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Award-winning author Colleen Collins writes romantic comedies as well as Temptations for Harlequin. She's also written a paranormal romance thriller for Leisure Love Spell (writing as Cassandra Collins). To read more about Colleen's upcoming releases, visit her website at http://www.colleencollins.net. Leena Hyat caught up with Colleen Collins in August about her current releases, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT and LET IN BREE/ CAN'T BUY ME LOUIE. |
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TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT Harlequin August 2003 Buy Now
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Writerspace: Please tell us aobut your August Harlequin Temptation, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. Colleen Collins: It's the first book in a two-book series (the second book TOO CLOSE TO CALLl , also out in August, is by Barbara Dunlop). Barb and I fondly call the series a "Parent Trap for Adults" because in the stories, two men from totally different backgrounds--one a rugged Alaskan, the other a sophisticated big-city executive--discover they're twins and swap places.
In my book, TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT, big-city executive Jeffrey Bradshaw is on his way to a career-make-or-break meeting in Los Angeles when he gets stuck in a remote town in Alaska (in Barb's book, the rough-and-rugged Jordan wings it to Los Angeles where he tries to salvage Jeffrey's career by "faking" he's Jeffrey).
When Jeffrey discovers the feisty bush pilot (Cyd Thompson) flew him to this no-where town on purpose, sparks fly...sparks that get hotter as he and Cyd test just how close is too close for comfort...
Writerspace: I understand this book ties in with a book by Barbara Dunlop, TOO CLOSE TO CALL. How did the two of you come up with the idea for these books?
Colleen Collins: I think I'm the one who said, "Wouldn't it be fun to use our own backgrounds in these stories?" You see, Barb lives waaay up in the Yukon in a log cabin. I'm a diehard city girl who thinks roughing it is no room service. We started playing with ideas of characters from our different worlds swapping places.
Writerspace: What's it like to work on a continuity type series like this with other authors? Do you get together and discuss your books in detail or are only the most vital and basic facts exchanged?
Colleen Collins: Barb and I live several thousand miles apart, so our discussions were mainly through email exchanges (and a few phone calls) as we brainstormed in the beginning. After that, we emailed each other almost daily as we wrote our stories. Facts, ideas, etc. Barb helped me a lot with my descriptions of the Alaskan frontier, and I helped her with what life is like in L.A. (where I lived for ten years). I once called a friend in L.A. to ask the price of kiwis for Barb's story. And I stopped trying to put bears into my story when Barb told me bears would never do the things I had them doing :)
Writerspace: How do you relax between deadlines? What hobbies do you indulge in?
Colleen Collins: I love to cook, go to concerts, take walks, go to movies, garden, read. Writerspace: You've got a Harlequin Duets hitting the shelves in September '03, LET IT BREE/CAN'T BUY ME LOUIE. Please tell us more about these stories?
Colleen Collins: They're both road-trip stories. In LET IT BREE, a girl is on the lam with her bull, helped by a sexy-but-shy paleobotonist who's supposedly getting married in a week (a modern-day rendition of Bringing Up Baby). CAN'T BUY ME LOUIE picks up where LET IT BREE ends. In LOUIE, the thug-with-the-heart-of-gold ends up on the lam in Key West with an uninvited "princess" tagging along. As I told my editor when I first pitched this story, it's like a current-day Private Benjamin (the film with Goldie Hawn) on the run with a younger Robert De Niro-type gangster.
Writerspace: What was your inspiration behind the character of Bree Brown? And why did you choose a 'bull' as a pet?
Colleen Collins: I read a newspaper story about a bull that escaped a stock show and was found running on a highway with traffic...and I thought, "What if a heroine was riding that bull?" And so was born Bree Brown.
Writerspace: Your hero, Louie Ragazzi, from CAN'T BUY ME LOUIE was just fantastic. I fell for his character from the very first page and really hated saying goodbye to him -- didn't want the book to end! Please tell us how you came up with his character; what made you decide to make him a former bad guy?
Colleen Collins: My editor and I loved Louie, too. How did I come up with his character? Well, he started out being a thug in the first book...and I loved how cool and in control he was. A tough guy with smarts and sex appeal. And the more I thought about him, the more I wanted to shake up his world, see what made him tick, what secret yearning in his heart he'd always wanted to follow...eventually, I knew he had to be the hero in his own book.
Writerspace: Is there a certain place in your home where you feel most inspired to write or can you write anywhere, anytime as long as you've got pen and paper handy?
Colleen Collins: I write pretty much anywhere. Coffee shops, in the kitchen at home, on the bed, in the backyard. On my laptop or "Alphie."
Writerspace: What are you working on at present and what can fans look forward to from you in the next twenty-four months?
Colleen Collins: My next release (June 2004) will be the first in a 3-book Harlequin Temptation series with Julie Kistler and Heather MacAllister. It's about a honeymoon hotel in a fictional town (Maiden Falls) in the Colorado Rockies. What's not known to the honeymooning couples is that the hotel is haunted by "ladies of the evening" ghosts who once plied their trade at the hotel back in the 1880s...and who now ply their magic on the hotel's guests to spice up their love lives :)
After that will be another Harlequin Temptation, current working title: HOW TO MAKE A BAD BOY. Other book proposals are in the queue...readers can check my upcoming releases by going to my website http://www.colleencollins.net.
Writerspace: Colleen, thank you so much for the interview. I'm eagerly looking forward to your next book!
Colleen Collins: Thank you, Lee. This was fun.
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