Author Interview (and a Giveaway!): Heather Greer & Love in the Squared Circle

Please join me in welcoming author Heather Greer to the blog today to chat about her new contemporary romance, Love in the Squared Circle!

Heather Greer is a preacher’s kid and pastor’s wife who loves using her passion for reading and writing to encourage and challenge others in their faith. Whether writing or speaking, Heather’s desire to help believers grow spiritually shines through.

An avid reader of Christian fiction, Heather also reviews books on her website. Her love of God and story flow into the devotional videos she shares on her YouTube channel and the ones she shares with her writing buddies about all things reading and writing on the Once Upon A Page channel on YouTube.

While Heather thrives on all things romance, she’s also a fan of professional wrestling. It was this interest that led to her reading the biography of Christian wrestler, Shawn Michaels. His powerful testimony sparked the idea for Blane Sterling and Love in the Squared Circle.

You can connect with Heather on her website, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

LOVE IN THE SQUARED CIRCLE by Heather Greer
GENRE: Inspirational Contemporary Romance
PUBLISHER: Scrivenings Press LLC
RELEASE DATE: April 19, 2022
PAGES: 322

Trinity Knight is not a fan of professional wrestling. But with her husband gone, it falls to her to give their son the father-son trip they daydreamed about when he was alive. After Trinity causes them to miss a meet and greet with Jay’s favorite wrestler, a random act of kindness saves the trip and starts Trinity on an unexpected path.

Universal Wrestling Organization Champion Blane Sterling hears whiny children at photo ops all the time. However, overhearing a young boy comfort his mother piques his interest. Touched by their story, Blane works with the UWO Public Relations team to give Jay the experience of a lifetime.

As they learn each other’s stories, Trinity and Blane are drawn to each other. But they don’t just come from different states. They live in different worlds. Trinity might learn to fit into his life, but can those in her world look beyond Blane’s profession to see his heart? Or will a lack of acceptance cause Trinity and Blane to lose their shot at love?

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Hi Heather! Welcome to the blog!

Heather: Pepsi when I just want a soda. Coke when I have a migraine.

Carrie: oh interesting! I’m a ‘never-Pepsi’-er but now I’m curious why Coke helps your migraine & Pepsi doesn’t…

Heather: Mountains but only ones like the Smoky Mountains. I want the trees filling the landscape, especially in the fall.

Carrie: yes please! I wholeheartedly agree 🙂

Heather: Board games are great. My family plays a mean game of Monopoly.

Carrie: we love board games too!

Heather: Print for my favorites. Though I read enough, my bank account is happy when I get the ebook instead.

Carrie: haha yep – plus I’ve found ebooks are so much handier for traveling & reading in bed!

Q: Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?

Heather: I would love to have Jean Grey’s telekinetic and telepathic powers. But in reality, I’d have to say my superpower is a far less impressive baking. I love to bake, and it helps me relax when I’m stressed out. Plus, I give a lot of it away and that can brighten the day for people. That’s good too.

Carrie: Hey, it’s awesome to have a friend with a baking superpower!!

Q: Tell me some good books you’ve read recently.

Heather: I just finished Charming the Troublemaker by Pepper Basham and really enjoyed it. I’m a sucker for a good romance. But I have a comic-con fangirl lurking inside which means I enjoy fantasy and pop culture and superheroes as well. Two of my favorite books of 2022 so far fall into this category. I loved Carla Laureano’s The Sword and the Song. It’s a great Celtic Fantasy. And just last week I finished Madness in Wonderland by Tabitha Bouldin. Oh my! If you only read one book this year, pick that one. What a great, fun mash-up of Alice in Wonderland, Dr. Frankenstein, and steam punk. 

Carrie: I adore both Pepper & Carla – as people & authors – I haven’t read anything by Tabitha Bouldin yet, to my recollection, but it sounds like I should!

Q: If I sneaked a peek in your purse right now (which I would never do, I promise!), what would it tell me about you?

