Deal Sharing Aunt: His Baby Dilemma by Catherine Lanigan Giveaway, Review & Interview

His Baby Dilemma (Shores of Indian Lake #9) Catherine Lanigan Adult Contemporary Romance Paperback & ebook, 384 pages December 1st 2017 by Harlequin Heartwarming
Must they always be continents apart? Nobody expects Paris fashion designer Grace Railton to settle down in her Indiana town, least of all Mica Barzonni. Fifteen months ago, he turned to her for comfort and compassion following a farming accident that left him permanently injured. Then she returned to France and went silent on him. Until, suddenly, Grace shows up on his doorstep with life-altering news. Mica, a father? He’s barely learned to navigate his postaccident life. But this could be his chance to become the man he’s always wanted to be—the husband and father Grace and their baby son need. Now Mica just has to convince her to stay.

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Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference. Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort. Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort. Currently, she has published eight novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise, Fear of Falling, Sophie’s Path and Protecting the Single Mom. Family of His Own pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for one more in the series: His Baby Dilemma. As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

Interview:

1. What Literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

A. If you are talking about an actual pilgrimage, I went to England and visited Matthew Arnold’s house, William Makepeace Thackeray and Shakespeare’s house. I’d read their books, studied a lot of Shakespeare during high school and college and read more during the trip. It’s an interesting thing to do, read someone’s work and then visit the place where the real action took place. Naively, I expected to get some great “vibe” in all the places, but didn’t. In Paris, I went everywhere Hemingway and Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and others were said to have “hung out”, frequented and lived. Still, no jolt of inspiration came to me. The connection was always in the written word. Those books and so many, many others hold magic for me. Then and now.

2. Does writing energize you or exhaust you?

A. Both. Most of the time, when I’m “in it” I have no idea the time, day or where I am. Today I’m in Houston, at my son’s house, but had to work on a synopsis. I got up early this morning and hit the computer right off the bat. Before I knew it the family was all in the kitchen fixing food. It was lunch time. Five hours had passes and I barely knew it. Now, a few hours later, my back hurts. I’m not in my comfy, lumbar supported chair. Just a hard seated, wooden chair. Time to exercise, get my back straight and move on to the next project.

3. Do you want each book to stand on its own, or are you trying to build a body of workwith connections between each book?

A. This is a good question, because my SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE SERIES is interconnected. Yet, each story does stand alone and they can be read out of order. My purpose when I started the series was to write 26 books in this series. HIS BABY DILEMMA is #9. Still a ways to go. All the stories are romances, of course, but the anchor in the small town is Mrs. Beabots. Some of the other “characters” have interesting idiosyncrasies that are charming and memorable. This town is what we all imagine a small town to be with the closeness of friends who are like family. Though everyone has “issues” they are dealt with together and with love.

4. What is your favorite under-appreciated novel?

A. Hands down, it’s WINGS OF DESTINY. This was my epic saga spanning 140 years, but is basically the story of the founding of San Francisco. I spent 15 years writing, researching and trying to sell the book to a publisher. The original ,manuscript was 1000 pages plus. I’m sure when I’m dead, people will clamor for it. Things like that always seem to happen, you know. The story begins in Jamaica in the late 1700’s with a young slave girl, Yuala, who is gifted with “future vision” or psychic abilities. She sees the future and in it is her great granddaughter, a white woman whose destiny is to reveal evil in the Golden City of the future. The book came out in hardback, but the publisher “pulled the plug” on the promotional tour and advertising that was promised and it never got off the ground. Back then, there was no social media to pick up the slack, so the numbers were not what the publisher expected. Ironically, these days, most of us would kill for those kinds of sales. But that was then, and this is now.

5. What did you edit OUT of this book?

A. In the original version, I had an entire story line that followed my research about traditional Italian families. When Mica discovers that he has a son, I wanted Mica to be nearly obsessed with giving the baby his name. Mica’s father is dead and the Barzonni name is important to all the Barzonni brothers. They honor the hard work their father did to create the successful farm. Mica would have gone to great lengths to legally have the baby’s name changed. Not to mention the tension it would create between Grace, the baby’s mother, and Mica. I did a lot of research on how one went about changing the name of a child born in France to an American Mother and Father. However, all that got cut, for reasons I won’t go into. I thought it was an excellent line of thinking and action for my aloof, hard-nosed hero.

6. Do you hide any secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

A. I most certainly do. Most of them deal with Mrs. Beabots. The last book in the series, hopefully #26, will be entitled MRS. BEABOTS’S SECRETS. In each book leading up to that one is a “dropped line” that gives a clue as to her past. Also, she has a walk-in closet that holds a treasure of vintage Paris designs from past designers who made history. Dior, Chanel, etc. Mrs. Beabots makes references to the fact that she knows how to handle and shoot guns, she worked for Coco Chanel when she was alive and often she talks about Europe and the places she knows first-hand. But not until that book will the REAL story of Emma Beabots come out.

Thank you, everyone for stopping by Deal Sharing Aunt and reading my interview. A Merry Christmas to all and Happy New Year!

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Tour Schedule
November 27th:
Launch Busy Bumble Bee Book Reviews underneath the covers
Thoughts of a Blonde
November 28th:
Mello & June, It's a Book Thang!
Remembrancy
November 29th:
Hearts & Scribbles
November 30th:
Reading Is My SuperPower
Wishful Endings
December 1st:
It's all About the Romance
Cafinated Reads
December 4th:
Heidi Reads...
Janices Book Reviews
December 5th:
Deal Sharing Aunt
Inside the Mind of an Avid Reader
December 6th:
I Am A Reader
Jorie Loves A Story
December 7th:
Book Lover in Florida
Rockin' Book Reviews
Harlie's Books
December 8th:
Colorimetry
Nicole's Book Musings
December 9th:
Grand Finale

My Review:
This is a great Christmas story! What was Mica to do? His life was in shambles. He was injured and not really in a good place, never mind able to take care of a baby. However a little Christmas spirit is all that he needs to realize that he loves her. Will he be able to convince Grace to stay with his son? Is Grace willing to Leave Paris? I liked the characters and can not wait for other books by this author! I am giving this book a 4/5. All opinions are my own.

Tour Giveaway

- 1 winner will receive a $50 Amazon eGift Card and a Prize Pack that includes: autographed copies of Family of His Own and Katia's Promise, a gold edged Paris latte mug, and hand soap in a pretty pump bottle (prize pack to US only, if international winner then gift card only)

- 1 winner will receive an ebook of Family of His Own (open internationally) - Ends December 13th a Rafflecopter giveaway