It’s the day after what we call a Bank Holiday weekend here in England (Monday was a national holiday). Yesterday I spent the extra day tidying up the garden. My husband did a sterling job replacing our old rusting gate with a bright shiny new one. He wants me to point it out to all our visitors, so the first question I ask today’s guest as she walks up the path is “Do you like our new gate?” Luckily my guest today is very polite, and she tells me it looks lovely :)
Welcome, Melissa Keir – let’s go inside and put the kettle on!
Thank you for having me on your blog today, Helena. I’m excited to share my latest release, Chalkboard Romance, with your readers.
Where do you live, Melissa? I live in Michigan in the United States. *holds up hand* The lower part of Michigan is shaped like a hand and we use this to show where we live.
Well I never knew that! My sense of geography is very poor, but since having so many authors on my blog I’m learning so much!
Where is your favourite place in the world? My favourite place to be is wherever my husband is. We love to hang out at home or go camping together. He’s my home.
Sweet! :)
Being a writer is a great job. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? The hardest job I’ve ever had was when I was a nurse’s aide in a nursing home. I used to care for elderly patients, assisting with baths, feeding and changing clothes and bedding. Some of the patients were a challenge. I’d been grabbed by the elderly men and hated walking into the home in the morning to find out a favourite resident had passed during the night.
I did a similar job a long time ago. I remember the worst thing was being overworked and not having time to chat with the residents, some of whom were obviously lonely. It was quite distressing at times.
What book do you wish you’d written? I wish I’d written Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood. I love the various short stories in the book. The best was “Gertrude Talks Back” where she gives Gertrude, the mom, from Hamlet a voice.
Oh I haven’t read those! I went to hear Margaret Atwood talk at the Edinburgh Book Festival last year, and she was absolutely brilliant. I must check out her short stories.
What’s your favourite song? That’s a tough one for me. My favourite song changes depending on my mood. Currently, I’m listening to a lot of country. I love Hold On by Derks Bently.
Lovely song!
If you could meet anyone in the world, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you say to them? You ask some tough questions. Of course, I’d love to meet some of my ancestors to see what life was like for them and what challenges they faced. I would enjoy having a conversation with Abe Lincoln about how he handled the pressures of the White House during a Civil War. I’d also love to talk with Sitting Bull and share with him how even though his fight ended, he will still be remembered today for his stand against the government and those who tried to obliterate the Indians.
If only we really could get in touch with the past. That’s a fascinating era in history.
What’s your happiest childhood memory? My happiest childhood memory is of playing outside with my sisters. We lived on a dead end street. Across from our house was an old quarry hole. We used to play over there and pretend it was our home. Those woods we knew like the back of our hands.
Great memories!
If you had to marry a fictional character, from film, television, or books, who would it be? I would marry Roarke from JD Robb’s Eve Dallas books. He has Irish charm, tech skills and is sexy as sin.
The perfect husband :) I expect Roarke can also hang a mean gate!
What’s the most important lesson life has taught you? Never give up. I’ve faced things that would have caused others to give up, but I was determined to not let things stop me from doing what I wanted.
And finally, please tell us about your latest book, where we can find it, and where we can find your blog/website!
Chalkboard Romance is the story of Lauren Walsh, an elementary teacher, whose husband dumped her because she wasn’t young enough or classy enough to be the top businessman’s wife. Her friend, Melanie Whitman, bugs Lauren to sign up for a dating service with Draikoh San, a legend for finding just the right date and often soul mate.
Mac Thomas is a widower. His wife was more interested in money and prestige. So he left her and his son to life in the States while he covered foreign conflicts. With his wife’s death, he comes home to care for the son he hardly knows. His sister signed him up for a dating service to help him see that not all women were like his wife.
Mac and Lauren meet and sparks fly. So many that Lauren runs out of fear for her own feelings. Fate has a way of setting things in order and Lauren finds out that Mac is a parent of one of her students. Mac asks her for another chance and as their romance heats up, Lauren is forced to choose between a job she loves and the love of her life.
Blurb:
Lauren Walsh, a divorcee and elementary teacher, wanted to feel sexy again, after her ex tossed her aside for a younger woman. Her teaching partner and best friend encouraged her to sign up for The Playhouse–a renowned dating agency.
Mac Thomas remained trapped in a marriage to a money grubbing socialite. Forced to stay away from his young son, Mac lost the ability to trust. After the death of his wife, he returned to care for his son but his sister wants more for him. She sets him up with The Playhouse.
Passion ignites but Mac’s a parent of one of Lauren’s students. A teacher and a parent dating could cost Lauren her job and her chance at happiness. Will Mac be able to convince the school and Lauren, that love is the most important thing?
Buy links:
I love to hear from readers. They can find me at:
http://www.melissakeir.com/blog.html
http://www.facebook.com/melissaakeir
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorMelissaKeir
Thank you for having me Helena. I hope your followers enjoyed getting to know me a bit and thank you for sharing your space with me :)
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Thanks so much for coming, Melissa. It’s been lovely getting to know you, and I like the sound of the dilemma in Chalkboard Romance! Thanks also for the short story recommendations :) Wishing you a good trip back to Michigan!
If you have any questions for Melissa, or any comments at all, please let us know. We’d love to hear from you!
