Hello readers! Please welcome today Nadine C. Keels, author of Love Unfeigned, who granted us some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions. At the end of this post you can also find a small giveaway of Love Unfeigned. Enjoy!
Love to the chords of a classic jazz band…From the first time Lorraine, a plucky and competitive girl, contends on the playground against Isaiah, an impish boy whose smile gleams in more ways than one, the two of them can’t help knowing each other. Neither can they avoid passions and misfortunes lining the path to young adulthood, and when the breakup of Isaiah’s family disrupts the haven he’s shared with Lorraine, their natural relationship is eventually threatened by jealousy, grave trauma, and abandonment. As one year follows another, and another, what might it take to reunite these two companions in love: love undeniably real and unbounded by time?
“Everything didn’t have to turn out perfect. I just wanted you there.”
Please tell me about yourself and your book.
I’m Nadine—that’s a French name that means “hope.” I’m a bookworm-turned-author with a lifelong passion for fiction. I’m also quite a film lover, which stems right from my love of fiction, of storytelling. I’ve been writing stories since I was about seven or eight, but if people asked me back then what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would tell them, “I want to be a singer.” Yet, when it came to what I truly loved the most, my nose could be found buried deep in books. So, books eventually won out over daydreams of the glamour of being a vocalist.
Love Unfeigned is a story for those who believe (or would like to believe again) that imperfect people can, should, and do experience perfect love.
What inspired you to write Love Unfeigned?
On a major note, I was inspired by my conviction about imperfect people and perfect love. On a minor note, I was driven by my years of longing to one day publish a book with a lot of RED on the cover, red being my favorite color for the passion it represents. For the first time in my publishing life, I designed a book cover before I had a story or plot to go along with it. I only had a title, ideas for the cover, and a desire to write about love. Once I finished the cover, the story began to take form in my imagination, drawn from over twelve chronicled dreams, unrelated story bits I wrote with plots too incomplete to even be called “short stories,” and little nuggets from my personal history. What I weaved together from all of that became Love Unfeigned.
What question would you ask Lorraine or Isaiah if you met them in real life?
Wow. I’d like to ask grown Isaiah what his thoughts are about a man living off in another county. (Having read the book, I hope you get what I mean!)
Which is your favorite love story?
My goodness! So many choices. I love the romantic and familial love in my all-time favorite book, John Nielson Had a Daughter by Ruth Livingston Hill. The love stories are great in my favorite book by a 21st Century author, American Anthem by BJ Hoff. I’d be remiss not to mention my two favorite reads of the year so far, which also have beautiful love/relationship stories: The Fine Art of Keeping Quiet by Charity Tahmaseb and The Butterfly and the Violin by Kristy Cambron. Let me stop, though, before I go on forever.
What other genres do you write?
I’ve written some nonfiction and self-help as well as inspirational poetry. Fiction is my favorite to write, and I like to include some theme of love in all of my stories, no matter what the genre. Aside from Contemporary Romance, I’ve been enjoying writing what I like to call Epic Fiction: books that read like Historical Fiction but that don’t have any real historical facts or people to make them historical or alternative history. The books might technically be categorized as Epic Fantasy, but “fantasy” often connotes and includes magic, dragons, alternate worlds, or whatnot, which my stories don’t.
As a reader, what do you look for in a book?
That, of course, depends on the book! I approach different books with different expectations, or sometimes not many expectations at all. Overall, I look for a book’s usefulness, from whether it’s entertaining to whether it has anything in it I can take away and apply to life.
If I wasn’t an author, I would be _______ (what?)
Maybe a filmmaker, or involved in the film industry in some way. Perhaps a playwright, even though I guess that would still make me an author. I’m sure whatever I’d be would have something to do with storytelling, which has been a vital part of the human experience for thousands and thousands of years.
Where was the most unusual place you wished to sit down and start writing?
Well, I’m often thinking about writing, no matter what else I’m doing, especially if I’m in the middle of a new manuscript. However, there aren’t many places where I actually feel like sitting down to write; I prefer to be in a certain kind of atmosphere and setting for that, and if I’m not there at the moment, my thought is, “Can’t wait until I leave here and go get back to my book…”
What’s your favorite inspirational quote?
Um, if I had to choose, not actually a quote but a song title: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”
Cakes, cupcakes, or cookies?
Snack cakes, if that’s an appropriate answer! They don’t require a fork, and sometimes eating a cupcake neatly in public can be a challenge if the frosting is fluffed too high.
Anything else you would like to share with us? (Upcoming books, advice…)
Don’t wait for “big” moments to celebrate and be happy. Celebrate and be happy over the little things, and be sure to laugh a lot along the way.
I set the goal this year of writing a piece of Chick Lit longer than a short story, and I succeeded in length, though it’s turned out to be more of a romantic comedy. Anyhow, I just released my new little book, called The “She” Stands Alone. Romance, Rom-Com, and, yes, even Chick Lit lovers can check it out. http://prismaticprospects.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/the-she-stands-alone/
Great interview Melissa 🙂 I loved her last added share with us about celebrating small moments!
Chanzie @ Mean Who You Are.