Detour to Paradise by River Ames Book Tour and Giveaway :)
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?
Sarah
backed slowly away from the doorway. If she hadn’t heard Lucas with
her own ears, she would not have believed him capable of such brutal
toughness. She had heard
him, and she still couldn’t come to terms with the fact that her
tender, gentle lover-to-be was... Why he was Rambo, after all! She
turned from the cabin and followed the path back to the motorhome.
Over and over she replayed the fierce confrontation she’d heard. It
didn’t make sense. How could she have thought Lucas was a gentle,
caring man—a man incapable of the bullying tactics she’d come to
associate with her brother? Sarah
could feel the burning pressure of tears fill her eyes. She’d only
just realized she was in love. She brushed at the falling tears with
the back of her hand and looked around. Dusk
had come. Dusk
had come, and she’d discovered the man she was in love with didn’t
exist. Sweet,
gentle Lucas Rockworth simply was not. She had given her heart and
planned on giving her body to a phantom, a creature of her own
imagination. Creature
was an excellent word, she thought, her tears drying. There was no
way she could have been so mistaken about Lucas Rockworth without him
deliberately misleading her. She remembered one of their first
conversations. He’d asked her straight out: Who appealed to her
more? Rambo or Mr. Rogers? She’s
picked Mr. Rogers and voila! He had appeared. Shy. Sweet. Sensitive. The
dirty rat! He’d
done it on purpose, played the role of a modern, tender man. Good
grief, if she’d picked Rambo, he probably would have greased up his
body, looped ammo belts around his neck and stuck a butcher knife
between his teeth. She’d
had him writing poetry! “Sarah,
where are you going? What happened?” Deborah’s
worried voice penetrated Sarah’s dazed thoughts. She’d almost
passed her friend on the path to the motorhome. Sarah
turned around. “You were right.” “About
what? Sarah, what’s wrong? You look like you’re in shock.” “I
probably am.” “My
Lord, did they actually get into a brawl? What
happened?” “There
was no fight. You were right. Lucas was perfectly capable of handling
Ryan.” “But—” “Don’t
worry about it. Ryan’s fine. Lucas is fine. Actually, I think they
have the makings of a solid friendship.” “What?” “They
have so much in common, you know—my
welfare.” “That
doesn’t surprise me,” Deborah said. “And
then, there’s the fact that they’re two liked-minded bullies.
When you get right down to it, you could almost call them blood-
brothers. They both look at the world in the same way—as
predators.” Sarah started walking again. “Where
are you going?” “To
change my clothes.”
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.
Can you,
for those who don't know you already, tell something about yourself
and how you became an author?
As is
unfortunately common with a lot of people, I grew up in a broken
home. I was the oldest of three children and had the responsibility
of making sure they had clean clothes to wear to school, food to eat,
and provided with adult supervision at night. I assumed these
responsibilities at 10 years of age. Looking back, it breaks my
heart to realize how inadequate I was for the job. Being poor and
regularly evicted from the places we rented, we moved around a lot.
I went to 27 different elementary schools. One of them for only
three days before we moved somewhere else. I think that’s where my
passion for writing began. I was always the new girl. I’d get the
tour the first day and try to remember where my class was, who my
teacher was, and where the lavatories were located. I spent a lot of
time watching the other kids instead of interacting with them. I
think being a “watcher” was a way of being safe. Since I was on
the outside, looking in, I think it was a natural step for me to
assume a role of observer. And, isn’t that what a writer is, or
does? Observes.
What is something unique/quirky
about you?
When I was thirteen, I read Gone with
the Wind. I actually skipped two days of school so I could read it
in one block of time. I couldn’t believe how Margaret Mitchell
ended the novel. Remember, I was only thirteen and didn’t know
anything about borderline personalities. I got out some lined paper
and wrote a sequel where Scarlet reformed herself and developed a
personality remarkably similar to Jane Eyre. Rhett fell in love with
her all over again—she began helping her neighbors rebuild. She
even worked in the fields. (If Rhett couldn’t love her with
callused hands, then maybe he didn’t deserve her.) It only took me
about thirty pages to have them back in each other’s arms. She
even got pregnant again. This time it was twins—a boy and a girl.
One thing about my books, there’s
always a happy ending.
What kind of world ruler would
you be?
I would be the best ruler ever. I
would have schools built where students (of any age) could receive
practical as well as intellectual learning. I would invest in urban
renewal projects where people who wanted to work would have jobs in
their own community building homes and business. There would be
programs for individuals to receive medical training. Since I think
drugs are the scourge of today’s society, I would also invest in
making our public schools a safe place that fully engaged children
until their parents came home. There would even be rooms in which
they could spend the night if there was no adult supervision
available for them where they lived. How to pay for all this besides
raises taxes? I believe there are enough and amazing
retirees who would be willing to volunteer several hours a week of
their time to make their community a safe and wondrous place.
Which of your novels can you
imagine made into a movie?
All of them! I think my four
contemporary romances: To Each His Own, Bachelor in the Boondocks,
Every Good Deed, and Detour to Paradise would make terrific Hallmark
movies. My western novels are just begging for cinematic life.
Gideon’s Justice, Youngblood’s Rules, and McKenzie’s Law (a
western trilogy) are set in the Colorado Territory. That’s some
might beautiful country for a backdrop. When my heroes and heroines
spar with each other, their dialogue sizzles. My heroines are not
shy about expressing their grievances. Nor, are my heroes reticent
about speaking the hard truths they think the heroines need to hear
(all for their own good, of course).
Which of your books most
resembles your life?
Every Good Deed tells the story of Erin
Clay who married while still in college. The man who won her heart
was sophisticated, wealthy, and charming. When she becomes widowed,
Erin learns some things about her late-husband's true character that
shatter any remaining affection she might have have felt toward him.
When an old friend, Linc Severance, shows up, Erin doesn't trust her
judgment to recognize real love and take the risk of opening herself
up to possible disappointment. After all, she has a young son to
raise and safeguard. The question for Erin is, can she believe
enough in herself, in the woman she's become, to give her heart
again. For Linc, who's always secretly yearned for Erin, can he give
himself permission to claim the woman he's loved from the first
moment he saw her?
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the tour HERE
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