VBT: Moving On, A Prairie Romance by Annette Bower

This post is part of a Virtual Book Tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author is giving away a $25 GC to All Romance Ebooks to one randomly drawn commenter at the end of her tour. Click on the banner above to visit the other stops on her tour. Remember, the more stops you comment on, the better your chances of winning!

Five Things We'd Never Guess About Annette Bower

I chase after shiny things just so that I can put off what I should be doing. Five things that readers would never guess about me creates a mind block. I’m an open person and I think everyone knows everything about me. So instead of preparing for this interview, I decided to try and fix my mother’s problem. My mother wears a hearing aid and has for over forty years. Two weeks ago we learned that the best aid will no longer help her hear. Last year at 88, I taught her to text and this is how she keeps in touch with her children and grandchildren, but she is feeling very isolated in the assisted living community where she and my father reside. My shiny thing to chase is a speak- to- text program for a small device like an Ipod touch. I may have a partial solution for her but now I have to write out step by step instructions and then do tutorials for her and my father. This is no longer a shiny thing. It is work, so I’ve delayed it until after I prepare for my visit to you here on Welcome to My World of Dreams. In many ways this trait is reflected in Anna when she decides to toss her nursing career and focus on building miniature houses and not just any house but replicas of customers’ special homes. She created a miniature of her grandmother’s house for her mother and of Anna’s dream home that she was going to share with Murray. She has one commission, to build a house for a customer whose wife does not want to leave the house where they raised their family. The husband’s hope is that if his wife has a replica of the time when their family was young and happy, she will be able to move to a smaller home.

Today is my birthday. My mother has six children and when I was exploring astrology I asked her what time of the day I was born. After a hesitation she told me 10:05 am. I’m not sure I totally believe her because she was hesitant and delivered six babies. I’ve always wondered if she made an error and if I was born just a couple of hours later or earlier what amazing qualities I would have rather than who the chart says I am today.

Now you may say that mother’s don’t forget the time their children are born. I have forgotten my sons’ or at least to the exact minute but I have it written in their baby books so I can always check for certain, if they would ever ask. When I cut out their horoscope for their birthday they roll their eyes so I’m pretty sure it won’t be an issue for me and my sons. So even though my sons do not need to see the horoscope for their birthday it is something small that they like to receive from me and who knows perhaps one day their horoscope may come true.

Anna decided that in her new life she would not step forward and care for others. Her new mantra is self care, but she has a caring personality and she realizes it is hard to shut that part of her off. Self care can be extended to the satisfaction that is received when she shares with someone else.

Way back when in one of my high school yearbooks the caption beside my picture said: “She looks both ways on a one way street.” Of course I was insulted at the time. But whoever wrote that caption did have an insight into who I was and who I am today. I do prepare for the unseen. I always leave the house with money and a cash card with my name on it. If I’m away from home and need to return in a hurry, I can call a taxi. With cash or the availability of money, if I meet a friend we can have a spontaneous coffee, or if the clouds roll in and a sudden thunderstorm causes torrential rains I can drop into a restaurant and wait in comfort.

I also take the parking space with a quick exit, either in front of or behind a driveway or a straight drive through space without the necessity of backing out. I search for these rare spaces whenever I can but there are many drivers out there with the same preparedness skills.

One day while Anna was musing about her new career as a miniature house specialist, a thought surfaced; what if someone asked her to build a house that they would destroy to rid themselves of horrible memories? What would she do then? She was looking both ways on a one way street.

Looking both ways is a helpful talent for a writer because story is built on “what if” and “what next”.

Oh this interview is shinier and shinier.

I have directional confusion. I cannot do jigsaw or crossword puzzles. I cannot tell my left side of my body from my right without the assistance of my watch, which I wear on my left wrist.

Maps do not make sense to me. I can use bright colored markers and map out a route but just one little detour or a missed sign and I’m crying on the side of the highway. Many meaningful friends say, “just look at the sun and when spread your arms out wide, your left hand is W for west and your right hand is E for east. It spells WE.” That is a lovely rule but when I don’t understand if I’m supposed to go north, south, east or west, it doesn’t make any sense. One day a friend and I were trying to get off a freeway around a city. She also has directional confusion; we kept getting off and asking for advice back to our hotel; we circled for an hour and a half. This same friend and I were actually lost in a flat asphalt parking lot but it was dark. My GPS is my constant companion on my travels. Because of technology, I now have a bigger life.

In Moving On-A Prairie Romance, Anna and Nick find ways of adjusting to their new lives. Anna finds ways of fitting into a small community and building a life where she learns to garden and repair her older home but also find resources through the internet and Nick finds ways of making his prosthetic device work for him rather than against him.

This feels like many more than five things you would not guess about me. But just in case it isn’t five, I have mentioned on my web page and perhaps in other places that my writing career saves my family, friends and even stranger’s lives. If I’m not writing I’m chasing shiny ideas to fix others’ lives and most times they are happy with their life just the way it is.

About the Author:

Annette Bower lives and writes in Regina, SK Canada. She is an author of many short stories published in anthologies and magazines in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. She explores women in families, women in communities and women at the beginning and end of love and their quest for love. She pursues the writing craft in workshops, conferences, Writing with Style, Banff Centre for the Arts, Victoria School of Writing, Sage Hill Writing Experience, the Surrey International Writing Conferences and the Romance Writing of America Conferences.

When she isn’t writing she walks or bikes around the streets and parks in her neighborhood imagining complex worlds behind seemingly ordinary events.

Her first contemporary romance, Moving On A Prairie Romance is published by XoXo Publishing™ a division of Ninni Group Inc.

Find the author online at:

Website: www.AnnetteBower.com
Blog: http://www.annettebower.com/blog
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Annette-Bower-XOXO-Publishing-Author/378438088839629

Anna is a mysterious woman that has just moved to Regina Beach. The residents of the small town know everyone’s business and they are very interested in discovering Anna’s secrets. Nick was a Sergeant in the Canadian Army, doing active duty until a horrific accident sent him home to recover. He helps Anna feel safe and comfortable in her new environment, just as he has always done for his men in strange, dangerous places. Meanwhile, he focuses on preparing for his future physical endurance test to prove that he is capable of returning to active duty.

Anna doesn’t talk about her past, and Nick doesn’t talk about his future therefore she is shocked to discover that his greatest wish is to return to active duty. She won’t love a man who may die on the job again. Intellectually, she knows that all life cycles end, but emotionally, she doesn’t know if she has the strength to support Nick.