Interview & Giveaway – Too Far Down – Mary Connealy

28 Comments on Interview & Giveaway – Too Far Down – Mary Connealy

I have found, by running this sight, that I really like lantern’s on covers. I don’t know why, but they draw me, and today’s giveaway book has a lantern on it! Bonus points. Plus it’s Mary Connealy, so it’s going to be a fun book, I’m certain!

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Too Far Down

When an explosion kills men and damages the CR Mining Company, the Bodens realize their troubles are not behind them as they thought. Shadowy forces are still working against them.

Cole Boden finds himself caught between missing his time back East and all that New Mexico offers. Sure he fights with his siblings now and then, but he does care for them. He enjoys running the mine and, when he’s honest, he admits that Melanie Blake captures his interest in a way no other woman ever has.

Melanie has been a friend to the Bodens forever. A cowgirl who is more comfortable with horses and lassoes than people, she never expected to find herself falling for someone. Particularly for refined Cole Boden, a Harvard graduate who may not stay long at the ranch. She’s determined, however, to help the Bodens finally put an end to the danger that’s threatened all of them. But will putting herself in harm’s way be more dangerous than anyone expected?

Mary’s Website

Mary Author Pic

Others in this series: First one is FREE!

 

 

 

 

 

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Questions about Mary’s Story

What character in your book turned out to be your favorite?

I loved Cole Boden, the hero of Too Far Down, which is book #3 in the series. He is in the prequel, The Boden Birthright, right now free as an ebook and available in print in a collection called All For Love which will release next May. He was a little child in The Boden Birthright and saving Cole was almost all the focus of that book, though it led to romance and his father’s marriage and general mayhem. So, I loved writing this book. I’ve been eager to tell Cole’s story.

If you could be one of your characters, who would you choose to be and why?

Oh no contest. I’d want to be Mel (Call-Me-Melanie-and-I’ll-Kill-You) Blake. Melanie, the tough frontier cowgirl heroine of Too Far Down, is the kind of character I love writing. Tough, smart, hard working. She doesn’t back down for anyone and she always says exactly what she means. This could not be more exactly the opposite of me. I am non-confrontational to an alarming degree. I keep my mouth shut and think long and hard before I say anything that could upset anyone. My humor is mostly self-deprecating because at least I won’t be mad at myself, right? And then I go home and I write books and shoot people in them. It’s a nice safe outlet.

Did you include a real historical character or incident in your story?

I did. I based this story on a land grant conflict that was real life. Where an American changed his citizenship to Mexican to earn a land grant, then the border changed and suddenly his land grant is in America. and he changed his citizenship back to American. The New Mexico territorial government started rescinding these massive, million acre land grants and this American/Mexican/American guy wasn’t quite American enough, so he had his daughter marry a for-sure American and he managed to save his land grant. Anyway, research was fun and the story is outlandish and yet based on truth, it’s called the Maxwell Land Grant.

Why did you choose the year your book is set?

Heath Kincaid was a child in my Kincaid Brides Series. I’ve been dying to give him his own love story and he needed to grow up. That helped set me in time because I needed it to be at least ten years after Heath appeared as a ten-year-old in Over the Edge.

What research did you have to look up to make your character’s professional decisions authentic?

It’s so fun to do research because you end up on rabbit trails, looking up one thing, and that leads to something else. The research I enjoyed the most was when I found a bunch of old Indian fables to explain the ruins on top of some New Mexican mesas. Very fascinating to read and compare the story to reality and see the seeds of truth in them. For this specific book I found the Philmont Ranch—now owned by the Boy Scouts of America. And the gold mines on the top of Mt. Baldy…part of which is on the Philmont Ranch. That set me on the path to use those mines as a setting for my story.

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Questions about Mary’s Reading

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those below are FREE!

 

What other Christian Historical Novels are similar to yours in setting or storyline?

Lori Copeland’s Men of the Saddle and Brides of the West series. Regina Jennings novels are favorites of mine. Everything by Karen Witemeyer. Margaret Brownley does work that reminds me of mine. I love Melissa Jagears work. Jen Turano has humor in her books and I’m always looking for that.  I shouldn’t have started because I’m leaving people out. Cowboys are hot right now!

 

What Christian Historical Novel did you reread last, and why did you reread it?

Well, oddly enough, I just ‘sort of’ re-read my Wild at Heart series. I had eye surgery recently for a detatched retina…and part of the aftermath of that is the doctor requiring me to lie face down for TEN DAYS! Yes, I was under Doctor’s orders to smother myself. So I needed books on tape and the one My Cowboy got me from the local library was my Wild at Heart series. I honestly really enjoyed it and it saved my sanity.

What Christian Historical Novel taught you something about the craft of writing because it was so well done?

And tell us a bit about what it taught you. When I read Francine River’s Mark of the Lion trilogy I felt like I really realized the power of word. The way she created that world, 1st century Rome, and then pulled me into it. Absolutely brilliant.

Mary is giving away a copy paperback (usa only) and I’m giving away winner’s choice of ebook of any of the books mentioned above. Enter the Rafflecopter below!

**If you don’t want to enter Rafflecopter, tell me in a comment below: “I’m not entering the rafflecopter, but please throw me in the hat” so I can manually put you in there for a chance.**

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