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I'd like to welcome Ruth Ann Nordin back to my blog for another fun interview! I just finished reading and reviewing Ruth Ann's book An Inconvenient Marriage. Click here for my review.
Now, onto the interview.....






Bookworm:
Welcome back to my blog Ruth! Thank you for taking the time to chat again. I just finished reading your book, An Inconvenient Marriage, it was sweet and funny too. What inspired you to write this book? How long did it take you to write?


Ruth Ann:

Hi, Naida! Thanks for interviewing me again. I'm pleased that you enjoyed An Inconvenient Marriage. After An Unlikely Place for Love, it's my favorite one that I've written so far. The idea that inspired me to write the book was the idea of two people getting married who didn't want to get married but were forced to. I also wanted to write a story about a strong male character who has a good heart under his hard exterior, and I wanted to write about a strong female who isn't afraid to stand up to him...or anyone else for that matter. Those were the two thoughts I went with when I started the book.





Bookworm:
In An Inconvenient Marriage, one of the main characters, Sue, is pretty feisty. She starts a scene in public more than once, and has a reputation for being a bit stubborn. But she is also intelligent, and has a strong sense of self. How did you come up with a character like Sue? Is she based on someone you know?

Ruth Ann:
Since Jake Mitchell, the hero, is such a dominant character, I needed someone to balance him out so that the sparks and chemisty could fly between them. My initial thought was to have them not getting along for most of the book, but as I wrote it, they kept getting along so I decided let them argue enough until I could throw in an outside force to upset things for Jake, which were the suitors who came by for Sue. That is why I made Sue the way I did. As strong as she is, she is willing to do what she can to get along with people as long as they understand they have to respect her. I have to admit that out of all my female leads, Sue most mirrors me, except for her excellent dancing and horse riding skills. I am a horrible dancer and I won't go near a horse.




Bookworm: The characters make references to Shakespeare and Jane Austen, are these among your favorite authors?

Ruth Ann: I do like them, though I admit I have only read Shakespeare. I have watched the movie Sense and Sensibility (based on Jane Austen's book), and it's one of my favorite movies. I think both authors had excellent storylines.




Bookworm: An Inconvenient Marriage made me laugh a few times. I really liked when Jake invited the suitors over, then made them eat Sue's awful cooking in an attempt to make them lose interest in her. How did you come up with the ideas for scenes like this? Is it harder writing the funnier scenes or the romantic ones?


Ruth Ann: I'll be honest. Originally, An Inconvenient Marriage was not supposed to be a comedy. I didn't even know I could write a comedy. When Jake and Sue came up with the idea to get married in order for him to get his inheritance and for her to save her family's farm, I thought they would keep the marriage a secret. But then Sue was talking with her friend Belinda and the marriage slipped out in the dialogue, so I thought I'd go along with it. Since people knew, I had to think of a way to keep the story interesting, so when Jake watched the Christmas play and noticed that men were starting to take an interest in Sue, he begins to show signs of jealousy. This is when the book became a comedy. A lot of the funny scenes just popped up as I wrote it, though I struggled with the dinner scene you mentioned. That was the hardest part of the entire book. The actual part of Jake telling the men horrible things about her and their reaction to her awful cooking did come naturally, but when she discovered what Jake was doing, she kept getting too mad or he kept getting too guilty. And neither reaction was at the core of who they were or how I wanted the comedy part of the book to go. I actually wrote the rest of the book before I went back and rewrote that one scene about five times. I am very happy with it and it is my favorite scene in all of the books I've written, so the aggravation of "this isn't right!" did pay off. I think that the romantic scenes are harder to do than the funny scenes because with romance, you don't want to get too sappy and you don't want to skim through the emotions either. So getting the feeling and mood just right is a bigger challenge.





Bookworm: If this book were to be made into a film, what actors would you want to play Sue and Jake?

Ruth Ann: When I wrote Jake in chapter one, I based him off of Jonathan Frakes in his role as Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation when he had the beard. Cameron Diaz would be a good actress to play Sue because of how she handled herself in the movie "What Happens in Vegas".




Bookworm: Is there anything you would like to say to your readers?

Ruth Ann: I want to thank people who read my books and I love to hear from them. Writing is much more fun when I know people enjoy what I write. I also want to tell them that I have three free ebooks I have written and they can be found on my website at http://www.ruthannnordin.com/free_ebooks.
One is a historical romantic comedy called An Unlikely Place for Love. The second is a contemporary romantic comedy called With This Ring, I Thee Dread. And the third is a historical romance called Romancing Adrienne.



Bookworm: Last but not least, if you could go anywhere in the world, that you haven't been to yet, where would it be?

