Miz Country Goddess follows a singer determined to rebuild her life and a younger musician whose unexpected encounter with her alters both of their futures. What drew you to explore a romance between characters at different stages of life?

I introduced the character of Rina in my first romance, The Silent Woodsman. She was the ex-girlfriend that stood in the way of Joe’s budding romance with Ali, the shy former foster child he rescued in the woods. I had no plans then to continue Rina’s story, or I probably would not have left her pregnant by a roadie! The entire saga (this is the seventh book featuring some of the same characters, though it totally functions as a standalone) began in 1995, and I was eager to find out what happened to my characters over time, so I had to let them tell me. 

The third time my husband and I drove through Tonopah, NV, on our way from Arizona back to Washington, I imagined Rina driving through after her divorce, six years later, now responsible for a small child, jaded by her past relationships and wanting little more than a scandal-free, financially stable existence. Then she meets Henry, who she’s immediately drawn to but is convinced is off limits. All she wants is to keep her fans happy and stay in the label’s good graces. Henry doesn’t fit into that. For men, age gaps are no big deal. For a woman, even a couple of years can raise eyebrows. Before meeting my husband, I dated a few younger men. It always felt temporary and weird, but they were totally cool with it. One of my friends has an amazing marriage with a man eight years younger. She’s unusually charismatic, and he’s unusually mature. Although it didn’t occur to me until recently, they were a major inspiration for this story. They’ve been together thirty years and are going strong.

What did you want readers to understand about vulnerability through Rina and Henry’s relationship?

Hmm, tough one. First off, no relationship works unless both parties are willing to be vulnerable. Showing someone the facade you think they are looking for is a surefire way to fail. It’s also exhausting to keep up. When there’s fireworks and nothing else, a relationship lasts maybe two weeks to two months. I thought it would be interesting to try to show that even a few days with someone you truly click with can seal your fate forever. 

A lot of the young men in romance novels are pretty cocky. Henry is an old soul, and having four older sisters means he understands women better than most. His parents have a seemingly perfect relationship, which is daunting. He knows from the moment he meets Rina that she is different, a fascinating combination of charm and self-reliance and insecurity. The night before Henry lets Linc take him away to Nashville, he bares his soul to Rina. She responds by confessing a few of her own secrets. By letting their guards down emotionally, they form an unintentional bond. Of course, showing vulnerability isn’t enough. You have to be genuinely interested in your partner’s welfare and tuned in to their wants and needs. And none of my principal characters ever takes themselves too seriously. This kind of ideal behavior seldom happens in real life, which is why we like to see it play out in fiction!

What aspects of country music culture were most important for you to capture?

I set out to write something more akin to a soap opera, like the series Nashville. But the characters had other ideas. What’s interesting to me about country music is the expectation of conformity. Performers dress like cowboys and cowgirls (sometimes fancy, sometimes not), behave and speak in a folksy way to fit the fans’ expectations. Down-to-earth and accessible good ‘ol boys and girls, patriotic and god-fearing. (I see some changes in the culture now; remember, this was 2003.) In the world of classical music, singers and musicians are expected to be gracious, sophisticated, and dress elegantly. The audience is full of snobs who want to believe you are as elite as your art. I don’t know much about the world of rock ‘n’ roll, but it seems like a rock musician’s main goal is make ground-breaking music that will make them stand out. They can come up with their own signature style in their wardrobe, and they have more leeway to live their lives on their own terms. 

They all need to turn on the charm whenever they’re in public. That’s a given. 

In country music as in any business, the bottom line is everything. To stay on top, you must keep drawing the crowds. It’s not just the women the record labels seek to control, it’s all their artists. But clearly, it’s harder for women. Some of my inspiration for Rina came from Amy Grant’s transition from Christian artist to crossover star and the scandal surrounding her divorce and remarriage. As a woman, if you want to keep performing in any branch of the entertainment business, you have to keep reinventing yourself. Rina is at this crossroads even though she appears to be at the top of her game.

What is the next book you are working on, and when will it be available?

I’m doing one last edit on the final book in the Beyond the Olympic Peninsula series, Mister Heartbreaker. It features Kilo Mahelona, another of the problematic characters in the original series, a former professional dancer, stage actor, and yoga teacher who Hollywood discovers in his late twenties. This story takes place in the present, so that’s different from any of my other books. (Miz Country Goddess begins in 2003.) I’m aiming for an October release. I narrate and edit my own audiobooks, and during that process I find (hopefully) the final typos, mistakes, and inconsistencies. Set in L.A., Part I of Mister Heartbreaker is a loose, humorous take on Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (with elements of Groundhog’s Day), but Part II is a more traditional second-chance celebrity romance that takes place in my favorite seaside village, Port Townsend, Washington. (Not an entirely accurate depiction!) Kilo, famous for his movie villains and tittered about in the tabloids for dating ever younger women, discovers he has a daughter the age of most of his girlfriends. Primed to redeem himself after his encounter with the spirits, he tries to boost his daughter’s acting career and unwittingly delivers her into the clutches of a guru-type director. He and the mother of his child must work together to help her see reason. This means building trust and getting past all the bad stuff that’s kept them apart all these years, including Kilo’s reputation as a heartbreaker. Fans of my other books get to catch up with most of the characters and their grown children. They also get to witness the incidents from Kilo’s youth that formed his character for good or ill. Like all my scamps, he is too charming for his own good. 

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