Interview with Tracy Sumner – and giveaway!

A couple of weeks ago, Tracy Sumner contacted me to ask if I’d like to read one of her historical romance novels, Tides of Passion. Whenever someone asks me this, I always feel honored, but that honor is tempered with a bit of trepidation. What if I don’t like their novel? Or, worse, what if it leaves me feeling ‘meh’? What do you say in that situation?

Thank God, that didn’t happen with Tracy’s novel, Tides of Passion. I hate to sound clichéd, but it swept me away. I loved the intensity of the conflict between the hero (a small-town constable charged with keeping the peace) and the heroine (a suffragist stirring up local women to fight for their rights). Even more, I loved how realistically and maturely the two confronted their issues with each other, instead of letting their differences define them. (You can read my review here.)

Tracy’s intelligence shines through the story, and I’m thrilled to have her here so we can all get to know her better—and you get the chance to win one of her novels!

1. One thing that kept my heart pounding as I read Tides of Passion was the interplay between Savannah’s fight for women’s rights and her growing feelings for Zach. Did you choose to write about the period because of its potential for conflict between suffragists and the men they loved, or did you have other reasons for setting this series in late 19th century North Carolina?

Great question! Okay, the series starts with the novel TIDES OF LOVE. I actually dated someone who was a marine biologist, and he had worked briefly in Beaufort, NC (which is what the fictional Pilot Isle is totally based on). Anyway, the setting was one I chose based on that.

Savannah’s career came about because I lived in Manhattan during the writing of TIDES OF PASSION. So, I knew the hero of the story was the luscious older brother, Zachariah, but the heroine…? She was a New Yorker, I just knew it. And digging into the history of turn-of-the-century NYC uncovered the women’s rights movement. Voila!

I also felt that the lifesaving programs around at that time on the Outer Banks (due to the dangerous shoals and subsequent shipwrecks) was part of Zach’s passion, responsibility and despair.

2. Kensington published several of your books about ten years ago, and you’re now re-releasing them yourself digitally. What have you been up to in the years between?

Moving! 🙂 Due to my husband’s career (finance, not the military!) we move often. Anyway, I also have a fairly active graphic design career. And a four-year old! Add to that travel (I’ve been to about 50 countries and counting) I stay busy. I am writing, though, and trying to get the books out there. All due to my lack of discipline. I apologize! Loving the indie/self-pub aspect, though.

3. I hear you have an anthology coming out soon and a contemporary novella in April. What can you tell us about them?

Well, I’m part of a joint anthology in April with a group of writers. Excited. More info here.

The holiday anthology from this group is a bestseller on Amazon!

It will be a contemporary with a spring-based theme. My other release is a Victorian “light” paranormal sometime in 2012. Not sure of the date yet. And still a working title. By “light” paranormal, I mean psychic characters. No shape-shifting, etc.

4. Which of your heroines is most like you? And which of your heroes would you most like to…spend quality time with? 🙂

Noah is my favorite hero, hands down. The sexy nerd. A marine biologist. Intelligent and surprised by passion. I just LOVE him. Though his brother Zach comes in a close second.

Heroine? Maybe Charlie (To Seduce a Rogue – releasing Jan 2012). She’s rough around the edges, driven and a little uncaring about fitting into society. 🙂 She’s a creative type.

5. Like me, you’ve been bitten with the travel bug. What’s the most spellbinding place you’ve been to? Would you ever set a book there?

Nepal? I white-water rafted for two days down the Kali Gandaki river there. Amazing! I also have a big love affair with Vietnam. My son was adopted from there – and I spent four months in 2007/2008 going through paperwork!

Tell us about Tides of Love and Tides of Passion.
I’ll put the back cover copy here. 🙂

Tides of Passion
National Reader’s Choice: Best Long Historical
Beacon Award: Best Historical

She is his greatest temptation.
He is her forbidden desire.
A battle of wills leads to love.

AN UNCONVENTIONAL WOMAN
Spirited Savannah Connor is passionately committed to stamping out social injustice. Yet when she arrives in Pilot Isle, North Carolina, ready to take up a new cause, she quickly finds herself on the outs with the town constable. Zachariah Garrett is the most arrogant, infuriating, maddeningly attractive man it’s ever been her misfortune to meet. And suddenly, Savannah is fighting a whole new battle—this one against her own yearning for a man who is impossible to resist.

AN UNCOMPROMISING MAN
Ever since his wife’s death two years ago, Zachariah Garrett has dedicated his life to keeping the peace. And avoiding love. But Savannah Connor isn’t an ordinary woman—and she proves hard to ignore. She’s a beguiling beauty with the power to awaken emotions Zach thought he’d never feel again, and the tenderness to help him forget his fears. And risk his heart once more.

Tides of Love

He left all he loved behind…
Will he be able to return and win her heart?

A SPURNED WOMAN

Elle Beaumont has learned life’s lessons the hard way–by foolishly exposing her youthful heart to love, only to have it broken when her true love fled Pilot Island, North Carolina. Now Noah Garrett is back, rekindling dreams she’d given up for lost, and turning her world upside down. Elle’s girlish yearning for him has become something more powerful than she’d ever imagined.

AN HONORABLE MAN

A man dedicated to science and rational judgment, Noah rejects all notions of romance…until the girl who used to cling to him like a shadow begins haunting his every thought. But even as he struggles to resist Elle’s sensuous beauty and the wildfire attraction erupting between them, Noah cannot deny that their passion is as irresistible and endless as the tides of love.

***

There are lengthy excerpts on my website, too.
@SumnerTracy
Facebook.com/TracySumnerRomanceAuthor

Giveaway!

Tracy’s giving away a digital copy of Tides of Love and Tides of Passion, so we’ll have two winners! Comment below before the end of Monday, December 12 to enter!