Featured Author: Leslee Breene!

“Hearts on the Wind, a fast-paced romance, aptly captures the tensions of time and place
while also creating endearing characters.”
~ Joan Hinkemeyer, Rocky Mountain News
Grade “A” review – Author Spotlight

Welcome, Leslee! Tell us about your most recent release, HEARTS ON THE WIND.

Thank you for inviting me to share my writing journey with your Armchair fans, Tiffany!

My newest release from Five Star-Gale/Cengage is a Midwestern historical romance. Here’s the front cover flap summary of HEARTS ON THE WIND:

“At a northern Minnesota country wedding in 1876, Swedish farm girl Ingrid Johansson meets Norwegian railroad heir Andreas Eriksen. Her father instantly disapproves of Andreas. He is not only a “Norskie,” but a railroad man. The new railroad is charging farmers too much to ship their crops to the city. To seek her dream of becoming a teacher, Ingrid must find a way to attend a Minneapolis women’s academy, thereby defying her father’s wishes.

In St. Paul, Andreas makes a deathbed promise to his father to help build the financially ailing, fledgling St. Paul & Pacific Railroad.

Ingrid and Andreas’s paths again cross and their attraction grows. But, when his willful stepsister Dagmar returns from an eastern finishing school, a magnetic spark also draws her to Andreas. Soon Dagmar determines that she must possess him; together they will share the power and wealth of the evolving Northern Pacific Railroad, now backed by railroad baron, James J. Hill.

Hearts on the Wind is a dynamic journey into the heartland of historical America, leading the reader through the passions, greed, revenge, and triumph of its characters. Ingrid and Andreas’s odyssey plunges them into the turbulent Great Chicago Rail Strike, each seeking to fulfill their promises and their seemingly impossible future together.”

Have you always written historical romance? If so, why?

All three published books have been set from late 1870s to around 1880. What a fascinating time it was to live in America then. The railroads were working their way West. Rail barons and cowboys, and strong eastern women played important roles in that arena. So many adventures, so many love stories…

Why have I written mostly Western historical novels? All those sexy cowboys! (She winks.) Also, I’m in awe of the magnificent vastness of the place, the heart and the guts it took for those women and men to stake their lives here.

I'm a cowboy lover too! Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer.

I began writing romantic adventure novels after several years of studying and writing short fiction, back in the early nineties. At that time, I was a member of the National Writers Association. Then I joined the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and began attending a critique group and realized how much there was to learn!

After publishing in a few anthologies and sometimes winning short fiction competitions like the international Moonlight & Magnolias and ByLine Magazine competitions, I was inspired to expand my horizons and attempt novel-length fiction.

I was fortunate to interview with author/agent Denise Dietz at the 2005 RMFW Conference in Denver. Denise and I had critiqued together about ten years before, so we had developed a mutual respect for each other’s work. She liked LEADVILLE LADY, the book proposal I had submitted, and sent it on to John Helfers at Five Star. It was a thrill to have LEADVILLE LADY released as a Five Star Expressions (hardcover) in October 2006. My first historical romance, FOXFIRE, was published several years before as a POD.

What are you working on now?

It’s a contemporary, closer to women’s fiction with strong romance elements. More of an internal journey as well as an external journey for my heroine. Of course, this story is a love story, but also a woman’s love for a child. It spans the time and place of Katrina in New Orleans to the Sand Dunes of Colorado.

Tell us about some of the fun you've had interacting with readers.

Actually the members of my Bally’s water aerobics class have provided great fun and support for my work. For several years, my co-ed group has attended all my signings. It’s really a kick to have feedback from the men! One of the guys is a senior “biker” and strolled into Barnes & Noble in his black, fringed leather jacket, bandanna, motorcycle boots, etc. A big, tall dude with his silver hair pulled back in braided ponytail and wearing large yellow-tinted goggles! He was center stage.

I’ve put his photo in my “pic” collection on MySpace. =) BTW, your Armchair readers are invited to join me any time at www.MySpace.com/lesleeauthor and share their comments.

Do you get nervous before book signings?

Sure, it’s a “high” experience. Whenever you have a serendipity setting, anything can happen. I must admit my first solo signing at the Highlands Ranch, Co. Tattered Cover last November was an exciting challenge. But longtime friends attended like Joanne Sundell, fellow Five Star author, and Rob Baldwin, a talented Denver poet and author, and other family and friends, so it went quite well. The event even wound up on YouTube, so that was certainly icing on the cake!

Tell us a little about how you research your books.

I love to go on road trips to various Colorado locales like Leadville, the Sangre de Cristo mountains, the Sand Dunes, Jackson Hole, Wyo., and others. Just “being there” is so fascinating. The history, the real-life characters who lived there, the natural sights, buildings, and old cemeteries provide my muse with wonderful possibilities for future stories.

Any favorite authors or books?

That is a tough question. I’m very eclectic in my reading, so there are many authors of past and present who have influenced me. In the romance genre, Maggie Osborne and LaVyrle Spencer are monumental favorites. Joan Johnston and mainstream (Hallmark) author, Ann Howard Creel, are tops. I’m in awe of Women Writing the West authors Jane Candia Coleman and Jane Kirkpatrick. Helen Keller and Somerset Maugham inspired my earlier years.
Western singer/song writers are recent wellsprings . Jon Chandler, Bill Barwick, and flutist Douglas Blue Feather have all influenced my work.

Just for fun, what is one thing you are never without?

I never leave home without my sunglasses and bottled water. One should always stay hydrated in this dry Colorado climate!

Very smart, Leslee! Thanks so much for joining us today.

Thank you, Tiffany, for this wonderful opportunity to blog…just share my thoughts and writings with your Armchair Heroines visitors!

Leslee is here today to answer questions and comments, so post away!

And be sure to check out Leslee's website in order to enter her latest contest:

http://www.lesleebreene.com/. A hardcover copy of HEARTS ON THE WIND will be given to the contest winner each month, a softcover copy to the runner-up!

Happy Half-Week Day!