Interview with the Fool's Gold Varsity Cheerleaders!

Will your squad answer some questions?
They would love too!!  Readers please meet the squad!

Why did you try out for the squad?

Kelly: I tried out for the squad because I fell in love with Fools Gold about two pages into Charity and Josh’s story in Chasing Perfect and I thought everyone should know about the wonderfulness that is the fictional California town.

What is your favorite Fool’s Gold title?

Angela: Probably Finding Perfect. I loved Pia's sense of humor. And the sacrifices she was willing to make for her friend. Wouldn't you want to be friends with someone like Pia? She's always on the go and doing something. And I've wanted Raoul's story forever. I think I have a crush on him. ;)

What's your favorite book by Susan?

Jen:  I have to say Chasing Perfect

Marilyn:  Accidentally Yours and Sunset Bay

How did you discover Susan for the 1st time?
Stacey:  I am an avid reader of the Harlequin Desire line and found Susan that way.  Her “Millionaire” series was my favorite.

Sarah:  I had stopped reading for a long time, my niece told me to check out the Twilight Saga well I tore that up in a week and then I felt lost... I went to my local library and see if there were any books that caught my eye... Accidentally Yours and Falling for Gracie both did and I've been hooked ever since. 

Marilyn: Her Desert Rogue series were recommended to me

What made you an avid fan of Susan's books?
Stacey:  After reading the three books in the “Millionaire” series, I started looking for other titles that she had written.  Now my personal library is FULL of her books!

Kelly: The realistic characters. They have flaws, problems, daily troubles, but at the end of the day they are all open to the happily ever after that we all want. They have realistic careers and aren’t all perfect. They don’t fit stereotypes either, which is wonderful, and most involve family and other unique background characters that make the read more enjoyable.

Marilyn: Her warmth, sense of family, humor

What's it like to be on the squad?

Jennifer: I take great pride! Being chosen by Susan is an honor!!!

Have you read only mine yet?  What do you think?

Charlotte: YES I've read Only Mine it was again a magical story that had you laughing and crying.  Dakota, Nevada and Montana are sisters and I can relate to having sisters and loving them as they do.  I can’t wait for the next two installments.

Why should readers buy this book?

Jennifer: It is a Susan Mallery classic!!! You will love it even if you haven’t read the other Fool's Gold books

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Any favorite quotes from the book?

Stacey:  It’s funny because my favorite quote is practically right at the beginning…the book is full of great lines but the one that stands out the most is when Finn and Dakota first meet and he’s ranting and raving and she looks at him and says:  “You have a lot of attitude for someone wearing a plaid flannel shirt”.

Angela: "You're that man," she said, peering at him. "The one dating Dakota."

 He wasn't sure if she was telling him or asking a question. Either way it wasn't her business. Except this was Fool's Gold and he’d learned that people got involved whether you wanted them to or not.

Be honest... What's Susan really like?

Stacey:   Susan is an amazing person and what I think I like most about her is that she is very comfortable with interacting with her fans.  I have exchanged emails with her, she’s visited my blog and left comments, I mean, not a lot of authors take the time to do that.  She’s the kind of person who would probably come for dinner if she was in town!

Kelly: Could I ask for a better author to be a fan of? Absolutely not! She has taken the time to converse with us on a near daily basis since we’ve started this Cheerleading adventure. She’s extremely appreciative of all we’re doing, just as we’re abundantly thrilled she’s writing these fabulous books for us to gush about! 

Tiffany: Supportive, Caring, Giving, Friendly, Creative, and a great author!  She is someone you would want as a friend in good times and bad.  She really has been so kind and supportive of all of us even when it has nothing to do with her or her books!  She just cares.

Marilyn: I started out as a fan, now that I personally know her, she is part of my family, she is the sister I never had and that's the God's truth.

Q&A with New York Times Best Seller Susan Mallery - Part Four

The recent Buzz has been that you have your own team of Cheerleaders for the release of Only Mine and the books to follow.  How did the idea come about?  What is their purpose?  How did you choose the squad?

Often, I hear from excited fans who discovered me because someone put one of my books in their hands and said, "You have to read this!" It moves me. And this year, it inspired me to create the Fool's Gold Varsity Cheerleading Squad. I decided to form a team of avid readers to share with the world their love of Fool's Gold, the Land of Happy Endings. (Fool's Gold is the setting of my ongoing series of romance novels. It's a quirky small town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Fool's Gold is dealing with a man shortage. This year's stories center around the Hendrix triplets. They are ONLY MINE, ONLY YOURS, and ONLY HIS.) The cheerleaders will earn lots of prizes along the way for doing what they love - talking about books - and I will dedicate a book next year to the grand prize winner. 

I invited my fans to "try out" for the team by sharing three creative ideas for spreading the word about Fool's Gold. I was overwhelmed by the response! More than 500 fans tried out in the first few days, with some pretty amazing ideas. As I read through their applications, their enthusiasm brought a lump to my throat. I wish I could have accepted every one of them and had a cheerleading battalion that could take over the country. Unfortunately, I
only had 25 advanced copies of ONLY MINE to give away. Selecting the final 25 was a daunting task. I wanted to get a good mixture of people who emphasized online ideas and those who emphasized in-person ideas, such as standing in front of a bookstore on release day, wearing a sandwich board, ringing a bell like the Salvation Army. (Yes, she got picked. Hi, Stacey!) I also wanted cheerleaders from all across the U.S., so geography played a
role. 

