Dr. Jedidiah Raintree never knew the truth about what happened to his best friend, Winter Cheyne. Growing up on the reservation together they were inseparable, until fate intervened and tore them apart. He’s spent the last twenty years looking for the girl with the long black hair and almond eyes, but ran into dead ends at every turn. Where he didn’t expect to find her was huddled in his cabin, pointing a gun at his chest.
With the first snowstorm of the season bearing down on them, Rain convinces Winter he can keep her safe until the storm passes, but quickly learns safety is an apparition. The only choice he has is to risk everything to save the girl he once knew.
Hidden somewhere in her are the secrets she's being hunted for. Hidden somewhere in him is the strength she will need to face them and be free. Hidden somewhere in their past is the key to their future. As the snow falls hard around them, desperation, deceit and death must work in harmony to fulfill their destiny.
Today I'm interviewing Katie Mettner about Winter's Rain and how she came to write a character as complex at Winter Cheyne. Don't forget to sign up for the giveaway below!
Tobi: Thanks for agreeing to do this interview today. I know you're a busy lady!
Katie: I'm happy to be here, Tobi. I love your blog and I hope your readers enjoy the interviews we do together.
Tobi: Me too! Let's get started. Tell us a little bit about Winter.
Katie: When you meet Winter Cheyne in Autumn Reflections you get the feeling that she’s a woman in danger. She comes to the clinic where her best friend's works and she's hurt. She’s keeping a secret that could end up leaving her dead. Her secrets are many and in Winter’s Rain you learn what they are.
Tobi: I read all your books and I know that there is a little bit of you in each one of your characters. Do you care to share what part of you is in Winter?
Katie: Of course! Winter has a lot of me in her. One of the smallest things you learn in the beginning of the book is that she is allergic to peppers, and that's ALL me LOL I'm very allergic to all kinds of peppers, but that's not where the similarities end. As I wrote Winter so much more of me began to come out and that is in her struggle with her body image and bulimia.
Tobi: So you struggled with the same thing? Is that what you're saying?
Katie: Yes, exactly what I'm saying, Tobi. I started struggling with my weight when I was about eleven, much like Winter. I didn't really have a weight problem in my mind, until the doctors started telling me I did. It wasn't so much that I was overweight as I was under tall LOL That sounds funny, but it's true. Once I grew into my body so to say I've been the same weight for years, but unfortunately the damage was done. I went to a "clinic" or what would now be considered a fat camp of sorts, twice, between the ages of eleven and thirteen to learn healthy eating and exercise. Clearly I failed the first time since I had to go back a second time!
Tobi: So was this a stay away for a week kind of thing like Winter describes in the book?
Katie: No, it was a few nights a week at the local hospital. It was the very beginning of trying to fight the obesity epidemic, but back in the 1980s they maybe didn't think out the damage it could have on kids of impressionable ages.
Tobi: Damage?
Katie: Damage to their self-image and their psychological view of themselves. My parents were doing what the doctors recommended, and I understand they did what they were told was best. Those nights spent at Shape Shop were the reason I became bulimic.
Tobi: So you were bulimic as a teenager like Winter?
Katie: No, I am bulimic, I'm just a recovered bulimic. Though that sounds a little ridiculous its true. It's very easy to slip back into those old habits when you feel like your body isn't what others want it to be. You have to work hard to accept yourself for who you are and not for what you look like, but unfortunately that's easier said than done in this world.
Tobi: I can understand that. The media tells everyone that skinny is beautiful and big is not.
Katie: Exactly! Or as Winter tells Rain if I'm beautiful why do people have to put big in front of it? Why I can't I be beautiful without being big. In my case I'm an average American woman now, but the damage to how I looked at myself was done too many years ago to undo. I have learned to only trust the words of four people in my life, my husband and three kids, because I live for them and no one else.
Tobi: That's a good way to look at it! Can you tell us a little bit about Jedidiah Raintree? I have to admit I found him incredibly sexy!
