1 Day to Release Day!!!!

 

Can you even believe it?  HOLD ME is being released into the wild TOMORROW, 9/5/11.  It’s rather appropriate that my book is released on Labor Day, because it has been such a labor of love from start to finish.  It has also been like birthing a big giant baby elephant.  I am very excited.  And happy to see it roaming free.

I’m also excited to tell you that starting tomorrow I’ll be on a wee bit of a blog tour.  Perhaps it is not a big blog tour by some author’s standards, but it’s big to me.  Here’s the info:

9/5     I’ll be at RR@H Novel Thoughts and Book Reviews talking about why I love Romantic Suspense

9/6    I’m being interviewed by the awesome and lovely Maureen Miller on her blog. Chaos is sure to ensure.

9/7   I am guest blogging at the equally awesome and lovely Leah Braemel’s blog, talking about characters coming alive in my mind.  It’s very scary.

9/8   I’ll be on the Carina Press blog with my friend, Lucas Vasco talking about his books.

9/12  I’ll be at Not Your Usual Suspects talking about Pantsers versus Plotters.

9/30   I’m guest blogging on Everybody Needs A Little Romance talking about…something.

10/3  I’ll be at Attacking the Page with a post having to do with writing a car chase.

 

Oh, what an exciting and busy month!  I hope you’ll stay with me for the ride.

To celebrate the Day Before Release Day, I’m posting another bonus short story.  Well, this one is more like a bonus vignette.  As before, there may be hints and teases, but I’ve tried to stay away from any actual spoilers.  I hope you enjoy “Sisters”.

And I’ll see you tomorrow!  WHEEE!
 

Sisters (PDF)

 
 
 

4 Days to Release Day!

 

 

Having had mixed results with Luc’s interview, I decided to move on to Katie.

Katie McCabe, as you may or may not know, is the heroine of my book, HOLD ME. I met Katie at a small diner in New Jersey a couple of blocks from the office building where she now works. I got there first, so I was watching for her when she walked in. Oh, it was so good to see her again! She looked beautiful with her exuberant wine-red hair curling all over the place in the humidity.

She saw me, ran over, and we hugged. Her purse swung around and hit me in the back. The bruise is fading now.

After a moment, we slid into opposite sides of the booth. The waitress came, we placed our orders, and then smiled at each other.

“You look great,” I told her. It was true. She looked happy.

“Nah.” She blushed a little, and her blue eyes twinkled behind her glasses. “I’m just normal. Plus it’s humid.” She tugged at her hair, and I laughed.

“Tell me about it.” I tugged at my own hair. “So how’s everything going?”

“Wonderful.” She smiled, and her eyes went a little dreamy. I laughed at her again.

“Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“I can’t. It’s attached to my body.” Now she giggled. “But everything is…very nice.”

“Good.” The waitress brought our coffee, so we paused while she placed the mugs on the table.  “Thanks for letting me interview you,” I said.

She shrugged. “Sure.  Besides, you’re buying lunch.”

“Like I told Luc, I want to try to keep this out of spoiler territory.”

“Oh, yeah.” Her expression was mischievous. “How’d the big Luc interview go?”

“He’s a dumbass,” I muttered, pouring cream into my coffee. “And a jerkwad.”  I stirred with more force than was strictly necessary.

Katie nodded. “That he is.  But then again, you wrote him.”

“Do you know that he wants chickens?” I demanded. “Chickens! What is he thinking!”

“Hey, that’s your fault. You’re the one who put out the story about him finding Spot and reminded him of his unrequited chicken love.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think he’d actually do anything about it.”

“And that is the only reason I’m still talking to you.” She looked at me sternly. “Just who do you think is going to be stuck playing chicken wrangler? You know as well as I do that as soon as he gets the bloody things he’ll be too busy to take care of them.”

“Sorry.” I sighed. “I’ll try to talk him out of it.”

“Please do.” Katie sounded fervent. She sipped her coffee. “So, what are we going to talk about that’s not a spoiler?”

“I don’t know. It’s the same problem I had with Luc.  Do you know that he accused me of shooting him?”

