Character Spotlight ~ Elizabeth White's Tommy Lucas

Today the spotlight shines on...............................................................Tommy Lucas

As promised, here is a look behind the scenes at one of my all time favourite leading men in a novel! I just adored Elizabeth White's novella, The Trouble with Tommy, which I read when Sweet Delights was first published in 2001 and Tommy is such an endearing character. Tyndale have rerelased this book and it is now available at a bargain price!
Over to you, Beth:~

Physical description:

Funny question, because I had a very specific picture of Tommy Lucas in my mind. He's tall and lean, with thick dark hair—which his hairdresser cousin "Churl" (Cheryl in south Mississippi) shaves as a mean practical joke. He has golden brown eyes.

Who does he remind me of? Tom Welling of Smallville fame.

Quirks:

This guy's loaded with quirks, though in lots of ways he's a typical southern auto mechanic. He doesn't have a business degree and has few computer skills (this book was written 8 years ago, remember), so his filing system is a Fritos box under the counter.

When he wants to remember something he has to do later, he puts a rubberband around his thumb as a reminder. But he's got a heart as big and Dallas and is crazy about his coon hunting dog, Skywalker and Carrie Pierce, not necessarily in that order.

Tommy's biggest quirk — he's color blind. Which is why he paints Carrie's catering truck bright flamingo pink instead of a nice medium green!

Inspiration:

I have two brothers-in-law who are shade-tree mechanics. They are both godly men, Christian warriors in every sense of the word. Tommy came to life as I tried to imagine what these great guys would do if I put them in some of his crazy situations (runaway cars, raccoons in pantry closets, Roundup in engines).

Background to "The Trouble With Tommy"

I was given the opportunity to write a novella for a specific anthology with the theme of romance and chocolate. Believe it or not, I'm not much of a chocolate fan, but I love white chocolate. So I thought it would be fun to make my heroine the proprietress of a candy shop next-door to a rundown garage—run by a young mechanic who decides it's his mission in life to ensure her success. Oh, and win her heart and hand as well as her candy! This story has another fun little twist, in that the heroine, Carrie, is the older sister of Miranda, heroine of an earlier novella, "Miracle on Beale Street". Carrie and Miranda both show up again in my Zondervan novel Fair Game.

Just love it, Beth ~ thank you! Keep an eye out for Beth's latest novel, Tour de Force, releasing next month from Zondervan.


On Thursday, I am spotlighting Clay and Lucian from Tosca Lee's Demon: A Memoir. It is going to be very interesting! Don't miss it.

Relz Reviewz Extras

Character spotlight on Gabriel Laniere

Interview with Beth

Visit Beth's website

Buy Sweet Delights at Amazon or Koorong