Welcome Wild Rose Press author, Donna Simonetta...


Hi Donna! It's great to have you here - I'm looking forward to learning more about you and your books. Wishing you many sales and much success with your latest release, A SWEETER SPOT! Let's start with my questions...

1.)              What is the strangest talent you have?

Hmm…this is a tough question! Maybe the ability to open any book to an “inappropriate” passage. For many years, I worked in the library at a boys middle school, which is a tough group for whom to select books. The 8th graders can be very mature, and some of the 6th graders very young. Whenever my boss wanted to check to see if a book might be better-suited for our upper-school library, she would have me look at it, because I had the unerring knack for opening up to a curse word or a sex scene. Maybe it was some sort of romance writer super-power!

2.)              What is the best Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?

I dressed as Cleopatra for a Halloween party once. It was not terribly authentic…more like the Elizabeth Taylor movie version of Cleo, than the actual woman. But I spent a lot of time making it, and doing my hair and make-up. I lost the costume contest to a woman who rented a clown costume, and I’m still a little bitter about it.

3.)              Are the titles of your books important?

Titles are very important to me. I look for quotes that relate to the theme of my story, and then try to find a piece of the quotation that would make a good title. A Sweeter Spot is from a poem by Robert Montgomery––“Home, the spot of earth supremely blest.  A dearer, sweeter spot than all the rest.”
I was struggling with my current work-in-progress, book 3 of the Rivers Bend trilogy, until I thought of a new title, and it spun things off in a better direction, and is moving right along now!

4.)              If you’re struggling with a scene or difficult character, what methods help you through it?
Stepping away from the story for a bit can sometimes work for me. I’m usually working on more than one thing at once––for example, right now I’m doing Galley edits for Love is Lovelier, book 2 in the Rivers Bend trilogy, and also writing book 3, as well as a ghost story that I’m really enjoying writing.  If I get stuck on one, I’ll work on one of the others for a while, and sometimes that’s enough to clear my head and provide a way forward.
5.)              Do you prefer dog, cats or none of the above?

Dogs all the way for me! Nothing really against cats, although I am allergic to them. I’m just a dog lover! I still miss my beloved Shih Tzu, Wendy. She was trouble on four paws, but I loved her to bits! Petunia, Magda’s dog in A Sweeter Spot, is loosely based on Wendy.

6.)              Who’s your favourite author? Why?

I love so many, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one! Hmm…probably my favourite author would be Agatha Christie. I can read and re-read her mysteries over and over again, and still enjoy them. She also wrote a non-fiction book about being on a dig with her archaeologist husband, and I love that one too! It’s called “Come Tell Me How You Live”, and it’s funny and interesting.

7.)              Do you have a pet peeve?

This question tripped me up, I know I have pet peeves, but for some reason I was drawing a blank on it, so I asked my husband what he thought my pet peeves were. He came up with two––one, is amusing, and I acknowledge it is true. I’m fortunate that my husband enjoys cooking, and on the weekends will whip up a fabulous dish for us that will usually feed us for a few days during the week, hence freeing up my writing time. That being said, he seems to be physically incapable of shutting a cabinet door once he opens it. When he leaves the kitchen, it looks like a tornado blew through and opened all the cabinets! The second one was that I hate it when people are mean to children and animals. This one, I wasn’t as aware of, so I asked him what I do, and he said I get steamed. True. But I hadn’t really thought of it as a pet peeve before.

8.)              Do you remember your dreams when you wake up in the morning?

I do! My husband rarely remembers his, so he always enjoys hearing mine in the morning. They can be really cinematic. A lot of times, I get great ideas for my writing during that fuzzy half-awake/half-asleep time in the morning. I keep a notepad next to the bed, to jot them down before I forget them.

Magda knows a 28-year-old shouldn’t run away from home, but Rivers Bend is the ideal escape. Helping out her best friend will get her away from her uber-wealthy, controlling grandmother and duplicitous ex. She doesn’t expect the quirky little town to feel so much like home. Add in hotter-than-the-sun Jeff and his daughter, and leaving seems as unthinkable as it is inevitable.

Raising Sam alone, Jeff knew he wanted her to grow up in his supportive hometown. The arrival of a feisty new tenant sends Jeff's world spinning. Magda fills a void in his life that he’d like to make permanent.

Will love triumph over the most powerful woman in the country, and can they figure out how to make this happy-for-now in Rivers Bend into their happy-ever-after?

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BIO:

My career has been a winding road. I worked in the business world for years, got my MLS and worked in a school library, and am now living my dream as an author. I love to read and write contemporary and fantasy romance. I live in Maryland, with my husband, who is my real-life romance hero. We both enjoy traveling to visit our far-flung family and friends, and spending time on the beach with an umbrella drink and a good book.








1 comment

  1. Thank you so much for letting me visit your blog! I really appreciate it so much!
    Happy Holidays!
    : )
    Donna

    ReplyDelete