I’d like to welcome Jana Richards, author of the Love at
Solace Lake series to my blog today.
JR: I live in Winnipeg,
Canada. My husband and I have two grown daughters who we’re very proud of. One’s
a journalist and one’s an RN and studying to be a nurse practitioner. Away from
writing, I work part-time for the provincial veterinary medical association,
doing mostly accounting. We like traveling, concerts and golf (my husband
adores golf—I like yoga better).
RW: How many hours a day do
you spend writing?
JR: It really varies. There
are days I’ll spend eight hours at my computer, and days I don’t write at all.
But most of the time, my limit is two to four hours at one sitting. Writing is
such an intense mental exercise that it takes everything out of me. Unless the
words are really flowing, after a few hours, my brain is fried!
RW: Why did you decide to
write? When did you submit your first manuscript and what genre was it?
JR: After reading my first
romance, I was hooked, and I got the feeling that I could write one, too. It
was a strong feeling that wouldn’t let me go. Now I’m hooked on telling
stories. It probably sounds trite, but I can’t not write.
I honestly can’t
remember the first manuscript I submitted. It likely was contemporary romance
and it would have been submitted twenty or more years ago. It was rejected, and
so were several other of my early efforts. It took me a long time to produce a
manuscript that was worth publishing.
RW: Has your life changed
since you became a writer? What’s the best thing about being a writer?
JR: Well, for sure my house
isn’t as clean as it used to be! Writing takes a lot time and energy. Then
there’s all the time and energy needed to promote the writing and find readers.
It’s meant a few things have gone by the wayside. Fortunately, my husband doesn’t
mind cooking!
The best thing about
being a writer is making up worlds and characters out of my imagination. I love
that!
RW: Who are your favorite
authors? Who influenced your writing?
JR: I have a lot of
favorite authors—Mary Balogh, Julie James, Suzanne Brockmann, Lisa Kleypas,
Kristin Higgins, to name a few. Probably the author who influenced me most when
I first began writing was Nora Roberts. How can you not admire someone as
prolific as Ms. Roberts who tells such amazing stories? I want to be Nora
Roberts when I grow up!
RW: Who are your favorite
characters among the books you’ve written?
JR: One of my favorite
characters is Zane from A Long way from Eden. He’s a strong, alpha male
character, someone who doesn’t take any crap from anyone. But he’s fiercely
loyal to the people he loves, and he looks after them, even if his actions aren’t
always welcomed by his loved ones.
Another of my favorite
characters is Cameron from Secrets and Solace, book 2 of my new Love at Solace
Lake series. Cam has faced a lot of struggles in his life, a dysfunctional
family, an unplanned pregnancy with a cheating partner, and struggles with
alcohol. But he overcomes all those things to become a caring father and loyal
brother. But when he faces his biggest struggle, he has trouble accepting help
from the people who love him.
RW: What makes a good book?
A great romance? Is humor important in fiction and why?
JR: I think characters that
readers care about are essential to a good book. To that I’ll add characters
that readers care about who are facing a struggle. Unless there is some kind of
conflict that forces the characters to act and to change, there’s not much of a
story. That’s true for any genre.
A great romance has to
have all of the above plus it has to show two (or more) characters falling in
love. And not just any garden-variety infatuation. It has to be the love of
their lives, something they can’t get with anyone else. Humor is definitely a
part of that. Even a very serious story can use humor to lighten moments and to
show the characters are human.
RW: How much of your personality and life
experiences are in your writing?
JR: Quite a bit, actually. A writer can’t help
putting some of themselves into their writing because we’re reflecting the way
we see the world. In a manuscript I’m working on right now, I’m relating my
experience with my dog!
RW: Tell us about your latest book. What motivated
the story? Where did the idea come from? What genre is it? Does it cross over
to other genres? If so, what are they?
JR: My latest releases are the three books in the
Love at Solace Lake contemporary romance series. Three sisters inherit their
grandfather’s old fishing lodge in Minnesota and they work together to revive
the failing business. They grew up at the lodge with their grandparents after their
parents died in a murder/suicide. As the series unfolds, light is shed on old
secrets.
What
motivated the writing of this series is wanting to explore what happens to a
child when there is a murder in the family. Each of the sisters reacts a little
differently to the death of their parents: Harper struggles with issues of
abandonment, Scarlet feels guilty, and Maggie, who was too young to know her
parents, feels cheated.
RW: What are your thoughts on love scenes in
romance novels?
JR: I’m all for them! I’ve come to the point in my
writing where I like to include at least one love scene, even in a very short
work. I know that there is a wide range of likes and expectations from readers
when it comes to love scenes. In some of the reviews I’ve received for the
first book in the Love at Solace Lake series, LIES AND SOLACE, Harper’s story,
one reviewer said she skipped over the love scenes, while another reviewer said
she wanted the book to be hotter. Different strokes for different folks!
RW: Those are all the questions I have for
you. Thank you for speaking to me.
JR: Thanks Rochelle. It’s been fun!
LIES AND SOLACE
The
Plot
She
can’t live with one more lie. He can’t tell the truth.
Harper Lindquist
is convinced she’s found the answer to her financial prayers. Unless she pours
cash into crumbling Solace Lake Lodge, she’ll lose her family’s legacy. Her
would-be savior arrives in the middle of a Minnesota blizzard and she’s
determined to prove to her reluctant, and trapped, financier the lodge is a
sound investment. But Harper isn’t completely honest with him. And she has no
idea the lake is hiding secrets of its own.
Ethan James is a
liar, but his money is very real. He isn’t convinced a broken-down inn is a
smart investment opportunity. But the more he understands Harper’s dreams and
desires, the more he wants to be the man to make them come true. The trauma in
both their pasts means neither can fully trust the other. They must find the courage
to love, to trust, and to accept, or yesterday’s sorrows will keep them apart.
An
Excerpt:
As she stared
into his dark eyes she realized how much she trusted him and relied on him.
That was something rare for her. The only people she trusted as much were her
sisters.
I’m
in love with him.
The thought
blasted through her brain with the force of a tsunami. The tension of the last
few weeks, the insecurity, the mistrust, the fear, slipped easily from her
shoulders. For the first time, her mind was clear. She was in love with Ethan
and she didn’t want to wait anymore. She wanted him. She wanted him to be her
first, her last.
Finding courage
she didn’t know she possessed, Harper slid off the stool and walked around the
island. She plucked the wine glass from his hand and set it on the counter,
then placed his hand on her breast. “Make love with me, Ethan.”
A fire lit in his
eyes, telling her he wanted her, too. But there was a question there, a
hesitation. “Are you sure?”
She’d never been
more sure of anything in her life. “Yes.”
“Harper—”
“Shhh. Let’s not
talk anymore.” She placed one finger over his lips, then stood on her tiptoes
and kissed him.
Ethan’s reaction
was lightning swift. He wrapped his arms around her and brought her close, his
mouth descending on hers in a wild, warm kiss. Their tongues tangled, slid over
each other. She’d missed his touch, his taste. She moaned, and in the sound she
heard thirty-two years of longing.
For this. For him.
Jana Richards
Bio
In her life away from writing, Jana is an accountant/admin
assistant, a mother to two grown daughters, and a wife to her husband, Warren.
She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in
that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg, Canada with their elderly Pug/Terrier
cross named Lou. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her
website at www.janarichards.com
Book
Links:
Amazon:
Contact
Jana Richards At:
Website:
http://www.janarichards.com
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/JanaRichards_
Amazon
Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/janarichards
