We’re all readers here at the Jaunty Quills and I thought it might be fun to geek out today and chat about some books we’ve read recently. So answer the following questions and let’s chat. I’ll pick two commenters to win a copy of my novella, Her Gentleman Thief.

What’s the best book you’ve read recently? For me, it would have to be our own JQ, Kristan Higgins, Catch of the Day. It was just delightful with a heroine I could relate to (in so many ways) and a hero I wanted to spend a lot of alone time with….

What’s your favorite book series? Is it stupid for me to comment that this is a hard question? Don’t answer that. I can’t not mention Harry Potter or the Hunger Games, but I’m going to disqualify those and make myself pick a romance series, I’d have to say it’s a toss up between JD Robb’s In Death series and Suzanne Enoch’s Lessons in Love.

What does a book have to have to make it on your keeper shelf? I have to not only love the book and the story, but both characters. There have been plenty of books I’ve read where I’ve really loved either the hero or the heroine but not both, but to be a keeper, it’s got to be 100% love fest.

What’s the saddest book you’ve read? I don’t generally pick sad books because I don’t like to deal with much angst when it comes to my reading material, I remember I read a book (many years ago) called The Marriage Bed by Stephanie Mittman and I sobbed through the whole book.

Who is your go-to author when you need to fall into a book and you know they won’t fail to satisfy you with a great story? Suzanne Enoch or JD Robb

So how about you? Let’s talk books and you might win a free one for yourself!

I just finished reading a book for my book club called The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. It’s the story of Hadley Richardson, Hemingway’s first wife, how they met, married, and how the marriage ended. It’s not my typical reading material, and that’s what I love (and hate) about this book club. It pushes me to read books I would otherwise never pick up, and a lot of the time I agree with that first inclination.

I enjoyed The Paris Wife. It was engaging and well-written and I have a connection to Hemingway because my mother was born in Oak Park, IL, and my grandparents knew Hemingway’s father. The book is touted as being quite accurate, as far as these sorts of books go, but I’m sure that doesn’t mean every line is exactly what Hadley Richardson thought. And even though I am an author I find myself much more sympathetic to Hadley than I am to Ernest. He tends to exhibit what we would now label as “diva behavior.”

But there is one paragraph about Ernest Hemingway I could totally relate to. It really does sum up what so many of us love about being a writer. Here it is.

“I couldn’t reach into every part of Ernest and he didn’t want me to. He needed me to make him feel safe and backed up, yes, the same way I needed him. But he also liked that he could disappear into his work, away from me. And return when he wanted to.”

I remember when my daughter was a newborn and she never (or so it felt) slept or stopped crying, and I was exhausted and the days went in slow motion, the thing that saved me as I rocked her endlessly was being able to escape in my mind. I plotted much of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride walking and rocking that baby. I’m not a plotter, but I needed to go somewhere else besides that dark nursery and that wailing infant.

And still, when tragedies that don’t touch me occur, I escape into writing. On the day of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, CT, like many of you, I was saddened and horrified. I sat and watched the news reports coming in, each one more surreal than the last. When I couldn’t take any more, I turned off the TV and internet and escaped into my work in progress. Regency England and the world of my own making could sweep me away for a time. I could return when I wanted.

What about you? How do you “escape”? Christmas is over, but I’ll give one person who comments a choice of one of my recent books–The Making of a Duchess, The Making of a Gentleman, Lord and Lady Spy, The Rogue Pirate’s Bride, or When You Give a Duke a Diamond.

 

Sometimes I talk to people who aren’t romance writers or readers. Crazy, I know. I forget they don’t have the same lexicon we do. They’re not in our club and don’t speak our language. I vaguely remember how, when I first began reading historicals, I puzzled over what the ton was or why Beau Brummell was so important. I was vaguely confused at mentions of Tattersalls, and I couldn’t have told you the difference between a marquess and a viscount if my life depended on it.

Almost twelve books later, and I chat about countesses, privateers, and Prinny without a second thought.

Until someone who does not read romance asks me about my books.

I was at a birthday party for a friend’s toddler recently, and another mom asked me about my September book, When You Give a Duke a Diamond. I started to tell her about it, and she said, “What’s a courtesan?”

