Spotlight New Release Interview | ONCE UPON A SNOWY MOON by Cheyenne Meadows
Please make welcome a sister Rose (The Wild Rose Press), Cheyenne Meadows! We're celebrating her new release, Once Upon A Snowy Moon. I'm in the middle of reading this book and loving the story! The Tavern is serving a special mead (prepared by Dragon Knight, Alastair MacKay), and Damson Tarts. Grab a mug and let's hear what Cheyenne has to say...
MM: Welcome, Cheyenne! Congratulations on your new release! Delighted you could join us today. Describe a typical writing day. Are you a morning, afternoon, or night-owl writer?
CM: Since I work a full time job, I write when I can, namely the weekends. On those days, it’s pretty much morning and afternoons. I might sprinkle some household chores in those times, but try to work for several hours during those days in order to make progress.
MM: Sounds perfect, Cheyenne. Can you tell us about your current work-in-progress?
CM: I’m working on a story tentatively entitled Weddings, wolves, and warm socks. It’s another shifter story (my favorite genre!) which follows Kenzie, a typical woman from South Carolina who agrees to be the maid of honor at her best friend’s wedding. No problem, right? Well, come to find out, the wedding is being held in the groom’s hometown of Howling Bay in extreme northern Canada, above the Arctic Circle. Not only that, Ridge, Sand’s best man, is left behind to escort Kenzie to the wedding. He’s drop dead gorgeous and a total flirt. Kenzie is determined to keep her wits and stay out of his bed. Men are lemons, in her book, after all. Pretty on the outside, but dang sour inside.
All bets are off once they reach the frozen tundra and tiny town of two hundred inhabitants, almost all of them relatives in some fashion, and all wolf shifters. She’s a vegetarian amongst predators, yet, can’t help but wondering if Ridge could be the man she’d been looking for—the man who could truly love her for her.
Ridge can’t suppress the feeling that Kenzie might be the one for him. If, and it’s a big if, he can assist her to see beyond the obvious and learn to enjoy their little frozen settlement by the ocean with temperatures well below zero, no trees, and isolated from the rest of the world. His pros include the northern lights, which delighted Kenzie, and her love of animals. The odds against him include the fact that they are wolf shifters and she doesn’t even know they exist. Not to mention the frigid cold and twenty-four hours of darkness for months right around the corner.
He senses that she’s attracted to him, but it’ll take more than simple want to win her over and convince her that life in Howling Bay, with him, is well worth taking the chance on love.
MM: Fantastic news! Love this statement: "Men are lemons, in her book, after all. Pretty on the outside, but dang sour inside." What inspired you to write this book/series?
CM: Like all my books, I start with a vague idea followed by ‘what if’. I wanted to learn about a new land, an isolated part of the world. And, how, a typical Southern woman could learn to love someone so different from her and follow that same love to the northern realms of civilization. Shifters are my favorite to write, so that added another element. So, I stared with Kenzie and the bride, Libby, best friends working in a cheese store. Enter in the groom and his best man. Human versus shifter. South meets North. The ‘what ifs’ keep coming. More differences, yet common ground with a little giving on both their parts.
MM: Enjoyed hearing about your inspiration. What’s your favorite item on your writing desk?
CM: Hmmm. Interesting question. It’s a toss-up between the basket holding my pens and my desktop calendar. One is more decorative the other more practical, but with great little notes like my release dates for my books listed on it.
MM: Wonderful! You’ve been given a golden ticket to time travel into the past. Whom would you meet and why?
CM: I would love to sit down with Abraham Lincoln. I truly believe he was one of the most insightful and brilliant minds of all time. To hear his words of wisdom and soak up his ideas would be a dream come true. His time was too short and we had so much left to learn from him before his early departure.
MM: A person I'd love to converse with too, Cheyenne. Now for the fun questions. Do you prefer...
Champagne or Beer? Neither. I don’t care for the taste of alcohol. Give me slushy, half-frozen chocolate milk any day!
Southern drawl or Scottish burr? Ohhh. I love the Scottish burr, if I could only understand what they are saying. A good Southern drawl is hard to beat!
Kilt or Leather pants? Kilt without anything underneath over leather pants.
First romance you read? It would have to be a Johanna Lindsey book. I fell in love with her stories right off the bat.
Print book or e-reader? Print. There’s nothing better in my mind than holding a real copy of a book. Granted, they take up much more space, but I love the old-fashioned way of delving into a good book!
Wishing you all the best, Cheyenne with Once Upon A Snowy Moon!
