Interview with Marie Force *giveaway*

We are excited to welcome Marie Force to our blog today to talk to about her latest book, Everyone Loves a Hero.

TBRG: Thank you for being here today.

MF: Thanks so much for having me!

TBRG: Before we get to the burning questions that everyone wants to know, can you tell us a little bit about your book?

MF: Sure, happy to! Hero pilot Cole Langston is learning to live with—and enjoy—his newfound fame and the rabid female attention that comes with it until a lucky punch knocks some sense into him and opens his eyes to true love.

When his copilot suffers a heart attack in flight, Cole lands the jetliner in a blizzard and revives the stricken captain. Catapulted to national hero status, Cole has more women vying for his attention than he knows what to do with. They all have one thing in common: they try without success to bring this happy-go-lucky pilot down to earth. Then comes an airport altercation, a punch to the face, and the lovely Olivia—a shy, timid artist who does what no other woman has ever managed to do: steal Cole’s well-protected heart. With women coming on to him everywhere they go, Olivia struggles to believe that Cole is ready for a committed relationship. His biggest problem is getting rid of all his extra ladies before the only one he wants figures out that she’s one of many.

TBRG: Who has been the biggest influence on your writing?

MF: I know you’re looking for the name of another writer or two, but if I’m being honest, I’d have to say my parents were my biggest influence because they always envisioned me doing exactly what I’m doing right now. They were the first to notice my “storytelling” skills (aka: fabrication) and were the first to encourage me to pursue that dream. I only wish my mother had lived to see me published. I like to think she had something to do with making it happen. I dedicated my debut book in part to them because they always said I could.

TBRG: What is the one thing your readers would be the most surprised to know about you?

MF: That I’m not good at anything else besides writing and editing. I’m not at all athletic, I’m an okay cook, I’m not much of a housekeeper, I drive too fast, I’m not nearly as good of a singer as I think I am… Are you getting the picture? Speaking of pictures, I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler and can’t do any form of math. My boss marvels that I can add incorrectly even with Excel doing the math for me. So, I’m a one-trick pony. That said, I wouldn’t trade my one trick for ANY other.

TBRG: Where is the one place you have always wanted to go, a place on your bucket list?

MF: I’d love to go to Australia. Austria, Ireland and England are also on my short list. However, since I truly hate to fly, I’m not optimistic about actually taking any of those trips. We’re planning to go to Spain sometime in the next year or two so we can show our daughter where she was born when we lived there (when my husband was in the Navy). Other than that, I’m not in any rush to renew my passport.

TBRG: Who are some of your go to authors, and what are you reading right now?

MF: Like many of RWA’s published authors, I’m reading RITA books, which are the books entered into the Romance Writers of America’s published author contest. I have eight books to read by early March, which isn’t usually an issue, but I have a novella for my Fatal series due Feb. 28, so this year the judging might be more challenging than usual. My go-to authors include Lisa Kleypas, Robyn Carr, Christy Reece, Maya Banks’ KGI books and Pamela Clare’s I-Team books.

TBRG:  If you weren’t writing and keeping us in books (thanks for that by the way), what would you be doing?

MF: Depends on the time of year. In the summer, I’d be relaxing on my dad’s boat or at the beach with my family. In the winter, I’d probably be reading, hanging out with my husband (with Brandy the puppy right between us at all times) and the kids running in and out. Life is chaotic and busy with a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old, but we’re enjoying it.

TBRG: Who is on your playlist when you are writing?

MF: I don’t listen to music when I write. Since I write at night when the kids are around, the TV is usually blaring in the background. I like to write while watching the Red Sox during the baseball season. The games provide a nice backdrop.

Otherwise you might catch me half-watching (as my family likes to say) American Idol, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Friday Night Lights, The Good Wife, NCIS, Law & Order SVU, Two and a Half Men and The Bachelor. Occasionally, I get sucked into an episode of the Kardashians, but I can’t let my daughter catch me watching that because she gets so mad with me for watching that “crap.” Who’s the parent around here anyway? J

TBRG: Where do your ideas/characters come from?

MF: I’ve found that when you’re looking for them, the ideas are everywhere. The idea for what became my Fatal Series came from a newspaper article about a congressman who was found dead in his Washington-area home. Everyone Loves a Hero came from a brief encounter I witnessed in an airport between a woman and an arriving pilot. My characters always follow the story, so the story inspires the characters, if that makes sense. The one exception to that was my very first book (as yet unpublished but hopefully not for much longer) in which the hero came long before the story.

TBRG: Are you a planner or a fly by the seat author?

MF: I’m a total seat-of-the-pants writer and wouldn’t have it any other way. However, I’ve been writing proposals for upcoming Fatal books, and I hate that! I hate knowing what’s going to happen. I much prefer to find out as I go along. So I write those proposals and then I forget about them and let the book write itself. (Shhh, don’t tell my editor that.)

TBRG: What can we expect next from you, besides the next Fatal book, and Everyone Loves a Hero?

MF: Right now the Fatal Series is keeping me booked solid with two more books and a novella coming in 2011 and early 2012. The series is set up to be long-running, so it seems my life will be “all Fatal, all the time” for the next little while. However, I’m working on a contemporary series and just sold my single-title contemporary Georgia on My Mind, which will be out sometime in the next year. I don’t have a release date yet.

TBRG:  I have noticed a theme in your books, Line of Scrimmage (my personal favorite), Love at First Flight (you had me worried about how that one was going to end), and your newest one Everyone Loves a Hero, each of the heroes knows who they are and what they want, and they have faith in the relationship, while the women with the encouragement of the men seem to have to go on a journey of self-discovery. Do you do this on purpose or is just the way the story comes to you?

MF: That’s an interesting observation, and it’s a pattern I’ve not really noticed or paid much attention to, but you’re right. The same holds true in Georgia on My Mind, so you can expect my “pattern” to continue. I guess my best explanation for the pattern would be that I like writing guys who know what they want when they see it, and I like writing women who are perfectly capable of thinking for themselves and who aren’t easily swept off their feet. They make their guys work for it, and I enjoy writing that.

EVERYONE LOVES A HERO BY MARIE FORCE – IN STORES FEBRUARY 2011

Fame has its perks…

Reluctantly famous, First Officer Cole Langston finds being in the spotlight has its advantages—until he meets Olivia. Having women throw themselves at him everywhere he goes becomes a serious problem when he’s trying to convince her she’s the one…

And its price…

Olivia has trouble trusting a guy like Cole, and everywhere she turns she sees reasons to run. But he’s the only man who’s ever seemed to understand her as an artist and as a woman…

Cole is working overtime to prove to Olivia that he’s serious, but her deep seated mistrust and his entourage of unwelcomed fans may be more than they can overcome…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marie Force is the author of Line of Scrimmage, Love at First Flight, Fatal Affair and Fatal Justice, as well as True North and The Fall (available as eBooks through Amazon.com). She is a member of RWA’s New England, From the Heart and Published Authors Special Interest Chapters. Marie lives in Rhode Island with her family and their feisty dog named Brandy. To find out more information about Marie’s upcoming releases, please visit http://www.mariesullivanforce.com/.

***2 Lucky commentors will receive a copy of this book. Open to US and Canada only***