Guest Blog from Lisa Mondello Author of Lone Star Lady!
Give a warm welcome to Lisa Mondello, author of Lone Star Lady, eighth book in the Texas Hearts series!
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, or there’s homemade lemonade in the pitcher on the counter. Chose a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Lisa, her Lone Star Lady and the Texas Hearts series.
Lisa, Lone Star Lady is part of the Texas Hearts series. Tell us about connecting books in a series.Creating a new world for a romance series can be difficult for an author. How do you create a series of connecting characters while making every book fresh?
When I wrote the Lone Star Lady, part of the Texas Hearts series, it wasn’t originally supposed to be part of a series. It sold and was originally published by another publisher. But when I got the rights back to the book, I knew I didn’t want it to be a standalone book. So I rewrote it to be part of the Texas Hearts series. In doing so, I had to figure out how a standalone book that was very different than the Gentry brother’s story, could fit into that world.
My solution to connecting Lone Star Hero to Texas Hearts came by connecting the heroines from The Wedding Dress and Leaving Liberty to the heroine of Lone Star Lady. Life sometimes pulls you in different directions and different places. But friendships from the past endure. And so Hannah Ward and Liberty Calvert became Theresa Morales’s best friends. It gave me the opportunity to revisit those characters from past books and give readers and update without allowing their storylines to take over the current book.
I also included country singer Brock Gentry, hero of book 4 Gypsy Hearts, in the story as an off camera character. So readers who are familiar with the series have an automatic connection to that world even though I created a new location outside of Texas to set the story.
Authors love writing series just as much as readers love reading them. But the constant work to create something fresh to keep readers interested is work. Fortunately for me, I love this work. I hope you check out Lone Star Lady and all the Texas Hearts books at http://texasheartsromance.blogspot.com.
Interesting, connecting characters from different books in a series is the reason so many enjoy reading series. They don’t have to say goodbye to characters they’ve grown to love.
A sneak peek between the pages of Lone Star Lady!
“I didn’t know who else to go to. I really need your help.”
Teresa Morales listened to Dr. Dennis Harrington’s words as she sat curled up on the soft beige sofa in the lodge at the Taos Falls Mountain Ski Resort. The fire in the huge granite fireplace in the center of the room was burning hot—almost too hot for her comfort. Or maybe that was just her anxiety kicking in. This was supposed to be her vacation. No one was supposed to need her help here.
She bookmarked the page in the book she had been reading before Dennis’s abrupt arrival and closed it, setting it aside on the end table. With a swift motion, she untangled one long leg out from underneath her and brusquely hit her bare feet to the wide pine floor with a dull thud. If this was his idea of a joke, she wasn’t laughing.
“Dennis, I’m just a tourist here. What help could I possibly give you?”
“Last night…” His voice trailed off. His face looked stricken, and Teresa knew he wasn’t talking about the New Year’s Eve party they’d both attended—or the dance they’d shared. No, he was referring to what had happened afterward—the reason behind the beeper call that had pulled him out of her arms and away from the party after their dance. The horrible car crash on the bridge just a few hundred yards from the ski resort had been the only topic of conversation throughout Taos Falls today.
“I’m not sure you understand how severe the accident that took place last night really was.”
It was wonderful having you with us today, Lisa! Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Lone Star Lady.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Contemporary, Lisa Mondello, Lone Star Lady, Romance, Texas Hearts, Western by Tena Stetler with 1 comment.
Good Morning Lisa, great to have you here today! Writing series has it’s only challenges, but tying characters together is a great idea. Best of luck with Lone Star Lady.