Please welcome our guest today, Ann Montclair. Ann is the author of Good Things Come in Tall Packages. I started things off with Ann Montclair as I do with many of our guest authors by asking some questions. Since I’d read a lot about ethnic diversity and diversity of sexual orientation on blogs around the time I was booking Ann it was a hot topic on my mind so I asked Ann to share her thoughts on racial diversity. Here’s what she had to say…
Romance is about finding love, and in the real world, love comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and often when and where one least expects to find it.
I didn’t set out to write an interracial romance or to tout diversity. I believe in it, but it wasn’t my aim. Just like in real life, love happens. Joe and Lucy appeared, met, and became interested in one another in my last book One Wet Summer.
Dr. Joe Connors, a tall, sexy, compassionate healer is Maura Field’s best friend. She’s my heroine in One Wet Summer. Joe is black, and Maura is white, but their skin color has nothing to do with their friendship. Joe is a wonderful man, and Maura and he have loads in common—they love family, food, and sports. Lucy Alcott is Ben Driscoll’s lawyer. He’s the hero in One Wet Summer. Lucy’s a shark in the courtroom and a dazzling southern belle with a proclivity for men, lots of men.
One night she leaves Ben at his hotel’s bar and goes to trawl for eligibles at the Savannah Hyatt. Lucy knows there’s a medical convention in town, and she wants some action. Joe had just returned from taking Maura to dinner, and while I’m writing a great chapter for Maura and Ben, Joe and Lucy are in the background meeting and falling for one another. Writers know how this happens. Even when a novelist has a tightly plotted story, characters do things, demand things, and writers follow along. That’s when magic happens.
When I end One Wet Summer, I’m as surprised as my reader that Maura and Ben’s friends have found one another. Joe and Lucy met off the pages of One Wet Summer, and then by the conclusion of Ben and Maura’s story, asked for their own story. I complied and wrote Good Things Come in Tall Packages.
In Good Things Come in Tall Packages, race is only one of the differences between Joe and Lucy. The idea of racism provides a plot point, but it isn’t the main device. Good Things is about how opposites can fall in love, and how love is not always an ideal. Compromise, middle ground, is where true love lives. Anyone who’s had a long term relationship knows how important give and take is to any successful union. Joe and Lucy have to learn that secret in their novel.
Oh, and readers might want to know Lucy’s brother Thomas is gay and is planning to marry his partner, Liam; so I’ve got two homosexual minor characters, too. I’m toying with the idea of writing Thomas and Liam’s romance next.
If readers want a story with unique characterizations reflecting a twenty-first century world, I think they’ll enjoy Good Things Come in Tall Packages. I loved writing the story, and I believe a writer’s passion is the most essential element for a great read.
Thanks for hosting me.
Good Things Come In Tall Packages
by Ann Montclair
Dr. Joe Connors and socialite lawyer Lucy Alcott come from two different worlds, two very different cultures. But will those differences keep them apart when their attraction is too strong to be denied?
When socialite Savannah attorney Lucy Alcott entered the Hyatt looking for fun, martinis, and hot sex, the last thing she expected to find was Dr. Joe Connors. Joe is Lucy’s opposite in every way: he’s dark, she’s pale; he’s tall and reserved, she’s tiny and vivacious; he wears his compassion and deep spirituality on his sleeve, she wears designer bags and clothes. That night at the Hyatt Lucy found herself not in the arms of a casual encounter but reaching out to a man who challenged the walls she had built around her heart—and when he gave her his number, Lucy knew Joe deserved a woman as warm and tender as he was. So she threw his number away. When an unexpected meeting six months later brings them together again, will Joe overcome Lucy’s fear of losing her heart, or are their two very different worlds destined to keep them apart forever?
An Excerpt From Good Things Come In Tall Packages
The doors whooshed open, and Joe swept his arm out in front of him, indicating Lucy should precede him into the elevator. She inclined her head to acknowledge his chivalry. Inside the elevator, the quiet assaulted her senses. She leaned against the shiny walnut wall, and a sigh of relief escaped her lungs.
“And the world is still,” Joe murmured. “Let me remove your shoes.”
Lucy lifted her left foot, and Joe knelt before her and took off the pump. She shrunk five inches before raising her other foot, so Joe could squeeze it from the rich, red leather.
“Ah,” she whispered in relief, “that feels a lot better.”
He stayed bent on his knee as if he were about to propose and rubbed the ball of first one tired foot and then the other. Lucy wasn’t wearing stockings, and the firm massaging motion he applied to her foot felt like a little bit of heaven. If she believed in such a place.
Struck by the juxtaposition of her white foot in his black hands, enamored by the lightness of his palms as they stroked the pink soles of her feet, she noted together they created a rainbow—a cascade of color, vibrant and beautiful to her eye.
“Thank you, Joe. You’re hired.”
