Please give a warm welcome to author Tamara Morgan. She is chatting with us today about her newest release If I Stay, the first novel in her Montgomery Manor series.
Can you describe your new contemporary romance IF I STAY in just one sentence?
An American, contemporary take on Downtown Abbey featuring a romance between the nanny and the chauffeur.
When the book starts, Ryan Lucas and Amy Sanders have known each other for a while, but they haven’t acted on their mutual attraction. What has them thinking about romance?
I think the real push happens when Amy’s childhood crush, Jake Montgomery, rolls into town and starts showing an interest in her. It might not be the most glamorous start to a romance—the rival dog sniffing around and all that—but a hint of jealousy is what some couples need to turn a spark into a flame.
Do you consider Ryan and Amy friends to lovers, opposites attracting, or both?
I’d say they’re both. Although I’d pick opposites attracting first, Ryan and Amy are technically friends before they become romantically entangled. They aren’t friends for too long, though—it’s one of those attractions that’s immediate and reciprocated, although circumstances make it complicated for them to act on it right away.
If you were going to cast your book, who would star as your main characters?
Amy Sanders: Jennifer Lawrence
Ryan Lucas: Tom Hardy
Jake Montgomery: Tom Hiddleston
I would watch that move in a hot second!
What’s next in the Montgomery Manor series?
The Montgomery Manor series continues with WHEN I FALL (August 2014), which takes readers upstairs to follow playboy Jake Montgomery on his path to love. After he’s done, we move on to BECAUSE I CAN (October 2014), featuring the oldest Montgomery son and the family handy woman.
Title: If I Stay by Tamara Morgan
Montgomery Manor Series Book One
Publisher: Carina Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Word Count: 90,000
Summary:
Ryan Lucas would rather be anywhere but Ransom Creek, Connecticut. After losing his high-adrenaline career as a Hollywood stunt driver, he’s had to tuck his tail between his legs and take up employment as a chauffeur for the Montgomerys, a wealthy hotelier family.
Amy Sanders has returned home to Ransom Creek to take over her mother’s former position as nanny to the Montgomerys–bringing her close to dashing Jake Montgomery once again. She grew up with a major crush on Jake, and it’s not easy to leave those feelings behind, even though her friendship with the hard-edged family chauffeur, Ryan, has a sizzling undercurrent of undeniable attraction.
Amy’s determined to prove to Ryan that life at Montgomery Manor isn’t all bad, but each time they draw closer Jake swoops in. Amy is torn between two men–and two worlds. And Ryan is rapidly coming to learn that if he wants to make Amy his, he’ll have to prove to her that life downstairs can be everything they both want.
Purchase Links: Amazon * B&N * iTunes * Carina Press
Author Bio
Tamara Morgan is a contemporary romance author of humorous, heartfelt stories with flawed heroes and heroines designed to get your hackles up and make your heart melt. Her long-lived affinity for romance novels survived a B.A. degree in English Literature, after which time she discovered it was much more fun to create stories than analyze the life out of them.
Whether building Victorian dollhouses, consuming mass quantities of coffee and wine, or crying over cheesy 1950s musicals, Tamara commits to her flaws like every good heroine should. She lives in the Inland Northwest with her husband, daughter, and variety of household pets and only occasionally complains about the weather.
Great interview