Start the week with M. Kate Quinn

The only time in my life that ever turned out like it does in the movies, of course, was now.

Eddie put the key into the lock, gave it a good hard twist and it opened easy as pie. Sadly I didn’t have a pie on me, because the look he gave me deserved a pie to be tossed right smack in his face.

As he handed the key back to me, he gave the keychain a look.

“Thank you,” I said, reaching for the key, which he did not immediately relinquish.

“You’re welcome,” he said, then read the inscription aloud, “The voice of the sea speaks to the soul.” Then he gracefully placed the keychain into my waiting palm. I did not comment.

“A special meaning of some kind?” he asked.

Oh, brother. I am not getting into a lengthy discussion with him. “It’s just a message from a friend.”

“Oh, a message from the friend that gave you the key?”

“Yes,” I said as he stepped away from the doorway.

“Well,” Eddie said with a devilish smile as he stepped off the front porch. “Tell your friend to spray that lock with a little WD-40 so it doesn’t stick when you want to open it.”

Oh, I intended to talk to my friend all right. I could not wait to tell Yvonne that her birthday cottage came with its very own gorilla.


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You just read an excerpt from:
SUMMER IRIS
by
M. KATE QUINN
Buy Link : http://www.thewildrosepress.com/summer-iris-p-4100.html
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Today, we’re here with published author, M. Kate Quinn.


Linda Kage: Hi! Tell us a little about you and what you write please.

Quinn: I write romantic comedies, contemporary romance with an emphasis on mature heroines, non "Barbie-esque." My pen name is M. Kate Quinn and it's a variation of my maiden name.

Kage:What’s your backlist and coming soon bookshelf look like?

Quinn: "Summer Iris" is my debut novel. It is the first in my "Perennials Series" through The Wild Rose Press. The second in the series, "Moonlight and Violet" is due to release on April 22, 2011.

Kage: What happened to the first book you ever wrote?

Quinn: Truthfully, "Summer Iris" is the first entire book I've ever written. I have, however, written many short stories and novel ideas, and they are stored in a cardboard box in my attic. Some of the earlier writings go back to when I was a kid.

Kage: So, what story are we going to talk about today?

Quinn: Today I'm excited to tell you about "Moonlight and Violet," which as I said is the second in my series. "The Perennials" is a trio of romances whose link is not the specific characters but the type of characters. Each heroine in this series is a woman "of a certain age" who finds herself at a crossroads at the middle of her life's journey. And, each heroine has the name of a perennial flower. I chose that title because perennials can sustain the bitter cold of winter and yet come forth again in the spring....resilient, unquenchable, deeply rooted, forever beautiful.

In "Moonlight and Violet" you'll meet Violet Terhune, at forty-four, a self-professed Italian mother’s nightmare. She can’t cook and she’s still single. Younger sister Penny, the apple of their mother’s eye, asks Violet to be her maid of honor and she can’t refuse even though the week-long wedding fest takes place at The Pines, the Vermont lodge where the Terhune family had spent their summers during the girls’ childhoods. The Pines is now run by Logan Monroe, the former owner’s son who shattered Violet’s heart years ago and thanks to Penny’s finding Violet’s girlhood diary, she is bombarded by the effects of love lost. Logan Monroe has a long-kept secret and its revelation unleashes the desires he’s fought to deny. There in the piney forest truths, regrets, and fears collide with matters of the heart, differences meld with the loyalty of family and the courage of choice reveals its path in a beam of moonlight.

Kage: What would the story be rated if it were a movie?

Quinn: PG-13. My love scenes are tame, I suppose, by some standards, but the emphasis is on the emotional connection and the romance..

Kage: If you HAD to fit this story into a cliché, which one would it be?

Quinn: Honestly, I don't think it fits into any specific cliche'. I will say that "Moonlight and Violet" is a story about the relationships among mother and her daughters like the movie "A Mirror Has Two Faces," the love of a lifetime like "The Way We Were," and the power of friendship like "Beaches."

Kage:Okay, now that we have a general idea which class to fit "Moonlight and Violet" under, what makes this book so unique from every other book out there?

Quinn: What makes "Moonlight and Violet" unique is honesty. This is a story of real feelings that we all harbor. Feelings of inadequacy, longing, hope, love, loss, belonging, acceptance.

Kage:What was the easiest part to write?

Quinn: Dialogue is my strong suit. I believe what we say reveals what and who we are on all levels.

Kage:What do you like most about the main character(s) and what do you like least? Did you learn anything from them?

Quinn: If I had to pick what I like least about Violet is that she can sometimes be her own worst enemy, yet, so can I. And Logan, well, I love his sense of loyalty and responsibility but also want to ring his neck for it.

Kage:Ms. Kate, Thank you so much for stopping by today and gracing us with your presence. Before we go, is there anything else you’d like to say to wrap things up?

Quinn: I hope "Moonlight and Violet" makes you laugh and sigh, from my heart to yours.

If you're still curious about M. Kate Quinn, here are other places to find her on the web:

Website: http://www.mkatequinn.com/

Blog: http://www.mkatequinn.blogspot.com/

Facebook: Fans of M. Kate Quinn

Want to have some fun? Take the M. Kate Quinn Trivia Challenge...

1. The M in M. Kate Quinn stands for ______.
a) Morgan,
b) Martha,
c) Mary,
d)Meredith

2. Between the two of them, M. Kate and her husband have _____ children.
a) zero,
b) three,
c) six,
d) twelve

3. M. Kate has a cat named _____.
a) John Wayne,
b) Iris,
c) Sammy,
d) Cuddles

4. M. Kate Quinn's story, Summer Iris, was voted Book of the Week at _____.
a) Night Owl Reviews,
b) The Romance Studio,
c) Long and Short of It Reviews,
d) Rites of Romance