First Meet Carey Baldwin

FIRST DO NO EVIL

Blood Secrets, Book 1
Samhain Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-60928-881-5

One killer is in her blood.

The other is in her house. 

There’s a killer lurking in Dr. Skylar Novak’s family tree: the gene for breast cancer. That's why her brilliant brother invented the Bella vaccine. But even if the miracle drug protects her from the cancer that took her mother's life, it can't save Sky from the flesh and bone evil stalking her in secret.  

When the killer strikes, detective Daniel Benson finds himself in the wrong place at the right time. The bold detective manages to save Sky's life…just in time for her to return the favor. Survival leads to seduction, and Danny risks everything—his career, even his life, to keep Sky safe. But will the buried sins they uncover cost him her heart? 

Danny’s strong arms may hold her close, but only Sky can stop the terror that's coming next… 

WARNING: Contents include: One heart-melting hero—good luck getting this delicious detective out of your head. One reluctant heroine—wielding a Glock was never on her to-do list. One crazed villain—an entire flock of baa baa black sheep won't be enough to put you to sleep. And a lifesaving vaccine with one deadly side effect—murder.

FIRST READ 

CAREY BALDWIN

A mild-mannered doctor (still practicing full time) who happens to write edgy romantic thrillers.

When you are a former clinical psychologist, writing about psychopaths comes easily, and when you are a hopeless romantic, well, you do the math! Carey has been a finalist in numerous writing contests including Avon FanLit and the prestigious Maggies. Her first manuscript won the Golden Gateway award for best single title romance. FIRST DO NO EVIL is her debut romantic thriller. 

FIRST QUESTIONS

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading?

CAREY: The first memories I have of reading involve my mother. I have a vivid recollection of her sitting with one arm around me and the other arm around my sister and allowing us to turn the pages while she read aloud from a book of Grimm's fairy tales. The first memory I have of independent reading involves HANS BRINKER AND THE SILVER SKATES, the light from my electric blanket control, and a stern talking to when I got caught reading after bedtime. But I was hooked, and I couldn't put that story down.  

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?

CAREY: Well, this is a tough choice, but I'm going to go with "Truth". Not just telling the truth to your loved one, but owning the truth about who you are and who they are. If you can't be truthful about who you are, no one can love you and vice versa. I think truth is essential for love.  

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

CAREY: Hands down that would be Tramp from LADY AND THE TRAMP. I'd slurp spaghetti with that scoundrel any time! 

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?

CAREY: Well, let's start with the hawt part! Danny's a smooth operator who doesn't pull any punches, as you can see from this bit of dialogue below: 

“Look, I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure we’re having a moment here. And…” He paused and turned his palms up. “Please, correct me if I’m wrong, but when you’re having a moment, those rules you mentioned are suspended…momentarily. When you’re having a moment you gotta grab it by the balls, or else something wonderful might pass you by.”  

And Danny is so much more than a pretty face. He's got it all. He can outwit and outshoot the bad guy, stop your heart with his charm, and whip up a batch of waffles for his teenage daughter, all without losing his cool. As an example, here's what Danny is thinking in a moment when he finds himself unarmed in the middle of a robbery/hostage situation: 

He had plenty of training in hostage negation, but most of what he knew didn’t apply in this scenario. He had no backup surrounding the building for leverage and nothing to offer in exchange for Nevaeh. He was going to have to wing it.

Danny relaxed.  

He was good at winging it.  

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?

CAREY: I love the sound of a mountain stream. A rushing stream means I'm doing one of my favorite things- hiking! And it also means there are wildflowers nearby. I'm a sucker for wildflowers, and I drag my family to all kinds of remote places on "wildflower chases" every season. 

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

CAREY: Both of course! That's why I write romantic thrillers. I gotta have the fairy tale, but I crave adventure and a plot that makes me think.

ANGI: Who’s your favorite villain?

CAREY: I'd have to say Dexter Morgan. Such a complex guy, and he fights his demons hard. It's easy to confuse him with a hero.  

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?

CAREY: Not very exciting, but I'd have to honestly answer sleeping in. I love to laze in bed in the morning. That is literally the reason I became a primary care doc instead of a surgeon. I loved the OR, but I couldn't hack the 4am duty that goes with a surgical residency.  

