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Barbara Raffin grew up a country girl in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but loves to visit the big city and live the hurried pace now and then. Blessed with a vivid imagination, she's created stories and adventures in one form or another for as long as she can remember. She wrote her first book at age twelve in retaliation to the lack of female leads in the adventure stories she loved reading. But it is a love of playing with words, exploring the human psyche, and telling stories that keeps her writing. Whether a romantic romp or gothic-flavored suspense, her books have one common denominator: characters who are wounded, passionate, and searching for love.
Barb still lives on the Michigan-Wisconsin border with her Keeshond dog Copy, as in copyright, and her avid outdoorsman husband who continues to support her love affair with reading and writing. Visit Barbara's website by clicking on the website button above to learn more about her and her latest release, THE MATING GAME, spotlighted this month. There’s even a link to Copy’s page.
Barbara's story Jaded is available now in TALES FROM THE TREASURE TROVE, the first
Jewels of the Quill anthology. Her story, The Sting of Love, in the Jewels of the Quill Valentine's Day anthology, TREASURES OF THE HEART, is also available. Look for The Scarecrow and Ms. Moon, coming in HALLOWEEN TREASURES, A Jewels of the Quill Halloween Anthology (September 2010). Click on the Books & Awards button above to purchase any of Barbara's books.
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THE MATING GAME What more could a gal want than a stud contract? THE MATING GAME is a poignant romance heavily salted with humor. Set in Wisconsin against the world of dog showing and breeding, two dog lovers rediscover each other ten years after aging out of the junior dog handler ranks. It's the perfect makings for a second chance at love…if they can get past a history of a misguided crush and a childish dare. Kelby Richards wants love with Mr. Right, but she has settled for breeding fine collies. The complication: The perfect stud for the best bitch she's ever bred is owned by the cad she fell in love with when they were teenage dog handlers. Clay Davidson had been every loathsome thing the shy, awkward Kelby had called him when she discovered his attempted seduction had been done on a dare. But the openness with which Kelby had offered herself to him body, heart, and soul--her utter longing for love had struck a familiar note in the boy whose mother had put breeding dogs ahead of nurturing children. On the brink of adulthood, Clay faced up to the fact that he put the hurt in Kelby's eyes. He vowed to become a better man by following the example of the most honest person he knew, Kelby. Unfortunately, they'd gone their separate ways before he could prove to her he was a changed man. Now, he has only twenty-eight days, the length of her bitch’s heat cycle, to prove he's the right man for her.
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"THE MATING GAME is one of those memorable stories that readers are going to love. ...snappy dialogue and sweet sexual tension." ~award-winning author Karen Wiesner www.karenwiesner.com
"A dog that resists mating, her owner who resists falling in love come up against an irresistible collie and a man who won't take no for an answer. THE MATING GAME by Barbara Raffin is both fun and heart-warming." ~multi-published author Jane Toombs www.JaneToombs.com "
"THE MATING GAME is a wonderful love story, showing the struggle between a man and a woman with a past history, while a contract for their show dogs to mate lies between them. Ms. Raffin is a wonderful writer, and the banter between the characters is hilarious and great fun. I loved this book, being a dog lover, and enjoyed how the dogs seemed to understand what was going on, by barking at the right time to fit into the story. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves a love story where the characters struggle toward a common goal, with a happily-ever-after and satisfying ending. THE MATING GAME is a fun story of love, between a man and a woman whose troubled history is complicated by a contract to mate their dogs. Ms. Raffin is a wonderful writer, and the banter between the characters is hilarious and great fun. I loved this book... I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys happily-ever-after and satisfying endings." ~Paige Ryter http://www.paigeryter.com
What's the story behind THE MATING GAME and what inspired you to write it? What about the characters in this book intrigued you?
In 1988, while recovering from cancer, I learned what love at first sight was all about. In my case, it took the form of a Keeshond puppy. Casey immediately bonded with me and became the light of my life. The perfect dog for me at that time of my life. He would do anything for me and I wanted to have lots of fun with him. This is how I got started in training for dog obedience competition. Dog showing became the best hobby I ever had. I did a little conformation showing with my collie, Fawn. Copy, my current Keeshond, got "a" title in obedience, but this free spirit was best suited for agility trials. It was a given that I'd eventually write a story or two or ten that incorporated my love of dogs and any sport connected with them. I just had to find the right characters and the right story and my first "right" story grew out of my dog showing experiences.
