Roxanne Willems Snopek is an award-winning freelance writer of everything from corporate newsletters to personal essays. Author of the Amazing Stories series of true life animal adventures, she now focuses on fiction. Snopek grew up in Saskatchewan and now lives in British Columbia.
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Hi Danielle! Thanks for hosting me today!
Is There Really One in Every Family?
The Hatfields and the McCoys. The Montagues and the Capulets. Cain and Abel. Whether you want to talk about feuds between families or feuds within families, you don’t have to look farther than the latest reunion to find evidence that while blood is certainly thicker than water, it’s no guarantee that you won’t be stabbed in your sleep.
In fact, it’s a risk factor.
My latest book, His Reluctant Rancher, continues the saga of Bliss and Blythe, twin sisters with a mysterious feud simmering between them. They are supporting characters, popping in and out of the lives of the people in my fictitious Montana ranch community. In this book, they are supporting the Gamble family, feeding and cajoling and bullying them back to life after an unthinkable tragedy. Both of them see so clearly the problems in the families around them, but they cannot seem to fix the problems between them.
Isn’t that how it always is?
This sort of conflict has so much story potential, and I think almost every reader can identify with it on some level. When you consider how our family-of-origin relationships affect our adult intimate relationships, it seems a natural jumping-off point for a romance novel. At least, it does to me!
And I love to see people stitching up old wounds, coming together again and recreating a community, a family, in whatever form it takes. Reunion, redemption, healing.
Sounds like happily-ever-after to me!
Is there a skeleton in your family closet? A family feud that lingers on even though no one really knows what it’s about anymore? Has this had an effect on you?
The last place city girl Desiree Burke expected to find herself was living at and working on a ranch, much less butting heads with the ranch’s sexy cowboy owner, Zach Gamble. But that’s exactly where she ends up after an incident at work leads her to her best friend Rory’s doorstep. Desiree is a gifted physical therapist, and Rory knows exactly where her brand of tough love is needed the most.
Zach’s been through hell and back. A devastating car crash left his brother gone, his father paralyzed, and him with mental scars a mile wide. His survivor guilt alone makes him sure he doesn’t deserve to find love. But as Des works her way into his ranch, his family, and his life, suddenly the last person who belonged there is the only one he believes belongs…with him.
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Up For Grabs:
- 1 lucky winner will win a eBook copy of His Reluctant Rancher
To Enter:
- Please answer the question: Is there a skeleton in your family closet? A family feud that lingers on even though no one really knows what it’s about anymore? Has this had an effect on you?
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I´ve yet to have found any sceletons in my closet, =) TG. Life is hard enough without struggling with something like that.
ReplyDeleteLove this! =) Thanks for the giveaway & Happy Release!
//Linda
fr_larsson at hotmail dot com
Hmmm, skeletons in the closet, not so much, but there's definitely tension between certain people of the older generation! It does make some get togethers difficult.
ReplyDeleteI have a small family and don't know about any skeletons in the closet or family feud. I guess my family is boring.
ReplyDeleteHis Reluctant Rancher sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it. Thanks for the great guest post and giveaway.
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
Rebe, don't you wish you could be a fly on the wall sometimes? I find the ups and downs of relationships just fascinating and I always wonder, when I see sparks flying, what underpins it all. There's always a bigger story. Ha! Good thing I'm a writer, I guess!
ReplyDeleteThere is a skeleton in my family closet. A family feud which had an effect on me.
ReplyDeleteLinda, you're so wise. My curiosity gets me into more than a bit of trouble...
ReplyDeleteHi again, Joanne! As far as I'm concerned, boring makes for better meals, lower blood pressure and tidier fingernails.
ReplyDeleteLousy stories, but hey, that's why we read, right?
Olga, do you ever wonder how your family would be different if everything was out in the open? It's a risky thing to think about. As you say, these things often have a long reach.
ReplyDeleteI admire family therapists so much! How rewarding it must be to watch families heal from past wounds.
I need to read this to see how Blythe and Bliss work things out. Then I'll give a copy to MY feuding sisters Jen and Jackie. Hmm, I wonder if maybe there's something to having the same initials. :D
ReplyDeleteNo skeletons in the closet but yes family feuds. On my side of the family it's doesn't effect me. But the feud on my husbands side does bother him.
ReplyDeleteYes skeletons in the closet and yes feuds. There's so much drama in my family that you can always find something that affects everyone.
ReplyDeleteI'd say the family closets would be fairly rattling with all the skeletons in them.
ReplyDeleteNo feuds though.
Yup. I was adopted and my bio family has all kinds of weird drama and I cannot get truthfulness about my bio father, many members of the family absolutely treat me like trash and refuse to have contact with me. They can be... odd. I was hurt for awhile. However, I now get that it is not about me, and it is them that are losing.
ReplyDeleteYes we do have some and it has had an effect on me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win!