Please help me welcome Jennifer Snow to Novel Natterings. I met the lovely Jennifer online and was immediately struck by her effervescent personality and warmth. A perfect fit for Harlequin Heartwarming!
Its lovely to have you here, Jennifer! Can you tell us a bit about
yourself?
I am originally from
Newfoundland on the East Coast of Canada, but now I live in Edmonton, Alberta
with my husband and three year old son. I write contemporary romance for
Harlequin Heartwarming, Secret Cravings Publishing, and The Wild Rose Press.
When you’re not writing,
what do you do for fun?
I don’t understand the
question. LOLJ
LOL. Silly me! You've got a bit on your plate there, for sure! When did you first consider
yourself a writer?
At age four, but I seriously
started submitting books to publishers at sixteen…a couple of years later, here
I am lol.
Yep. Being eighteen was not THAT long ago, surely? Sure doesn't seem that way. I blame having children for making time fly! :) Do you remember what
inspired you to write your first book?
Honestly, my first divorce
(I say first, because I tend to make a habit of them lol j/k). The inspiration
for my heroine’s character Madison Grey from Mistletoe Bachelors was me. I was
annoyed with men, my ex in particular and a story about a woman jaded in love,
with an aversion to men felt like a good story to write at the time. Luckily,
it wasn’t published until seven years later and many revisions lol.
I love call stories. Can you
tell us about yours and your reaction?
I was working when Victoria
Curran, Senior Editor at Heartwarming called so of course I missed the call and
it went to voicemail, but it actually turned out to be a good thing, because
then I had a recording to listen to over and over again, and share with family
and friends, and strangers at the bank lol. I was thrilled. I had targeted my
story for that line because I feel my stories belong there, and I couldn’t be
happier.
Good choice! What drew you to write your
chosen genre?
I know nothing about history
or paranormal, scary, suspenseful
stories creep me out and I can’t write a love scene to save my life lol, so
that left sweet contemporary lolJ
If you could be one of your
characters, who would it be and why?
At one time or other in my
life, I’ve been a part of all of them. As noted above, Madison’s heartache was
based on my own. Molly’s lack of funds and independent streak to do everything
on her own without help in Mistletoe and Molly was me at age 24, Piper’s crazy
dating scenarios in Mistletoe Fever-yep, those were mine…and Victoria Mason in
my November Heartwarming release-The Trouble With Mistletoe probably represents
my what if moments in life.
Ahh...those what if's. Great fodder for the imagination! What’s the most challenging
part of the writing process for you?
None of it is easy, but the
most challenging is not writing-I need to write everyday, otherwise I get
agitated and annoyed.
Has anything coincidental
happened in the real world while writing one of your books in terms of the
characters, scenes or world you’ve created?
I think the basis of most of
my stories comes from something inspired from real world events. For example,
the top secret screenplay that my mom and I are writing stemmed from a real
life what if moment for me. I was waiting to turn left at a stop light and a
big transport truck sat waiting across from me, and I couldn’t see around him,
so at one point, he indicated that it was okay for me to turn, so I did. And
immediately, I realized how much faith I had put in a complete stranger. What
if the coast hadn’t been clear…and that’s where our movie starts.
Ooo! Keep us posted about your screenplay! It sounds great. Which one of your books is
your ‘baby’ and why?
I will always love Mistletoe
and Molly just because it’s such a fun story.
What are you working on
right now?
Books three and four in the
Brookhollow series that are set to release in Sept and Nov. And a few other
side projects.
My goodness you're a busy lady! But I bet your readers are pleased about that! Latest news?
I’m happy to say that an
article I wrote about being a romance writer and real life love will appear in
Edmonton’s coolest magazine this month-Avenue!! Very excited for that.
Where can we find you and
your books?
And the books are sold at
any of the e-retailers and at Harlequin.com. Print books will be on store
shelves in the UK and Australia this year, but not North America at this time.
Check out the cover for Jennifer's latest release and have a read of an excerpt.
Ethan snatched the phone away before Jim
could answer the text, which he knew he was aching to do, and slid it into his
shirt pocket. He pulled the truck to the side of the highway behind an old,
rusted red Volkswagen Jetta and jumped down onto the gravel. He positioned two
traffic cones in the inside lane, forcing the oncoming traffic to take the
outside lane, as Bailey’s tow truck pulled in front of the Jetta and she
climbed out, clipboard in hand.
“I’ll be here if you need me,” Jim called
from inside the truck, reclining the seat and shutting his eyes.
“You’re not even going to get out of the
truck?”
“It’s a simple backup call. I only came
along to get out of clinic duty.”
Ethan shook his head as he closed the truck
door. It amazed him how their work ethic differed so drastically. Jim was four
years older, yet he’d never shown any interest in advancing his rank at the
fire hall. Ethan had worked hard, proving himself to his senior coworkers and
landing the position of captain by the
time he was twenty-four.
He approached Bailey at the front of the
vehicle where she spoke to a short, frazzled-looking bald man. “I’ll just need
your driver’s license and your credit card…and I’ll have you hooked up and
ready to go in just a few minutes. Feel free to sit in the truck to wait. The
air-conditioning is on and it’s much cooler in there.”
The man disappeared inside the cab of the
tow truck and Ethan waited until he was out of earshot before saying, “This car
has to be at least thirty years old.” He leaned against the bumper to watch her
work and the metal frame creaked in protest.
“That thing looks about to fall off,” she
warned as she put the tow dolly’s coupler in open position by lowering the
locking lever all the way down and inserting the locking pin to secure it in
place.
Good point, he thought as he stood. “So,
before I forget, we’re holding Luke’s bachelor party at the fire hall
tonight—poker, darts, beer, the baseball game.… If you’re not doing anything,
stop by.” Bailey was a regular at their weekly poker games, much to the dismay
of the other guys, whose wallets she emptied.
“Stop by? To Luke’s bachelor party—the
ultimate boys night?” She sounded incredulous as she inserted the electrical
plug from the dolly into the switch on the back of the tow truck. That way the
brake lights and turning signals on the dolly would work while en route to the
shop.
“Yeah, why not?” He knew Luke wouldn’t
mind. Bailey had always been like a third, less-annoying sister to the groom to
be, and she kept his ancient, rusted-out truck on the road.
“I have Victoria’s bachelorette party
tonight. A wine and cheese in the
backyard of the Brookhollow Inn.” She crisscrossed the chains and connected
them to the eyelets on the bumper of the car.
“That sounds awful.”
“You’re telling me.”