Ruth Ann: I would go to the east coast of Maine and spend some time near the ocean. I'd especially love to do this in the fall when the leaves change color. Again, thank you Naida for the interview. You ask some great questions and it was a lot of fun to answer!


Bookworm: Thanks again Ruth Ann for the interview. How cool that you based Jake's character off of Jonathan Frakes as Riker from Star Trek!


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If you haven't read An Inconvenient Marriage, I recommend it. It's a sweet romance, that will have you laughing a few times as well.

title: An Inconvenient Marriage


author: Ruth Ann Nordin

genre: romantic comedy, christian romance

published: 2008

pages: 276

first line: Jake Mitchell was good at two things: making money and managing people.
rated: 4 out of 5






After reading Ruth Ann Nordin's An Unlikely Place for Love and really enjoying it, I was happy when Ruth Ann sent me two of her other books!




In An Inconvenient Marriage, handsome Jake Mitchell, is the vice president of a bank and all around nice guy. Sue Lewis is a customer whose family is in bad debt. Sue's family's farm is going to be taken over by the bank soon, they will lose it if they cannot come up with the money for the mortgage. Sue goes to the bank on a daily basis, insisting to anyone who will listen that they cut her debt down, so her family can catch up on the bills and keep thier farm. Sue carries on, screams and throws hissy fits at the bank pretty much every day, insisting that if they do not help her, she will not stop coming to the bank until they do.



When Sue realizes that the bank cannot help her, she resorts to another plan, marrying for money. Being that Sue is 33 years old and has such a heavy debt, plus the fact that she has a reputation for being difficult, she knows it won't be easy to find a husband, but she is set on finding one that is rich and can save her family from losing their home.



Jake's mother has died and left him some money, which he wisely invested. Now, he hears news his estranged father has died as well. Jake's father has left him a large sum of money, but there are some rules he needs to follow first. According to the will, Jake needs to marry a virgin and he will get half of the money, then he needs to stay married for six months, and he can have the rest of the money. Jake agrees to this and right away thinks of Sue and her financial situation. He figures he can have a platonic business arrangement with her, they can get married and they can annul the marriage after the six months are up. This way, they both get money and everyone is happy. Sue agrees to marry him.




At first Sue and Jake just want to keep the relationship platonic, but little by little, their feelings change. One thing Jake didn't expect is that many men are now noticing his new wife. This makes him instantly jealous. Before he knows it, several suitors send her flowers, the hope to court her once her 6 month marriage is over. Jakes throws the flowers and cards away, and doesn't tell Sue anything.


One very funny part was when Jake invites several potential suitors to the house, and insists that Sue cook dinner (she is notorious for her terrible cooking). As the men are seated at the table, and Sue is in the kitchen, Jake is telling all kind of lies about her, to ward the suitors off. As these men are gagging on her cooking, Jake is telling them that she is frigid in bed as well! As Jake is badmouthing her,
Sue walks in and overhears. She walks over and pours pudding over his head. After the suitors leave, Jake follows Sue as she stomps up the stairs...

She turned around again. "You're too close to me."

"I'm not close enough."

"I don't know what has suddenly gotten into you, but I would ask you to remember your manners. I do have a thing called personal body space."

"And what a wonderful body it is."

She gasped. "You are impossible to talk to. Do you know that?"

"Good, I was tired of talking anyway." He stepped up so he stood in front of her, took her in his arms and kissed her. He felt her relax as she responded to his kiss.

I really enjoyed An Inconvenient Marriage, it was well written, romantic and funny. The storyline was great and I liked the characters. I liked Jake most, he's just a nice guy, he figures he can help Sue out with the money he's inherited. I liked Sue, but I thought her temper was a bit much. She would throw temper tantrums whenever she felt like it, I thought she could have given Jake a break more, especially in the beginning. But once she warmed up and started to love him, her attitude got better. I liked that Sue is a librarian and makes references to Shakespeare and Jane Austen.
If you're looking for a sweet romance, with a bit of humor to it, pick up a copy of An Inconvenient Marriage.

She knew what she wanted out of life and pursued it. She didn‟t back out of a challenge. She even rode horses bareback and sought adventure when she could find it. She wasn't content to stay in one place for long. She desired to see the world but couldn't due to her financial situation, so she spent a great portion of her days in a good book where she could transport herself to places that she longed to see but never would.

I am happy to say that Ruth Ann Nordin, the author of An Unlikely Place for Love, has taken time out of her busy schedule to grant me a blog interview! Thank you Ruth Ann.
I recently read & reviewed An Unlikely Place for Love, click here to read my review.

Now, onto the interview.....









