Cindi Madsen Interview - Always a Bridesmaid ~ JeanBookNerd

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Cindi Madsen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. She loves music and dancing and wishes summer lasted all year long. She lives in Colorado (where summer is most definitely NOT all year long) with her husband and three children. She and her family also take their Marvel addiction very seriously, as their one-eyed cat, Agent Fury, and their kitty named Valkyrie can attest.

What inspired you to pen your first novel?
I’ve always been a big reader, and I’ve always had stories in my head. It just took having my first baby to decide to spend her nap times writing one. From there, I was hooked!

Tell us your latest news.
I have two books coming out this summer. Always a Bridesmaid, and a book called Sailing at Sunset.

Who or what has influenced your writing, and in what way?
The romance community has been so great. I found them at the beginning of my publishing journey and met some of my best friends. It’s nice to chat plots and have people to go to when I experience writer’s block.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
Reader notes are the best. I think the most surreal experience, though, was being on the Home & Family TV show that’s on the Hallmark channel to talk about my books. My entire small town thinks I’m a celebrity now.

What do you hope for readers to be thinking when they read your novel?
I hope that they’re laughing and falling in love along with my characters.

In your new book; ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, can you tell my Book Nerd community a little about it?
It’s about a girl who’s played bridesmaid several times and has been hearing her boyfriend say “we’re next” for a decade. But then things fall apart and she heads to the town where she’s the mayor’s dirty little not-so-secret to help her half-sister, who’s recently had a baby, remodel her bakery. Day one there’s a fire, and she meets firefighter Ford. There’s puppy training and lots of fun hijinks.

What part of Violet did you enjoy writing the most?
My husband and daughter have ADHD, as do several of my friends. It was fun working that into Violet’s character because her random thoughts are going all the time. Plus I loved the sister relationship.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I think Wes, from Falling for her Fiancé would get on great with the guys in Uncertainty, Alabama.

What’s the most ridiculous fact you know?
That the word berserk comes from a group of Norse warriors called the berserkers who wore animal skins as they furiously fought people. Thus going berserk.

What according to you is your most treasured possession?
My one-eyed kitty cat, who’s sweet and snuggly (To my family: for the record, I’d choose you, but I don’t own you, so don’t start on how I love my cat more than them. LOL.)

Best date you've ever had?
Probably the night my now-husband drove me up on a hill and proposed to me.

What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh?
In my daughters’ bedroom late at night we have the funniest conversations. In the past week, I’ve laughed until I cried several times.

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be?
I’d go back to my teenage self and tell her to be herself. That popularity is BS and that eventually people will love me for me, so don’t be so afraid to be yourself.

What event in your life would make a good movie?
My life is pretty much a non-stop romcom where I get myself into sticky situations. I wrote books for eight years before finally getting a contract, though, so I guess my publishing story would make a good inspiring movie with lots of disasters and mishaps along the way.

Which incident in your life totally changed the way you think today?
My teenage daughter had some severe bullying that led to depression and dark thoughts, and while working to get her better was one of the hardest, most emotional journeys ever, it really shined a light on what’s most important in my life.

Violet Abrams has always been in love with everything love and weddings. Good thing, too, since she’s been a bridesmaid no less than seven times. Sure her turn was next, she’d been planning her own nuptials meticulously in a treasured three-ring binder...until her longtime boyfriend left her for someone else.

Fast-forward to the day of his wedding, an ill-advised match being lit to said binder, and the fire department getting called to her sister’s bakery. Violet’s always been a little impulsive and a lot awkward, but having to explain to the super-cute firefighter, Ford Maguire, why she was setting fire to a bunch of wedding dress photos? Worst day ever.

Except now her bridesmaid expertise has her helping Ford cover his “man of honor” duties in his best friend’s upcoming wedding. Ford may be a “bridesdude,” but forever is the last thing on his mind. And if there’s one thing a perpetual bridesmaid knows, it’s the importance of a happily ever after.

Each book in the Getting Hitched in Dixie series is STANDALONE:
* Just One of the Groomsmen
* Always a Bridesmaid

You can purchase Always a Bridesmaid at the following Retailers: