Guest Bloggers: Tara Taylor Quinn and Tim Barney

[Lynda’s note: Please join me in welcoming my first guest bloggers, Tara Taylor Quinn and Tim Barney — very special visitors indeed! They are stopping by as part of the blog tour for their newest book, It Happened on Maple Street, which tells their true life love story. I’m very honored to have them here. And for those stopping by on the tour, thanks for visiting here with us today!]

Tim and I have been looking forward to today’s stop. It feels more like a day off then a day on the road. We won’t take up too much space because I want you all to have time to look around, to spend enough time to browse. I found the site by accident. I was doing a search on the internet that ultimately led me here. I was reading for a bit before I realized that the site’s owner is one of us. She’s been right here on tour with us this entire trip. I read on. And on. I’m busy. I barely have time to read my mail, but I just kept reading. I didn’t want to leave. And when I need reminders of what really matters in life, when I’m getting ahead of myself, or starting to panic, I come back here. I hope you all find some of the same solace here that keeps bringing me back.

A post that most particularly sticks with me is Lynda’s post from her mother’s journal about her grandmother – the fact that she’s able to publish her mother’s words is phenomenal enough to make the post worth reading. But her grandmother’s wisdom – that’s priceless. The grandmother’s words keep repeating themselves in my brain. I’ll give you just a teaser – in my brain it goes something like this, ‘if you don’t have the time to do something right the first time, how will you ever find the time to do it a second time?’ I don’t know why that spoke to me so voraciously, but I’m listening! And applying, too.

To me, this blog, this stop, the way you can be looking for one thing and end up stumbling upon a great gift is what life, the Maple Street tour, and our communing here together is all about. We strengthen each other just by putting ourselves out here. And life, no matter how difficult, always has good to offer us around the corner. We just have to be open to it.

Tim is here, too. The idea behind the site spoke to him – this idea of second memory. It inspired some great conversation. Between us – and with our dinner companion last night. When we got home, Tim put some of his thoughts down to share with you all. Here’s what he has to say:

It’s funny that when you’re a kid and living in the moment you take everything for granted. Your world is the way the world is supposed to be. You have kind of an oblivious look at your environment. But when you get a bit of age on you, you tend to remember those same things with a bit more emotion attached to them. You tend to let emotion spice them up. However, there are certain memories in life that really were just the way you remember them. For example, Tara and I met at Wright State University in October, at October Daze. I can still remember the day exactly the same as it was when I was there in 1977. The day was overcast, drizzling rain, and cold. To some that would seem like a horrible day, but to me, the feeling I had when I was talking to Tara kept me oblivious to the weather. Still to this day when the weather is, as it has been for the past month, rainy and cool, I love it and want to be outside in it. I associate those cool rainy days with the way I felt that 1977 October day.

Tim and Tara

It’s those clear and vivid memories that you can actually write about in great detail. When Tara and I sat down to write It Happened On Maple Street, we had no problem remembering the details of what happened from our own perspectives. And when we compared notes, we found that the stories were identical except for the point view they came from. Our memories were so clear and vivid – and accurate. I realized through all of this that certain memories stay with us vividly because they’re enhanced by a longing to have those times again.

And every once in a while, we get lucky. Every once in a while we get to go back, as Tara and I did, and find that what was there, still is. And it’s every bit as good as the memory promised it would be.

This post is brought to you as part of the It Happened On Maple Street International Blog Tour. For a complete tour schedule visit www.tarataylorquinn.com. All blog commenters are added to the weekly basket list. One Unique Gift Basket is given each week to one randomly drawn name on the list.

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, or if you suspect someone is, please contact http://www.thehotline.org, or call, toll free, 24/7, 1-800-799-7233 (SAFE) or 1-800-787-3224 (TTY). The call can be anonymous and is always confidential. There is not one second of life that is worth wasting.

Next tour stop: Tuesday, May 17, SuperRomance Authors Unplugged: http://www.superauthors.com/.

