Q&A with Donna Michaels

How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

Right from the birth of The Men of At-Ease Ranch series concept, I knew from discussing with my editor that the heroine in the second book, Her Secret Ranger, was going to be the sister to one of the other heroes. The mistaken identity trope went into play, because the hero would never “knowingly” mess with another Ranger’s sister. It made for a little bit of fun trying to keep the two men from meeting.

What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

I enjoyed writing all of it. I really did. The characters practically wrote the book themselves. It was every author’s dream type book. They were funny and sweet, hot and hardheaded, and then I got to revisit the characters from the first book, including Lula Belle. Yep, this was one of my all-time favorite books to write. I wish they were all this fun and easy.

Name three things on your desk right now.

Three things on my desk, besides my laptop and mouse, are:
1. Halo, my cat. She’s half on my lap, half on my laptop desk. Bless her. She’s been diagnosed with inoperable cancer, so if she wants to lay on my work, I let her, I just have to try to type around her, like I am doing now. ☺

2. Coffee mug with the phrase: Writer’s Block: When your imaginary friends stop talking to you.

3. My phone so I can keep up with the messages from authors about parties I’ve agreed to do, and of course, texts from my kids.

What are some books that you enjoyed recently?

Trouble with Mistletoe by Jill Shalvis. I’m so freaking excited it’s going to be made into a movie!! I love all her books. Can’t get enough of Jill!

What do you like to do when you aren't writing?

When I’m not writing, if I have some me-time, I’ll either read or watch TV. I have a lot of shows I usually have to catch up on once I meet my deadline. Halo likes this too, because she gets to have my lap unobstructed by the computer.

Can you tell us about your upcoming book?

I just finished writing book 3, tentatively titled: The Right Ranger. In it, I got to have fun causing a little chaos to Cord Brannigan who is Beth’s brother and Brick’s best friend. He’s been kind of quiet, unsmiling, and a little controlling in the first two books, so it was fun to dig into why and give him a heroine who is a bit independent.