Love Bytes says hello to Jodi Payne and BA Tortuga who are here today to talk about their new release “Heart of a Redneck”.
Welcome 🙂
Hello everyone! Jodi Payne here. BA Tortuga and I are excited to be back on the Love Bytes blog with Heart of a Redneck. We write country-mouse/city mouse and fish out of water stories, and although this wasn’t the first book of ours to be published, it is the first one we wrote together so it’s extra special.
Heart of a Redneck is set on Boulder, CO. No surprise, BA was the mind behind the Texan-born Colby McBride, and I dreamed up the Bostonian transplant Gordon James. I find when I create a new character there are things I understand right away about them, and things I discover as I write that surprise me.
So, I thought we could answer that question for you! Here goes: BA, what one thing was rock solid for you about Colby from the starting gate, and what one thing that surprised you about him?
BA:
The thing that resonates immediately with Colby is the way that he is, unequivocally, a good man. When he popped into my head, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was someone who does what he says he would. What surprised me was that he wasn’t at all simple — his internal dialogue was like following a tangled string.
Jodi:
I knew Gordon loved his work. His whole life was his restaurants, he took care of his employees, and he was an upstanding member of the Boulder business community. He worked long hours, took very little time off and never asked anyone who worked for him to to something he wouldn’t do himself.
What I didn’t know was how dedicated he would be to a child he not only barely knew, but hadn’t ever expected to be in his life. Gordon was on her side from the minute he met her, and despite having no idea what he was doing, he had decent instincts and made her well-being a priority (though his long hours at work sometimes made it seem like she wasn’t).
Read the book to find out how all of that worked out for them!
Blurb – Heart of a Redneck
Colby McBride is a blue-collar cowboy trying to make ends meet laying tile in Colorado. A loner by choice, Colby works hard with his hands and finds his peace camping in the mountains outside Boulder. Gordon James is a white-collar restaurateur who owns not one, but two successful establishments in downtown Boulder. He’s a sophisticated urbanite who is devoted to his work and is accustomed to getting what he wants.
The men are friends, but sparks fly when Colby falls in love and decides to show Gordon how much fun a good old boy can be. They’re just beginning to explore their relationship when Gordon’s sister’s suicide leaves him with custody of his five-year-old niece.
Colby comes from a huge family and is eager to help with the girl and to prove his worth to Gordon. But neither of them is ready for the tremendous changes to their already busy lives, or for how this new relationship with Olivia challenges them, complicating the way they interact with each other.
They say opposites attract, but can these two very different men work together to join their disparate lives and form a strong, if highly unlikely, family?
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Jodi Payne takes herself way too seriously and has been known to randomly break out in song. Her men are imperfect but genuine, stubborn but likable, often kinky, and frequently their own worst enemies. They are characters you can’t help but fall in love with while they stumble along the path to their happily ever after. For those looking to get on her good side, Jodi’s addictions include nonfat lattes, Malbec and tequila any way you pour it.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JodiPayne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/payne.jodi
FB Author Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jodisgents/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/267617.Jodi_Payne
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jodipayne1800/?hl=en
BA Tortuga: Texan to the bone and an unrepentant Daddy’s Girl, BA Tortuga spends her days with her basset hounds and her beloved wife, texting her sisters, and eating Mexican food. When she’s not doing that, she’s writing. She spends her days off watching rodeo, knitting and surfing Pinterest in the name of research. BA’s personal saviors include her wife, Julia Talbot, her best friend, Sean Michael, and coffee. Lots of coffee. Really good coffee.
Having written everything from fist-fighting rednecks to hard-core cowboys to werewolves, BA does her damnedest to tell the stories of her heart, which was raised in Northeast Texas, but has heard the call of the high desert and lives in the Sandias. With books ranging from hard-hitting GLBT romance, to fiery ménages, to the most traditional of love stories, BA refuses to be pigeon-holed by anyone but the voices in her head.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/batortuga
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batortuga
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/batortuga/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/batortuga
Instagram: https://instagram.com/batortuga/
