9/30/2014

Rachael Thomas Writes Glamorous Stories For Harlequin Presents

I'm thrilled to welcome Rachael to the Get Lost In A Story blog for the very first time with her new release, A Deal Before the Altar. 

Back Cover Blurb:

"I have a deal to put to you, Mr. Ramirez." 
Georgina Henshaw will do anything to ensure her younger sister's happiness—even marry the darkly enigmatic Santos Ramirez! She has just one condition—she'll wear his ring, but she'll never share his bed! 


Santos has earned his ruthless reputation, but even he isn't sure whether to be shocked or awed by Ms. Henshaw's proposal. He can't deny marriage would solve his current problem, but to truly secure his family business, the delectable Georgina must provide him with an heir….!

READ A LITTLE, BUY THE BOOK

Jan Schliesman: How often to you get lost in a story?
Rachael Thomas: As often as I can. I read every evening in bed, but if the book really hooks me and I can’t put it down, it goes with me throughout the day - in case I can snatch a bit more reading time.

Jan: How long have you been writing?  Did you enter any contest along the way?
So You Think You Can WriteRachael: I have seriously been writing for the last seven years, but have always scribbled stories down. When I was eight, a short story I’d written was held up to the class as a good example and that’s when I thought ‘I want to be a writer’.

Over the last seven years I’ve entered lots of competitions, some giving positive feedback, others nothing, but it was entering So You Think You Can Write last year that changed everything. 

Jan: Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
Rachael: Yes I do. Originally it was a ‘sign’ to my family that I was writing, but now it helps me to switch from the day job on the farm and back into my story.

Jan: What was the best advice you were ever given by another editor or author?
Rachael: There are two pieces of advice I’ve been given by writing friends. The first was to write the story in my heart, the one I just had to write. The second was to enjoy it.

Jan: Describe an absolutely perfect day?
Rachael: Taking time out with writing friends is always a great day, but if an exotic location could be thrown in, that would be just perfect.

Jan: Are your husband and kids good about helping you out and/or doing extra chores when they know you are on a deadline?
Rachael: Even before I became published my family has been really supportive of my need to write. At that point I didn’t have an editor setting a deadline, but as a member of The Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme, I did have an annual deadline. Now my husband is helping me to step back from some of my jobs on the farm, enabling me to meet my deadlines.

Jan:  What is the best thing about living in Europe?
Rachael: I love that there are so many countries to explore, so many cultures to learn about and fascinating people to meet. My recent travels have only been in Europe, but I’m itching to go further.

JAN’S GOTTA ASK: My hubby works for Haagen Dazs so what is your favorite flavor of ice cream?


RACHAEL’S GOTTA ANSWER: I love white chocolate, so raspberry and white chocolate is a favorite, but Baileys comes a close second.


Rachael's next book, Claimed by the Sheikh, is a February 2015 release.


Rachael has always loved reading romance and has been writing since she was a child. She lives and works on a farm in Wales. Although it's a far cry from the glamour of her stories, Rachael says it makes slipping into the world of her characters all the more appealing. When she's not writing or working on the farm, she loves nothing more than to visit grand historic houses or ancient castles.




Contact    Website    Facebook    Twitter   @RachaeldThomas   
Goodreads    Pintrest   Blog   

Thanks so much, Rachael, for sharing your time with all of us on the Get Lost In A Story blog!  
Tomorrow on GLIAS: Kimberly Kincaid
Get Lost on GoodreadsFacebook
or @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

Rachael will be giving away a hard cover copy of her new release A Deal Before the Altar (which she will ship Internationally).  Click on the comment button and answer the following question. Be sure to include your email address.

 What unusual location would you like to see a book set in?

9/28/2014

105 AUTHORS and their DESSERTS

Get Lost in a Story Readers, today is a special day at GLIAS, you’re exposed to 105 authors true confessions. All right, not explicit confessions, more that they love sweets and they’re always willing to share their advice.  Please welcome USA Today Bestselling Author Lois Winston as she spearheads this project and touts BAKE, LOVE, WRITE’S release day!

BAKE, LOVE, WRITE
105 AUTHORS SHARE DESSERT RECIPES
AND ADVICE ON LOVE AND WRITING
edited by Lois Winston

What do most authors have in common, no matter what genre they write? They love desserts. Sweets sustain them through pending deadlines and take the sting out of crushing rejection letters and nasty reviews. They also often celebrate their successes—selling a book, winning a writing award, making a bestseller list, or receiving a fabulous review—with decadent indulgences. And when authors chat with each other, they often talk about their writing and their lives. Recipes. Writing. Relationships. In this cookbook 105 authors not only share their favorite recipes for fabulous cakes, pies, cookies, candy, and more, they also share the best advice they’ve ever received on writing and relationships.

