She’s lonely. Why shouldn’t she make a mad romantic dash up to the last frontier to meet a man? She’ll just ignore the practicality and logistics of a long-distance relationship. When she calls George to let him know her arrival time, he chooses that awful moment to let Abbie know that he thinks they don’t have much in common after all and she should cancel her plane reservations. Abbie is stunned, humiliated and ashamed of the lonely desperation that drove her to make nonrefundable airline reservations to Alaska.
What to do? Abbie decides to go to Alaska anyway. A grouchy and depressed Abbie meets Tom on the plane, a tall, handsome anthropology professor who happens to be half Native Alaskan and half Caucasian. As the plane flies north, Tom and Abbie discover a mutual attraction. By flight’s end, Abbie is completely enamored of the stranger, and she doubts her judgment, perhaps even her sanity, as she finds herself falling again for yet another Alaskan male...until George shows up, that is.
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An excerpt from A Sigh of Love
About Bess McBride
Bess McBride began her first fiction writing attempt when she was 14. She shut herself up in her bedroom one summer while obsessively working on a time travel/pirate novel set in the beloved Caribbean of her youth. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to hammer it out on a manual typewriter (oh yeah, she's that old) before it was time to go back to school. The draft of that novel has long since disappeared, but the story is still simmering within her, and she will get it written one day soon.
Bess was born in Aruba to American parents and lived in Venezuela until her family returned to the United States when she was 12. She couldn't fight the global travel bug within her and joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 to "see the world." After 21 wonderful and fulfilling years traveling the world and gaining one beautiful daughter, she pursued her dream of finally getting a college education. Armed and overeducated, the gypsy in her has taken over once again, and she is now embarking on a full-time journey in a recreational vehicle as she continues to look for new adventures and place settings for her writing. The Wild Rose Press has helped her fulfill a lifelong dream of writing romances.
Coming soon
From The Wild Rose Press, "A Sigh of Love," and "Caribbean Dreams of Love."
An Interview with Bess McBride
By Holly Hewson, Marketing Director for The Romance StudioHH: Bess, welcome back to The Romance Studio! Please tell us about your featured work, A Sigh of Love. BM: A Sigh of Love is the story of a lonely woman, Abbie, who finds herself stuck with nonrefundable tickets to Alaska to meet a man (George) she’s been corresponding with over the phone, a cousin of a friend. Unfortunately, after asking her to visit repeatedly, he gets cold feet and tells her not to come. What to do? She has tickets. She decides to go. On the way, she meets a handsome man, Tom, who seems more than happy to share her company. But George shows up to interfere in the budding romance. And Tom has a beautiful ex-wife who just won’t go away. It’s hard to tell who is going to end up with whom. (At least it was when I was writing the story.)
HH: So what makes your heroine take that chance on a guy she’s never actually met? Where did you get the idea for this wonderful story? BM: Abbie is lonely and suffering from empty nest syndrome. Her children are grown and out of the house, and it’s time for her to find a life of her own. A well-meaning friend of Abbie’s tries to make a match between George and Abbie. Since Abbie likes her loving and loyal friend so much, she believes George will share the same qualities.
Where did I get the idea for the story? The truth? Hem haw. Oh dear. The beginning of the story is based on fact...all the way up to Alaska. The romance in the story is fiction. I really did have nonrefundable tickets to Alaska. Isn’t it great how we get to change the outcome of events in our books?
HH: Have you been to Alaska yourself or did you research it? BM: Yes, I used to live in Alaska...in Anchorage. I loved it but felt a bit landlocked there and chose to return to the "lower forty-eight."
HH: How did you get your start as a writer? BM: As a troubled youth =), my father took me to see a social worker when I was 14. Part of the therapy was that I write my "life story." When I submitted it, the social worker told me I should be a writer. To a 14-year-old, that sounded like magic... my calling. I doubt she knew her words had such an effect on me. That was the summer I locked myself away in the bedroom working on my first novel, a time travel set in the Caribbean. After hammering away on a manual typewriter for two months, I had to put it aside to return to school. It’s lost now, but that was my start as a writer. I didn’t get to actually start writing fiction again until last July when I met a real live Harlequin Mills and Boone romance author, Ann Elizabeth Cree, who generously told me how to begin. (In Starbucks and a bookstore of course!)
HH: How have things changed for you since then? BM: I’ve had three books contracted with The Wild Rose Press. I won’t say I’ve made a mint, but I have realized a dream. I get to say I’m an author, and I love it. Who doesn’t want to be an author? Perhaps some folks don’t (I know there are some...there must be some who don’t want to write...somewhere), but I’ve never really met anyone who didn’t feel they had a story to tell.
HH: How disciplined are you as a writer? BM: Very. I have to be if I want to produce four books a year, my goal. It depends on my other world working schedule though. I try to write for several hours a day. I’m fortunate in that my offspring is grown, and I have the ability to take several months off work every year. Truth be told: I write more and faster when I work 40 hours a week. I tend to waste less time if I have less time to waste. Oh, and I cheat. When I am working, my days off do not coincide with my significant other’s. We don’t get to do much together, but I do get to write... I think when I get rich and famous, I’ll change that. Maybe we’ll get the chance to do a few things together.
HH: Where and when do you feel you do your best work? BM: I’m a morning person, and I do my best work in the morning hours. I found the ability to be able to write wherever I can plug my computer in...in my RV, a bookstore, a coffee shop, a train station, a motel. I never thought I’d be able to write on the fly...but as I said, the less time I have, the faster and better I write.
HH: What do you do to relax? BM: I do like to watch TV in the evening for the escapism and entertainment. I absolutely love, love, love movies, and we try to see one a week at least. I walk for exercise to keep my blood flowing. I find whining very relaxing as well... =) Just the release of air with the complaint...so cleansing.
HH: What does your family think of your writing? BM: My 24-year-old daughter loves it. She’s proud of me and helps me with my web sites and banners. My significant other is also proud of me. Both have bought my first book and neither has read it. It was a purchase of love, but neither one reads romances. Sigh....
HH: What are your plans for the holidays this year? BM: Oh gosh, haven’t even thought about it. I’m not sure where I’m going to be. You might note from my biography that I have taken up the grand adventure of full-timing in my recreation vehicle this year. I worked at Glacier National Park in Montana this summer, and my S/O and I are off to the Gulf Coast of Alabama for the winter...as of this writing. Nope. Don’t know a soul there. But I’ll get to write a lot I hope. Christmas? Walking on the beach??? You’ll note from my web site that I love the beach and love the Caribbean. If I sell 1000 books, I could possibly fund a cruise to the Caribbean for Christmas. Won’t you help a good cause???? =)
Thanks so much for the interview, Holly and The Romance Studio. As always, I love questions. Feel free to contact me at by e-mail at bessmcbride@gmail.com.
HH: Thank you!
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