Spotlight & Giveaway: Old Dog New Tricks by Roxanne St. Claire

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Roxanne St. Claire to HJ!

Hi Rocki and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Old Dog New Tricks!

 
Hi everyone! So excited to be here on the day AFTER Valentine’s Day. Did you have a good one? Roses, chocolate, and romance? I hope so!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

This is the story of a man who loved his wife with every fiber of his being for their thirty-six year marriage. He still does love her very much, four years after she died suddenly. Daniel Kilcannon, a veterinarian who runs the largest canine rescue and training facility in North Carolina has spent the past few years pulling some strings so that his six grown children all find their own happily ever afters, earning him the name The Dogfather. They’ve all been trying to return the favor, setting him up on date after date with eligible women. He obliged, but felt nothing. Then a woman who was pivotal to his past arrives in the town of Bitter Bark…and her reason for this reunion is going to rock the family and the foundation of Daniel’s world.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Katie Rogers tore out of the front door of her dorm, officially fifteen—no, twenty—minutes late for her date. She negotiated the front steps of Gillespie Hall while checking her watch, smoothing her hair, and adjusting the sweater she’d grabbed to throw over jeans, hoping it was nice enough for a Saturday night. Oh well. She was late for a good cause. That phone call had been…amazing. And so, so tempting.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This is definitely the most requested book/character I’ve ever had in more than 50 published novels. Daniel Kilcannon’s love story has been on readers’ minds since book one. So, there was pressure to get it just perfect. I hope I did! Don’t worry – it stands alone if you haven’t read the series. But it’s better if you have!
• The hero is 61 and the heroine is 60. I do not believe love stops at “a certain age” and, as I have in the past, I had a BLAST writing older characters.
• I started this book three days after I lost my beloved Pepper, my first dog, and the one who made a dog lover out of me. That made it very hard to write, but I also channeled my grief into the emotions of the main characters and I think it is palpable on the page.
• I shoot all the covers at Alaqua Animal Refuge in Florida and donate a percentage of the proceeds to that wonderful animal shelter. I use real dogs that are rescues available for adoption from Alaqua and local men as models. This one is a high school principal…take me to the office, please.

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book. As you wrote your protagonist was there anything about them that surprised you?

I knew this hero very well from previous books, so very little surprised me about him. But the heroine certainly surprised me. I didn’t realize until I started what her situation would be. In fact, I wrote an entirely different opening (all the way through the first 50 pages) and then realized it was all wrong, and I had the wrong woman set up as the heroine. In her past, she was in an equally happy marriage and is also widowed. The departed spouses are very much a part of this blossoming relationship — up there in heaven, rooting them on!

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

The real answer to that would spoil the heck out of the book. I’ll go with the first meet!