He laughed in his low, bass voice, and the combination of his masterful administrations on her feet and the melody of his jazzy chuckle, proved to be a potent formula. A quiver ran through her body.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
I grew up sneak-reading all my mom’s steamy romance novels. She kept them high on a shelf in her closet and warned, “You better not read those…” Of course, I read them. And now I write them! I strive to take readers on a fun, emotionally charged, and highly sensual ride to happily ever after. Available now: THE BILLIONAIRE’S BAUBLE (Soul Mate Publishing 2011), ONE WET SUMMER (Musa Publishing 2012), and GOOD THINGS COME IN TALL PACKAGES (Musa Publishing 2012). Next up: LADY IN DEED, my debut novel in historical romance set in Tudor England (Musa Publishing Winter 2012).
I am a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA) and a community college English professor. I live in the Finger Lakes region of New York with my sexy hero and our teenage son. Our grown daughter lives in Los Angeles, California–my hometown.
Thanks for learning a little about me. You can contact me at ann@annmontclair.com
Absolutely. You fall for the person, not their skin color, eye color, size, etc. I think this book sounds terrific
justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com
Love goes deep or it’s just infatuation. Thanks, Chelsea.
Somehow I’d missed that “Good Things Come in Tall Packages” is the second/sequel to “One Wet Summer.” It sounds like it stands alone, but I usually like to start at the beginning. Thanks for the second chance!
Can you tell us a bit about your backlist? I know you mentioned ONE WET SUMMER in passing but in poking around Amazon I found another book — THE BILLIONAIRE’S BAUBLE. Can you tell us a bit about that book and a bit more about ONE WET SUMMER?
The Billionaire’s Bauble is my first book, and it’s a fast paced, sexy story about first love. Sloane meets a man in a bar, and they share a passionate kiss, but she runs away and never sees him again–until she shows up in his office two years later, a finalist for a job in his company. The heat ratchets up from there as David tries to compel Sloane to see the world from a billionaire’s standpoint. Sloane is a hard working, farm girl who doesn’t want to let any man take away her hard-earned independence. Furthermore, Sloane won’t settle for less than a soul mate. Is David the one?
One Wet Summer is about a vacationing school teacher who meets and falls for the man who owns the hotel at which she’s staying. Ben’s a very complicated man. His mind is always on work and his daughter, and when Maura takes center stage, he fights it, but she’s everything he never knew he wanted. Maura is as hesitant as he is to get involved, but that’s because she realizes how much his daughter needs a mother, and she’s not sure she’s ready for that responsibility.
Both stories are contemporaries, and they feature very successful, independent women who have put careers first and marriage and families down the list. But sometimes Love comes knocking when you’re just getting out of the bath tub…
Excellent! Thanks for telling us about them. They all sound like GREAT books!
I often ask authors who visit us here to recommend some of their favorite books or authors.
I will take book recommendations from about anyone…but when I find a favorite author I particularly like to follow their recommendations.
I think for authors there are certain things that attract us to stories…both those we write and those we read. I’ve found that by asking my favorite authors who their favorite authors are I can often broaden my favorites list.
Sooo…who are some of your favorite books and authors?
I adore Sandra Brown, Jackie Collins, and Philippa Gregory.
Sandra Brown writes great romantic thrillers with evil antagonists. I love her sex scenes and the edge-of-the-seat pacing she utilizes.
Jackie Collins writes as if her reader is a voyeur to some very unique situations. He take on the jet set fascinates me. I’ve fallen for Lucky Santangelo: she’s ballsy but loving, a true super-heroine of romance.
Gregory writes about England, it’s history as seen through the eyes of kings and queens and paupers. The richness of her landscapes are like fine tapestries. I get lost in her stories and always feel as if I’ve traveled through time when I finish her books.
Don’t you just love the authors that transport you to another world…that make you feel as if you’re re-entering this one when you stop reading one of their books? I love that feeling of getting lost in a book…pulled into another life so deeply that for a time it takes center focus and I have to shake my head to clear the remnants of that world when I come out of it.
Here’s a fun question for you Ann
I’ve been on Amazon searching out your books and reading the reviews. I came upon one for GOOD THINGS which in part says, “Montclair’s writing is different from any other romance writer I’ve read.” What do you think makes your work stand out from other work out there?
What can a reader who picks up your books expect to find?
Are their specific traits that all of your books share?
I wish I knew what the reviewer meant!
I do think all my books are ultra sexy, my heroines are unusually smart, and my heart is on every page and in every word.
Perhaps it is that bit of YOU that makes your books unique? Maybe that’s what the reviewer was getting at.
Sounds like a great story, Ann. Best of luck with it. I have an interracial couple playing a minor role in a novella I just finished. I may give them their own story. If not, I still plan to write a couple of interracial stories. Not just black and white, either.
Oh, how cool, Callie. I can’t wait to read it. I think diversity of every type is a positive in our world. I love reading and writing stories where seemingly divergent people find commonalities. It rings true to me.