Amazon   Digital  Paperback    Kobo   Nook   iTunes

A LITTLE ABOUT THE COLLECTION
DONNELL:  Hi, Lois, happy release day on Bake, Love, Write! This was your brainchild, right? A cookbook filled with author recipes and advice about love and writing? I’m curious: do the Julia Childs of the world have anything to worry about in this cookbook?  These are original recipes, correct?  Tell us what criteria you asked for from your collaborators.
LOIS: Hi Donnell! Thanks so much for inviting me to spend the day with you today. Some of the recipes in the book are original; others are author favorites. According to the U.S. copyright office, recipes can’t be copyrighted. Only the way the recipe is written is copyrightable. I asked authors to provide original dessert recipes if they had them. If not, they were welcome to include recipes that had been handed down from relatives, or favorite recipes they’d tweaked in some way.
As for the Julia Childs of the world, they can rest easy. Many of the recipes in the book are quick and easy because although all the participating authors love eating desserts, they’d rather be writing than spending time in the kitchen.

DONNELL: How is the book put together, first come, first serve? In any particular order?
LOIS: I spent quite a bit of time mulling over how to arrange the cookbook. I didn’t want people picking it up and immediately turning to their favorite author or only searching out the brownie recipes. Because the goal of the book is to introduce readers to authors they don’t know, I want people to read the book in much the same manner they’d read a novel—from cover to cover—and along the way discover tempting desserts, tempting novels, and a bit of advice on love and writing.
I thought about alphabetical order, but those of us at the end of the alphabet are always stuck at the back of the classroom or the back of the book. So I went with a first come, first served solution. Authors are presented in the order they signed on to the project.

DONNELL:  Have you tried any of the recipes yet?
LOIS: Only my own contribution, thanks to my ongoing personal battle of the bulge. However, there are a few that have been calling to me, and I’ll probably break down eventually.

DONNELL:  Did any author’s advice resonate so much that you had to do a pull-quote?  Would you be willing to share?
LOIS: What impressed me the most was the tenacity of some of the authors who contributed to this project. Many of them worked at their craft for years, against steep odds, refusing to give up. No matter how many rejection letters they received, they kept learning, kept writing, kept improving. Eventually, all that work paid off, and their dreams came true. Their journeys are quite inspirational for anyone with the same dream.

DONNELL:  If Bake, Love, Write does well, should we expect a sequel, say, Appetizers, Entrees? What comes next?
LOIS: I’ve learned never to say never because you never know what tomorrow may bring, but right now there are no plans for a sequel.

DONNELL: Off topic from recipes, what’s Lois Winston been up to?
LOIS: I’ve been busy. Over the last several months I released Definitely Dead, the first book in my new Empty Nest Mystery series, and The Magic Paintbrush, a children’s chapter book. And I’m currently working on the fifth full-length mystery in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series.

Website   Blog   Twitter  @AnaSleuth    Contact  

DEFINITELY DEAD
An homage to Dashell Hammet’s Thin Man movies
with a modern day spin on Nick and Nora Charles

When her career is outsourced to Asia, fledgling romance author and empty-nester Gracie Elliott wants a job that will allow her time to write. So she opens Relatively Speaking, becoming a wing woman to the senior set. Since her clients need several hours each morning to find their teeth, lube their creaky joints, and deal with lower GI necessities, and they always turn in after the early bird specials, she has plenty of time to pen her future bestsellers.

Gracie deliberately avoids mentioning her new business venture to husband Blake until after she signs her first client. Blake joins the company as a not-so-silent partner, tagging along to make sure Gracie doesn’t cause a septuagenarian uprising. When Client #13 is found murdered in the parking lot behind the Moose Lodge, Gracie knows, no matter how much Blake protests otherwise, she can’t wait around for the police to find the killer if she wants to save her livelihood.

Amazon   Digital   Paperback

THE MAGIC PAINTBRUSH
When nine-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister Zoe are snowed in for days with nothing to do, their complaints land them in every guy’s worst nightmare—the kingdom of Vermilion, a land where everything is totally pink! At first Jack is mistaken for a spy from the neighboring kingdom of Cobalt, but Zoe convinces Queen Fuchsia that they’re from New Jersey and arrived by magic.

Queen Fuchsia needs a king, but all the available princes in Vermilion are either too short, too fat, too old, or too stupid. Jack and Zoe suggest she looks for a king in Cobalt, but Vermilion and Cobalt have been at war since long before anyone can remember. Jack and Zoe decide Vermilion and Cobalt need a Kitchen Table Mediation to settle their differences. So they set out on an adventure to bring peace to the warring kingdoms—and maybe along the way they just might find a king for the queen.

