The Last Thing I Expected was a fantastic twist on the fat kid from high school blossoming into a gorgeous person. This time it’s the man. I really enjoyed watching the characters in this book struggle with the past and look at people as they are, not as they had been. The three friends, Grace, Tory, and Callie, were a delight to read about and I can only hope that Heather Rae Scott has plans to write the other ladies’ stories.  

Reviewed by: Serena

You can read the rest of the review here.

The interview wasn’t on their website, so I’m typing it all up so you can read it. However, words with XXX are left out to protect the kids. They’re my hometown name and real last name. Maybe it’s silly, but…

Title: ‘The Last Thing I Expected’ was to get published.
by Chelsea Kellner

Heather XXX doesn’t usually cry over her email, but that day was different. When she read the message from the publisher, she immediately broke down in tears.
“The last thing I expected was to get published,” she says.
XXX first book, aptly titled “The Last Thing I Expected”, had been accepted for publication—her dream come true. The tears quickly turned into a celebratory dance around the dining room table, followed by joyful telephone calls to her mother and grandmother.
“I’d waited so long for that moment,” says XXX.
‘The Last Thing I Expected’ published under XXX pen name of Heather Rae Scott, is a romantic comedy about curses, firefighters and finding happily ever after in unexpected places.
“We had a lot of bad news around that time, so it was great to have some good news…,” she says.
A stay at home mom to Blaize, Kayleigh and Jaden, XXX has to fit writing into an already packed schedule. It’s easier during the school year, but during the summer, she’s had to do most of her writing at the dining room table late at night after they’re asleep.
“Being a mom comes first, so I don’t get much sleep—just lots of coffee,” she says laughing.
XXX love of writing goes back to high school, when she would concoct plays for her friends in study hall. Then she joined the Air Force after graduation, and her writing was put on hold. She started to dabble in writing again after she left the service but didn’t become serious until about six years ago.
“It’s not hard to say that you want to write a book, but to actually sit down and write something that’s publishable is difficult,” XXX says. “It’s hard making sure that you have all the elements that you need to make a book the best it can be.”
It took four months for XXX to write the first draft. The inspiration for the plot and characters came from an amalgam of real-life experiences, mixed with imagination.
“It’s almost like watching a movie in your head; it’s hard to explain,” she says. “We joke that we get paid to talk to the people in our heads.”
“We” refers to the members of the writing communities XXX is a part of.
“I have a lot of supportive friends around here and then, there are the ones that you tell them what you’re doing and they say, ‘Oh, you write smut,’ I always have to say no, that’s not what it is and explain myself. So, it’s nice to find people who understand where I’m coming from and what I do.”
Before finding her current publisher, XXX sent the novel to multiple publishing companies. Though she considers herself outgoing, the submission process was hard.
“Your writing is something so much a part of you that when you submit it, you’re essentially putting your heart out on your sleeve,” she says. “Rejections hurt and it’s hard not to take them personally.”
Her book already has fans among her friends and family. Longtime friend, Becky calls her writing down- to- earth and easy to relate to. Dee Tenorio, a close friend and writing partner in California calls XXX writing “charming”.
“She’s got an incredible gift for characterization. You don’t need a photograph,” Tenorio says. “Her characters become very real.”
Her mother bought XXX her first book on writing and was one of the first to read her novel. “I’m a big fan of romance books, but when it’s my daughter’s, it’s even more special,” her mom says, “I’m anxious to read the next ones she writes. I think Heather is going to be very successful.”
XXX is alternating between editing the second book in the trilogy and finishing the third. Her advice to other writers is simple: “The first thing is perseverance, because it’s not as easy as people think it is to get published,” she says. “The second, you shouldn’t write for money…write for your readers.”

Today, something interesting is going to take place.:sick:

A photographer is coming to take my picture and a reporter is coming to interview me for the local paper that’s distributed throughout the Valley and counties that surround me. My story will be in Monday’s edition and right now, I feel like I could throw up.

The editor of their Lifestyle’s section called this past Monday. She was a very nice woman who made me laugh. I’d told her I needed time to “dress up”. She said she wanted me in clothes I normally wrote in and I laughed. “There is no way you are putting a picture of me in the paper in my pajama’s or a ratty old t-shirt and boxer shorts,” I explained. She told me they didn’t want me too dressed up, so I said how about jeans and a nice top? She said that would work. She asked me where I wrote and I said at my dining room table most days. “You mean you don’t have a romantic setting?” I chuckled and thought of where a lot of my friends write. I told her I was working on an office, but that in my mind’s eye, when I write, I’m not sitting in my dining room. I’m so deep into my character’s heads that I see what they see.

My children have been threatened to behave. The photographer will probably only be here five –ten minutes max. I’m not so much worried about them—just how I look in this picture. I’m always worried about these types of things. Have I ever mentioned that I’m a worry-wart?

The photographer just left. He took pictures of me “working”. And one of me and the kids, because they want to show the ‘real’ side of writing. Which I think is very cool. However, I’m slightly unsettled about the kids being in it with me; but on the other hand, I’m no Nora Roberts or Janet Evanovich. Yet. :wink: I just hope he got my good side. Although, to be quite honest, I’m not sure which is my good or bad. He asked if the flowers on the table were a prop and I said no. They were from my birthday on the 10th. He said, well, I’m going to use them.

While he was here, the reporter called and she has car troubles, so she asked if it was okay to do the interview over the phone and I said of course. I can talk on the phone. Less intimidating. For those of you who really know me, you know I can talk on the phone—LOL.

The interview is over and I relate it to ripping off a Band-aid. It wasn’t bad, but I seemed to trip over my tongue a couple of times. They’re focusing on the family type thing—me writing with three children as I said up there. She asked me about writing friends and I of course talked about most of you, The Belfry and eHarlequin.com

She asked me if there was any advice I could give to someone hoping to become published in the romance genre and I told her I had two things. Perseverance. I hated that word before I was published, but that it was so true. You had to persevere with rejections and ever changing genre’s and rules. And the second thing was that if you were writing to get rich, you were in the wrong profession. You should want to write for yourself and for the readers, because they’re the ones who are spending their money to purchase your books.