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#1 NY Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy Interview & Blog Tour from Novel Publicity
#1 NY Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy talks inspiration, romance, and research, plus tells us about the Callaways and how their lives resemble her own… Check out what she has to say and then read on for more information about this blog tour and all its great prizes!
What do you love most about being an author?
Being able to tell stories! I’ve been a voracious reader since I was a child, and having a job that allows me to create my own worlds, characters and plots is a dream come true.
What first inspired you to write the Callaways? Where did you get the initial idea for the series?
I had wanted to write a family series for a while, and I wanted the family to be blended, just to make the dynamics a little more interesting. Jack Callaway was a widower with four small boys when he met Lynda Kane, a divorcee with two small girls. They fell in love, got married and had twins. The eight siblings are now adults and range in age between 35 and 25. I also wanted the Callaways to stand for something. So there’s a family tradition of “serve and protect”. All the kids are raised with the idea that they need to serve the community, to help others and to always protect the family as well as anyone else in trouble. And the Callaways always seem to find trouble, even when they’re not looking for it.
Which of the Callaway siblings is the most like you? How are the two of you similar?
There is a piece of me in every character that I write, which makes it impossible for me to ever pick a favorite. I do like Emma a lot, because she’s the one person in the family who has a close relationship with every sibling. She’s also independent, brave and loving, which are all great traits.
Your characters all have such fascinating jobs, and, in reading your novels, it feels like I’m right there with them. How do you perform your research in order to make careers such as a smoke jumper, homicide detective, or Coast Guard rescue pilot so authentic?
I’ve read quite a few nonfiction books and articles written by smoke jumpers, firefighters, cops, etc. And I have a writer friend who is also a police detective, so I often ask her for help with the more technical aspects. But what’s really fun about writing is discovering new things—so I love to write about people in careers I don’t know that much about. In THAT SUMMER NIGHT, one of the characters is tied into the pharmaceutical industry, and I had never written a book that delved into that area. I found some of the true whistleblower stories that I read in preparation for writing that book to be fascinating. I think enjoying research is probably a big part of being a successful writer. I was born with a curiosity and an imagination. Writing is a great outlet!
The Callaways all have such beautiful, unique love stories. How do you get in the mindset for writing them? Are any of their stories inspired, at least in part, by your own real-life love story?
I have a wonderful husband who always takes credit for being my inspiration. And while that’s true, as a writer I do love to explore stories beyond my own personal experience. I like to bring together couples who complement each other but also drive each other a little crazy. I think love is about finding that one person who pushes you to be better, who challenges the way you think, supports you no matter what and gives you that heady, dizzy, wonderful feeling that comes when you fall in love.
I love that your novels are not only awesome romances but also have gripping suspense as a central part of the story line. How do you start planning your novels with the romance or with the suspense—or with something else altogether?
I enjoy writing romance that brings a little extra in terms of a plot. So every Callaway novel features a great love story, a puzzling mystery, some family drama and a little nerve-tingling suspense. I don’t outline in great detail, but I always have a general idea of the suspense plot points before I begin. The story takes shape and changes as I put myself into the characters’ heads. That’s part of the fun of writing!
Congrats on your groundbreaking, new partnership with Ingram to get the paperback editions of the Callaways out to the world. What about this opportunity has you most excited?
Since I formed my own publishing company and began independently publishing my books outside of the traditional New York publishing industry, it’s been a challenge to get my books into print and into physical bookstores across the country. Late last year, I entered into a groundbreaking partnership with Ingram Publisher Services to sell and distribute my books into retail outlets like Target, Barnes and Noble, airport bookstores and supermarkets, as well as other bookstore chains. I know there are lots of readers who still prefer to read in print, and I’m thrilled that they’ll now be able to read my bestselling digital series in their favorite format!
About the Callaway Blog Tour & All Its Great Prizes!
This is the week you finally meet the Callaways! Not only are they all over the web as part of their extraordinary blog tour, but they are also out and about in your neighborhood. That’s right; we’re celebrating the print launch with Ingram by throwing a party all over the world! Make sure to follow this tour closely for your chance to win gift cards, swag, autographed books, and other incredible prizes.
All the info you need to join the fun and enter to win amazing prizes is RIGHT HERE. Remember, winning is as easy as clicking a button or leaving a blog comment—easy to enter; easy to win!