My heroine, Kelby, and hero, Clay, were inspired by a couple junior dog handlers I'd observed at the shows over the years. To be clear, the real boy and girl never had a relationship such as I portray in THE MATING GAME. I'm not even sure if they ever met. But turning loose my fertile imagination... Consider a willowy girl, probably the tallest in her junior high school class, who finds grace and confidence in the conformation ring. Consider a cocky boy who's too confident because he's a big fish in the little pond of junior dog handling. Give her a crush on him. Make him a jerk who takes advantage of that crush. At least that's where my imagination took my two teenagers.
Now fast forward ten years and throw the grown-up boy and girl into each other's path. Here's where THE MATING GAME begins...and the fun. How did that old crush affect Kelby? Is Clay the same cad he was when he deserted her? That one of them hasn't let go of the past while the other grew from the lesson learned ten years ago is what intrigues me about the hero and heroine of THE MATING GAME. I also had great fun with some quirky secondary characters, some inspired likewise from observations taken from my travels as a competitor in the world of dog showing.
What do you want to tell with your stories? Any message in your books?
I'm always hopeful my readers will learn something from my stories or find a truism in them. Trust seems to be a popular theme of mine. Often times, the character has to learn to trust his or her self in order to take the leap of faith which will forward their lives. I definitely like to push my characters beyond their comfort zones for them to heal themselves. My hero in WOLFSONG had to overcome the betrayal of the two people closest to him before he could trust the heroine who'd entered his life pretending to be something she's not. In THE VISITOR, my heroine is so mired in emotion over her husband's death, she's immobilized. She had to get herself a backbone and learn she could depend on herself or perish while the hero had to learn a life without emotion or feelings isn't living at all. Even my strong heroines of TIME OUT OF MIND and THE INDENTURED HEART had to take a leap of faith in the men who loved them before they could trust and move forward in life.
THE MATING GAME is my first story without an actual villain. Yes, people have made mistakes and those mistakes have shaped lives. But I think THE MATING best of all my books shows the fluidity of life, that life is the path, not the destination. So my overall message: Trust your instincts. Take the risk. Whatever has happened to you in the past, how you live today and tomorrow is up to you.
Are titles important to you as a writer? Name some of your own favorite titles and very briefly explain the how the name fits the book.
Titles are important. Given all the movies run on television these days, what first catches your eye when browsing their lists? I can't tell you how many times I've been stopped dead by a Claude Van Damme or Steven Segal title. I seldom watch their movies. But they have great grabber titles. I also like a title to suggest something important about the story. TIME OUT OF MIND came from a favorite Edna St. Vincent Malay poem about not being resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the cold hard ground yet the inevitability of it. Given TIME OUT OF MIND was about lovers whose paths keep crossing life after life in their quest to rectify an ancient wrong, the title spoke to me of the premise of the story. Jaded, my story in the first Jewels of the Quill anthology, came about partly because all the authors participating in the book had agreed to tie their titles into their dame stone and mine is Jade. But what cinched it for me was Jaded perfectly described the heroine's mind set as the story begins as well as suggests what she needs to overcome in order to move forward in life. THE MATING GAME suits its story well as there's a lot of gaming going on in the sport of dog showing, not to mention the games we all play in the name of love. But, what I especially like about THE MATING GAME as a title is it suggests a fun read.
What can readers look for next from you?
I'll have a romantic paranormal novella called The Scarecrow and Ms. Moon in the next Jewels of the Quill Halloween anthology, HALLOWEEN TREASURES (coming September 2010).
What are you working on now?
I'm editing The Scarecrow and Ms. Moon now. In anger, novice witch Jessie Moon impulsively turns her lover into a scarecrow. When she can't turn him back into human form, she must confess her misguided spell casting to her coven. With their help, he is restored. But there's a price to pay. Jessie has the twenty-four hours of Halloween to prove she loves Jackson Wolfe enough to let him go or she will be banished from the coven and he turned back into a scarecrow. It's a fun story. Honest.
View Special Guest Dame spotlight archives here: http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/guestjewelarchive.html
November's winner of a trade paperback of THE BISHOP'S DAUGHTER by Karen Woods (Dame Coral) is Jennifer Mathis of Percy, IL.
This month, Barbara Raffin (Dame Jade) is giving away an autographed advance review trade paperback of THE MATING GAME with an official THE MATING GAME canvas bag. In addition to Barbara's giveaway, our bimonthly giveaway will be a trade paperback of CHRISTMAS WISHES, A Jewels of the Quill Christmas Anthology:
USA winners only for tangible prizes; if the winner is outside the USA, the contributing author, at her discretion, may substitute a download in place of the original prize.
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