Detour
to Paradise
by
River Ames
Genre:
Sweet Contemporary Romance
Lucas
Rockworth—a hard-driving force of nature has been ordered by his
doctor to take some time off and get his blood pressure under
control. You would think buying a cabin in the natural splendor known
as Gray Horse Lake, Idaho, would do the trick. All that mountain
greenery, crystal blue lakes and rivers, and nature-run-amok had to
be exactly what the doctor had ordered.
Enter
Sarah Burke... The innocently enticing young entrepreneur who’s
opening an equestrian camp for children with handicaps.
Her
initial impression of him is clearly wrong. For some reason, known to
the reader but unknown to him, Sarah mistakenly believes that Lucas
Rockworth is a shy, sensitive man. After having to deal a lifetime
with a dominating older brother and controlling father, she finds
these traits very appealing.
Her
recent breakup with someone who could best be described as a bully
has Sarah longing for a kinder, gentler man in her life.
Lucas
tells himself that, since he makes his living as a general
contractor, he has the hands-on experience to make himself into
anything Miss Sarah Burke is looking for.
It
shouldn’t be that great a stretch to become a modern, sensitive
kind of guy, should it? She wants Mr. Rogers... Well, darn, he can
manage that for the short time he’s in Idaho.
How
hard can it be to tame his darker, more cynical side?
As
for Sarah Burke? She thinks she’s met a real life version of Mr.
Rogers. But, the reader knows its Rambo who’s come
a’courting.
Would
the real Lucas Rockworth care to step forward?
River
Ames spent the first eighteen years of her life in Southern
California. Here is a partial list of some of the cities in which she
lived: Pasadena, South Pasadena, Duarte, El Monte, Arcadia La Puente,
Lomita, West Covina, Pacifica, Santa Monica, Palmdale, and Hacienda
Heights. In some of those cities, she lived at six different
addresses. In the city of La Puente, River's family lived in four
different houses on the same street. The non-glamorous reason for all
the moves was habitual eviction necessitated for non-payment of rent.
It was an interesting way to grow up.
River
attended twenty-six different elementary schools, two different
junior high schools and four different high schools. In one
elementary school, she was a student for only three days.
Perhaps,
because she was so frequently identified as the "new girl,"
the pattern of River being an observer instead of a participant in
the interactions going on around her seemed a logical fit for her
personality.
When
she was thirteen, River read "Gone with the Wind." She
skipped three days of school in order to finish the book in one
sitting. Disappointed in Rhett for "not giving a damn,"
River wrote her own sequel--in long hand, on three-hole punch,
notebook paper. The opening line? "Tomorrow dawned bright and
fair." In less than fifty pages, Scarlett had been transformed
into Jane Eyre and Rhett had fallen in love with her all over again.
After
Southern California, River has spent the next part of her life living
in the semi-rural town of Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is a graduate of
Idaho State University, majoring in Health Education Sciences and
Addiction Counseling. She's worked the past ten years at a Behavioral
Health Center where she assisted children, teenagers, and adults
committed in a 24/7 secured facility because of mental health
challenges they are experiencing.
River's
books celebrate the good-natured humor that lays at the heart of most
of our human predicaments. The conflicts are significant, yet it is
her characters and their quirky (yet somehow universally relatable)
thoughts, words, and choices that reflect a light-hearted peek into a
world we wish was real. The amazing thing is that these worlds are
real to readers for the time they visit there.
Readers
have said: "In a River Ames book, one minute I'm laughing out
loud, and the next I have a lump in my throat."
River
is currently readying a historical novel, "Gideon's Justice."
This three-part novel is Book I in a three volume western series set
in the Colorado Territory.
GUEST POST
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
My secondary characters often have their own stories to tell. It is
through my secondary characters and their experiences that my heroes
and heroines are able to gain insights to their own challenges.
Do you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
Definitely
not silence and not with noise, either. I write to music. I click on
Pandora and have a favorite playlist. I love the soundtracks from
Last of the Mohicans and Brave Heart. Listening to major motion
picture soundtracks seems to draw me into my characters’ world and
gets the creative magic flowing. My imagination also reacts well to
orchestrated Christian music, along the lines of How Great Thou Art,
Amazing Grace, and other classics.
What do you read yourself and if so what is your favorite
genre?
My
reading preferences seem to be in a constant state of flux. I love
Dean Koontz’s novels (The ones in the midpoint of his career) One
Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, and Watcher are
among my favorites. I’m kind of a wimp, though, so some of his
writing is just too gruesome for me. Jayne Krentz, Linda Howard,
Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Julie Garwood are among my favorite
romance authors. Again, though, I skim through their graphic sex
scenes. Linda Howard’s Open Season and Mr. Perfect are two of my
favorites that she’s written. Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Dream a
Little Dream is my all-time favorite book that she’s written.
Do you see writing as a career?
I definitely want writing to be a full time career. One of my
challenges is that I have several passions that compete for my
writing time, i.e., gardening, fixing up my house, and crafting. All
three activities provide outlets for my creativity that truly satisfy
something deep within me.
Do you write one book at a time or do you have several going at
a time?
I concentrate on writing one book at a time. And yet, I have a
half-dozen or more novels in my head. I’ve created files for them.
And, when a bit of dialogue between their characters, or a plot twist
comes to me, I make detailed notes which I later type up and put in
their respective folders.
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