The Reading Frenzy: Q&A - Excerpt - Sunrise Crossing

Today I'm showcasing Jodi Thomas' Sunrise Crossing, #4 in her Ransom Canyon series.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 9780373789306
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: 08-30-206
Length: 384pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon/Kobo/IndieBound/Audible/Publisher

Overview

Return to peaceful Crossroads, Texas, where community comes first and love thrives in the unlikeliest places…

Yancy Grey is slowly putting his life back together after serving time for petty theft. As he rebuilds an old house, he finally has a sense of stability, but he can't stop thinking of himself as just an ex-con. Until one night, he finds a mysterious dark-haired beauty hiding in his loft. But who is she, and what secret is she protecting?

The art gallery Parker Lacey manages is her life—she has no time for friends, and certainly not lovers. But when her star artist begs Parker for help, she finds herself in a pickup truck, headed for the sleepy town of Crossroads. A truck driven by a strong, silent cowboy…

Gabe Snow has been a drifter since he left Crossroads at seventeen after a violent incident. When he accepts a job in his hometown, he'll have to decide whether he can put the worst night of his life behind him and build a future in the community that raised him.

Read an excerpt courtesy Jodi's Publicity firm Meryl Moss Media:

CHAPTER ONE

Flight

January 2012

LAX

VICTORIA VILANIE CURLED into a ball, trying to make herself small, trying to disappear. Her black hair spread around her like a cape but couldn’t protect her.

All the sounds in the airport were like drums playing in a jungle full of predators. Carts with clicking wheels rolling on pitted tiles. People shuffling and shouting and complaining. Electronic voices rattling off numbers and destinations. Babies crying. Phones ringing. Winter’s late storm pounding on walls of glass.

Victoria, Tori to her few friends, might not be making a sound, but she was screaming inside.

Tears dripped off her face, and she didn’t bother to wipe them away. The noise closed in around her, making her feel so lonely in the crowd of strangers.

She was twenty-four, and everyone said she was a gifted artist. Money poured in so fast it had become almost meaningless, only a number that brought no joy. But tonight all she wanted was silence, peace, a world where she could hide out.

She scrubbed her eyes on her sleeve and felt a hand touch her shoulder like it were a bird, feather-light, landing there.

Tori turned and recognized a woman she’d seen once before. The tall blonde in her midthirties owned one of the best galleries in Dallas. Who could forget Parker Lacey’s green eyes? She was a woman who had it all and knew how to handle her life. A born general who must manage her life as easily as she managed her business.

“Are you all right, Tori?” Parker asked.

Tori could say nothing but the truth. “I’m living the wrong life.”

Then, the strangest thing happened. The lady with green eyes hugged her and Tori knew, for the first time in years, that someone had heard her, really heard her.

Q&A Provided by Meryl Moss Media

1. Community is very important in all your books. How are you involved with your community in Texas?

I often feel like I live in two towns.

My home is in the historical part of Amarillo where I grew up and taught school. Fifteen years ago I accepted an appointment as Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M in Canyon, 15 miles from my home. Now, I very much feel like I live in both towns. I’ve volunteered in the schools, churches, museums and art galleries. I’m a member of library boards, book clubs and historical societies.

But, the most fun thing I do is work with beginning writers in both communities. Last month I spoke to the writing rally at a grade school and the same week I gave a talk on writing memories for grandchildren. My office doors are always open to students who are writing and we often fill a table at the local coffee house as we talk writing.

2. Sunrise Crossing is the fifth book in the Ransom Canyon series, how does that feel?

It feels great. I couldn’t wait to get started on this book. The characters had been dancing in my mind waiting for their turn. Sunrise Crossing has one of the most tender love stories I’ve ever written plus a layered mystery that will keep readers awake. Yancy stepped into the series in the first book and readers couldn’t help but love him. In this story, he gets his chance at love.

3. Where do you draw inspiration for Crossroads, Texas?

I wanted to use a very small town that most people simply drive through. If readers stop, they’ll step into lives and loves that are deep and fascinating. I also saw the town as a crossroads for people where their lives could go in more than one direction. We all face those times thinking that we’ll turn down another road for a while without ever realizing that we’ll never pass that crossroad again.

4. Parker Lacey manages an art gallery. Do you have a personal favorite?

The first time I went to the MET in New York I was lost to the real world for hours. When I saw Mona’s Lilies at MMOA I cried they were so beautiful. No matter how many times I go I will never have enough time to see the wonder of it all.I went to Paris last spring and didn’t get to see the Louvre. I’ve got to go back!

5. What would you say is your one writing quirk?

I like to write in total silence. No music. Then I can hear my characters talking to me. All other times I listen to music.

6. Where is one place you want to visit that you haven't been before?

I have a hundred places I want to go back too. Ireland, Paris, Alaska, New York, San Francisco, the Grand Canyon.

But best of all is that first look at new land. That excitement of an explorer about to discover a new world. I understand why my ancestors came west. I love the excitement of what is just over the horizon yet to explore.

7. Do you write every day?

Yes. I think a part of my brain is always writing. Like a pack rat picking up bits of stories, phrases I hear, dreams that linger. I may not have a notepad or computer in sight, but I’m cobbling together stories in my mind.

8. The covers of your Ransom Canyon series are always stunning! Does your original idea of the cover end up as the final?

I work with a great team. Sometimes we go through several cover ideas. They do the work because I see the world in words. My friend laughed at me once when I told her that sometimes I dream in words.

9. What’s one question that you wish someone would ask about your book, but nobody has? Write it out here, then answer it.

Why do you put so many twins in books?

I often put twins in books because I have twin sisters two years younger than me. To me, the average family has twins. My sisters are identical. Our father couldn’t tell them apart. I’ve said I am against cloning because look what happened when the egg split with them. I had two great years of childhood and from then on my job seemed to be watching over them.---I’m still doing it.

10. What are you working on next?

I’m putting the finishing touches on book five in the series WILD HORSE SPRINGS. It’s going to have a few surprises for Crossroads.

As soon as I finish I’m heading to New Mexico. We have a place on the Red River where I’ll take some time to think about Book 6. “See you on the Red.”

Ransom Canyon Novels

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MEET Jodi:New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas is a fifth-generation Texan who sets many of her stories in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. She is a certified marriage and family counselor, a Texas Tech graduate and writer-in-residence at West Texas A&M University. She lives with her husband in Amarillo, Texas.