Welcome
to BK Walker Books Etc. I'm so happy you could join me today at St
Ives, a suburb of Sydney, in N.S.W., Australia. I've always wanted to go to Australia, so, thank you so much!
BK:
Looking out the nearest window, describe the scene you see.
I
live in the mountains … when I look to my right I overlook a
Reserve, so I see trees, trees, and trees … in fact they're
Eucalyptus trees but they don't have any koalas in them. Koalas do
eat the leaves of the Eucalyptus but only specific ones … in fact
only 100 out of the 800 species of Eucalyptus. I get to deal with
snakes... although not today; they hibernate in the cooler weather.
BK:
Tell us about your office. Is it a mess like mine, or is
everything in its place?
It's
really not my office, I "borrow" it from my husband. It's
half and half… messy in some spots, organised in others. It depends
on what I'm working on as to how much mess I have around me.
BK:
What is a must-have, such as coffee or a favorite pen, that you
need to write?
I
do enjoy coffee to sip on while I'm writing. Sometimes though I
prefer water with a splash of lemon.
I
must admit I like my 2 dogs to sit nearby… and I'm lucky because
they like to keep their eyes on me.
BK:
Do you like to write in silence, or do you need music or
background noise?
Silence
just does not work for me. I love to keep up-to-date with the
happenings in the world, and I love hearing people's opinions, so I
have talk back radio on constantly. Without it, it's too quite and I
then don't stay focused on my writing: my mind starts to wonder what
is happening out there! I don't think radio announcers would want to
be known as background noise, but that's what they are for me.
BK:
Tell us a bit about your hero/heroine, and their development.
Sally
is the heroine in "The Eyes of Love." In High School Sally
experienced constant bullying from a gang of girls led by Stephanie
who was dating Colin, the school hunk. In every way the gang stole
Sally's confidence. No-one picked up on how she was being bullied,
and due to the successful use of force and coercion to abuse and
intimidate her, she mentioned none of it to one person, not even her
mother.
When
Sally completed High School, she left Mill Creek Crossing, studied
and became an Attorney. Her best friend at college took her in hand,
encouraged her, helped her with caring for herself, showed her how to
dress and make herself look attractive. She started to blossom
although she remained quite. She dated Richard and married him after
just 6 months … she felt so grateful someone loved her, someone
thought she was worth loving! Richard's love helped with Sally's
healing… sadly Richard was killed leaving her with a young son,
David, to care for alone.
Returning
to Mill Creek Crossing to attend the 15 Year High School Reunion
showed Sally how far she had come. No-one recognised her, she was
beautiful and now quite sure of herself. After all, she had to argue
for her clients in the courtroom, it was now time for her to argue
for herself.
After
dealing with Stephanie (the school bully) at the Reunion, it was
obvious the "ugly duckling" had become the "beautiful
swan" in so many ways. Now she could have and do whatever she
set her mind to...
BK:
As a writer myself, I'm always curious how other writers get through
stumble blocks. When you find a story not flowing, or a character
trying to fight you, how do you correct it?
I'm
OK once I have the ideas I want to roll with. If I can't come up with
anything, when I hit a stumble block, I've learned to close the door
and walk away from writing for the day or days, if necessary. Often
times I garden and work away the blockage to the flow of the story,
by not even thinking about the story or the characters - this works
for me. Often my answers come when I'm not consciously thinking about
the story or the blockage.
So,
it's a change of scenery plus letting all my thoughts about the story
go… to concentrate on digging weeds, planting and pruning, or
whatever else that needs doing in the garden. Whatever "problem"
I have to deal with, I find going outdoors and becoming the gardener
is what does the trick for me.
BK:
Using the letters of your first name as an acronym, describe your
book...
A
Adorable main characters are Sally, a widow, and Colin, a divorcee.
Colin met up again with Sally when she came back to Mill Creek
Crossing for the 15 Year High School Reunion. He was staggered to
find beautiful Sally who was
N
no longer the "nerd" she claimed she was at High School.
Colin was really impressed (putting it mildly), after starting a
relationship with Sally to find he could cause her to feel
"fireworks" when he was near her. His reaction after
kissing Sally …
G
"Gosh! Nice to know I can cause fireworks. Wow!" His wife
had betrayed him with his best friend, so he was feeling some loss of
confidence with how women would feel about him. This is an
E
encouraging and inspiring romantic novella showing the "ugly
duckling" can become the "beautiful swan" and conquer
everything in her path.
L
Love at first sight … maybe! There are
I
intriguing twists and turns...
N
Naughty but nice. It is really
A
a sweet love story...
BK:
How did your writing journey begin?
As
a young girl I constantly made up short stories and poetry about my
mother's neighbours and friends. They weren't always impressed
though… they didn't always approve of my opinions of them or how I
thought they looked!