Okay, I went off on a tangent to explain who and what courtesans were and then I was back to the story and my hero, the sixth Duke of Pelham.

“So dukes are part of the royal family?” she asked.

No. Well, sometimes, yes. Okay, another tangent.

“And why are the prostitutes—”

“Whoa, now! They’re courtesans! Big difference!”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why are the courtesans called The Three Diamonds?”

I started to explain about Regency cant and the phrase diamond of the first water, but by then the party was over. I think I succeeded in confusing her more than convincing her my book was a fun read.

And then a few days later, I was running with a friend in boot camp, and she asked about the title of my next book, which releases in March. I told her it was If You Give a Rake a Ruby. “Why would you give a rake a ruby?” she wanted to know.

“No, not that kind of rake. A rake in Regency England was a womanizer or a roguish sort of man.”

“There’s that word again. Wasn’t your last book something about a rogue? What’s a rogue?”

“The Rogue Pirate’s Bride…”

“So it’s like Pirates of the Caribbean?”

“No, because my book deals with Barbary pirates and anyway, my hero is a privateer, not a pirate.”

“Uh-huh. Right.” And she sped up. Yep. Another reader running out to buy my books.

What confused you when you first started reading romance? Do you ever find yourself trying to explain the romance lexicon to your non-romance reading friends or husbands? One person who comments will receive a copy of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride.

Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk.

Hello! Heather Snow here and I am thrilled to be continuing my blog tour for Sweet Deception here at The Jaunty Quills. Thank you for having me back again! What I am doing for this tour is pulling back the curtain of Sweet Deception a bit, sharing a few of my favorite passages from the book each day while letting you in on the thoughts behind them. You can keep up with the stops (or go back and read ones you missed) either on my website or my Facebook page.

This is one of my favorite bits. Up until this point in the book, Derick has been valiantly trying to keep Emma in the dark, not only about his mission, but about himself. Smart girl that she is, she’s worked quite a bit of it out on her own and confronts him, at which point he decides it is prudent to reveal what he can (while controlling what information he gives her). At the end of that conversation…

“You have my word, your secret is safe with me.” She turned to face him at the threshold, waiting as he retrieved her wrap.

Derick returned with the hooded cape, swinging it around Emma’s shoulders.

Her head tilted to the side and her nose scrunched in thought. “One thing still bothers me, though.”

Derick’s gut clenched. He’d known things had gone too easily. He decided to make light, letting his mouth rise in a half smile. “Only one thing?” he asked silkily as his hands settled upon her shoulders.

Emma raised her eyes to the ceiling, in an abbreviated eye roll, before settling them back on him. “I can understand you not wishing your . . . history to be common knowledge. But why do you keep up the pretense of being . . . well, a useless fop? I assume that is one of the personas you’ve used throughout your . . . career. But why use it now? Why not just be yourself?”

Damned smart woman.

He couldn’t very well tell her he’d acted such because he was currently hunting a traitor and had thought it the best way to proceed, now could he? He searched for an answer. And then the words just came, and they were the most honest words he’d ever said.

“I’ve been pretending to be someone else my entire adult life, Emma,” he murmured, swallowing against the sudden scratching in his throat. “I couldn’t tell you who I truly am anymore.”

That really wasn’t what I had intended to write when I sat down at the computer that day. But as I alluded to during previous posts along this blog tour, Derick had a mind of his own (a tough reality for me to swallow as an analytical, plotting type). When he uttered these words on the page, not only did he break my heart, but it really started to sink in for me just who he was as a character and made me rethink Derick and his journey. And exactly how Emma played into it. What resulted is the old friends to lovers story Sweet Deception became.

I hope you enjoy reading Derick and Emma’s tale as much as I loved writing it!

Please look out for SWEET DECEPTION, available now, wherever books are sold. I’ll be happy to give away 2 copies of my debut, SWEET ENEMY, the first book in this series. To enter, simply leave me a comment and answer the question: Do you like stories where the characters have a history before the tale begins?

Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. Find out more or connect with Heather at:
www.HeatherSnowBooks.com

ORIGINALLY POSTED: August 11, 2010

When I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, it was way back when the second book had only been in stores a few months and most of the world hadn’t yet been bitten by the HP bug. It took a few chapters, but when we got to Diagon Alley I knew I’d stumbled upon something special. I remember feeling like I witnessed history in the making, feeling assured that once the books caught on, we’d have another Narnia Chronicles on our hands. The most vivid emotion though was that this book was the first time I’d read something as an adult that made me feel like books used to when I was a kid. I realize that is a terrible sentence, but hopefully you know what I mean. In short, I was mesmerized.

I quickly devoured the book, then the second, then waited impatiently for the third (which totally blew me away) and about this time word started spreading and the world was about to catch HP fever. It was the first time I remember ever dreaming about characters from a book and it happened more than once. The characters, the world was so real to me that when I was intrenched in one of the books I was completely surrounded. I remember catching myself before telling a friend that the next time I went to England I wanted to make a special trip to Hogwarts.

This last month, that silly fantasy of mine came true. Or as true as it can within our Muggle world. While in Orlando for the RWA conference, me and Emily and my mom made a side trip to Universal Studios to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We got up super early, we hired a car to take us to the park and we walked the long way to the entrance of the park. But we’d been smart and we’d pre-purchased our tickets so we were able to just walk right in. We made a beeline to the HP area (mostly we followed the crowd because that’s where everyone else was going too!)

And then we rounded a corner and there it was, across the way, but Hogwarts rose up from a hill just like I’d seen in my mind so many times. I’ll admit it, I got a little misty and giddy and started snapping pictures. We kept our trek through the park, passing by some really cool looking other areas, but we were on a mission.

Suddenly we were there, right up to Hogwarts door. There’s a ride in the castle, but I had read enough stuff on-line before hand to know that my motion sickness would probably cause trouble, so mom and I headed into the tour line where we were able to just walk through the castle while Emily went on to the ride. (she’ll have to tell you about it when she returns from her family vacation) Inside the castle we saw the hall of portraits where some of the pictures moved and talked. Then we saw Dumbledore’s office and the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and the entryway to the Gryffindor common room with the Fat Lady’s picture. It really was totally magical and my only complaint was that I wanted it to be longer. I wanted to see the Great Hall with the floating candles and I wanted to see the actual common room and the floating staircases.

But never fear once we were out of the castle (dumped conveniently into Filch’s Emporium, a gift shop where I purchased my own copy of the Maurader’s Map) we walked strait into Hogsmeade. Now technically this was a mixture of Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, but it was just fantastic. We bought wands and we had butterbeer (so tasty!) and we saw the Hogwart’s Express (another misty moment for me!) and we bought chocolate frogs in Honeydukes and went into the Owl Post. And I have to take a moment to personally thank all of the English families that were there that day, their lovely British accents really added to the experience for me. Then in the bathroom (which they called “public conveniences”) you could hear Moaning Myrtle whine and cry.

All in all, it was, well for lack of a better word, magical. I loved every minute despite the fact that it was like 1000 degrees outside. I can’t wait to go back again someday with The Professor.

So how about you, what fictionalized world would you like to see come to life? If you could step into any book you’ve ever read, which one would it be? One lucky commenter will win a collection of books I brought back from the conference.

 

Who was your first hero?

Like a lot of young girls, my first hero was my father.  One of my earliest memories is when I was a very young child and my dad was carrying me into the house from the car.  We’d been on a long trip; it was night time.  I buried my head against his shoulder and he carried me and there was simply no better place in the world.  He has been a military man, a half-dozen other things it seems, including a private pilot and flight instructor…and he still rides a motorcycle.  (Of course, the older we all get, including me—with fully grown children of my own–the more that last point just simply amazes and scares the bejabbers out of me!)  When I was young, Mom was the one with the quicker temper, but Dad was the one who could merely tilt down his eyeglasses and peer at me over the top, and reduce me to misery.  One glance.  All it took.  It’s been a lot of years since I needed to have that one glance from Dad, but I have a strong hunch it would still be pretty darn effective.  He’s a man of incredible patience who worked with his hands, checked our tires, came to my rescue more than once with most of the pathetic vehicles I’ve owned as a young woman.  He called my mom “Honey” so frequently that my older brother called her that, too, for a while when he was a little boy.  Dad was often gone for work—always taking care of his family—and always was the rock of my childhood, and probably every hero I’ve ever written has had a piece of my father in him.

