Harlequin Western Romance Author, Tanya Michaels!

Welcome Tanya Michaels to the blog with her new release..

The Cowboy Upstairs

Single mom and aspiring perfectionist Becca Johnston is determined to be the next mayor of Cupid's Bow, Texas. She can't afford distractions like her new tenant, rugged rodeo champ Sawyer McCall. Having a good man around the house means so much to her young son, and Becca is definitely enjoying the handsome cowboy's attention. But she’s worked too hard to risk the election because of scandalous town gossip.

Sawyer only planned on staying in Cupid's Bow long enough to help with the upcoming centennial celebration, but with Becca and her son, he's finally found home. When she treats him like he's a dirty little secret, hiding him from voters and downplaying their relationship to her son, Sawyer is crushed. How can he convince her that love is the one thing she can't control?

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Award-winning author Tanya Michaels is a seven-time RITAⓇ finalist and the author of more than fifty romance novels and novellas. She is a frequent event speaker and a serious television addict (who is very bitter when her shows get cancelled!) She lives outside Atlanta with her very patient husband and her two smart-aleck teenagers who are a lot like their mom.

Jan Schliesman: Do you ever get lost in your own stories?

Tanya Michaels: When I’m working on a book, I stress about finding just the right words to convey what I mean. But sometimes there are opportunities to appreciate getting lost in the story later. My husband laughs at me because when I’m preparing a workshop and reading through the published book for instructional examples, I sometimes announce, “Hey, this is really good!” It’s a great feeling, to revisit the story once I’ve got some perspective and the deadline stress is behind me. And since I’m currently writing stories all set in the same town, sometimes I have to look for details in a previous book to make sure I’m describing a location consistently. Would it sound obnoxious if I admit that I get sucked in and end up reading longer than I intended because I’m enjoying the characters so dang much? :)

Jan: Do you struggle to find fresh ideas or do they come naturally?

Tanya: Because so many of the books I write are about hot Texas cowboys, I worry about finding fresh angles. I don’t want all of my books to sound the same! Luckily, once I get a handle on who the main characters are, they create their own stories. No two people fall in love exactly the same way :) And I definitely have more cowboy stories I want to tell…

Jan: What do you love most about your latest release?

Tanya: I love how my heroine, Becca, is unapologetically take-charge. And I love that Sawyer, the cowboy who rents a room from her, both appreciates her strong nature yet also occasionally pushes her outside of her comfort zone. I had fun writing their opposites-attract romance, and I wondered how readers would react to a heroine who can be bossy and headstrong. So far the reviews show that people are relating to her, which thrills me. I like writing about three-dimensional characters, not perfect characters. Where’s the fun in perfection??

Jan: What are you currently reading?

Tanya: Ever since Kresley Cole’s paranormal romance Wicked Abyss came out in April, I have been binge-reading anything with a “Beauty and the Beast” theme. I am just finishing Jax Garren’s Tales of the Underlight (three short books that make up one story: How Beauty Met the Beast, How Beauty Saved the Beast, and How Beauty Loved the Beast.) A dancer and a severely burned former Army Ranger work with a steam-punk society beneath the streets of Austin, Texas to take down a patriarchy that’s using mythological magic to control the world. My description doesn’t do the books justice, but somehow, the author perfectly blended whimsical elements with gritty reality. (Note: I would only recommend these books for adult readers.)

Jan: Do you believe in love at first sight?

Tanya: I think it exists but is incredibly rare. My husband and I had the opposite situation--we were friends for months before we fell in love and have been happily married nearly twenty years.

Jan: If you had the skills to be in any other profession, what would it be?

Tanya: I’d love to be a chef. Good food makes people happy, and that’s what I live for. It’s why I picked a job where I can add more happily ever afters into the world.

Jan: Name three things on your desk right now.
Tanya: The tiny room we call my “office” is really more of a closet filled with books. I don’t have a desk, but my laptop allows me to work from bed in my jammies. (Best. Job. Ever.) When I’m working, the three things always on the bed with me are my ergonomic keyboard, notes about my fictional town Cupid’s Bow, Texas, and my ever-so-slightly spoiled dog.

Jan: Best vacation you’ve ever taken?

Tanya:  I’ve been blessed because I have many options for answering this, from seeing Milan, Italy with my husband to a wonderful girls’ weekend at the beach with some of my dearest friends. But I’m going to say a trip to Orlando when my kids were in elementary school because we fit in both Disney World and Universal, with all its fun Harry Potter stuff, and I paid for it all with royalties from a book I’d published. My family puts up with a lot, living with a writer who hears voices in her head and can get cranky as deadline approaches. I loved taking them all on that vacation to say thank you.

Jan’s GOTTA ASK: My hubby works for Tombstone/DiGiorno. What do you like on your pizza?

Tanya’s GOTTA ANSWER:  Mushrooms, black olives and green olives. I am by no means a vegetarian, but I love a good veggie pizza!

Find TANYA MICHAELS:

Website, Facebook Twitter, Goodreads

UP NEXT: The Cowboy’s Texas Twins (another Cupid’s Bow story from Harlequin Western), Feb 2018.

PREVIOUS RELEASES: Falling for the Sheriff (Cupid’s Bow, Texas), Falling for the Rancher, (Cupid’s Bow, Texas), The Christmas Triplets (Cupid’s Bow, Texas)

THANKS SO MUCH, Tanya, for sharing your writing world with us! Tanya is giving away a collection of all 4 Cupid’s Bow romances to date. Both US and International readers are welcome. Answer this question in the comments section below:

Given my pairing of an organized woman and a cowboy who loves to create chaos and my appreciation for Beauty & the Beast tales, I obviously love a good opposites-attract romance. What’s your favorite opposites-attract romance novel or movie?

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