So happy to welcome Caro Carson!

I'm so excited to present Caro Carson today--she's full of fun and enthusiasm and her book is a wonderful, classic romance. I think you'll find her Q&A one of the most fun! Welcome, Caro--we're all glad to have you here at GLIAS!

Title:  The Bachelor Doctor’s Bride

Publisher: Harlequin Special Edition, May 2014

MEET CARO CARSON

Despite a no-nonsense background as a West Point graduate and U.S. Army officer, Caro Carson has always treasured the happily-ever-after of a good romance novel. Caro is delighted to be living her own happily-ever-after with her husband and two children in the great state of Florida, a location which has saved the coaster-loving theme park fanatic a fortune on plane tickets. Caro’s latest novel is THE BACHELOR DOCTOR’S BRIDE, a May release from Harlequin Special Edition.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE BACHELOR DOCTOR’S BRIDE

Cardiologist Quinn MacDowell has no time for affairs of the heart--especially those not related to his job. But when a black tie affair throws him together with bubbly Diana Connor, she gets underneath his white coat like no woman has before. Quinn is determined not to let this chance at happiness dance out of his reach. 

Opposites may attract, but Diana doesn’t believe they make permanent matches. If the hunky doctor with the icy façade knew how much baggage she actually came with, he’d run the other direction. When her plan to keep things cool gets blown away by a Texas storm, these polar opposites must decide if the heat between them will burn for a summer, or forever.

READ AN EXCERPT!

Readers can enjoy the first chapter free at Harlequin: CLICK HERE

SOME FUN Q&A TIME WITH CARO

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

CARO:  Dick and Jane. Although I loved being read to as a child, I wanted the power of being able to read a book whenever I wanted to, without having to wait for an adult to sit down.  I tore through the Sally, Dick, and Jane books at school—and I remember the first word I couldn’t sound out: away.  I was so impatient for the teacher to get to that page so I could hear what “away” was supposed to be.  Looking at it now, I can see why it puzzled me.  If you’ve colored alphabet worksheets that say “y” sounds like “yellow,” then how do you sound it out at the end of the word?  I think kindergarten Caro gets a sympathetic pat for not being able to do it.

LIZ: What are the next five books on your ‘to be read’ pile?

CARO:  This question makes me whimper like a puppy who is looking at a bone she can’t have.  I’m very grateful to be under deadline for more books, but it means I have to get lost in my own story-in-progress, so I can’t get lost in the ones on my TBR pile in the meantime.  Although, if I get stuck in my own writing (I won’t say writer’s block), it helps to read someone else’s book, just to remember that I adore books!  Anyway, here’s the first five I’ve got waiting:

*Sherry Thomas’ historical romance, The Luckiest Lady in London, because she writes beautiful sentences that add up to books full of pathos.
*A vintage book by Merline Lovelace, Lady of the Upper Kingdom, if we can call 1996 vintage.  Merline is magnificent when it comes to heroines with smarts and courage.  I’ve made a little hobby out of finding her older titles in print.  I love the actual paperbacks, with their cover art and older fonts and logos.
*Roxanne St. Claire’s Barefoot in the Rain, because I’m intrigued with the premise of a hero befriending the abusive father of the heroine. Shouldn’t he be against the hurtful father? I’ve got to read this one to find out how she handles that scenario.
*Eloisa James’ historical romance, Three Weeks With Lady X, because I don’t want to be the only person on the planet who hasn’t enjoyed it yet!
*Lastly, I want to read one of the 852 books I’ve downloaded to my Kindle and haven’t gotten to look at.  (Okay, not really 852.  I exaggerated.  It’s more like 752.)

LIZ: Write us a haiku about your book or one of your characters!

CARO:   This is, far and away, the most unique question I’ve ever been asked.  I wish I were a poet!   Here goes:

Lovers on night one.

She can’t see the truth he knows:

Forever starts now.

LIZ: I don’t know—that sounds like a poet to me! I’m so glad you answered this question—your haiku is lovely!!

LIZ: Name three things that are, at this moment, in your heroine’s purse.

CARO:  It’s funny you should ask. The Bachelor Doctor’s Bride opens at a black tie gala, and our heroine’s purse has a bit of a role to play. It’s tiny, inexpensive, but super cute. Diana Connor is far more eager to make sure everyone around her is happy than she is to worry about herself, so she doesn’t bother putting her own business cards in her purse, although that would help her career as a Realtor. She does, however, have safety pins in her purse, so she can rescue another ball attendee from a wardrobe malfunction.  Add in a little lip gloss and her driver’s license, and she’s ready to enjoy the gala.  Sadly for Dr. Quinn MacDowell, she is not ready to meet Dr. Right…yet there he is…

LIZ: What sound or noise do you love?