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?

CAREY: LOL. I work with munchkins all day- not hot guys and sexy women. But I sure do love coming home to my fantasy characters at night!  

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: Okay, one look at your website and the first thing that pops up is that you developed the THE SEX REP. *I* know what the test is, but tell us a little about it and if you’ve used it in your stories.

CAREY’S GOTTA ANSWER:  Long-winded warning! Feel free to skip ahead to the end. Before I went to med school, I went to grad school and earned a PhD in clinical psychology. As part of my dissertation research I wanted to shed light on the relationship between femininity and self-esteem.  

I was bothered by the fact that at the time (okay, let's not go into which decade for the sake of my vanity), research consistently showed an inverse relationship between femininity and self-esteem. In other words feminine women were reported to have astonishingly low self-esteem. The thing that got under my skin about this situation was that it didn't jive with my experience. And when I started looking into the tests that measured femininity, I was floored to observe that femininity tests defined that quality by using words like passive, fragile, shy, and so on.  

Well, heck! No wonder! Women who described themselves as passive and fragile and fearful had low self-esteem? Shocker. 

But to me, that wasn't what femininity was about at all. I pictured a lioness defending her cubs, a woman who could charm your socks off, and so on. But I knew if I made up my own list of "feminine" traits, I would simply be introducing my own bias and we wouldn't be any further along in uncovering the truth. So I turned to the work of a psychologist named George Kelly. Kelly developed a means of eliciting "personal constructs" or unique ways of viewing the world. His test was called the Rep test (short for role construct repertory test).  

I used Kelly's rep test as my starting point and modified it to elicit an individual's personal constructs of masculinity and femininity. I then ask those individuals to rate themselves, using their own personal constructs, and determined a masculine and feminine score. Next, my subjects took a self-esteem inventory. And guess what?

Both masculinity AND femininity turned out to have a positive relationship with self-esteem. I named the test, the Sex Rep, and my findings were published in the Journal of Personality.  

Have I used it in my stories? Yes, in the sense that I write about all different kinds of women who are self-confident. 

CAREY FIRST

Email    Website   Facebook   Twitter @CareyBaldwin   Goodreads 

Kiss AndThrill     Amazon AuthorPage 

UP NEXT for CAREY 

I'm currently working on the second book in my Blood Secrets series. It's tentatively titled DUTY TO WARN and features "Aunt Faith" from FIRST DO NO EVIL. Learn more and read an excerpt.  

PREVIOUSLY for CAREY

I'm so excited about my May release

THREE WEDDINGS AND A MURDER

This is an anthology that features Tessa Dare, Leigh LaValle, Courtney Milan and moi! And guess who wrote the murder? We're going to make this anthology available for a limited time only- about three months- and we're donating all the profits to the Avon Breast Cancer Walk.  You can learn more and read an excerpt.   

My novella within TWAM is called SOLOMON'S WISDOM

"What would Castle do?" 

Bad-boy-turned-pediatrician Charlie "Drex" Drexler returns home to convince sweet Anna Kincaid he's changed - but things aren't exactly as he remembers in Tangleheart, Texas. Anna's got more kick than a line dance, Drex's dark past resurfaces, and his best friend's baby boy disappears. Drex and Anna find themselves on the run, dodging bullets and a villain in hornback alligator boots. Can this makeshift crime-fighting duo solve the mystery and bring baby home safe before "Boots" strikes again? And how will Drex win Anna back when nothing in his medical training taught him how to mend a broken heart?

CAREY will be DRAWING from blog commenters today (make it easy and leave your email).  She's giving away an electronic copy of FIRST DO NO EVIL as well as a $25 gift card.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. GIFT CARD will be mailed to North America addresses only. International drawing for E-Book. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.  

DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook  to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join me next Wednesday when Vannetta Chapman returns for more of the Amish life. And come back tomorrow when Donnell hosts Geri Krotow. And Friday when Teresa Roberson will be Alexa’s guest. ~Angi  

CAREY WANTS TO KNOW

Angi, Thanks so much for having me on Get Lost in a Story! I had a blast! I especially loved the question you asked about remembering the first book I read. It took me back to a very special time with my mother. So here's what I'd like to ask everyone: 

Do you have a special memory of reading, either with someone you love or independently?