Amazon   Digital    Paperback

Authors include: Brenda Novak, Lois Winston, Debra Holland, Dale Mayer, Shelley Noble, Caridad Pineiro, Diana Orgain, Lisa Verge Higgins, Lynn Cahoon, Jasmine Haynes, Jan Carol, Meg Bellamy, Bobbi Chukran, Melissa Keir, Amy Gamet, Kristy Tate, Terry Shames, Barbara Phinney, Kitsy Clare, Raine English, Cathryn Cade, Haley Whitehall, Shilpa Mudiganti, Melinda Curtis, Jessa Slade, Jill Blake, Daryl Devore, Molly MacRae, Elizabeth Rose, Helena Fairfax, Lourdes Venard, Jessica Aspen, Maegan Beaumont, Kay Kendall, Elizabeth John, Victoria Adams, Cyndi Pauwels, Alice Loweecey, June Shaw, Donnell Ann Bell, T. Michelle Nelson, Nina Milton, Pam DeVoe, Skye Taylor, Conda V. Douglas, Pepper Phillips, Judy Alter, Cadence Denton, Lesley Diehl, Erin Farwell, Regan Walker, Kaye Spencer, Barbara Monajem, Kathleen Kaska, Catherine Kean, Rose Anderson, Suzie Tullett, Deborah Hughes, Cynthia Luhrs, Judy Baker, Alicia Dean, Leslie Langtry, Janis Susan May, Mitzi Flyte, Ruby Merritt, Renee D. Field, Kathryn Quick, Susan Cory, Judy Penz Sheluk, Kay Manis, Kathryn Jane, Debra Goldstein, E. Ayers, Chantilly White, Sloan McBride, Triss Stein, Ana Morgan, Adele Downs, L.C. Giroux, Pamela Aares, Nancy Warren, Barbara Lohr, J.J. Cook, Lynn Reynolds, Cori Arnold, B.V. Lawson, Lynn Franklin, M.L. Guida, Irene Peterson, Sue Viders, Liese Sherwood-Fabre, Susan Santangelo, Sheila Seabrook, Elaine Charton, Sharleen Scott, Kathy Bennett, Jody Payne, Reggi Allder, Ashlyn Chase, Beverley Bateman, Susan Lohrer, Donis Casey, Barbara Leavy, Stacy Juba, Karen Rose Smith.

LOIS WILL GIVE AWAY a digital copy of BAKE, LOVE, WRITE to one commenter.
Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. 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. 

UP NEXT ON GLIAS:  Rachel Thomas
Get Lost on Goodreads, Facebook
or @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

LOIS WANTS TO KNOW:  Do you have a favorite dessert or recipe?

9/27/2014

The LUCKY DEBORAH COONTS

Get Lost in a Story Readers, welcome back Bestselling Author Deborah Coonts as we learn about LUCKY CATCH!  Book Five in the Lucky O'Toole Vegas Adventure Series by National Bestselling Author DEBORAH COONTS!

TROUBLE ALWAYS COMES IN THREES.

At least that’s what Lucky O’Toole, the VP of Customer Relations for Las Vegas’ primo Strip casino/hotel, the Babylon, has heard for years from her mother. So, tonight, when Teddie, her former lover shows up at her office unannounced and very unexpected, her father offers Teddie a job at the Babylon, she is called to deal with a pig in residence at one of the hotels most exclusive and opulent suites, and Lucky’s current lover, Jean-Charles Bouclet stops answering his phone leaving Lucky to handle his five-year-old son, Lucky figures she has tonight’s compliment of chaos covered.

AS USUAL, SHE IS A TAD OPTIMISTIC.

With a cadre of celebrity chefs with the maturity of teenagers in Vegas for a televised cook-off, a prized Alba truffle in the Babylon’s care, and her mother’s pregnancy racing toward the inevitable, what could go wrong?

When the truffle is stolen from the walk-in in Jean-Charles’ gourmet burger joint at the Babylon and a young chef apparently killed with a smoking gun is found in Jean-Charles’ food truck on the back lot, trouble takes a sinister turn.

AND JEAN-CHARLES STILL ISN’T ANSWERING HIS PHONE. 
Another body is discovered. This one stuffed in an oven at Jean-Charles’ eponymous restaurant and set to broil.

