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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

She Reawakens His Soul. Her Fated Cowboy by Donna Michaels.



Today it’s my pleasure to interview wonderfully talented author, Donna Michaels who is celebrating her latest release, Her Fated Cowboy

Before we begin, let’s learn a bit more about the story…

L.A. cop, Jordan Masters Ryan has a problem. Her normal method of meeting a crisis head-on and taking it down won’t work. Not this time. Not when fate is her adversary. Having kept her from the man she thought she’d always marry, the same fickle fate took away the man she eventually did. Thrown back into the path of her first love, she finds hers is not the only heart fate has damaged.

Widower and software CEO, Cole McCall fills his days with computer codes and his free time working the family’s cattle ranch. Blaming himself for his wife’s death, he’s become hard and bitter. When his visiting former neighbor sets out to delete the firewall around his heart, he discovers there’s no protection against the Jordan virus. Though she understands his pain and reawakens his soul, will it be enough for Cole to overcome his past and embrace their fated hearts?

This is the first book in Harland County Series about 4 unruly cowboys and the women who tame them.

Interview time!


SKY:  Welcome, Donna! Always so great to have you visit.

DONNA:  Good morning, Sky. Thank you so much for having me here today. And thank you for such fun questions! I had a blast answering them.

SKY:  Awesome! Let's get to it then. How did you come up with the title?

DONNA:  Her Fated Cowboy was previously released as Fated Hearts through The Wild Rose Press. It’s been revamped with over 10k words, new scenes added, scenes deleted, new ending and heat level upped to hot.  This book is also the first in my new cowboy series and I knew I wanted the titles to have ‘cowboy’ in it so the title went from Fated Hearts to Her Fated Cowboy.

SKY:  If you could spend an hour in real life with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

DONNA:  Fabulous question. Also a toughie. Since I’m happily married I’ll stay away from the hero, especially since I modeled Cole after one of my favorite fictional characters, Duncan McCloud from the television show Highlander.  And, although I know both Kevin and Connor would be a riot to hang out with, I’m going to choose Jordan, my heroine. She’s my strongest, most willful heroine to date…and I’ve had a few. They’re my favorite kind.  But Jordan is special and I’d love to hang out with her. I know she’d get my rear in gear and help me hit my upcoming deadline. And maybe get one of those other books finished, too! :-)

SKY:  If you had to sell your book based on one run of dialogue (start quote to end quote), which would it be?

DONNA:  “Don’t try to turn this all around and put the focus on me, pal. It won’t work. I’m not one of your unsuspecting victims. But, you’re right. There is something about you I like. Your body. Or should I say Cole’s body,” she corrected, looking him up and down, really, really liking what she saw. Dammit. “It’s grown up quite nice.  But I still don’t like you.”

SKY:  Tell us about your book cover and how it relates to your story.

DONNA:  I LOVE my cover!  I was looking through Jimmy Thomas’ stock photos but couldn’t quite find the right one to capture my hero until I clicked his link to premade covers and there it was. Holy Cowboys was I thrilled! The cover was not only perfect for Cole, it perfectly captured one of the most important scenes of the story. In Her Fated Cowboy, Cole is dressed in jeans, white shirt and black Stetson when he and Jordan are caught in a lightning storm. I couldn’t believe my luck!

SKY:  Are you currently working on another story? If so, we’d love some details.

DONNA:  Yes, I’m actually working on four. I know. That’s insane. Fitting though, since my nickname is Mayhem. I’ve got Cowboy Daddy Squared started—the sequel to Cowboy-Sexy. Future Hero—the second book in my Time-shift Heroes series. Locke and Load—the  first book in my Dangerous Curves romantic suspense series is three quarters of the way done too, but I’ve put them all aside to concentrate on finishing the second book in my Harland County series—Her Unbridled Cowboy.

SKY:  What sort of personality does your hero have?

DONNA:  I’d have to say Cole’s personality is passionate. He runs the gamut of a few traits throughout the book but they can all add ‘passionately’ in front…passionately angry; passionately happy; passionately loving; passionately remorseful. Yes, Cole is a passionate hero. In the beginning of the story he’s mean and unfeeling, full of self loathing and guilt, which he takes out on others, wanting to keep everyone at bay. That goes to pot when the heroine arrives. lol

SKY:  What sort of personality does your heroine have?

DONNA:  Jordan is a force of nature. :-) She’s strong-willed, responsible, just, yet vulnerable. She doesn’t sit back and let others fight the fight. If someone needs help, she helps no matter the cost.

SKY:  Did you enjoy writing one scene above all the rest? If so, share.

DONNA:  Two scenes immediately jump to mind from this book and they both take place in the boardroom at McCall Enterprises. lol. The first is when Jordan crashes a meeting because Cole refuses to take her calls. Big mistake, bucko! What comes out of her mouth is priceless—enough  to make him drag her with him from the room. And the second takes place between Cole and his best friend/vice president, Kevin in the same boardroom later in the book. This time, it’s Kevin who’s a piece of work. He had me chuckling and shaking my head. Something tells me I’m going to have my hands full when I write his story.

SKY:  Do you write books in series? If so, share a bit about the series you currently have published or are coming soon.

DONNA:  As you already know, I have a few series’, but I’ll spare you and only talk about the Harland County Series. I know. You’re welcome. lol

The tagline is: …unruly cowboys and the women who tame them.

Fitting, considering these cowboys need taming. Her Fated Cowboy is a reunion romance were both the hero and heroine are recovering from losing their spouses. The second book is their siblings Kerri and Connor in Her Unbridled Cowboy, also a reunion story but of different proportions. More like brother and sister in their childhoods, now, eleven years later, not so much. Okay, not at all. Connor’s a cattle rancher, engaged three times to city girls. Kerri is, yes, you guessed it, a city girl, an accomplished chef and a divorcee who feels very inadequate around the virile cowboy. The third book in the series is Her Uniform Cowboy, and as you could probably guess, yes, the hero is not only a cowboy, he’s also in the military. Texas National Guard to be exact. Kade Dalton is Connor’s best friend who runs a horse ranch and has a few issues to work through while he adjusts back to civilian life and his attraction to an animal welfare agent who’s an advocate for abused horses. And finally, there’s Kevin. Did I mention he’s a bugger? Yep, Kevin Dalton (Kade’s cousin) is a lady’s man who meets his match in Her Forever Cowboy when he falls for a single mother and her little girl. It’s going to take two to tame that cowboy.

SKY:  Donna, you've got me thinkin' cowboys! Great interview. Thanks for joining me today!

Buy Her Fated Cowboy  HERE.

You can find out more about Donna and her books at www.donnamichaelsauthor.com and sign up for her newsletter, too.

Visit Donna on the Web



5 comments:

Donna Michaels said...

Great interview, Sky! Thanks so much for having me hear today. I had a lot of fun!

Sky Purington said...

My pleasure, Donna! :-)

KC said...

Jumped on to say hello. I love cowboys. Great interview and your book looks great. I really am interested in knowing more about your self publishing journey. Has it been a good choice for you? Any regrets?

Donna Michaels said...

Thanks, KC.
I love cowboys, too.
It was actually Sky and her journey that got me interested in self-publishing. It has definitely been a good choice for me. I have reached a lot more readers this way and has even led to sales of my backlist. I do not regret it. If this is something you're considering I'd say give it a try.

Good luck!

Sky Purington said...

I didn't know that my journey got you interested in self-publishing, Donna! Very cool. :-)