Exit Signs by Patrice Locke #Romantic #Comedy

 

Patrice Locke will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

If your book were made into a movie, who would you want to play your main characters?

Tracy, the narrator of “Exit Signs,” is quirky and confident most of the time. I see either Rooney Mara or Jennifer Lawrence in her. I saw a movie preview featuring Dakota Johnson last weekend, and thought she could also be the physical version of Tracy. Jesse, the mysterious rock star is harder for me to ‘cast’ because I kind of have a crush on him myself, which is probably true of most authors and their ‘heroes.’ The closest I can come to him would be Jeffrey Dean Morgan, handsome and sexy in a rugged way. I could also see Gerard Butler or Michael Fassbender in the role. Frankly, I’d like to see any of them in anything.

How do you come up with the titles of your books?

Cringing, I admit that my working title was “Semicolon Man,” which totally would have worked if I only wanted English teachers to read the book. But in the end, I considered the theme of the book, which has to do with elegant exits and how to execute them, and there it was: “Exit Signs.”

What does your writing space look like?

It looks like wherever I am when I write. I don’t have an official office. I’m a teacher, so sometimes before school or during a break, I write there. Sometimes I write at my dining room table. Sometimes Starbucks, or a branch of the Albuquerque Public Library. I’m not particular about the setting. I just need quiet, or ear buds with Enya-like music – something with no lyrics, or repetitious words that don’t distract.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing?

I read all kinds of things, especially anything to do with history or humor. I like to wander around in the landscape of New Mexico, which is quite varied, including six different life zones of altitude and weather. We have everything except for an abundance of water. But the mighty Rio Grande runs right through the middle of Albuquerque, where I live.

What is your favourite color?

Periwinkle blue. I don’t wear it – burgundy is my go-to wardrobe color. But when it comes to appreciating color, can’t imagine anybody preferring anything other than that mellow, almost lilac blue.

What is your favourite pleasure food?

I believe it is illegal to live in New Mexico without loving chile. The official state question is “Red or Green?” (chile). We put it on everything. For me, it’s red chile. Can’t live without it. Well, I guess I can, but I wouldn’t be very good company.

What is your favourite season?

I like autumn, mainly because of the colors and the chill it brings to the air. It means something new is on the way.

What is your favourite television show?

The one show I never miss is “Jane the Virgin.” It’s a take-off on the tela-novella format and it’s charming, funny, and has lots of amusing twists and turns.

What is your favourite movie?

That’s hard! I have many. I believe I’ve seen “Pretty Woman” about 20 times with my best friend, though, so it’s probably the time of my list. We believe there’s a “Pretty Woman” quote to fit any life situation, and so far, there has been. At the other end of the spectrum, I can always rewatch Woody Allen’s “Match Point,” which is very dark and the absolute opposite of romantic comedy. I think I like it for the setting – London; the music – scratchy opera records, and just the whole look of it. Evil seems to triumph, but the ending is haunting.

Who is your favourite actor?

Michael Fassbender. I wrote him a letter before he was very famous and received the most charming, humble, handwritten letter back. So I’ll always have a soft spot for him.

What is your favourite song?

That’s impossible! I’m a music junkie – just about all genres. In classical, it’s got to be the Liebestod from the opera “Tristan and Isolde.” If I HAD to pick one pop/rock song, it would be Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” That one never gets old to me and it takes me back to my college years at Michigan State University.

What is your favourite comfort clothing attire?

T-shirt and sweats. Also my favorite pajamas.

What books might we find on your bedside table?

Hundreds because I’ve become an e-book fanatic and I have two Kindles so there’s always one completely charged. I never thought that I would prefer electronic books to paper books, but I do.

I’m reading “Wilderness” by Karen Novak and “Echoes of Family” by Barbara Claypole White. I always read more than one book at a time.

I like most of Susan Elizabeth Phillips books, all of Jane Austen’s. And my favourite well-kept secret author is M.V. Hughes, who wrote memoirs about her life in Victorian London and beyond. She’s amazing and I wonder why everyone doesn’t love her.

Describe yourself in three words.

Creative. Tall. Funny. (on a good day, though I am tall every day.)

Blurb

Tracy Price has a documentary-style life until rockstar Jesse Elliot rewrites her script and takes the wheel to drive her crazy.

In her quest to find a writer missing since the 1930's, Tracy thinks she has discovered exactly how to handle her new relationship. But she may be listening to the wrong voice. 

Then Tracy and Jesse find out they've both been keeping some big secrets, and the truth may ruin everything.

Will sharing the missing writer's story open both their hearts?

Excerpt

Jesse raked some strands of his blue-black hair away from his forehead. The hair fell right back onto the shoreline of his face like a wave on a beach. I thought of the cliché movie scene where the action cuts to an agitated ocean to symbolize sex. I cleared my throat, and ordered myself to get a grip.

Instead, I surprised us both by asking him my name. “Tracy Price?”

“Yes.” He confirmed my identity. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He was all-business; I was all over the place.

This was how a romance novel would begin, and, as the designated hero, he was free to relax and be two-dimensional for now. I’d provide the script because I thought I knew the genre, but I had it wrong from the start because, on second thought, he was from another planet. He had to be. And if this was science fiction, anything could happen. Aliens are tricky.

When he sat next to me I wanted to leap up and run away. Instead, I asked, “How do you like Albuquerque?” Very original, Tracy. What I wondered was, How does it feel to look like you do?

“I like it,” he said, answering both my questions. “I like it so far.”

I felt a surge of power. “I bet. And how long are you staying?” Or, more to the point, would it be too forward of me to sit on your lap?

“I can’t say yet. Maybe six weeks? This was kind of an unexpected trip.” Bingo. Both questions addressed.

This was working. Let me know when you decide about the lap thing. I covered my mouth for a fake cough to clear my head.

We were silent. I was contemplating his perfection. Maybe he was, too.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

As a journalist, Patrice Locke wrote a lot of stories with unhappy and even tragic endings. Facts are facts, and a writer doesn't mess with facts.

But fiction is another world. Patrice began writing novels, where she could control the endings and make them as happy as she wants. The best thing about fiction, she says, is having time to think before her characters speak, so they can say the things most of us only come up with after the perfect moment has passed.        

She loves to write, read, and watch romantic comedies where life always turns out the way it should. Her only obsessive relationships are with semicolons and Oxford commas.     

Though she doesn't like to brag, Patrice is an award-winning artist. She won a gold and diamond watch when she was 13 for decorating a turkey drumstick bone to look like Batman. Alas, that was her last recognition in the fine arts. 

Patrice lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the blue sky is brilliant, the air is thin, and the vistas are breathtaking. She is none of those things, which is one reason she enjoys living among them.

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