Desperate to put a lid on the body count and more than frantic over her AWOL lover, Lucky uses her Vegas contacts to search in places and in ways the police wouldn’t or couldn’t. Teddie insists on riding shotgun. Lucky hasn’t the time nor the resolve to say no. She’s never been able to resist Teddie…not really. With danger dogging their heels, Lucky finds herself falling once again under his spell as they traverse Vegas, being drawn deeper and deeper into the highly competitive world of high-end eateries and the battle for the very rare, most highly prized gourmet foodstuffs.

Would somebody really kill for a truffle?

In a heartbeat.

And when Lucky’s path crosses the killer’s…will her goose be cooked?

OTHER LUCKY ADVENTURES  (complete backlist)
Novels:Wanna Get Lucky
Lucky Stiff
So Damn Lucky
Lucky Bastard
Lucky Now and Then

Novellas:
Lucky In Love
Lucky Bang
Lucky Now and Then

THE AMAZING Q&A
DONNELL:  Welcome back, Deborah. Good grief, I had to go lie down after I read this blurb. Poor Lucky, talk about exhausting. This is what, book six in the series. How much fun is it to write, or are you like Lucky, at her wits’ end?
DEBORAH: LUCKY CATCH is the fifth full-length novel in the series—there are a few novellas just for fun also.  Lucky does stay busy. It’s Vegas after all, a 24/7 town and there is always a lot going on.  I do have readers that worry that Lucky isn’t eating or sleeping enough and is drinking too much.  They do have a point.

Is Lucky fun to write?  Very much so! She’s sort of like my alter ego—she can say things I would never get away with, she can drive a Ferrari whenever she wants, she can always get the best table/ticket in town, she has fascinating men circling her like sharks eyeing a wounded seal.  As my aunt tells me, Lucky is the woman I always wanted to be.  I can’t quibble with that.

But perhaps the most fun to write are all the quirky characters and the relationships.  I’m fascinated with people and the choices we make.  And I like to make people laugh….so there is that.

I mean, it’s Vegas in all its bright-light silliness.  What’s not to like?

DONNELL:  I love stories about unrequited love. Throw a mystery into it, and I’m sold. Should I be worried about Jean-Charles. Worried about Teddie? Worried about Lucky? Good grief, I’m already worried and I haven’t read it yet!
DEBORAH:  Unrequited love, you romantic, you.  As I said, I love romance, relationships, whatever you want to call them—maybe because I’m so rotten at them.  I just don’t do stories without a strong central relationship.  What’s life without romance?
Should you be worried?  Well, somebody’s got to be the odd man out, right?  People ask me all the time who Lucky is going to pick and, to be honest, I don’t know—she hasn’t told me yet.  I know how things are going to go in the next book… after that?  Whew!  It’s a puzzlement.

DONNELL:  Tell us what is so great about Lucky, and then, as the author, you’re allowed to do this, tell us her worst character flaw.  What is the nicest thing a reader has ever said to you about Lucky? 
DEBORAH:  Lucky is non-judgmental—she takes everyone as she finds them and does her best with that.  And she has a pretty good idea of who she is, and she can make fun of herself, laugh at her foibles.  I like that.

Her worst character flaw?  Hmmm, she is very slow to trust.  She had a difficult upbringing, so it makes perfect sense. And she worries a bit too much about pleasing others and not enough about being true to her own dreams.   And she can be a bit impetuous…not sure that’s a flaw.  I guess it depends on the situation.

People tell me Lucky makes them laugh out loud.  I LOVE that!

DONNELL:  Las Vegas.  Perfect setting for mystery and corruption. Do you plan to branch out or will all of the stories surrounding Lucky take place in Vegas. I’m thinking Monte Carlo, after all ;)
DEBORAH:  The next book will have a Macau connection.  I don’t know at this point whether Lucky will go there or not, but I think she probably might.  I have been there but it’s been awhile.  Thinking perhaps I ought to go back….

DONNELL:  What is Deborah Coonts doing now that she’s completed Lucky Catch? 
DEBORAH: Ah, I am putting the finishing touches on the first book in a new series titled, CRUSHED.  It takes place in Napa and is about wine, the choices we make, and what they do to us.  It’s something different for me—more women’s fiction than anything else, although there is a strong romance in each of the five planned books in the series.  No dead bodies.  And it’s told in the third person, which is fun.  Two points of view, the female and the male protagonists’—so we get to crawl around in each of their heads.  I like that part, too.

After CRUSHED, it will be finishing a Lucky novella and then launching into the sixth Lucky book.  This one is set in the entertainment industry in Vegas—and is a Christmas storyJ And then the next in the Napa series… busy, busy.

DONNELL:   Any appearances you want us to know about?
DEBORAH: I will be signing at Murder By the Book in Houston on October 4th, but other than that, I am chained to my computer.  Of course, I am taking my computer on vacation….  As I’ve often told the man in my life:  I can work on a plane to Paris.  He hasn’t gotten the hint….

