Author Interview & Giveaway: C.H. Admirand, author of Tyler

Please join me in welcoming C.H. Admirand, author of Tyler

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C.H. Admirand was born in Aiken, South Carolina. She has published 9 bestselling novels for the library market. Tyler is her tenth book and her first mass market release. She lives with her husband, who is the inspiration for all of her heroes’ very best traits, in northern New Jersey. For more information, please visit http://www.chadmirand.com/.

With writing several novels, how do you keep the plots fresh?

Usually a character will start whispering in my ear while I’m trying to sleep, or I’ll see something in the news, read something, or in the case of this series—will experience something that will spark an idea. So for me the plots are always new and exciting. Most people think I’m just this side of crazy, but I’m in big trouble if my characters aren’t waking me up in the middle of the night!

How many books can we expect to see in this series?

The series – so far—is a trilogy. There are three gorgeous, dark-haired, dark-eyed Garahan brothers. Tyler, the oldest brother, releases March 2011 and Dylan, the middle brother, releases January 2012. Jesse, the youngest, is my current work-in-progress and the release date is TBD!

How did you go about doing research for Tyler?

Tyler is a big move for me, not only from the library market into mass market paperback, but from my Historical Romance Irish Western Series to Contemporary Romance. I always research the time period and locations that I’m writing about thoroughly, so the time period for Tyler really was a challenge for me. Technology has changed drastically since my first book was published a decade ago, and I haven’t embraced all that it has to offer. Fortunately, I can ask our daughter and younger son questions about social networks, and our oldest about technology, etc., so I have a research resource close at hand. I’ve been to Texas a couple of times, the first time was the most memorable—a cross country trip in the middle of the gas shortage in 1974—and for those of you who don’t know what it’s like wait for the odd or even days (depending on your license plate number) and then to wait on line for gas, it was a nightmare in New Jersey, but the funny thing was as soon as we drove out of the Tri-State Area, the lines weren’t as long and started to disappear the further west we drove. When the RT Booklover’s Convention was in Houston, TX, two of my writer friends talked me into going to LeBare, a ladies’ club in Houston…an experience that has definitely stayed with me…but I turned my embarrassment at the time into a trilogy that I sold to Sourcebooks.

What inspired you to write your first novel?

I’ve always loved watching Westerns on TV and have long been a fan of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I loved the movie, Stagecoach, and was trying to come up with a way for the hero to meet the heroine. In all of the Westerns I’d watched the heroes were larger than life and usually lawmen. I wanted to put a unique twist to the genre and decided to use my Irish heritage in all of my books, starting with The Marsha’s Destiny. If you’ve seen John Wayne in Stagecoach, you’ll know that although he wasn’t a lawman, he wasn’t a true outlaw, he’d been avenging a wrong. But I wanted my hero to be a US Marshal and knew I’d name my heroine after my great grandmother, Margaret Mary Flaherty. I added a dash of reality when trying to decide what would possess her to travel from NYC where her family had recently immigrated and realized it would have to be her brother’s fault. I always got in trouble as a kid following my older brother around.

Are you currently working on anything? If so, can you share a little teaser?

I just turned in book two, Dylan. I do love how they meet. In book two, Dylan agrees to stand in for Tyler at the Lucky Star after Widowmaker tries to skewer Tyler to a barbed wire fence. Here’s a teaser:

Dylan Garahan narrowed his gaze trying to focus in the glare of the spotlight, searching the crowd for her face. It was time for the big move in his act—the show-stopper.

Where was she?

Jolene would kill him if he messed this up, but he’d made it through the last two nights and would make it through tonight. The redheaded owner of the club should have no complaints about the middle Garahan brother not keeping his word or holding up his end of the bargain. Damn the woman and her tests!

Controlling the urge to turn on his heel and walk off the stage, he dug deep and found the grit to stick it out. Hell if Tyler could handle this job, so could he. Garahans went down fighting!

Oblivious to the adoring gazes of the women around him, he moved toward center stage, bent and picked up the coiled rope. He looked up as a blonde, a brunette, and a redhead walked into the bar…right on schedule…but there was something different about the brunette. Maybe it was the blindfold. He struggled not to laugh, but he couldn’t keep from smiling wondering why the cloak and dagger bit.

