Today I’d like to welcome my Sourcebooks sister Debbie Burns and her new release MY FOREVER HOME to the blog. This is the third book in her Rescue Me contemporary romance series.
Love comes to the rescue.
Vet school drop-out Tess Grasso dreams of having her own pet therapy business, but she meets one disastrous obstacle after another. There’s no denying she has a way with animals, so in the meantime she puts her skills to use at a local no-kill shelter. Between helping her furry companions and a budding relationship with fellow dog lover Mason Redding, Tess begins to find fresh confidence…
What Tess doesn’t know is that Mason is recovering from an accident, hoping to get back to his pro-baseball career. He’s afraid the truth will ruin everything-and he’s right. But in the midst of hurt and betrayal, a free-spirited stray Husky enters their lives, and teaches them a few things about faith, love and forgiveness.
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SHARON: It’s such a wonderful premise, Debbie. What’s the story behind the title?
DEBBIE: The first time I heard it, I felt My Forever Home was the perfect title for this story. Not only does Tess Grasso join forces with Mason Redding to search for an elusive stray dog he’s spotted living nearby, it’s also a story about Tess finding her place in the world. My publisher came up with it, and I had no complaints.
SHARON: I have no complaints about my Sourcebooks titles either! Are your character based on real people, or do they come from your imaginations?
DEBBIE: While the people in my stories so far have sprung from imagination, I have based a few of the animals in the Rescue Me series on animals that I’ve known. The Maine coon cat in Sit, Stay, Love is based on my cat, Owen. He’s stubborn and cantankerous but also a charismatic teddy bear. I’m so enamored with his personality that I really wanted to capture it in a story. I have plans to write my youngest dog into one of the Rescue Me books, but still waiting on the perfect plot opportunity.
Also, the stray dog in My Forever Home is based on an encounter I had with a stray back when I was in college. The experience was powerful and tragic and I’ve never forgotten it. Writing this dog’s story and giving him a happy ending helped me put some of these feelings to rest.
SHARON: I’d love to hear the real story one day. Are you a plotter or a pantser?
DEBBIE: I’m a panster all the way. I do a bit of personality research on the main characters, and I have a beginning (and usually an ending) scene in mind, then I do my best to take a back seat and let the characters lead the way.
[bctt tweet=”If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be? Join the writing community, participate in a critique group, and dive into workshops and conferences. These were the big things that helped catapult me onto the road for publication. ~ Debbie Burns @_debbieburns” username=”sharonbwray”]
SHARON: If you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
DEBBIE: Join the writing community, participate in a critique group, and dive into workshops and conferences. Once I finally started doing these things, I think my writing improved dramatically, and these were the big things that helped catapult me onto the road for publication.
SHARON: I totally agree about jumping into the writing community, regardless of which genre you write. How many unpublished and half-finished books do you have?
DEBBIE: Five full length manuscripts and a couple of false starts. For me, writing was much more fun than doing what was necessary to sell a manuscript, so it was easy to stop querying when the “no thanks” started to roll in and start another story that was beckoning me. When I finally got committed to revising and to strengthening manuscripts based on contest and critique group feedback, I started getting places in terms of querying.
SHARON: I think that sounds like the journey of a lot of writers. How did you get into writing?
DEBBIE: I started writing my first manuscript (a historical romance that never sold) just after I graduated college with a biology degree. I had no real writing experience (other than dry term papers!), and even though the first manuscripts had lots of room for improvement, I fell in love with the writing process and kept writing more for myself than anything else over the years. Eventually my love for writing got strong enough that I decided I was willing to do what it took to make a career out of it.
SHARON: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
DEBBIE: I love to be out in nature and I love to hike in the woods. My kids are teens now, so my parenting role is changing, but I still love hanging out with them when they’re around. I also love gardening, walking my dogs, and cooking. Time with friends is essential, too.
SHARON: Can you share something about yourself most people probably don’t know?
DEBBIE: When I was in college, I went with a conservation class to the rainforests of Guyana (South America) for a few weeks. The biology station where I stayed was rustic and remote. We slept in palm leaf huts, fell asleep to the sound of howler monkeys, and woke up to the calls of toucans. I had to bathe in a small spring where I later spotted a mid-sized caiman alligator, and one afternoon while walking alone I was chased a good twenty feet by a blue racer (a snake). I also got to fly in a tiny plane up to a mile high island plateau called a tepui which was a bit like walking into the Avatar movie. All in all, it was the experience of a lifetime.
[bctt tweet=”Which book influenced you the most? Pride and Prejudice. It’s a beautiful story that has stood the test of two centuries, not something easy to do. I make it a habit of rereading it every three or four years and love it more each time. ~ Debbie Burns @_debbieburns” username=”sharonbwray”]
SHARON: What an incredible experience! Which book influenced you the most?
DEBBIE: I suspect a lot of people will give this answer, but my favorite love story of all time is Pride and Prejudice. It’s a beautiful story that has stood the test of two centuries, not something easy to do. I make it a habit of rereading it every three or four years and love it more each time.
SHARON: I do the same thing with Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Every time I read them I love them even more. What are you working on right now?
DEBBIE: Just last week I wrapped up the developmental edits of the fourth book in the Rescue Me series, LOVE AT FIRST BARK (releasing July 30, 2019), and I’m starting the draft of the fifth book in the series. I’m excited to develop some of the things I learned from a group of rescue dog handlers in this book.
SHARON: I can’t wait to hear more about the next book. What are you currently reading?
DEBBIE: Sonali Dev’s A Distant Heart.
SHARON: That’s one of my favorites! Thanks so much for being here today, Debbie. And congratulations on your newest release!
Debbie lives in Saint Louis with her family, two phenomenal rescue dogs, and a somewhat tetchy Maine Coon cat who everyone loves anyway. Her hobbies include hiking, gardening and daydreaming, which of course always leads to new story ideas.
Debbie’s writing commendations include a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and a TOP PICK from RT Book Reviews for A NEW LEASH ON LOVE, as well as first place awards for short stories, flash fiction, and longer selections. SIT, STAY, LOVE and My FOREVER HOME available now.
You can find MY FOREVER HOME here: http://www.authordebbieburns.com/books.html
You can find Debbie here: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website | Goodreads
Sharon Wray is a librarian who once studied dress design in the couture houses of Paris and now writes about the men in her Deadly Force romantic suspense series where ex-Green Berets meet their match in smart, sexy heroines who teach these alpha males that Grace always defeats Reckoning.
Her acclaimed debut book EVERY DEEP DESIRE, a sexy, action-packed retelling of Romeo and Juliet, is about an ex-Green Beret determined to regain his honor, his freedom, and his wife.
EVERY DEEP DESIRE is available on: Amazon | Barnes and Noble | iBooks | | | Google
And adding it to your Goodreads TBR list is also always appreciated!