CARO:  Do you know the sound of the little waves in a marina, slapping against the sides of the boats that are tied to the docks?  The boats are hollow-sounding.  If you go inside a boat house—imagine a roof and four walls set around the dock and boats—then the sound gets magnified and echoes.  That seemed like a good place for Quinn and Diana to go, escaping from the crowd at a Texas lakeside house party.  They decide that the dark interior and the sound of the lapping water create the right sensual atmosphere for...well, you can guess what for.

   

LIZ: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

CARO:  If a baby smiles at me, my happiness meter can go from near-empty to overflowing in the space of a second.  I used to love taking my baby to mundane places like the grocery store, just to watch tired people perk up and return my own baby’s smiles.  It’s kind of amazing that so far, only one of my six books for Harlequin has featured an adorable baby, the very first one, Doctor, Soldier, Daddy.  I really ought to work a baby into my next story. Love those toothless grins—and Harlequin has been putting the most adorable babies on its covers. Here’s mine:

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

CARO:  In fifth grade, I saw two movies that remain all-time favorites: “Gone With the Wind” and the original “Star Wars.”  Scarlet O’Hara and Princess Leia each had their flaws when it came to Rhett Butler and Han Solo, but they were women who took charge of their lives. Before those movies, I’d loved Disney’s “Cinderella” and “Snow White,” but I knew even then that I could never be as perfectly gentle and sweet as those princesses, not if I were being treated as unfairly as they were.  In comparison, Scarlet swore her family would never starve again, and Leia grabbed the gun out of Han’s hand and saved herself.  It was awesome to know a heroine could take charge…and still get the yummiest guy. (Yes, I’ve decided Scarlet gets Rhett back.)

LIZ: Who’s your favorite villain?

CARO:  This one is easy. I adore Ursula from “The Little Mermaid.”  Her song, “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” is a work of genius. It reveals her morals—she believes her victims got exactly what they wanted, so why should she feel guilty? It demonstrates her skill at manipulating Ariel, so that we never blame Ariel for making a bad decision. We even see how important Ursula’s pets are in her life as they serve as her appreciative audience.  What a lot of story to pack into two minutes!  (Unfortunately, my song-writing skills are even less developed than my meager haiku skills.)

LIZ HAS GOTTA ASK: What’s the most personal thing you’ve ever put in one of your books?

CARO:  This goes back to my February book, The Doctor’s Former Fiancée.  The hero is the brother of Dr. Quinn MacDowell. He’s also a doctor, but Dr. Braden MacDowell doesn’t treat individual patients.  Instead, he’s the president of a biotech corporation, and he decides on which diseases millions of research dollars will be spent.  His former fiancée, Dr. Lana Donnoli, runs the research

division at a Texas hospital. When they meet for the first time in the six years since she broke their engagement, it is across a boardroom table. She argues passionately for a study on pediatric migraines to continue. He cannot make her understand why he is withdrawing all funding and killing the study.

Now, I realize that doesn’t sound very personal, but for me, it was.  I spent more than a decade working for one of the giants in the world of pharmaceuticals, a company that invented some of the great life-saving drugs of this century. I’m also the mother of a little boy who has suffered for years and years from migraines, which is a rare and poorly understood condition in children.  Most adult treatments don’t work for little kids, and there are few options and very little hope on the horizon.  When I wrote that boardroom scene, it was two halves of myself arguing.  Lana is the mother in me, wanting desperately to find a solution for the children in her study who are not just groups of numbers to her. Braden is the logical, professional side of me, which understands quite clearly why fairly rare conditions are also fairly rare subjects for research.  When Braden storms out of the boardroom and Lana runs after him, refusing to fail in her quest…yes, the emotions on both sides are very personal for me.

Thankfully, since everything ends happily-ever-after in my novels, Braden finds a way to save the study, the hospital, and most importantly, his relationship with his former fiancée!

  

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?

Yes, I’ll be happy to send one cool cardiologist and his bubbly heroine to their house.  Dr. MacDowell will arrive with some little goodies, too, like bookmarks and candy, ’cause he’s nice like that. Don’t believe that “icy façade” thing.

(Mailing to North America, please.)

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CONTACT CARO:

Website: www.CaroCarson.com, which has a “contact me” e-mail form that really works. J   

Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorCaroCarson

Twitter: @TheCaroCarson 

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UP NEXT:

My next book will be here in September.  Not Just A Cowboy, also from Harlequin Special Edition, begins the day that The Bachelor Doctor’s Bride ends.  As you can guess from the title, Not Just A Cowboy, this hero is a cowboy, but Luke Waterson is also a…any guesses?  He’s not a doctor, like my last three heroes!  Instead, Luke breaks away from his ranching responsibilities to serve as a volunteer fireman. It’s while working as a fireman that he meets his heroine. She’s an heiress from a famous Texas dynasty, which doesn’t faze him.  After all, he owns his ranch and is a millionaire himself.  But since she believes he’s a humble fireman, he lets that deception continue, hoping she’ll love him for himself, and not as a suitably wealthy candidate for building a Texas dynasty.