Helena Fairfax 
Thank you for having me Helena. I would love a beautiful gate in my yard but the design doesn’t allow for it. :(
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Thanks so much for coming, Melissa! It’s been lovely getting to know you. We live in a row of houses, and everyone has a neat front gate. It was high time we changed ours! Not the most exciting way to spend a holiday weekend, but it looks much better now :) Thanks again for your visit!
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We live in the country in a piece of woods. I’d love a gate to keep the dogs in and the neighbor dogs out. They love to bark and posture at each other.
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Sounds like a fun story. One I’ll have to pick up :)
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Thank you Gina! I appreciate you stopping by!
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It sounds a great story, doesn’t it, Gina? Thanks very much for calling in!
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Aloha Helena and Melissa,
Lovely to read your blog as always. :-) Always someone interesting on here. What is it with all these people from Michigan lately? LOL. I just seem to be meeting zillions of them. I do support the Detroit Tigers in baseball… but I lived there once and it still gives me palpitations. :-) Even so, there seems an abundance of interesting people and lots of writers! Very cool.
I like the idea for your book, it sounds really interesting. I’ll be looking out for that. :-)
Thanks again. Aloha Meg ;-)
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Thank you Meg. Michigan seems to be a busy place these days. :) At least we have gotten over the snow!
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Aloha, Meg! I’d love to visit Detroit some time. You are well travelled! And I love the idea behind Melissa’s book. Thanks so much for your comment!
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ROARKE! Yes, I’m shouting that. :) Love him! Congrats on the release, Melissa, and on never giving up!
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Thanks Alyssa. Roarke is everything I want…. sexy, Irish and dedicated to his wife.
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Thanks for your comment, Alyssa! Don’t give up is a great piece of advice!
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Fascinating interview! Melissa’s right, you do ask tough questions! Having spent 28 years as an elementary teacher, I can sympathize with the heroine’s conflict. Chalkboard Romance is definitely on my TBR list! Congrats, Melissa.
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Thank you for stopping by Patricia. There’s always conflict with teaching. It’s not the easy job people think it is.
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Hi Patricia, I really liked the idea behind Melissa’s novel. Think it will resonate with a lot of people. Thanks for coming by!
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Melissa, always great to get to know more about you. Love your response to where you’d like to live. Best wishes.
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Thank you Diane. We might move in the future but we will always have a place together.
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I liked that reply, too, Diane :) Thanks very much for coming by!
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I thought you meant Roarke on Fantasy Island. He was kind of dreamy in an older way.
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He was sexy and certainly magical! I had a crush on him when I was younger.
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Agreed! :)
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Enjoyed the interview ladies. Your book sounds like a great read, Melissa.
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Thank you Rose. :)
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Thanks for your lovely comment, Rose!
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Wonderful interview, these were definitely some hard questions but enjoyable as I felt like having a cup of tea with both of you. As for Chalkboard Romance, it sounds like a wonderful book and as much as we’d like to say this is all fiction, it is probably closer to quite a few realities out there. Congrats on this latest book, Melissa!
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I felt like I was over for tea. Wouldn’t that be fun to do? Just travel and have tea with our favorite authors.
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It would be brilliant if we could all really get together over a cup of tea, and talk writing and romance novels. Wouldn’t that be fabulous! Good to meet you here, Toni, even if only in cyber-space :)
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Great interview, Melissa! Nice to know more about you!
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Thank you D’Ann. :) You are a fab writer as well!
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Thanks for your comment, D’Ann. Love your Gravatar!
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Lovely interview, Melissa! I tweeted.
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Thank you Ella. I would love to live where you do. The island life calls to me. Thanks for stopping by!
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Great interview with Melissa. Helena, you asked some good questions which let us learn a little more about Melissa, thanks.
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Thanks, Judy! Melissa gave some super answers! :)
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Thank you Judy! I always appreciate you stopping by! :)
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Lovely interview, ladies. You do make a great pot of tea, Helena, and ask the toughest questions! :) But I guess that’s what makes for such a great interview. Nice to meet you, Melissa. Have not been to Michigan, but it’s on to to travel to list. Especially want to check out the upper peninsula. The idea of a place without cars is intriguing. As to heroes, a man who’s willing to fix the gate or cart off a dead animal from the back yard (which mine did last night–thought I was looking at a scene from Bones or CSI!) is worth keeping and keeping happy in my book! :) You’ve got a good conflict going with this book, Melissa. Sounds like it will do well. Best wishes.
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Thank you Marsha. Hubby’s who can take care of gates and dead animals are wonderful. :) I hope you get to the Upper Peninsula and enjoy it. I love that Michigan has so much to see and do. We travel all over the state and camp near Lake Michigan each year. Thank you as well for your kind words about my book. :)
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Lovely comment, Marsha! And what a great guy taking away the dead animal. Not something we have to face in the UK too much – apart from birds and the odd squirrel – but there was a spider nesting in our old gate, and when my husband took it off thousands of baby spiders popped out and ran all over his shirt. I heard him cry out from inside the house! So glad that wasn’t me!!!
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Lovely to meet you, Melissa – and it’s a great way to hear about authors from around the world. I’m up in Scotland and, although I’ve been to the US and Canada, I haven’t been to Michigan so know little about it! All best with your interesting novel.
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