Book Blitz and Interview: Dances of the Heart by Andrea Downing

(Blurb):  Successful, workaholic author Carrie Bennett lives through her writing, but can’t succeed at writing a man into her life. Furthermore, her equally successful but cynical daughter, Paige, proves inconsolable after the death of her fiancé.

Hard-drinking rancher Ray Ryder can find humor in just about anything—except the loss of his oldest son. His younger son, Jake, recently returned from Iraq, now keeps a secret that could shatter his deceased brother’s good name.

On one sultry night in Texas, relationships blossom when the four meet, starting a series of events that move from the dancehalls of Hill Country to the beach parties of East Hampton, and from the penthouses of New York to the backstreets of a Mexican border town. But the hurts of the past are hard to leave behind, especially when old adversaries threaten the fragile ties that bind family to family…and lover to lover.  

Book Information:

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: contemporary women's fiction/romance

What people are saying about Dances of the Heart

"DANCES OF THE HEART by Andrea Downing is a fabulous Texan romance with plenty of action to keep you entertained."  Linda Green, Fresh Fiction

Excerpt: 

Carrie let the screen door close quietly behind her and sat on the steps, the cool glass still in her hands. Peering up at the canopy of heaven, she suddenly experienced a sense of being so small, infinitesimal; it was as if the world loomed over her, spreading out from the one axis of her being. Rather than celestial entities in the infinity of space above her, to Carrie, the stars were holes in the fabric, entries to the endless expanse beyond, gateways to other worlds of which she would never be a part.

The lights inside switched off and, for a moment, it appeared as if Ray had gone to bed.

“I’m sorry.” His voice came through the screen. The words were hoarse with drink and pain. “I... Can I join you?”

“Of course.”

He came out and carefully lowered himself onto the step, the coffee in his hand slopping slightly over the side.

“Don’t burn yourself.”

He set the mug down and stretched his legs forward, hands coming to rest on his thighs. “Robbie died in Afghanistan,” he started. “He was my eldest. It was five years ago, you know, and the pain is as fresh now as it was then. You never expect...you never think your kids are gonna go before you and all. And then Jake went off to Iraq, well, see...” He hesitated. “I told them, I said you take, but you give back. That’s what we do, we give back to our country, we serve. Robbie, well, Robbie just wanted to breed his horses—those damn Arabs meant everything to him, but I told him he had the...” There was a gulp of tears fighting to come out, the assault on a man’s pride he tried to cover. “I told him he had the rest of his life to breed those horses. I said every man in this family has served his country, and he wasn’t going to shame me, he wasn’t going to be the exception.”

“You served in Viet Nam, didn’t you?” Carrie lowered her voice to the whisper of a secret.

“Yeah. Right at the very end. I was lucky, I guess. Got over there just about in time to get out.” Ray tapped his hat back, then must have thought better of it and took it off, laying it carefully on the step beside him. Strands of damp hair lay plastered down the side of his face, but he made no attempt to push them back.

“Do you know how... I mean...”

“He was on guard duty, him and another kid. Some truck driven by them suicide bombers came at them laden with bombs, trying to get into the compound where all his buddies were. ’Course the two of them could’ve run away, could’ve stepped out of the way, but that’s not what you do, is it? They blasted the truck to stop it, blew it up outside to save the lives of the men inside that compound. Now, his mama has his Distinguished Service Cross and the flag that draped his coffin, as if that would make amends.” Ray cleared his throat, a sob mixing with his speech and anger. “But you know,” he went on, covering his mouth as if it would stop the tears, “you know it was my damn fault. I mean, what the hell difference would it have made if Robbie hadn’t gone, hadn’t of served? And what the hell are we doing there anyway? I mean, Viet Nam, Afghanistan, Iraq, what the hell are we fighting in those countries for? It’s meaningless, it’s just dang foolishness is what it is, kids dying for nothing...nothing at all.”

“Ray, you don’t believe that. Of course it made a difference, his serving. It made a big difference. You don’t believe that it was meaningless for one second.”

“Well. Tell you the truth, I don’t know what the hell I believe anymore. I criticized you for wanting to do the right thing, that business ’bout the designated driver an’ all, but, well, I guess it’s me. I just always tried, you know, I tried to do the right thing, but it never seemed to come out straight.”

“Of course it has,” Carrie assured him. “If Robbie hadn’t gone you would—”

“Oh, I know. I would’ve been angry with him for the rest of my life, been thinking what son of mine could do that, stay back. I’d’ve been shamed.” He sighed and glanced over as if noticing for the first time she was there. “I married Leigh Anne ’cause she was pregnant—that’s what you did, the right thing. You get a girl in the family way, you damn well married her. I’d been a kid when I went to Nam, and when I got back, I was quite a hell-raiser. Went all over the place, doing the rodeos, workin’ ranches. Then I got back here, and I was just taking over the ranch. Hardly had a dime to my name in those days, but you did the right thing. Well...” He ran a finger along the line of a crack in one of the steps. A hint of his earlier humor flashed on his face. “Is this when you New York folks say, ‘Thanks for sharing?’” he quipped.

