Day Leclaire

WHO’S HOLDING THE BABY

DLI Publishing

Never tell the truth when a lie will do!

Grace Barnes, frumpy, engaged assistant to businessman, Luc Salvatore, is neither frumpy, nor engaged—just pretending in order to hold her sexy boss at a safe distance.  Not that it works, especially when he’s given temporary custody of his brother’s baby surprise and insists Grace pretend to be engaged—to him.

The lies pile up fast and furious when the police become involved, followed by Child Protective Services, not to mention a slew of nosy Salvatores and even nosier neighbors.  Pull out your score cards to keep it all straight:  They're boss and assistant at work, engaged for the police, married for CPS, and just good friends in front of Luc's irrepressible brothers.

Bad goes to worse, when Luc's father shows up and assumes the baby is Grace and Luc's.  Maybe they could have skated on that one if Grace's father hadn't also interrupted at a key moment.  Did I mention Grace's father is a minister?  No?  Well, now Luc insists they marry for real.  And Grace would...if only Luc loved her.  There's only way to convince her, and that’s to say the three little words he's never before uttered.

READ A LITTLE, want the whole thing

DAY LECLAIRE  is a USA Today bestselling author and a three-time winner of both The Colorado Award of Excellence and The Golden Quill Award.  She’s won Romantic Times Magazine’s Career Achievement, and Love and Laughter’s awards, the Holt Medallion, the Bestseller’s Best Award, and has received an impressive eleven nominations for the romance industry’s most prestigious award, Romance Writers of America RITA© Award.  

Day ended her twenty-four year run with Harlequin with the release of her 60th book and is now self-publishing romances which continue to touch the heart and make you care about her characters as much as she does.  In Day’s own words, “I adore writing romances, and can’t think of a better way to spend each day.”  Day’s now totally focused on her self-publishing career and hopes to convert the entire reading world to digital.

ALL ABOUT DAY

ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?

DAY: Reading or writing?  Reading, all the time, anywhere, any circumstance.  Writing can be slightly more problematic because some days the words don’t come—or maybe it’s better to say they don’t come immediately.  On those days, I simply keep plugging away until I disappear into the story.  Sometimes it takes hours to get to that state of involvement.  Other times it’s pretty quick.  I live for the quick times!

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading? 

DAY: To be honest, I can’t remember a time I couldn’t read.  However, I remember the time I made the transition from picture books to full-fledged, no-picture books.  It was second grade and the teacher had read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle aloud to the class.  I was utterly hooked and immediately afterward borrowed it from the library.  I read that book over and over and over.  I didn’t understand all the concepts, but I was determined to.  I still read that book today and it was one I bribed my son to read, lol.  I agreed to read one of his books—one of the Doom series, heaven help me—if he’d read AWIT.  He ended up as hooked as I was.

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

DAY: I guess it would be Cinderella—though there are so many I truly love.  I fell in love with Grimm fairy tales at a very young age.  I still love them, though Disney has certainly whitewashed them, lol!

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

DAY: In Who’s Holding the Baby, I love how he’s a take-charge type guy who will do anything to protect his family.  I guess that’s a common theme in all my books.  My heroes are all strong, alpha males who are in charge of their universe…right up until the heroine stumbles in and turns everything upside down.  But they all have similar qualities.  Family is vital to them.  Once they fall in love, it’s forever.  And though they might choke on the word “compromise,” in the end their love for the heroine and desire to give her room to be herself overcomes any lingering Tarzan instincts.  I think one of the most common elements in all of my books (in addition to the desire to find the “perfect” soul mate) are trust themes, and oftentimes a feeling of not quite belonging or being out of step with the rest of the world.  Haven’t we all experienced that at some point?

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?

DAY: I read everywhere.  My favorite is in the tub—it’s huge—and I light candles around the tile surround.  I read at night in bed.  I curl up on the couch and read.  I read in the car, the doctor’s office, at the beach, on my deck.  Anywhere, any time.  These days I always read digital.  I can’t recall the last time I picked up a print book.  I switched when I went to a family reunion 2 years ago and lugged a dozen (hardback) books with me and then lugged them home again—all read, of course.  I said, “That is IT!”  And then I bought a Kindle.  The day after I tried it out, I bought my mother one and she’s never been happier, mainly because it’s so light, which helps her arthritis, and the font can be changed, which helps her aging eyes.  I worried that it would be a difficult transition for her, but she loved it!  Now we have a joint account and share all of our favorite books and authors.  Oh, right.  You also asked how often.  I read every day, usually several times a day, though mainly in the evening.

