Books-n-Kisses is super excited to have first time guest Laura Moore on the blog today to chat about life and her new book Once Tempted.

Laura, can you please share with us a little about yourself

LM: I’m a contemporary romance author, an animal lover, an avid gardener, and I love to cook. I’ll take any opportunity I can find to steal away and curl up with a book. I cry at movies embarrassingly easily, much to the amusement of my husband and two children. My dog is very understanding. Our cat stares at me as if I’m an alien. I like to work out and I have an astonishing ability to consume vast quantities of chocolate and coffee.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

LM: No. I bet I surprised you with that answer! But it’s true. I didn’t fill notebooks in third grade with juvenilia. I wanted to be a professional rider and trainer. Then I wanted to be a racecar driver. My next ambition was to be Jacques Cousteau–this was before I knew about Sylvia Earle. Then I dreamed of being a photographer and after that, an art restorer. I could go on for quite a while. You see, I have a fair number of writers in my family, so I knew what an unglamorous life it could be. Of course now I’m pretty happy that I one day did sit down and start filling up a notebook with an idea I had for a story. Now I have a job where I can daydream for hours and call it work.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

LM: I get up at 6:30 am, have breakfast, and walk Hardy, our dog. Upon my return I throw a load of laundry into the wash and run around straightening up the house. I’m kind of weird. There’s no way I can sit down to write if things aren’t basically organized around me. By 9:00 I’m at my computer. I try to work for three or four hours without wasting too much time checking and replying to emails, surfing the net in the name of ‘research’, or surfing the net simply because it’s there.

After lunch I’ll try to get a few more paragraphs onto the screen. If I’m lucky, another page or two. But my prime writing time is really that morning block of hours.

The one thing I can’t do without while writing is caffeine. It’s my drug of choice.

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

LM: Writing for me is always a challenge. The delete button is my favorite key. But without hesitation I can say the most rewarding aspect of writing is having a reader tell me that one of my books is on her keeper shelf, its spine broken, its pages dog-eared.

Can you please tell us about your latest book?

It’s called Once Tempted and it’s about a woman named Tess Casari. To escape the painful memories of a failed marriage, Tess leaves her life in New York City and the world she knows and sets out for California. A city girl, Tess would prefer to make a new life for herself in a place like L.A. or San Francisco, but Fate decrees otherwise, and Tess finds herself working at a guest ranch. Silver Creek Ranch is a sprawling operation that covers three thousand acres is home to more four-legged animals than she’s ever seen. But it’s a certain two-legged creature–a proud cowboy named Ward Knowles–that is the most worrisome thing about her new life…worrisome in the most delicious and distracting way.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

I really wanted to write about a woman who has to leave her life behind and make a fresh start in a foreign place where she knows not a soul. That’s how Tess Casari came into my life. Then I had to find her a white knight–or my version of it–to come to her rescue and heal her wounds. Ward Knowles, though he bears his own heartbreak, seemed ready and willing. I really like how Tess and Ward come together in this book and have to deal with their fears as they find love again.

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

LM: Once Tempted is the first book in my Silver Creek series. Now I’m working on the second story. It’s called Once Tasted and will be about Reid Knowles, Ward’s younger brother. Everybody loves Reid. He’s a handsome, blue-eyed cowboy who can charm just about any woman. Any woman but Mia Bodell, whose family owns the vineyard next to Silver Creek Ranch. Her youthful infatuation for Reid was killed years ago. For his part, Reid would as steer clear of Mia. Unfortunately, he’s made a promise to Mia’s uncle to watch out for her…I think it’s safe to say the sparks will fly between Mia and Reid.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

LM: The list is far too long. Why don’t I list my early favorites, the writers who made me fall in love with the romance genre? Those would be writers like Georgette Heyer, Nora Roberts, Lavryle Spencer, Jude Deveraux, Judith McNaught, Catherine Coulter, Julie Garwood, Linda Howard, Anne Stuart, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. And that was just my early years. I’ve kept my love of those writers and added on.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style? 

LM: Absolutely. I only wish I wrote as well they do!

Open your book to a random page and please reads us a few lines.

LM: Oh, I like this idea! It’s kind of how I had my heroine, Tess Casari, choose her destination in California. Okay, so here goes:

“Can I have it back?” She held out her hand imperiously. The effect, however, was spoiled by the fine trembling that seized it.

“Certainly.” His free hand slipped beneath the chair and snagged a delicate ankle. He tugged a resisting limb up and toward him. It was no contest. He’d had a lifetime experience wrestling cattle and sheep. One feisty, squirming Italian beauty wasn’t going to deter him.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

LM: Robyn Carr’s The Wanderer; Julie James’s Love Irresistibly; Nora Roberts’s Whiskey Beach. Jesse Hayworth’s Summer at Mustang Ridge

Is there anything else you would like to add?

LM: Nothing but a huge thank you for inviting me to come and talk about my books and my writing. This has been such fun.

Oh, and one more thing! I’d like to offer a copy of Once Tempted to three readers who leave comments (U.S. and Canada only, please). Can you tell me what’s on your To-Be-Read Pile?

Happy Reading!

~Laura

Laura loves to hear from readers. You can contact her at: www.lauramoorebooks.com or follow her on Facebook

You can also find her on Goodreads

Once Tempted

Amazon  | B&N

Sweeping passions, family drama, and searing scandal play out at the magnificent Silver Creek Ranch as the heirs to a powerful dynasty seize their legacy of love.
 
Oldest son Ward Knowles feels the sprawling California ranch in his blood. And now that the family business has expanded to include a popular resort, he’s working harder than ever. Silver Creek is his legacy and his life, which is fine for the ruggedly sexy ladies’ man and committed bachelor. Love and trust don’t come easily for Ward since he lost his heart to a gold digger—until he meets a shy, unpretentious beauty whose sweet grace is about to turn his jaded heart into a hungry one.

Tess Casari has found sanctuary at Silver Creek, working as an assistant to Ward’s mother, Adele. Grateful for her busy new life running the ranch’s spa and resort, Tess can escape the heartbreak, humiliation, and secret shame of her failed marriage. The last thing she needs is temptation—especially from a man who reminds her so much of the husband who shattered her faith in love. But passion and destiny are about to change the rules for two people who have stopped believing in the healing power of love.

Praise for Once Tempted
 
“[Laura] Moore’s first in her new Silver Creek series is packed with plenty of great, realistic dialogue and features two main characters whose actions and choices are easy to sympathize with. The glimpses of the hero’s two siblings will leave readers eager for their stories.”—RT Book Reviews
 
“When I read [Moore’s] books, I’m transported to the peaceful countryside with ranch homes and barns dotting the landscape. Once Tempted has all that and more.”—USA Today
 
“Ward is the perfect cowboy hero for a twenty-first century romance.”—Heroes and Heartbreakers

“Moore is a fantastic storyteller ensnaring your interest from the first page.”—Fresh Fiction

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