Guest Author: Dani Collins

I am thrilled to be able to welcome Dani Collins as my very first guest author for the quick author quizzing!

Dani, who lives in Canada and writes ‘sexy, witty, vibrant romance’,  is an Award-winning, USA Today Bestselling author who is published by Harlequin Mills & Boon (Presents/Modern (formerly ‘Sexy’ line)) and Tule’s Montana Born. While I can’t claim to have read all of her titles, a good many of her Harlequin titles grace my shelves and I’ve loved all of them.

But, it isn’t just Dani’s writing I admire. Let me share with you the story my first meeting with Dani. I was an absolutely new author for Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises Australia) and I was over at an RT Convention in Dallas. Dani was organising a Harlequin authors event and when I let her know at the end of the event that I was there and asked if it would be okay for me to hand out some promotional material for my titles as readers were leaving, her answer was an immediate and absolute ‘yes’ and she told me, ‘You should have let me know right at the start that you were here!’ The following year, she introduced me and passed me the microphone so I could give a quick overview of my stories. As a new author, I can’t tell you how overwhelmed I was by her warm welcome, completely positive and upbeat personality and generous support. So, it seems fitting that she is the first of my guest authors.

As well as her Harlequin and Tule’s Montana Born titles, Dani has an extensive backlist of indie published titles, including her story “Hustled to the Altar” (just love the title!!) which was a Golden Heart finalist. She’s also one of these amazingly talented writers who manages to write across romance sub-genres with some erotic romance, romantic comedy and even an epic medieval fantasy, so be sure to check out her Indie backlist too.

Without any further ado, on to the quick author quizzing!

Hi Dani!

Hi Alyssa,

Thank you so much for having me. I’m honoured to be kicking off your new feature. I can’t wait to check back on this and read the quick quizzing with other authors.

It’ll be great to have you as a guest author or reader of the blog. Now, the last books of yours that I read were The Sauveterre Siblings series and I loved each of the four titles. 

      

I’d love to hear about your latest release and whether it posed any particular challenges to write.

My most recent Harlequin was CONSEQUENCE OF HIS REVENGE, which came out in April. The challenge there was that I had conceived of the story about fifteen years before I published and didn’t wind up writing it until a couple of years ago. I couldn’t even tell you all that got in the way, but I’m not a patient person so it was hard. I’m tickled that Cami and Dante finally saw the light of day.

My next release will be August 7^th with Tule’s Montana Born. It’s called IN TOO DEEP, which is Book Three in my Blue Spruce Lodge series.

Trigg is a snowboard champion who learns he has a twelve-year-old daughter when her aunt, Wren, comes to work as the manager of the lodge. He’s a shameless playboy so I loved having him slapped upside the head with being the father of a girl as she’s maturing into a woman. Wren has custody of Sky and she’s at her wit’s end with her niece who is a real handful. This book was a lot of fun to write.

The challenge with this whole series has been giving the main couple their story when there are loads of secondary characters wanting to take over. There are also a lot of backstory ages and dates to track. I tried to set it up early and stick to it, but it’s been a struggle. One false move and all the dominoes fall.

What’s next for you as an author?

I try to write six to eight books a year, so I always have a couple of Harlequins in various stages of production. I just finished a draft for the second half of a duet about a pair of cousins who are searching for their grandmother’s eaqrrings. I expect revisions for the first any day. Those books will come out early in 2019.

Later this year, I have two titles with Harlequin Mills & Boon Modern)—SHEIKH’S PRINCESS OF CONVENIENCE (October) and CLAIMING HIS CHRISTMAS WIFE (Dec).

For Tule, I’m writing a Christmas story that will come out this season, date and title still to be finalized. I’m still nailing down a lot of details or I’d tell you more.

Wow! All those projects make my head spin! I’m definitely a one-book-at-a-time author. Now, on to seasons...You seem to me as though summer would be your favourite season, but I’ve been wrong before. What’s your favourite season and why?

You’re right! I love summer. We live near a lake and I’m a freshwater girl. Swimming, then reading and napping on the beach are pretty much the best thing ever, in my opinion. Also I love summer fruits like cherries and nectarines.

I know you’re hoping to visit Australia in 2020. Is there anything in particular you’d like to see while you’re here?

My nephew and niece. This is a small bone of contention with my husband. He doesn’t want to go all the way to Australia to sit at my sister’s kitchen counter and drink wine. (What? She has a pool, fool.) But I don’t want to go all that way and not spend as much time as possible with my baby sis and her family.

We actually honeymooned in Australia, a million years ago, so we’ve seen some of the reef and Uluru when it was still called Ayer’s Rock. I’d love to see Darwin and my husband would like to see the western side of the country. Hopefully we could work out something where my sister and her family came with us. That’d be fun.

That sounds ideal – a family catch up and travel. I wonder if the Australian Romance Readers’ Association might also have a High Tea in the pipeline around that time? You might be able to mix business and pleasure!

When you’re not writing (seriously I know you love it but you surely need some time away from your laptop!) is there anything you do that you’d classify as a hobby?

I tried golf at one point. I thought it would be something my husband and I could do together, but he hurt his shoulder so we stopped. Sometimes I garden, but I’m not committed enough for that. Plus crouching down to weed isn’t much different from slouching over a keyboard so it wasn’t a proper break for my muscles.

I walk and go to the gym and now that we’re empty nesters, we’re trying to travel more. We were in Hawaii in January and hope to visit friends in Spain next year. If I did pursue a real hobby, it would probably be photography. I love taking pictures of pretty places and things. Hopefully I’ll add Darwin and Perth to my photo albums sooner than later!

Thanks again, Dani, for being a guest here today. It was great to ‘chat’ and I look forward to the next time we can catch up in person!

You may find out more about Dani on her website: http://danicollins.com/

FREE Download: HIS BLUSHING BRIDE, the fourth in Dani’s Love in Montana series, is free for a limited time. Bastian is a sexy nerd. Piper is a shy music treacher. They get caught parking and there’s also a wedding or two.

Find all the links here: http://danicollins.com/books/his-blushing-bride/#order

AmazonAUS

http://www.amazon.com.au/Blushing-Bride-Montana-Born-Brides-ebook/dp/B00VS2DSR6

If you have a question for Dani, please leave a comment below!

Check back in on June 19th for my next guest author, Maisey Yates. Until then, Happy Reading!

Alyssa J. Montgomery

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About the Blogger:

Alyssa J. Montgomery is an Australian contemporary romance author who is published by Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises, Australia). She also 

writes medieval romance as Alyssa James,

 

http://www.alyssajmontgomery.com/