Check out a sneak peek of Leaving November by Deborah Raney. This is the second book in the Clayburn series.
Deborah , tell us about your current book?
Leaving November is the second in the Clayburn novels series. Here’s the setup: Daughter of the town drunk, Vienne Kenney has escaped Clayburn for law school in California. But after failing the bar exam—twice—she’s back home with her tail between her legs, managing Latte-dah, her mother’s café that Vienne has turned into an upscale coffee shop. Jackson Linder runs the art gallery across the street, and Vienne has had her eye on him since she was a skinny seventh grader and he was the hunky high school lifeguard who didn’t know she existed. Now it’s his turn to fall for her and suddenly Clayburn seems like a pretty nice place to be for both of them…until Vienne discovers that Jack is fresh out of rehab and still struggling with the same addiction that ultimately killed her father.
How did you come up with ideas for your current release?
The idea for the whole Clayburn series was conceived one weekend when I was frantic about a book deadline and my husband surprised me with a writing getaway at a bed and breakfast in tiny Lindsborg, KS. For some reason, I get SO much more work done when I go away from my home office. And this particular weekend was no different–until the second morning when I went for a walk through this little town, reflecting on how safe and carefree life here seemed to be. That got the idea for Remember to Forget spinning in my head. And from there, the secondary characters of the books seemed to want to tell me their stories too.
List your most recent books.
- Leaving November (Howard/Simon & Schuster March 2008)
- Remember to Forget (Howard/Simon & Schuster 2007)
- Within This Circle (sequel to A Vow to Cherish from Steeple Hill 2007)
- Missouri Memories (with my novella “Finally Home” from Barbour Books 2007)
- Over the Waters (Steeple Hill)
- A Nest of Sparrows (WaterBrook Press)
What’s next for you?
I’m on deadline with Yesterday’s Embers, the third book set in Clayburn. After that, I’ll begin work on a novel called Above All Things for Steeple Hill Books. I’m looking forward to this story about family loyalty and challenges in marriage. But I’m also dreading it a little bit because I know there is an issue in this book that will make me take a hard look at myself and maybe not like what I see very much. But as with all my books, I’m sure I’ll grow through the process of researching and exploring difficult themes.
Where can visitors find you online?
My website is www.deborahraney.com and you can also find me blogging occasionally at The Charis Connection, and at crosswalk.com where my eldest daughter and I write the Marriage Perspectives column.
READ AN EXCERPT FROM LEAVING NOVEMBER by Deborah Raney
Jackson Linder unlocked the door and reached around to flip on the light switch. He stood still, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the bright fluorescent lamps that flickered and droned overhead in the studio behind his Main Street gallery. The alley was black beyond the row of double-hung windows at the back of the room where he’d entered, but the reflection of someone’s Christmas lights flickered from the street at the end of the alley. Christmas was over—and New Year’s, too, for that matter. Two weeks over. Nothing was drearier than lights and tinsel for a holiday whose expiration date had passed.
He should have waited until morning when the light was better and the wind wasn’t so brisk. But he wasn’t ready to face the old friends and fellow merchants who were sure to drift in to see him once they got wind he was back in town. Eventually, he’d have to face their well-meaning questions. And probably quell a few rumors. Knowing the nature of Clayburn’s gossip mill, he guessed the rumors had been far worse than the truth.
Which was bad enough.
The studio was freezing. Almost as cold as the air outside, he guessed, minus the windchill factor. Maybe he should have stayed a couple more weeks in Florida with Mom. He dismissed the idea as quickly as it had come. He adored his mother, but after two weeks in her cramped condo, they were definitely starting to get on each other’s nerves.
Rubbing his palms together, he went to the thermostat by the door that separated the studio from the gallery. The furnace had been set just high enough to keep the pipes from freezing. He cranked it up to seventy-two degrees and closed the door between the rooms.
The furnace kicked on and he pulled in a breath. The boulder on his chest was worlds lighter than it had been when he’d left this place nine and a half months ago. But the weight had never quite gone away altogether. More than one counselor had told him only time could accomplish that. And one man—someone Jack had come to admire greatly because he spoke from sorrowful experience—warned him it might never go away completely.
Looking around the dusty, austere studio, he put a hand to the back of his neck. It still startled him to have his fingers touch the sun-roughened skin there instead of the knotted weight of the ponytail he’d worn for half his life. Two weeks ago—the morning before he flew out of Kansas City bound for St. Petersburg—he’d cut off his long hair. He still wasn’t sure why. Maybe he’d thought transforming the outer man would help complete the rehabilitation of the inner man?
The jury was still out on that.
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