Author Kristina Knight
Author Guest Post
You know that old saying, "Put your hear in a book?" Well, for me, that saying is all about setting. Not theme, not plot, not even characters so much as setting. And, I think that is why, more often than not a beach plays an important part in my books. You see, I love the beach.
When I was a kid - a mid-western kid - we would visit my great-grandmother in North Carolina every summer. I would go from flat land, can see for 500 miles to rolling sand dunes where you knew there was something 'over there' but you just couldn't see it. For 2 weeks every year, I could live in my bathing suit (yes, it was washed often!), drink in the smell of sunscreen, wear flip-flops everywhere (even church) and not get odd looks. I could be anything on the beach - a girl with a broken heart, a funny life-of-the-party girl, a heart-breaker girl ... it just depended on my mood. I could walk out to the beach in the middle of the night, feel the cool sand between my toes and stare out into nothing. I could be a pirate, watching for unsuspecting ships. Or I could be an investigator for the Dutch East India Company, escaping my captors.
The beach was an escape from my seemingly boring life back at home. Home where there were chores to do and the same old people to see day in and day out. For 2 weeks I could be or do or see anything I wanted. It was a kind of release. I could be anonymous and alone and yet surrounded by people from ten different countries, big cities or towns even smaller than mine. It enabled me to try on different hats to figure out who I really wanted to be. Even now, as a 30-something grown up, when I need to think I escape to the beach (good thing we live with a beach about 10 minutes away). Listening to the waves, watching the water come in and go out ... it's relaxing.
The beach in What A Texas Girl Wants happens to appear in the beginning ... it's the place Jackson and Kathleen first get into 'trouble'. The place they both have to deal with once they're back in Texas. In my next book, The Saint's Devilish Deal, the actual setting is a beach in Puerto Vallarta.
At least so far, all of my characters have wound up at a beach. Not gratuitously. Not just 'hey, they need to be at a beach, send them!' The beach has fit the plots, I think, because it fits me. Everyone needs a place to think, to figure things out ... and what better place to do that than a beautiful, wave-filled, sunscreen-smelling beach?
About The Author:
Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police - no, she wasn't a troublemaker, she was a journalist. When the opportunity to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head arose, she jumped at it. And she's never looked back. Now she writes magazine articles by day and romance novels with spice by night. She lives on Lake Erie with her husband and four-year-old daughter. Happily ever after.
Book Review
What A Texas Girl Wants by Kristina Knight
Published By: Crimson Romance
Release Date: June 4, 2012
Format: eBook - 104 pages / Kindle - 328 KB / Nook - 614 KB
ASIN: B008195BIS
Genre: Contemporary Romance
BUY THE BOOK: What A Texas Girl Wants
Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus.
Book Description:
Kathleen Witte is a down-to-earth girl. She has to be, with the family ranch on the verge of success. After seven months of keeping it all together by swearing off men, however, Kathleen needs a bit of fun in the sun. Waking up with a husband she can't remember isn't how she planned to blow off steam. The last thing Jackson Taylor wants in life is a down-to-earth girl. He has four weeks of freedom in which to find his birth mother. He's done well avoiding commitment until now, so when he wakes up on a Mexican beach with Kathleen his first reaction is curiosity. When he spies the matching wedding rings on their left hands curiosity turns to concern. Neither Jackson nor Kathleen want to stay married, but when her family shows up, they have no choice. Once back in Texas, however, can they keep this all-business marriage from turning into an all-consuming love?
Book Excerpt:
"So the man calling you sweetheart on the patio isn't your husband?"
Kathleen blanched. "No, idiot. He's my grandfather. What do you think I am some Anna Nicole wannabe?"
"No, but. . .Well who else would call you sweetheart besides your husband?"
She glared at him. "Start talking, Cowboy. Am I remembering last night?"
"I'm not sure, either." When Kathleen would have socked him in the shoulder, he continued. "I was sent down here on a photo shoot for Sports Weekly last Monday. It wrapped and I decided to stay for a few extra days. I have a show booked in New York in a couple of months and I thought some shots of the crowds on the Malecon would do well. That would have been. . .Wednesday. Then I woke up on the beach this morning with you. So assuming this is Thursday, yeah, we're both remembering the same night." "Kathleen?"
