Character Interview: Fake Fiace, Real Revenge by Roxanne Snopek

**MAKE UP POST ~ ENTRY 9**

**Character Interview**

**FAKE FIANCE, REAL REVENGE by Roxanne Snopek**

 

ZOMG! I have missed you all so much! I cannot even begin to describe how much I have missed all of this … the blog, reading, reviewing … EVERYTHING!!! I though the best way to mark my come back would be to make good on several posts that I missed when everything seemed to go downhill. I had every intention of getting these posts up, but life interfered big time and I feel like I should honor my word, even if it is rather late in the delivery. Sometimes posting information from several months back can be a bit tricky because sometimes the information changes. Covers may change, and book may have been re-released, a new publisher may come into play … basically a lot can happen in a matter of months. I believe that I have correct information in all of these posts, but if I missed anything, feel free to shoot me a note and I will be more than happy to update. With that said, these books and authors have waited far too long for their spotlights on the blog, so let’s get started. Without further delay, please allow me to introduce to the blog:

**ROXANNE SNOPEK**

**BIO**

Roxanne Snopek is the author of ten books, more than 150 articles, and has had short fiction published in several anthologies. She is currently serving as Vice-President of the Romance Writers of America Greater Vancouver Chapter. She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest, where she’s at work on more love stories for Entangled Publishing.

Roxanne Snopek has been writing professionally for more than two decades and is the author of eight books, more than 150 articles, and has had short fiction published in several anthologies. Her non-fiction has appeared in a wide variety of publications, from The Vancouver Sun and Reader’s Digest to newsletters for Duke, Cornell and Tufts Universities. She's done corporate copywriting on topics ranging from pet food for Iams/Eukanuba, to employee profiles for VersaCold to air-conditioner maintenance for Home Depot.

In 2006, her first novel Targets of Affection was published by Cormorant Books, under the name RGWillems. When her editor asked for more, she happily wrote the second and third in the series, certain she was on her way to fame and fortune. Then the economy fell apart, her editor stopped taking her calls and Roxanne realized it wasn't going to be that easy.

After some wallowing and navel-gazing, she found Romance Writers of America, one of the largest professional writers' organizations in the world, and began to seriously study the craft of fiction writing. Roxanne is currently Vice-President of the Greater Vancouver Chapter of the Romance Writers of America. They voted her in, so they can’t complain.

In her spare time, Roxanne is also the human resource manager for a veterinary hospital. She and her family live in the Pacific Northwest, where she’s always at work on the next book.

On a personal note:

Take a look my blog*, in which I open up a tiny window into the uncharted landscape that is My Brain, while dancing between the boundaries of Too Much Information and Oops, Now I Need a Pen Name. Mostly it's just Real Life, family, art, writing, yoga and why some mornings, you just shouldn't talk.

*or don't. Really, it's up to you.

 To find out more about Ms. Snopek, please visit:

Website

Twitter

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**FAKE FIANCE, REAL REVENGE**

By reading any further, you are stating that you are at least 18 years of age.

If you are under the age of 18, please exit this site.

You are all in for a heck of a treat because I have a character interview AND an excerpt to share with you from this book. At the time of this promo, Fake Fiancé, Real Revenge was a new release. As far as I can tell, everything seems the same. However, if you notice anything that needs to be updated, please let me know. Following the promo is all of the information about the book. So be sure to check it out. Enjoy!

**CHARACTER INTERVIEW**

**Mitch Granger**

Roxanne: I’m talking about Mitch Granger, the hero of Fake Fiance, Real Revenge, with his boss/business partner Della Fontaine.

Roxanne: Della, what made you think Mitch would be a good match for your step-daughter, Paris? As opposed to his mysterious fiancée?

Della: Have you seen the man, honey? My Paris needs someone who can take care of her. I’m guessing Mitch doesn’t leave a woman in need of anything, if you know what I mean. Hell, if I was younger…

Roxanne: That’s okay, Della. You’ve already had, what, three husbands?

Della: Four. I was getting good at it with the last one, too.

Roxanne: Were you surprised to find out Mitch was engaged?

Della: I almost dropped my Scotch! He’s not what you’d call a sharing type of man, but we’ve worked cheek-by-jowl on this house of mine – nice pile, don’t you think? – and he might have at least mentioned it!