So when it came to writing Fortune’s Perfect Match, whose hero, Max Allen, is a flying enthusiast, it was a whole lot of fun to pick my dad’s brain about flying.  He doesn’t get behind the wheel (maybe that should be rudder?) anymore, but it’s all still in his head, and I suspect, his heart.  Both of my parents have often been a resource for some detail I need about life out on a farm—city girl, here!—or some other area, but this time, it was more than just a detail.  It was pages and pages of notes and long conversations; I dearly loved it; and once again, my father the hero, came through.

I’ve married a hero of my own.  He holds my hand and he can slay me with a single glance, eyeglasses or no.  Most of all, he makes me laugh, and makes me glad that I had Dad’s example to look for, so I could recognize a gem when I found him.

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Growing up, Allison wasn’t overly thrilled moving from one home in one state to another and another and another.  By the time her family settled in Arizona, however, she came to learn that each experience—from the orange grove-scented air of Southern California to the wild beauty of Wyoming, from the verdant land of Minnesota to the inexplicable appeal of the Arizona desert—proved wonderfully useful when it came to letting her imagination run riot while putting pen to paper.  She continues to make her home in Arizona with her husband and family, whom she credits with remarkable patience for the hours she spends parked in front of her computer, and more importantly, for blessing her life with the kind of love and happiness that she wants her readers to continue sharing with the characters living in the pages of her books. She loves hearing from her readers at Allison@allisonleigh.com or PO Box 40772, Mesa AZ  85274-0772.

If you’ve been reading my books for any length of time (especially my most recent titles) you probably know that I love my historical romance with a little bit of mystery, adventure and suspense thrown in. I don’t think I started out intending to write books like that, per se, I think it just kind of happened. Partly because I like to read books that have a lot going on in the background. I think it’s probably because I cut my teeth on Amanda Quick and Johanna Lindsey and they have lots of adventure/mystery type subplots going on while the hero and heroine fall in love. Amanda Quick’s step back covers even made it perfectly clear you were in for more than a “simple” romance as they had pictures of several scenes from the book, sword fights, embraces, etc. I loved them.

That being said I also really love just a good solid romance where you’ve mostly got the hero and heroine, maybe some secondary characters, but mostly it’s just them falling in love. There’s something so comforting about settling in with a book and falling in love right along with the characters.

The book I finished not too long ago (that I’m currently shopping) is the first in a trilogy that’s an historical romantic suspense series. It’s dark and gritty and packed full of danger and passion. It was exhausting to write and a huge challenge, but I’m really hoping it finds a home because I think it’s quite likely the best thing I’ve ever written. BUT two weeks ago I started working on a new book. It’s still a historical, but it’s a little shorter than my other books and there aren’t any dangerous subplots, no adventures, no mysteries, no quests, its just the hero and heroine, characters around them, but mostly just them. And you know what, I’m having a ball. Literally, at times, because there are ball scenes with dancing and loads of snappy dialogue. It’s so refreshing to write something without worrying where the villain is and whether or not I need to be setting a booby trap.

So how about you? How do you like your romance? Straight up or with a side of mystery or suspense or even some paranormal woo-woo?

*side note* I’m on round 2 of antibiotics with some steroids and my brain is really fuzzy so if this blog doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, I blame it on the drugs.

I heard it said once that once a book is out in the world, the characters no longer belong to the author, but instead the reader. I didn’t pay much attention to this tidbit at the time and frankly, as an author, I wasn’t quite so certain I believed it. I rarely think about my readers, all of you out there sitting down with a copy of one of my books and diving in. I have a hard time thinking about someone getting lost in the characters that I create as I do on occasion when I’m reading a particularly great book. Reading becomes harder when you’re a writer, I’m sure many of you have heard a writer say that before. It’s not so much that we’re constantly critiquing the works, it’s just harder to lose yourself in a story.

