Forbidden Fires by Bobbi Smith
Please welcome Bobbi Smith author of Forbidden Fires
Bobbi will be awarding $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Forbidden Fires
by Bobbi Smith
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GENRE: Historical Romance
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INTERVIEW:
INTERVIEW:
- What or who inspired me to start writing? I was born to write. I was making up stories as a little kid, playing with my cowboys and Indians and horses. (Westerns were big on TV back then. J) In fifth grade, we had to write an autobiography, and the last question we had to answer was, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’.. I answered, ‘I want to be a teacher and I want to be a writer.’ Albrecht, my teacher, wrote on that page, ‘You can do both!’. Wow! I’ve saved that assignment all these years, and I still smile when I page through it. I titled it ‘ME’.
- How did I come up with ideas for my books?History! I’m a history nut. I grew up here in St. Louis, and I have always loved the river and steamboat history. My first books had river history in them, but my editor said that if I wanted a career I had to stop writing about the Midwest. Sigh. We are the fly-over country. J Anyway, my editor’s advice inspired me to start on my Westerns, and that was great! One of the best perks of being an author is you can write off travel expenses for research trips. What fun I had exploring the West. Texas, Arizona and the Superstition Mountains are awesome, not to mention Colorado, Wyoming and all the rest of those wonderful western states.
- If I could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why? I loved them all! My very first heroine will always be my favorite, though, for I wrote that novel not knowing if I’d ever sell it. Renee Fontaine was a sweetie. I loved all of my heroines. As I started digging into women’s history, I realized how many unrecognized women were out there who had done brave and wonderful things. That inspired my “Ladies” series. All of my books with ‘Lady’ in the title have a heroine who was ahead of her times and not afraid to go after what she wanted.
- If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?I always liked the male model Norbert Tomas, but I don’t know if he acts. J Michael Weatherly or Chris Pine would be great! And heroine-wise…I’d love to do it!
- When did you first decide to submit your work?Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step? The smartest thing I ever did back in my pre-publishing days was get a job at a bookstore. It was called West Port Booksellers. I told my friends I was working with there that I was trying to write a novel. When I got done, they were the ones who told me to submit it. I was so thrilled when I sold it! What a dream come true!
- Do you outline your books or just start writing?I am not a left-brainer. I just make things up as I go along. My characters were always alive in my head, dictating to me what to write! What fun they were!
- Do you have an all-time favorite book?I have to say ‘The Flame and The Flower’’ by Kathleen Woodiwiss . It’s the book that made me try to start writing my own story. When I first read it, my boys were young, but I was so caught up in the story I stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish the book. As I recall, I was a little tired the next day, but it was worth it!
- Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series.Rapture’s Rage and Rapture’s Tempest were a series, as were Lady Deception and The Lady and The Texan, and Bayou Bride and Kiss Me Forever. It was fun for me to write the sequels, for sometimes in your story you fall in love with your secondary characters and you want to give them a book of their own. I wrote the Secret Fires Series and the Half-Moon Ranch Series with Constance O’Banyon, Elaine Barbieri and Evelyn Rogers. It was challenging for us, for we each had our own style of writing, but we did it! Those two series turned out great! Secret Fires! The Half-Breed is the book that put me on the New York Times Bestseller List! That was sooooo exciting for me. What an honor!
- Who is your favorite actor and actress?Hmmmm…that’s a hard one. I’ve enjoyed the works of so many actors and actresses through the years. Clint Eastwood is fabulous. All of his western movies were fantastic. He was truly the classic western hero. Riding into town alone to save the day! And how about his Dirty Harry movies, too! I’ve got a ton of other heroes if you’d like to see a list! Same for actresses, too. Currently, I really enjoy actress Katharine McPhee, who is on the TV show Scorpion.
- Anything else you might want to add?Just a big thank you to all my readers! I am so thrilled you’ve enjoyed my stories over the years. I’d love to hear from you! Let me know if there’s a particular title you enjoyed and why!
BLURB:
When Ellen Douglass saves the Union officer from the cold river, she doesn’t think this one action will so alter her future. But as Price holds her is his arms, they try to forget that they fight on opposing sides and will be kept forever apart.
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EXCERPT:
April, 1865
Vicksburg, Mississippi
The newly freed Union soldiers trudged up the gangplank of the steamboat Sultana in seemingly endless numbers. Although the memories of their ordeal at Andersonville Prison Camp were painful, their mood was jubilant. The war was over. They were going home!
Onboard, a tall Yankee officer stood at the rail grimly watching the loading. Captain Price Richardson was frustrated and angry. He’d witnessed many acts of incompetence during his time in the army, but what was happening today was beyond belief. Price was enough of a river man to know it was foolhardy to challenge the Mississippi this way. Going upriver against the flood was hard on a steamboat, but on one seriously overloaded, it could be suicide.
Furious, Price turned to his friend, Lieutenant Jericho Cooper. “Don’t they have any idea of what they’re doing?”
“Do you think they’re overloading it?” Coop remarked sarcastically.
“They could load men on the other two steamers.”
Coop smiled wryly, as they watched column after column of men file aboard. “You have to remember the Department of the Army is in charge of this.”
Realizing they weren’t going anywhere soon, the two men sat down on the deck to await their departure.
As evening came, the Sultana, which should only have been carrying about 400 passengers, finally began her trip north against the swollen river with over 2,300 passengers and crew onboard.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi Smith gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982.
Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and 6 novellas. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists.
When she’s not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer’s groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and three dogs.
You can follow Bobbi on Facebook in the group Bobbi Smith Books.
Bobbi has been awarded the prestigious “Storyteller of the Year” Award from Romantic Times Magazine (New York) and has attained positions on the New York Times Best Seller List, the USA Today Best Seller List, the Walden’s Best Seller List, B. Dalton’s List, and the Wal-Mart and K-Mart Best Seller Lists.
The foreign rights to Ms. Smith’s books have been sold to China, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Russia and Sweden. Smith’s current publisher is Amazon. Bobbi has written two faith-based contemporary novels – Haven (https://bobbismithbooks.com/product/haven) and Miracles (https://bobbismithbooks.com/product/miracles)- using the pseudonym of Julie Marshall.
Copyright © 2018 Bobbi Smith.
https://bobbismithbooks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/45814589415/about/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13375.Bobbi_Smith
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE
Bobbi will be awarding $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2703
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