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Interview and Excerpt - BLUEGRASS EASTER by Allie Pleiter

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.09.2010

Today I’m very pleased to post an interview with my good friend Allie Pleiter! Allie is a fellow knitter and one of the funnest people I know! Her books are always entertaining and this one is perfect for Easter!

Easter Promises
by
Lois Richer and Allie Pleiter


Desert Rose by Lois Richer

Jayne Rose's dream to run her grandmother's Palm Springs flower shop is about to be dashed. Until she meets a handsome man who helps make it come true. Suddenly romance and roses are blooming. Yet Ben Cummings isn't who he says he is…or is he?

Bluegrass Easter by Allie Pleiter

A "veterinarian on sabbatical," widowed Paul Sycamore is not interested in answering his new neighbor's constant questions about her expectant sheep. But the comfort his child finds on Audrey Lupine's Middleburg, Kentucky, farm just may open his heart.

Excerpt of chapter one:

CHAPTER ONE

Two o’clock in the afternoon was one of Audrey Lupine’s favorite times in the library. Adults only. The little children--staples of any weekday library crowd--had gone home for naps and the rambunctious teen after school crowd had yet to arrive. She could actually manage a cup of tea at her reference desk this time of day. Not exactly the English high tea, but close enough. She was just inhaling the luxurious aroma, browsing through a textbook, when a blonde head bobbed up to the desk.

“How old are you?” A round pink face framed in layers of wavy blond hair topped the desk edge. A set of elbows parked themselves just under the face.

“Pardon?”

“The lady at my old library--” she mispronounced the word in a way other people might find adorable, “--was really old.”

Audrey was pretty sure twenty-nine was not anywhere in the neighborhood of “old.” What parent had taught--or more precisely forgotten to teach--this little girl to mind her manners? “I guarantee you I am not ‘really old.’ But even if I were, that’s not a nice question to ask.”

The girl’s blond brows scrunched together over pale blue eyes. “Why not?” Her head disappeared below the desk only to bob up again, this time with a yellow backpack. “You can ask me how old I am.” She granted it like the greatest of favors. A magnanimous grade-school gesture. “Go ahead, ask.”

“I won’t.” I’m debating with a second-grader. Worse, I seem to be debating decorum with someone under four feet tall. Audrey closed the textbook with what she hoped was a “this conversation is now over” thump.

No such thing. “I’m seven and three-quarters. Dad says I’m seven and thirty, but I’m not sure what that means.” The head bobbed up and down now, alternating heights, as if standing on...

Oh no. “You’re not standing on your books, are you young lady?”

Blink. Pause. “Nope.” The head bobbed back down again, and Audrey heard suspicious scrambling. Audrey counted to ten and reminded herself that even precocious second-graders grew up to read books. As for the remark about “seven and thirty,” Audrey agreed with “Dad” one hundred percent.

Copyright © 2000-2010 Harlequin Enterprises Limited.
All rights reserved.

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And now, here’s me and Allie!

Your heroine has 3 hours to throw together a wedding feast for about 35 people. What does she do besides cry?

Audrey wouldn’t cry. She’d make a list, because Audrey is a control freak, “get it done” kind of gal. She’d probably make six calls and form a committee, having a task chart for each of them by the time they made it over to her house. She’d call her baker friend Dinah, and have Howard open up the church basement, and have the event completely under control by the deadline. Once it was all over, however, she’d go utterly to pieces (in private, of course). Knowing her, I suspect there would be irresponsible amounts of chocolate and yarn involved in her meltdown--we share a few common traits, Audrey and I.

Nooooo, really? ;)

Your hero has just run his truck into a deer. What does he do? (And remember that it's not manly for a guy to cry over a vehicle.)


Lucky for Paul Sycamore, he is a vet. So, this is one very fortunate deer--unless, of course, it’s too late to be fortunate. If she’s still alive, I’m sure Paul would go to any lengths to save her. Paul would be far more likely to worry about the deer than his truck, although I’m sure he’d grieve at least 30 minutes if he hit the poor beast with his Mustang.

I would probably grieve, too, so I guess I can relate to those tears.

What do you have on your knitting needles now and who is it for?


I’m working on this absolutely adorable cupcake baby hat that was given to me by the Needles ‘n Pins Yarn Shoppe in Delavan, WI for my DestiKNITions blog. It’s enormously fun to knit, and it looks just like the real thing. Since a good friend has a very-much-waited-for baby on the way, I’m looking forward to settling it on that sweet little head someday very soon.

Captain Caffeine has just fired up his espresso machine. What's your current favorite coffee drink?

Skim mocha, thank you very much. And I’m proud to say I’ve had one of Captain Caffeine’s skim mochas, and they are outstanding.

He says thanks, anytime!

You're off the hotseat! Any parting words?


Keep reading! And look for Mission of Hope, the sequel to Masked by Moonlight that will be out August of this year.

Camy here: Thanks so much for being here with me, Allie!

Comments

misskallie2000 said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Camy Tang said…
Awesome! You're welcome!
misskallie2000 said…
I love this sweet story. It is a light read yet very interesting and holds your attention.
Thanks for the review/interview.


Brenda/Georgia


misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

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