Nora Bradford of “Heating it Up” by Elizabeth Harmon @romanzwrter_grl #ContemporaryRomance #RedHotRussians #Giveaway

San Francisco architect Nora Bradford came to Antarctica as an associate with one of the world’s top firms specializing in environmentally friendly architecture. Nora is the lead designer of Glacier Ridge Lodge, a new luxurious, sustainable guest house at the Amity Bay Antarctica research station, and she’s poured her heart and soul into the project. After losing her beloved fiancé in a diving accident two years before, it’s all she has left. But when the promotion she was promised goes to someone else, and her angry confrontation with her boss gets her fired, Nora decides to remain behind to spend the winter alone in Antarctica. She never expects that Amity Bay’s handsome station manager Alexei Zaikov will show up at her door, determined to bring her in from the cold.

RW:   What’s your story/back story? Why would someone come up with a story about you?

NB:    Until recently, I was the most normal, stable person you’d ever want to meet.  I grew up in a military family. My father was a colonel in the Air Force and we lived all over the world. I was a good student, loved art, and never caused trouble. I graduated from Stanford, was hired by one of the top firms in my field, and was engaged to marry the man I loved. I did everything that was expected of me, but life isn’t fair, and I lost all of it; my fiancé, my career, my dreams. All gone. I guess there’s a story in that, though not one I ever wanted to be part of.

RW:   Can you tell us about your hero?

NB:    For so long, the only man who mattered to me was my fiancé, Blake. We     met in college, and were engaged by the end of grad school. Three months before our wedding, he drowned. In the two years since, I didn’t think I would ever be attracted to another man. And then I came to Antarctica and met Alexei Zaikov. He’s big, blond and handsome—the rugged, outdoorsy type that’s any woman’s dream. But he’s also gentle and caring. That’s what I like most about him.

RW:   What problems do you have to face and overcome in your life?

NB:    Right now, there’s a bit of confusion between Alexei and me. Actually between me and everyone at Amity Bay. You see, Glacier Ridge Lodge was built to replace the station, which is slated to be shut down this year. It’s heartbreaking for the people who call Amity Bay home, and not surprisingly, they resent the lodge. The problem is that they don’t know I designed it. They think I’m my jerky ex-boss’s secretary and that I was fired because I intervened when he chewing out one of the Amity Bay workers.  They’ve welcomed me into their community. If the truth comes out, they’ll hate me. Not only do I feel horrible about keeping this from them, I feel horrible that my building is going spell the end of Amity Bay.

RW:   Do you expect your hero to help or is he the problem?

NB:    Unfortunately, Alexi is only making it harder. He’s shown me so much kindness, and is willing to take our relationship slowly, because he understands that I’m still getting over Blake’s loss. I hate keeping this secret from him, especially because he was hurt by some woman back in Russia who cheated on him. He wants to trust me, but I think he senses I’m not being totally honest with him.

RW:   Where do you live?

NB:    Nowhere, at the moment. San Francisco was part of my life with Blake, but living there without him is just sad. Glacier Ridge Lodge is lovely, but it’s not a home either. As crazy as this sounds, if I could live anywhere, it would be in Amity Bay, Antarctica. It’s a warm-hearted little town in the middle of this vast, mysterious and beautiful wilderness, and it’s the first place I’ve felt at home in a really long time.

RW:   During what time period does your story take place?

NB:    Present day, in late April, which is the start of wintertime in Antarctica.

RW:   How are you coping with the conflict in your life?

NB:    (Laughs) Not too well! I’m a mess, because I’ve come up with an idea for how to save Amity Bay, and I know it can work! I learned so much on the Glacier Ridge Lodge project, I know I can lead this. But to put the plan in motion, I have to tell everyone that I’m not a secretary, but the evil genius responsible for the building that’s destroying their community. If I tell the truth, will they hate me? Will I lose Alexei?

          To say I’m nervous about coming clean would be an understatement.

RW:   Those are all the questions we have for you. Thank you for speaking to us.

NB:    Thank you.

Meet Elizabeth Harmon

Elizabeth Harmon loves to read and write romances with a dash of different.

A graduate of the University of Illinois, she has worked in advertising, community journalism and as a freelance magazine writer. She feels incredibly blessed to have a career that allows her to spend her days imagining “what if?” and a loving family that keeps her grounded in the real world. Her debut novel, Pairing Off is a 2016 RITA Award Finalist.

An adventurous cook, vintage home enthusiast, occasional actress, and entry-level figure skater, Elizabeth makes her home in the Midwest, where life is good, but the sports teams aren’t. She loves to hang out on her front porch, or at her favorite local establishments, enjoy good food and wine, and talk writing with anyone who will listen.