“Well, um, you kind of did.”

“I did not!”  I had expected understanding from Katie.  “The only thing I did was–”

She waved her hands in my face.  “I think you want to stop now. Spoilers, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. Right.”  I took a deep breath and tried to get myself back under control.

“Um, maybe you shouldn’t have interviewed us until after the book was out?”

“Oh, shut up.” I was feeling a little cranky. “I didn’t think about it, okay?”

She just laughed at me.

“Do you like your new job?” I asked, because it was a safe topic, and because I wanted to know.

“Oh, yeah.” Her face lit up. “David Allen told me about the opening. Sometimes I think that man knows everyone.”

I shook my head fondly. “He’s just like his mother.”

“He’s getting there, but Mama Allen is the goddess of networking. Do you know that she and Mr. Allen went to Boston for a vacation and she saw three people she knew? The woman’s amazing.”

“I bet she gets along great with your mother,” I said. “How is Maureen anyway?”

Katie held up a finger. “Spoiler territory.”

“Oh, yeah.”

We stared at each other for a moment.

“I really can’t think of anything to ask you that won’t be some kind of a spoiler,” I admitted.

“We could just eat lunch…”

“That won’t make a very interesting blog post.”

“True.” She shoved her glasses up her nose. I shoved my glasses up my nose. We stared at each other some more.

“Um, how’s Melanie?” I asked.

“Spoiler.”

“Your father?”

“Spoiler.”

“Brenna?”

“Brenna’s great.” Katie grinned. “She thinks she doesn’t have any pheromones.”

“I think that might be a spoiler for a future book.”

“Well how the heck should I know? You don’t have them plotted out yet.”

“Yeah.”

Silence.

“So, I guess this interview is over?” Katie asked finally.

“I do have one question,” I said.

“Shoot.”

“Is your name still “Katie McCabe”?”

Katie smiled, and it looked almost feline. I half expected to hear her purr.

“Spoiler,” she said.

 

6 Days to Release Day!

For those of you who don’t know, FBI Special Agent Lucas Vasco is the hero of my book, HOLD ME. In this post, I’m chatting with Luc to touch base and find out how he’s doing. On Thursday, I’ll post my interview with Katie, the heroine of the book.

Luc and I met at his home in the wilds of New Jersey. Driving up to the massive structure Luc calls the “Museum” made me feel quite nostalgic. I’d spent so much time in the place over the last year or two, that seeing it again was like seeing an old friend. Spot, Luc’s Newfoundland, came bounding around the side the building just as I got out of the car. It can be quite intimidating to see a Newf coming at you in full gallop, but I’d dealt with Spot before and I have friends with many big dogs. I knew what to do – stand still, close your eyes, and let the wave of dog envelope you. If you pretend you’re a tree on a windy day, you usually won’t get knocked down. Usually.

Luc came to the door, yelled at Spot, and restored order. He was dressed the way he always is – t-shirt, cargo pants, and old running shoes. I’m not ashamed to say that my heart went pitty-pat when he smiled at me. Then he walked over to me and hugged me for several long moments. I held on. I was so, so happy to see him again. Besides, hugging him felt…good.

Next Luc took me on a quick tour of the Museum so I could see some changes he was making. Fortunately the structure had sustained no damage either in the earthquake or due to Hurricane Irene, although Luc told me they’d lost power for a couple of days. We finally settled down in his big living room, sitting in two armchairs on opposite sides of an unlit fireplace. Spot ambled in, dropped down onto the rug between us, and immediately began snoring. Every so often Luc would reach out and rub her back with his foot.

I pulled out my stenopad. Before I opened it, I looked around the big room.

“Your house is magnificent,” I told Luc. I was surprised when his face closed down, his eyes hidden by thick, black lashes.

“Thank you,” he said formally.

“How long has it been in the family?” I asked, flustered. I should have known better, but I tend to chatter and say stupid things when I’m flustered.

“A long time.” He stared into the fireplace, expression grim. “Apparently.”

Mentally I cursed myself for not remembering what a sore point the house was for him. Clearing my throat, I turned to my notes and tried to recover.

