HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME: PREVIEW, AUTHOR CONVERSATION, AND A GIVEAWAY!

 GIVEAWAY ENDED 
HOW TO KNIT A HEART
BACK HOME

A Cypress Hollow Yarn

BY RACHAEL HERRON

 

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Return with rising romance star Rachael Herron to the town of Cypress Hollow—site of her unforgettable debut, How to Knit a Love Song—and learn How to Knit a Heart Back Home. Fans of Debbie Macomber will adore this joyous tale of a fiery independent lady whose life interweaves with a bad-boy ex-cop’s and the shared mission that knits their hearts together.

Lucy Harrison sells books by day and volunteers with the Cypress Hollow fire department by night. Her life is just the way she likes it—full, even-keeled, and smooth—until bad-boy ex-cop Owen Bancroft comes back to town. Lucy has always been fearless, never scared about diving in to help others. When it comes to risking her heart, however, she realizes she's absolutely terrified.

In a small town like Cypress Hollow, everyone knows your business—and there is nowhere to hide. Then Lucy and Owen are thrown together by the discovery of the lost work of local legend, knitting guru Eliza Carpenter. Now Owen, adrift and struggling to redefine himself as a civilian without a badge, will have to learn how to open himself up to life's new possibilities . . . while Lucy decides just how much of herself she's willing to gamble on love.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rachael Herron received her MFA in writing from Mills College, and has been knitting since she was five years old. It's more than a hobby; it's a way of life.

Rachael lives with her better half in Oakland, California, where they have four cats, three dogs, three spinning wheels, and more instruments than they can count. She is a proud member of the San Francisco Area Romance Writers of America and she is struggling to learn the ukulele.

Rachel's website and blog are: Pens Fatales and Yarn-A-Go-Go and find some wonderful photographs in her Photo Album HERE

A CONVERSATION WITH RACHAEL HERRON:

Your writing seamlessly marries the idea of romantic storytelling with knitting. How did this concept come about?

The concept came about pretty organically. I've been a knitter as long as I've been a writer, since the age of about five or six, when I could first hold a pencil or a knitting needle. I have an MFA in writing, but I'd been struggling with what to write -- nothing felt important enough to warrant a novel. In 2006, I participated in National Novel Writing Month for the first time. An incredible online challenge, participants attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November. The week before I started, I decided that in order to write that much, that fast, I had to write something that I loved, something that came naturally to me. I loved knitting, and I loved romance, so I put them together, and after another year of work (adding lots of words to those original 50,000) and a bit of editing, How to Knit a Love Song was born.

In your books, Eliza Carpenter is such a revered (fictional) figure for the knitting world. Does she have a real-life counterpart?

Eliza is truly herself, a personality that just kind of came out of my typing fingers and took over the world of Cypress Hollow, but I know that my reverence for certain figures in the knitting world came in to play for her character. Eliza is a combination of the genius of Alice Starmore, the knowledge of Barbara Walker, and the grace of Elizabeth Zimmerman. I had a blast creating someone I now look up to, something I didn't know could happen.

What inspired you to create the town of Cypress Hollow?

I love the rugged coast of California, and I've spent most of my life near it. Cypress Hollow is fictional, but I think of it as somewhere in the Half-Moon Bay area. There's a restaurant in the tiny town of Pescadero (Duarte's) that I spend time in as often as I can. Sometimes I've heard the ranchers talking in the other room, and they sound just like they do in my book. They gossip about the other ranchers, their kids, the way the valley is filling up with tourists... Sometimes I imagine my characters walking through the restaurant, and it makes me happy to know that the locals would be happy to see them, that they'd greet them by name.

Your novels are stand-alone, but characters from the past novels often make “guest appearances.” Is this always planned, or does it happen organically?

Luckily, it's totally organic. The town has populated itself in my mind, and as characters appear, I write them down. But some are more persistent than others, and I can't let go of them--they pop back in as they see fit. They have real voices that want to be heard, and when they walk on, it's like a friend coming back into the room. It's a pretty great feeling.

In addition to being an author, you also run the popular site, http://www.yarnagogo.com/ What role does knitting play in your life?

Some knitters describe knitting as being like meditation. I think this is a lovely idea, but I've been doing it for so long now that it's more like breathing air. It's just something I have to do. Ninety percent of the time, I'm not even thinking about what I'm doing -- the stitches just fall off the needles in (usually) the right order. Spinning, to me, is more meditative. It takes a bit more concentration, and it's a whole-body activity. It's calming when I'm doing it right (and a little stressful when I'm doing it wrong). So spinning is a process I'm learning, whereas knitting is just part of my life and makes up who I am. I love it.

CRITICAL PRAISE FOR HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME:

“How to Knit a Love Song is a treat for readers, filled with romance and spiced with suspense. Rachael Herron’s debut novel is the perfect book to curl up with, as warm and cozy as your favorite sweater.”

— Susan Wiggs, NYT Bestseller

 “You had me from howdy. Rising star Rachael Herron is a new writer to watch. Her first novel is a warm, witty, sexy love story with charming lead characters who have chemistry to spare. A must-read for knitters and non-knitters alike.”

— Barbara Bretton, USA Today bestseller

 Intricate and clever, Herron¹s knit-centric novel is as warm as the sweater pattern it includes! The delightful Abigail brings both knitting know-how and down-home sense to this story about picking up the threads of your life and creating something brilliant.

— Romantic Times BOOK Club

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO MEGAN AND THE GREAT

FOLKS AT HARPER COLLINS, I HAVE

TWO COPIES OF THIS JUST RELEASED

BOOK TO GIVE AWAY! I KNOW YOU

 WILL WANT TO WIN, SO HERE'S HOW!

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY
--NO P. O. BOXES
---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
IN CASE YOU WIN!
--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO
COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU READ ABOVE ABOUT HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME THAT MADE YOU WANT TO WIN THIS BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON RACHAEL HERRON'S "CONVERSATION"/INTERVIEW ABOVE!

+1 MORE ENTRY: CHECK OUT THE HARPER COLLINS WEBSITE "FUN STUFF" SECTION FOR HOW TO KNIT A HEART BACK HOME'S AUTHOR, RACHAEL HERRON, AND COME BACK AND COMMENT ON ONE THING YOU LEARNED ABOUT RACHAEL HERRON FROM THERE

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT

6 PM, EST, MARCH 18!

GOOD LUCK!