The Chronic Romantic: ♥♥♥SPOTLIGHT: Review and Interview♥♥♥

Monday, January 6, 2014

♥♥♥SPOTLIGHT: Review and Interview♥♥♥

Becky McGraw's latest release Trouble With The Law (Texas Trouble #11) is a roller coaster ride of non-stop action from beginning to end! I was given the book in return for an honest review and I give it 4.5 stars! This the first book I’ve read by Becky McGraw, but it certainly won’t be the last. The scenes are electric – whether they are on the run for their lives, having the hottest sex imaginable, or fighting to gather the evidence to clear Trace’s name, Ms. McGraw skillfully keeps you on your toes and wondering what will happen next. I usually can figure out where a book is going, but not this one! I wasn’t sure just HOW this would end, until I read the last few pages.

If you’ve not yet read Trouble With The Law, then definitely add it to your 1-click picks, put it on your TBR, put the book in your hands – you definitely will NOT regret it!

Author Bio:

Becky McGraw is a married mother of three adult children, and a Southern girl by birth and the grace of God, ya’ll. She resides in South Texas with her husband and dog Abby.

A jack of many trades in her life, Becky has been an optician, a beautician, a legal secretary, a senior project manager for an aviation management consulting firm, which took her all over the United States, a real estate broker, and now a graphic artist, web designer and writer. She knows just enough about a variety of topics to make her dangerous, and her romance novels interesting and varied. Being a graphic artist is a good thing for her too, because she creates her own cover art, along with writing the novels.

Becky has been an avid reader of romance novels since she was a teenager, and has been known to read up to four novels of that genre a week, much to the dismay of her husband, and the delight of e-book sellers.

She has been writing fictional short stories and novels for fun, as well as technical copy for her jobs for many years. She was a member of the Writer’s Guild on AOL, as well as a founding member and treasurer of the first online chapter of the Romance Writers of America, From the Heart Romance Writers. Currently, she is a PAN member of RWA and a general member of FTHRW.

Interview

What are three things about you that might surprise your readers?

Well, the first thing that would probably surprise them is I do my own cover art. I’m a Jill of All Trades basically and did graphic design for my husband’s printing company for several years before I started writing again. For four years, I did the graphic design and layout for a BEEF trade magazine, where I learned more than I ever wanted to know about raising cattle. That came in handy writing western romance!

Secondly, a lot of the ‘southernisms’ that are included in my books come from my great-great aunt, Beulah (I called her Nanny). She had some humdingers, and I heard them daily growing up. She was funny as hell, a very strong and opinionated lady. A lot like Lou Ellen in my new release.

And finally, the thing that might most surprise readers is I’ve been married to the same wonderful man for almost thirty-three years. So yeah, I do believe in happily-ever-after, but that comes at a price. Hard work. “Love ain’t for the faint of heart,” as Carl Bellamy in my first book, My Kind of Trouble, told Cassie his daughter.

What was your favorite scene from the book?

My favorite scene from TROUBLE WITH THE LAW is the jailhouse scene where she goes to see Trace to get answers about Leigh Ann Baker’s disappearance. If Ronnie wants answers, Trace has a price. That’s why I picked part of that scene as the teaser. If you want to find out if she paid his price, you’ll have to read the book. :D

Where did the idea for the storyline come from?

Ronnie, the heroine in Trouble With the Law, made an appearance as a secondary character in Here Comes Trouble (#8, Texas Trouble). She was a strong secondary character, and readers asked if she would ever have a happily-ever-after. Trace made an appearance as a secondary character in Royal Trouble (#10, Texas Trouble) and he was smoking hot. I knew there would be instant chemistry if their characters met and cooked up a plan to put them together.

How did you get your start as a writer?

I’ve always been a writer, and into something creative in one way or another. In high school, I did my best friend’s book report, because it was due the next day and she hadn’t even read a book to do it. The teacher read it and said, “Becky wrote this didn’t she?” in red ink along with the F on the top of the paper. I wrote technical copy for my jobs for a lot of years, including interpretations of government regulations, which definitely lends itself to fiction most of the time. I’d read romance all of my life and in 1997 decided to try my hand at it. I finished a manuscript, but only gave a half-hearted attempt to find a traditional publisher, and then life interfered. I have no idea what happened to that manuscript. It got lost in one of our moves, I think. And then along came the internet, and e-publishing opportunities, and the Texas Trouble series was born.