Katie: Isn't he though? Can you imagine how life changing that had to be to find the one person you've been looking for forever finally? Jed, or Rain as Winter calls him, is a simply complex guy. Oxymoron? Yes, but it's true. He simply has loved Winter all his life and that made him complex because he couldn't find her, no matter how hard he tried. He tried to move on and have other relationships, but the memory of that one woman was too much. He's a doctor and has made a life for himself, but emotionally he could never really relate to women. He calls them a foreign language. In fact, even after he finds Winter again you notice he has some trouble really believing it's her.
Tobi: No, I would agree, I found him to be very complex, but very romantic. He really had some insight that helped Winter, I think anyway. Thank you for coming by today and telling us a little bit more about Winter and Rain. I know you brought an excerpt so I'll let my readers read that and then my review!
Katie: Thanks for having me, Tobi, and I can't wait to read your review. I always find a nugget of wisdom in them that I didn't get from the book when I wrote it.
“Did I hurt her?” I asked, pointing at Maggie.
He sat her down by Pumpkin and held my hand. “Of course not, why would you think that?”
“I fell asleep holding her, so she had to have fallen when I jumped. I have to be careful. She’s so thin and I’m so fat. I could really hurt her.” I pointed at the dog who was now lying between Pumpkin’s paws getting a bath.
“You’re not fat, Winter. Maggie is fine,” he soothed.
“You don’t have to be nice, Rain, I know I’m fat. I see the tags on the clothes and the numbers on the scale. It’s not a secret and you don’t have to be all politically correct about it,” I seethed, pulling my hand from his.
“I wasn’t trying to be politically correct, Winter. You are who you are, why does that have to be bad? Why I can’t I appreciate the fact that there’s an exquisite woman sitting in front of me without having to question the numbers on the tags of her clothes or the scale? Why can’t I be attracted to you regardless of whether you’re a size one or a size twenty one? When did the eye of the beholder become the holder of the scale?” he questioned, resting one hand on my knee and the other on his outstretched leg.
“You think I’m exquisite?” I stuttered. “I’m so not exquisite.”
“Yet when I look at you that’s the word that comes to my mind. You have a rare charm about you that tells me you’re filled with innocence about some things, but that same charm tells me you’re anything but innocent about others. Since I first laid eyes on you this morning I had to fight with myself. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to protect you and keep you safe or if I wanted to kiss you senseless. That, in my mind, is the definition of exquisite.”
I can't wait for Phoenix's story!
How distracted did I get?
Winter's Rain is a story unlike any other I've read. Katie Mettner stepped away from the differently abled and dove right into a more delicate subject of domestic abuse and it's survivor. Winter is one tough cookie. She's been through hell and back. She's a fighter with survivor instincts. Rain is a protector, healer and alpha. The love and care between Winter and Rain was electric. Yet Rain is amazingly patient and caring. This is a wonderful story about survival, love, trust and self discovery.
Winter's Rain shows love is patient and kind, and love prevails over all.
I give Winter's Rain....
5 baskets!!!!!
Follow Katie:
So I sometimes get nervous with books that have very complex characters. Sometimes their complexities and issues can overshadow the story unfolding in the book, but there is a sweet spot. Just the right blend of past and present. I think when an author has a good handle on the issues at hand, which it sounds like you do, it usually results in an amazing story.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds really interesting, and very different from the books I usually read.
Happy Release Day!
I agree, Heather, there is a fine line you have to walk in order to not make the reader confused and nothing else. I don't think you will find that to be the case with Winter. Everyone who has read it tells me the same thing. It's dark and intense, but the love wins out and in the end you discover that the complexities of Winter are what actually make the story. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you get a chance to check the book out for yourself sometime :)
DeleteWow...a stop in on a book page and I find a new author I've never read, a great book and a cool blog! All before my morning coffee (and yes, I'm supposed to be doing laundry! )
ReplyDeleteLOL Glad we could make your morning start out right! Thanks for stopping by and signing up!
DeleteI too , visited a page (Hot Reads on FB) and followed the link here. I love books that have complex character, having grown up cutting my book teeth on heroic fantasy! I cannot wait to delve into this one...
ReplyDelete