CALISA RHOSE--Romance Author

We're having a party at Vintage Vonnie today! Welcome! My guest is romance author, Calisa Rhose. We're celebrating her release--TODAY, in fact--of her debut story, Home. Isn't the cover dreamy?

I am so excited to be here with you, Vonnie! Thank you for helping me celebrate the release TODAY of my first book with The Wild Rose Press. HOME is available NOW!!!!! And it felt like this day would never come but it is here! To celebrate, I’m at two blogs today. After you comment here, hop over to AJ Nuest’s Tattered Pages and leave a comment for another chance to win your own copy of HOME!

Whistle! Confetti! Streamers!

So let’s get on with this countdown!!!!

DAY FOUR!!!

Calisa, being the sweet person she is, has agreed to answer some questions I sent her.

1.   What is your life like away from the computer? Tell us something about your household. Jazzie, my cat, wants to know if you have any kitty-pusses. Life away from the computer usually has me going to work or somewhere with my darlin’ hubby. After 28 years I love that we aren’t totally sick of one another. Lol I spent time with my beautiful granddaughters when I can, because they just grow up SO fast! And, yes, Jazzie. I have a very spoiled Himalayan Siamese Persian named Trouble, and her moniker suits her perfectly.

2.   What authors and genres do you like to read? I mostly like contemporary and paranormal genres. As for the authors, I read everyone I think. I have your book on my Kindle, in fact, I have dozens of Wild Rose Press authors waiting for me to read! But I love Ms. Nora Roberts and Sharon Sala. I love reading new authors and new to me authors. I have been known to read the occasional historical, steampunk or fantasy, too, if they catch me in the right mood.

3.  Do you enter writing contests? If so, has this been a positive experience for you? Before publishing I entered exactly one contest of which I didn’t even final in. lol I always ‘plan’ to enter, but just never do. I’m thinking of entering the local rwa chapter contest again this year, though.

4.    Do you ever dream of writing in a different genre? As a contemporary author, I don’t normally write historical- so I guess you could say HOME IS my venture into ‘another genre.’ I’m also working on some paranormal works.

5.  What part of the writing process brings you the most pleasure? The most angst? Everyone says it’s the first idea that excites them the most. I’m no different in that, but writing THE END gives me a thrill like nothing else can. To know I have given that first spark of an idea life by finishing the story is nice. On the flip-side, I hate that part in the middle when all intelligent creativity seems to fly out the window, you can’t figure out how to breathe new life into a wilting wip to reach the end. Ugh! I shiver to think about it. lol

6.  What are you currently working on? Right now I’m trying to get through that lifeless middle on a cowboy novella that I hope to submit as part of a series for TWRP’s Yellow Rose line. I’m also and constantly thinking and adding to one or another of five shifter books in a paranormal series. Yes, I work on all simultaneously, but that works since it’s a continuity series.

7.  What is one of your most embarrassing or laughable moments? That would be the night I watched a crush next door undress for bed and he turned to face the window just as he unzipped those tight levis. The curtains were wide open facing my house and I was all teen-agnsty-eyes as he began to ease the jeans down...and then his little brother flipped the light out at THAT moment. Then a few weeks later crush boy, Nick, let me know he knew I was watching! I could have died. Then he said he didn’t mind and when would I return the favor?... OMG!!! That scene may make it into a book some day.

Oh, hon, I think you should use it. What a hoot!!

8.   Tell us about your current release…or soon to be release. HOME is a story about hope and love in a time when people were more focused on the Vietnam war and all its ramifications. Two unlikely people, each fighting stigmas from a town they had always called home and differences in their pasts, find hope and a future together when all seems lost. Will they each realize home is more than a geological location, or people they thought cared? I hope you read HOME to find out.

BLURB:

What could a gypsy and a Vietnam veteran have in common?

Silvertown’s outcast, Poppy Tippen, has loved football hero Sam “The Force” Callahan forever. But he never seemed to know she was alive. Now he’s home from the war and she suddenly finds herself comforting him from the demons of “that damn war.” Is his attention merely an escape from the haunting nightmares? Or does she hold the interest of the only man she’s ever truly loved?

Sam Callahan’s only solace from the war nightmares wrecking his life comes in the unlikely form of a gypsy girl with stigmas of her own. He’s known Poppy his entire life, but there’s something different about her now. Something special he desperately wants to hold on to. Can he convince her she’s the only thing he needs to put the past behind him?

Excerpt:

“I’ll always want you, Poppy.”

Her head shook in automatic denial. “You’ll want a girl who fits your life. Not some gypsy with no family lineage to brag about. Your momma won’t accept that, either. She’ll make you choose someone like Connie, someone who fits into your world. Not the girl everyone avoids and whispers about behind her back. You’re gonna be the town’s doctor. You need an uppity wife who will make you proud.”

When Sam laughed, his chest shuddered against her back. Deep, husky, real. He turned her in his arms and looked down at her, smiling. “Poppy, do you honestly think I give a damn what people think? Look at me! I’m the town outcast, the survivor who should have died saving the others, not be here planning a future that includes a wife, a medical practice. “I shimmy under park benches, run from my mother’s lipstick, for God’s sake. I wake up screaming and crying over nothing in the middle of the night, crawl under my bed and hide, shaking, until morning. Hell, I can’t even be a doctor because I haven’t finished school yet.”

“I didn’t know. It must be awful for you.” No matter how it hurt Poppy to know he used her, it felt much worse to know how he hurt alone. “The only time it isn’t awful is when I’m with you. When I think of you.”

Get your copy of HOME at The Wild Rose Press. Buy link is: http://bit.ly/sdT0E9
Or order at Amazon: http://amzn.to/vmLNov

Small-town country girl Calisa Rhose lives in a semi-remote area of Oklahoma with her husband, five dogs and one horse. All of her three daughters and their families live within throwing distance. She’s a member of RWA and the local chapter OKRWA. She intends to nurture and continue to grow as an author with the help of her family and supporters.

Find Calisa at her website/blog http://calisarhose.wordpress.com

On twitter @Calisa_Rhose and Facebook @Calisa Rhose

She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at calisa.rhose@gmail.com

ATTENTION:

The day following the New Years Day party, on my blog, I will be giving away the first copy of HOME to one lucky commenter! The more you comment this week, the greater your chance to win! Don’t forget to leave your EMAIL ADDRESS in all your comments this week! Be sure to come to my BIG SALE PARTY on my blog on January 1, 2012!

You can find the full tour schedule on my website at the link above.