Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Romance to Kick off Your Summer Reading


With the start of summer we all need new material to read while sitting outside on the patio or while we're relaxing on vacation.  Today we feature a book that will be coming out next month -- just in time to start reading a good new book.  My guest today is multi-published romantic suspense author, Sandra Kerns. Her newest book, Securing the Rancher's Heart comes out next month.
Did you always want to be a writer?

I never really thought about it until we moved to Minnesota and I was inside so much. Then characters kept running around in my head as soon as I went to bed making it hard to sleep. So, I started writing their stories down during the day and could finally sleep. It wasn’t until I moved to Colorado a couple of years later that I got any real training or information on actually doing it for a career.

Where do you get your story ideas?
Everywhere! In fact, I recently saw a commercial for Ancestry DNA that sparked one. I’d seen the commercial dozens of time before and all I thought was I don’t need a DNA test to tell me who I am. But this time what popped up in my head was, what if someone got their DNA ancestry, then started the ‘family tree’ search, and ended up digging up information someone wanted to keep secret. Oh yeah, that one’s going in a book, so don’t steal it!


Tell us about your writing process. Do you plot carefully or wing it?

I mostly wing it when it comes to writing. Stories percolate in my head for ages and I might write down a note here and there, but I do not plot. The act of putting the entire story down in an outline kills the motivation for me. If I know the end (other than it’s happy) I don’t want to write it. My characters tell me their story as I go and it makes the journey more enjoyable.

How do you normally come up with characters?

I don’t have a great answer for this. Like my story ideas, they just kind of blindside me. Sometimes the story idea comes first and sometimes a character does. When a character does he/she comes into my mind with a specific job/career. Then I decide what can happen in that career to make their life difficult.

Tell us about your latest book and what made you want to write it.

My upcoming release, working title, Securing the Rancher’s Heart, (due out June 21st) will be the first book in my new Master Security series. First, this series is a spin-off of my Masters Men series that featured the Masters/Collins clan through all of them getting married. My readers constantly want more of the Masters brothers and this was my way to continue using them. The brothers have all retired from their previous careers and joined forces in the part-time security business Ace Masters had started a few years earlier.

Securing the Rancher’s Heart came about because Chance, a character with a minor role in Her Master Match, kept yammering for his own story. He grew up on a dairy farm and had a high school crush on an upperclassman who was the daughter of a rancher. I’m sure you know the old saying that ranchers and farmers don’t get along. That’s where the fun starts.

What do you like best about your hero and heroine?

I like Chance’s battle between his family’s heritage and his desire to follow his own dreams. He was also a star shortstop in high school. I’m from NY and love my Yankees, (though I miss Derek Jeter immensely), so Chance being a shortstop just makes him irresistible to me.

For Marley, it’s her inner strength and determination to succeed while at the same time caring about others and her community. Granted, that strength and determination get her and Chance into some major arguments. Hey, what’s a romance without a challenge?

How about a blurb?
A Rancher. An intruder. A Security Man.
Marley Jasper can't deny trouble is knocking on her door whenshe has to shoot at an intruder. She needs to make her guest ranch secure before the season's kick-off barbecue. When she walks in the Master Security office, the last person she expects to see behind the desk is the baseball player she had a crush on in high school. 

When a gorgeous woman walks through the office door, Chance Dugan thinks his luck for the day has changed. Then she introduces herself and he realizes his mistake. The daughter of a rancher was definitely too good to be seen with the dairy farmer's son. Too bad she looks even better than before. When she tells him she shot at an intruder, the past is pushed aside by his protective instincts. The problem is those instincts don't work to protect him.
If you like strong heroines, determined heroes, and a little suspense in the mix, you’ll love Securing the Rancher’s Heart.

Preorder link:
How can readers reach you or find you online?

            I love to touch base with readers. They are so much fun to talk to. If they want to sign up for my email list and get to know me a little better along with getting 2 free ebooks, they can go to: http://sandrakerns.com/welcome

Or check out any of the following:



Twitter: @SandraSKerns


LinkedIn:  Sandra on LinkedIn






 What are you working on now?

            I’m working on books 2 & 3 in the Master Security series so I can get the series off with a bang this summer.
That sounds like a busy summer for you, but should make enjoyable reading for the rest of us.  Any questions or comments for Sandra?

1 comment:

  1. Rebecca, Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog. I hope your readers enjoy learning a little about me, but more about Chance and Marley. I had so much fun writing and researching their story.

    ReplyDelete

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