WELCOME TRACY BROGAN AUTHOR OF: MY KIND OF YOU

WELCOME

TRACY BROGAN

AUTHOR OF:

Rad-Reader:  How did this story come about?

Tracy:  The setting was the first aspect of the story that I developed. Wenniway Island is based on Mackinac Island in Northern Michigan. It’s a wonderful, charming place to visit because there are no cars and all the buildings have Victorian architecture. I’ve been there more than a dozen times and I never tire of the atmosphere. There are aspects of island life that lend themselves to funny story-telling so I came at the book from that angle.

Rad-Reader:  How much of you is in it?  As writers, we always tend to bring one thing or another from the past forward.  What’s yours?

Tracy:  There was a lot of me in my first book, CRAZY LITTLE THING, but my other heroines have been their own women. I suppose Emily’s drive to be the very best mom possible comes from me. Not that I succeed! But I try, in spite of what my kids will tell you.

Rad-Reader:  Gigi brings her home for a reason.  Who’s it for?  Gigi, her dad, her sisters, or Emily herself?

Tracy:  Emily’s grandmother Gigi is a master manipulator but uses her power for good (this time!) Since Emily and her father became estranged, the whole family felt that sadness and Gigi knows she’s the one who can finally fix it if she can just get Emily and her father to actually spend some time together.

Rad-Reader:  Why does she allow everyone to put her down?  Her ex-boyfriend’s mom, ex-husband’s family, her dad, even etc.…

Tracy:  Emily was the middle sister. The wild child. Her older sister Brooke is the “smart one” and the family caretaker. Her little sister Lilly is the “pretty one” and the precocious “baby” of the family that everyone wants to take care of, so it was always hard for Emily to figure out where she fit. There is a moment with Emily and her father that occurs when she is very young and it convinces her that he doesn’t love her and she acts out because of that. She feels unloved, and therefore unworthy. And she’s embarrassed by some of her past decisions.

Rad-Reader:  Why hasn’t Emily taken her ex to court for future earning not for her but for Chloe?  Since this is part of a series will we see her be more proactive?

Tracy:   Emily’s story is continuing to evolve in the next book of the series but her relationship (or lack of relationship) with her ex-husband does not play a major role.

Rad-Reader:  Why was Lily even with Tag at his age?  She was with him looking for something, right?  Love, attention, affection…

Tracy:  Lilly was looking for all those things. Love, attention, affection, but also, she was looking for some excitement and something new. As beautiful as she is, she didn’t have a very active dating life and at twenty-six she was starting to worry that she’d never meet anyone unless she moved off the island. But her main attraction to Tag is that he treats her as if she’s an adult woman and most people from her past continue to treat her like “the baby of the family.”

Rad-Reader:  How could Tag be with a girl younger than Ryan?  Especially, knowing it bothered him?  Was it misplaced youth?

Tracy:  I struggled with the part of the story because I wanted to demonstrate that Tag is an honorable man with good intentions. He is as taken aback by his attraction to Lily as anyone else is, but because he is just emerging from the grief process of losing his wife, he thinks his re-awakening is all because of his new girlfriend. She represents life to him and he’s determined not to waste another moment being sad.

Rad-Reader:  Tag seemed like he was keeping secrets and was a breath away from controlling.  True or false?

Tracy:  False. He was a family man who loved his wife and his kids, but he loved his job most of all. He assumed that working hard was his way of providing for them and being a good husband and father. Now that is wife has passed away, he processing all sorts of new emotions and realizing that life is not all about what happens at the office.

Rad-Reader:  Emily was behind the eight ball with her grandmother’s house.  Why didn’t she just add more experienced help to the crew?

Tracy:  She has a very small pool of qualified workers on the island and hiring someone from off the island would have been too expensive. It would have been wise for her to find some experts but it also would have taken the story in a different direction and part of the fun was her motley crew of help.

Rad-Reader:  What was Gigi’s end game?

Tracy:  Gigi just likes to be in the middle of things. At the end of the day she just wants her entire family around her and getting along. And she wants a very dry martini.

Rad-Reader:  Why was Emily’s dad so standoffish with her?

Tracy:  Harlan is the kind of man who doesn’t know what to do with other people’s emotions. It’s not that he isn’t compassionate, he just doesn’t know how to express himself. And he is a prideful man so Emily’s past misbehaviors felt like betrayals to him. He felt as if she was proving she didn’t need him and didn’t love him. Brooke and Lily knew how to connect with him on his level but Emily had her own pride and could never set that aside. Like Gigi said, “Harlan and Emily were like two peas in a pod. Only they were peas who each thought the other was wrong all the time and needed to apologize.”

