Aloha to Samantha Grace and ONE ROGUE TOO MANY

Samantha Grace joins me today, National Chocolate Cake Day, to chat about her new series, Rival Rogues, with Book 1, ONE ROGUE TOO MANY.

Historical romance author Samantha Grace discovered the appeal of a great love story when she was just a young girl, thanks to Disney’s “Robin Hood”. She didn’t care that Robin Hood and Maid Marian were cartoon animals. It was her first happily-ever-after experience and she didn’t want the warm fuzzies to end. Now that Samantha is grown, she enjoys creating her own happy-endings for characters that spring from her imagination. Publisher’s Weekly describes her stories as “fresh and romantic” with subtle humor and charm. Samantha describes romance writing as the best job ever.

Part-time hospice social worker, moonlighting author, and Pilates nut, she enjoys a happy and hectic life with her real life hero and two kids in the Midwest. 

Kim:  I am fascinated by the dynamics of group blogs - how do you balance your writing, your own promo, and then your contributions to Lady Scribes (link)?

Samantha: It can become a juggling act at times, but I love everything I do related to writing. It’s my dream job! I structure my writing days very similarly to my day job. I have certain tasks I need to accomplish, and I take a few minutes in the morning to figure out in what order I’m going to do them. I’m a list-maker.

Since you mentioned Lady Scribes, I’d love to tell you what we have coming up in February. We are undergoing a revamp, and we’re excited about the changes. We’ll have more sneak peeks at what we’re writing—look for author video readings too from the BRAVER authors. (We’ll see if I fall in that category. One of my goals for 2014 is to get over my camera shyness.)

We’ll have more giveaways and chances to interact with each other, such as What’s Up Wednesdays where we’ll talk about what everyone is reading/watching/listening to/etc. & High Five Fridays where everyone shares their top 5 of whatever the topic of the day is. And of course, we’ll have more guest bloggers and interviews. Look for a couple of new authors to join us too.

Kim:  I enjoyed your Beau Monde Bachelor series with fun titles! What did you learn about yourself, your writing, and your readers after a four book series plus the blog tours to promote them?

Samantha: Thank you! It’s always a boost to hear someone say they enjoy my books. Keeps me motivated to stay in the chair and keep going.

This is a great question. I think what I learned about myself is I’m happiest when I’m following my instincts and writing for me. There are people with good intentions who will tell an author to change a story this way or that, and in the beginning, I thought maybe I should listen since they had more experience. When I didn’t stay true to my vision and followed someone else’s suggestions, even though they didn’t feel right, I regretted it. Now I’ll consider suggestions, but I trust my gut and have no trouble speaking up for my story.

From the blogging tour, I learned that romance readers are incredibly kind and optimistic. They want a good story, and they want to believe they’ve picked up a good one every time they select a book. I do my best not to disappoint them! I also learned I’m not every reader’s cup of tea, and I’m okay with that.

The best part of the tours, however, has been getting to know some of the readers. I even had a chance to meet a reader I got to know well once we connected on Facebook. My husband and I met her and a friend in Atlanta, and it was such a pleasure. Plus, she provided me with a great description for my writing: humorous stories with heart. I love that!

Kim:  I am looking forward to your new series, Rival Rogues. What inspired it?

Samantha: The idea for a younger sister/brother’s best friend romance came from watching the interactions between my daughter and her older brother’s friend. Sometimes the friend would be nice to her. Then other times he would pull pranks on her.

One day I was very irritated with him for hurting her feelings and I thought, ‘Some day she is going to grow up to be a beauty and you’re going to want her attention, but she won’t care a thing about you.’

Then my imagination took over and created a story about two neighbors who grew up together and fell in love as adults, but their shared past creates a obstacles to trusting one another. I needed more conflict, however, and what better way to do it than to add competition for her heart? I needed another rogue! As readers have pointed out, “Is it really possible to have too many rogues?”

Kim:  Tell us about ONE ROGUE TOO MANY - why should Lady Gabrielle wait for the Earl of Ellis?

Samantha: Here is a summary of the story:

From the betting book at Brooks’s Gentleman’s Club: 


Wager: £2,000 that Lord Ellis will throw the first punch when he discovers Lord Thorne is wooing a certain duke’s sister.

All bets are off when the game is love

Lady Gabrielle is thrilled when she learns Anthony Keaton, Earl of Ellis, wants to ask for her hand in marriage. She’s not so pleased when he then leaves the country and four months pass without a word. Clearly, the scoundrel has changed his mind and is too cowardly to tell her. There’s nothing to do but go back on the marriage mart…

When Anthony returns to Town and finds his ultimate rival has set sights on Gabby, his continual battle of one-upmanship with Sebastian Thorne ceases to be a game. Anthony is determined to win back the woman who holds his heart—but he’s not expecting Gabby herself to up the stakes…

It’s really a second chance at love/friends to lovers/younger sister & brother’s friend story. Three of my favorite tropes mashed together.

Lady Gabrielle should wait for Ellis, because true love is always the best choice. But I understand the reason she has doubts. If love came easily, perhaps we wouldn’t value it as much.

Kim:  What's next for Samantha Grace?

Samantha: I just finished revisions for In Bed with a Rogue, which is the second story in my Rival Rogues series. It’s a love story for the jilted rogue, and I’m very excited to share it, but it won’t be released until September 2nd. In the meantime, I have book coming out in February that I worked on with four other authors—Olivia Kelly, Christi Caldwell, Robin Delany, & Aileen Fish.

We had so much fun collaborating on the plot and creating our characters.

Here’s a little bit about The Heart of a Duke:

Five friends receive a pendant from a gypsy along with a prophecy that whoever wears the pendant will win the heart of a duke. With varying expectations, each girl accepts her turn with the good luck charm and a chance at happily-ever- after—secretly fearing the gypsy’s tale may be nothing more than a plot to sell them a worthless piece of jewelry.

Thank you Kim for hosting me today. It’s great to be here, and I look forward to chatting with everyone. 

Mahalo, Samantha, for making National Chocolate Cake Day that much better with ONE ROGUE TOO MANY! 

Sourcebooks is giving away a print copy of ONE ROGUE TOO MANY to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about your favorite storyline trope.   

2.  This giveaway is open to readers in the US and Canada.

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, February 1, 10 pm in Baltimore.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, February 2.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

To connect with Samantha, find her at:

Samantha Grace Author | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | 

Lady Scribes