Debut Author Jamie Dallas Has a New Book and a Giveaway!

We have a winner! Roseann McGrath Brooks, your name was drawn to receive a $20 Amazon gift card from Jamie! Thanks to everyone who visited and commented and our very best to Jamie on her debut novel! 

So very pleased to welcome author and new Tuligan Jamie Dallas to the blog today with her debut novel, The Best Man’s Bride, which releases from Tule Publishing on July 19. Jamie has been creating stories in her head for as long as she can remember. When not writing, she can be found either buried in a book, dreaming about storylines while out on walks, or baking yet again to avoid housework and chores. She lives with her husband, a new baby daughter , and two demanding cats.

GIVEAWAY! Leave a comment below, say hello, and Jamie will give a $20 Amazon gift card to a lucky winner! We will choose a random winner on July 10.

N: Welcome to the blog, Jamie. I’m so delighted to have you with us today. So, what inspired you to start writing?

A: My mom, who also loves to write, really encouraged my writing. I was one of those who wrote and journaled as a kid, and during my teen years, I loved to come up with characters and play out scenes in my head. As I got older, writing became my creative outlet and my mental escape. I’ve loved romance novels for years, so it made sense to me that if I wrote a novel, it would be romance.

N: What comes first—the plot or the characters?

A: The characters. When a character comes to me, begging to be written, I have to listen to them. It’s their voice that drives me to write the first chapter or two before I start figuring out the plot. Hailey, the heroine in The Best Man’s Bride, came to me during the middle of my day job while I was daydreaming away. She had just ran out of her wedding and was walking down the sidewalk with nowhere to go in the middle of a rainstorm. I went home that evening and started writing her immediately.

N: Your debut novel with Tule Publishing releases July 19—that’s so exciting! What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing The Best Man’s Bride?

A: Thank you! I am so thrilled. The Best Man’s Bride was such a journey for me. The manuscript also a finalist in for the 2018 Golden Heart awards, and it was the first time I realized that maybe I could write something worth reading. It was a lot of work to pull this manuscript together, but each time I finished a revision, I was so proud of myself for actually doing this. Sometimes starting a novel is the easy part. Finishing it can be an emotional marathon, though.

N: The Best Man’s Bride is book 1 in The Hartman Brothers series, your first series for Tule. Do we get to meet all the brothers in this first book?

A: We get to meet all the brothers in book 2, and I am going to leave it at that for now.

N: Are your characters pretty much all fiction or are they based on people you know?

A: My characters are more or less fiction.

N: The book is part of Tule’s Texas Born imprint. Talk to me about Texas. Is that where you live? What is your favorite part of the Lone Star State?

A: I have never lived in Texas, but I have visited it multiple times, and drove across it once on Interstate 10, and I’ve always been struck by how friendly the people were, the delicious BBQ, the beautiful scenery, and the history. I picked Houston for my story because I liked the diversity and culture of the city. I have relatives there as well so it felt like a nice family connection.

N: Give us three words to describe your character Hailey. Three words to describe your hero Jace?

A: Hailey is feisty, dedicated, and bubbly. I like that she has some grit to her once she sets her mind on something. Jace is stoic, serious, and driven. He also likes to accomplish everything he sets his mind to, so it was fun to pair these two together. They had the same goal but different means of achieving it while fighting their attraction to each other.

N: Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell your readers about?

A: I’m wrapping up the edits for book 3 of the Hartman Brothers series. After that I will start to daydream about my characters for the next project!

N: What do you like to do when you are not writing?

A: I had my first baby a few months ago, and it’s been an amazing journey thus far. So my usual hobbies of baking, running, hiking, and reading are on hold as my husband and I wrap our lives around this beautiful little girl.

N: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: Something with horses. It varied from horse trainer to barrel racer to vet. Ultimately, I didn’t go down a horsey path, but I still dream about it.

N: Favorite book when you were a kid?

A: As a young kid — Fritz and the Beautiful Horses. As a young adult, and this may be cliché, but Pride and Prejudice. My sophomore year of high school, my teacher let us pick a book to read and write a report on, and my mom recommended Pride and Prejudice. When I read the back cover, it sounded boring and dry, but it turned out that my mom was completely right, and I loved it. I now own multiple copies.

N: And here is my signature question that everyone loves: If you could choose three people, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

A: I would pick Kate McKinnon, Elizabeth Peters, and Mindy Kaling. I’m not sure how these three people would mix, but they are creative people I admire who make me laugh. And laughter is the best way to get through life.

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The Best Man’s Bride

What else can go wrong? Or is everything finally going right?

After catching her fiancé lip-locked with the wedding planner an hour before their vows, Hailey Miller hikes up her wedding dress and runs. The last person she expects to chase her down is her ex’s sexy but aloof business partner who’s kept her at arm’s length for years. He offers her a lifeline, but his help comes with a catch. Does she dare say yes?

Jace Hartman doesn’t believe in love. And he doesn’t believe in giving up. He won’t let his company’s event planner walk away from their biggest launch—even if she has a broken heart. Business comes first, so he makes Hailey an offer she can’t refuse. But it’s her counter offer that has him worried. She needs a place to live for the month, and he has an extra bedroom.

Jace has spent the past few years trying his best to bury his attraction to Hailey. Now she’s everywhere and making him forget all the reasons he should never mix business and pleasure.

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