I'm playing - The Next Big Thing...

What is the working title of your book?
Pretty Near Perfect, part of the Christmas Romance Stories - All I Want.

Where did the idea come from for the book?
Rachael Ranee Anderson, Kaylee Baldwin, and I are all Cedar Fort authors. Rachael mentioned doing Christmas stories, or some other type of "themed" fun romantic stories last year. I wrote my story last November, and this past summer we talked about it again, and decided to jump in.

What genre does your book fall under?
Contemporary Romance.

What actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Audrey Tatou and a young Hugh Grant (even though I think he's hotter older, but whatevs)

What is the one-sentence sypospis of your book?
Totally going to cheat here and give you the three sentence blurb of MY story and contribution to the book.

The last thing Norah needs is to be attracted to anyone - especially in her deceased fiancé’s parent's home. Collin’s starting a new career, and has no business getting involved – especially while staying with his roommate’s family, who very kindly offered to take him in for the holidays. Unfortunately, you just don’t always pick the most convenient time and place to fall for someone.

Will your book be self-published, or repped by an agency?
Uh... both.
Jane Dystel is awesome, and I self-publish anything I like.
Rachael and Kaylee are both un-agented, so it seemed like a good time to do something like this.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
2-3 days. It's 18K (ish).

Opening:

I’m not ready to get out of the car. Not yet. Not here. 

(And a coupla fav lines)

Fabulous moments like kissing on a swing in the backyard shouldn’t be tainted with anything but wonderfulness.

And here I am with the butterflies mocking my decision to keep him at a distance for the weekend.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Yeah... Jolene's not answering this for too many reasons to go into, lol.
There are three contemporary romance stories clean enough that I'd let my daughter read them, but sexy enough that they're still fun - does that help??

Who or what inspired you to write this book?
You'll have to see above - Rachael had an idea, I came up with Norah, and the rest just happened.

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Rachael's book is about two people (man and a woman) whose mail gets mixed up - Tyler McKenzie #102 and McKenzie Tyler #201. One of them is engaged, and the other is in love with the first... SO fun.
Kaylee wrote a fab story about a girl whose life is all mapped out, and then in a whirlwind of Christmas Around the World, and crazy family activities, she realizes she might want something a lot different than what she'd planned - like her best friend's brother...

You can add this way fun book to goodreads HERE :-D
And it'll be out in November of this year.

I'm tagging:
Rachael Ranee Anderson - whose post on HER part of this book should be up MONDAY!
Kaylee Baldwin - whose post on HER part of this book should be up MONDAY!
Suzi Retzlaff

What are all you working on right now??

~ Jo

PS - I have TWO BIG GIVEAWAYS IF YOU SCROLL DOWN. PICKING WINNERS MONDAY NIGHT!!