Jianne Carlo: Lucky In Red

Early this summer Passions in Print, a division of Man Love Romance, asked my friend and fellow author, Lynn Lorenz, to do an anthology for their new heterosexual-focused line. Lynn and I began our careers together around the same time a couple of years ago with the same editor, Georgia Woods.

We’d often spoken of doing a Viking story together, so when Lynn approached me for this anthology, I jumped at the chance. And when she told me that Belinda McBride was on board, I was thrilled, having recently met and bonded with Belinda at the EPIC awards in February.

I’m amazed at how easily Lucky in Red came together.

We had one brainstorming Skype session where we decided on our heroes - the Lobos brothers, the premise - stained red dresses, and the location - Sleeping Dog, Texas (thank you Lynn J).

After that, we each wrote a first paragraph, exchanged stories, and that was it. We wrote our tales independently, and lo behold, at the end of the day we had one discrepancy – I had an acrylic counter, and the others had stainless steel.

Isn’t that incredible?

I feel like pinching myself. Never did I imagine an anthology could be so easy. And we had such a blast doing this too. Of course, I’m all up for the three of us doing another one.

Like Lynn and Belinda, I, too, love writing about wolves. Their fierce loyalty to their mates and cubs, the delicious alpha qualities of a male wolf, the to-the-death maternal protectiveness of the females, all these qualities are so appealing for a romance novel.

A few fascinating sub-characters show up in Lucky in Red.

Carnation Rosa, an older woman, who earns her nickname by decapitating the heads of two dozen carnations each year at the county fair: her sidekick, Cleo, who’s addicted to the cactus-wine made by the town’s pastor and his wife, and a wolf-hating sheriff who’s trying to repeal the ban on hunting introduced by the Lobos brothers. Not to mention the mischievous devil of a ring bearer who wreaks havoc with a handful of marbles as the bridesmaids at a wedding advance up the aisle.

Lucky in Red is sexy, funny, and fast-paced and we all hope you enjoy reading the three stories!

Cheers,

Jianne