So back to that statement… I don’t know that I tend to feel particularly possessive about other people’s characters very often. But it has happened. Most recently it happened when I finally succumbed to Hunger Game mania and I dove in. Within a week I had downed all three books and I felt quite thankful that I had waited as long as I did so that I could gorge on all the books instead of waiting for their release as I had done with the Harry Potter books.

But it was after I had read the books and I was sitting in the theatre with my niece watching the movie. She hadn’t seen it and I had taken the advantage of my sister being in town to watch my kids so I could take her daughter to see it since she is also a lover of the books. I became agitated in the movie, annoyed at some of the younger audience members who giggled and snickered during some particularly tender moments. And I realized in that instant why, it was because I was offended that they weren’t getting it, they were making these moments cheap and belittling them. Because those were MY characters. That was MY Katniss and MY Peeta and they could just leave if they couldn’t appreciate what was going on on the screen. Now granted much of the emotional progression of the characters was missing from the movie for the sake of time, but still the movie does a lot very right.

Every now and then you read books. Magical books that dig inside you and burrow deep into your soul. Characters that hang on and refuse to let go. Lots of books are great, wonderful even, but some books go beyond just a good story. Their worlds become so real, so engrossing that to leave them is nearly painful, as if you’re grieving a dear friend. I don’t want to leave the world of the Panem, of Katniss and Peeta and Gale and Haymitch. I don’t want to walk away from them. I felt this when the Harry Potter series ended. Satisfied with the way the story was told, but also a great sadness that the tale was over, that my journey with the characters had come to an end. Of course I can re-read them, but nothing ever feels the same as that first time turning the pages as fast you can (or clicking the kindle button as was my case) and grabbing on to every word so as to not miss one morsel of story.

I don’t know if I ever accomplish that as a writer. I don’t know if I have any readers out there who have been that engrossed in the worlds I create. Mine aren’t as unique and original as those you find in books with a more fantasy bent. But when I read books like these, they make me want to be a better writer, make me want to strive to create characters that haunt readers all the way into their dreams, that make readers clutch the book to their chest and sigh heavily when its all said and done because they’re sad to leave the characters and the world in which they dwell.

So how about you? Can you easily lose yourself in the world of books? What are some of your favorites that have totally captured you and made it hard to leave the characters?

This month, Rita-winning author Karen Templeton kicks of the latest Harlequin Special Edition series: THE FORTUNES OF TEXAS…WHIRLWIND ROMANCE. Her book, FORTUNE’S CINDERELLA, is the first of six books in the continuing saga of one of the compelling Fortune family.

* So glad you could join us today, Karen, where did you get the idea for FORTUNE’S CINDERELLA?

From Harlequin’s editorial department, actually. <g> Since FC is part of the ongoing Fortunes of Texas continuity series for Special Edition, I was given a brief overview of the storyline, as well as the character types, which I then expanded on to make them “mine.” Kind of like an actor getting a script (only I then had to write the script, too!).

* Tell us about the hero of the book? Why will we fall in love with him?

Interestingly, I tend to write mostly blue-collar or “everyday” heroes, so writing a rich dude is a stretch. A fun stretch, but a stretch. Scott Fortune was originally supposed to be on the alpha side, too…but that’s even more of a stretch for me than the wealthy thing! It’s the betas that make my knees weak! However, there’s a lot to be said for the alpha protective streak, too…and boy, is Scott protective. To the point where he’s willing to put his posterior on the line with his family in order to take care of the heroine – and how can you not fall in love with someone who does that? But what makes him even more swoon-worthy is that, for all he’s used to manipulating people and events to make things go his way, he quickly learns that the business of love doesn’t work that way…and that sometimes you have to let things unfold however they’re going to. You know, let the other person call the shots some times? A good man, that Scott.

* Tell us about the heroine? Why is she the perfect woman for the hero?

Christina Hastings really is a modern-day Cinderella, a snack bar waitress living in a seedy apartment complex (with her trusty sidekick, Gumbo, a hound who lives to love) while she’s struggling to finish up her college degree before she turns eighty. But although she has little in the way of material things, she’s got enough spirit for ten people…as well as an unshakeable conviction that if you don’t go after what you really want in life, what’s the point of living? Which makes Scott – who’s spent way too many years doing what’s been expected of him, not necessarily what’s best for him – reassess a thing or six. And fall in love in the process.

