I’m very pleased to have fellow Carina Press author Liz Flaherty on the blog today. Liz writes wonderfully emotional contemporary romance, garnering accolades from both reviewers and readers. Liz has a new book out, called One More Summer, and she’s here to tell us a little bit about it, and about herself.
ONE MORE SUMMER sounds a little bit quirky and a whole lot wonderful. Where did you get the idea for the book?
My people came first–they always do! And we visited my sister-in-law in beautiful, beautiful Tennessee, so setting came next. In all honesty, I’m not sure where the story came from–it just fell, little pieces of my heart, into place.
What genres do you read in when you’re writing a book? Does reading contemporary romance/women’s fiction mess with your head, or does it help you find your story?
Genres don’t mess with my head, but certain voices do, ones that I particularly love. If I’m writing, I can’t read Kathleen Gilles Seidel or Robyn Carr or Kristan Higgins or Jenny Crusie, because next thing you know, I’m using something that was theirs. It’s never intentional, but it happens. However, anything they write is super-treat for me when I’m finished with my own stuff!
Do you play music when you write? If so, what was the play list for this book?
I can’t play music. My empty nest is a quiet place and I’ve learned to write that way, so now sounds from outside my head distract me. However, I will admit that were it not for the Eagles (oh, be still my heart, I love them so!), I’m not sure ONE MORE SUMMER would have been written. The songs and the emotions in Don Henley and Glen Frey’s voices found their way to my keyboard, for which I remain eternally grateful.
If stranded on a desert island, what two luxury items would you bring along?
Luxury? Hmmm… Is a fully loaded Kindle a luxury or a necessity? Whichever, that would be one. The other–oh, this sounds goofy, but it’s true–would be very-high-speed internet. We live way in the country, where it isn’t available, and when I do get to use it, it’s FUN!
Here’s the blurb for One More Summer:
Grace has taken care of her widowed father her entire adult life and the ornery old goat has finally died. She has no job, no skills and very little money, and has heard her father’s prediction that no decent man would ever want her so often she accepts it as fact.
But she does have a big old house on Lawyers Row in Peacock, Tennessee. She opens a rooming house and quickly gathers a motley crew of tenants – Promise, Grace’s best friend since kindergarten, who’s fighting cancer; Maxie, an aging soap opera actress who hasn’t lost her flair for the dramatic; Jonah, a sweet gullible old man with a crush on Maxie.
And Dillon, Grace’s brother’s best friend, who stood her up on the night of her senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace’s guest house for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts – but first, he’ll have to convince Grace that she’s worth loving…
Sounds great, doesn’t it? Be sure to check out Liz’s website for all the details, and for info on her other books.
Readers, Liz is giving away a copy of her new book. Let’s talk about vacations. If you could only take one thing away with you on vacation, what would it be? And feel free to use your imagination! One person will win a copy of One More Summer.