LINKS
Website    Facebook   Contact    

DEBORAH WANTS TO KNOW:  It seems like dark, tortured stories have been all the rage for the last four years or so.  What about humor?  Do you like the light-hearted stuff?  Is it going to make a comeback…before I die?

DEBORAH IS GIVING AWAY two copies of any of her backlist, any format, winner's choice.


Drawing will be held Sunday night.

9/26/2014

Get Lost welcomes back Eve Gaddy

Get Lost in a Story readers, I'm thrilled to welcome Eve Gaddy back to Get Lost in a Story.  Here she is with a brand new release. I've also been fortunate to read it.  And, trust me, Ms. Gaddy tugs at your heart strings in CRY LOVE!

About CRY LOVE:  Forbidden and fatal.

They loved each other in two past lives and died for that love each time. Now they meet again in Fort Worth, Texas. This time, it's safe. This time, they'll be happy . . . unless the evil that stalked them isn't finished. Unless, this time, their fate has little to do with the contrast in their skin colors.

Claire Westbrook. She's a trauma surgeon with a failing marriage.
Jonas Clark. He's a top notch neurosurgeon, single with no plans to change.

At first neither is willing to believe the dreams and portents that filter into their memories as they fall in love. Reincarnation? A joke. But soon they can't deny their vivid connections to two tragic times-their lives together in pre-Civil War Texas and again in the 60s.

What happened to them in 1968? Are their past lives the key to their future? Can they catch the murderer?

Bell Bridge Books
August 2014

DONNELL:  Eve, welcome back!  Whoa. I LOVE reincarnation stories. I’ve written one myself, but that’s a different story. I also started reading CRY LOVE, and readers, do not walk, run to your bookstore or computer and download this excellent novel.  Oh, I’m supposed to ask a question.  So here’s number one.  Do you believe in reincarnation, and two, what do you think makes them so appealing.

EVE: Thanks, Donnell! I'm so happy to be here again.Do I believe in reincarnation? I don't NOT believe in it. My attitude toward it is similar to Claire's and Jonas's. I'm a bit of a skeptic. But if I were to experience what happens to Claire and Jonas? You bet I'd believe in it.

DONNELL:  You just happen to make the doctors. I find this interesting. As a matter of fact, you have doctor characters in your books. Why is that?

EVE: I write a lot of characters who are doctors. With Jonas and Claire, I wanted two people who were very unlikely to believe in reincarnation. All I had to do was channel my husband, who is a physician. I know what his attitude would be. I've been married to a doctor for many years. I have a lot of friends and acquaintances who are doctors, or in the medical field. I know what they're like at home, when they're on call, when they're faced with a loved one having something wrong with them. So it seemed a shame to waste that! Plus my husband was a general surgeon before becoming a radiologist, so there are lots of things I can pick his brains about.  J

DONNELL:  This book has been a long time coming.  It’s one of those, you better write me or I’ll be inside your head talking to you for the rest of your life.  True? False? What started this story, and here’s a question I always want to know. Did the story emerge as complete and as vivid as it was in your head?  (E.G. are the voices gone?)

EVE: No, this book had to be wrenched out of me. I first thought about it many years ago with just the beginning of an idea. Over the years it developed, but it wasn't until I thought I had retired that I decided to write it. Yes, my muse is like that. Very contrary. While I had the idea many years earlier, it didn't start becoming real until I saw the movie Hurricane, about Ruben Hurricane Carter and his wrongful imprisonment. (Plus Denzel in his prime didn't hurt a bit!). This story didn't emerge complete. It came in little bits and pieces and in no particular order. It was the hardest book I've ever written. And no, the voices are no longer talking. About that book, anyway.

DONNELL:  Talk to us about your characters. What are the best character traits, and turn this, their worst.)

EVE:  Well, they're both very sure of themselves. Which can be good and bad.  A doctor, especially any kind of surgeon, needs to be sure of himself/herself. I sure wouldn't want someone wracked by self-doubt or indecision to operate on me! They're also both very "prove it to me." Especially Jonas, who takes much longer to come to terms with what's happening than Claire does. I think a lot of their traits can be both good and bad. Stubborn, sure of themselves, opinionated.   J

DONNELL:  What comes next for Eve Gaddy?  Please tell me it’s Long Shot J

EVE: I have a new novella just released (September 22) from Tule Publishing Group. Sing Me
Back Home is pure romance, set in the town of Marietta, Montana. It's the first book in their Homecoming Series. Next up from Bell Bridge Books is, yes, Long Shot.:) It should to be out in February 2015. Long Shot is a sexy romantic suspense. Nothing woo-woo about it, though.  J

LINKS CONTACT INFORMATION.
eve@evegaddy.net
www.twitter.com/EveGaddy  (@evegaddy)
Sing Me Back Home

EVE, NOW IT’S YOUR TURN.  TIME TO ASK THE READERS A QUESTION.
EVE WANTS TO KNOW:  Readers--What do you think about reincarnation? Are you a believer in the paranormal or are you a skeptic? Do you like to read stories with paranormal elements?