I don't know if it was pure luck or my discerning genius, but I am thrilled with the cheerleaders who made the team! They've handed out bookmarks, talked to people at the bookstore, called long distance friends. And now they're doing a blog tour to tell the world how much they love Fool's Gold! 

Where can readers meet the squad?
 The cheerleaders are pictured on my Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/SusanMallery?closeTheater=1.  You can also join my Goodreads fan page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8716.Susan_Mallery and my Goodreads group to discover other readers who love my books! (Including the cheerleaders!) at 

http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/49998.We_love_Susan_Mallery_

Q&A with New York Times Best Seller Susan Mallery - Part 3

This is our final part of our interview with author Susan Mallery about her newest book in her Fool's Gold series, "Only Mine". 

How many more Fool's Gold books will you write?
There will be at least seven more books after this year's.  In 2012, three delicious cowboy brothers and their younger sister will move to Fool's Gold.  And in 2013, I think I'm going to establish a bodyguard academy on the edge of town.  After that, who knows?  If readers clamor for more from Fool's Gold, anything's possible.  (You can let me know you want more by writing to me at www.facebook.com/susanmallery, www.twitter.com/susanmallery, or go to www.goodreads.com/susanmallery.)

Are you working on anything new outside of Fool's Gold?
BAREFOOT SEASON, my next women's fiction novel, will be out in April 2012 and will launch a new series set on quaint Blackberry Island.  The story is about two former best friends who form a turbulent truce to save the inn they both love.  

Much thanks to Susan for letting us get a glimpse of her creative process.  Is she awesome or what??  Be sure to go out on the 26th and get your copy of "Only Mine"  and visit Fool's Gold - the Land of Happy Endings!

Fool's Gold Summer Kisses magazine...check this out!

Open publication - Free publishing - More books

Q&A with New York Times Best Seller Susan Mallery - Part 2

Today we're going to continue our interview with New York Times best selling author, Susan Mallery about her latest book, "Only Mine".

What draws Dakota and Finn to each other?
At their core, Finn and Dakota both value their families more than anything.  Finn thinks he wants to be done with his familial duty.  He wants to get his brothers through college so he can return to his days as a carefree bachelor, but he will learn that he's not that guy anymore.  Somewhere along the way, he grew up.  At heart, he's a family man.

You love to write about families, such as the Hendrix triplets.  Why?
I was an only child, so I love writing about the big, boisterous family that I never had.  Triplets are an extension of that - three sisters who have been together since birth.  Each of the triplets has her own personality, but the experiences these three women have shared throughout their lives make them as close as it's possible to be.

You're known for both the depth of your characters and for your humor.  Do both come naturally to you?
I think men and women falling in love with each other is inherently hysterical.  Who came up with that bright idea?!  Men do everything they can to avoid emotion, and yet they're irresistibly drawn to women, who overflow with emotion.  When I get teary-eyed over a commercial, my husband looks at me like Im completely nuts.  There's this constant push-pull between men and women that never really goes away, and it will always be funny to me.

Most of my storylines are not funny in and of themselves.  My characters deal with some very serious issues in their lives, but their ability to find the humor says a lot about their resilience.  I like people in real life who can laugh at themselves, and I like that in characters, too.

Do you plot your books before writing?
I do a lot of plotting in advance, which means I can write the story quickly, which further means that I don't lose interest.  For me, the creative rush is highest during the plotting process, and the actual writing of the book is more about getting the story down on paper.  I've tried writing without a plot, and it just doesn't work for me.  I enjoy the aspect of surprise, but I dread revisions.  Even when a book is thoroughly plotted, though, the characters can sometimes surprise me.  I was sweetly surprised by a secondary romance in ONLY MINE.    

Q&A with New York Times Best Seller...Susan Mallery - Pt. 1

New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery has entertained millions of readers with her witty and emotional stories about women and the relationships that move them. Publisher’s Weekly calls Susan’s prose “luscious and provocative,” and Booklist says, “Novels don’t get much better than Mallery’s expert blend of emotional nuance, humor and superb storytelling.” While Susan appreciates the critical praise, she is most honored by the enthusiastic readers who write to tell her that her books made them laugh, made them cry, and made the world a happier place to live. Susan lives in Seattle with her husband and her tiny but intrepid toy poodle. She’s there for the coffee, not the weather. Visit Susan online at www.susanmallery.com and www.facebook.com/susanmallery.

With her latest trilogy, Susan returns to the quirky small town of Fool’s Gold, California [link: www.foolsgoldca.com], the town with the man shortage, with stories for the Hendrix triplets. First up is ONLY MINE.  