Interview with Andrea Downing:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What are some hobbies? General answers or not answering at all is okay.      

Thanks so much Jessi for having me here today.  I'm a New Yorker by birth but spent most of my life in the UK, returning to live in New York in 2008.  I try to spend as much time as possible out west, however, and that feeds the stories I write.  So far, they've all taken place in the west, mostly the Rocky Mt. states, but this new book is a departure for me.  I've headed on down to Texas and, not only that, slipped back into a contemporary time period.  As for hobbies, well, they're pretty much what you'd expect with that input:  riding, travel, rodeo, and so on.  You get the picture!

What was the trigger for your most recent book?   

Actually, it was a desire to learn the Texas Two-step.  Somehow or other "two-step" turned into two couples and the Texas remained but, as a New York gal wanting to learn the dance, other settings came into play as well.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? 

As I said, there are two couples in this book so the most difficult part about writing it was keeping the romance of the two couples going.  One is definitely the primary romance but I didn't want the second one to be so in the background that it became inconsequential.  It was really difficult to keep all four characters fully developed and constantly in the picture.

Do you develop characters from your personal experiences or draw from that of others? 

A little of both actually.  I don't think you can just pull characters out of thin air; you have to have some experience of them, what motivates people, what ticks they may have, the way their minds work.  As an author I watch people a great deal, as in airports or restaurants or whatever.  I don't think, however, that an author has to have personally experienced loss to know what it feels like to lose someone they love.  On the other hand, it might be difficult to write about climbing a mountain or riding a horse if you've never done it.

Are your comfortable writing in different genres? What is your go-to genre?    

Dances of the Heart is my first contemporary novel; the other three were historical romances so you might say my 'go-to' is historical western.  I have to admit I'm not sure why that is, though I was once told I was born in the wrong century!  I didn't find writing contemporary particularly difficult, and there's a lot to be said about not having to check language constantly for anachronisms, and think about what they were wearing or how they pumped water and so on.  I don't really think about what time period I'm going to write in; I think about what story I'm going to write.

When did you decide that it was time to take your writing public?         

When I got so old it didn't matter anymore whether I was a success or a failure.  Really—you get to the point when you have nothing to lose so you do it.  Of course, we'd all like to be raving successes, but in the new digital age, it's even more difficult to make a mark than it was before.  I'm just happy to be able to tell my stories and entertain a few people.

Writers block is inevitable. Either a plot is not developing how you want or something about your character(s) feels missing. What’s something that you do to help find new inspiration?         

I recently wrote a blog about this.  I think relaxation is the answer, quite honestly.  Leave it alone and it will sort itself out, honest.  When you're relaxed, you think more clearly.  If you stress about that blank white page, it'll never come, so I leave it and go back when I'm ready.  Might be in the middle of the night, might be while driving my car and I have to pull over and jot something down…

What is your next writing project?     

I'm working on something that takes place in two different time periods—and that's all I'm going to say.  Stay tuned!

Now for one of my favorite requests - tell us a random fun fact about yourself.    

Oh, gosh, Jessi!  How about: I have fear of heights but used to do a bit of showjumping.  Somehow the two don't seem to go together, to be up there on a horse jumping over something.  It's a matter of trust though.  I have to admit I hate going down mountains on horseback, having once had a really bad fall doing that, but here I am, going back for more…

     Thanks so much for having me here Jessi.  It's been a great visit.

About Author Andrea Downing:

Andrea Downing likes to say that when she decided to do a Masters Degree, she made the mistake of turning left out of New York, where she was born, instead of right to the west, and ended up in the UK.   She eventually married there, raising a beautiful daughter and staying for longer than she cares to admit.  Teaching, editing a poetry magazine, writing travel articles, and a short stint in Nigeria filled those years until in 2008 she returned to NYC.  She now divides her time between the city and the shore, and often trades the canyons of New York for the wide open spaces of Wyoming.  Family vacations are often out west and, to date, she and her daughter have been to some 20 ranches throughout the west.  Loveland, her first book, was a finalist for Best American Historical at the 2013 RONE Awards.  Lawless Love, a short story, part of The Wild Rose Press ‘Lawmen and Outlaws’ series, was a finalist for Best Historical Novella at the RONE Awards and placed in the 2014 International Digital Awards Historical Short contest.   Dearest Darling, a novella, is part of The Wild Rose Press Love Letters series, and came out Oct. 8^th, 2014, and Dances of the Heart, her first contemporary novel, came out in February, 2015.

Links to Social Media:  

WEBSITE AND BLOG:  http://andreadowning.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/writerAndreaDowning

Twitter:  @andidowning  https://twitter.com/AndiDowning

Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6446229.Andrea_Downing

Linkedin:  http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=124888740&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile_pic

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE:  http://www.amazon.com/Andrea-Downing/e/B008MQ0NXS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Buy Links:  

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dances-Heart-Andrea-Downing-ebook/dp/B00S46BGY6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421510959&sr=8-2&keywords=Dances+of+the+Heart

The Wild Rose Press:   http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242_175_141&products_id=6060

Barnes and Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dances-of-the-heart-andrea-downing/1121151125?ean=2940149895397