JoAnne Kenrick
Cate: Yay, JoAnne Kenrick is here to
help us Celebrate Amore. JoAnne, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
JoAnne: Hiya, Cate! Thanks so much for
inviting me to help you celebrate Amore here on your blog today. About myself,
let's see. I'm a romance author who dabbles in creating book trailers. Suppose
you could say I'm best known for my Irish Kisses series, of which most of the
books have been bestsellers on Bookstrand, ARe, and Amazon. Guess folks love my
Irish bartenders ;) I know I do!
Cate: What's not to love? :) What do you love most about
Valentine’s Day?
JoAnne: It's a darn good excuse to watch
a super romantic movie, and to treat myself to some yummy chocolates and other
decadent treats.
Cate: I like the way you think! lol Do you have a favorite Valentine’s
Day memory?
JoAnne: Honestly, this question takes me
right back to High School - I bought this super expensive 'puffy' V-day card for
a boy who didn't know I existed. I proceeded to sneak him the card, unsigned. I
remember hearing from my friends for weeks after, how he had no clue who it was
that sent him the card. But he was desperate to find out. tehehe One of my
hairs had apparently got caught in the sellotape on the envelope; he quizzed
every girl he knew with my color hair. Shame he never asked me ;) Yeah, I was
super shy in school.
Cate: Aw, so sweet. Do you have any romantic
Valentine’s Day traditions?
JoAnne: Ha, yeah…I do. Disagreeing with
my hubs that V-day isn't just a commercial holiday created to steal your money,
and that it's okay to get me a lil pressie. The other tradition is, I always lose
the 'discussion'.
Cate: Hope he makes it up to you in other ways. ;) Tell us about your latest release,
and where readers can find it online.
JoAnne: You betcha! Hot Winter Kiss is
my latest release, which is a snowed in wintery kinda romance set in a remote
Irish castle. A May to December romance, barmaid of Bell's Irish Pub and granny
gets a Christmas present of her dreams; a 1Night Stand with an Irish hottie…but
she doesn't realize her rude hero and host at the castle is her date until
later, and he just keeps on getting her knickers in a twist..in more ways than
one. It's my favorite Irish Kisses book to date, because Sandra has been in
each of the Irish Kisses stories; I've grown to love her like a sister. It's
awesome she finally got her own HEA. If anyone of my characters deserves it,
she does. She puts up with some crap from those Bell's boys.
To find out more about Hot Winter Kiss
or any of my other releases, please head on over to my website
www.joannekenrick.com
Cate: Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
JoAnne: Let's see… *scans Hot WInter
Kiss for her favorite scene* here we go:
The
gentle snowfall transformed into a blizzard. Ardan flicked the windshield
wipers to full whack. Lucky they only had another couple of miles to go and
could walk if the car got jammed in a heap.
Slowing
the vehicle to a crawl, he prayed his mid-renovation Alfa Romeo would hold out.
He would have used the four by four, but his mother had borrowed it.
His
passenger leaned against the window with her mouth wide open, her breath heavy.
Damned woman slept, out like a log. How could he apologize for the terrible
first impression he must have given her? Stupid digital books and noisy bar. He
despised the bustle of the city, but he hadn’t meant to take his impatience out
on her. Amy often said he had low tolerance levels. Guess she’d been right.
Amy,
his wife, had died on Christmas Eve two years earlier. He kept her pink blanket
on the back seat where she always threw it no matter which car they used.
“Living out in the sticks,” she’d say, “means you have to be prepared for
anything. This blanket could be the difference between staying alive or
freezing to death if the car ever breaks down.” He didn’t have the heart to
throw the precious keepsake out or stash it in the attic.
Reaching
to the back—keeping his sight focused on the road ahead—he felt around for the
cover. His digits landed on something soft and he yanked it to the front and
brought it to his nose, searching for some semblance of comfort. The scent of
her still wedged in the thick softness. The faint, but distinct waft of her
favorite flowery perfume filled his nostrils, and his memory hurtled back to
when she insisted on knitting the thing. Her little side smile, the sparkle in
her violet eyes—as if it were yesterday.
His
heart lay heavy. A sigh escaped him and steamed up the window.
Sandra
shivered, and her knees knocked together. The poor lass was freezing. Instinct
made him want to cascade his treasured knit over her, but his mourning for his
dead fiancée made him pause. “Damn it, Amy wouldn’t want her ta catch her
death.” He placed the blanket on her knees and lifted it around her shoulders.
Without the harsh din of Laverty’s and her crass tongue to bug him, she was
stunning. Naturally pretty. Shame about her foul cockney mouth.
He’d
known Sandra was a touch older than him but Christ, how old had she said she
was? Word around the country club was the 1Night Stand agency had a spotless
record—he trusted the match and figured there’d be a solid reason why Madame
Eve thought they’d be good together.
Distracted
by his thoughts, he lost control of the vehicle, and the front end swerved to
the right. He turned the wheel and eased his foot down on the brakes, the
friction from the wheels over ice sending a high-pitched whir echoing across
the frosted countryside. The back of the car jerked to the left and sent them
skidding into a snowy embankment.
“Bollocks!”
He turned the engine over and nothing happened. He tried again, and again.
Still nothing.
She
stirred but somehow neither the commotion nor his swearing woke her. Muttering
under his breath, he poked her. “Sandra,” he whispered. No movement. He put his
hat on and buttoned up his coat. Blizzard-like conditions and bitter night
air–he didn’t want to freeze to death out there, and it’d take a half hour to
trek to the castle.
“Ya
gotta wake up. We’ve got twenty minutes of light left—if we don’t hurry, we’re
in big trouble.”
“Hmm,
what?” She stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “Are we there already?”
“Me
car’s dead.” He got a torch out of the glove box and maneuvered around black
ice to open the door for Sandra. “We gotta walk the rest of the way.”
“I
ain’t bloody well walking anywhere, donkey ass idiot. I’d rather die in the
snow.” She shivered and shrank farther under Amy’s blanket.
“Ya
get ya cockney ass out the car now. If we keep a steady pace, we’ll be by a
fire sipping hot toddies in no time.”
Cate: Love a man who knows how to inspire a woman, lol. What inspired you to write about
the theme?
JoAnne: Sandra did. I always knew she'd
get her own story the day I finished book one, Sweet Irish Kiss, but I didn't
know who her dream guy was just yet. I had to get to know her…and she led me to
the May to December theme. Also, she deserved to have her super romance
experience since she's a mega romance reader herself.
Cate: Anything else you’d like to share?
JoAnne: I hope you're not suggesting I share
my man? hell no. That dude is mine! Mine, I say.
Cate: lol, I can understand why! Oo, you lucky readers, JoAnne has a surprise for you.
JoAnne: I'd love to gift a reader of your blog
an ecopy of Hot Winter Kiss! Comment with a chance to win. Recipes for a
Valentines Irish cocktail fit for Bell's Irish Pub will get an extra entry
point ;)
Cate: Yum, very sweet! :) Thanks for joining the party, JoAnne. Happy Valentine's Day!
