What do you hope readers will take with them when they read your book?
I hope people walk away with the idea that love doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice who you are for someone else. When you follow your heart and your dreams, everything else will fall into place.
Summer tends to rattle off some pretty obscure weather facts when she’s nervous, so finding interesting tidbits took some time but made me a fan of Mother Nature. The photographs I saw while researching this story blew me away! From Texas hail the size of baseballs to lightning storms in Venezuela, there are some amazing stories out there.
“Summer Raines.” She left off her usual “pleasure to meet you.” She was madder than a wet hen but was determined to maintain her composure.
“Summer Raines, the weather girl,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s a good one. Who came up with that name?”
“My parents,” she replied flatly, turning her attention back to the suffering butterfly population. “And my title is meteorologist. Not weather girl.”
What would you have done differently if you were the main character of your book?
Well, I have to say I love football, so I probably would have been one of those people who were fawning all over Travis in the beginning. In the book, Summer is also into lots of extreme sports. She bungee jumps out of a hot-air balloon. I can tell you I would never in a million years jump out of a perfectly good hot-air balloon if I didn’t have to. I hate the feeling that comes with free falling!
“This is a fun, clean read!…I haven’t read a Harlequin in years, but this is now the second book I’ve read in the Harlequin Heartwarming line in the last couple of months and it won’t be the last. I love this clean line of romances and look forward to reading more!”
What I love about Summer is the amazing way her brain works. She has so much information in her head related to the weather, she can spout of facts at any given time. Of course, she sometimes sees it more as a curse than a blessing. Until Travis Lockwood comes to town. Travis is the first person to show some interest in what she has to say. No wonder she falls for him – who doesn’t love a guy who actually listens to you?
What are you working on right now?
I just submitted my second manuscript and am working on my third. These are two of three books I have been contracted to write for Harlequin Heartwarming . They’re part of series set in Chicago about three sisters, who each find love in the most unexpected places. THE BETTER MAN is set for release in September. THE BETTER PLAN is scheduled for February 2015 and THE BETTER FIGHT is due sometime in fall of 2015.
“There sure are plenty of bumps along the way. Like I said before, I love Travis. He is the one that made this book great for me. This was a fun, romantic read. A kick back and relax sort of book.”
“I don’t control the weather, I just predict it.” She turned her attention back to her monitor. Her soft-looking curls fell down like a curtain, shielding her face from him. He wanted to reach out and push them behind her ear so he could see those cheeks, those eyes. Her eyes really were amazing. They were big and blue like the Texas sky…
What I love about Travis is his pure heart. There isn’t a mean bone in this guy’s body. He’s been fortunate and lived a charmed life up until now but still has a wonderful humbleness about him. In fact, sometimes he can be darn right self-deprecating. But he’s strong physically and emotionally. Strong enough to make the tough choices when he needs to.
Tressa’s Wishful Endings – Review
“Overall, this was pretty much a perfect romance. It’s light and heavy in all the right places. There’s tension and some sweet kisses and some difficult choices that these characters had to make. It all comes together in the end and left me with that happy-ever-after feeling that I love. I would definitely recommend it to romance lovers everywhere!”
“With clever characterization, relevant conflicts, and an ending that is adorable and absolutely perfect for the story, The Weather Girl is a sunny read for a rainy day. Harlequin Heartwarming at its finest!”
Summer sat up on her elbows. Just then, water shot out of the in-ground sprinkler, hitting her with a force she couldn’t have expected.
They both jumped up as the entire field came to life, showering the dried-up grass and the two friends with shockingly cold water. Travis protected his camera and ran for the track. The old groundskeeper shouted at the younger man, who must have accidentally turned the system on. He was now oblivious because of the music being pumped into his ears.
Instead of running, Summer stood in the middle of the field and laughed. Once she got used to it, the cool water felt nice. She lifted her arms and tilted her face up to the sky. She closed her eyes and spun around as if dancing in the rain like when she was little…
Since this is an April showers book blog tour and rain makes me think of umbrellas, I thought it would be fun to talk about the cover of the book. First, you should know that Harlequin authors don’t have too much say in what their cover will look like. We provide information to the art department regarding characters, setting, and some key scenes. However, it is the talented group over there then takes that info and creates the cover art.
“She’s perky and driven. He’s broken and sexy. And there are not many writers that can pull off giving me heart fail and swelly hearts and steamy scenes without one ounce of sex in their story. Amy is one of those who can. She doesn’t need it either. The banter between these two is just one of the things I love about it. Their tender moments as they get to know each other are another.”
