Linsey Lanier
Sally Kilpatrick
Sia Huff
Romily Bernard
Darcy Crowder
Marilyn Baron
Tami Brothers
Sandra Elzie
Carol Burnside
Debbie Kaufman
Maxine Davis
Tammy Schubert
Susan Carlisle
Pam Asberry
Lindy Chaffin StartPaula Graves on Family Ties
FAMILY TIES
By: Paula Graves
You hear the stories all the time—some Hollywood child star or rich young trust fund baby has a falling out with his or her parents and suddenly, they’re in self-imposed exile from their families. I suppose it makes sense in a way; nobody can drive you as crazy—or crush you as badly—as family. But short of being a victim of abuse or my family being mob-connected or something, I don’t know how I could ever walk away from my family on my own volition.
My Cooper Justice series centers on a close-knit, loving family who run a marina and fishing camp on a northeast Alabama lake. The Coopers are the kind of family everyone wants to be part of–great parents and successful and smart siblings who love each other dearly.
So why hasn’t Luke Cooper been home in nearly ten years?
When I created the character of Luke Cooper, the prodigal son who’s the hero of my August 2010 book, One Tough Marine, I decided it would be too easy to make him the problem son, the black sheep who never learned to get along with the rest of his family. Instead, I explored the idea of self-imposed exile from a different angle: what would make a man who dearly loved his family stay away from them for years?
Luke Cooper has a very good reason for keeping clear of his family. It’s the same reason he’s also stayed away from Abby Chandler, the woman he loves and knows he can never have. A very bad man has vowed vengeance against the former Marine Intelligence officer, and he’s willing to use the people Luke loves to call in the blood debt. The closer Luke gets to a person, the more danger that person is in.
But what happens when the woman Luke loves comes to him begging for his help? Masked men threatened the life of Abby Chandler’s young son if she doesn’t produce something her late husband stole from their boss. Abby has no idea what she’s supposed to be looking for, and she hopes Luke, as her husband’s best friend and fellow Marine, might know what it was her husband took. She assumes its evidence of something illicit, but she can’t be sure. Even the hired thugs who threatened her don’t know what it is.
Luke can’t turn his back on Abby. He’s already done so once–the night of her husband’s funeral three years ago, when their unspoken attraction and their shared grief exploded into an unforgettable night of passion. Can he walk away from her again, when her life and her son’s life are in danger? But if he doesn’t go, is he making both Abby and her son a target for a madman’s vengeance?
You can understand Luke’s dilemma. What happens next? Well, that’s the story, isn’t it?
So here’s my question for you–what is it about family that makes you the craziest? What about family gives you the most happiness and satisfaction? And what about families who aren’t related by blood–have you ever formed a family from people of like minds? Tell us what family means to you. One random commenter will win a $10 gift certificate to your choice of online bookstores that offer e-Gift cards or certificates.
And be sure to look for my next Harlequin Intrigue, coming in September. Bachelor Sheriff features the youngest Cooper brother, Aaron, a deputy sheriff whose arson investigation heats up when he finds the victim—and maybe the suspect?—is the plain Jane braniac he ignored in high school—but can’t get out of his head now.
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Visit my website at http://www.paulagraves.com/ or my blog, spinstersandlunatics.blogspot.com, to keep up with my current and future projects.
Tags: Family Ties, Harlequine Intrigue, One Tough Marine, Paula Graves
About the author
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Debbie Kaufman | |
August 11th, 2010 at 6:29 am
Great post – this sounds like a good read! I’ll have to check it out! To answer your questions, it makes me crazy when my mom forces me to eat! LOL! Watching my children transform from little boys into young men brings me happiness and satisfaction. And as a single mom, I count on my “family of like minds” since I don’t have extended family nearby.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:00 am
Hi Paula – sounds a like a wonderful launch book for the new series. My family doesn’t live near each other so my close friends have become more of an extended family. We all have our own idiosyncrasies that are more fun than conflict.
Like Pam, I’ve enjoyed watching my nephews and nieces grow up and turn into young adults.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Good morning,
Enjoyed the blog article and the book will be a must read.
