The Smell of Money - Donna Alward

There's an old saying that goes you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl. That'd be me. It's why I love escaping into worlds of regencies and classy, sexy romances but when it comes to writing them - and getting truly up close and personal with my characters, the magic "formula" that finally worked for me was a western. I understand farm life, and it did come down to write what you know.

On Easter weekend I went to visit my family five hours away. My mum was widowed many years ago and has a great new husband - someone we all knew for years. He had a dairy farm until his daughter and son-in-law took it over, and now he and my mum live a few doors away from the original farm and house. On Sunday, when we were arriving back at Mum's after being at my sister, the wind was blowing just right and the scent of cow manure was pretty strong.

I don't know about you, but cow manure doesn't smell bad to me. Maybe because I grew up with it. Then again, I grew up near a chicken farm too, and we did see someone spreading chicken manure on our drive back and the scent was enough to make me gasp. There is something NOT NICE about hogs and chickens. ANYWAY, my girls were like...eeew, cow poop! And my husband looked at me and said, "That's the smell of money."

You see, while my husband was not a farmer, he did work a lot of summers for his uncle, who was, and that saying is straight from Uncle Don.

When we went inside, we talked for quite a while about cows, and the stink of silage, first and second cuts of hay, and general farm stuff. It was really, really nice.

These days farmers are really struggling, and "the smell of money" isn't very accurate. But for all that, it's still the smell of home. And that's nice.

In my current release, Sophia is a city girl who ends up with a pitchfork in hand, cleaning out the barn.  I had a lot of fun getting her out of her comfort zone! And of course it helped that there was a reward like Tomas Mendoza at the end of the day!

It's available now at amazon and eharlequin and wherever Harlequin Romance is sold. :-)

Donna Alward: What Would You Do?

The title of my next release is a little deceiving. Honeymoon with the Rancher sort of implies that the heroine is on her honeymoon with her rancher husband, right? If I were reading that title I'd be thinking that the Honeymoon with the Rancher is at the END of the book, not the beginning. The result of their romance, and not the start of it.

Maybe it's not so much deceiving as a twist. Because they aren't on THEIR honeymoon. She's on hers. Singular. Tomas doesn't even see her coming.

Sophia shows up in Argentina alone. It's a brave thing for her, because she's been sheltered and told what to do for most of her life. Breaking off her engagement was a BIG step, but the right one. Her ex-fiance looked good on paper but, like Rebecca says in the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, he wasn't "a very good investment". (Oddly enough, Isla Fisher was my heroine casting for this book!) Sophia doesn't know what she wants, really, but she knows it isn't what she had. And so she shows up - alone - at the Vista del Cielo estancia. And it's there that she meets rancher/gaucho Tomas Mendoza.

Her reaction is kind of extreme. I mean - what would you do if you walked in on your future husband with another woman? Would you be crushed? For Sophia it prompts her to analyze what sort of relationship they had - was it based on real love or something else? Would you kick him to the curb or try to work it out? Would you make him pay for a VERY long time - or leave him in your dust and start on a new life? Would you be like Sophia, thumb your nose at him and take your honeymoon ALONE?

It's the kind of situation that really makes a person discover what they're made of. And when the bravado of going it alone wears off, there are times Sophia's not sure that she's very strong at all. But then there's Tomas...and there's Argentina...both of which weave their spell around her. I mean how could you resist the wide open pampas or the gorgeous power of Iguazu Falls?

Honeymoon with the Rancher is out in the US in May, but it's available in print and e-book in the UK (it was a March release there) and it's available at eharlequin right now.

Here's the blurb:

One gorgeous rancher, one jilted bride!

Tomas Mendoza left the city behind when he retreated to a rustic Argentine ranching guesthouse after losing
his fiancée. He has found peace working the land…until socialite Sophia Hollingsworth plants her stilettos in front of him and demands to stay the week.

Sophia is nursing private hurts of her own—after all, she is on her honeymoon…alone. Her bravado is a cover act to show everyone she can stand on her own two feet.

Trouble is, she’s in danger of being swept away into the rancher’s arms!


So what would you do? Leave a comment and I'll draw for a copy of Honeymoon with the Rancher!

Donna

http://www.donnaalward.com/
twitter: @DonnaAlward