Rusty gave a quick bark and strolled over to a small table where two women were sipping coffee and sharing pastries.
“Rusty,” Daniel said, automatically reaching for the dog who normally never left his side.
He barked again, sidling up to one of the women who seemed to be inviting him over with a flick of her fingers.
“Sorry.” Daniel snagged Rusty’s collar and took in the young woman’s face, struck by something vaguely familiar. She wasn’t a local, but hadn’t he seen her recently? Hadn’t he passed her on the street yesterday and nodded? And before that? Hadn’t she been in the hardware store when he bought the wrong color of floor stain the other day? She wasn’t someone you’d forget, but a remarkably beautiful, almost exotic-looking woman who might only be thirty. Rusty certainly remembered her.
Could this be the one for Braden? He had a weakness for brunettes, based on his last relationship, though he seemed a bit scarred by it. Maybe Connor. He had a weakness for women, but usually did the scarring.
“He only goes to people he knows and likes,” Daniel said, easing Rusty back.
“Then he must like me.” She reached out to pet the dog, but beamed up at Daniel. “Irish setter?”
He nodded, then glanced at the other woman at the table, who looked up and studied him with a strange mix of anticipation and uncertainty in her eyes.
Afraid of dogs, he decided instantly, getting a good hold of Rusty’s collar. “Really, I’m sorry. He generally knows his boundaries.”
A shaky smile lifted the corner of the second woman’s lips, and another sense of familiarity seized him. She had to be the younger woman’s mother, since the resemblance was apparent enough. Like her daughter, she had brown eyes, only they were softer, not as intensely dark. Her hair was deep brown, but not black, and cut short in a way that the ends brushed a delicate chin. But he’d seen her before, too. Not recently, but…he knew her.
Didn’t he? She looked younger than he was, but definitely a contemporary, likely in her fifties, although there wasn’t a thread of silver in her hair and only slight crinkles at her eyes. Maybe because she wasn’t smiling, but searching his face as though she sensed that same familiarity.
A Waterford client? Someone he’d met at one of the zillion town committees he was on? Someone from his mother’s church choir who’d come to the house? How did he…
“Daniel?”
It was her voice. Distinct, a little throaty, and utterly memorable. A chilly January night. A long ride in the dark. A lot of talk about…puzzle pieces.
“Katie? Katie Rogers?” His jaw fell as recognition hit him. “I don’t believe it.”
She sucked in a little breath and let it out as a soft “Oh!”
Instantly, she rose, and they hugged each other, their heads going the same way so they bumped, eliciting awkward laughs.
Katie Rogers. The girl who introduced him to Annie. “Wow,” he muttered, closing his eyes, and in that split second, he could swear he heard his dearly departed wife’s knowing chuckle.
Had Annie…
“I wondered if I’d see you around Bitter Bark,” Katie said, giving him another light embrace, but leaning back to look at him the same way he was looking at her.
“Of course, I live here. I can’t believe it’s you.”
“Old friend?” the other woman asked.
“Very old,” Katie said, then instantly held up her hand in apology. “Not that you look old, Daniel. You look fantastic.”
“So do you.” That was an understatement. The compliment must have tumbled out with great enthusiasm, since it earned a little snort of laughter from the younger woman.
“Oh, Daniel, this is my daughter, Cassie.”
She stood and shook his hand as Katie introduced them.
“Honey, this is a…friend from that brief half semester I spent in college, Daniel Kilcannon.”
He turned to her daughter, but it wasn’t easy to take his gaze from Katie. She really looked amazing. Older, yes, but somehow the same. That pretty girl had bloomed into a beautiful woman.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

Obviously, love can happen at any age…even if you’ve already had “the great one” in your lifetime. There’s hope on every page, along with laughter and — sorry — quite a few tears. If you love big families and dogs (and, of course, romance) then The Dogfather is the series for you. Each book stands alone and each book not only has a romance at the center of the story, there’s ALWAYS a dog that somehow holds that romance together. And, contrary to some rumors, Daniel’s book is NOT the last book in the series. There will be many, many more!
 

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

The next book in the series! I haven’t announced the title or revealed the cover yet…but if you are on my newsletter list or part of the Dogfather Readers Group on Facebook, you’ll get both very soon!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Winner will get a signed copy of OLD DOG NEW TRICKS! (US only)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: How do you feel about romance novels with older, more mature characters? Yes or no? Have you read any you loved?

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Excerpt from Old Dog New Tricks:

“We have the kind of connection that allows for us to be physical and share pleasure,” Katie said. “But not stop loving that…puzzle piece, whether it’s next to us or not.”
Daniel stared at her for a moment. “Is that possible?”
“Obviously, yes.”
“And that’s what you want?” he asked. “Essentially, sex with the knowledge that we’re both in love with other people, even though they’re gone?”
She let out one long, shuddering sigh. “Well, when you put it that way…”
“It’s the only way to put it.” He inched away as a slow, icy, far more familiar numbness crawled over his skin, dousing the heat they’d just built. He knew this feeling, had learned it as a kid, lived with it his whole life. His gut instinct. His moral commandments. His foundation, taught to him by wise Irish parents who lived a simple life guided by knowing the difference between right and wrong.
Getting pregnant before marriage wasn’t wrong. Skipping church on Sundays wasn’t wrong. Pulling a few strings to be a matchmaker a romance wasn’t wrong.
But making love to a woman while still loving another one?
“It feels wrong,” he said simply.
“You always did have a helluva code of ethics.”
He closed his eyes. “Not usually a fault, but yes, I live by a simple creed of doing what’s right and walking away from what’s wrong.”
He felt her whole body slump ever so slightly. “I know that. I really like that about you.”
“Then you have to accept that if I change that, if I go south when my compass tells me to go north, then…”
“You’ll be lost.”
He sighed with relief that she understood. “I’m afraid so.”
For a long time, she sat very still, not touching him anymore, not even looking at him with that sexy, irresistible promise in her eyes. He prayed he hadn’t hurt her, but didn’t want to say anything as he waited for her response.
She just smiled and stood, the only noise the swish of her jacket-covered arms brushing her sides when she dropped her arms.
“You want to go in?” he asked.
“I’m going to get Goldie,” she announced. “I’m going to bring her with me to the guest room tonight where she can sleep on the rug or at the bottom of the bed. If she needs comfort, I’ll give it. If she offers company, I’ll take it. If she gets too attached and wants forever?”
He looked up at her, waiting for the rest.
“Then we’ll deal with that as it happens,” she finally said.
He reached for her, half expecting her to yank her hand out of his, but she didn’t. She let him hold her hand, but didn’t grasp back, looking down at him. “I don’t want to—”
“Shhh.” She released his hand and put a finger on his lips. “I understand, respect, and admire you.” Her lips curled in a smile. “I also think we got our fortunes mixed up. You need to be a little more mischievous to not be lonely, and I need to…” She gave a quick laugh. “Accept defeat.”
He stayed silent, not trusting his voice.
“Good night, Daniel.”
He just stared at her.
It was wrong. Breaking his vow was wrong. Falling for another woman was wrong. Everything about this was wrong.
Except Katie, who was so damn right it hurt to think about it.
He watched her walk out of the garden, seeing a woman he knew could give him pleasure and satisfaction, and he’d easily return the favor. His body screamed for that kind of release. His brain rattled with common sense, telling him they were both smart adults who could not only handle it, but enjoy it.
But his heart. His poor, wretched, broken, bruised heart still belonged to someone else.
Frustrated, he stood, turned, and demanded answers.
“Doesn’t it, Annie? Aren’t you the only one I should ever be with?”
All he heard was a rustle of wind, a click of the kennel door in the distance, then, after a moment, the familiar bark of a red golden retriever who, if Daniel were to truly be honest, should be moving into his home and room right now. But then he’d fall in love with her. And she wasn’t an Irish setter, and that’s the only dog he could ever have as his own. It would be wrong to give his heart and home to a dog who wasn’t an Irish setter. That’s the Kilcannon family dog. That’s…
Dumb. That was closed-minded and shortsighted and dumb as dirt.
He walked to the tree in the middle of the garden, closing his fist over a thin, crispy branch, snapping it off with frustration.
“Annie girl, help me.” He dropped his head in defeat, staring at the twig in his hand with stinging eyes. He angled it and looked closely. Sure enough, there was a thread of green in there, thin and nearly invisible, but it was…something.
It was hope. It was life. It was the possibility that this tree, dead and dry and withered to the world, still had a chance to grow and thrive. A chance to soak up the sun and provide shade and give a home to birds and bees. This tree’s life wasn’t over.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Daniel Kilcannon, the veterinarian known as the Dogfather, has been widowed for four years. He’s spent the time running the largest canine rescue and training facility in North Carolina and pulling some strings to make sure each of his six grown children find a love like the one he lost when his beloved Annie died. But as the years slip by, Daniel’s decision to never love again is starting to make him restless. When a woman who was pivotal to his past arrives in Bitter Bark, he wonders if her appearance is coincidence or the guiding hand of his dearly departed wife…but the truth is neither. She’s about to change his life again in ways he could never have imagined. And Daniel isn’t sure if his heart — or his family — will ever recover from the impact.

Buy: http://www.roxannestclaire.com/dogfather-series/
 
 

Meet the Author:

Published since 2003, Roxanne St. Claire is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty romance and suspense novels. She has written several popular series, including The Dogfather, Barefoot Bay, the Guardian Angelinos, and the Bullet Catchers.

In addition to being an ten-time nominee and one-time winner of the prestigious RITA™ Award for the best in romance writing, Roxanne has won the National Reader’s Choice Award for best romantic suspense four times, as well as the Maggie, the Daphne du Maurier Award, the HOLT Medallion, Booksellers Best, Book Buyers Best, the Award of Excellence, and many others.

A mother of two but recent empty-nester, Roxanne lives in Florida with her husband. She loves dogs, books, chocolate, and wine, especially all at the same time.
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