Family? They drive me crazy when they forget birthdays, mother or father’s day, etc. They would “die” if I ever forgot their special days. (g)
What makes me happy is seeing my kids and grand kids doing well in life. My youngest granddaughter, 13, will be running an Irongirl race on the 22nd of this month. (first time and the youngest participant) Yeah, they can certainly make us proud and happy.
Thanks for joining us today.
Sandy
August 11th, 2010 at 7:54 am
“One Tough Marine.” Terrific title. Sounds like a terrific storyline, too. Thanks for being with us today, Paula.
My mother used to drive me crazy with over-protectiveness, worried that I wouldn’t come back anytime I went somewhere, LOL. My natural family didn’t understand my creative side, so I cherish my writing relationships, especially my PFHT sisters.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:54 am
Good morning Paula.
I’m very close with my family. Like you, I couldn’t imagine being estranged from them.
Every weekend my two sisters, me, and my best friend from college go out to dinner together. I look forward to seeing them all week. We also have family get-to-gethers two or three times a month, switching back and forth from my parents house, to mine, to my sisters.
I adore them all and don’t know where I’d be without their support and love.
So, to me, a book about family ties is right up my alley. The first book in your series sounds wonderful!
Can’t wait to pick it up.
thanks so much for guest cheffing today!
Have a wonderful morning,
Tamara
August 11th, 2010 at 7:59 am
Morning, Paula: I LOVE that you didn’t follow the black sheep cliche and yet managed to give him a reason that just emphasized the family bond! I have half-sibs that I met as an adult. Therefore, since I was raised as an only child, I always find these close-knit family stories fascinating. Love the title
August 11th, 2010 at 8:08 am
Paula, thanks for the insight into your brainstorming process–this sounds like a really interesting read.
As for my family, the only thing that drives me crazy is that my parents live 6 hours away, but I had to move to discover how integral they are to my life–only child here.
I get tremendous satisfaction out of holidays because we get both sets of parents and the kids together. It’s really a time of eating, joking, laughing, and loving. No complaints here–I must have been exceptional in a former life!
August 11th, 2010 at 8:21 am
Sounds like a great book. It mades me think of Guntersville Lake. My mother is from there.
What makes me crazy is when family members don’t follow the rules not realizing how not doing so affects the others in the family.
I tell my kids regularly that when it all shakes out and you are down to the last person family is what will be standing there.
August 11th, 2010 at 8:49 am
Hey Paula! Your Case Files: Canyon Creek Wyoming book was the very first Kindle book I bought. I devoured it in just a few hours while waiting for my kid to finish with soccer practice. LOVED it and it got me hooked on how easy it is to download and read these books on the computer/e-reader/phone.
I like the sound of Luke’s story. I’ll definitely have to add it to my Kindle collection.
As for your questions, my family does a lot of things that make me crazy. To cite just one incident would be when they spend money on crazy useless things (IMO anyway…grin…).
Something that gives me satisfaction is being able to provide for my family what I wasn’t able to get when I was a kid. For example, I just bought my son a shelving unit for his school locker. I had wanted one so bad when I was in school but we could never afford it. This may be spoiling on my part, but when you’ve gone without so many things, it’s tough not to try to provide it to them.
As for friends, we have another couple that we started splitting childcare duties with when the kids were younger. Because we are so far away from our immediate families, neither of us had places to take our kids when we wanted that much needed night out with our spouse. We opted to swap kids one night a month so that the other couple could take some time to themselves without having to worry about being home by a certain time to get the babysitter home. That has to be one of the best things we could have ever done for both ourselves as married couples and our friendships with each other.
Thanks for a neat look into your writing process. Can’t wait to read the new book!
Tami
August 11th, 2010 at 9:00 am
Your new book sounds great and the Cooper family sounds wonderful.
Thanks for blogging with us today.
I have a great family. I’m the only one who lives in Atlanta, the rest live in Florida so I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like. We try to take short trips together, we always get together for Thanksgiving.
One thing that is crazy is when I do go home everything falls back into the same pattern,you become the child again.
I love watching my two daughters grow up and become successful young women. That makes me proud because I hope I had something to do with that as a role model. I celebrate their successes and my family is there to help me celebrate all the good things in life along with the bad.