Heating It Up

A Tad More Plot

In Heating It Up, a heart-warming novel of mistaken identity and forced proximity, widow Nora Bradford and Russian adventurer Alexei Zaikov must work together to save their small Antarctic town from being shut down—but will the truth about Nora’s role in Amity Bay’s demise, doom their romance?

Excerpt

Slowly, Nora crawled from beneath the bed, then sat with her back against the wall, too stunned to go any further. She was alone. A squatter in Antarctica.  Well, she’d wanted to break some rules. Do something rash. Here was her chance. She might even make history. Assuming she survived.

The thought made her laugh, but as her laughter sputtered to an end, the oppressive silence of the huge empty lodge settled all around. She buried her head in her hands. Oh my God, what have I done?

The answer was the creak of footsteps on the stairs.

Nora gasped and swallowed. Her heart raced and moisture oiled her palms. She called out in a trembling voice. “Herbert? Mark? Is that you?”

Without waiting for an answer, she raced from the room. They were still here! It wasn’t too late! She could put this ridiculous scheme behind her, and go back to San Francisco like a sane person. Thank God!

“Hello! Hello! It’s Nora! I changed my mind! I’m coming with you!”

No one was on the stairs, or in the lobby. Shit! They must have gone outside. She could still catch them, if she hurried. She dashed across the lobby, slipping in her socks on the polished wood floor.

“Wait! Don’t leave without me!”

 Nora burst out the front door, and onto the veranda. A blast of frigid wind sliced through her sweater and stopped her in her tracks.

She stared down at the bay. Night was falling. And the yacht was gone.

Follow Elizabeth:

Website:  http://www.romancewriter-girl.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/elizabethharmonauthor?ref=hl

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/romanzwrter_grl

Google +:  https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/110498452269248625447/110498452269248625447/posts

Goodreads Author Page:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23440537-elizabeth-harmon

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/authors/elizabeth-harmon

BookLikes:  http://elizabethharmon.booklikes.com

Amazon Author Page:  http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00RY9SY0S

Heating It Up is Available at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords | Goodreads

Spread the news about Heating It Up with a GIVEAWAY!

Grand Prize: Three (3) Digital Book Bundles! Three winners will receive Pairing Off, Turning It On, and Getting It Back!

Direct link to enter: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/YjA1MGVmMjkwYTE2NWQzYWI3ODNiODExNGJiNGU0OjMzMA==/?

Charles Cranston Jett author of Bess #HistoricalFiction #LGBTQ

I’d like to welcome Charles Cranston Jett, author of Bess, the story of a twenty-one year-old girl who leaves her parent’s farm to homestead on her own in the southwest corner of North Dakota.

RW:        Tell us about yourself, your family, where you live.

CCJ:      My original roots are in the western Dakotas where I lived through high school. My college experience was the US Naval Academy and I spent my naval service time in nuclear submarines. (Wrote a book about that experience—Super Nuke!)

Following the navy, I went to the Harvard Business School, spent many years in business, and then began to write. I was married for 34 years when my first wife died—then remarried and have been very happy during the ten years we have been married. I have two grown children—one is a principal in an elementary school (Eugene, OR) and the other is in the US Navy.

RW:        Who are your favorite authors?

CCJ:      I enjoy Bertrand Russell, Tom Clancy, and William Manchester.

RW:        Who are your favorite characters among the books you’ve written?

CCJ:      Favorite character is “Bess”

RW:        What makes a good book?

CCJ:     Excellent and vivid story line and well developed characters with whom the reader becomes attached and cares.

RW:        How does reader feedback matter to you?

CCJ:     Reader feedback is essential. They tell you if your story makes sense and if you have told it well through your characters.

RW:       How much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing?

CCJ:      A lot. Super Nuke was a memoir, Critical Skills,The Doom Loop, and Field Studies are what I lectured about. Bess captures some of my early life experiences.

RW:       Tell us about your latest book. What motivated the story? Where did the idea come from?

CCJ:   Latest book is Bess. It’s a story about my grandmother and her experiences in going to far-western North Dakota as a single woman in 1908 and homesteading on her own. The story is real, and the experiences (for the most part) are real.

RW:        Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why?

CCJ:      It’s important in my writing to occasionally provide a little relief and maybe a smile from the reader. It lightens the tension where appropriate.

RW:     Can you describe the funniest thing that ever happened to you?

CCJ:      I wrote a letter to President Harry Truman when I was in the fourth grade warning him about the North Koreans invading the south. Three days later when the US intervened, I had tremendous feelings of guilt because I thought I started a war.

