Interview with Maggie Mae Gallagher, THE FIXER UPPER

Can you give us a brief overview of your latest book? Is it part of a series?

The Fixer Upper is the first book in my Echo Springs Series, where you will meet Abby. Now Abby just inherited her Great Aunt’s stately Victorian and she runs away from her life on the east coast, uncertain if the path she was on career wise was still what she wanted. Her first night her aunt’s house, she and Nate Barnes, have a rather awkward first meeting where sparks fly.  

Abby Callier is what I like to call an old soul and the black sheep of her family. She tried to fit in and be what they wanted her to be, but in the end decided she needed to be herself, which was quite at odds with what her parents wanted for her and from her. I love Abby’s resilience and courage to break with the mold of her upbringing to find a life that satisfies her. Or at least, she’s trying to do that. It’s how she ends up in Echo Springs living next door to one sexy Sheriff Barnes.  

Nate Barnes is the sheriff of Echo Springs. He was born and raised in Echo Springs. With the exception of going off to college and living in Denver for a few years, Echo Springs is home. He is steady, quietly rehabbing his home, and working to give back to the town. I’m such a sucker for Nate. He’s the guy that there’s no problem too big that can’t be solved, you just might need some elbow grease and some patience.

Do you have a favorite character?

I do. It’s Rufus. He is Nate’s furball companion—a one hundred and fifty pound, three-year-old Great Dane, who thinks he’s a lap dog.

Have you ever had a minor character evolve into a major one? Did that change the direction of the novel at all?

That would be Rufus again. I hadn’t expected to write him as a character. He bounded onto the page with his big goofy grin and nosed his way into scenes in the book.

How long before you got your offer of representation/your first contract? Was it for your first novel?

I received my first contract with a publisher in 2016. I wrote my first book in 2001.

Are you currently under a traditional publishing contract for future books or do you have manuscripts that you will self-publish? Are you doing both?

I’m contracted with a traditional publisher for the next few years. I have a publishing schedule that is rather hectic without a lot of time to spend on extra books.

If you used a graphic designer/publisher’s designer, how involved were you during the creative process for your cover?

I’m very involved with the cover designs for my books. My publisher is very supporter and their cover artist does a great job.

What is your writing process? Do you listen to music or do you like silence?

I need silence to write. I even wear noise cancelling headphones. When I’m going into writing mode for the day, I joke that I’m going into my Batcave where no one is welcome. Unless you are bringing me coffee or food.

Do you outline your story or just go where your muse takes you?

I construct a loose outline that typically by the middle of the book is useless. By that point my characters have taken over and tell me where the story is going.

Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

I’m a huge geek and love going to comic cons. I love travelling and reading.

Some fun facts about you, which do you prefer – dogs or cats? Chocolate or vanilla? Coffee or Tea? Talk or Text? Day or Night?

Cats, I have two. It depends on what the chocolate or vanilla are in. Give me coffee or give me death. I would prefer to talk. I know, I’m old school. Night, I am not a morning person at all.

What’s next for you?

Up next is the second installment of the Echo Springs Series, Civil Disobedience. Plus, I also write hot spicy erotic romance under the name Anya Summers and have a new release, Lone Survivor, on September 24th. It’s the first book in my brand-new series the Crescent City Kings.

The Fixer Upper
Maggie Mae Gallagher
(Echo Springs, #1)
Published by: Blushing Books Publications
Publication date: September 6th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Abby Callier is more in love with Shakespearean heroes than any real man, and she’s beginning to wonder if there is life for her outside the pages of a book. It doesn’t help that her esteemed parents tend to view her as they would one of their science experiments gone wrong.

On the eve of finishing her dissertation, she escapes her staid existence to live in the house she inherited from her Great Aunt Evie in the small town of Echo Springs, Colorado. Because, let’s face it, when a woman starts comparing her life to horror films, it might be time for a break.

Sheriff Nate Barnes believes in law and order and carefully building the life you want. In his spare time, he has been remodeling his house in the hope that one day it will be filled with the family he makes. But Nate doesn’t like drama or complications and tends to avoid them at all costs. And yet, when Miss Abigail Callier, his newest neighbor, beans him with a nine iron, he can’t help but wonder if she might just be the complication he’s been searching for all along. It doesn’t hurt that he discovers a journal hidden away by the previous tenant and decides to use Old Man Turner’s advice to romance Abby into his life.

Abby never expected her next-door neighbor, the newly dubbed Sheriff Stud Muffin, to be just the distraction her world needed.

The problem is she doesn’t know whether she should make Echo Springs her home, or if this town is just a stopover point in her life’s trajectory. And she doesn’t want to tell Nate that she might not be sticking around—even though she should because it’s the right thing to do, the honest thing—because then all the scintillatingly hot kisses with the Sheriff will come to an abrupt halt. Did she mention that he’s a really great kisser?

Buy links:

Amazon ➞ https://amzn.to/2kxlB7i

Nook ➞ http://bit.ly/2wP9KUD

iBooks ➞ https://apple.co/2YImFE6

Kobo ➞ http://bit.ly/2NHFlCX

Blushing Books ➞ https://bit.ly/2kxDzGO

Goodreads

Author Bio:
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maggie grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Maggie never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.
Maggie is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres.

She also writes erotic romance under the name Anya Summers. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.

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