Wacky Wednesday: A Visit With KC KLEIN, Author Extraordinaire of TEXAS WIDE OPEN

The first author I interviewed here on UNWRAPPING ROMANCE was a debut author by the name of KC Klein. She introduced her writing talent to us with the awesome sci-fi romance, DARK FUTURE. Since then she joined with two other wonderful authors and provided us with the anthology, HOTTER ON THE EDGE. Well, her talent never ceases, for her first full-length contemporary romance, TEXAS WIDE OPEN, is fantastic and she's here today to talk about it and the future - or is the past, perhaps the present. If you haven't read my reviews on her other fabulous works, please click on a title and peruse but hurry back because she's about to join me and we've got a Giveaway, of course!! 

Exerpt from TEXAS WIDE OPEN:

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 ... 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."

 

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Steamy, huh? Please join me in welcoming back, KC Klein to UNWRAPPING ROMANCE ...

Amy:  Hi KC, welcome back! It's truly an absolute delight to have you back here with us again and celebrating TEXAS WIDE OPEN makes it even better.

 

Perhaps you'd like to tell everyone a little bit about yourself for those who haven't met you yet.

 

KC:  Well, I am a mother of two and have been married to my own hero for over seventeen years. I work part-time in the dental field and on my days off I write. I am one of those strange people who actually likes to work out, so I try to get some physical activity at least 5x a week. My house is never clean, most of my plants never make it past the first year, and I spend a lot of my time driving in circles because I’m too busy making up stories in my head to pay attention to mere road signs.

 

Amy:  You sound like a typical creative type to me - I can relate! I do envy your getting in all that excercise though, I should but never seem to get the time. When I first met you, you had just debuted with an awesome sci-fi romance called DARK FUTURE, now you're back with a contemporary romance about cowboys and second chances at love. So exactly how did you make that jump and what inspired you?

 

KC:  DARK FUTURE was a labor of love. I wrote that book over a period of years. There was a lot of intensity in that book that had to do with what I was going through during that time—loss of job, post-partum depression, and learning to deal with a colicky baby in the house. DARK FUTURE will always have a special place in my heart because of that, but when the book was finally finished I felt like I needed something lighter, easier, and funnier. Well, as things turned out I don’t really write light and fluffy, and no book is easy to write. But I am finding that I like the mix of writing both genres, so will probably flip back and forth between them both.

 

Amy:  I like hearing that because I think your sci-fi romances are awesome. Your first novel centered around time travel which you handled exceptionally well, if I may say. In TEXAS WIDE OPEN, you utilize another technique that takes the reader traveling back and forth through time. I know you were worried if it would work - it very much did - but what brought you to using such an unusual technique to tell us the backstory?

 

KC:  Ahh, yes. What in the hell inspired me to structure TEXAS WIDE OPEN in such a crazy way? I wish I could say I had planned it that way, but that wasn’t how it happened. When I started TEXAS WIDE OPEN it was the basic story about Katie and Cole. I was shooting for a sweet romance aimed at the category lines of Harlequin.

 

The partial for TEXAS WIDE OPEN finaled in a conference contest and was read by a Harlequin editor. She loved the writing, loved the characters, but told me that teenage love didn’t sell well in adult romance. So back to the drawing board I went, except the core story about Katie and Cole had so much to do with their history that I couldn’t take it out. So I created their modern day story and interspersed it with their past which I happened to really like.

 

But that was only the beginning. Fast forward one year and Kensington bought the book, but they needed the story to be a full length single title. That’s when things got a little tricky. I had to add Nikki and Jett’s story, but only during the present time period and not in the past. Truly, I almost lost my mind. There was definitely some tears shed over this book, but one good thing was I learned how to write a transition from one scene to the next. LOL!

 

Amy:  Well, it worked amazingly so perhaps it's a new technique that will be picked up by other writers as well. I really appreciated was the side story featuring Nikki and Jett. Are we going to see their story? Are they going to get their second chance at love?

 

KC:  Oh, Nikki and Jett. Nikki has been a total pain in my butt from the start. When I first started writing Nikki I had gotten a lot of comments that she wasn’t sympathetic enough. I tried re-writing her over three times and each time she came out more smart-mouthed and more of a mess than the time before. Finally, I just went with it.

 

So to answer your question, yes, Nikki and Jett’s story will be coming out the beginning of 2014 and it’s tentatively titled HUSTLIN’ TEXAS. (She’s a pool hustler and Jett’s nickname for her is Texas. HA!)

 

Amy:  Sounds great and as for her being a smart-mouthed, I'm sure many readers will agree with me, we love smart-mouthed women! Speaking of second chances, I'd like to go back in time a little to your first book, DARK FUTURE. Are we going to see any sequels come out of it? That story still fascinates me and I think there are many others who would like to see what the future holds for Dawning Hope Smith.

 

KC:  Thank you, Amy. Do I have the sequel to DARK FUTURE in me? You betcha, but unfortunately sales determines a lot and sci-fi romance hasn’t seem to hit its stride. But I haven’t given up on the idea yet, and if the opportunity presents itself I would jump at the chance. It is funny, I seem to get more and more people asking me to write the sequel as the years go on. Maybe it’s a sign?

 

Amy:  Oh, I do hope so. I know I'd love to read the sequel! Last question and since this is your second time visiting, you've already answered my fave question. So, I thought long and hard as to what I could ask you this time and here's my new put-you-on-the-spot question. *wink*

 

If you could be reborn as any author throughout time, who would it be and why?

 

KC:  Great question! I have always LOVED LOVED Margaret Mitchell. To have said that I wrote such a masterpiece my first time out would be beyond my wildest dreams. GONE WITH THE WIND is still my favorite love story of all time.

 

Amy:  Wow, that is an awesome thought, isn't it? I wonder if Margaret Mitchell were here now, what she would think about the success of that novel.

 

KC, thank you so much for joining us today and as always you're welcome back whenever you like. I'm sure all my readers will join me in congratulating you on the release and success of TEXAS WIDE OPEN and we'll be looking forward to your next book wherever it comes from in the time continuum.  *wink*

 

So everyone, I hope you've had a chance to pick up this extraordinary contemporary romance novel by this truly awesome lady. If not, here's your chance to win a digital copy of TEXAS WIDE OPEN!

If you'd like a chance at winning a digital copy of TEXAS WIDE OPEN by KC Klein, just answer the question I just posed to KC -

If you could be reborn as any author throughout time, who would it be and why?

GIVEAWAY!!

THE PRIZE:  ONE DIGITAL COPY OF TEXAS WIDE OPEN by KC Klein

Blurb for TEXAS WIDE OPEN:

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…

GIVEAWAY RULES:

** This Giveaway is OPEN TO EVERYONE with an ereader!!
          (void where prohibited, of course)

** You must leave a comment and a valid email address to qualify for entry. Remember the magic formula for entry:

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! THANKS FOR PLAYING. 

 

** This Giveaway will run until 11:30PM EST, Friday, December 7, 2012 at which time a random comment will be chosen to win the prize. The winner will be notified by email and announced on a special post on Saturday. Please make sure you leave an email address.  Good Luck!

If you would like to learn more about KC Klein and her fabulous books, please feel free to visit her website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

Happy Reading Everyone!!

TEXAS WIDE OPEN by KC Klein, eKensington, available now in ebook format at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobobooks.