Tracy Brogan - HBS Author's Spotlight is on Highland Surrender

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on award-winning Author Tracy Brogan. She is the author of several best selling novels.

This blog is sponsored by the Buy The Book Tour.

Tour Dates: 1/28/13 - 3/11/13

Today's Featured Book is



Highland Surrender

Author: Tracy Brogan


AVAILABLE
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
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To seal a fragile truce, Fiona Sinclair’s brothers trade her in marriage to their sworn enemy. Though devastated by their betrayal, she has little choice in the matter, for if she refuses, her innocent young sister must take her place. The spirited Fiona is willing to sacrifice her freedom to protect her kin, but she vows never to surrender her heart.

As the eldest son of a clan chief, Myles Campbell is accustomed to having his own way. But when the king of Scotland commands he wed a defiant Highland lass instead of a French mademoiselle, Myles must obey his royal duty. Meeting his bride for the first time on their wedding day, he is pleased to discover the lass is a beauty, but she quickly proves she’d just as soon kill him as kiss him.

When two such warrior spirits collide, sparks fly, igniting a fiery passion that strains against the bonds of family honor, clan loyalty—and the ultimate surrender—love.

Excerpt:
Scottish Highlands, 1537

Fiona Sinclair could not reconcile the irony of nature’s twisted humor. For today of all wretched days the sky should be burdened with clouds as dark and dismal as her mood. But the morning dawned soft and fair, mild as a Highland calf, and she knew that God himself mocked her. At any moment, Myles Campbell and his father, the Earl of Argyll, would pass through the gates of Sinclair Hall, unwelcome, yet unhindered by her clan. Soon after that, she must stand upon the chapel steps and marry a man she had never met, and yet had hated for all of her life.

Through her narrow bedchamber window, sounds from the bailey filtered up. The smithy’s hammer tapped a mellow cadence as if this day were just like any other. Perhaps he shaped a horseshoe or a pointed pike. She smiled at the latter and imaged the heaviness of that same pike in her hand. Oh, that she had the courage to plunge it deep into the earl’s heart, if indeed he had one.

She rose from the threadbare cushion on the bench and moved without purpose toward the stone fireplace. A low fire burned, warding off the spring morning’s chill. From habit, Fiona slipped her hand into the leather pouch around her waist. She squeezed tight the silver brooch inside, its design and inscription etched as clearly in her memory as on the pin itself. A boar’s head, symbol of Clan Campbell, with words chosen by the king himself.

To Cedric Campbell, a true friend is worth a king’s ransom. James V.

The brooch had been a gift to the Campbell chief, the man about to become her father-in-law. But he had left it behind nearly seven years earlier, pierced into the flesh of Fiona’s mother so that all the world might know he had dishonored her. The priest found Aislinn Sinclair’s lifeless body in a secluded glen outside the village, stripped bare and broken, marked by Cedric’s lust and spite. Thus a feud, long simmering at the edges, boiled over.

But today the king thought to put an end to it with this farce of a marriage between a Sinclair lass and a Campbell son. It would not work.

Fiona paced to the window, restless and melancholy. She leaned out to breathe fresh spring air, hoping it might lighten her spirits. The too-sweet scent of hyacinth clung to the breeze, along with the ever-present brine of Moray Firth. Along the west curtain wall, more hammering sounded as masons worked to bolster the steps leading to the main keep. As if precarious stairs alone might halt the Campbell men from gaining entrance. But nothing would. Her fate as a Campbell bride had been declared the very day she drew in her first breath, and sealed when her father blew out his last.
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Author Genre: Romance, History

Website: Tracy Brogan - TIMELESS LOVE STORIES, PAST AND PRESENT
Twitter: @tracybrogan
E-Mail: tracybrogan@att.net
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Facebook: Check Out Facebook


Author Description: Past or present, Tracy Brogan loves romance. She writes both funny contemporary stories about ordinary people finding extraordinary love and also sexy historical novels full of political intrigue, damsels causing distress, and the occasional man in a kilt. She is a two-time Romance Writers of America Golden Heart finalist, and has won several RWA awards. Like most people born in Michigan, she has a tendency to point to the palm of her hand to indicate where she lives.

During the rare moments when she's not writing, or thinking about writing, Tracy enjoys time with her family, traveling, and avoiding exercise at all costs.

SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Tracy shares with us the inside story of overcoming the guilt and the fear to become a Best Selling writer.

PUSH PAST THE FEAR

Writing is my favorite endeavor.

I love it so much that to celebrate the completion of one manuscript, I begin another. What joy to face a fresh, blank screen! So many possibilities!

But back before I had an agent and a publisher, back before deadlines tapped on my shoulder incessantly, I had a hard time sitting in the chair and actually drafting anything. I felt as if writing was indulgent. It was a hobby for my own pleasure only. It didn’t provide anything useful to my family or the world at large. It didn’t nurture my children, get the laundry folded, or the groceries put away.

Well, maybe some of that is true, but I still shouldn’t have felt guilty for doing something just for me.

Fast forward a few years and I can state emphatically, it’s not just for me anymore. Now I’ve sold three manuscripts, two of which came out in 2012. My first historical, HIGHLAND SURRENDER is one of them, and I’m beyond thrilled it’s being well-received! It has spent time in the #1 spot of Amazon’s Best Selling Historical Romance category, and continues to remain in the top ten. Currently, I’m working on additional books, both contemporary and historical. I’ve made promises to people that I will get them finished. Powerful people. Not the kind who might break my legs if I don’t pay up, but important people who want to help me succeed.

So again, I ask myself, “Why aren’t I writing right now?” Is it because I am a horrible procrastinator (or an excellent one, depending on your point of view.) Is it because I think other tasks are a more valuable use of my time, like watching Modern Family or getting a pedicure?

Nope.

It’s fear.

Fear that the lovely ideas in my head, the beautiful characters dancing through my subconscious, will not translate into words which capture their magnificence. I’m afraid to trivialize their story with my own inability. So, rather than tarnish it, I keep it to myself. It is the curse of the perfectionist writer, triggering the demise of many a promising novel. Bob Mayer said in an article a few years ago, “Harness fear as a motivator rather than letting it disable you.” I have that quote posted on my bulletin board.

If you worry you aren’t the best writer you can be (and who among us is satisfied with everything we’ve written?) then strive to be better. Don’t wallow in literary quicksand. Grab a rope (and a keyboard) and get yourself out of there. Don’t fritter away your time NOT writing because you are too afraid to harness your own brilliance. Sit down. Put your butt in the chair and type.

And remember that the first draft always sucks. But it’s only the first draft. Those nebulous characters whispering in your ear will begin to take shape. Eventually hey will sing and shout, and their story, your story, will come to life.

The laundry can wait, the children will forgive you for not making them a grilled cheese sandwich. (Or not. They’re kids. Who can say?) But at the end of the day, be proud that you have written.

By Tracy Brogan


Author's Book List

Hold On My Heart


COMING SOON

To build a future, sometimes you have to tear down the past…

Chicago event planner Libby Hamilton can turn any bland setting into a dramatic venue - but when she abruptly loses her job, and her fair-weather boyfriend moves to another state, Libby suddenly finds herself back in the tiny town she grew up in. Worse than that, her father wants help transforming an old schoolhouse into a vintage ice cream parlor and Libby must trade in her power suits for power tools

Widowed restoration specialist Tom Murphy can rebuild just about anything – except the shattered relationship he shares with his teenaged daughter. Hired by Libby’s father, Tom isn’t interested in sharing the details of his personal life with beautiful, spunky Libby. He just wants to get the job done. But she is tenacious – and sexy – and it doesn’t take long before she breaks down his walls, builds up his hope, and gets a hold on his heart that won’t let go.
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Buy Page: Amazon
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Crazy Little Thing
If Sadie Turner is good at anything, it’s putting stuff in order. So when she finds her “perfect” life in disarray, she hopes a summer vacation at her aunt’s lake house will help her piece it back together. She wants to relax, reboot, and heal the wounds left by her cheating ex-husband. And that requires time away from men. All men.

Or so she thinks.

With two slobbering dogs and two cousins living there—one a flamboyant decorator intent on making over Sadie—it’s hard to get a moment’s peace at eccentric Aunt Dody’s house, especially with everyone so determined to set her up with Desmond, the sexy new neighbor.

Desmond is Sadie’s worst nightmare. Tall, tanned, muscular…and to top it off, he’s great with her kids. But he must have a flaw—he’s a man—so Sadie vows to keep her distance.

As summer blazes on, the life Sadie is trying so hard to simplify only becomes more complicated—a new career presents itself, her evil ex haunts her, and Aunt Dody reveals a tragic secret—but maybe a little chaos is just what Sadie needs to get her life back in order.
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Buy Page: Amazon - Barnes and Noble
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Author Recommended by: Buy The Book Tours
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