RRBC Spotlight Author Blog Tour – 9/7/14

 

The Rave Reviews Book Club is an online book club of more than 500 independent authors and readers. One of the programs sponsored by the book club is honoring an author as the SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR for one week. Part of that program is a book blog tour featuring the honored author on several blog sites. I am honored today to be hosting the book tour for SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR TAMIE DEAREN.

WELCOME TAMIE

Hi! I’m Tamie Dearen—wife, mother, grandmother, dentist, Jesus-lover, musician, composer, and author (as of 2013). I’ve published four books and a novella in The Best Girls Series, and one Young Adult Fantasy, Alora: The Wander-Jewel. As a relatively new author, I’ve found Rave Reviews Book Club to be a great resource for information and a wonderful place for mutual support. 

Starting as an Author

 I’m a relatively new author. Before January of 2013, I’d only written poems, songs, and professional papers. My first poem was published in third grade, and my next publication was forty years later in the Texas Dental Journal. But in January of 2013, during my extended mid-life crisis, I was lamenting the fact that all of the great romance stories were centered on young people. Why couldn’t an older heroine find excitement, romance, and a second chance at love? I decided to try writing the book I wanted to read, and so Her Best Match was born.

I wrote the story of Anne Best and sent it to friends, chapter by chapter, like a serial story. I think that’s why it’s so long… No one wanted it to end. Since my friends, both young and old, loved the story, they encouraged me to write about Anne’s daughters as well. And then they asked, why don’t you publish the books?

And I thought, “Why not?”

Anne is basically an improved version of me. We both lived in Texas, went to Baylor University, got degrees in Chemistry, married young, had two daughters, like to sing, like to run, hate drinking water, and fear public speaking. I’m also clumsy like Anne, especially wearing high-heeled shoes. But I let her be a little younger. And she’s naturally pretty, outgoing, and has thick brown hair. That’s nothing like me, but I always wished it were true.

And the two daughters, Emily and Charlie are very similar in personality to my own girls. So much so, that I started occasionally calling my children by their corresponding character names. (They only found this humorous the first couple of times it happened.) My husband jokes I killed him off before the book even started, but I maintain that Steven Gherring is only a slightly more buff version of him.

But since Young Adult Fantasy is my favorite genre to read, I also wrote Alora, and I’m hard at work on the sequel. I would describe Alora as urban and medieval fantasy, with a touch of romance.

So now I’ve got five novels and one novella published, with one on the way and a lot more in my head. And thanks to Rave Reviews Book Club, my books are finally gaining momentum in the marketplace.

Follow Tamie online:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TamieDearen

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamie-Dearen/1384772145109650

Website: http://tamiedearen.weebly.com/

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Tamie-Dearen/e/B00FS21B4Y/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

Amazon Book Page: http://www.amazon.com/Best-Dating-Rules-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B00HZZT5ZO/ref=la_B00FS21B4Y_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409862785&sr=1-3

Thanks for visiting, Tamie.