MUSE MONDAY
Please enjoy my guest blogger, Patrician Preston. Welcome, Patricia!
When I started working on Everything His Heart Desires, I
thought the story would belong to the hero, Dr. Brett Harris, aka Hot Rod
Harris. Hot Rod had come from the wrong side of town, raised by his uncle, no
parents, no money but he was gifted and ambitious to a fault. So I thought the
story would evolve around his coming to terms with love over ambition. To an
extent, that did play out but the muse took over when the heroine, Natalie,
came into being.
In contrast to Brett, Natalie came from a powerful, wealthy
family, but she is not the golden girl that Brett thinks. Once her character
started developing, I knew she was going to be dealing with a tragic past. A
photographer, she had almost died in a hotel bombing in Kabul two years ago and
her story is a story of her reconnecting with her family and the hometown she
had left behind fifteen years ago after her mother’s death. She had gone to
England to fulfill her mother’s dream of touring castles in search of Camelot. Natalie
had found Camelot when she met her husband at a castle and they were married
there. A few years later, he was murdered during a robbery and late one night
in London, Natalie took her camera out to photograph the dark side of life. She
ended up as a photojournalist working in the Middle East where she photographed
horrors that Brett and her family could not even imagine. After the bombing,
she has a new face and no clue what to do with her life. The muse said this is
Natalie’s quest and how she comes to terms with finding a future that she can
own.
Although Natalie is a dark, complex character, the story is
not grim. There are a lot of fun moments in it. Natalie is pretty and witty.
She’s not a depressed or miserable character. She and her fellow BFF from high
school, Amber, who is a beautician, were so much fun to write. Of course,
Natalie takes pleasure in seeing her old enemy from high school, Brett Harris,
struggle to win over her haughty grandmother.
Everything His Heart
Desires will be released on January 10th and is available for pre-order. If
you love single title romance/women’s fiction with picturesque settings, some
humor, colorful characters and warm romance, you might enjoy the Love Heals All
series. The first book in the series, One
Week in Your Arms, is available now and the third book, Not Through Loving You will be out in
June. I’m currently working on the fourth book.
Author bio
Patricia Preston loves writing mainstream romantic fiction
with picturesque settings and a host of unforgettable characters whose lives
entwine in feel-good stories about life, love and finding happiness. She also writes short stories and
historicals. She won William Faulkner Award for Short Fiction, the Lone Star
Writing Competition for Historical Romance, and Harlequin’s World’s Best
Romances Short Story Competition. She is repped by the Seymour Agency.
Besides writing, she’s also worked as a librarian, medical
office manager, and in a cosmetic department where she played with makeup all
day. Her favorite place to hang out is her writing cave where must-haves are
iced tea and epic music. She also enjoys photography, movies, and research
trips to New Orleans. Plus she’s a fangirl of Supernatural and Walking Dead.
For info on new releases and contests, sign up for her
newsletter
Everything His
Heart Desires
The man
most likely to drive her crazy…
Growing up
in Lafayette Falls, senator’s daughter Natalie Layton hid her sorrows behind a
bright smile that charmed everyone in high
school—except Brett Harris. Hardworking and highly motivated, Brett dismissed
Natalie as a slacker. Instead, she’s become an acclaimed photographer. And when
Brett, now a successful cardiologist, needs her family’s help to secure a
coveted position, Natalie’s more than happy to prescribe a little payback…
Hailing from
the wrong side of the tracks, Brett believed he could never win the school’s
popular princess. Now he’s intrigued by the complex and compassionate woman
Natalie’s become. Gaining her grandmother’s goodwill is the key to becoming
chief cardiologist—and Natalie has no intention of making it easy. But as
mutual mistrust gives way to pure chemistry, there’s more at stake than either
ever expected—and much more to learn about matters of the heart…
An excerpt
from Chapter 1
Talk
about the opportunity of a lifetime. If he could become Anna Layton’s physician, he would
literally have it made. He would have Harry and Sheldon’s support and
gratitude, which meant he could create a superior cardiology program at LFMC.
Perhaps, someday, there would be a heart center named after him and he would be remembered for all
posterity. Yes, he was definitely Type A.
“Do you want to speak with
your mother and then give me call?” he asked Harry.
“Well, we have a little
something different in mind.” Both Harry and Sheldon looked at Natalie as if it
were her turn to speak up.
She tapped her fingers on the
table. “I’m home for a few weeks, and I’m
staying with my grandmother.” She managed to choke out the rest, “You can come
over as my dinner guest tomorrow night.”
It took him a moment to
process that. “Okay. So I’m not coming over as a doctor. I’m coming over as
your date?”
“A date is kinda stretching it,” she said as if to say that was
never gonna happen. “An old friend from high school.”
“Friend,” he repeated,
meeting her gaze. “Seriously?”
“It was Uncle Harry and Aunt
Lorraine’s idea.” She was quick to clarify,
and she frowned at her uncle, who had a mouthful of cheese Danish. “And it’s not a good idea. It’s not going to work. Not
with Nana.”
“Natalie, you promised us
you’d help out.” Harry took a swig of coffee. “We’re counting on you.”
She shook her head, and Brett realized she was totally
against the idea, which might cost him the chief of cardiology position.
He sat up straight. “Natalie,
you do understand what’s at stake here?”
“Besides your ego?” She
didn’t blink as she looked him straight in the eye. It appeared that, since
high school, she had developed a Terminator stare.
