If Not for a Bee Blog Tour!

Tour Schedule
10/11: Launch
10/12: Katie’s Clean Book Collection & Zerina Blossom’s Books
10/13: Thoughts of a Blonde & The Power of Words
10/14: Christy’s Cozy Corners & underneath the covers
10/15: Letters from Annie (Douglass) Lima & deal sharing aunt
10/16: Singing Librarian Books & Chill Reviews
10/18: Grand Finale

Interview with Author Carol Ross

What is your motivation behind If Not for a Bee? Why did you want to write it?

I’ve never written a character I so badly wanted to give a happily ever after. Janie Everett, the heroine in If Not for a Bee, was introduced in Mountains Apart, the first Seasons of Alaska book. In that story Janie is recently widowed with two young boys and pregnant with twins. A difficult pregnancy and a premature birth leave her battling both grief and post-partum depression. By the time If Not for a Bee takes place the twins are two years old, her older boys are eleven and thirteen. She does what she can to make ends meet, fueled by a fierce determination to be the best mother she can. This woman deserves a happy ending.

What do you hope readers take with them after they’ve read it?

We all wrestle with challenges of one kind or another. Aidan, Janie and her boys, Gareth and Reagan all struggle with adversity in some form. I think it’s important to face your fears, fight them, smother them, whatever it takes. There is a way to figure out how to work through them. I hope that If Not for a Bee shows how even the most seemingly impossible obstacle can be scaled.

Do you have a favorite scene?

Honestly, I like so many scenes in this book it’s difficult to choose. I think this is because I love Aidan and Janie so much. These two flawed, yet unselfish characters try their utmost to do (or not do) what they think is right for others (especially the Everett boys.) But as in life, sometimes the decision we analyze and agonize about and ultimately make still doesn’t turn out to be the best one.

I love the scene where Janie discovers that Aidan is teaching her older two boys something that he feels is valuable. Something that he is 100% convinced will help them solve a problem. But he’s also aware of the fact that Janie may not agree with this approach, so he acts on the age-old theory that sometimes it’s easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission. Of course, he gets caught. Janie’s mom claws come out in full force as she battles with whether or not this is the right thing for her child. Here’s a peek…

     She wanted to tell him no, that she didn’t want him spending time with the boys anymore, but she knew she couldn’t be that rash, that small. That would make things even harder on Gareth and Reagan. She had to think past her bruised pride. But she needed a minute—her heart hurt, like it was suddenly being compressed inside of her chest……
     “Janie, are you…okay?”
     She shook her head. “No, I’m not. I can’t talk about this anymore right now, Aidan, but you really have gone too far. You—”
     “Yes, you can.”
     “What?”
     “You can talk about this. That’s your problem, Janie. Where your boys are concerned—you won’t hear anything that you don’t want to hear. You keep hoping everything will get better on its own.”
     She couldn’t take any more of this. She turned to go. But he reached out and stopped her by placing a hand on her arm.
     “Please, don’t go. Just listen for a minute. I know you can see how happy Reagan has been while spending time with me, and I’ve already noticed a change in Gareth, as well, the last few weeks. But your boys have some problems and I think some of them are undoubtedly the result of losing their father, but others stem from different issues and circumstances that you don’t seem to fully comprehend or understand—”
     “I don’t need to hear any more about what a bad mother I am, Aidan.”
     A look of unbridled surprise appeared on his face. “I never said you were a bad mother. I said your boys have some problems that you don’t understand or you’re not willing to address—”
     “See? I don’t ‘understand’—those are the kinds of statements that make me feel like a bad mom. Telling me my boys have problems.” Even though in her sinking, aching heart she knew he was right, she still didn’t want to hear it from him. How could he understand these complex issues when she didn’t fully comprehend them herself?
     “Everyone has problems, Janie. What would make you a bad mom is if you didn’t try something that was right here at your disposal to attempt to fix these issues.”
She shook her head and tried to think. He’d basically just confirmed her worst fears. She didn’t know what to do anymore. She didn’t know how to fix any of this…
     “Janie, trust me, I know what I’m doing”.

Aidan convinces her eventually, but it takes every bit of Janie’s will to entrust her precious children into someone else’s care. Like most moms, she wants to do the right thing for her boys, make the best decisions. But how can you always know what that is?

Share something about you that is unique – maybe about how/where you write… or favorite snack foods?

Most of my writing is done sitting on the sofa, feet propped up on the coffee table, my dachshund Lucky glued to my hip. There’s often a cup of coffee and a bag of candy on the end table next to me. I have a terrible weakness/addiction for sugar. You know those king-sized bags of peanut M&M’s? Yes?  Okay, well have you seen the size above that? Bigger than the king-sized but a tad smaller than the party size? That’s the size I buy. I can munch through the whole bag and then swear someone broke into my house and ate them.  Because surely I did not eat that entire bag in one sitting, did I?

— Carol Ross

 

You can’t always play it safe

With four sons dependent on her, Janie Everett needs to keep her life uncomplicated. Now famous scientist Aidan Hollings is disrupting her orderly world, starting with the rescue of a…bumblebee.

Aidan is only passing through her Alaska wilderness town, and wasn’t planning to bond with her two older boys. Or become so attracted to the widowed journalist. His globe-trotting days may be be over if he’s able to show Janie that they can share the adventure of a lifetime–together.

Winning this battle could mean losing it all

San Diego workaholic Emily Hollings doesn’t eat fish, doesn’t wear flannel shirts and certainly doesn’t fraternize with the enemy. So why is she finding herself charmed by Rankins, Alaska—her company’s next development target—and the leader of its hostile opposition, Bering James?

She must be more burned-out than she thought. Her professional reserve is slipping. And she’s starting to fantasize about a life beyond work…a life like Bering has here. Maybe they can put their professional differences aside and explore this…friendship. Or maybe she’s just deluding herself. Because one of them has to win.