To get your copy of It Happened On Maple Street, visit your favorite bookseller, or www.maplestreetbook.com.

Don’t miss The Chapman Files! Still available at: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Tara+Taylor+Quinn.

It Happened On Maple Street is available on Kindle and Nook, too! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0757315682/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d2_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0SKJ9D86BB5XG2BPT4MV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846; http://search.barnesandnoble.com/It-Happened-on-Maple-Street/Tara-Taylor-Quinn/e/9780757315688/?itm=15&USRI=tara+taylor+quinn.

The Chapman Files

This week marks the release of The Fourth Victim, the fourth book in the Chapman Files series by bestselling author Tara Taylor Quinn.  The series centers around the figure of Dr. Kelly Chapman, a noted psychologist and nationally recognized expert witness.  These books chronicle cases from her files as well as events in Kelly’s life.  In an unusual but highly effective choice, Chapman’s sections are voiced in first person, which provides an intimate connection between Kelly and the reader, putting one right into the center of her thoughts and feelings.   While each of the stories is capable of standing by itself, the richness and complexity of the stories is best enjoyed when read as a series, as characters and callbacks link the four works intimately together.

The First Wife (September 2010) unravels a complex story of bigamy, domestic abuse, murder, and an unexpected pregnancy.  Here, Kelly Chapman makes her debut as an expert witness in a murder trial and, along the way, also demonstrates why she is so successful as a psychologist and as a friend.  But the central story is that of Jane and Brad, and whether love really can heal all wounds.   As is her fashion, Quinn challenges traditional themes by incorporating tough and unexpected topics with deft storytelling, leading the reader through complex psychological issues and poignant, heart-breaking moments of discovery and understanding.  The final scenes left me in tears.

The second Chapman Files book, The Second Lie (October 2010), touched me in an entirely different way.  Having grown up in a small Midwestern farming community, Quinn’s depiction of the  farming town of Chandler, Ohio, was dead-on, complete with a range of characters who, in lesser hands, might have been stereotypical.  Here, however, I felt as though I were meeting older versions of people I grew up with, as real and quirky as old friends, and I was transported back to a small-town way of life, but one faced with very modern problems.  The issues are not minor — meth super-labs, drug-running, pedophiles, prostitution, murder/suicides, and even modern bio-agriculture and genetically-engineered corn– and show a wealth of background research.  And Chandler just happens to be Kelly Chapman’s hometown.  In addition to the suspenseful drama of the drug ring and murder, the story of long-time lovers Kyle and Samantha must resolve itself via emotional self-discovery and confronting challenging family issues.  Kelly’s role is no less difficult, as she takes on a new patient in fourteen-year-old Maggie, whose story will crack open the hardest of hearts.

In the third book of the series, The Third Lie (November 2010), Quinn moves the series onto a broader international stage by centering the story on a covert agent, used to the secrecy of international espionage, and a defense attorney, questioning the current state of her career and her life.  Intrigue, suspense, questions about the “rights and wrongs” of life choices, and intense characters kept this reader up well into the night.  Secrets unravel, many times over, and nothing is ever as it seems.  Rick is mysterious and charming, and as the story progresses, the reader, much like Kelly Chapman, has doubts about whether Erin should trust him.  How that plays out, with all its bends and twists, is suspense written at its best.   And through it all, Kelly’s growing relationship with Maggie grounds the reader as they struggle to become a family.

The Fourth Victim (December 2010) is Kelly’s story.  Simply put, it’s stunning.  The immediate dilemma for the author is to craft a romance when the heroine goes missing early in the book, and the hero’s job is to find her.  With layer upon layer of suspenseful possibilities, the story unfolds, teasing the reader with multiple possibilities for the ending.   Kelly’s scenes render her distress, at times in just a few lines.  Clay’s growing attachment is contagious, and those who liked Kelly in the first three books will come to love her as well.   Not only does The Fourth Victim begin the story of Kelly and Clay, it pulls together the series into a rich, harmonic quartet.  While it brings the original series to a close, it leaves the reader hopeful for more from Kelly Chapman and her files.