Bookworm: Welcome Ruth Ann, and thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to grant me a blog interview. Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Ruth Ann: Thank you for interviewing me, Naida. I appreciate it! I am a stay-at-home mom of four young boys and the wife of an active duty military member. When I'm not running around doing the wife and mom thing, I read and write. I began reading and writing since I was 13 and it's bloomed into something I am passionate about. It's the one thing that gets me through some of my hectic days when I'm doing the fourth laundry load of the day, giving another bath to one of my sons, cooking a different meal because I have a picky eater, etc. I don't care what anyone says. Motherhood is the toughest job on the planet. :)



Bookworm: What inspired you to write An Unlikely Place for Love?


Ruth Nordin:
I love to read books and watch movies where the woman is disguised as a man because there are so many funny things that can happen, specifically when another woman happens to find the disguised woman attractive. There's just too many interesting ways to handle that situation.





Bookworm:What was the hardest thing about writing this book? How long did it take you to write?

Ruth Nordin: The hardest part about writing it was how to handle Chad finding out that Kate was disguised as Billy. Originally, he was angry because he felt betrayed, but that didn't seem to work with the comedy part of it. I wanted to keep it fun and upbeat. So I rewrote the part where he found out about four times before I got it right. Because of this part of the book, it took me three months to finish the first draft. Typically, it takes me two months to finish a story.




Bookworm: In An Unlikely Place for Love, Kate Tanner goes from being Kate to playing the part of Billy. This has her on a huge run-around, and it all seems so hectic for her. She gets herself into some very funny predicaments, I was laughing out loud when she was dancing with Lacy. How did you come up with these different scenarios? Was it difficult writing funny scenes?

Ruth Nordin: I'm glad you found those parts funny because my favorite parts of this book are whenever "Billy" and Lacy were together. The first two times Kate (as "Billy") and Lacy were together came naturally. I just kept asking myself, "What is it that men do that disgust me?" But as the story progressed, I did have trouble thinking up new ways for Lacy to be attracted to "Billy", no matter how badly "Billy" appeared. The hardest part was how to end it so that Lacy and "Billy" could be happy, especially when "Billy's" wife showed up. I rewrote Lacy's reaction to that three times.




Bookworm:This book is part of a trilogy, with The Cold Wife and An Inconvenient Marriage being the other two books. Which of your own characters is your favorite? Which book are you most proud of?


Ruth Nordin: My favorite character is Kate Tanner. She was as strong-willed as my other female leads but she had a carefree attitude about things and could bend into unfamiliar situations and win people over. I am most proud of An Unlikely Place for Love. It is, to date, my favorite one.




Bookworm:Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?



Ruth Nordin: I love to hear from my readers. It's the highlight of my day. I systematically add additional chapters of my books on my website http://www.ruthannnordin.com so readers can get an idea of what my writing is like and see if what I'm writing is something they are interested in. I am also going to offer two or three of my books for free, starting in late January. I am still working through some last minute revisions on a book not published yet. I am going to offer a contemporary romantic comedy called With This Ring, I Thee Dread about a couple forced to marry and stranded in a remote cabin in Alaska. I am also going to offer An Unlikely Place for Love. I still haven't decided on what or if there will be a third book available. I do offer sample chapters of my works in progress on my website as well for anyone interested in what I'll be publishing in the future.





Bookworm: Who are your favorite authors and what is it that really strikes you about their work?


Ruth Nordin: My favorite authors are as follows: Carolyn Davidson (writes historical romances) because she writes tender romances with old fashioned values. Lois Lowry (who wrote The Giver) because her book, though sad, had me turning the pages until I finished it in one sitting, and she had great ideas that I thought were intriguing. Sarah Pawley (who writes historical fiction) because her romances are realistic. She's done her research and I love her writing style. Nathaniel Hawthorne because I read that he was ready to give up writing when his wife encouraged him to keep at it and that's when he wrote The Scarlet Letter. The book was required reading in high school, but the twists and turns in it captivated me and he was one of my top favorite authors ever since.




Bookworm: Do you have any advice for other writers?


Ruth Nordin: The best advice I can offer is to write what you are passionate about. I have tried writing stories that others wanted me to write but the quality wasn't what it could have been. These days I write what I'm inspired to and I am eager to get out of bed in the morning. Now learning how to improve my writing is also fun because it's something I want to do. Passion really does make all the difference.




Bookworm: Last but not least, if you were stranded on a deserted island, and were allowed to bring 3 items with you, what would they be?

Ruth Nordin:
This was the hardest question to answer. :) This is what I finally decided on: the Bible, a pop-up tent for shelter, and a thick blanket. (I was going to mention a couple of other books but I like so many I couldn't decide which to take along, and I'm no good at building things, so I'd better bring the tent and something to keep warm on the cool nights.)

