Urban-Reviews.com - Inside Out with Gwyneth Bolton

Urban Reviews: Tell us more about your latest book PROTECT AND SERVE.
Gwyneth Bolton: PROTECT AND SERVE is an emotional, gritty and gripping story of rediscovered love and trust. As the baby boy in the Hightower bunch, Jason Hightower has always had to find a way to stand out and make his mark. The 33-year-old cold-case detective never shies away from hard work or difficult tasks. Overachiever doesn't even begin to describe the means he has used throughout his life to get the job done and get what he wants. He's only made one mistake in his life and, if he's to believe his lying ex-girlfriend, it wasn't even his. But that still leaves him with one even bigger mistake, trusting his heart to her in the first place. Never having been good at dealing with failure, Jason is determined to make Penny Keys own up to her role in the ruin of their relationship.

The last thing Penny wants to do is go back home to Paterson, New Jersey. The thirty-three-year old former video model/dance is currently a successful businesswoman living in California where she owns her own image-consulting company. When she comes back to bury her grandmother, she has no idea that she has to finally face and bury her past once and for all. Her mother, Carla a recovering crack addict, is pressuring Penny to let her move to California. Carla claims that she needs help staying her course and remaining drug-free. Once Penny meets her long lost "ex-drug-dealer" father she realizes why her mother may need help. And Penny can't seem to escape telling Jason the real truth about why she left him fifteen years ago. The novel examines how Penny and Jason overcome their past in order to have a future together.

Urban Reviews: Where did the concept behind this novel come from?
Gwyneth Bolton: The concept for the novel came from my desire to write a series about a New Jersey family. My main inspiration stems from as a desire to write about regular folk. I realized that all the heroes in my previous novels have been super rich. So, I wanted to write about some folks who had a little something...but weren't over the top rich. I love series about fine brothers, so that part was easy. The Hightower family was based on those families in the neighborhood that always seemed like they had it super-together with both parents in the home. The kind of family that is active in the community, working hard to try and make things better. The kind of family where everyone knew their name, all you have to do is say the last name and folks start nodding their heads. That wasn't my family by any stretch of the imagination. But I know families like that.

Also, my inspiration for the series came from me wanting to set a series in the town I grew up in. I had never read a romance novel that was set in Paterson, NJ. As I thought about it, the family just sort of came to me. They were a family with a legacy of service and honor that came from a history of being heroes in the true sense of the word. They were a family of cops and firemen. Once I could visualize all of those fine brothers in uniform, the first novel PROTECT AND SERVE pretty much wrote itself... Okay, that was an overstatement...but I had a pretty clear vision for the novel.

Urban Reviews: You won the 2007 Emma Award for Favorite New Author at the Romance Slam Jam in Miami. Describe the feelings you had before, during, and after receiving this distinguished award.
Gwyneth Bolton: Before winning the award, I was very nervous and anxious and all of those typical feelings that come with wanting something so bad you can taste it but not being sure if you are going to get it. During the announcement, I felt all of the above tenfold in addition to telling myself that it didn't matter if I won or not. All the while I simultaneously begged and pleaded with the universe to please let them call my name. And after they called my name and I held the Emma in my hands it felt surreal. I couldn't believe that I had won. And to have my first novel, I'M GONNA MAKE YOU LOVE ME, win three other Emma Awards (Novel of the Year, Favorite Hero and Favorite Heroine) that same evening just made everything feel all the more surreal. Honestly, it feels great to have been nominated and recognized for something that I truly love to do. I love the romance genre and I love writing romance.

Urban Reviews: What are your expectations when it comes to your career as an author?
Gwyneth Bolton: My expectations are really pretty simple. I just want to tell great stories and create characters that pull readers into their lives--the kinds of characters that grab onto a reader and refuse to let them go. My favorite reading experiences are when I finish reading a book and I can't stop thinking about the characters--when I have dreams about them that follow them long after the novel has ended. Or when I go back and re-read scenes or the entire book because I just don't want to say goodbye, or I just want to revisit them for a moment. If I can make readers have those kinds of experiences at any point in my career, then I'll be happy.

Urban Reviews: Have you ever considered doing any writing outside of Romance?
Gwyneth Bolton: Yes, I have considered it and done it. I'm an academic in my day job. So I've written an academic book and several articles in academic journals. Most of my nonfiction writing deals with black women and popular culture. I published a book on women and hip-hip. And I'm currently working on another academic book on black women's book clubs and reading groups. I have also thought about spreading my fiction wings to write some mainstream fiction and maybe even Literary fiction one day. We'll see... I love romance. And between my romance novels and the nonfiction I'm already pretty much living in front of my computer.

