Clear As Day by Babette James
Published: April 4, 2012
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance
What's a girl to do when her summer lover wants forever?
Haunted by dark memories of her parents' volatile marriage, artist Kay Browning keeps her heart locked behind a free-spirit facade and contents herself with the comfortable affair she has every summer with easygoing photographer Nate Quinn.
The only trouble with her plan? This summer Nate's come to Lake Mohave to claim the lover he can't let go. He's done with the endless traveling and settling for temporary homes and temporary loves. Kay's always been more than just a vacation fling, and now he must convince this woman, who sees love as a course to certain heartbreak, to take that leap of faith and learn how safe love with the right man can be.
Guest Post by Babette James:
Thanks so much for letting me visit here today and share a little about my debut novel, Clear As Day, a sweetly scorching contemporary romance about two friends with benefits facing the fears and uncertainties of their changing relationship.
Clear As Day began as a short story years back when I was in college, an exercise featuring the desert setting of Lake Mohave, a reservoir downstream from the Hoover Dam formed out of stretch of the Colorado River by the Davis Dam. I grew up in Southern California and I’ve always had a love of the deserts of the Southwest, particularly the areas of Lake Havasu and Lake Mohave, and even took a college class on desert biology. I loved the juxtaposition of the stark, hot landscape with the cool waters and wanted to play with that particular setting. I’m delighted with my cover and how it shares some of the area’s unique beauty.
But a story needs more than a setting, and my artist character Kay appeared in her lakeside campsite as the sole first person point of view, already independent, reserved, and commitment-shy. Then the man who would become easy-going, globetrotting photographer Nate showed up to disrupt her careful, comfortable rut in life. I never quite found a place for Clear As Day in its short story form, but never gave up on it, and two years ago took on the experiment of expanding the little original story first into a novella.
The expansion was an interesting experience. The simple friends-with-benefits relationship proved not so simple and from there exploded the beginnings of their conflict, love story, and their tight-knit group of friends. I had fun with the story, adding in bits of my family’s trips to the river, other camping and fishing experiences, and my own enjoyment of watercolors, music, photography, and the desert. Kay’s viewpoint changed from first person to third. The biggest change and challenge was adding in Nate’s viewpoint, and once I did that, the story just bloomed into the full novel length it is now. I had to explore the whys of all the characters and asking one question led to another and more.
Clear As Day was no longer a just scenic location and simple moment in time between two occasional lovers, but a full story world with a crowd of interesting secondary characters, and all the characters’ lives intersecting and affecting one another. Not only did I have to ask what has happened in just Kay’s and Nate’s backstories to bring them to the story’s point in time, I needed to explore their friends’ lives, and additionally, ask what happened next to all of them, after Kay and Nate reached their point of happily ever after. I found that the story of Kay and Nate and their friends had not ended, but had more still to tell. I’m currently hard at work on the sequel and other friends will be joining Kay and Nate in falling in love at the river.
I loved writing Clear As Day, it’s been a story of my heart in many ways, so seeing this story published is a dream come true. Receiving the 4 1/2 star scorcher review from Romantic Times and being able to hold my book in my hands have been truly thrilling moments. I hope you enjoy Nate and Kay’s journey to love as much as I have.
What’s your favorite summertime or vacation location? Babette will be giving away an eBook copy of Clear As Day to one lucky commenter. Please leave your e-mail address with your comment.
About the author:
Babette James writes contemporary and fantasy romance and loves reading nail-biting tales with a satisfying happily ever after. When not dreaming up stories, she enjoys playing with new bread recipes and dabbling with paints. Babette is a member of New Jersey Romance Writers, where she has served on the Board. She is also a Pro member of Romance Writers of America, and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal, Celtic Hearts, and ESPAN Chapters of RWA, Liberty States Fiction Writers, and Romance Divas. As a teacher, she loves encouraging new readers and writers as they discover their growing abilities. Her class cheers when it’s time for their spelling test! Born in New Jersey and raised in Southern California, she’s had a life-long love of the desert and going down the shore. Babette now lives in New Jersey with her wonderfully patient husband and three extremely spoiled cats.
