White Girl in La Casa
by Christa Jeanne
Book Description:
After
being dumped by the last bad boy she’s ever going to date, Calliope meets her
Hispanic prince charming. Peter
Delgadillo is the perfect gentleman, sure, but he’s also extremely easy to look
at with a flirtatious grin, naturally tanned skin that just radiates over
gorgeous muscle, and the potential to be Calliope’s passionate Latin lover who
whispers sweet Spanish nothings into her ear.
Hmmm. If only she could convince
him that she is his Caucasian love goddess.
However, Peter wants to remain in the ‘just amigos’ category.
Well, that is until a pipe bursts and they are forced to stay with
Peter’s mother. He confesses that in
order to ease his mother’s ailing heart, they need to act like a couple in
love. Pretend to adore one another? Play the part of the adorable girlfriend
while getting to touch, fondle, cuddle and cozy up to the man that she’s been
madly in love with for years? No problemo!
However,
nothing is getting past Peter’s mother, Margarita, who is not fond of the new
white girl who doesn’t speak the language, doesn’t know the culture and doesn’t
eat meat! With quite the language barrier
and culture shock, Calliope struggles to keep her end of the bogus relationship
bargain especially when she begins to realize that their friendship may break
her heart. Oh, and then there’s Peter’s
brother, Eddie, who threatens to blow the secret wide open because he knows
it’s all an act. With a love triangle
right out of a Spanish novella,
Calliope tries to figure out what’s real and what isn’t so her heart won’t take
another blow.
One
white girl, one fake boyfriend who should be The One, one ice cold Margarita who’s determined to drive her out
and the one guy who knows it’s all a sham.
It’ll be a wonder if this white girl will survive in la casa…
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Author Interview
1. Tell a little about yourself. What you do when you’re not writing? What are your aspirations for the future?
When I’m not writing, I do have a full time job that I suffer through with a smile until I can get home to do what I love, which is writing. I’ve got a really great husband and two of the greatest kids you’ll ever meet. When I’m not writing, I’m either getting clobbered at Candyland by my daughter who is three, but going on twenty-three, or organizing special sports games for my eight year old son with autism. So at the end of any given night, I’d love nothing more than to crash on the couch, but once the kiddos are asleep, I break out the computer, put my head phones on, and throw two lovely characters into crazy situations knowing that by the end, they’ll end up happy and smooching!
2. When and why did you start writing?
I’ve always been a bookworm. My favorite Christmas present every year was the book that my dad would pick out for me. It was always something different. The more I read, the more I wanted to write. I have a degree in Criminal Justice from California State University, Long Beach and in my senior year, I started writing notes for a suspense thriller. I wrote it, but life kind of happened in between, and I had to walk away from it. I got married and our son was diagnosed with autism which wasn’t an easy pill to swallow. With the hard news of our son’s autism diagnosis, I found writing to be a way to de-stress and a good way to find humor in hard situations. I started reading books from Kristan Higgins, Jennifer Crusie and Christopher Moore and I loved the comedy. After reading those, I got the writing bug in me and I seriously couldn’t stop. I love writing comedies; putting a smile on someone’s face and hearing my readers say that they were laughing every time they turned the page. I love that!
3. Have any particular novels or writers influenced your writing?
Yes, every writer really. I read a lot and I read just about every fiction genre since they all have great things about them. Drama, comedy, thrillers, I love them all since I really feel that the more I read, the better writer I become. But specifically, there are a couple writers and novels that I have read time and time again. Karen Rose is one of those authors and her book I’m Watching You has been loved to the point of falling apart on my shelf. The poor spine of it…yeah, I’ve read it many times because of the great love story and dramatic suspense. Also, Kristan Higgin’s Too Good To Be True is one that I love. Very sweet, very cute and very funny!
4. Give us some back story about White Girl in La Casa, where and when did you write it?
I started writing White Girl in La Casa about nine months ago. However, the story itself has been a long time in the making. I have firsthand experience about being a white girl in a Mexican household since my husband is Hispanic. When we started dating, it was quite the culture shock to me about some traditions and everyday differences. My problem is that I have an extremely twisted sense of humor, so when I found myself in those “white girl” situations, well, I’d laugh them off and write a note in my head ‘that would be really funny in a book one day.’ For example, Calliope has a bowl of posole soup that Margarita makes for her and if you know what posole is, it’s made with pork. By the way, my main character, Calliope, is a vegan and any good Mexican household is definitely not vegan!
I won’t give the scene away, but let’s just say the scene with the posole bowl of soup actually happened to me, and it wasn’t my finest white girl moment.
5. What was your favourite part of White Girl in La Casa to write?
Definitely the scenes between Calliope, my main character, and Margarita who is Peter and Eddie’s old-school Mexican mama. She’s very much into Mexican tradition and making sure her boys date nice Hispanic girls, so when a white girl who doesn’t eat meat comes in and tries win her over, well, it’s a little tough for both of them to bend to the other’s ways. Throughout the book, Calliope does start to win her over, but Margarita won’t admit it which makes scenes with the two of them amusing and fun to write.
6. What does your writing schedule look like?
Uh, well, even as I’m writing this, my daughter is doing the “Mommy? Mommy? Mommy? Guess, what Mommy? I want to tell you something. Mom?” She’s like the baby from Family Guy. So basically, whenever I get a chance to write, I write! But mainly, I write when the kids go to bed and the house is quiet. That’s really all the time I get, but I use it for all it’s worth.
7. Which fictional character would you like to take to dinner and why?
From White Girl in La Casa? Oh Peter. Definitely. Calliope thinks she’s in love with Peter and has been his friend for a long time. But even though she comes to realize that their friendship will never become anything else, Peter is still very fun to go out with and very fun to look at…uh huh. And he can dance. Any guy that can dance…whew…yup, my kind of guy. So yeah, dinner and dancing with Peter Delgadillo.
8. Besides your lead, do you have a favourite character in the story?
Yes, Eddie. He’s kind of a sarcastic, no-nonsense kind of guy. He hates liars and I’m with him on that. And the boots. He wears these bad boy, black boots that get Calliope all hot and bothered. I loved writing the scenes between Calliope and Eddie, especially the scene about the No Going Back Zone. Uh huh…that scene was very fun to write!
9. What is one of the most surprising things you've learned as a writer?
Confidence. Definitely. When my readers read my debut novel My Midlife & Married Romance Novel Life and tell me they love it, I gain confidence as a writer. It’s an inner struggle sometimes, I’m good enough, I’m not good enough, like you’re peeling off the petals of a flower, but when people starting loving my first book and asking for the next book, I gained confidence in my writing. That’s been the best part.
10. Any advice for aspiring authors?
Don’t give up. At all. It’s still something I have to tell myself from time to time as a self published writer. I’ve wanted to write novels for a long time and finally getting the first one done, and then another, that was gratifying. It’s very easy to get distracted but if your dream is to become an author, like me, then you just have to do it! And then, you have to do it again…and again. But don’t give up because once you see your name on Amazon: Christa Jeanne, author, you get to do the happy dance of writing joy. I did. My kids laughed at my little dance but it’s thrilling to see your dream come true…geez, sorry that was a little too Disney-ish wasn’t it? Anyways, don’t give up and write every day.
About the Author
Christa Jeanne lives and writes in the Los Angeles
Her latest book is the romantic comedy, White Girl in La Casa.
Christa loves visitors, so please visit her at www.christajeannebooks.com.
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