Tell Us About ONLY MINE

Each book in the Fool’s Gold series is a standalone novel, meaning that you won’t get lost if you read them out of order. Fool’s Gold is a town facing a serious (and seriously funny) problem – the 2010 census revealed that the town is suffering from a man shortage. Fool’s Gold has become the punchline of countless jokes on TV talk shows, which makes the strong, independent women in town pretty darn crabby... and which attracts the attention of a sleazy TV producer.

In ONLY MINE, it’s Dakota Hendrix’s job to interview potential contestants. After she recommends two handsome young twins for the show, the twins’ gorgeous, stern older brother demands that she declare them unfit. Finn Andersson wants his brothers to return to college. Finn has raised the boys since their parents died, and he won’t consider his duty done until they graduate. While Finn does everything he can to strongarm or coerce his brothers back to Alaska, Dakota is struggling with a problem of her own, a problem so big that it will change the course of her life.

You can read free excerpts at www.foolsgoldca.com. You’ll find lots of freebies and fun bonus content there, too!  

How Did You Come Up With The Fool's Gold Series?

I knew I wanted to create a series based on a place. In the past, I’d written series based on a family, so once I ran out of siblings, I ran out of stories. Readers kept asking me for more in every series. They loved that sense of connection, and they wanted it to go on. Debbie Macomber was the one who suggested I stop writing about families and start writing about a place. With a place, the story possibilities are infinite. (Debbie Macomber is like my Mayor Marsha – I never say no to Debbie! She’s a genius.)

The place itself needed to have a strong identity. As I was brainstorming the series, I heard a story about the then-upcoming 2010 census, about everything a town can discover about itself from census results. I wondered, “What if there was a man shortage?”

So Fool’s Gold was born… the town with the man shortage. But instead of making the women eager to get more men to town, I tweaked reader expectations and made the women strong, self-sufficient, and kind of crabby that anyone would think they need more men. They can run the town just fine without men. Which means that any men who do move to Fool’s Gold have to earn the right to live there. . . and they have to earn the hearts of the women they love.

www.FoolsGoldCA.com is my gift to readers who have been so loyal to me. I wanted to create an experience for readers that goes beyond the books. On FoolsGoldCA.com, readers will find amazing bonus content such as between-the-books updates, stories and pictures from the characters’ weddings, Fool’s Gold magazines, a map of town, funny ads from local businesses… I could keep going, but the truth is, you have to see it to get it. Fool’s Gold is the Land of Happy Endings!

Look for more to this interview over the next couple of days leading up to the release of "Only Mine".  

Only Mine by Susan Mallery

Review: Only Mine by Susan Mallery

"Her town’s lack of men may make headlines, but it isn’t news to Dakota Hendrix. The beautiful blonde has bigger problems to deal with, such as overseeing the romance reality competition filming in Fool’s Gold. Screening eligible bachelors is a difficult enough task, but Dakota hits an unexpected snag when a sexy stranger comes to town. 

Finn Anderssen will do anything to keep his twin brothers — the perfect contestants — off the show. Despite Dakota’s better judgment, she finds herself drawn to the mysterious outsider. Like her, Finn knows about heartbreak and how a family can fall apart, so she doesn’t dare to hope for anything more than a fling. After all, even in the Land of Happy Endings, finding true love is never as easy as it looks on TV" 

"Only Mine" is book #4 in the Fool's Gold series and, to me, is a perfect fit.  This time around, Susan is focusing on the Hendrix triplets and first up is Dakota.  She's pretty straight forward and level headed and where we find her at the beginning of the story, her world is slightly upside down.  The great thing about the way Susan Mallery writes is that all of the situations that Dakota finds herself in are believable - nothing is so over-the-top that you can't grasp and follow along, anxious to see how it all goes.

Finn Adnerssen is a really likable guy but at times, you just want to smack him.  That is a great way to make your reader feel because you, along with the heroine, WANT him to change.  It's not that he's so flawed, it's just that his view of reality is a bit off at times.


There is a lot of sub-plots going on throughout the book between the stories of Finn's twin brothers and the story involving Dakota's mom trying dating again after ten years of being a widow - all that on TOP of catching up with some of the great character's of Fool's Gold and you've got a very full book.  I almost wish it could have been longer because the sub-plots were just as interesting as Dakota and Finn's story - particularly Finn's brother Stephen's story.  He just seems yummy.


"Only Mine" is a great addition to the Fool's Gold series and I cannot wait for the next two books to see how the triplets all find their happily ever after.  


FIVE STARS!!!

It's Susan Mallery Month!!!

Okay so I know that I don't get to post on here as often as I should, but I'm hoping to get better with that.

For the next month or so, this site will be all-things Susan Mallery.  That's right, I am majorly sharing the works of one of my all-time favorite authors.  If you have not read any of Susan's work, it's a great time to get started.

To get familiar with her, you can go directly to her website HERE.  Her latest series is once again set in the town of Fool's Gold and will start with the book, "Only Mine" - which will be released on July 26th.  If you have the time, pre-order it directly from these links from Amazon or Barnes & Noble  and leave me a comment telling me that you've pre-ordered.  I'll be explaining more about that in another post but if you could let me know that you've pre-ordered, that would be GREAT!

So join me in showing Susan Mallery some love this month!