“Naturally, this was the perfect story for me. I love a clean romance that tells the tale of how two people meet and their course to falling in love. It isn’t easy; it isn’t always pleasant; there can be a lot of misunderstandings and assumptions that stand in the way. Take this sweet romance and add weather and it’s the perfect combination.”
When they were alone and she had no menu to hide behind, Travis continued, with his dimples in full effect. “I think you’ve finally stopped hating me.”
“I never hated you. I tried to hate you, but you’re too likable.” He liked that answer. He liked that answer a lot. “I am, am I?” “Less and less by the minute.”
He wasn’t buying it. “Admit it. You like me.”
“I don’t know. You never return the things you borrow, you drive a pretentious car. The list of reasons not to like you goes on and on.”“Your umbrella is sitting right by my front door. I never remember it because it hasn’t rained in weeks.”
“Don’t make me come get it,” she warned.
1) What is your favorite thing about writing?
What I love most about writing is seeing an idea come to life. Sometimes the original idea is just this one scene or this one character that I love. To be able to take that one piece of the puzzle and put it all together into something rich and full is very satisfying.
The only thing I don’t like, that my heroine in The Weather Girl had the ability to predict thanks to a sort of sixth sense, is rain. I don’t really enjoy grey skies or wet, soggy grass. We have a dog who always finds the mud, no matter how hard we try to keep her away from it. And my weather girl may find tornados thrilling, but I only fear the damage they can do. I will admit that there are some very impressive pictures of tornados out there that I will happily look at from the safety of my computer.
“Thanks for driving,” she said.
“You’re welcome.” He reached out and squeezed her hand, afraid they were getting close to really saying goodbye. His thumbs brushed the soft skin on the back of her hand as he tried to remind himself it would be wrong to kidnap her from her grandparents’ driveway.
“I should go,” she said again. He didn’t want her to go. He wanted to keep her forever…
I thought since the book is about a weather girl and a former football quarterback, it would be fun to share my list of the top ten weather-related/football movies with everyone. Maybe you’ll find something you can rent for next Friday night!
“This is such a sweet story of finding friendship that can turn to true love. Those are my favorite kinds of love stories. I enjoy when there is more to the relationship than the “insta” love. Travis and Summer connected as friends before they truly allowed themselves to be connected in a real relationship.”
I have been dabbling in writing as a hobby for about nine years. It started as a way for me to organize my thoughts and daydreams. I am a dreamer. I can entertain myself for hours by telling myself stories in my head. Music inspires me and drives a lot of the plots in there.
“The Weather Girl is a sweet story and I really enjoyed it. Once I picked it up I didn’t want to stop reading, it was addictive and I just wanted to read more about the two awesome characters. Ir’s a sweet and heartwarming story about finding love and finding your dream.”
“Summer, we love you,” Mimi said, taking hold of her hands. “We want you to be happy. Tell me this job with Ryan won’t make you happy.”
“It will and it won’t.” She couldn’t ignore the way her heart ached when she imagined telling Travis about the other job. It would have been hard enough to leave her grandparents, but Summer had to go and fall in love with a man who had broken down all of her walls so effortlessly.
“Any of this indecision have to do with that mighty fine looking man who’s walking your dog with Big D right now?”
Summer shrugged, unable to speak around the lump in her throat. Maybe it had more to do with Travis than she wanted to admit.
The Weather Girl
by Amy Vastine
Clean Adult Contemporary Romance
January 1st 2014 by Harlequin
Turbulence is in their forecast.
Summer Raines knows when it’s going to rain. She can feel it. That’s why the local weather girl’s so good at her job. Too bad she couldn’t have foreseen the tumultuous arrival of Travis Lockwood, everybody’s favorite star NFL quarterback. Make that former star NFL quarterback. Sidelined back to Texas after an injury, the golden boy is trying to steal her precious on-air time. Summer is reduced to reporting from…football games. It’s enough to make her quit and become a storm-chaser like her parents. She’s stuck with a career that’s going nowhere and a man who delights in her refusal to be charmed. Falling in love isn’t nearly as easy as predicting the weather.
– Grand Prize: $25 Amazon gift card, red umbrella, signed copy of THE WEATHER GIRL, umbrella bookmark, and decorative box (US Only)
– 5 ebooks of The Weather Girl (INT)
– April 21 – May 11
Go HERE.
Related Articles
2 Comments
-
My perfect weather day would be 72 degrees, sunny, with an occasional light breeze! 🙂
-
A perfect weather for me would be a cloudless blue sky.