To Win the Prizes:
- Purchase any of the Callaway novels by Barbara Freethy (optional)
- Enter the Rafflecopter contest on Novel Publicity (go here)
- Visit today’s featured social media event (that’s where the HUGE prizes are)
About The Callaways: The Callaways were born to serve and protect! In Barbara’s new connected family series, each of the eight siblings in this blended Irish-American family find love, mystery and adventure, often where they least expect it! Each book stands alone, but for the full enjoyment of the series, you might want to start at the beginning with On A Night Like This! Get the eBooks via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, or Kobo.
About the Author: Barbara Freethy has been making up stories most of her life. Growing up in a neighborhood with only boys and a big brother who was usually trying to ditch her, she spent a lot of time reading. When she wasn’t reading, she was imagining her own books. After college and several years in the P.R. field, she decided to try her hand at a novel. Now Barbara is a #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author loved by readers all over the world. Her novels range from contemporary romance to romantic suspense and women’s fiction. Learn more on her website, Facebook page, or in her Street Team.
CLEAN TEEN PUBLISHING STANDS UP AGAINST BULLIES!
Jon Messenger- $10 Amazon Gift Card
Amanda Strong- Signed Copy of The Awakener (US Only- International will get The Awakener e-book) & a Hidden Monster Necklace
Kelly Risser- Signed copy of Never Forgotten (US Only- International will get Current Impressions e-book) and a Swag Pack (includes postcard and ribbon charm bookmark)
Julie Wetzel- Signed copy of Kindling Flames- Gathering Tinder (US Only- International will get Kindling Flames- Flying Sparks e-book) and a Bookmark.
Michelle Pickett- Milayna Swag Pack and a print copy of Finding Willow (US Only- International will receive an e-book ARC of Unspeakable.)
Angela J. Townsend- eBook Prize pack including Angus MacBain and the Island of Sleeping Kings, Moonflower and River of Bones.
Jennifer Anne Davis- eBook Prize pack including The Key, Red and War.
N.W. Harris- Signed copy of The Last Orphans (US Only- International will get The Last Orphans e-book) and a bookmark.
Rebecca Gober and Courtney Nuckels- Signed copy of Project ELE (US Only- International will get The entire ELE Series in e-book format) and a signed bookmark.
Sandy Goldsworthy- Swag Pack- postcard and ribbon charm bookmark.
Alicia Michaels- Autographed copy of The Bionics (US Only- International will receive The Bionics Boxed Set, digital format) and a bookmark.
Sherry Ficklin- Swag Pack!
Peggy Martinez- Audio book for Sweet Contradiction.
Holly Kelly- Autographed copy of Rising (US Only- International will receive Rising and Descending in digital format).
Lauren Nicolle Taylor- The Wounded iPhone 5 phone case! (International)
Erica Kiefer- Signed copy of Lingering Echoes (US Only- International will receive a digital copy of Lingering Echoes) and a bookmark
Sherry D. Ficklin- Losing Logan Audio Book
*You will see the entry option on the Rafflecopter Form.
CLEAN TEEN PUBLISHING GIVEAWAY!
Our team at Clean Teen Publishing and Crimson Tree Publishing has a big reason to celebrate! We just signed our 65th Title! That’s big news for our company after just celebrating our one-year anniversary a few months back. To celebrate, we are giving away not one, but two $65 Amazon Gift Cards (or Paypal Cash)! We decided one wasn’t enough so Clean Teen Publishing will be giving away one and Crimson Tree Publishing is giving away the other.
Here is the big list of our 65 titles in alphabetical order:
A Place Halfway, Aftermath, Angus MacBain and the Island of Sleeping Kings, Burden of Sisyphus, Concealed in the Shadows, Current Impressions, Descending, Double Star, Ending ELE, Exposing ELE, Fall of Icarus, Finding ELE, Flame, Flame Caller, Haunting Zoe, Hidden Monster, Kindling Flames (Flying Sparks), Kindling Flames (Gathering Tinder), Last Orphans, Leighton’s Summer, Lingering Echoes, Losing Logan, Moonflower, Never Forgotten, Night Marchers, Project ELE, Purge of Prometheus, Queen of Someday, Red, Redemption, Released from the Darkness, Reluctant Guardian, Rising, River of Bones, Rumors, Secrets, Smoke Rising, Spark, Surviving ELE, Sweet Contradiction, The Awakener, The Bionics, The Eye of Tanub, The Hunted, The Key, The Mind’s Eye, The Power to See, The Wall, The Wanted, The Woodlands, The Wounded, Titanium, Unspeakable, Voodoo Moon, War, Water Shaper, Wicked Glory, Wicked Hunger, Wicked Power, Wind Warrior, Wolves of the Northern Rift, Wonderstruck, Worlds Between, Worlds Entwined, Worlds Undone
Here is the big list of our 65 titles in Mr. Squirrel’s order:
Now it’s time to enter the giveaway! This giveaway runs through September 30 2014. Good Luck!