Roxanne: Now that you’ve seen him and Sabrina together, don’t you think they’re well-suited?

Della: Oh they make a pretty picture, no doubt. The midwife’s easy on the eyes, feisty, too. And you could burn your fingers on the sparks flying between them. But she’s not leaving town and Mitch sure as shooting doesn’t want to stay! Where’s that leave them I ask you?

Roxanne: Mitch hasn’t gone home for a long time, has he? Any speculation on why?

Della: Daddy issues, I suspect. Isn’t that always how it is? Strong men butt heads with their even stronger sons, nobody talks about anything, all those messed up feelings get ground up into their work.  They become doctors and lawyers and software geniuses and billionaires, but inside, they’re all little boys needing a hug.

Roxanne: Not sure that sounds like a good foundation for a relationship.

Della: Well, what do you want from me? I’ve burned through four husbands! Yeah there’s some drama, but I’m telling you, once you get past that rough shell, into the soft inside… let me just say mmm-mmm-GOOD!

Roxanne: Takes a headstrong, outspoken woman to handle a man like Mitch, then. Maybe not – I’m just throwing this out there – someone like Paris.

Della: The hell you say! Aw, you’re probably right, dang it. But don’t you think they’d have the prettiest babies ever?

Roxanne: You are quite the meddler, aren’t you?

Della: I’m not holding my breath about the midwife, that’s all. And when things go south, I don’t see why Paris shouldn’t be waiting in the wings. Just in case, you know. With my help, she could handle Mitch just fine.

Roxanne: You need to leave Mitch and Sabrina alone, do you hear me? And Paris, too. Let the poor girl figure out her own life.

Della: You seriously telling me what to do? Trust me, writer-gal, you do not want to get on my bad side.

Roxanne: Della, I know you like to think you’re the boss –

Della: I AM the boss!

Roxanne: - but in fact, the delete key is inches away. Don’t make me use it.

**FAKE FIANCE, REAL REVENGE**

Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 191 pages
Release Date: August 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62266-101-5
Imprint: Bliss

**BLURB**

Real-estate tycoon Mitchell Granger has a problem. In order to secure a lucrative deal with an eccentric client, he told the teeny white lie that he was engaged…and now he needs to prove it. Even worse? The only name that came to mind was Sabrina Becker, the girl he was never good enough for growing up, and who still lives near his family ranch.

Sabrina doesn’t mind posing as Mitch’s fake fiancée—no, she doesn’t mind at all. One, she’ll make him pay with new construction for her business. And two, Sabrina’s got a plan to exact revenge on her first love, the boy who left her and Three River Ranch behind. She’ll pretend so well, he’ll fall in love with her…and then he’ll get a taste of what true heartbreak feels like.

But as Mitch sheds his corporate skin and picks up his dusty jeans and cowboy hat, will both his and Sabrina’s grand plans get derailed by love?

Buy Links

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His Reluctant Rancher: Amazon

