Guest Author Interview: KC Klein

Today we are interviewing Romance author KC Klein. She is giving away a copy of TEXAS WIDE OPEN. 

Alexis: Hi KC, thank you for visiting Happily Ever After Thoughts. This romance seems to be quite different from your others. Can you tell us why you decided to go in this direction?

 KC: Sure, I would love to. I wrote TEXAS WIDE OPEN as a break from my first novel, DARK FUTURE. I wanted something a little lighter and little more fun. TEXAS WIDE OPEN started out as a shorter, sweeter contemporary aimed at one of the Harlequin lines. I thought I could slam this one out and go back to writing my sci-fi, dystopian romances. Ha, wishful thinking.

Well, after three rewrites and adding twenty thousand words of subplot, I finally came out with a fast-paced, gritty, and by all accounts, pretty intense romance. Apparently, I can’t write sweet and light. :-)

Alexis: That’s okay, we like the way you naturally write anyway. So can you tell us what TEXAS WIDE OPEN is about? 

KC: Sure, here is the blurb:

Katie Harris loved growing up on a ranch. She had her horse, the beautiful Texas prairie, and Cole Logan, the cowboy next door. But there are a lot of secrets hidden under a Texas sky…

Katie always knew she’d marry Cole one day—until he broke her dreams and her heart. But now that Katie’s father is sick, she’s back home, older, wiser, and nowhere near the love-sick fool she once was.

Cole knows Katie doesn’t want anything to do with him. But after so many years, he can’t pretend she’s no more than a neighbor. Not when thinking about her cherry lip gloss and hell-for-leather passion is keeping him up all night. Holding his ground was hard enough when she was seventeen. Now that she’s her own woman, Cole’s heart doesn’t stand a chance…

Alexis: Where did you get the idea for this story? 

KC: I actually dreamt up one scene from the book (I’ll share part of that scene in an excerpt below) and from there the whole book just grew.

Alexis: Oh, isn’t that the best way. Like it’s meant to be. What are your favorite character traits of Katie and Cole? 

KC: I love Katie’s fearless ability to love and go after what she wants. She follows her heart and be damned the consequences.

I love Cole’s dogged sense of responsibility. Even though at times it was hard, he never turned his back on Katie or his family.

Alexis: They are both characters after my own heart. So you dreamed a scene, but then you have to get it down on the page, or screen as the case is today. What type of writer are you? Nighttime or morning? Panster or Plotter? Silence or music?

KC: I’m a Panster who really, really wishes she was Plotter. I write in the mornings on my days off and after my kids go to school. I do listen to music when I write, but more to trick my brain into thinking I’m at a dance party instead of typing away behind my desk than for inspiration.

Alexis: Hey, if tricking your brain works, go with it :-) What can we expect next from you? Do you have any new releases coming or a work in progress? 

KC: My fav question. The next book in the Texas Fever series (Nikki and Jett’s story) is coming out late 2013 or early 2014. I also have the next installment of my sci-fi anthology, HOTTER ON THE EDGE, coming out the beginning of next year.

Alexis: Excellent! We have more KC to look forward to! Thank you so much for sharing your story with us. It's a pleasure having you visit again. 

KC: Thank you so much for having me. It really is so fun to come back and share my newest release with everyone.

Alexis: For a chance to win TEXAS WIDE OPEN, be sure to leave a comment for KC. If I have contact information, I will let you know when you win, otherwise, check the side column for your name on Wednesday under WINNERS. 

For more information on KC and her stories, go to 

http://kckleinbooks.com/index.html 

Alexis: Check out this excerpt from TEXAS WIDE OPEN 

Excerpt: 

 Katie watched as Cole slowly turned, and at the sight of his bare chest, smooth and ripped with muscle, she locked her knees to keep upright. Instead of his inviting smile, there was a hardness she rarely saw that contrasted with the desire in his eyes.

Cole stood and stared. The silence between them crackled as if a whole conversation could be said without words.

Her breathing quickened as her nipples contracted into small, tight buds, sensitive to the brush of the cotton across them. She refused to hide her body’s reaction even as a flush of heat rushed to her cheeks. She’d been waiting all of her life for this moment. She was tired of hiding. She was ready. Unashamed, she gazed in his eyes and let the wealth of her feelings pour into her face.

Cole was no coward—he returned stare for stare—but she could see his jaw flex and knew he was pissed. She’d pushed him hard, but this was where the women separated themselves from the girls.

“I’m not a child any longer.” She took a step closer.

“And I told you, if you wear that shirt again, I’ll burn it,” he growled.

But Cole would have to do more than display a little anger to scare her. Before she lost courage, Katie crossed her arms and pulled. 

              She threw her shirt in his face, along with her challenge. “Go ahead and do it.”  

Alexis: Whew! For a chance to read the whole story, don’t forget to leave a comment for KC :-)