Rad-Reader:  Were the three sisters trying to buy the land and build the B & B just to be mean to Gigi?

Tracy:  Mostly. The feud between the Callaghan’s and the Mahoney’s has been going on for so long that it’s just second nature to try to irritate each other. What isn’t revealed in the story is that June Mahoney had her eye on Gigi’s husbands before they were Gigi’s husbands. June is tired of Gigi getting all the good men!

Rad-Reader:  Tiny was so sweet for have the rep he did.  How did you think up all of the personalities of the crew?

Tracy:  Many of the characters were inspired by actors and actresses or in some cases, a “real” person. Tiny is based on someone I’ve met who is a bodyguard. Big, huge guy with a total teddy bear personality. One characters is based off someone who was on Survivor!

Rad-Reader:  Chloe was just so funny.  Was she modeled after anyone?

Tracy:  I have two teenaged daughters. So yes. ; )

Rad-Reader:  If your book was made into a movie who would you have play… Great choices! I don’t normally reveal my celebrity inspirations because I like readers to come up with their own ideas but just between us… :)

Emily:  Deborah Ann Woll

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/492933121699788733/

Ryan:  Justin Clynes

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/730779477005154095/

Chloe:  I have no name just a pic from Pinterest

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/216454325819705559/

Lily:  Nina Dobrev

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/246149935852959567/

Tag:  Sandor Johnson

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/472455817133650673/

Gigi:  Jamie Lee Curtis

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/553661347922023240/

Tracy: ??

Emily: ??

Ryan:   Ryan Gossling
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/176133035396521839/

Chloe: ??

Lily:   You will be stunned when you see my choice for Lilly…Emma Watson

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/140315344610628428/

Tag:   Kevin Costner

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1313460992/nm0000126?ref_=nm_ov_ph

Gigi: I like your idea of Jamie Lee Curtis! Not who I pictured but she’s just right.

Rad-Reader: What song best describes the two lead characters or the book as a whole?

 Stay a Little Longer - Brothers Osborne

Tracy:  The woman who was cast in my book trailer is also a singer and she wrote & recorded it. Inspired by My kind of you!!! 

https://soundcloud.com/user-911089198/my-kind-of-you-sarah-acoustic-11-1

Rad-Reader:  What story as a child stood out to you the most and made you want to be an author?

Tracy:  I loved the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House series. I read them over and over. And the Chronicles of Narnia. Read them repeatedly, too. But it was Island Flame by Karen Robards that made me want to be a romance writer. I read it when I was 16 and I was hooked!

Rad-Reader:  Do you use a storyboard when writing?

Tracy:  Yes. I use Pinterest for images and lots and lots of post- it notes with story ideas.

Rad-Reader:  What is the one thing you can’t leave home without?

Tracy:  Mascara. I look like a corpse if I don’t have a little eye make-up on!

Rad-Reader:  What is your favorite movie?

Tracy:  I love movies! Too hard to choose just one but Last of the Mohicans is a favorite. I love A Knight’s Tale with Heath Ledger (still miss him!) and The Usual Suspects. Great story and amazing acting by Keven Spacy. I also love the old stuff that I used to watch with my mom, like the Rock Hudson/Doris Day movies.

Rad-Reader:  What is your favorite song out right now?

Tracy:  I’m on a Shawn Mendes kick right now because I’m taking my daughter to his concert this summer and I want to know some of the songs. He’s a little young for me! But I love singing along.

Rad-Reader:  What is your next project and when is it coming out?

Tracy:  My next book is titled MY KIND OF FOREVER and is the second in the Trillium Bay Series. It’s about the oldest Callaghan sister Brooke and her new job as mayor of Wenniway Island. The job doesn’t go quite as she planned, especially when news of a jewel thief hiding on the island is made public.

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers buy your books?

Tracy:  Amazon home page link:

https://www.amazon.com/Tracy-Brogan/e/B008Y5DL4U/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1494597758&sr=8-2-ent

My kind of you buy link for kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/Kind-You-Trillium-Novel-Book-ebook/dp/B01LZXO62Z/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers find you on the Web?

Tracy:
On Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tracybroganwriter,
Twitter https://twitter.com/tracybrogan, 
http://www.tracybrogan.com/