Three River Ranch: Amazon

**EXCERPT**

“Engaged!”
Conversation in the room ebbed, as it always seemed to do at the absolute worst moments. All heads turned to Della, who stood blinking in confusion.
Paris looked as if she wanted to disappear.
Finally Della clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re a dark horse, aren’t you, Mitchell Granger? Keeping this under wraps? And here I’ve been thinking of what lovely babies you and Paris would make. Where’ve you been hiding this girl? You should have brought her tonight!”
“She’s…” His relief vanished. He had to make this convincing. “She’s in Montana.”
Really, Mitch? Way to limit your pool of possibilities. A fiancée in Fiji. Now that would have been convenient. And difficult to disprove.
Where, he wondered, would one go about finding a mail-order bride? Was there even still such a thing?
“Ah, yes, your hometown. Lutherton, is it?”
He should have expected Della to look him up. He hadn’t offered many details about his past, but that wouldn’t stop a woman like her. Memories flooded in, wounds he’d long ago vanquished—or thought he had.
You see, Mitch? You did it again. Another stupid, impulsive idea. He hadn’t heard that voice for years. Perspiration broke out on his back. You don’t stop to think and this is what you get. Stupid, stupid boy.
“We’re, uh.” Mitch swallowed, wiping the back of his neck. He wasn’t that boy anymore. He was a success. Supported by his non-Fijian fiancée. Who had no name. “We’re taking it slow.”
Instantly the years fell away and Sabrina’s face popped into his head.
No way, Mitch. You are not going there.
Poof! His sultry Fijian fantasy lover vanished in a swirl of thick, honey-colored hair. Sabrina’s hair, which always fell straight and heavy, halfway down her back. Her clear blue-gray eyes that had seen beyond the dyslexic, angry boy, failed by the school system. She was one of the smart kids, and her tutoring had gotten him through final exams. He wouldn’t have graduated without her.
He wasn’t pretending to be engaged to Sabrina, no way, no how. He didn’t even know her anymore. Well, he knew she’d returned to Lutherton. He knew home and family were important to her. Which just showed how completely unsuited they were for each other. Despite what they’d once thought.
Taking it slow? They hadn’t taken anything slow back then.
For almost two years, they’d been in love. Secretly at first. Her family would have never accepted the rebellious loser he’d been then. They’d have happily embraced his younger brother, Carson, though—the smart son. The good one. Even now, Mitch tasted the sourness at the back of his throat. Carson had always had it so easy and now, he even had Three River Ranch, the family home. Plus a wife and a kid.
Della nudged him with her elbow. “Everyone loves a love story, dear. You should have told me!”
A crowd was gathering. Mitch felt heat rise along his neck.
“It just never occurred to me. I didn’t think it was pertinent to our professional relationship.” He heard the stiffness in his words. Damn. He was screwing this up.
“I don’t give a hoot for ‘professional’ and you know it. My late husband ran things that way, everything at arm’s length, lawyered up the wazoo, all crossed and dotted and signed in triplicate. Nothing wrong with that, but I think you ought to know someone before getting into bed with him, so to speak.”
She took Mitch by the arm and led him to the bar. “Get this man a couple of fingers of single malt, will you? What the heck, get me one too, while you’re at it.”
Mitch lifted his glass in a toast, wondering how he could get Della back onto the subject of her prospective business plans.
And away from his “fiancée.” The scotch seared his throat but did nothing to ease his growing panic. He could have just taken Paris out a few times, been the sophisticated date she needed to polish up her social persona.
But no, sneered the voice. You had to come up with this awesome lie instead.
“I apologize, Della,” he said, striving for the right tone. “It never occurred to me that you’d be interested. My situation with…my fiancée… We have a complicated relationship.”
That was putting it mildly. Since she didn’t exist.
“I’ve been married four times, you dolt. Of course I’m interested.” But her light tone belied the sharpness in her eyes. “Mitchell, sweetheart, pull that big old stick of firewood out into the sunshine, will you? Relax. That thirty-year-old glass of peat isn’t going to drink itself, now is it? I didn’t mean to insult you or impugn your integrity.” She winked at him. “Isn’t that a great word? Impugn? My second husband was a medieval scholar. Oh, the things that man taught me.”
The prawn canapés squirmed in his stomach. “No offense taken.”
“So gallant! And such a liar!” She laughed gaily. He could see the gold fillings in her back molars. “But you’re determined to put on a good show and I respect that. You’re ambitious, driven. Good boy.”
He clenched the glass until his knuckles whitened. “What do you want, Della?”
“Ah, the bear awakens!” The smile fell off her face like the curtain at the end of a show. “I’m bored, honey-pie. I’m richer than everyone else I know, which means my friendships are all suspect. I don’t have the energy for another husband, not to mention sex.”
Mitch squeezed his eyes against the image. “Thank you for that.”
“So I’ve turned my considerable resources to doing whatever interests me at the moment. Right now, you interest me. Your background as a cowboy interests me. Your hometown interests me.”
