Virtual Book Tour: Totally Devoted by E.M. Bannock

Good morning!  Please welcome E.M. Bannock to Full Moon Dreaming. She is here to tell us about her new release, Totally Devoted.  E.M. will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on her tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!

Totally Devoted

by E.M. Bannock

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GENRE:   Modern Adult Romance w/Erotic elements

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BLURB:

Marie Trousdale, a modern urban California professional, is ready for a change when she realizes that she has been mourning her late husband and son for the past 10 years and her life has become stagnant. She hires Will Townsend, a rural Oregon contractor, to build a house for her on inherited property. The two mix like oil and water but the romance spark gets ignited. But will lifestyles, and values become an obstacle that cannot be overcome? Will misunderstandings and danger put out the flame of love or feed it? This steamy romance is a story of love, life, values, and family with a western flavor. 

Totally Devoted is the first novel by author E.M. Bannock and was a 2019 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award Finalist in both the Contemporary Romance 56K Words and up category and Best First Book. Audio Book is now available.

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EXCERPT:

From the description she was given by the hotel desk clerk, she figured she wouldn’t have much trouble finding the guy—grungy black cowboy hat, well-worn cowboy boots, scruffy beard, jean jacket, and Levi’s, sitting at the corner table. She was right. He wasn’t hard to spot. It was Monday night, and there were only a handful of people in the place. There he was, sitting at his regular corner table, with his back to the wall, his chair up on two legs, and his feet propped up and crossed on the chair next to him. There was a glass of beer and a half-empty pitcher in front of him. She wondered how many pitchers he had drained before this one. The desk clerk said he had a lot of funny habits. The clerk said the guy always sat with his back to the wall, so no one could get the jump on him. He probably watched too many John Wayne movies.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

E.M. Bannock grew up in the Detroit suburbs in the 50’s and 60’s. Her father was a great story teller and E.M. says she inherited his imagination.

After graduation, E.M. moved to Los Angeles, California where she met her husband. They have lived in California, Oregon, Alaska, Florida, and Wyoming, where she now lives with her small family which includes a spoiled dog and cat, two horses, also spoiled, and a brood of chickens that live like queens in the chicken-coupe-de-ville.

She has made her living as an office manager, computer programmer/analysts, project manager, clothing store clerk, substitute teacher, and buffalo meat packer. Throughout it all, she never lost her love for writing.

A small inheritance from her father gave her the funds needed to begin her career as a published author. She has published two books. Her first book, Totally Devoted, which is now available in audio, was a 2019 National Excellence in Romance Fiction finalist in two categories; Contemporary Romance 65K Words and Up, and Best First Book. Her second book Zoey’s Place was published in 2019. 


E.M. Bannock is a Goodreads Author, a BookHub Author, a member of the Romance Writers of America, and a Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer.

Web site: www.embannock.com

Facebook: E.M. Bannock – Author

Twitter: @EMBannock

Instagram: e_m_bannock

Amazon buy link:

https://www.amazon.com/Totally-Devoted-M-Bannock-ebook/dp/B079MCNS7L/

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The Questions

You’re marooned on a small island with one person and one item of your choice—who is that person and what item do you have?

That person would have to be my husband. He’s a man for all seasons. We’ve been married for over 40 years and he’s always gone above and beyond what most husbands do. He takes our relationship and family seriously and has always been a good provider and protector. He’s worked outside in frigid Alaska as well as in the sweltering heat of Florida to provide for our family. We’ve always lived in a nice house and had great cars to drive.

He’s very smart in the survival area. He can and does hunt, kill, and butcher animals for our food. He knows about growing food, too. He knows how to build a shelter, make a fire, and do all the things I’d be too freaked out to do.

He’s good with a gun and/or a knife. Which is why I think the item I’d have would be a knife. Not a pocket knife, but a big, honkin’ Rambo type blade. It could be used for protection and hunting. I thought about a firearm, but they’re only good for as much ammunition as you have. After that, you’re done for. A knife is forever. And of course, my husband would be in charge of the knife.

And finally, and this is important, he loves me and puts up with my craziness.

What is your idea of how to spend romantic time with your significant other?