Again, thank you Naida for the interview!



Bookworm: Thank you Ruth Ann, it's been a pleasure. And wow, a mother of 4! I agree motherhood is the toughest job.
Best of luck with everything!


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If you haven't read An Unlikely Place for Love yet, I do recommend it. There's romance, humor and a clever plot in this fun and entertaining read.

title: An Unlikely Place for Love

author: Ruth Ann Nordin
genre: Romantic Comedy

pages: 328

published: 2008




first line: Kate Tanner felt awkward dressed in men’s clothes, wearing the short haired black wig and black beard.

rated: 4 out of 5

When Kate Tanner witnesses the murder of her parents, the wealthy Virginia Sen. Murphy Tanner and his wife, Abigail, she knows she needs to disappear - and fast - until the killers are behind bars. So she dons what she thinks is a foolproof disguise - masculinity - calls herself Billy Ingram, and travels to the country to find work. It's her way of laying low until justice is served, but it isn't long before she's getting more than she bargained for. Now, on a North Dakota farm, this former city girl struggles to convince her employer, the handsome Chad Walker, she has what it takes to handle demanding farm chores. Meanwhile, the men who killed her parents are searching for her, a woman named Lacy Montgomery is infatuated with her, and Kate's fallen in love with Mr. Walker. Then she's seen without her disguise - and the excuses start to really make things interesting. Can Kate survive long enough for the charade to reach a happy ending? In the spirit of Shakespeare's As You Like It, Ruth Ann Nordin's An Unlikely Place for Love might just convince you the oddest circumstances make the perfect settings for Romance.

Kate Tanner saw her parents killed by two men. She is on the run now in fear of her own life. She comes from a wealthy home and her father was a politician. Kate disguises herself as a man and winds up on a country farm in North Dakota looking for work in order to blend in and hide out. She is hired by a man named Chad Walker. Chad was once an accountant, but fell in love with a country girl, moved to North Dakota and became a farmer. His wife was killed in an accident, so Chad was left to run the farm on his own with her family as hired help.



Turns out Chads late wife, Georgia, wasn't all that she pretended to be. She had many people fooled, but Chad knew her true nature. Georgia was cold hearted and cunning, and told many lies to get her way. She even tainted Chad's reputation.
Georgia's brothers now work for Chad, though they barely do any real work and think Chad is a joke. The other guys that hang out with Chad's brothers don't respect the farmer either and believe all the lies Georgia told about him.




Kate wears her disguise and goes by the name Billy, but Chad does notice something is odd about 'Billy'.
Meanwhile the townsfolk all like Billy and there is one lady, Georgia's sister Lacy, in particular that has her eye on him! Kate becomes closer to Chad, and begins to fall in love with him. Problem is, he knows her as Billy. She wants to meet Chad as her true self, not disguised as Billy. Eventually the opportunity presents itself, Kate shows herself to Chad, pretending to be Billy's sister. Chad quickly becomes smitten with Kate. And to Kates dismay, a few of the other men from town are attracted to her too. These guys will stop at nothing to win Kate and even start a bet as to who will get her.

She was surprised that she had such a profound impact on him. She couldn't help but fall in love with him. He was the first man who seemed real to her. It was ironic that such a thing would happen in the midst of her own deception. She only hoped that when the time came for her to reveal the truth, he would understand.

This was a great, entertaining read. It takes off from the start and keeps going.
Ruth Nordin's style of writing draws you in. The storyline is funny, romantic and fast paced. The characters are well written and likeable.


I liked Chad, he's just a modest farmer who wants to keep to himself. I did want him to kick Georgias brothers off his farm though, and stand up for himself more.
I liked Kate right away, she finds herself in some funny predicaments while disguised as Billy and trying to ward off advances from other ladies. I liked the one part where Billy tries to scare off Lacy, by dancing wildly and even tossing her towards a dog at one point. I was laughing out loud at that scene. Another funny thing was how Kate kept trying to play dumb in an effort to make herself less appealing to some would be suitors. She tries to act as if she doesn't know a thing about where babies come from, telling these men that she thinks the stork delivers babies. They fall for her act and offer to bring her a book so she can read about the birds and the bees. Kate tells them she can barely read! lol.




If you're in the mood for a clever plot and a sweet romance, pick up a copy of An Unlikely Place for Love. You won't be dissapointed.


Special thanks to Ruth Ann Nordin for sending me a copy of her great book to read and review.



**Stay tuned** Ruth Ann Nordin is stopping by my blog for an author interview! I will be posting that soon.