NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE Winner!

We (finally, after my screwy week!) have a winner for Delia DeLeest's NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE guest blog. A free copy goes to:

JEANIE C!

Contact Carrie to provide your mailing address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!

Guest Author: Delia DeLeest

This week on Excerpt Thursday we're featuring one of our regular contributors, Delia DeLeest as she celebrates the release of NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, set during Roaring 20s. Join us Sunday when Delia will be here to answer questions and give away a digital copy of this sexy romance.

How could someone not looking for trouble stumble upon it so easily? Susan Kent wonders this exact thing when she finds the man of her dreams, only to discover that he lives in a nightmare of his own making.

Jake Kelley thought he found the peace and simplicity he'd been looking for all his life. But in bringing Susan into his world, is he only dragging her down instead of pulling himself up?

The dark underworld of gangland Chicago throbs with intrigue, thrills and danger--those who venture there seldom leave intact…if they leave at all.

***

Tell us about NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE.

Though NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE is my third published book, it's actually the second manuscript I ever wrote, my first being a western that will never see the light of day. After watching a few old gangster movies (I may be in love with Jimmy Cagney) I became interested in the Roaring Twenties and all the incredibly interesting characters that came from that era. Okay, interested is kind of mild, let's just say I got a mite bit obsessed right down to the point when I could identify all the victims in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in a police crime photo. Then I got to wondering about the women in these men's lives. Who were they? What drew them to these men? And how did they deal with consequences of living a life on the edge of crime? It was these things that created a story in my head just begging to be told and NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE was born.

What was 1920s Chicago like?

Though bootlegging was prevalent throughout the country in the 1920s and there were gangs controlling every major city at that time, Chicago is the one that has captured my imagination. The mood of the people of that time was reflected in this wonderful city. There was an underlying franticness, people out searching for just one more good time, regardless of its safety or legality. Chicago could be a dark, dangerous city, full of evil men whose only goals were money and control and they'd stop at nothing to get them. Winters in the Midwest are cold and unforgiving and I couldn't help coupling the atmosphere of the city with the uncompromising weather to portray the mood of the characters in my book.

What do you enjoy the most about researching the 1920s?

I've got an unhealthy attraction to my reproduction 1923 Sears and Roebuck catalog. That, along with a 1927 yearbook from a Chicago high school, can keep me entertained for hours. Something as simple as a description of a gas stove or a picture of the Senior class play can give me ideas that can turn into an entire scene or plot point.

But, it's reading mini-biographies about real people who lived in the time that I just can't get enough of. By reading about people's lives, societal expectations, rules and morals come to light, things that may never come up during a surface study of the time. While I love reading fiction, it just can't beat the lives real people and their true life struggles and victories.

Though the music of the times takes a little for our modern ears to get used to, I've been enjoying listening to it. I even found a dance tutorial online and my kids and I had a great time learning to do the Blackbottom, the Foxtrot and the Charleston.

What do you have in the works?

I've got a few manuscripts sitting in the darkness of my hard drive patiently waiting for me to make them readable. I feel guilty about these neglected children, but not yet guilty enough to whip them into shape. At the moment I'm attempting to store up my creative energy so it can burst forth in it's wondrous beauty on November 1, when I participate in my fifth year of Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). That's the plan anyway, I'm not sure if my creative energy got the memo.

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If you'd like to win a digital copy of Delia's NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, leave a comment or question here. Maybe let us know what elements of pop culture you like from the early 20th century. Music? Movies? Any favorites you'd like to share? I'll draw a winner at random next Sunday. Void there prohibited. Best of luck!

Excerpt Thursday: Delia DeLeest

This week on Excerpt Thursday we're featuring one of our regular contributors, Delia DeLeest as she celebrates the release of NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, set during Roaring 20s. Join us Sunday when Delia will be here to answer questions and give away a digital copy of this sexy romance.

How could someone not looking for trouble stumble upon it so easily? Susan Kent wonders this exact thing when she finds the man of her dreams, only to discover that he lives in a nightmare of his own making.

Jake Kelley thought he found the peace and simplicity he'd been looking for all his life. But in bringing Susan into his world, is he only dragging her down instead of pulling himself up?

The dark underworld of gangland Chicago throbs with intrigue, thrills and danger--those who venture there seldom leave intact…if they leave at all.