RW:      Tell us about the scariest thing that ever happened to you.

CCJ:     Being on a nuclear submarine shadowing the Soviets when a torpedo was launched. Fortunately, it was a training shot and not intended for us.

RW:      Those are all the questions I have for you today. Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

CJJ:       You’re very welcome. Read the book!

Bess

The Plot:

Bess Parker is only 21 years old when she sets out by herself in 1908, leaving the safety of her childhood home for southwestern North Dakota to establish a homestead. And it takes all the strength she can muster to succeed—facing the perils of the vast prairie, making her homestead productive, conquering the dangers of the frontier, flirting with romance, struggling with the emotional needs of her heart and body, and meeting the challenges of life on the prairie. But this unique young woman has a steely determination, and her story is the epitome of courage and grit in a difficult and sometimes cruel time in the history of the west.

Your Bio:

Charles Cranston Jett is a graduate of the US Naval Academy and the Harvard Graduate School of Business. He served in the US Naval Nuclear Submarine Force and has thirty years’ experience in the management consulting and executive recruiting world. A native of the Western Dakotas, Mr. Jett is also the author of WANTED: Eight Critical Skills You Need To Succeed; The Doom Loop; Field Studies; and Super Nuke! A Memoir About Life as a Nuclear Submariner and the Contributions of a “Super Nuke” the USS RAY (SSN653) Toward Winning the Cold War.

Excerpt:

Monday, July 6, 1908: Near Haley, North Dakota

Bess Parker awoke to the sound of meadowlarks. The morning was crisp and clear just south of the North Dakota and South Dakota state line, with a few clouds in the crystal-blue sky like puffs of cotton on their journey to the east. The scent of wet green hay wafted through the window, tickling her senses. I made it, she thought, as she got out of bed and quickly dressed. She put on her slippers and walked swiftly across the rough-hewn pine floor toward the front door. She headed outside to finally stand in front of her newly built sod house. She raised her arms and puffed out her chest to greet the new day. She smiled.

A fresh, cool breeze blew through Bess’s hair as she surveyed the green waving prairie grass in all directions and the Teepee Buttes about five miles directly west. A mile to the north, the winding Grand River flowed silently through the little town of Haley, North Dakota. It was as she had expected all along. It was what she had dreamed about—had longed for--and seemed to be a just reward for doing so much studying and planning. This is my land, she thought, my new home. My homestead.

As a 21-year-old single female, Bess had joined ranks with the few women who had taken advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862. This act, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, provided that anyone who had never taken up arms against the United States government (including freed slaves and women), and who was twenty-one years or older, a US resident, or the head of a family, could file an application to claim a federal land grant. This grant provided 160 acres of free land that the successful homesteader had to “prove up” over a five-year period to obtain title. Bess had successfully obtained her grant from the agent in Lemmon, South Dakota and was at the beginning of the five-year “prove-up” period. After five years, she would have to offer proof that she had lived on the land and provide evidence that she had made the kind of improvements that would make the land productive and sustainable for a person trying to earn a living. If that were done, the land would be hers free and clear.

Bess reflected on her accomplishments over the past couple of months but knew full well that her adventures were only beginning. It didn’t sound very exciting on the face of it—sleeping in a house made of grass and dirt, and dug into the side of a small hill on the vast prairie, but it was all hers. More than that, the future would belong entirely to her. It would be a new life—a challenge for anyone, and especially for a woman alone. The thought of it made her breathless.

Now, as she stood outside her home, a feeling of pride and accomplishment swept through her, and she couldn’t help but smile. This was it—her home—and to top it all off, she was in love. She had faced a challenge at a young age and had met it successfully head on, but Bess was no fool. She knew that many more challenges loomed in her future—challenges that she welcomed. It was exhilarating. Thrilling.

She stood silently and enjoyed the cool breeze, the pleasant sound of the wind blowing across the waving grass—like a heavenly whisper—and the happy birds. She closed her eyes and listened to those sounds that, together, were symphonic and seemed to transport her back in time—four years ago—to the only home she’d ever known…Cando, North Dakota.

Contacts:

Author Website:  https://charlescranstonjett.com/

Blogs:

https://criticalskillsblog.com/

https://thedoomloopblog.com/

https://thecranstonline.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ccjett?fref=ts

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/critskls

Amazon Author Page:  https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Cranston-Jett/e/B00S03T7LC

Barnes and Noble Author Page:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Charles%20Cranston%20Jett%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ntx=mode%20matchall

Buy Links:

Outskirts Press (Paperback):  http://outskirtspress.com/bookstore/details/9781478764861

Amazon:  https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1478764864

BN:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bess-charles-cranston-jett/1125200752