* What life lessons do your H/H have to learn before they can find their happily-ever-after?

This story is all about letting go of preconceived notions, of who we are and what we think we deserve…or not. That you can’t talk the talk about life being too short to go after your dreams, and then be afraid to take a chance on what could be the biggest blessing you’ll ever know.

* Is there any particular significance in the setting?

Since the entire series has been set in and around fictional Red Rock, Texas, I didn’t get to make up that part. J However, I did find a whole lot of symbolism in those wide open spaces, especially for big-city boy Scott – who decides to trade all those imposed expectations for what, in comparison, feels like infinite possibilities.

* If this is part of a continuity, tell us about your experience working on connected stories with other authors.

In my case, working with the other authors – Marie Ferrarella, Judy Duarte, Nancy Robards Thompson, Susan Crosby and Allison Leigh – was an absolute delight. We have a great time brainstorming plot points and character details with each other, and in my mind at least, this is going to be the Best. Series. Ever. LOL!

* What was the most difficult scene for you to write?

Oh, man – the first three chapters? Take an entire family, add a huge supporting cast, toss in a tornado and an aftermath hospital scene with literally three dozen speaking parts…oy. I *never* write opening scenes with that many people, but in this case, because I was setting up the whole series, I had no choice. All I could do was try to visualize it from a cinematic standpoint, then write it all out as succinctly as possible. Early feedback has been very positive, but shoot me if I ever willing do something like that again! <g>

* Can you share if there were any real-life inspirations for a particular scene or character in the book?

Gumbo! We have our own little hound mix – named Petey – who looks like somebody stuck a beagle head on a corgi body. And he’s every bit as nuts – and as lovestruck – as Gumbo. And the Art Department even put a dog who looks like him on the back cover. Score!

* What do you feel are some of your strengths as a writer and how did those show up in this particular book?

I realized early on I have a pretty good ear for speech patterns/syntax, which make it easier to “hear” my characters – and once I do, they pretty much tell their own stories. It took no time at all to hear Christina, although Scott took a bit more work. But once I did, their dialogue – especially in their first big scene together, when they’re trapped in the rubble after the tornado – just flowed. Very fun scene to write.

* Any interesting tidbits of information you discovered while researching this book?

Yeah. That San Antonio – the general area where the book is set – rarely gets tornadoes. Oops. So we all had to work that fact into the overall storyline to make it plausible!

* Why will readers enjoy this book?

Because Scott is yummy and Christina is adorable and Gumbo is a hoot and a half. <g>

Please leave a comment or ask Karen a question for a chance to win a copy of FORTUNE’S CINDERELLA!

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Since 1998, two-time RITA award winner Karen Templeton has written more than 35 heart-tugging, family-centric romances for Harlequin. An east coast native, she’s called New Mexico home for more than 25 years, where she lives with an ever-changing number of her five sons, two dogs, two cats, and the world’s oldest Beta fish.

I have four Special Editions coming out in 2012. All of them are set in Texas: three are in a
fictional town outside of Dallas (I’m calling it Celebration, Texas). The other one is part of the popular Fortunes of Texas series and it’s set in the fictional town of Red Rock,Texas, which is supposedly 20 miles east of San Antonio.

It’s the first time I’m writing about Texas. I’m excited to be spending so much virtual time there because a have quite a bit of family in the Dallas area. I’m vaguely familiar with the state – enough to know it’s flavor, and, of course, I can call on my family with any questions.

In the past, I’ve set books in Orlando and Paris because I’m familiar with those cities.  The only real place I’ve written about that I’m not familiar with is Boston. It was part of a Special Edition continuity (I was one of six authors writing books for this series).  I actually visited before I finished the book so I could make sure I captured the essence of the city.

I’ve heard of authors writing on a wing and prayer, setting books in regions they’ve never visited. But I shy away from doing that because I strive to get everything exactly right. So, if I make up the city – it might even be a fictitious city based on an actual city – I feel better about taking artistic license and not being bound by maps and facts.

I have two questions for you: do you like reading books set in fictional places or imaginary worlds?   If you prefer actual cities, how much leeway to you give an author to fictionalize neighborhoods and the texture of the area?