You can find out more about Babette James and how to connect with her on her website.
Giveaway:
One winner will receive an eBook of Clear As A Day by Babette James.
How to enter:
Leave a comment answering the question posted above by Babette.
Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open internationally. Giveaway will be open until midnight EST on May 18th. Winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will be emailed, and this blog post will be updated to show the winner. Winner has three days to respond or a new winner will be selected.
Winner: Pragya
Clear As Day began as a short story years back when I was in college, an exercise featuring the desert setting of Lake Mohave, a reservoir downstream from the Hoover Dam formed out of stretch of the Colorado River by the Davis Dam. I grew up in Southern California and I’ve always had a love of the deserts of the Southwest, particularly the areas of Lake Havasu and Lake Mohave, and even took a college class on desert biology. I loved the juxtaposition of the stark, hot landscape with the cool waters and wanted to play with that particular setting. I’m delighted with my cover and how it shares some of the area’s unique beauty.
But a story needs more than a setting, and my artist character Kay appeared in her lakeside campsite as the sole first person point of view, already independent, reserved, and commitment-shy. Then the man who would become easy-going, globetrotting photographer Nate showed up to disrupt her careful, comfortable rut in life. I never quite found a place for Clear As Day in its short story form, but never gave up on it, and two years ago took on the experiment of expanding the little original story first into a novella.
The expansion was an interesting experience. The simple friends-with-benefits relationship proved not so simple and from there exploded the beginnings of their conflict, love story, and their tight-knit group of friends. I had fun with the story, adding in bits of my family’s trips to the river, other camping and fishing experiences, and my own enjoyment of watercolors, music, photography, and the desert. Kay’s viewpoint changed from first person to third. The biggest change and challenge was adding in Nate’s viewpoint, and once I did that, the story just bloomed into the full novel length it is now. I had to explore the whys of all the characters and asking one question led to another and more.
Clear As Day was no longer a just scenic location and simple moment in time between two occasional lovers, but a full story world with a crowd of interesting secondary characters, and all the characters’ lives intersecting and affecting one another. Not only did I have to ask what has happened in just Kay’s and Nate’s backstories to bring them to the story’s point in time, I needed to explore their friends’ lives, and additionally, ask what happened next to all of them, after Kay and Nate reached their point of happily ever after. I found that the story of Kay and Nate and their friends had not ended, but had more still to tell. I’m currently hard at work on the sequel and other friends will be joining Kay and Nate in falling in love at the river.
I loved writing Clear As Day, it’s been a story of my heart in many ways, so seeing this story published is a dream come true. Receiving the 4 1/2 star scorcher review from Romantic Times and being able to hold my book in my hands have been truly thrilling moments. I hope you enjoy Nate and Kay’s journey to love as much as I have.
What’s your favorite summertime or vacation location? Babette will be giving away an eBook copy of Clear As Day to one lucky commenter. Please leave your e-mail address with your comment.
About the author:
Babette James writes contemporary and fantasy romance and loves reading nail-biting tales with a satisfying happily ever after. When not dreaming up stories, she enjoys playing with new bread recipes and dabbling with paints. Babette is a member of New Jersey Romance Writers, where she has served on the Board. She is also a Pro member of Romance Writers of America, and the Fantasy, Futuristic & Paranormal, Celtic Hearts, and ESPAN Chapters of RWA, Liberty States Fiction Writers, and Romance Divas. As a teacher, she loves encouraging new readers and writers as they discover their growing abilities. Her class cheers when it’s time for their spelling test! Born in New Jersey and raised in Southern California, she’s had a life-long love of the desert and going down the shore. Babette now lives in New Jersey with her wonderfully patient husband and three extremely spoiled cats.You can find out more about Babette James and how to connect with her on her website.
Giveaway:
One winner will receive an eBook of Clear As A Day by Babette James.
How to enter:
Leave a comment answering the question posted above by Babette.
Giveaway details:
Giveaway is open internationally. Giveaway will be open until midnight EST on May 18th. Winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will be emailed, and this blog post will be updated to show the winner. Winner has three days to respond or a new winner will be selected.
Sorry! This giveaway is now over.
Winner: Pragya