I would love to give away an ebook of Cry Love to a lucky winner.

Thanks for joining us here today, Eve.  Readers, what say you?  Answer Eve's question to be entered to win a digital copy of Cry Love!

9/25/2014

The LUCKY DEBORAH COONTS

Get Lost in a Story Readers, welcome back Bestselling Author Deborah Coonts as we learn about LUCKY CATCH!  Book Five in the Lucky O'Toole Vegas Adventure Series by National Bestselling Author DEBORAH COONTS!

TROUBLE ALWAYS COMES IN THREES.

At least that’s what Lucky O’Toole, the VP of Customer Relations for Las Vegas’ primo Strip casino/hotel, the Babylon, has heard for years from her mother. So, tonight, when Teddie, her former lover shows up at her office unannounced and very unexpected, her father offers Teddie a job at the Babylon, she is called to deal with a pig in residence at one of the hotels most exclusive and opulent suites, and Lucky’s current lover, Jean-Charles Bouclet stops answering his phone leaving Lucky to handle his five-year-old son, Lucky figures she has tonight’s compliment of chaos covered.

AS USUAL, SHE IS A TAD OPTIMISTIC.

With a cadre of celebrity chefs with the maturity of teenagers in Vegas for a televised cook-off, a prized Alba truffle in the Babylon’s care, and her mother’s pregnancy racing toward the inevitable, what could go wrong?

When the truffle is stolen from the walk-in in Jean-Charles’ gourmet burger joint at the Babylon and a young chef apparently killed with a smoking gun is found in Jean-Charles’ food truck on the back lot, trouble takes a sinister turn.

AND JEAN-CHARLES STILL ISN’T ANSWERING HIS PHONE.

Another body is discovered. This one stuffed in an oven at Jean-Charles’ eponymous restaurant and set to broil.

Desperate to put a lid on the body count and more than frantic over her AWOL lover, Lucky uses her Vegas contacts to search in places and in ways the police wouldn’t or couldn’t. Teddie insists on riding shotgun. Lucky hasn’t the time nor the resolve to say no. She’s never been able to resist Teddie…not really. With danger dogging their heels, Lucky finds herself falling once again under his spell as they traverse Vegas, being drawn deeper and deeper into the highly competitive world of high-end eateries and the battle for the very rare, most highly prized gourmet foodstuffs.

Would somebody really kill for a truffle?

In a heartbeat.

And when Lucky’s path crosses the killer’s…will her goose be cooked?

OTHER LUCKY ADVENTURES  (complete backlist)
Novels:
Wanna Get Lucky
Lucky Stiff
So Damn Lucky
Lucky Bastard
Lucky Now and Then

Novellas:
Lucky In Love
Lucky Bang
Lucky Now and Then

THE AMAZING Q&A
DONNELL:  Welcome back, Deborah. Good grief, I had to go lie down after I read this blurb. Poor Lucky, talk about exhausting. This is what, book six in the series. How much fun is it to write, or are you like Lucky, at her wits’ end?
DEBORAH: LUCKY CATCH is the fifth full-length novel in the series—there are a few novellas just for fun also.  Lucky does stay busy. It’s Vegas after all, a 24/7 town and there is always a lot going on.  I do have readers that worry that Lucky isn’t eating or sleeping enough and is drinking too much.  They do have a point.

Is Lucky fun to write?  Very much so! She’s sort of like my alter ego—she can say things I would never get away with, she can drive a Ferrari whenever she wants, she can always get the best table/ticket in town, she has fascinating men circling her like sharks eyeing a wounded seal.  As my aunt tells me, Lucky is the woman I always wanted to be.  I can’t quibble with that.

But perhaps the most fun to write are all the quirky characters and the relationships.  I’m fascinated with people and the choices we make.  And I like to make people laugh….so there is that.

I mean, it’s Vegas in all its bright-light silliness.  What’s not to like?