My
mother was a widow and struggled financially so I thought I would
find competitions to enter where I had to write a story with the hope
of winning the prize of money, or whatever was offered. I won several
writing competitions before I was a teen. One prize my mother didn't
like was a puppy who I called Sparkle! I ended up having to give him
away...
Writing
then took a back seat as I studied at High School and University.
After qualifying as a Registered Nurse I spent a long period of time
in hospital recovering from serious injuries the result of a hit and
run. It was then I took up writing again… I entered a couple of my
short stories in a competition for the fun of it and the judges liked
them. It was then I thought: 'OK, maybe I can write just like Mum'.
She used to write short stories and sell them to various Women's
magazines.
When
I discovered self-publishing was available, I nervously submitted
various books to Amazon Kindle. It was a lot of trial and error and I
am still learning…
So,
my journey began as a young girl who really loved watching people and
who made up stories about what was different about each person.
Curiosity about people has continued through my life and I find it
helps with the creation of characters and story lines…
BK:
Using the letters from the word, Summer, how would friends and family
describe you?
S
Sociable
U
Understanding
M
Motivated
M
Mediator
E
Enthusiastic
R
Responsible
BK:
What is the craziest thing you've ever written about, whether it got
published or not?
I
find I write the craziest stories when I'm tired, often at the end of
the day.
During
a trip to Kakadu in the Northern Territory, a state in Australia,
where crocodiles abound, I was amazed to hear crocodile eggs were
often taken or should I say 'stolen' from the croc nest. This must
have really bothered me … after all why would anyone want to get
that close to a crocodile, let alone take their eggs! I could
understand if this happened in a controlled environment, for example
in a Zoo, but not in the wild. After all one of the top messages
people are given when they visit the waterways in the NT, they need
to be crosswise and stay safe.
I
started to write a story about tourists visiting the NT and stealing
crocodile eggs to take home as souvenirs. I had the mother crocodile
running on her two back legs, chasing after the tourists saying "give
me back my babies". I then had the crocodile tracking down the
tourists to their homes in the hunt for the return of their eggs,
which maybe had already hatched, and were now little crocodiles.
The
story started to get crazier and crazier so I stopped writing. My
original view was to submit it to the NT Tourist Bureau so they could
distribute it and stop people from stealing croc eggs, and becoming
crocodile dinner..
The
truth of the story is this … the mother crocodile would have eaten
the tourists and asked questions later. If you camp too close to the
waterways, crocs have been known to come out of the water and visit
the campers. Unfortunately, dogs, children and adults have been taken
this way because they don't take notice of the signs and almost dare
these creatures to come near them. You rarely stand a chance…
So
that was one of my crazy storylines. And then there were the pirates
….
BK:
Tell us one thing you've done in life, that readers would be most
surprised to know.
I
was one of the Rocky Horribles in the "Rocky Horror Show"
in Sydney. I learned jazz dancing when I was a teen, I loved it. My
friend was involved in producing the Rocky Horror Show and he thought
I would make a great Rocky Horrible (how should I have taken that?).
It was a lot of fun.
BK:
What can we expect from you in the future?
I'm
currently working on my next book which has a different feel to "The
Eyes of Love" and my earlier writing. It is a love story but
with a lot more suspense. I love mysteries and working out who done
it: I imagine this will come through more in my future writing.
This
or That...
Coke
or Pepsi? Pepsi
Night
Owl or Early Bird? Early Bird
Fantasy
or Mystery? Mystery
Pen/Paper
or Computer? Computer
Pizza
or Burger? Neither. A burger would have a chance if it was a veggie
burger though!
Rock
or Country? Rock
Chocolate
or Vanilla? Vanilla
Beach
or Mountains? Beach
Thank
you so much for having us as one of your stops today. It has been
great getting to know more about you and your book, and wish you the
best of success!
About
Angelina Rose:
Angelina
Rose has wanted to write ever since she could hold a pencil. The
first daughter of immigrant parents, Angelina had her head buried in
books, lost in a world of heroes, heroines and exotic places.
It
was a shocking experience that jump-started Angelina's author
career.
"I awoke in the ICU... I had been unconscious for
several days," Angelina says.
In 2010, Angelina had a
long stint in hospital following her involvement in a motor vehicle
accident: the longest time off work (as a Registered Nurse), she'd
ever had in her life!
It was then she took up pen and paper
and started to write again, just as she had done when she was a
child. She wrote four short fiction stories for young adults, entered
them in several competitions, and managed to win three first
prizes!
After happily dipping her toes into writing those
short fiction stories for young adults, Angelina has now authored
four books in a new "Mill Creek Crossing Romance" series...
contemporary romance intended for adults.