“Anyway, thanks for seeing me.”

“Of course.” He smiled and life came back into those beautiful dark eyes. “I’ve missed you.”

I swallowed hard and his grin broadened.

“Er…yes.” I adjusted my glasses, then looked at him seriously. “I want to try to stay out of spoiler territory here, so behave.”

“Yeah, good luck with that. What do we have to talk about that’s not a spoiler?”

“Well…” I shuffled papers. He did have a point. “How do you feel?”

“Good.” He cocked his head. “Why? Want to put me through the wringer again?”

“No,” I said, offended. “I just noticed that you were limping a little bit.”

“Oh, that.” he waved it off. “It’s nothing. I turned my ankle.”

“You did? How?”

“Well, see, I was moving some furniture around in one of the parlors. Katie keeps insisting that I claim the house, and I was getting ready to claim that room. I tripped over a lamp.”

“Ah hah.” I knew how Luc went about claiming the house, so I didn’t think I should go any further.

“But you’re okay now?”

“Sure.” He flapped a hand. “No problem.”

Maybe I should have postponed this interview until the book had been out a while. Then I thought of a topic I’d been meaning to discuss with him.

“So, Luc,” I flipped a few pages in my stenopad to get to the right notes, then looked up at him. “You like books.”

[NOTE: Please join me on the Carina Press blogthe morning of September 8th, to read the section of this interview where Luc and I talk about his books. For now, let’s pick things up at the end of that part of the conversation.]

We sat in silence for a few moments. When I got up the nerve to look at him again, he was obviously laughing at me. His dark eyes sparkled as he watched me try to pull myself together.

“Shut up!” I said. “Sue me if talking about books pushes some buttons for me. And stop playing all sexy and mysterious.”

“What?” He held his hands out to the side. “I’m not playing. I am sexy and mysterious.”

“You’re toying with me.” I insisted.

“Only because you’re easy.”

“Oh, please. You jerked me around for months.”

“You SHOT me!”

“I did not shoot you. I TORMENTED you.”

“Oh, that is just so much better.” He rolled his eyes. “Every time I turned around something else was getting f***ed up until you finished the damn book. And that took for freaking ever! You’re lucky I didn’t just go insane and attack you.”

“You DID attack me.” I jabbed a finger at my temple. “You attacked me in my MIND.”

“Right.” He snorted.

Spot woke up and sat, looking from one to the other of us with apparent confusion. I shifted so I could see around her.

“Are you going to cooperate or not?” I demanded.

“Of course I’m going to cooperate. I live to cooperate.”

I humphed because I didn’t believe him. “I knew I should have talked to Katie first.”

“Wait.” He held up a hand, palm out. “You’re going to talk to Katie?”

“Yes, I’m going to see her right now.” I closed my stenopad and stored it away in my handbag. “And I’m sure she’ll be nicer to me than you are.”

“Probably.” He was grumbling, but I could tell he was considering his situation. He knew damn well that if Katie found out he’d been mean to me, there would be hell to pay. And it wouldn’t all come from the author. “Don’t run off. You just got here.”

“I have places to go.”

“Come on.” He gave me his most winning smile. “Ask me something. You know you want to.”

“Well…” I shifted. I really did want to ask him some questions, so against my better judgment, I gave in. “Okay. What’s next for you? What are you going to do now?”

He steepled his fingers under his chin and thought for quite some time before he answered.

“I think I’m going to get some chickens. Spot will like chasing them around the yard,” he said.

I slammed the door on my way out.

Join me on Thursday to read my interview with Katie McCabe, heroine of HOLD ME.

11 Days To Release Day!

 

How did Lucas Vasco, tough FBI Special Agent and hero of HOLD ME, end up with Spot, large Newfoundland and canine companion? The story of how the two of them found each other – with the help of a friend – made me smile.

This short story takes place about two years before the action in HOLD ME. Although it contains hints and teasers, I don’t think there any spoilers. This is a pdf file (until I’m able to create a new blog page).

I hope you enjoy “When Luc Met Spot.”

 

When Luc Met Spot