Thanks so much for your comment.
I loved GOOD THINGS COME IN TALL PACKAGES. It was a fabulous story, which is not surprising coming from the talented Ann Montclair, one of my favorite authors. I can hardly wait for her next book.
This story is the epitome of what love is all about….the profound feelings that are within the heart and not the superficial ones that are seen with the eyes.
Terrific post, Ann. Good luck with your tour.
Janna, you GET me. I appreciate that more than words can express. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Interesting post.
Thanks for stopping by, Wilma.
Glad it’s fixed. I have really loved following this tour. I love the story. I think too many people look only at the outside of a person and not who they really are.
I agree! Let’s spread the news: love is based on what’s inside! Thanks, momjane.
I’m glad it’s fixed too. It was interesting dealing with the tech support people who fixed the problem with the blog yesterday. The tech support person needed to log into the blog and look around in order to figure out what was not working and why.
She told me as we were finishing up after the blog was fixed that she’d enjoyed this post and this topic.
Kind of funny in a way. I’d not thought of attracting anyone to Ann’s books when I contacted tech support. Was fun finding out that she was intrigued by the post though.
Thanks for hosting Ann!
Yes, thanks so much.
I think in stories it’s the cultural diversities that stand out for me more than racial. I know different backgrounds can stem from racial differences, but not always.
Yes, cultural differences make the most striking impressions. Lucy and Joe have cultural differences, too. He’s careful with money, eats lots of food, attends church, and doesn’t sleep around. Lucy spends, spends, spends, diets, is atheist, and promiscuous. Why do they like each other? Because each one changes, flowers, and grows with the others attention. Each one sees there is more than one way to live and be happy.
Thanks for stopping by, Mary.
I agree with you Ann. One of the things I don’t like about a lot of interracial romances is that the portrayal of the races and the cultures within them seem kind of stereotypical.
It sounds like you create characters who are individual and not really dependent on a racial stereotype. What I’ve read of the character differences the characters could well have these differences if they were the same race…or even the same race and same sex.
While there are undoubtedly conflicts that stem from race in interracial relationships I’ve always been a little offended by stories in which everything is about race. I’m intrigued by your story because the race is one element of the characters…not their entire makeup.
Just clarifying here…what bothers me sometimes in some books is that the character seems to BE or MOSTLY BE one thing…BBW (big beautiful woman), Asian, African American, or whatever.
I don’t like seeing characters reduced to being just one (often stereotypical) thing. I much prefer what Ann does…having a character who is many things…not having his or her entire identity tied up in one thing.
It’s making the entire character identity sit on one thing (race, size, whatever) that bothers me.
I think all authors kind of “court” ideas. I know I do. Ideas flit in and out of my head all of the time…some of them with more power than others. For me one of the things that makes an idea powerful is whether there is a lot of room for emotional angst within the general scope of the idea.
When you’re “courting” ideas what is it about an idea that makes you take more notice over one idea than another? What makes a powerful idea…one that will weasel its way ahead of other ideas you’ve been working on for longer?
Whatever idea resonates with me goes into the book.
I try to pay attention to what will layer my characters and story with meaning. For example, with the idea of Lucy and Joe being different–I exhibit their differences in a million ways throughout the book. And I also show how they admire and overcome or simply learn to live with those differences.
In the scene where Joe orders pizza, Lucy prefers vegetable toppings and Joe likes meat, He offers to order it with veggies, but Lucy tells him to get it half and half. He does, and when she only eats a quarter of her portion, he eats the veggie side, too. Now that’s not a huge deal or a big moment, but it’s one of many in the story where I illustrate how differences can be handled, are handled by lovers every day.
Thanks for such a thoughtful question.
This is kind of the difference between showing the characters and their differences and telling the reader that the characters are different. Showing entails scenes that show the differences and similarities in action. It sounds like you do a fantastic job with characterization and layering. You’re a new author to me…introduced through Goddess Fish and this tour. I’m definitely going to have to check out this book. It sounds like all the detail that I like so well in books.
I love this part of the excerpt:
Struck by the juxtaposition of her white foot in his black hands, enamored by the lightness of his palms as they stroked the pink soles of her feet, she noted together they created a rainbow—a cascade of color, vibrant and beautiful to her eye.
I’ve always found that contrast is powerful. I like the way you used it here to show the differences of skin color but also the beauty of that contrast.
Lovely!
I love it, too. It’s tender and sexy all at once.
If you have been trying to leave a question or a comment for Ann and have not been able to, you have not been alone. Something went haywire with the permalinks within the blog structure causing the page not found error many of you were seeing when you tried to leave a comment.
It’s fixed now. Please leave your comments!
Thanks for “fixing it” and letting em visit an extra day!
Thanks for coming back and playing with us another day. I’m glad we actually get a chance to talk to you. I’m really enjoying the discussion of your book. The discussion is kind of showing me layers of your books and characterization that is intriguing to me as a reader.