DONNELL:  I love stories about unrequited love. Throw a mystery into it, and I’m sold. Should I be worried about Jean-Charles. Worried about Teddie? Worried about Lucky? Good grief, I’m already worried and I haven’t read it yet!
DEBORAH:  Unrequited love, you romantic, you.  As I said, I love romance, relationships, whatever you want to call them—maybe because I’m so rotten at them.  I just don’t do stories without a strong central relationship.  What’s life without romance?
Should you be worried?  Well, somebody’s got to be the odd man out, right?  People ask me all the time who Lucky is going to pick and, to be honest, I don’t know—she hasn’t told me yet.  I know how things are going to go in the next book… after that?  Whew!  It’s a puzzlement.

DONNELL:  Tell us what is so great about Lucky, and then, as the author, you’re allowed to do this, tell us her worst character flaw.  What is the nicest thing a reader has ever said to you about Lucky? 
DEBORAH:  Lucky is non-judgmental—she takes everyone as she finds them and does her best with that.  And she has a pretty good idea of who she is, and she can make fun of herself, laugh at her foibles.  I like that.

Her worst character flaw?  Hmmm, she is very slow to trust.  She had a difficult upbringing, so it makes perfect sense. And she worries a bit too much about pleasing others and not enough about being true to her own dreams.   And she can be a bit impetuous…not sure that’s a flaw.  I guess it depends on the situation.

People tell me Lucky makes them laugh out loud.  I LOVE that!

DONNELL:  Las Vegas.  Perfect setting for mystery and corruption. Do you plan to branch out or will all of the stories surrounding Lucky take place in Vegas. I’m thinking Monte Carlo, after all ;)
DEBORAH:  The next book will have a Macau connection.  I don’t know at this point whether Lucky will go there or not, but I think she probably might.  I have been there but it’s been awhile.  Thinking perhaps I ought to go back….

DONNELL:  What is Deborah Coonts doing now that she’s completed Lucky Catch? 
DEBORAH: Ah, I am putting the finishing touches on the first book in a new series titled, CRUSHED.  It takes place in Napa and is about wine, the choices we make, and what they do to us.  It’s something different for me—more women’s fiction than anything else, although there is a strong romance in each of the five planned books in the series.  No dead bodies.  And it’s told in the third person, which is fun.  Two points of view, the female and the male protagonists’—so we get to crawl around in each of their heads.  I like that part, too.

After CRUSHED, it will be finishing a Lucky novella and then launching into the sixth Lucky book.  This one is set in the entertainment industry in Vegas—and is a Christmas storyJ And then the next in the Napa series… busy, busy.

DONNELL:   Any appearances you want us to know about?
DEBORAH: I will be signing at Murder By the Book in Houston on October 4th, but other than that, I am chained to my computer.  Of course, I am taking my computer on vacation….  As I’ve often told the man in my life:  I can work on a plane to Paris.  He hasn’t gotten the hint….

LINKS
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DEBORAH WANTS TO KNOW:  It seems like dark, tortured stories have been all the rage for the last four years or so.  What about humor?  Do you like the light-hearted stuff?  Is it going to make a comeback…before I die?

DEBORAH IS GIVING AWAY two copies of any of her backlist, any format, winner's choice.

Please note: Deborah's interview will repost on Saturday, Sept 27th. Drawing will be held Sunday from both posts' comments.


9/24/2014

The Fantastic Sharon Sala

GOING GONE
Forces of Nature, book 3
Mira

The final storm of the season could be their last.

After barely escaping death when her plane crashed deep in the Rocky Mountains during a snowstorm, Laura Doyle is left with a lingering fear for her life. Her lover, FBI agent Cameron Winger, reassures her that he found her then and always will. But Laura is right to be afraid, because when their engagement is announced it signals to a madman that it's time for his killing spree to begin again.

Twice thwarted by Cameron and his partners, the Stormchaser pairs random acts of God with deliberate acts of evil. His final act of vengeance will finish his twisted vendetta by taking from Cameron the thing he loves most: Laura.

As law enforcement struggles to connect the gruesome murders he's committed to mask his return, the Stormchaser draws closer to his true target. But Cameron and Laura don't realize they're in the eye of the storm—and this time, being unprepared for the onslaught could spell disaster.

READ a little, BUY the book (available for pre-order)


SHARON SALA is a long time member of Romance Writers of America writing as Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall. She writes romantic suspense, Young Adult, and Women's Fiction. First published in 1991, she's a seven-time RITA finalist, winner of the Janet Dailey Award, four-time winner of the Career Achievement award from RT Magazine, five time winner of the National Reader's Choice Award and five time winner of the Colorado Romance Writers Award of Excellence as well as the Bookseller Best Award. Her books are New York Times, USA Today, Publisher's Weekly mass market best-sellers. Writing changed her life, her world, and her fate.

