Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Chocolate Cafe with Mary Connealy

There are a lot of people I look for at ACFW, but the Seekers are a group I make SURE to find each time. And author, Mary Connealy, is one of the reasons I've stalked the Seekers as much as I have over the past 4 years. (Well, Mary told me that I wasn't working hard enough to be a stalker and I "needed to apply myself" - so I need to stalk harder :-)

I read Petticoat Ranch in 2009 and immediately fell in love with the style, humor, and male/female banter. It was one of the first books in CBA I'd read which really hit at the humor aspect I wanted to write. (Siri Mitchell was another initial influence). 

Mary's characters have such vibrancy and each book is an adventure. So... let's see who one of her most memorable characters is?

I love Dare Riker, the hero of Fired Up because he is deeply honorable. So deeply honorable that he is tormented to realize that he completely missed the Glynna Greer was being abused by her husband and left her to be beaten a second time. It's destroyed his belief in himself and he no longer wants to be a doctor. Ever since he trained to help a doctor in the Civil War he's taken some smug satisfaction in practicing medicine without 'wasting a bunch of time' in college. Believing he's just as good as any doctor. But now he sees himself as a liar and a fraud and he's ashamed of himself.
 
But he has such a natural gift for nurturing and healing that everytime someone gets sick or hurt near him, he just can't help stepping in and taking care of them.
 
It's enough of a dilemma to drive a poor defenseless doctor mad!

I do like him a bunch - but why does Glynna end of liking him?

He's smart. Hard working. Kind. Intensely loyal. A natural caretaker. A driven student, learning all he can about medicine, more than most men who have been to college by reading everything he can get his hands on. Honest. Cute. Once he realizes Glynna's in trouble nothing matters but saving her. Including Luke's ranch.
 
Leaving her behind the second time he is called to her house, once he knows Flint beat her, knowing he will die if he tries to take her...and being willing to do that if it would save her, but knowing it wouldn't save her at all, nearly tears him in half.
 
Plus he is smoking hot and he wants to get his hands on Glynna so bad it is driving him mad and Glynna wants him right back.
 
What's not to love?

Wooweee! Romance with rifles! Passion with pistols. No doubt, Fired Up will take you on a fun and furious ride through another Connealy classic. If you'd like to hear more about character creation with Mary Connealy, you can check out her posts at Seekerville. You can also learn more about her books at her website.

Quotes for the day: (and Mary will probably appreciate these :-)

“Writing historical fiction is a legitimate use of Multiple Personality disorder.” 
- Peggy Ullman Bell

I get up in the morning, torture a typewriter until it screams, then stop.” 
-Clarence Kelland




14 comments:

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Karen @ a house full of sunshine said...

Wow - what an awesome premise!! So powerful and original!

As for the stalking - yes, APPLY yourself, Miss Pepper!! Don't you know what a disappointment you are as a stalker??! I think photocopied pictures of Mary Connealy used to paper the inside of your drawers and cupboards would be a good start.

Pepper said...

LOL, Karen!! I wonder if that will raise my stalking-status :-)

Mary certainly have 'original' story ideas. Connealy Classics, I call them - and I have them all...except the most recent after Fired Up.

Mary Connealy said...

Good Morning, Pepper and all I want to know is, is it as cold in this alley as it is in the rest of the world?

YIKES.

I might move to Texas to be near Dare and Glynna just to get out of this WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!

Amy Leigh Simpson said...

Ahhh, Mary this story sounds like a winner in my book! Pistols and passion, I think it was put. Yes please! Dare sounds like a wonderfully wounded hero. Can't wait to dive in to this one. On my TBR list!!! Thanks for stopping by to chat with us on the Alley!

Pepper said...

Mary,
We're pretending that The Alley is in Hawaii :-)
Great weather, fantastic breezes, lovely views of landscape and...people :-)

Pepper said...

Can we have a roving Alley? Maybe San Francisco would be better for an Alley and great weather? :-) Not TOO much like Seekerville, you know. Just the 'spirit' of Seekerville!!

Susan Anne Mason said...

Sounds like a great hero! Thanks, Pepper (and Mary)!

Anonymous said...

Love the hero, but REALLY love the Mary and Pepper photo!

Pepper said...

Tina,
I love that photo too :-) Makes me smile every time I see it. I have one with Mary from each year going to ACFW.

And I have one with you after the um...elevator debacle.

:-)

Pepper said...

Susan Ann,
How's the weather up your way? :-)

Mary Vee Storyteller said...

Well, Mary C is such a fun person to be with, no wonder her books sound so inviting. This character, Dare Riker, is a dream.

Mary Connealy said...

I think Pepper just stands next to me to remind herself how YOUNG AND BEAUTIFUL SHE IS.




glad i can help