integral role in the plot. They can’t just time travel because they want to—there has to be a clear, powerful force that takes them back. I don’t want to give away any spoilers though, so you’ll have to read the book to find out what that enchanting object is…

SW: Since the clothing of women changed drastically between the two World Wars, how much research did you do into the clothing and social customs of the 1920′s and 1930′s?

JS: Researching the clothing was one of my favorite parts of writing this book! I did quite a bit of research into 1930s clothing in France—mostly to find out what the wealthy passengers of the Orient Express would’ve been wearing while traveling and dining on this luxury train, so that I could accurately describe the dresses, headpieces, and shoes (clearly, the important stuff!). I created a Pinterest board for 1930s fashion as well as one for general inspiration for the book that helps me to immerse myself into the story and the time period as I’m writing.

To read more, please join us today at the Dashing Duchesses or click here to continue.

Take the Midnight Train to Paris with Juliette Sobanet!

Today I’m privileged to welcome my dear friend, fellow writer, and intrepid CP Juliette Sobanet. A Montlake author of four charming womens’ fiction novels with a French twist, Juliette has agreed to offer us a window into her Parisian-inspired world and her new serialized novel Midnight Train to Paris. It’s truly ooh la la!

Thanks, Sharon! One year ago, my husband and I made the cross-country move from Washington, DC to San Diego. During our first month in the land of sunshine and margaritas, we were totally beach-crazed. Every chance we got, we high-tailed it to the Pacific and spent our days enjoying this new, laid-back lifestyle of ours. Little did I know, those beach trips would inspire the idea for my latest novel, Midnight Train to Paris.

One afternoon, after a sandy beach walk, the train that runs up and down the San Diego coast—aptly named The Coaster—rambled past us, blowing its whistle and giving its passengers a breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean. The minute I spotted that train, an idea took shape. I envisioned a glamorous young woman, perhaps a woman from the 1920s or 1930s, holding her vintage suitcase and boarding the train late at night. I knew she was running from something, or someone, and I knew that the train would be magical and would possibly transport its passengers forward or backward in time.

This seed of an idea percolated for several months, and when my publisher asked me to write a Kindle Serial, I knew it was time to bring my train story to life. Since I base all of my books in France (I’m even more obsessed with France than I am with the beach), I took that late night train to the French Alps, and Midnight Train to Paris was born.

A Kindle Serial is a novel released in episodes, leaving you on a cliff-hanger each week so that you can’t wait to read the next episode. The idea is that the episodes are released as the author writes them, which makes for an entirely different writing process than I was used to. I knew I wouldn’t have the opportunity to re-write the first chapters over and over again, as I usually do. I had to get it right the first time, which, to be honest, was slightly terrifying! But as soon as I sat down to write that opening scene, the young girl I’d envisioned months ago boarding the midnight train came to life, and what emerged is a story packed with mystery, romance, and magic…a story I am beyond excited to share with my readers. Episode 4 of Midnight Train to Paris is out this week, and here is a sneak peek of that opening scene…

To read more, please join us over at Blame it on the Muse or click here to continue reading. 

Kieran Kramer’s Sexy Regency Heroes: A Tea Party to Remember

Today I am honored to (re)introduce Kieran Kramer (who happens to be my sister-in-law!), the award-winning, best-selling author of my favorite Regency romances including the Impossible Bachelor series and her new House of Brady series. But as I set out the tea and cakes, looking forward to a cozy chat, she arrives with two tall, muscular men.

Me (whispering): Kieran? Why are there two hot men standing behind you?

Kieran (shrugging): The heroes in my two recent books love attention! And I have to admit, I love to give it to them. So when they asked to come along, I said yes.

Me: I’m not one to complain, but won’t your brother (my DH) have something to say about this?

Kieran (tosses away my concern with a regal wave): We just won’t tell him! So let me do the formal introductions. She nods to the more rakish of the two, with blue eyes and dark, wavy hair. 

Me: Did he just wink at me?

Kieran (laughing): This is Gregory Sherwood, Lord Westdale, the sexy hero from my current release, THE EARL IS MINE. He’s the oldest son of the Marquess and Marchioness of Brady, and he has a deep, dark secret. However, not everyone in the ton knows about it, but those he loves does–including Pippa, his new wife and the love of his life. They’re old, old friends who stopped being true friends for a while. She’s the only person who knew something was bothering Gregory, but he didn’t want her to get close to him because he couldn’t risk revealing the secret. He became an island. But as we all know, love changes everything, and with Pippa’s help, he’s restored to the man he’s meant to be: full of life, love, and laughter.

Me: Gregory winks again, but I play coy and turn my attention to the broader man with amazing sapphire eyes and hair like coal. Where Gregory has the advantage of height, this gentleman clearly has seen some time in a fighting ring. And I have to say I’m intrigued.

Kieran: This is Luke Callahan, Gregory’s new brother-in-law and another handsome hero. Luke’s romantic story will be told in SAY YES TO THE DUKE, my August 2013 release. Against his will, Luke falls in love with Gregory’s little sister Janice. And if you think Gregory had a secret–well, Luke’s is a mighty bombshell, too. I suspect he might let the cat out of the bag today, but…you won’t have any idea how the story unfolds unless you read the book! Janice is the only woman who really understands what motivates Luke to make the decisions he does. In turn, he helps her get past some of her own insecurities. Theirs is a passionate love story that takes place outside of London–much of it, believe it or not, in a stableblock that belongs to the self-absorbed Duke of Halsey.

Me: Although I’m delighted to meet these historical hotties, I can’t help but wonder what they are doing here. Checking out the amazing women who visit this site? Or maybe to score an exclusive invite to the Duchesses Tea Party in Atlanta? Whatever the reason, I quickly dump the tea and pull out my DH’s bottle of 40-year old scotch. I have a few questions of my own. (And I’m sure Kieran won’t mind!)

To read more, please join us today at the Dashing Duchessess or click here to read more.