THE Q&A
ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?
SHARON: Since I began writing, reading has lost some of it’s glory for me. It’s rare when I come across a book that draws me in like that, but when it does, it’s such a gift. I don’t get to read much anymore because of my writing schedule and a busy life, but I’d guess it’s no more than four or five times I year that I read something really really memorable.

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading? 
SHARON:  Oh, that’s easy. My first grade reader, about Dick and Jane. You know.. Dick can jump. Jane can jump. Jump Dick. Jump Jane. Jump, jump, jump.  I remember at the time thinking they had a pretty boring life  LOL

ANGI: What’s your favorite “love” word?
SHARON: The word sweetheart, but I rarely use it in my writing because that’s why my Bobby used to call me when he was alive and I guess I consider it MY word and don’t give it to others. 

ANGI: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?
SHARON: That’s easy. My daughter, Kathy. When she was 19 years old, she saved herself and her girlfriend from a random act of violence. A man broke into the house where she’d gone to spend the night with her friend and tried to murder them as they slept. She woke up just in time to grab his arm and kept him from stabbing them to death. She actually fought with him long enough to wrest the knife from his hand and turned it on him, stabbing him in the shoulder multiple times before he escaped. He actually killed someone else a few years later and is in prison for life. It changed who she was so fast. She went from a funny, self-centered teenager to a woman overnight and still lives with the emotional scars to this day. I think she’s amazing.

ANGI: What’s your favorite fairy tale?
SHARON: I don’t think I’ve ever had a favorite fairy tale, but as a child I had a favorite fictional character; Tarzan the Ape Man, from the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories.

ANGI: What’s your favorite cartoon character?
SHARON: Oh, that’s easy. The Roadrunner from the Coyote and the Roadrunner cartoons.  Pepe LePew would be second.  LOL

ANGI: What sound or noise do you love?
SHARON:The music from Native American flutes.

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?
SHARON:Action Adventure… always.

ANGI: What do you like about the hero of your book?
SHARON: The hero in GOING GONE is a wonderful man on many levels, but I think his grit in not quitting on people he loves, and his honor make him stand out for me.

ANGI: Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?
SHARON: Gosh, not really because I don’t listen to anything when I read. I write tense, romantic suspense so if someone likes music with their stories, they need to pick their own.

ANGI: Where do you read and how often?
SHARON: I read on planes, waiting to pick my grandson up from school, in doctor’s offices, wherever I’m forced to wait. I read some at home but not a lot. No time.

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?
SHARON: A story called Eye of the Beholder, and it was so bad I put it under the bed, then burned it up one winter because I was afraid I’d die and someone would find it.  LOL

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
SHARON:AVATAR!!!!!  I want to be 9 feet tall and blue and live on Pandora.

ANGI: Who’s your favorite villain?
SHARON:Not a fan of villains much, but I wrote on in a book called THE CHOSEN, that had about as much empathy as I could give to a man who caused such harm. I guess him.

ANGI: What is your biggest vice?
SHARON:Ice cream and chocolate, in that order.

ANGI: How is it working with hot guys and sexy women all day?
SHARON: Quiet.  LOL   If they were real, they would all get on my nerves.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: Hi Sharon. I know you live in Oklahoma where tornados wrack havoc. I can imagine where you got the idea for the men in your FORCES OF NATURE  series?

SHARON'S GOTTA ANSWER: Oh yes, ma’am, you are so right. That’s exactly where the story first rose. I live in a part of Oklahoma called Tornado Alley by the National Weather Bureau, so I know of what I write. I have lived through two tornadoes in my lifetime and witnessed the destruction of many more. They are a force to be respected.


FIND SHARON:
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UP NEXT for SHARON: 
Native American Paranormal Romance
The first is WINDWALKER, the second is THE DOVE. The last book, THE GATHERING, will be out some time next year. 

They are a dream come true for me because both hero and heroine are Native American, as are the models on the covers. Rick Mora is and actor/model from Hollywood who is Yaqui/Apache, and Logan Sala is one of my granddaughters, who’s Muscogee/Creek and a freshman in college. 

Watching that cover shoot and seeing those covers is a realization of a lifelong dream to have real Native American models on the covers of my Native American books. 

PREVIOUS RELEASES by SHARON: 
For a complete list of Sharon's books visit her website.


GOING ONCE
Forces of Nature, book 1
Read a little, Buy the book


GOING TWICE
Forces of Nature, book 2
Read a little, Buy the book


SHARON is giving away an autographed copy of GOING GONE to North American Readers.
Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. 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.

ANGI returns next Wednesday with
KIMBERLY KINCAID
~Angi Morgan
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or @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

SHARON WANTS TO KNOW: Who is your favorite Native American actor or author?