I also have a great group of friends that are as close or closer than family.
Marilyn
August 11th, 2010 at 10:21 am
Hi Paula,
Can’t wait to read your book.
I love family. My family is fantastic. We were all so very close. Now there is just me, my older sister and younger brother (oh yes and the endless cousins). The three of us are very close, talk often and laugh alot. Makes me crazy when a spouse or child doesn’t treat them as if they are the most wonderful people on earth, although I can be the one that admits they are not perfect – just no one else.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Hi everyone! Sneaking a quick read at work (shame on me!). Thanks so much for the comments. I’ll try to answer in more detail on my lunch hour and maybe later in the day.
August 11th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Okay, going to try to catch up with everyone in one big post…
Pam, my mother’s never had to force me to eat, unfortunately! And I’m glad you’ve found a family with people who aren’t necessarily your biological family. I feel that way, sometimes, about my fellow romance writers. Even though I do have a family and I”m close to them, there are things that I share with my fellow writers that I can’t really share with anyone else. There’s a kinship that’s so nurturing and supportive.
Thanks, Dianna. I have nieces who live with me, so I get to watch them grow up, too. Although right now, it seems as if they’re growing up entirely too fast!
Wow, congratulations on your youngest granddaughter’s race, Sandra. That sounds like an amazing accomplishment, and so young! As for what drives you crazy, I must confess, I’m terrible with birthdays! But I also don’t get bent out of shape if someone forgets mine. My family has never made a big deal over birthdays–we acknowledge them, maybe do something nice as a family, but we’re not big party-throwers or gift-givers when it comes to birthdays.
Linsey, I’m proud to say I came up with the title One Tough Marine. Of course, it’s about the only title I’ve ever come up with that my editors approved. I’m terrible with titles. And I so agree about the nurturing nature of writing relationships. I don’t know what I’d do without mine.
Tamara, your weekly outings sound great, and you have even more family get-togethers than we do! (Of course, with my sister, my mom and I all living in the same house, I guess everyday is a get-together!)
Hi, Debbie! My nieces have some half-siblings that live in different places. They’re adopted by my sister (who married and later divorced their father but got full custody of the kids–long story). There are three mothers and two fathers involved in all the children, which really complicates matters, and unfortunately, they never get to see their siblings. I hope when they’re all older, they’ll find a way to see each other more.
Hi, Sally! My best friend is an only child, and she seems to love it, but I notice she’s never moved very far away from her parents, so I guess she’s discovered the same thing you have about family. Your family holidays sound wonderful.
Tami, sounds as if you and your friends worked out the ideal baby-sharing arrangement. When I was a kid growing up, the moms in our neighborhood often took turns watching the kids while the other moms went shopping or whatever. It was much more of a community situation than my nieces are growing up in. I hate that they’re missing the fun we had as kids.
Marilyn, you seem to have the best of both worlds–your family who you get to see whenever you can and your close friends. I just don’t know if I could bear to be so far away from my mom and the rest of my family for more than a few days at a time. My mom is my best friend, and even before we blended households after my father died, I’d talk to her daily, sometimes several times a day.
Maxine I have an older sister and a younger brother, too. My sister and her kids live with me, and my brother lives about a mile away. But we almost never see him–he has three little kids and it can be hard for him to get away to have any time for himself. We do visit him and his kids regularly, though. And I know what you mean–I can get into big fights with my family, but let anyone outside the family say a word about any of us, and we circle the wagons big time.
August 11th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Oh, I forgot to respond to Susan. Funny you mention Lake Guntersville, because that’s the inspiration for Gossamer Lake in my book. Truly. We go fishing up at Guntersville all the time–in fact, my mom, my sister and the kids are there now, up at my uncle’s place. (Don’t get a grandiose idea of a lake house–it’s a tiny trailer). We’re thinking of getting a trailer of our own and renting a slot near my uncle’s place, because my mom, my elder niece and I all love to fish, and the girls love to swim.
August 12th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Congratulations to Sally Kilpatrick for winning the $10 gift certificate. And thanks everyone for commenting–you made me feel so welcome!