Interview and Giveaway with Joanne Kennedy, author of Tall, Dark and Cowboy

Please join Urban Girl Reader in welcoming author Joanne Kennedy to the site. She is touring the romance blogosphere now, sharing her newest release Tall, Dark and Cowboy! I’ll be posting my review it later this week, but it will be receiving a 4 bloom rating from me! So check back later for the review.  Also, be sure to enter the Giveaway to win a print copy of Tall, Dark and Cowboy! The giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents only.  So without further ado, welcome Joanne!!

Hi Joanne!
Thank you for taking the time to visit us at Urban Girl Reading. We’re looking forward to chatting about your new release, Tall, Dark and Cowboy. Please tell us a bit about it.

Joanne: Thanks for having me!

Tall, Dark and Cowboy is the story of Lacey Bradford, a former trophy wife raised to wealth and privilege who discovers her ex-husband was a crook. Swearing off his ill-gotten gains, she takes off with nothing but a few dollars and an old broken-down car She’s hoping to get some help from a friend who moved to Wyoming, but she discovers that her old admirer Chase Caldwell doesn’t want to let the girl who broke his heart back in high school back into his life
 
Lacey’s exhausted her very limited resources, so she’s forced to create a life in Chase’s hometown whether he’ll help her or not. She might not have much in the way of survival skills, but she does her best to make it work—and works her way right into Chase’s hardened heart.
 
UGR: Is there any special story or idea behind the creation of Tall, Dark and Cowboy?

Joanne: I love stories of starting over. Whenever I drive through a small Wyoming town, I imagine what it would be like to move there and build a whole new life from scratch. Lacey’s story was born out of that fantasy.

UGR: I love the small town aspect that is present in your books. Is Grady based on a real town or is it entirely fictional?

Joanne: Grady is a combination of several small towns in Wyoming, including Chugwater, Meeteetse, Guernsey, and a few others. These towns look pretty bleak when you drive through, but if you stop the people are always friendly. I always feel like I’m stepping back in time when I visit these remote places. Time seems to move more slowly the further you go from civilization.

UGR: Which character did you have the most fun writing about? Do you have a favorite? (Oh, BTW, I absolutely hate Wade! You have made him so despicable that I can’t even read his name without giving myself the creeps).

Joanne: Thank you for hating Wade   He pretty much gave me the willies, too!

My favorite character in the book was Fletcher Galt, Chase’s elderly neighbor. Galt, who lost everything in the world he cared about, is a warning to Chase about what bitterness can do to your heart. Bringing the old man back into the world helps both Chase and Lacey heal, and the way they deal with him tells a lot about who they are and how they’re alike despite their very different life experiences.

UGR: If you had to give Chase and Lacey “theme” songs, what would they be and why?

Joanne: For Chase, who hides a loyal heart under a hard exterior, it’s “Forever and Ever Amen” by Randy Travis (“They say time can play tricks on a memory, make people forget things they knew. Well it's easy to see it's happening to me, I've already forgotten every woman but you…”)

For Lacey, who finds inner resources she didn’t know she had, it’s Lorrie Morgan’s “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength” (“It's been a long hard fall, but I'll make it after all - I didn't know my own strength”)
 
Aww. Just singing those in my head makes me miss Chase and Lacey.

UGR:  What upcoming projects are you working on and when can your fans expect to look for them?

Joanne: Cowboy Crazy will be in stores in June. It’s about a Wyoming oil heir turned rodeo cowboy who wants to get back to his family’s ranching roots, and a small-town girl who can’t get away from her country roots fast enough. The two of them are running in opposite directions, but when they collide, the sparks fly!

UGR: What genres do you read?  Do you have any favorite authors?

Joanne: I read a lot of romance novels. I think it’s very important for writers to read widely in their own genre. (There. Isn’t that a great excuse for reading romance novels? I call it “work” and everybody thinks I’m getting something done, when really I’m having a blast reading wonderful stories by Jodi Thomas and Carolyn Brown. I also love Kristan Higgins, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Jill Shalvis.)

UGR: Anything your fans would be surprised to know about you?

Joanne: I love horses and almost always put them in my books, but I am the most incompetent cowgirl ever. They say it’s hard to fall off a Western saddle, but I can find a way to do it every time. I do have experience with horses but most of it was ground training—for them, and for me!

Quickfire Questions

UGR: Hardcover or paperback books?
Joanne: Paperbacks. I can buy more of them with whatever’s left in my wallet!

UGR: Bookmark or dog ear page turner?
Joanne: Bookmark. I used to be in the used book business, so I can’t beat up a book too much.

UGR: Early bird or night owl?
Joanne: Night owl all the way!


UGR: Coffee or tea?
Joanne: Tea. Chamomile.


UGR:: Chocolate or vanilla?
Joanne: Both, in a hot fudge sundae!

UGR: Plotter or pantser
Joanne: Both again! I plot beginning, middle and end and then pants my way through the details.

UGR: Thank you for joining us today Joanne, we look forward to your next novel.

Tall, Dark and Cowboy
By Joanne Kennedy

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages
Published November 1st 2011 by Sourcebooks, Incorporated
ISBN: 9781402251443

 

Book Summary:

She’s looking for an old friend…

In the wake of a nasty divorce, Lacey Bradford heads for Wyoming where she’s sure her old friend will take her in. But her high school pal Chase Caldwell is no longer the gangly boy who would follow her anywhere. For one thing, he’s now incredibly buff and handsome, but that’s not all that’s changed…

 

What she finds is one hot cowboy…

Chase has been through tough times and is less than thrilled to see the girl who once broke his heart. But try as he might to resist her, while Lacey’s putting her life back together, he’s finding new ways to be part of it.

 

Buy from: Indiebound | Amazon | B & N| Powell’s | The Book Depository | Amazon UK

 

A Little Bit About Joanne

 

Joanne Kennedy is the author of three previous contemporary Western romances for Sourcebooks. She brings a wide variety of experience, ranging from chicken farming to horse training, to her sexy, spicy cowboy stories. She is a 2011 finalist in the prestigious Romance Writers of American RITA© Awards, for One Fine Cowboy. Joanne lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, where she is working on her next book, Cowboy Crazy (June 2012). For more information, please visit http://joannekennedybooks.com/.

 

 

 

 

 

The Giveaway

Thanks to Sourcebooks, I’m able to give two lucky readers a print copy of Tall, Dark and Cowboy. Enter the giveaway via the widget below. Only the comment entry is required (please make it a meaningful one). The other entry options are optional and just increase your odds of winning.

 

• Giveaway is open to US and Canadian Residents Only
• You must leave a meaning comment for your comment post 
• Giveaway Ends November 23, 2011 @ 12:01 am EST. Winner will be notified by e-mail and have 72 hours to respond.