A Conversation with Susan Meier, Author of CHASING THE RUNAWAY BRIDE (with a Giveaway!)

Annnd the TBR continues to grow…but at 99 cents right now, I can’t say no to this one!

Thanks so much for agreeing to be with us today, Susan! What 5 things should readers know about you?

1. Ever since I found a certain shoe website, my credit card is bulging. LOL
2. I’m a cat lover.
3. I’m a cake lover. (Which is why I now have to go to the gym five times a week.)
4. I don’t care what kind of car I have as long as it runs.
5. And I’d really, really, really love to know how to cook but I can’t seem to get it right.

Eh—cooking’s totally overrated. Baking’s way more fun (and results in cakes!)

 

Tell us all about your main characters—who are they? What makes them tick? Most importantly, what one thing would they need to have with them if stranded on a desert isle? 😉

If stranded on a desert isle, Piper would probably sigh with relief at getting away from town gossip for a while. She’s a runaway bride who doesn’t know why she just can’t close the deal – until she meets sexy rancher Cade Donovan and realizes she simply wasn’t turned on by either of her perspective grooms. But on the deserted isle, she’d get bored really quickly because she likes to work. She likes to be involved with the town (no matter how crazy). So without all that to keep her busy, she’d want her Kindle.

Cade, on the other hand, would immediately be furious over being stranded. He has places to go and people to see, and being stranded just wouldn’t fit his plans. What he’d want with him? Actually, that should be a who. Piper. He thinks she’s funny, smart and great in bed. Once he got over being angry at being stranded, he’d simply amuse himself with her. Teasing her. Testing her. But most of all being grateful that she’s smart because together they could figure out how to build a fire and find food. LOL

If we could all get stranded with our Kindles and a solar charger, I think we’d be golden! (And a Cade would be nice too…but then that would be two things. Unless he brought the Kindle…)

 

Where did the inspiration for this book come from?

I’ve had this idea for a long time. Mostly because I love small towns and feuds and all the fussing small town neighbors can make over the simplest little thing. But it really came together when my friend, Deb Mullins, said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she was the town runaway bride?” I’m a HUGE fan of Julia Roberts’ RUNAWAY BRIDE movie, but I knew Piper wasn’t the Richard Gere type. She needed a man’s man because she’d been engaged to a nice guy and an intellectual and couldn’t quite make it to the altar for either one of them.

Enter Cade…rancher, former marine, guy who took no crap from anyone. He was as strong as she was. He was as smart as she was. He liked to laugh. He was just what she needed.

Unfortunately, he’d also left her best friend at the altar.

The book is full of the vagaries of small towns and lots of humor. And even though Cade and Piper have no problem with sex, love is a lot more complicated.

It always is!

 

How long have you been writing, and what (or who) inspired you to start?

I feel like I’ve been writing forever. At a conference a few weeks ago, I told a friend I used to create romance novels in my head about me marrying all four of the Monkees…unfortunately, each had to die before I could marry the next. Even then I was killing people off.

I didn’t immediately click with a publisher when I began writing down my stories, but, once I did, I took off like a rocket in sweet romances. At Entangled I’m trying my hand at making my small town stories as sexy as they are sweet.

LOL—your Monkees stories! The poor, unsuspecting guys…but they kept marrying you, huh?

 

What do you like best about being a writer? What is the most challenging part?

I love creating other worlds. I love putting characters in complicated situations and watching them work their way out.

The most challenging part has always been letting go of a story. I always feel a story can be refined…always. So somebody has to take the book out of my hands and say, Okay, Susan, now we’re going to edit this. LOL

Yes, please—edit so we can read it! 🙂

 

What are you working on right now? What can readers look for from you in the next year?

I have lots of things I’m working on! Devon Donovan’s story is next. He’s the oldest brother, the one who’s been keeping the family together. Like Piper in CHASING THE RUNAWAY BRIDE, he needs to learn to laugh and I’ve got the perfect woman to teach him. Isabelle from the flower shop.

I’m also talking with my editor about doing Barbara Beth’s story. She’s about to hit an identity crisis in Devon’s book and because she’s been with us for three stories, I think readers would like to know how and why she sheds the high school cheer captain look and tries to become a lady.

I’m also writing the first book of a continuity for Harlequin which will be out in July. The story is the story of a very successful European chef who falls for a simple American girl who is the first person to stand up to him in forever.

In February, HER BROODING ITALIAN BOSS releases for Harlequin Romance. That’s the story of Laura Beth, the roommate of Eloise Vaughn, the heroine in THE TWELVE DATES OF CHRISTMAS, which came out November 1. Laura Beth is pregnant by a guy who doesn’t want her and she runs to Italy to buy time to figure out what to do – never expecting she’d become the muse for a famous painter.

So if you like sweet or spicy, I’ve got a book for you! LOL

Wow, you’re busy! It all sounds fantastic—can’t wait!

 

What authors and/or books have inspired you?

I’m a huge Nora Roberts fan, but I also love Joan Johnston, Laura Kaye, Robin Covington, Karen Rose Smith, Deb Mullins, Jenna Kernan…and tons of others. More than an author or book, good writing and great storytelling inspire me. These ladies accomplish both every time.

Great list!

 

What are you currently reading? What are your thoughts about it so far?

Keeping Mr. Right Now, Robin Beilman. I LOVE it. The characters are witty and well drawn, and the story moves at a nice pace. But the humor and humanness of the characters is what I love best.

Read it! I have to agree 🙂

 

If you had to “sell” CHASING THE RUNAWAY BRIDE in a single Tweet, what would you say?

Is sexy rancher Cade Donovan in over his head when he seduces runaway bride Piper O’Riley, or are they both in for the time of their lives?

 

Thank you for having me. I’d love to give away a copy of my first Red-Hot Bliss title, Her Summer with the Marine, to one commenter!

Susan Meier

 

Fantastic—thanks, Susan! HER SUMMER WITH THE MARINE was a fun read (reviewed here)—make sure you all comment to win a copy!

 

About the author:

I’ve written some fun things … those are the Silhouette Romance titles. I especially liked SNOWBOUND BABY which was book 3 of the Bryant Baby Bonanza series which also included BABY BEFORE BUSINESS and PRINCE BABY. But my favorites for Silhouette were the books of the Brewster Baby Boom series (THE BABY BEQUEST, BRINGING UP BABIES and OH, BABIES) where three bachelors inherit triplets. Those were fun to write. I go back every now and again and read them myself for a laugh!

And speaking of triplets, my May release A FATHER FOR HER TRIPLETS, has the most adorable 4-year-olds ever! My October release SINGLE DAD’S CHRISTMAS MIRACLE tells the story of the sister of the heroine in A FATHER FOR HER TRIPLETS…so you’ll see those crazy four-year-olds again! LOL

About the book:

From cold feet to hot-blooded…

Former Marine and current rancher Cade Donovan left his hometown looking for a fresh start. But then Cade inherits the grocery store that his grandfather won from the O’Riley family in a poker game more than thirty years ago. The same store that caused a bitter feud between the two families. And worse still, Cade has to return home to confront his past—and share his inheritance with the enemy…the all-grown-up and sinfully tempting Piper O’Riley.

After ditching two fiancés at the altar, Piper has a reputation for being the town’s runaway bride. The irony is, Piper is woefully inexperienced when it comes to real, true physical attraction. And working with Cade is torture. The kind that can keep a girl up all night imagining naughty, delicious things. Things that Cade is more than happy to show her…

It’s all fun and sexy games…until the truth of why Cade left town comes out.

 

Don’t forget to leave a comment for a chance to win Susan’s HER SUMMER WITH THE MARINE!