Stepping Up To Love Guest Post

Stepping Up to Love by Kate O'Boyle
Contemporary Romance
Date Published: 8/7/2013

Book Description:
A lakeside porch in the Finger Lakes is the perfect spot for a quiet moment or a heart-to-heart with your special someone. Joel and Manda’s first heart-to-heart on the breakfast porch at the Manse Inn and Spa is anything but romantic. Joel the owner of the Manse is furious with his junior accountant for using one of the spa showers. If Manda didn’t have a desperate story and a spectacular body, Joel might not be feeding her breakfast and falling in love. Can Manda get sober, clean up her act, and open her heart to her rich, hunky boss?

BUY LINKS
http://www.amazon.com/Stepping-Love-Lakeside-Porches-ebook/dp/B00ED3TGMS/

GUEST POST:
What Inspires My Writing
As a new author, I discovered that once I picked up the pencil and sat down to write inspiration was all around me. The inspiration for Stepping Up To Love, Book One of the Lakeside Porches series, came one sunny winter morning on the porch of a well-known inn in the Finger Lakes. I was there with family and  friends to celebrate a dear friends 90th birthday. Watching the staff serve up incredible food and fuss over our friend made me wonder about their lives, their hopes and dreams. So many stories! The idea for Lakeside Porches was born that sunny winter morning. I didn't go looking for it, and I never imagined I'd sit down that winter to create a whole world the fictitious city of Tompkins Falls on beautiful Chestnut Lake but I'm enjoying every minute of it! Within each book of the series, there are snippets inspired by my past, my interests, my struggles, and my own dreams. For example, in the current novel Book Three of the Lakeside Porches series there's an old wooden canoe that has been in Gwen's family forever. Gwen and her hero Peter get the canoe back in water and enjoy many happy hours one summer and fall until a storm on the lake puts them and the old canoe in danger. I won't spoil it for you; I'll just say how much fun it has been to draw on memory and add some judicious research to bring these scenes to life. Now that I'm engaged in writing a series of romances set in a small city, I also have a ready supply of external inspiration. Writers like Mariah Stewart, Robyn Carr, and Debbie Macomber have written series that make me reach for another as soon as I finish one; in Maeve Binchy's books some characters reappear from time to time, enriching the current story and bringing us up to date on their lives. I'm fascinated by the approach each of these authors takes and in awe of the way each expresses deeply held beliefs through their stories and their characters. I learn and grow as an author as I read each book by these outstanding authors. Inspiration is all around, if I 'm open to it. The more I write, the more open I am. I hope that never stops.



About the author:
Once upon a time, Katie O’Boyle was a stellar student and closet substance abuser at a picture-perfect small college. She credits loving friends, 12-step spirituality, and plenty of hard work for her transformation into tech-savvy college professor and passionate author of warm-hearted romance. Fall in love with her characters on the lakeside porches of the beautiful Finger Lakes in upstate New York. Lakeside Porches, Book One: Stepping Up To Love (Joel and Manda’s story); Book Two: Coming Home to Love (Justin and Gianessa’s story).

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/katie.oboyle.author
Twitter: @TompkinsFalls
Blog: http://drkatecollier.wordpress.com/
Website: http://higher-powered-romance.net/