Callie Hutton: A Run for Love

A Run For Love
by Callie Hutton

Romancing The West welcomes Callie Hutton all this week. Callie’s been making up stories in her head since elementary school, and writing since she learned to type in high school. She loves falling in love, did it herself, and now enjoys writing about it. And yes, she falls in love with all her heroes.

Although she’s lived in several states, Oklahoma is where she’s hung her hat for the last several years, but she originally hails from New Jersey. An Okie-Jersey girl. And proud of it. Her hubby supports all her ventures, truly being the wind beneath her wings. They have two young adult children at home. And they’re happy their two rescue dogs and rescue cat allow the family to share their home.

Here's a short blurb for A Run For Love:

Feisty school teacher Tori Henderson values her independence and has no use for a husband. When she finds herself the legal guardian of her two nieces, two nephews, and facing eviction from her Kansas home, she enters the 1889 Oklahoma land run and confronts a new set of challenges. The biggest obstacle being her new neighbor, cocky lawyer Jesse Cochran, the son of a whore--a man determined to put his past behind him and start a new life and family of his own.

Despite the undeniable attraction between them, Tori is determined to keep him at arm’s length, but a family emergency brings them together and they declare a truce. Can Jesse win Tori’s heart after a series of unplanned events, or will a tragedy tear them apart forever?

Contest!

Details at the end of this post.  Don't miss out!

RTW: What aspect of life in the Old West intrigues you the most? Did you work that into A Run For Love?

CH: What intrigues me the most is the courage and fortitude of the men and women who settled the west. I think I worked that into my book because my heroine, Tori Henderson, is a young, single woman who inherits her four nieces and nephews, and decided to make the Oklahoma Land Run to provide a home for them. She, and all the Runners, were courageous people.

RTW: If you lived in 1889, what modern convenience would you miss the most?

CH: Indoor plumbing. I can’t imagine using outhouses, and filling up a bathtub by carrying buckets of water. In 1889 some homes had indoor plumbing, but most didn’t.

RTW: Are there any common errors in westerns that bug you? If so, please set us straight.



Callie Hutton, author

CH: I understand that women today are more independent, sexually aware, and have a place in the world they didn’t in the past. But when authors have their heroines go completely against the times, it turns me off. I try to make my heroines a bit different than their peers—stronger, and more forward thinking. You have to be aware of your audience. The days of the suffering damsel in distress won’t cut it today. But some authors give women of the past attributes and actions, that are not believable to anyone familiar with history.

RTW: Why must Jesse Cochran take this story journey? What does he have to prove? Why is he the best match for Tori Henderson?

CH: Jesse is the son of a whore, who has risen from being raised in a brothel to attending college and law school. But he will always be ‘the whore’s kid’ in his home town. He sets out for Oklahoma to prove to the world, and himself, that he is not his beginnings. Tori is the best match for him because she’s strong, independent, and keeps him on his toes. He wants a home and family, something he never had, and he wants it with her.

RTW: I'm delighted that you have a book video to share with us today!

Where you can purchase A Run for Love: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Soul Mate Publishing

RTW: What’s next? Will you have a sequel to A Run for Love?

CH: Actually, I have a few ‘next.’ Oklahoma Lovers #2, A Wife by Christmas, released from Soul Mate Publishing December 1st, 2011. In May my contemporary novella, Annie’s Attic, releases from The Wild Rose Press, and my American Historical, An Angel in the Mail releases that same month from Soul Mate Publishing. I just finished A Prescription for Love, #3 in the Oklahoma series, which I assume will have a Fall release. I’m currently working on a novella set during the end of the Civil War.

RTW: Anything else you’d like to add?

CH: I want to thank you, Jacquie, for having me visit with you and your readers today. It’s been fun.

Win a FREE Book!

Callie will provide a free download of either A Run for Love, or A Wife By Christmas, (your choice), to one commenter. If you’ve read both of her books, and you’re willing to wait, you can receive a free download of An Angel in the Mail when it becomes available.  Drawing will be held April 21st at 9pm Pacific Time.  Comments on both this interview and Thursday's article are welcome, so you have all week!  Be sure to include your email address or we'll have to draw another name.

Thank you, Callie!  We'll be waiting to read your Thursday article: History of Guthrie