She ignored Grandfather and focused on Jackson. "You seriously don't remember how this"-she wagged her right index finger between their left hands-"happened?" His only response was a slow shaking of his head from side to side. Wonderful. Wait. Wouldn't that make the annulment that much simpler? All the celebrities did it. Get drunk, get married, plead incompetence because of alcohol and get a quickie annulment. If it was good enough for Britney it was good enough for Kathleen. As long as she could get the annulment ball rolling before Grandfather found out.
Kathleen blanched. "No, idiot. He's my grandfather. What do you think I am some Anna Nicole wannabe?"
"No, but. . .Well who else would call you sweetheart besides your husband?"
She glared at him. "Start talking, Cowboy. Am I remembering last night?"
"I'm not sure, either." When Kathleen would have socked him in the shoulder, he continued. "I was sent down here on a photo shoot for Sports Weekly last Monday. It wrapped and I decided to stay for a few extra days. I have a show booked in New York in a couple of months and I thought some shots of the crowds on the Malecon would do well. That would have been. . .Wednesday. Then I woke up on the beach this morning with you. So assuming this is Thursday, yeah, we're both remembering the same night." "Kathleen?"
She ignored Grandfather and focused on Jackson. "You seriously don't remember how this"-she wagged her right index finger between their left hands-"happened?" His only response was a slow shaking of his head from side to side. Wonderful. Wait. Wouldn't that make the annulment that much simpler? All the celebrities did it. Get drunk, get married, plead incompetence because of alcohol and get a quickie annulment. If it was good enough for Britney it was good enough for Kathleen. As long as she could get the annulment ball rolling before Grandfather found out.
My Book Review:
A three day drunkfest ... a steamy beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico ... waking up naked and married on the beach ... is this really What A Texas Girl Wants?
Kathleen Witte is a twenty-seven year old manager of her family's ranch in Lockhart, Texas. After spending the last seven months of dedicating herself to overseeing the entire operation of the Double Diamond ranch in order to show her grandfather that she is committed to carrying on the family tradition, she is ready for a quick fling vacation in Mexico to blow off steam and to become a new and improved independent woman.
Jackson Taylor is a thirty year old photographer originally from Texas, now living in New York. Jackson is haunted by his past: he is the bastard son of a wealthy Texas family, raised by his mother until he was seven, he was cut off from the family money by his rich step-mother after his father died. Obsessed with his past, he is searching for his birth mother so he could get the answers he needs in order to put the past away. He was in Mexico on business doing a photo shoot for a sports magazine.
Waking up naked and hungover on the beach thinking that each other was a stranger who they had a one-night stand with, only to realize that they are not strangers at all, but two people who had an unrequited college crush on each other, and now each has a shiny gold wedding band on their finger and no recollection of how they got married! And if that wasn't enough, Kathleen's grandfather arrives at the villa she rented in search of her since she didn't return home to Texas the day before. Caught in a sticky situation, Kathleen and Jackson agree to pretend that they are married for a month until she turns twenty-eight and can prove to her grandfather that she is fit to take the reigns of the family business, then they can go their separate ways. Can their so called "marriage" arrangement succeed, can it turn into a real marriage, or will the truth of their arrangement be revealed?
What A Texas Girl Wants is an entertaining romance novel that has everything a reader could ask for: romance, steamy passion and family drama. Written in a sassy fashion, the author grabs the reader's attention in the opening paragraph and doesn't let go until the last words are read. Told in the third person narrative, the story is set in the beautiful West Texas Hill Country where cowboys, cowgirls, and horses are the backdrop for a passionate love story. The storyline is intriguing, the reader is drawn into Kathleen and Jackson's story as they embark on a journey to discover what really matters the most to them. Filled with enough drama, suspense and passion, this is one romance story that will keep your interest as Kathleen and Jackson's love story unfolds.
The characters are realistic and down-to-earth people that have insecurities and issues that are believable and easy to relate to. Kathleen and Jackson are strong, complex individuals whose sizzling interactions with each other creates a powerful story that the reader can embrace. I absolutely enjoyed both of these characters, I couldn't help but cheer for them as they overcome their struggles and become more drawn to each other.
What A Texas Girl Wants is a lighthearted and passionate love story that will carry you away to the rich West Texas countryside. Romance fans, if you want a fast-paced story that has a mixture of steamy passion, family drama and suspense, then this is the book for you!
RATING: 4 STARS ****