Looping the lasso in his hands, he started the slow circular motion. Getting the rhythm going until it was smooth and sweet; he raised it above his head and locked gazes with the blonde. When she nodded, he let the lasso fly, as the blonde whipped the blindfold off the brunette.

The woman’s stunned expression as the rope slipped around her upper body didn’t stop him from tugging on the rope and reeling her in. The patrons of the Lucky Star hooted and hollered, encouraging him to pull faster, but he didn’t want the little lady to trip and fall on her pretty face.

Glad that the focus of the crowd wasn’t totally on him, he gently pulled her toward him. The brunette’s Gypsy-dark skin, full red lips, and almond-shaped eyes captivated him. The promise of pain-filled death in her dark green eyes, as she struggled against the bonds that held her had his lips twitching, fighting not to smile.

She dug in her heels, but he used his strength to subdue her. Undeterred, he yanked on the rope. When her eyes widened in shock, he used her surprise to his advantage and reeled her in the last few feet. When they were a few inches apart, he tipped his hat, smiled and rumbled, “Happy birthday, arling’.”

Her eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared, and Dylan recognized the signs of a fractious filly about to raise a ruckus. When her ears twitched, he was ready. Wrapping his free hand around her, he hauled her in close, pinning her to him before she could let loose and kick him.

The crowd roared its approval.

“Let me go,” she demanded, her sweet breath tickling the hollow of his throat.

Enjoying himself for the first time since he’d hit the stage, he chuckled and bent his head closer to her full red lips. “Why?” His gaze locked with hers. “So you can have more room to do more damage?”

“I don’t like being manhandled.”

Her vehement protest didn’t deter him; he had a job to do and act to finish. “Well now, arling’,” he drawled. “That’s not what your friends said.”

Her eyes sparkled with temper, and her willowy body trembled with anger. Dylan’s body stood up and said hell yeah! It’d been a long time since he’d had a woman tempt him. The sultry brunette in his arms looked like she wanted to tear a few strips off of his hide…right before she killed him.

Damn, but that turned him on.
© C.H. Admirand, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2011

Which authors have influenced your writing style?

I’ve been to a number of conferences and writing workshops over the years, but two stick out in my mind as the most influential: A Q&A with Nora Roberts where someone from the audience asked her how to handle a husband who wasn’t supportive of the woman’s writing career. Without missing a beat, Nora’s response was to divorce him! After the laughter died down, she sighed and said that she could see from the woman’s reaction that she really loved the guy, so she would have to work around him, finding her support system in a writers group. The other was Susan Elizabeth Phillips. It was actually the same NJRW Conference in 1995, and she was speaking about motivation and selling one’s first book. I can’t remember word for word what she said, but the feeling that I had when she spoke has stayed with me. She truly wanted all of us to go after our dream of being published and to remember to stay true to what inspires you and write what you know…she did…and against the odds wrote about a hero who played football.

What are your top three favorite books? Authors?

Ransom by Julie Garwood, Born in Ice by Nora Roberts, Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon

TYLER BY C.H. ADMIRAND – IN STORES MARCH 2011

Desperate times call for desperate measures…
When Tyler Garahan said he’d do anything to save his family’s ranch, he never thought that would include taking a job as a stripper at a local ladies’ club. But the club’s fiery redheaded bookkeeper captures Tyler’s attention, and for her, he’ll swallow his pride…

And one good turn deserves another…
Emily Langley feels for the gorgeous cowboy. It’s obvious that he’s the real deal and wouldn’t be caught dead in a ladies’ revue if he wasn’t in big trouble. And when he looks at her like that, she’ll do anything to help…

Working days on the ranch and nights at the ladies’ club, Tyler is plumb exhausted. But could it be that his beautiful boss needs him just as much as he needs her...

WANT TO WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK?

{March 2-16, 2011}

• Only residents of the U.S. or Canada are eligible to win
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*Thanks to Sourcebooks, Inc. for providing the prize!