Urban Reviews: What was your biggest challenge when it came to promoting your novels?
Gwyneth Bolton: The biggest challenge in promotion--besides figuring out how to fund all the wonderful things my champagne tastes on a beer budget wants--is trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. Should I take the small amounts that I use to pay for ads on various websites instead for a print advertisement in a magazine? Should I forgo promotion and advertising all together and just focus on the writing and let the book sell itself? Is the readership for African American romance novels pretty much set and is it worth it to advertise outside of that niche? All of these questions and more plague my brain when I think about promotion and how to make the best use of my promotion dollars and time. And time is a bigger factor for me than my money in a lot of ways. Because you can always get more money, but you can never get more time. So, I struggle with how to make the time and money it takes to promote worth all the effort.

Urban Reviews: What projects are you working on for the future? When can we expect it to be released?
Gwyneth Bolton: PROTECT AND SERVE is the first book in the Hightower Honors series. We have three more to go. Hightower Honors is a four part series that chronicles the lives and loves of four very hot and sexy brothers from a strong upper-middle class Paterson, New Jersey family with a rich legacy of public service. The Hightower men are all tall, dark and handsome alpha males. Their upbringing dictates that when push comes to shove, they should always do the right thing. The only catch is that sometimes the right thing in their minds has to be done the right way, their way. Raised by two loving parents, James and Celia Hightower, the brothers know what real love looks like and they want it for themselves. Eventually. On their own terms.

The next books in the series are MAKE IT HOT, THE LAW OF DESIRE and SIZZLING SEDUCTION. In MAKE IT HOT, September 2008, Joel Hightower is a fireman injured on the job and forced to think about a career outside of his dream job. Too bad he can't think around the spunky physical therapist helping him recover. In THE LAW OF DESIRE, December 2008, the woman Lawrence Hightower finds himself falling in love with could very well be a criminal. He needs to figure out who she really is before the criminals looking for her find her. In SIZZLING SEDUCTION, October 2009, Patrick Hightower is used to putting out fires, but a sweet and sexy kindergarten teacher breaks through his protective shield and gets him thinking it might be more fun starting one.

Urban Reviews: Who has been your biggest inspiration in the book industry and why?
Gwyneth Bolton: My biggest inspiration in the book industry has been all of the black women romance writers who kicked down the barriers in romance publishing before me. Women like Sandra Kitt, Angela Benson, Beverly Jackson, Donna Hill, Brenda Jackson, Frances Ray, Gwynne Forester, Lynn Emery and Leslie Esdaile and so many more were steadfast and brave enough to demand a space for their work in the lily-white world of Romance-land. Their persistence not only gave me romance novels with heroes and heroines that finally looked like me, but also made it possible for me to really start thinking that there was a place for me at the table as well. I will always be thankful for the trailblazers who paved the way. They continue to leave a legacy that inspires me to not only write the best books I can but to continue to kick down the doors so that even more folks can follow.

Urban Reviews: Do you think Romance gets the respect it deserves?
Gwyneth Bolton: Romance definitely gets respect from romance readers who love the genre. Romance as a genre has the most loyal, devoted and vocal readers out there. Most of the readers are very serious about their romance. However, out of all of the genres, I do think that the majority of people hold romance in a lower regard. A lot of people frown on the genre because they think it follows a formula. As if other genres don't have certain rules and formulas... Try reading a mystery novel and not finding out whodunit by the end of the book. A lot of people also frown on the romance genre because they think that they are unrealistic and that happily-ever-after is only for fairy-tales. I think that's sort of sad. If people gave romance a chance they'd find lots of really great stories written extremely well that highlight one of the hardest and most worthwhile things in the world...falling in love.

Urban Reviews: Is there anything else you would like to share with us about you or your books?
Gwyneth Bolton: I think I've gone on and on enough already. LOL. I'll just encourage people to check out one of my novels. Come and check out my website: http://gwynethbolton.com. Or check out my blog: http://gwynethbolton.com/blog. Or hit me up on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/gwynethbolton. Or look for me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/people/Gwyneth_Bolton/1039714933. Readers can also shoot me an e-mail at gwynethbolton [at] prodigy.net. I love hearing from readers. I want to thank Urban Reviews for taking the time to interview me. I appreciate the opportunity. I love the work Urban Reviews is doing. Keep on doing what y'all do! Much love and peace...