Heather: First, its age would tell you that I don’t really think about purses too often! The blue and white checks would let you in that I’m more simple than fancy and stylish. I may also have a lip balm addiction. I think I counted three or four different flavors and those are only the ones I carry with me. I want to be organized and have a great wallet to store my cash and cards, but it’s pretty empty since all those things are scattered through the rest of the pockets of my purse. I love chewing gum. Not only does cinnamon help the breath while you’re out, it also helps with nausea if you get car sick. And the last thing it would say about me is that I’m the mom everywhere I go. One whole section is dedicated to a variety of over-the-counter medications to help everything from headaches to allergies to tummy troubles. Coworkers always knew to come to me if they needed something.

Carrie: Peppermint gum (at least for me) has the same effect for nausea – that, and a little peppermint oil rubbed on my wrists. I always was an intended organizer too but my purse ended up collecting everything anyway lol

Q: Which of your main characters in Love in the Squared Circle is most like you?

Heather: I would have to say Trinity Knight, though there really isn’t a lot of me in her. It’s just that we have more in common than I do with a professional wrestler! Trinity is a free-lance illustrator for children’s books. I may not illustrate, but I love children’s books. And Trinity is trying to raise her son to live a life of faith, not just go to church. That’s what I tried to do with my own children. And while I wasn’t a widow when doing it, I raised three boys, one of which was very much like Jay. I understand the constant energy and non-stop chatter and uncontainable enthusiasm that comes with rambunctious boys. And like Trinity, I never imagined my faith growing because of my introduction to the wrestling world. But I can’t deny reading Shawn Michael’s testimony in Wrestling for My Life did challenge me in my own faith.

Carrie: My brother’s boys (6 & 4) are hilarious and smart and sweet … and rambunctious. We kept them overnight Sunday into Monday and I’m STILL recovering hahaha. But I wouldn’t trade it for anything ♥

Q: Which character was the most difficult to write? 

Heather: The hero, Blane Sterling, was most difficult to write but not because he’s a difficult character. I had a good sense of who he was physically as I used a professional wrestler for inspiration in how he should look. His spiritual side was fairly solid for me as well since a real wrestler’s testimony is what inspired those elements of Blane. The difficulty came in making sure I made him his own person and not simply the real-life inspiration put on paper. He needed his own personality. His own passions and hobbies. He needed to be real apart from his inspiration. And I had to make him fit into the professional wrestling world which meant I needed to research all the behind-the-scenes elements of wrestling and sometimes that’s easier said than done. What would he fear? How would he separate himself from his profession? How would his faith impact his profession?

Carrie: those are some challenging questions, for sure!

Q: What is one of your favorite quotes from Love in the Squared Circle & why do you love it?

Heather: I don’t know that it’s my absolute favorite, but one of the characters says, “That’s the amazing part. God needs each story.” I hope readers remember that in their own lives. Whether you’re the church kid who never strayed, the rebellious teen who hit rock bottom before turning to God, the one who lives an ordinary life, or the one who is in the spotlight; God wants to use your story to impact others. And when we remember that He does the same for all His followers, it makes it easier to see past the choices we wouldn’t make, the paths we wouldn’t take. It helps us realize God may call a person to a specific place we don’t understand because the darkness in it needs His light that’s shining brightly from that person.

Carrie: i love that – yes!!

Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me! 🙂 Before we say goodbye for today, tell us what‘s coming up next for you.

Heather: I’m spending this week with the launch of Love in the Squared Circle, but I’m also looking forward to my first novella releasing as part of the Love in Any Season collection in September. And I’m writing my first (and probably only) historical fiction to release in January 2023. It takes place in the 1920s in Harrisburg, Illinois and is filled with romance, heartache, and the mob.

Heather Greer is offering a signed, print copy of Love in the Squared Circle to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What makes you want to read Love in the Squared Circle by Heather Greer?