The series by itself is a phenomenal undertaking, but the effort to make a difference in real-world issues is also an important part of the story of the Chapman Files books.  Beginning with the release of The First Wife in September, Quinn began a four month long, international blog tour.  Her posts have covered topics including friendship, gratitude, domestic abuse, customer service, motherhood, and a myriad of other issues, including some that are deeply personal and highly emotional.  But each one is part of her very personal and public effort to help raise awareness and financial support for the issue of domestic violence.  In addition to requesting support for Strengthen Our Sisters, the first battered woman’s shelter in the U.S., Quinn is donating a portion of her proceeds from The Fourth Victim and has organized events and occasions to help as well.  The big events occur this weekend  –the first annual Tara Taylor Quinn Charity Skate/Walk, and a dual physical and online book launch party– both happening this Saturday, December 4, 2010.  Details on the events and on how you can support this effort are available on Quinn’s website.

As a long-time fan of her writing, I have been spoiled these past four months by having a new Tara Taylor Quinn book to savor and enjoy.    But without question, the Chapman Files series highlights the strengths that Quinn is best known for, including intense suspense, emotional and psychological depth, and cutting-edge, challenging topics.  As with all of her books, the characters find what I term a heart-and-soul love — transcending and encompassing passion and friendship, it’s the soul-deep, forever kind of love that great romances are all about.  If you haven’t read the Chapman Files, please do so.  And look for more amazing stories ahead from Quinn in 2011, including her own true-life romance.

Off and Running

Have you ever had one of those moments when, even while it’s happening, you know it will be one of the key moments in your life you look back on and mark as something special, a turning-point of sorts?  Well, the past few weeks have been that for me.  So many things in my world are coming together, it’s like the many-colored strands of my life-yarns are finally being woven together into a definable pattern, a visual portrait of “then,” “now,” and “when.”

If you’ve glanced at my Facebook or Twitter updates from a few weeks ago, you’ll know I had the chance to meet my favorite author, Tara Taylor Quinn, while attending the Romance Writers of America (RWA, http://www.rwa.org/ ) annual conference in Orlando.  Talk about a dream come true!  At best, I hoped to introduce myself and say “Hi” and “Thanks for the great stories all these years.”  But reality was so much better than that, and I’ve found a new friend and an amazing mentor.  Since her first book in October 1993, I’ve eagerly anticipated every book she’s written, nearly all of which still grace my shelves.  I still can’t believe it has been ten years since the Shelter Valley Series.  Her stories are deeply moving, and her characters embed themselves into your memory.  On those occasions when I mention that I write romances and get a look like I just said I eat marshmallow fluff for breakfast, I suggest they pick up her work,Sara’s Son, read it, and then tell me romances are just fluff.  Hah!  Tara’s stories never take the easy path, and most often they challenge conventional thinking about romance and the journey that falling in love (and staying in love) with someone is all about.  And her stories always make you think — not only about life and love, but about social issues, about being aware of things happening in the world about you, for good or for bad.  And how you might help.

Today, she launches a blog tour to celebrate not one but four — yes, FOUR — new books coming out between September and early December.  (I did mention that she is absolutely amazing, yes? Yes!)  I encourage you not only read her books but to follow along on this journey the next few months, geared to raising money in support of Strengthen Our Sisters, the nation’s first battered women’s shelter.   Personally, I can’t wait to see where it takes me, her, and Kelly Chapman (the heroine!).  The next few months, her work is my reward at the end of the day for work accomplished and goals met.  She’s always given me excellent, memorable stories. Now I can add advice and friendship to that list, along with a healthy dose of inspiration and motivation.  I’ve always admired her stories, and now I better understand why they are so incredible and so memorable.  So is she.

So, come follow along.  If I know anything about Tara’s stories, it will be an incredible adventure.

ttq’s homepage:   http://www.tarataylorquinn.com/

ttq blog-tour launch:  http://community.eharlequin.com/content/here-we-go-tara-taylor-quinn