But it wasn’t his home anymore and he hadn’t been a cowboy in a long time. A knife twisted in his chest. He’d cut it all off, the good along with the bad. That was the sacrifice he’d been forced to make. And it had all been worth it. He was a new man.
“That was a long time ago, Della.”
But sometimes, when business stresses kept him awake at night, he imagined riding, alone, the feel of warm leather against his legs, the smell of grass and earth and horse. Every now and then, he dropped by a local riding stable. It wasn’t the same, following a set trail on a bored, anonymous horse, but it was the best he could get.
Did remnants of an honest-to-God cowboy still lie dormant within him, deep down and buried? No matter how he tried, he’d never stopped craving the open range, the rugged mountains, the smell of horses and sagebrush. He could never get the land entirely out of his system. He could never let go of his home.
Only it wasn’t his anymore. It belonged to Carson, who’d earned it fair and square. Who’d met the terms of his father’s will and gained the title and everything that went with it.
Land, success, community acceptance, space to pursue his dreams…
And love.
Carson had been in the right place at the right time.
Mitch’s luck never went that way.
“You’re a cowboy, all right.” Della put her hands on her hips. “You’re not spit-shined and hair product-ed to death, like this crowd. A little shaggy, a little of the bad boy about you. But whatever you say.”
He bristled, then forced himself to smile. “I missed a haircut. That hardly makes me Butch Cassidy.” Not to mention he’d paid an image consultant good money, way back when, to create exactly the right look.
“Here’s the deal.” She pursed her lips, as if reading his mind. “I’ve got a few properties I want to look at. Foreclosures, rundown places I could get for a song. I’m thinking of a high-end mountain resort. Horseback riding, hiking, maybe golf, plus every spa treatment under the sun and top-notch chefs. What do you think?”
“I’ll need to see the spec sheets.” His interest was piqued, but there was something about Della’s behavior that set off warning bells in his head.
“Paris’s father fancied himself a cowboy,” Della mused, ignoring him. “But he made his money in oil. He built himself a little spread. A few thousand acres. Of course, he was tired of it by the time I came on the scene, so we didn’t spend much time there. But Paris did and she misses it. Maybe I should have held on to the place, for her.”
“Is there a thread I should be following here, Della?”
“Before I make any decision,” she continued, “I need to do a little market research. That’s where you come in.”
“The US of A’s a big place. You wanna give me a clue?” he asked.
You could just walk away, Mitch reminded himself. Stop this crazy race to the top. Tell Ellis this one didn’t pan out. Go back to your luxury condo, focus on your existing clients, be satisfied.
Be happy.
Ah, but that was the problem. He’d tried that. No matter how many deals he landed, no matter how high he’d climbed from construction joe to contractor to investor to bigger investor to the next big thing, it was never enough.
Underneath, he was still the loser from Lutherton.
She narrowed her eyes at his tone. “You can’t guess where we’re going?”
Suddenly he understood. He met her eyes and saw her smile triumphantly.
“Surprise! We’re going to Montana! Your old stomping grounds, to be precise!”
“You can’t be serious.” Mitch laughed. “You want to build a resort out there? Why? No one goes there. Not voluntarily, at least.”
“Just ’cause it wasn’t your cup of tea don’t mean there’s not busloads of software execs wondering what life would be like if they chucked it all to live off the land. Horses, hard work, sunshine. Never underestimate the power of money, delusion, and regret, Mitch, my boy.”
Oh, yeah. He knew.
“Besides, land is cheap right now and I’ve got myself a brilliant land baron who knows the area inside and out.” She reached over and patted his hand.
Mitch thought fast. He’d stayed away for a long time, when he first left. But now, he’d be there on business. Carson would see the influence that Granger-Ellis had, and if they found a spot and went ahead with the project, the whole town would bear witness to his success.
“It’ll be the biggest job of your career, Mitchy-boy,” Della said. “You know you want it.”
Sabrina would see his success.

So what do you think? I am interested! Ms. Snopek is new to me, but I like the idea of this story. And how about Della in that interview? What a character! She will keep things innnnnntresting, I do believe. But I really want to know what you guys thought. Is this book something you would read? What did you like best about the featured book? Have you read Ms. Snopek’s books before? I welcome all comments. Your feedback is always wanted.  I hope you all enjoyed your time here today and I thank you for choosing to spend part of your day with us.

As always, buy links are included in the post. If you are so inclined, purchase the book for yourself. There is no better way to support an author. I would like to thank each and every one of you for joining us today. I would also like to thank the wonderful, former, Liz from CBLS Promotions, the company that originally scheduled this post.  I hope you all had a blast getting to know a bit about Ms. Snopek and her book, Fake Fiancé, Real Revenge. Wishing you all a fabulous day. Until next time …

HAPPY READING!!!