This week I’m hosting Christine Johnson with Love’s Rescue (US only) and Mary Manners with Blackberry Ridge (2 print 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 (June 14th) evening.
Interview with the hero from Blackberry Ridge by Mary Manners
1. Chloe Chastain, tell me the most interesting thing about you.
I have a secret…a fear I’ve never shared with anyone. There’s something about Connor Lawson that makes me want to share it with him, but I’m not quite sure yet that I can fully trust him with my heart. But we’re here together again in Blackberry Ridge, and there’s no escaping him since we’re working on a restoration project together. So I suppose time will tell.
2. What do you do for fun?
By day I’m an interior decorator…taking abandoned and renovated buildings and restoring them to the greatness they once bore. In my free time I love to watch butterflies dance, sing in the shower, turn cartwheels in the fresh-cut grass, eat chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, and lounge outside in a summer breeze while I devour novels.
3. What do you put off doing because you dread it?
I put off facing Connor Lawson…sharing with him my innermost feelings. He rejected me once a long time ago when we were still in high school, and now we’re here together again at the scene of the crime, destined to relive those moments. I know I was merely a teenager when he turned me away but his words—his rejection—hurt me deeply. Now that we’re both adults—nearly a decade removed from that heartbreaking experience—I want him to know how I feel. I deserve for him to know how much he hurt me, but I’m not sure he’ll really listen…and understand the depth of my words. Sure, by all accounts he’s grown into a kind, gentle, and patient man—and even more handsome in the looks department than what ought to be legal—but I’m not these qualities extend to me.
4. What are you afraid of most in life?
I’m most afraid that I’ll never have a family of my own, or leave a meaningful legacy. My parents were wonderful people, and they were taken from this earth way too soon. Now it’s just my sister, Pam, and me…and, of course, my precious niece, Lizzie. Pam has found Rick, and they’ve been happily married for nearly a decade. Lizzie and the memories they share are their legacy. What will be mine?
5. What do you want out of life?
I want to make my mark in the world…see places I’ve never been and restore abandoned buildings to their original beauty. I’ve been a city girl for the better part of the past decade…leaving Blackberry Ridge to pound the concrete pavement in search of making a name for myself in the business world. But it’s sprawling pastureland, the century-old family farmhouse—and Connor Lawson—that have captured my heart.
6. What is the most important thing to you?
Nothing means more than family. Spending time here with Lizzie and seeing the world through the eyes of a child makes me long even more for the unity of family.
7. Do you read? If so, what is your favorite type of book to read?
Do I read??? Good grief, YES I read! I love anything with a happy ending, don’t you?
8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I’d take more chances and turn more cartwheels. I’d dance in the rain and sing at the top of my lungs—even if I do tend to sing a bit off-key—no matter who was listening.
9. Do you have a pet? If so, what is it and why that pet?
Well, technically I don’t have any pets of my own, but there’s Ginger, Lizzie’s cat, who’s as feisty as they come. She’d charm the fur from a grizzly and soon have the beast eating from her paw. And there’s Zeke, who really belongs to Connor, but I don’t imagine he’d mind much to share. Zeke’s an oversized cuddle of warm, sloppy canine and as sweet and protective as the day is long. For the record, most people believe cats and dogs don’t get along, but Ginger and Zeke together are tight as a knot.
10. If you could travel back in time, where would you go and why?
I’d go back to the summer I turned seventeen and act more like an adult instead of a child. I’d ask more questions, demand more answers, and sing until the tune played out…or frolicked on forever.