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

DAY: Nature.  I love the sound of waves crashing against the shore.  I can hear them in the distance from my house.  We live in the middle of a maritime forest, about ¾ of a mile from the ocean and about a mile from the Pamlico Sound.  At night there is this wonderful concerto of sounds.  The deep bass thrumming of bullfrogs.  The higher pitched croak of tree frogs.  A sad little whinny from screech owls.  The echoing hoot of great-horned owls.  Crickets and cicadas and locust.  The rustle of the wind through the trees.  I don’t even mind the Chuck Will’s Widow—similar to a whippoorwill—so long as it’s not too near the house since it can be piercing if they come in too close.  It all forms this amazing symphony that fills me with joy.  I just love it!

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

DAY: Oh, definitely both!  I think that’s why I love the TV series Once Upon a Time so much.  It’s such a brilliant combination of both genres.

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?

DAY: It was a Cinderella western.  I was younger than 10 and we were snowbound.  My mother was going crazy because there were 4 of us determined to drive her ‘round the bend.  I’d have been fine if I had anything to read, but I’d read everything in the house, including the cereal boxes.  Finally, she said:  “If you can’t find anything to read, then write something.”  It was such a cool idea!  So, I did.  I was (of course) Cinderella.  My sisters were (of course) the evil stepsisters.  I escaped onto a wagon train and headed west for romance and adventure.  I think I still have it stuck in a file cabinet somewhere.  I should try and find it and post it online, just to give my readers a laugh.

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

DAY: With a dog named Yoda, how can it be anything other than Star Wars?!?  Though, to be honest, I am a huge Star Trek fan.  I often put little bitty references to both series in my books, just as a private wink to those wonderful movies/TV shows and the incredible characters that people them.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

DAY: Computer games.  I have to confess I love The Sims 3 (soon to be The Sims 4!!).  And it really makes me laugh because, for those unfamiliar with the game, here’s how you play:  You create characters.  You put them in a world you can tweak to your own specifications.  You have them meet and interact with other characters in that world.  And you have them work, fall in love, marry, and have children.  In other words, when I’m not writing romance stories, I’m…well…  Making up romance stories in a virtual computer world.  How sad is that?!?  And even sadder?  I’ve recreated a bunch of my Dante characters and play with them in my game!

ANGI: That is really cool. I'm afraid if I got started...I'd be playing more than writing.

ANGI: Is there a “Blooper” in your story (it may have been changed before printing)?

DAY: No bloopers in this latest one, thank goodness.  But there was a huge blooper that a reader caught in one of my Dante series books for Harlequin.  In Dante’s Honor-Bound Husband, I had my heroine, Gianna Dante, unable to drive.  She gets kidnapped by her boyfriend who wants to compromise her so her grandfather will insist they marry and she escapes by stealing his car, which is a stick-shift.  And because she’s never driven a car before, it’s a really intense, dramatic scene.  I was so pleased with how it had turned out…  Until I received an email from a reader who explained that Gianna did know how to drive.  She drove in Dante’s Temporary Fiancée.  Oops.  Of course, it was far too late to change.  The problem is, when you create a series that rambles across 10 books, you sometimes forget small details like that.  I guess that’s why I’ll have Beta readers for future series—so I have someone who can help me keep track of little details like that!

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

DAY: That’s a trick question, right?  It’s fabulous!  Not only is fun to be with such wonderful characters, it’s even more fun to create them, shape them, play with them, tweak them.  You’re literally a god (small “G”!) within the universe you create.  You create the world, you people your world, you direct their lives, and—most important of all—you give them amazing, wonderful people to love and with whom they can share a “happily ever after” lifetime.  There just is no better job in the world.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: What is your favorite thing to do during a power outage? (Feel free to explain why you may experience more than most people.)

DAY's GOTTA ANSWER:  First, you have to understand that I live on an island off the North Carolina coast.  And we tend to have a lot of power outages, along with frequent Nor’easters and hurricanes.  So, we’ve learned to rough it when a storm’s coming.  We’ve been without power for as long as a week, which isn’t even a little fun.  And we’ve been trapped on the island for weeks/months at a time.  If the road is knocked out, which it often is, we’re transported off-island by ferry.  It’s a 2+ hour trip each way, so it’s an all-day event.  So, there is the occasional downside to living in such a beautiful place.  Of course, my favorite thing to do when we’re without power is read, by candlelight when it’s dark.  I snuggle close to my dog, Yoda, and my husband.  Wait.  Maybe I should have changed the order of that, lol.  My husband, Yoda…  No.  That’s not right.  My husband and Yoda!  That’s what I meant!  And we both read (my husband and I, not Yoda!).

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Once Upon a Jinx

November 1st

Once Upon an Enchantment

December

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Complete Booklist

The Wacky Women Series:

Once Upon a Ghost

Once Upon a Cowboy

Once Upon A Time

DAY'S giving away  the digital book of your choice from her current releases. International readers who can access a Smashword’s coupon.

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DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join me Tuesday when I host me (ha ha, it's my birthday!). And come back tomorrow when Lara hosts Amara Royce. Don't miss FIRST FRIDAYS with our host Maureen McGowan. ~Angi

DAY WANTS TO KNOW:  What types of stories do you get lost in?