This week I’m hosting Terri Reed with Danger at the Border, Jennifer AlLee with Last Family Standing, and Gina Holmes with Driftwood Tides (US only). If you want to enter the drawings for the books, please leave a comment on your post with your email address. I will not enter you without an email address (my way to contact you if you win). If you don’t want to leave an email address, another way you can enter is to email me at margaretdaley@gmail.com. The drawings end Sunday (Sept. 7th) evening.
Interview with the heroine from Last Family Standing by Jennifer AlLee:
1. Monica, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I’m a chef and I run my own catering company in Las Vegas, so I’ve handled parties for some famous folks. The interesting thing about that, is that a lot of them are really just normal people in their everyday lives. But a few, well, they’re just as wild and crazy in private as you’d expect. During those parties, I was very happy to be safely hidden away in the kitchen!
2. What do you do for fun?
Take naps! No, seriously, I’m a homebody. For me, fun is curling up on the couch with a book. Or, if I’m feeling really adventurous, I’ll walk down the street to my best friend’s house and we’ll work our way through her Stargate DVDs. We’ve seen them so many times, we can say the dialogue with the actors, and we do. It drives the males in Jules’s house batty!
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
Filing. Owning my own business means there’s lots of paperwork, and filing is simultaneously one of the most boring and most dangerous activities I know of. Seriously… paper cuts. They sting, they bleed, and they hurt for about a week. No thanks!
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
Being hurt. Not physically hurt (despite my rant about paper cuts). I’m afraid of emotional pain. Most specifically, being left by someone I love. Which is ironic, I know, considering that I gave my baby away for adoption. But if you were in my place, you’d understand.
5. What do you want out of life?
Peace. I want to be able to silence the voices in my head that tell me how badly I’ve messed up in the past. For the most part, I’ve been able to quiet them down, but sometimes, they come back with a vengeance.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Taking care of the people I love. Which is why I gave my baby away. Because being with me was not the best thing for her. To take care of her, I had to let her go.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
Oh yes, I love to read. My favorite are biographies of people who push themselves beyond their limits. Right now, I have Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand on my nightstand. I can’t wait to dig into that one.
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
That’s a loaded question. I know people will expect me to say there are actions in my past I would have changed, but really, if I changed those it wouldn’t just affect my life, it would change so many others! So no, I’d leave those alone. But what I’d change about myself now is that I’d be more adventurous. That I’d leave my comfort zone and try something new. But I have a feeling that’s going to happen whether I want it to or not.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Yes, I have a dog. He’s a loveable, shaggy mutt named Ranger. I wasn’t looking for a dog when I found him. In fact, the only reason I’d gone to the shelter was because Jules’s boys wanted a rabbit, so I went with them. Who knew animal shelters even had rabbits? Anyway, on our way to the rabbit section we passed by a row of portable kennels that had been put out to spotlight several of the adoptable dogs, and there was Ranger. Once those chocolate brown eyes locked onto mine, there was no turning back!
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
Frankly, the whole idea of time travel scares me, because I’m certain I’d be the person who would step on a butterfly and change the course of humanity. Having said that, if I was sure I couldn’t mess anything up, I’d like to go back to 1950 and meet Julia Child when she lived in Paris. The woman had such a joy about life and cooking. I would love to soak that up.