***

"Susan!" Katie exclaimed in awe. "Are those really for you?"

Robbie was dancing around the room chanting, "Susie's got a boyfriend! Susie's got a boyfriend!"

"Who are they from?" Rose asked.

I searched through the flowers for a card of some sort, and quickly found it. All it said was, "I'm sorry." That was it, nothing more. Of course, I knew who they were from.

I tucked the card in my pocket before anyone else got their hands on it. The last thing I wanted to do was explain why Jake was apologizing.

Everyone was looking at me expectantly, so I had to say something. "They're from the fella I went out with last night. I'm going to put them in a vase." Ignoring their curious stares, I rummaged through the cupboard until I found a vase big enough for the flowers. A dozen roses! I would say a fella's got to be pretty sorry to send a girl a dozen roses. I filled the vase with water, and put them in the middle of the kitchen table. The room was already starting to fill with the beautiful scent of the flowers.

Dad looked over his paper and scowled at the flowers, then flipped it back up and continued reading, muttering something about dirty Irish. It was obvious the flowers didn't impress him nearly as much as they impressed the rest of the family.

Rather than sit and get the third degree from my sisters and brother, I retreated to the bedroom I shared with my sisters. Since Mom wouldn't let Katie or Robbie leave the table until their homework was done, I was guaranteed a little bit of privacy in there. It wasn't long before Rose came in after me, though. I didn't mind talking to Rose. She was closest to my age, and we were as much friends as we were sisters.

She flopped down on the bed beside me. "So, what's the story? You might as well spill it, because I'll bug you until you do."

I knew that was no idle threat, she'd done it before. I told her all about meeting Jake at the store, going out to Groeb's and the ride home. "Well, after he kissed me, I slapped him across the face and went inside."

"You didn't!" she exclaimed in delighted disbelief.

"You better believe I did, and you should do the same if some piker tries to put the moves on you."

"But he's not a piker, that's pretty obvious, since he sent you those flowers. Think how much they must have cost. Imagine, roses in January! So, what are you going to do now?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. I don't know how to get in touch with him or where he lives or anything. I suppose he'll stop by the store tomorrow or something."

"What are you going to say to him?"

I traced the floral pattern of the bedspread with my finger for a moment while I thought about her question. "Well...he did apologize and send me flowers, and I really do like him. But, I can't make things too easy for him either, can I? He might think I'd let him get away with it again."

"Would you?"

I smiled at Rose. "I might."

What Surprised Me: Don't Know Much About History

By Delia DeLeest

I've always been a history buff. When I was little, my favorite TV show was "Little House on the Prairie." My favorite book was about four kids who were required to clean an old vacant house as community service and ended up researching the house's history in an attempt to save it from the wrecking ball. I wanted a time machine so I could go back to ancient Egypt.

It's always amazed me that there are so many people out there who just flat out aren't interested in history and therefore, know nothing about it. I didn't realize that historical ignorance was as bad as it was until a reader once questioned my character's use of a telephone in my 1920s era upcoming book, NOT LOOKING FOR TROUBLE. Telephones were old hat by that time, yet this person had no idea.

My love for history turned into a love for historical romances. Though those early novels weren't always totally historically accurate, it was through them that I gleaned nuggets of information about the Civil War, the Norman invasion of Saxony, and--thanks to the wonderful, dearly departed Kathleen Woodiwiss--sugar plantations in the Caribbean. Those books were simply starting off points, from there, I dug into actual history books and rounded out all those wonderful history bites the romance books provided.

But even when I didn't dig deeper into a subject, my mind is still teeming with wonderful little bits of historic trivia provided by all those books I've devoured over the years. What a wonderful community service we historical romance writers are providing to the public when a reader cracks open a book and not only gets a wonderful story, but can take something else away that can give them an appreciation for past people and places. I get the warm fuzzies just thinking about it.

I feel bad for people who don't know who fought in the French and Indian war, how a wagon train made its way to California, or how bootleggers smuggled illegal hooch in from Canada. Too often it's felt that history is in the past and since there's nothing we can do about it, so why bother learning? Of course George Santayana said it best with, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But I couldn't help but feel a little surge of pride when my sixteen-year-old daughter stated the other day, "You know, if people would just learn from history, there'd be a whole lot fewer problems, wouldn't there?"

Yep, there's hope for the future.