CINDERELLA'S BOOT/RUNAWAY BRIDES - Darlene Franklin - One Free Book

Dear Readers, I just finished reading this book by Darlene. It’s a fun read. You’ll love it.

Welcome back, Darlene. Tell us how much of yourself you write into your characters.

I don’t intentionally write myself into my characters—others often see more of me than I’m aware of myself. In Cinderella’s Boot, I believe in second chances. Every day is a chance to begin anew, by God’s grace, and my heroine has to believe that after she left her fiancé at the altar.

What is the quirkiest thing you have ever done?

One of the more unusual things I’ve done: I traveled all the way from Mexico City to Maine by bus. After a summer’s immersion in Mexican culture and Spanish, I felt like I had entered a foreign country when we crossed the border into Texas and a three-year-old began speaking English with a heavy Southern accent.

When did you first discover that you were a writer?

I began writing seriously, after my divorce in 1991. I wrote about God’s promises in the midst of a difficult situation. After I finished that book, I started writing fiction and never stopped, although my first book wasn’t published for fourteen years.

Tell us the range of the kinds of books you enjoy reading.

My favorite genre is mystery—all kinds, suspense, cozy, hard-boiled, you name it. I also love reading the genre I write, romance, especially historical. Good sci-fi/fantasy draws me, but I’d rather not read a series (sorry, writers!) For nonfiction, I read memoirs, creative nonfiction, and spiritual living books. Recently I finished Jesus, the Obedient Son by Michael Phillips. Now I’m reading My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege. It’s a biography of Amon Goeth’s black granddaughter. In case you need reminding (I did), Goeth was the concentration camp commander in Schindler’s List.

How do you keep your sanity in our run, run, run world?

Good question. Prayer and scripture memorization/meditation help. Right now I’m blessed to have a weekly counseling session. Talking with friends can help. Ongoing physical therapy helps, when I get it. (I live in a nursing home)

How do you choose your characters’ names?

For Cinderella’s Boot, I brainstormed names that could be condensed to “Cinderella” and came up with “Cynthia Ellen,” my heroine’s name. Her family teasingly calls her “Cinders,” her friends call her “Cyn”—but only her (former) fiancé calls her Cynthia.

I chose Keith for the hero, just because I liked the name. All the other characters, including a few animals, were given names of Facebook friends who asked to have a character named after them. People love seeing their names in print! I intend to ask for names whenever I write a contemporary book—which isn’t very often, as you know, Lena.

What is the accomplishment that you are most proud of?

I am as proud of my son and grandchildren as most parents are, but I feel I have little right to take credit for how they turned out.

Do I dare say proud? I am thankful that my faith has stayed strong through a life with many challenges. And I’m proud of having nearly fifty unique titles in print, plus reprints and new collections. (Cinderella’s Boot is book #48. I expect to see book #50 published in July.)

If you were an animal, which one would you be, and why?

A cat, of course. Because they are queens and beautiful and friendly.

What is your favorite food?

Potato chips and ice cream

I’m sure the sweet and salty go together well. I have a recipe for Potato Chip Cookies that are like that. What is the problem with writing that was your greatest roadblock, and how did you overcome it?

Oh, Lena, I’ve had a lot of roadblocks over the years. Perhaps the biggest problem at the beginning was the lack of validation. I felt compelled to write but no one wanted to publish what I had written. S-l-o-w-l-y that changed.  I published maybe one item a year and won a few awards. My first book was published fourteen years after I started writing!

How did I overcome it? I just kept writing. I even won the perseverance award at Colorado Christian Writers Conference. Editors certainly knew I was serious about learning my craft.

Tell us about the featured book?

Contemporary romance novella from the Runaway Brides collection.

Cynthia Ellen Cooper—known affectionately as “Cinderella”—left her wedding boot in the dust when she ran away from her wedding to work on a sheep station in Australia.

Four years later, she’s back home—and so is her ex-fiancé, now a DVM from Oklahoma State University. They reach a truce and work side by side in his father’s animal clinic.

Cyn soon discovers she wants more—but she has to battle bad history and a demanding pet owner for Keith’s attention.

How can Cinderella find a second chance at love?

Please give us the first page for my readers.

Cynthia Ellen Cooper—Cyn to her friends, Cinderella to her family—had dreamed of her wedding day all her life. The day dawned as if delivered to order from heaven. Early May in Oklahoma hit the perfect balance between the heavy spring tornado season and the blasting heat of summer. Not a rain cloud or rainbow marred the horizon, naught but sunshine and puffy white clouds and blue sky.

Grass, kept to an even six-inch height, comfy to foot and hoof, stretched around her family’s homestead, inviting her to ride to her wedding in style on the back of her favorite mare. The flowers of the field matched the wildflower bouquets lining the chairs set up for the ceremony to be held beneath a rose arch. Her wedding ensemble was designed to match the surroundings: a short gown and veil in ivory satin and lace paired with white heeled boots for her wedding slippers.

In all, Cinderella had a fairy tale ending to a fairy tale romance for the cowgirl more at home on the back of her beloved mare Moonstar than on foot.

Enjoy it, Cyn reminded herself. After today, she’d exchange ranch chores for office duties. She’d work at the registrar’s office at the Oklahoma State College of Veterinary Medicine in Stillwater for four years while her prince charming earned his DVM.

Four years trapped inside an office felt like an eternity to a girl who spent every spare minute outdoors. After their imprisonment, Keith would receive his degree and they would return to Mistletoe Springs.

Was she exchanging her dreams for the security of marriage? Any marriage involved compromise. But if she could know for certain that Keith would wait for her, she wouldn’t get married today.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Website and blog

Facebook

Amazon author page

Twitter: @darlenefranklin

Purchase Links:

Cinderella's Boot

Runaway Brides

Readers, leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. You must follow these instructions to be in the drawing. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory or country if outside North America. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)

Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.

The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.

If you’re reading this on Goodreads, Google+, Feedblitz, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link:

Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com