Bette Lee Crosby's extraordinary year...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Bette Lee Crosby visiting today to celebrate the publication of her latest novel,  A Year of Extraordinary Moments. The hearing loss aspect of this novel stands out to Melissa A, as she has experience with raising children who have hearing loss. It sounds like it will be a great novel and Bette has one signed copy for a lucky reader!


Bette Lee Crosby is the USA Today bestselling author of nineteen novels, including the first Magnolia Grove novel, The Summer of New Beginnings. She has been the recipient of the Royal Palm Literary Award, Reviewer’s Choice Award, FAPA President’s Book Award, International Book Award, and Next Generation Indie Award, among many others. Her 2016 novel, Baby Girl, was named Best Chick Lit of the Year by Huffington Post. She laughingly admits to being a night owl and a workaholic, claiming that her guilty pleasure is late-night chats with fans and friends on Facebook and Goodreads. To learn more about Bette Lee Crosby’s work, visit her at her website. You can also find Bette on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Synopsis:
Tracy Briggs has finally gotten her act together. She’s focusing on her own life and helping her hearing-impaired son learn to talk. With her sister married and exploring a new career, Tracy has begun to run the family’s magazine business and feels her life is pretty much perfect. That is, until her son’s deadbeat dad shows up in Magnolia Grove asking for a second chance.

Now that her son is getting the help he needs and a promising new romance with his teacher is in bloom, Tracy wants to keep her life just as it is. But her ex isn’t taking no for an answer. And when a spirited elderly woman enters Tracy’s life in an unexpected way, she’ll have to work harder than ever to keep her new life on track.

Torn between the past she knows and the uncertain future, Tracy must decide what is best for both her and her son, learning along the way that ordinary choices can bring extraordinary possibilities. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

What is a favorite compliment you received for one of your previous novels?
To understand the significance of this compliment, you have to know how it happened. The novel Baby Girl was based on a true story that one of my fans shared with me. When she first approached me about writing her story—one of a birth mother who gives up her baby, but never forgets—I told her that I only write fiction. She said that was okay. She told me her story and I wrote it almost as it was – fictionalizing only a very few parts. At the time I wrote the book, the daughter she had given up was 18 years old and while the birth mother knew where she was, etc., they had never spoken. When the book was released she sent her daughter a copy of it and said “This is our story”.

After reading the story of what her mother went through and how much she ached to hold on to her child, the girl contacted her mom, and the day they met for coffee, her mom took a picture of them together and sent it to me. She said, “This is the happiest day of my life. Thank you for making it happen.”

When one of my books is so powerful it can change a person’s life, I couldn’t ask for anything more.

What inspired you to include a child with hearing loss in A Year of Extraordinary Moments and how much research did you have to do on the subject?
When I conceived the idea for the story, I knew Tracy had to have a huge obstacle to overcome and just having a baby wouldn’t be enough to open her eyes and force her into changing her life. Children and dogs bring out the best in us, because they are vulnerable and cannot fend for themselves, so it brings out the hero hidden in all of us. I considered using autism as Lucas’s problem, but there was not heartwarming solution to that so I began researching hearing problems. And, yes, I did a ton of research. I interviewed a ENT doctor at length, and I did a lot of research on the internet. There were two whole days when I watched videos of toddlers having their cochlear implant sound turned on for the first time, and as I sat there crying happy tears, I knew that was where I wanted to go with Lucas’s story.

Also, I fell in love with Gabriel. There is something about a hero who is flawed and rises above it, that absolutely touches my heart.

If you could cast A Year of Extraordinary Moments as a movie, who would play the lead roles?
My first choice would have been a young Sandra Bullock, but since she’s too mature for the part, it would have to be Kristen Stewart. Kristen has the same less-than-perfect, but 100% likable shagginess that Tracy has.

I would tag Ryan Gosling to play Gabriel. He has such a warm and friendly face. Gabriel is a man with such compassion and inner strength, and I think Ryan Gosling with his warm eyes and inviting smile could pull that off easily.

I would definitely have Meryl Streep play Alice DeLuca. She does a vulnerable but strong woman beautifully.

What has been a recent extraordinary moment for you?
A few weeks ago, my novel The Twelfth Child hit the USA Today Bestseller list and that was extremely exciting. I hadn’t expected it and didn’t find out until Friday (The list comes out on Thursday) when my hubby came and told me about it.
This is my third novel to make this prestigious list, and Spare Change has been there three times, but it never grows old. Each time is as thrilling as the first time.

What is your favorite autumn beverage?
In October and early November, I love pumpkin latte; but once we move past Thanksgiving, I turn to mulled wine—it puts me in a holiday mood.

What is something that motivates you?
Reading a really great book. Once where there is no meaningless filler, where every word counts and I truly care about what happens to the protagonist. When I read a book that well-written it makes me want to sit down at the computer and write one just as powerful.

I am also inspired by life stories – friends, neighbors, fans, even things I hear on the news—when I hear about someone who has in some way stepped out of the box, I want to write that story, or a story along that line. Often when I hear a story that happened one way, my impulse is always to think but what if happened with this other twist. I love the road not taken ideas.

Thanks to Bette Lee Crosby for visiting with us and for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Rafflecopter to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Rafflecopter on our blog, enter the giveaway here. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Giveaway ends October 21st at midnight EST.