We are very low key and our needs are simple. But I would love to be able to pull my husband away from his daily stresses and help him relax if even just for one full day. The day would include full body massages for both of us. Then maybe a ride through the mountains by our home with a picnic lunch to experience the loveliness around us and make us realize that we live in a beautiful place with nature’s wonder all around. It makes you feel small and insignificant and puts your problems in perspective. It helps us focus on the things we have, like our love and our family. On the way home we would stop at one of our favorite restaurants in town and enjoy a delicious dinner, including a decadent dessert which we would be too full to eat just then and have to take home for later. The day would end with an intimate soak in the hot tub that gets us sizzling in more ways than one. We continue the event in our bedroom. After making love and satisfying each other, we would share the dessert we brought home. We’d end by watching a movie that we both enjoy (that part might be hard). I fall asleep before the movie is over like I always do.

When you start a new story, do you begin with a character, or a plot?

I don’t really have hard and fast rules for my writing. Totally Devoted began with a plot. Zoey’s Place started with a half plot and the lead female character. My work-in-progress, Only Dreams, started with the lead male character. I’ve got an idea for my fourth book and that started with a time period and several characters. I kind of have a rough plot for that one but I know I’ll need more detail and a few more characters.

It’s easy to develop the lead characters because they usually have characteristics that you admire yourself. Villains are harder for me to create. I don’t really like letting those types of personalities in my head. The villain’s part in Totally Devoted was very hard for me to write. His personality type gives me the creeps and I can’t stand to be in the same room with that kind of person. I had to become him while writing. I didn’t like it.

Even if I do have a character right away, the plot follows shortly after. I like working from a timeline and outline. Since I usually know how I want my stories to end, I never know what will happen to them in between and/or who they will meet along the way. Sometimes I have to create other characters as obstacles or solutions to happiness, sometimes it’s events. Each book is different. In Totally Devoted the plot is driven by life events that both help and hinder Marie in her relationship with Wil.

If they were to make the story of your life into a movie, who should play you?

Well, funny you should ask. I’ve had a lot of time to think about this one. So long, in fact, that the actresses I once wanted to play me in my life story, which for some reason, always had drama, hence the movie, have gotten almost as old as I am. So, instead of Madeleine Stowe, who I fell in love with in Last of the Mohicans, or Famke Janssen, who played Jean Grey in the X-Men movies, I think I’d have to go with Mila Kunis. She’s got the beautiful dark hair and eyes I once had. She’s short, dark, and a natural beauty, like I was. Now I see my mother every time I look in the mirror. Not that she wasn’t a beautiful woman but when I see her looking back at me, I feel like I did something wrong and she just busted me. It’s just weird, know what I mean?

Do you have an historical crush and if so, who is it?

I hope you didn’t mean real people. I’ve never seen a picture of an important historical figure that does anything for me. I’ve admired many but never felt anything remotely romantic about them. But, oh, my! Do I ever have a historical fantasy lover! My favorite books are the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Her main lead character is James Alexander Malcolm McKenzie Fraser, better known as Jamie. I, and about a million other women, are in love with this perfect man. He is a handsome eighteenth century Highlander with flaming red hair, stands over six feet tall, and wears a kilt. He pledges the protection of his body for his wife. He defends her honor when she is gang raped by hunting down and killing all the men involved.

Being an eighteenth century man, Jamie was raised with old fashioned ideas about wives obeying their husbands and getting beaten when they don’t. But he, being a compassionate man, was convinced that the wife deserves equal status with the husband.

I’ve read all eight books in the series and Jamie proves his worthiness in every one of them. He’s an attentive lover and always, always, always knows the right thing to say to make me weak and want him even more. Things like telling his wife, Claire, that if his last words are not ‘I love you’ it’s because he didn’t have enough time. Who couldn’t love a man like that? I am so infatuated with him that my husband calls him my second husband.

Is there a story that you’d like to tell but you think the world isn’t ready to receive it?

Yes, and because the world isn’t ready to receive it, I’ll leave it at that.

And with that I’d like to thank everyone for stopping by and reading my interview. I also want to thank Full Moon Dreaming for host this tour stop for by audio book, Totally Devoted. I hope you enjoy it.

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