Delia Latham's "Gypsy's Game"

Title: Gypsy's Game
Publisher: White Rose Publishing.

Cover blurb: Gypsy Lovell stands to inherit an enormous amount of money from a father who never gave her anything but a ridiculous name. Even now, he doesn’t make it easy. A stipulation in the man’s will demands that Gypsy be married in order to claim what is hers.

Desperate for the monetary windfall that could save her ailing mother’s life, Gypsy visits a Christian dating agency, hoping to find a temporary husband. Someone easy to handle for the required six months, and easy to get rid of when she no longer needs him.

Jal Garridan is neither of those things, but he's willing to take on the challenge presented by the beautiful stranger—on his own terms.

What Gypsy doesn’t know is that Solomon’s Gate is a dating agency with a Divine connection. What she finds there may save more than her mother’s life. It may save Gypsy’s soul.

1) How did this story come to you?
With all three of the Solomon's Gate books, the titles came first, and I built the stories around them. The first two books were the standard romance storyline where couples meet and go through the whole courting process. I wanted the third one to be something a little different—a hero and heroine who get married and then the courtship begins. How would it differ? What would be the guidelines of intimacy? What if one was strong in faith and the other had absolutely none? And with the title character being named Gypsy, it was a lot of fun to create a story around her heritage.

2) Tell us about the journey to getting this book published.
Well, since this book was contracted ahead of time, along with the first two in the series, there was absolutely none of the usual submission/rejection/re-submission scenario—which was absolutely wonderful! I discovered that writing a book is much, much easier (at least, for me) when I know it already has a home. Besides, I had a deadline. LOL I had no choice but to write.

3) Tell me three things about yourself that would surprise your readers.
This is always a hard question for me, because I don't feel that I do anything out of the ordinary very often. Anyone who has followed my writing career at all probably knows everything I can think of to say here…but I'll give it a shot.

o I was raised in a tiny farming community called WEEDPATCH. That's pretty much what it was, too...I can still feel those goat head stickers in my feet when I think about them!

o Once upon a time, I was the lead singer in a country-western band. Yep, stood up in front of people and sang about cheatin' hearts and such.

o I was a clown for a short time. A friend and I started a business entertaining at children's parties. It was a short-lived endeavor...I think it was while trying to make kids laugh that I realized humor is probably not my forte.

4) What are you working on now and what's next for you?
I'm currently working on several novellas for anthologies, and one full-length novel…which has been temporarily shunted to the back burner while I write the shorter ones.

My next release will probably be a novella that's part of a Valentine's Day collection, which will also include stories by three other White Rose Publishing authors. I say "probably" because I'm not sure about the release of a novelette (10,000-12,000 words) that's somewhere in publishing limbo land. It may or may not be published before the Heart's Haven book.

5) Parting comments?
I'm so excited about Gypsy's Game! The time between Book Two and Book Three seemed extraordinarily long to me, and I hope my readers are as eager for Gypsy's story as I was to see it released. 

6) Where can fans find you on the internet?
Googling my name will bring up a confusing number of guest blog spots, interviews, articles, etc. While readers are certainly welcome to dive into that maelstrom if they so choose, I'm very easily found at the following places:

My website
My blog, Living the Write Life
Creative Writing Forces, a blog I co-author with two other writers
My Facebook reader page (Go ahead…"like" me! )
Twitter (@ DeliaLatham)