Tell us about yourself.

I’m about to celebrate half a century of living in 2014. Two-thirds of that time, I have been married to my wonderful husband. I have three adult children, of whom I’m extremely proud. My daughter is a trauma flight nurse, my middle son is the best salesman ever born, and my youngest is so smart I feel like a dullard in comparison.

I was born and raised in South Central Louisiana and love my Cajun culture, but I LOVE Texas too where I relocated last March, after spending seventeen years in Indiana due to a job transfer. Like I said, I’m a Jill of All Trades. I have been an optician, a beautician, a legal secretary, a Senior Project Manager for an Aviation Management firm, a graphic designer and now a writer. I think that variety gives me an edge in writing interesting characters.

Choosing to write western romance was a natural progression for me. I did live in the country as a teenager, rode horses, tossed hay bales, dug rows, fed livestock, and it was the best experience of my life. During those years, I also developed a love of hunting and fishing.

In my downtime, I fish now too. Fishing is my escape, and I don’t really care if I catch anything. Out on the water watching my line is where get my best plot ideas, and figure things out.

Top 5 favorite scenes from your Texas Trouble series.

Only five? (grin) If I have to pick, I guess:

The proposal scene and the epilogue in My Kind of Trouble (#1, Texas Trouble)

The rescue scene in The Trouble With Love (#2, Texas Trouble) when Sabrina kicks her captors asses, and hangs her red bra out of the vent hole to signal Cole and Junebug where she is being held.

The scene in Double the Trouble (#3, Texas Trouble) when Karlie hog-tied Gabe when he threatened to take her to jail and put Buster in doggie impound.

The scene in Worth The Trouble (#9, Texas Trouble) when Rocky was playing Peeping Thomasina outside of the massage room when Ethan was getting a massage.

The jailhouse scene in Trouble With the Law (#11, Texas Trouble) that is the teaser, and a similar one later in the book.

What scene did you have the most fun writing? Why?

I had most fun writing Lou Ellen’s scenes in Trouble With the Law, because she is a HOOT. Her character actually made me laugh out loud while I was writing it. I love writing humor and try to put as much as I can in every book. That makes them memorable.

Please tell us about your characters.

Trace Rooks is a bad-boy former detective who was wrongly accused of being complicit in his partner’s death, during an undercover drug sting that went bad. Veronica Winters, also known as The Shark Lady and touted to be the best criminal defense lawyer in Texas, is the woman who represented him and the reason he went to jail for three years.

What is the best thing about being a writer?

I have the freedom to live in my own little world in my head and make stuff up as I go. I can torture people, have them do bad things, but redeem them in the space of two hundred pages. Romance is the best genre in fiction, because you always know it’s going to end well. Making the ride getting there unpredictable is the fun part for me.

The happily-ever-afters give people hope that they can find a happily-ever-after too. That makes me feel good. If someone is having a bad day, or facing something difficult in their life, I can give them an escape and hope. That’s why I’ve always loved reading romance too.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on book one of my new series, Just Shoot Me (Cowboy Way, #1), which will be out in the first quarter of 2014. The Cowboy Way books will be shorter, with less action and more emotion than the Texas Trouble series. My novella, HOPE FOR CHRISTMAS, which is included in the Christmas anthology SANTA WORE SPURS with Sandy Sullivan, Sable Hunter and Desiree Holt is the launch point for the new series. That book is on sale right now by the way for only .99 through Christmas.

What other releases do you have planned for 2014?

I’m excited about the Cowboy Way series, and hope to release at least four installments to the series in 2014. The next Texas Trouble book (Borrowing Trouble, #12 Texas Trouble) will most likely be published April/May 2014, and will be Dylan and Carrie’s story.

I also have another series tickling my brain, and may put out the first book by the end of next year. The series is yet unnamed, but will be a western para-military/detective type series with Dave Logan from the Trouble Series and the hot alpha men who work with him. I’m sure you’ll see the potential there after reading Trouble With the Law.