Backcover blurb from Once Upon a Snowy Moon ~
When her date bails on her, Tara decides she's had it with men. On her way home from the disastrous date, she hits a large dog with her car. There's no question she's keeping him. After all, dogs are faithful—unlike the men in her life.
Max is on the run after he and his alpha escape a violent coup. Exhausted, he doesn't see the car until it's too late, but he does see the woman who mistakenly believes he's a dog. While she takes care of him, Max has to figure out what's next, while keeping the woman he's beginning to fall for safe from his enemies.
Tara's new dog is everything she hoped for, but there's one major problem—he's not a dog. He's a wolf shifter. Now Max must convince her to trust him at the same time that he's trying to save his alpha's life. Until that happens, love is not in the picture—for him or Tara.
Sneak Preview from Once Upon A Snowy Moon ~
Men suck.
Tara cut one more scathing glare to the guy who was supposed to be her blind date for the evening, spun around, and ran smack into a solid wall of a man wearing a dark suit. A fleeting scent of subtle cologne waved through the air, adding to the overall picture of a built guy with expensive taste. Attractive and wealthy normally caught a woman’s eye. Not hers and certainly not right now. Especially since she just happened to greatly dislike the opposite sex as a whole. “Oh, excuse me.”
He steadied her and offered up a crooked smile, his blue eyes catching her attention. “No worries.” His grin faded. “Are you all right? You seem distracted.”
She nodded, all too eager to leave the establishment and the source of her latest debacle. “Yes, thanks for asking. My date just sank like the Titanic so I might as well get going. Nothing worth hanging around here for now.” Pushing past the guy, she hurried to the parking lot and her waiting car.
Tara opened the door, tossed her purse to the passenger seat with a huff, then plopped down. A quick jerk settled the seat belt over her before she clicked it into place. “I swear. What’s the point of going out on dates when they all end up being creeps? I can find those on my own. Already have. Like a legion of them.” She shoved the key into the ignition and cranked the engine as a shiver rolled through her. Her long coat didn’t curb the frigid wind, not when she started out wearing a frilly blouse, slacks, and flats. Unfortunately, the car’s heater would take a bit to warm up but at least she had shelter from the mess outside.
Snow came down hard, with large flakes landing on her windshield, nearly obscuring the view until she clicked the wiper blades. The defrost on high helped to melt them as they landed, only to be shoved away as liquid with each swipe of the blade. January in Minnesota never was for the faint of heart.
“The perfect ending to a crappy day.” She’d been excited about the upcoming event. Sort of. After the fiasco of the last three, things had to be better. Or so she thought. Too bad this guy took one look at her, and a flicker of disappointment and disgust covered his face. He greeted her, drew her toward the bar, then he changed direction and struck up a conversation with a skinny beauty perched on a nearby seat when Tara excused herself to go to the bathroom. By the time she returned, he ignored her and seemed planted on the bar stool, entranced with the lithe redhead next to him.
Tara took the hint.
Loneliness had followed her around like a dark cloud day in and day out for the past few months. She saw all her friends happily tie the knot and move forward with their lives to other parts of the country with equal parts sadness and envy. It left Tara the remaining single woman out of the large group of good friends from Wells dorm at State College.
She wanted what they had. Happiness. Love. A companion for a lifetime of adventure. Someone to come home to every night and to hold her as they slept. Is that asking too much?
Buy Links ~
Meet the Author ~
CHEYENNE MEADOWS, while growing up in the Midwest, began reading romance novels in high school, immediately falling in love with the genre, to the point where she decided to write professionally for a career. However, that dream splattered against a brick wall, resulting in a quick death in her first writing class in college when the professor told her bluntly that she wasn’t any good at it. She shifted gears quickly and left her writing dreams behind, eventually settling on becoming a nurse.
A few years back, she stumbled across a fan-fiction writing site on a favorite author’s webpage. She began to read stories others wrote, not only making some wonderful close friends from the experience, but also, really learning to write for the very first time. Here she was able to share short stories, practice her writing skills, and truly develop into a writer. More than that, the experience allowed her to revitalize her dream, as she rediscovered joy in writing.
Now, she spends her days off with her alpha-male characters, quick-witted heroines, and seeing how much trouble everyone can get into. When she’s not working or writing, she enjoys playing in the garden, hanging out with her diva kitty, and using her backyard as a living canvas for her whimsical landscaping, and, of course, reading romance novels.
E-mail: Cheyenne1.meadows@yahoo.com