The "Starting
Over Series" is another contemporary romance series she wrote
about a subject she knows well... nurses and their love life. At a
recent reunion of her graduating class, she could not help but notice
how the same girls would group together and laugh, chat, and even
shed some tears over their lives since graduating. Many of the girls
had divorced... so Angelina thought "what if a group of the
nurses came up with a plan to meet in two years and have a new love
story to share?" Then the first story in the series was
born.
There is always a story running around in her head. A
man with thick dark hair, gray-blue eyes, with an engaging smile and
a quick wit... or a girl crying over a broken relationship. She finds
herself talking to these characters during her day: when she's doing
dishes, or bathing babies at the hospital. These characters crop up
on days at the beach or on walks through the neighborhood. This is
how the stories start to grow.
Angelina's mother was an author, so
Angelina grew up with a love of words and stories. If she wasn't
writing a short story about something that took her fancy, her head
was buried in books... reading, reading, reading, as her brother
constantly told her...
When she's not spending time with her
goodlooking man, or quality time with her laptop, she's working at
the hospital, hanging out with her family and friends, or walking her
two dogs around the neighborhood. Angelina spends as much time as she
can traveling, then coming home and including some of those
adventures in her stories.
Angelina really loves to hear from
her readers and she invites you to connect with her on Facebook as
she interacts daily with her readers there!
Genre: Romance
Publisher: BookBaby
Release Date:
April 26, 2013
Book Description:
After
a tragic loss five years ago, Sally Overby becomes an Attorney in
Atlanta. She convinces herself that all she'll ever need again is her
young son, David, and her life as an attorney. Until one day, Colin
Dean barges back into her life and promptly blows her safe world
apart, driving her crazy as only a guy she'd had a "school girl
crush" on can.
Although
shocked and thrilled by Colin’s attention, Sally is wary to love
deeply. Only, with every loving look Colin gives her plus every sweet
kiss, as the attraction between them sparks, she can’t help but
wonder if she’s met the one she should be with. And although Colin
didn’t realize his life was going to change so quickly, amazingly,
he isn’t the least bit interested in fighting that change. Instead,
he’s gearing up for a different fight altogether… the one for
Sally’s heart.
Will
Colin be able to convince her that's it safe to love him... and that
forever isn't really out of reach?
Romantic,
amusing, and deeply moving, Book 4 in the Mill Creek Crossing Romance
Series, is a tale that will stay with you.
The
Eyes of Love is a novella… you will be able to enjoy it in just one
day!
"Well,
if it isn't the handsome Colin Dean," she said fanning herself
and smiling. Gracie was older than he was, but he remembered her
younger sister, Eva, quite well. They'd all hung out together at
parties when they were younger, and Gracie had been a fixture at
Stella's for years even though she recently came into some
inheritance money.
"Hey,
sweetie," he said kissing her on the cheek. Women loved Colin
because he made them feel good, and he was always kind. Stephanie
hadn't been able to take that away from him.
"I'll
never wash this cheek again," she said touching her face and
smiling. "How are you, honey?" she asked with a frown.
"Hanging
in there."
"I
hate to see you so sad, Colin," she said sliding into the booth
across from him.
"I'll
be fine, Gracie."
"I
know you will, but if you ever need to talk..."
"Thank
you, but I don't. Not yet anyway. The divorce was finalized last
week."
"I'm
so sorry about Stephanie, but she was never good enough for you."
"Gracie..."
he said shaking his finger at her.
"It's
true. Ask anybody. That woman is trouble with a capital T. Always has
been," Gracie said, refusing to mince her words. She'd despised
Stephanie since she first met her.
"Glad
you're always on my side, sweetie," he said rubbing her hand and
laughing. "I sure wouldn't want you on my bad side!"
"Good
thinking. Oh, crud, I've got a customer," she said as she slid
out of the booth and headed back up to the counter.
"Dean!"
he heard a voice call from behind him. It was one of his baseball
buddies, Cal Erwin. "How are ya, man?"
"Good.
Where've you been lately?" Colin asked as Cal dropped down into
the seat.
"Well,
I went out to California to visit my brother for a few months. Played
in a band out there and gathered up lots of ladies along the way,"
he said grinning.
"Glad
you had a good time."
"Where's
Steph?" Cal asked.
"I
have no idea. We're not married anymore," Colin said as he
looked at his menu.
Cal's
mouth dropped open. "What?"
"We
divorced, Cal. She screwed Jazz and I walked in on them." Cal's
mouth dropped open yet again.
"Dude..."
"You
know, we're not sixteen anymore. You should stop saying dude,"
Colin said with a chuckle.
"I'm
sorry, man. I had no idea."
"No
biggie," he lied.
"I
can't believe Jazz..."
"Look,
can we not talk about it? It's kind of old news, and I'm really done
discussing it," Colin said pointedly.
"Sorry.
So, are you skipping the reunion then?"
"Of
course not. Why would I?
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