BLOGGERS: READ THIS!
Hey, blogger friends, listen up! I’ve got a chance for you to receive two free eBooks and to compete for over $800 in prizes, and it’s so easy to participate. Read on for more…
Novel Publicity is currently recruiting for one of their gigantic whirlwind tours. This time, they’re touring two books by David Litwack. The first, Along the Watchtower, is a work of contemporary fiction with a fantasy bent. The second, There Comes a Prophet, is a YA dystopian that follows in the proud tradition of such classics as 1984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit 451. Review one, both, or neither. That’s right, you don’t even have to read the books to participate–although that’s definitely an option. Novel Publicity will provide your choice of a pre-formatted excerpt, interview, or guest post to make participation easy.
Tour Dates: July 22 to 26, 2013
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, YA Dystopian
Page Counts: 225, 266
The Prizes:
* $100 Best/ most creative entry (2 prizes)
* $100 Random commenter prize
* $50 Rafflecopter (2 prizes)
* $50 Random blogger award
* $50 GoodReads party prize
* $50 Facebook sharing contest
* $100 in the special author contest
* Kindle Fire in the special author contest
About Along the Watchtower
A Tragic Warrior Lost in Two Worlds…
The war in Iraq ended for Lieutenant Freddie Williams when an IED explosion left his mind and body shattered. Once he was a skilled gamer and expert in virtual warfare. Now he’s a broken warrior, emerging from a medically induced coma to discover he’s inhabiting two separate realities. The first is his waking world of pain, family trials, and remorse—and slow rehabilitation through the tender care of Becky, his physical therapist. The second is a dark fantasy realm of quests, demons, and magic that Freddie enters when he sleeps.
In his dreams he is Frederick, Prince of Stormwind, who must make sense of his horrific visions in order to save his embattled kingdom from the monstrous Horde. His only solace awaits him in the royal gardens, where the gentle words of the beautiful gardener, Rebecca, calm the storms in his soul. While in the conscious world, the severely wounded vet faces a strangely similar and equally perilous mission—a journey along a dark road haunted by demons of guilt and memory—and letting patient, loving Becky into his damaged and shuttered heart may be his only way back from Hell.
About There Comes a Prophet
But what are we without dreams?
A thousand years ago the Darkness came—a terrible time of violence, fear, and social collapse when technology ran rampant. But the vicars of the Temple of Light brought peace, ushering in an era of blessed simplicity. For ten centuries they have kept the madness at bay with “temple magic” and by eliminating forever the rush of progress that nearly caused the destruction of everything.
A restless dreamer, Nathaniel has always lived in the tiny village of Little Pond, longing for something more but unwilling to challenge the unbending status quo. When his friend Thomas returns from the Temple after his “teaching”—the secret coming-of-age ritual that binds young men and women eternally to the Light—Nathaniel can barely recognize the broken and brooding young man the boy has become. And when the beautiful Orah is summoned as well, Nathaniel knows he must somehow save her. But in the prisons of Temple City he discovers a terrible secret that launches the three of them on a journey to find the forbidden keep, placing their lives in dire jeopardy. For a truth awaits them there that threatens the foundation of the Temple. But if they reveal that truth, the words of the book of light might come to pass:
“If there comes among you a prophet saying ‘Let us return to the darkness,’ you shall stone him, because he has sought to thrust you away from the light.”
SCARETACULAR HALLOWEEN GIVEAWAY
For my wonderful followers and future followers a HUGE Halloween Giveaway! Enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win an insane amount of goodies from EXTREMELY AWESOME Authors! Good Luck and feel free to SHARE!
Thanks so much! Cynthia and Cassie
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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