Summer Countdown Blitz - Day 11: 'The Neighbor's Secret, A Secret Billionaire Romance' by Kimberley Montpetit
When she was in Paris, Kimberley Montpetit spent most of her souvenir money at the La Patisserie shops with their beautiful and delicious pastries. She grew up in the fabulous city of San Francisco, loves all things chocolate, and now lives in a small town along the Rio Grande with her engineer husband and three sons.
She once stayed in the haunted tower room at Borthwick Castle in Scotland and didn't sleep a wink, sailed the Seine in Paris, rode a camel in the ancient world wonder of Petra, shopped the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, and spent the night in an old Communist hotel in Bulgaria.
Kimberley also writes Award-winning Middle-Grade novels with Scholastic and Young Adult novels with Harpercollins under the name, Kimberley Griffiths Little.
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After being left at the altar on her wedding day, businesswoman Allie Strickland returns to her hometown to heal her broken heart. But Heartland Cove County is a small town of Victorian homes and quirky, gossiping citizens.Grieving the trauma of her ex-fiancé’s betrayal and overwhelmed by her clingy mother, Allie rents the first available house she can find. But on the very first night, Allie’s peace is violated by an unexpected intruder who breaks into the house while she’s taking a bubble bath. An intruder using an alias with old ties to Heartland Cove.
Forced by unusual circumstances to share the same rental house, Allie’s suspicions of the man grow—even as she finds herself attracted to him. But is Ethan Smith merely a magazine freelancer on assignment—or an undercover spy for the mayor who wants to ruin the charming town by running a new highway through for his own profit?
Is Ethan Smith friend or foe? Enemy or lover?
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Make sure you get your copy now!
The next book in the series is available next week! 
Q & A:
1. If you had 3 wishes, what would they be?
To have the New York Times Bestselling Author status! 😊
I’d love to travel back in time to ancient Egypt, or the Edwardian Era, or the Renaissance Era. I’m not picky!
To never gain a single ounce while consuming all the chocolate I want!
2. Where do you write?
I have a little writing cottage that my brother built for me in my backyard. I decorated it with Victorian style furniture and long, lacey curtains, and there are windows on all four sides. I love lots of light and can gaze at my big cottonwood trees outside the window while day-dreaming. Here’s a picture!
3. How long does it normally take you to write a novel?
Anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months, depending on how complicated the story is, or the research it needs - and life’s craziness! That’s just the drafting part. Add more than that for revisions.
4. What are your inspirations?
Reading other great books is a great source of inspiration. I also love exploring unique setting and going on research trips. Brainstorming with writer friends can be enormously helpful and really gets the ideas going when I’m feeling stuck or just spending too much time alone with my own thoughts.
5. How did you come to write this particular book or series?
I love stories about rich people and their interesting lives – like a modern fantasy tale – and decided to write my own series featuring billionaires. Not necessarily Hollywood celebrities, or royalty billionaires (although that would be fun down the road!) but ordinary people with goals and dreams doing good things with their lives. I’m also setting most of them in small towns with swoony, billionaire heroes who keep their wealthy status more of a secret, or under-the-radar, and I include a personal secret that ties him and the heroine together. Hence, the series name A Secret Billionaire Romance.
6. What was the hardest part of writing your book, and how did you overcome it?
Long-distance research. A friend of mine from Canada knows Hartland Cove County, home of the longest covered bridge in North America and came back super excited to share this quirky Victorian town (population 999) with me and the huge tourist industry it boasts. She sent maps and pictures but I still did a lot of my own internet research – thank goodness for the world-wide-web! I hope readers enjoy the fun details and various tourist industries.
For example, Allie Strickland’s family runs the Fry Shack on the banks of the river where the bridge is, and my second Hartland Cove book coming out in a few weeks, The Admirer’s Secret, is about the whale tour girl, but the stories are about so much more, including romance – and the mafia – but Ssh!
Of course, we changed the real Hartland Cove name to Heartland Cove -it’s romance, right?!
7. What is your writing drive? The power that keeps you going when your writing gets difficult?
Deadlines are a huge motivator! Sheer grit and determination some days. But mostly, it comes down to the desire to see my characters and their stories come to life. I have a story that I can’t get out of my head. I think about it, dream about it, and then live it each day in front of the computer. I want to see what’s going to happen, too!
8. How did you come up with the title?
The Neighbor’s Secret is a bit of a play on words. The handsome, wealthy hero in this tiny town, is like a neighbor since he’s had a crush on Allie since he was a kid, but they end up forced to share a house together which infuriates Allie at first (before she falls in love!) and she banishes Ethan to the downstairs while she takes the upstairs, putting up rope and sheets to keep the spaces separate. Of course, they have to share the kitchen and it turns out Ethan is a terrific cook so. . . they end up as “neighbors” in the house, too.
9. Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family member?
I’ve been a member of various writer’s organizations that have led to close friendships, critique partners, and people who will answer questions and cheer me on when the going gets tough. Southwest Writers, SCBWI (Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators) and LDStorymakers. Great people, great conferences, and great inspiration. I highly recommend getting involved with a local writing group. Our SCBWI chapter here in New Mexico meets once a month for dinner and a Shop Talk about a writing or publishing subject.
Thanks for having me on your blog today!
~Kimberley
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