In addition to writing spine-tingling suspense , multi-award winning author Jeanne Adams enjoys teaching, attending conferences and book signings. What's more she's always ready for a good laugh. So much so she invites you to join her at the very popular Romance Bandits blog.
But today, she's all ours--all ours--at Get Lost in a Story, and she's here to promote her September 11th release, DEADLY LITTLE LIES.
Billionaire industrialist Dav Gianikopolis believes in working hard and enjoying the fruits of your labors. He believes in legacies, but given the dark and dangerous legacy his own father passed on, he’s not sure he really wants to take the chance on love and marriage. Nearly getting killed – and having his best friend nearly die in his arms – changes his mind, and Dav decides its time to settle down. He decides he’s going to marry Carrie McCray, the woman he’s been drawn to for years, but never been able to reach. When she finally agrees to a date, everything goes horribly wrong and Dav and Carrie are kidnapped, whisked away to an unknown location, with the threat of death hanging over every move, every word. Locked away underground in an impenetrable cell, how can Dav and Carrie survive, much less, escape? When their captors are murdered before their eyes, with no warning, they must work together to escape, or perish. Having finally found a woman he can trust, and maybe even love, Dav isn’t giving up, and neither are his friends and colleagues Gates Bromley and Ana Burton-Bromley. In another fast-paced, brilliantly written suspense, author Jeanne Adams has given readers a roller-coaster ride of thrills, chills, suspense and hot, passionate romance.
Praise for Deadly Little Lies:
“Jeanne Adams delivers taut suspense with a blend of gripping action and rich characters for an edge-of-your-seat read.” – NYT bestseller Dianna Love
“Deadly Little Lies is a jewel of a story. From the beginning to the very end, you’re caught up in a story of passion and intrigue. With sizzle on every page, you won’t be disappointed.”
-NYT Bestselling Suspense Author, Sharon Sala, author of Blood Stains
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Here's what the critics said last year. . .
Deadly Little Secrets a RED HOT READ - Cosmopolitan Magazine!!
Deadly Little Secrets - nominated for BEST SUSPENSE of 2010!! - RT Magazine
IT'S MY PLEASURE TO WELCOME JEANNE ADAMS!
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DONNELL: If you could live anywhere on earth where would it be?
JEANNE: Hmmmm, that is one of those “it depends” questions. As far as the weather is concerned, I hate being hot, so I’d probably choose to spend my summers in Maine or British Columbia or Alaska. My winters would be somewhere cold, but not impassibly snowy, like my home state of North Carolina. Ha! I’d love to live in Scotland for a while too. But home is where the heart is, so I’ll actually be wherever my DH and my boyz are.
DONNELL: What’s the favorite room of your house?
JEANNE: The kitchen. We remodeled it several years ago and it’s warm and cozy and functions so well for the simplest meals to the biggest parties. I love that room!
DONNELL: If you could ask any of your characters to dinner, who would it be?
JEANNE: Oooh, great question! Hmmmm. Probably the four characters from Deadly Little Secrets (Sept. 2010) and Deadly Little Lies (Sept. 2011) – Ana, Gates, Davros and Carrie. Each of them have a fascinating past, a riveting present and a hopeful future and the conversation around the table would be unforgettable.
DONNELL: Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?
JEANNE: I do read reviews sometimes but, as I used to do with contest entries, I read them for common threads rather than specific pet peeves. If you read a LOT of reviews of a book (whether that’s a Great Book or the newest debut author), sometimes you can get a sense of what that author does well or what might have made the book better. For instance, if there are 10 reviews and every one says the pacing was terrific, or it kept them riveted, you know you’ve gotten that bit right. If most of the reviewers say they didn’t see the ending coming and they loved it, you know you sprang the surprise juuuuuust right.
That’s the kind of thing I like to read reviews for.
That said, I don’t let them influence my writing. I can’t, because everyone has likes and dislikes and sometimes people delight in being mean. Focusing on someone’s jealous or mean rant – and letting myself question my skill based on an anonymous review - doesn’t help me write a better book, and it can be very DIS-motivating. Writing’s hard enough, so I work diligently to keep it positive.
As I said, everyone’s taste is different. One of my best friends can’t believe I didn’t care for a certain NYT Bestseller. “How can you NOT LOVE that book?!?!” she constantly asks. I just don’t, although obviously millions DO. Both of us are right in our opinions. Of course, I don’t feel the need to write a review of it, either. Ha! Some people feel they MUST write one if they don’t like it. I’d rather read what people DID like about a book – anyone’s book, not just mine.
DONNELL: What’s in your refrigerator right now?
JEANNE: Snork! Funny question. Eggs – in the carton, hard-boiled and egg salad. Left-over chicken and mashed potatoes. Leftover pizza, and spaghetti. Steaks for tomorrow night, yogurt, two or three gallons of milk, some OJ, six or seven kinds of cheese, and a heck of a lot of condiments. We go through milk, cheese, eggs and OJ in this house like we owned a dairy farm and an orange orchard. Grins.
DONNELL: What does it mean to love someone?
JEANNE: Now THERE’s a loaded question. Grins. I believe it means that you accept them for who they are, in this moment, without ever expecting them to be different, and you love them to pieces for just that, right there. Love is respect, and laughter and that powerful connection that makes you agree to hang tough if the going gets tough, and rejoice when you’re in the smoother water. So I guess it means that you do that when you love someone – respect them, laugh with them (and sometimes AT them and at yourself), and you have that feeling of connection that makes you willing to be there in good times and bad. I’m really blessed, because I have this in my life when I never expected to. I’m very rich in that respect. :>
DONNELL: You’re painting a picture, who or what would you paint?
JEANNE: Hmmmm….so many choices…. If it were a thing, it would be trees on a rock-strewn, but green mountainside. I love the play of light and shadow in the green, and the rocks thrusting through the ground cover and the blue sky… yeah. Gorgeous. If it were a person or persons, it would probably be my children. If it were an animal, it would probably be my favorite Dalmatian. I’d have to do that one from memory because she’s crossed the Rainbow Bridge, but I could do it, right this minute. :>
DONNELL: What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?
JEANNE: Oh, goodness, so many! Meeting Nora Roberts, signing at her bookstore in Boonsboro, Maryland . (And let me insert a fan-girl-squeeee here because I get to do that again on Sept. 17th with Deadly Little Lies!!). Meeting Charlaine Harris and Sharon Sala. Meeting Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love; taking classes from amazing authors like Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Donna MacMeans, and so many others. Sitting at the RWA Literacy Signing and having people actually buy my books and come to see me and say they LIKED my books. Ha! Blogging with astounding authors like Laura Ann Gilman, Hank Phillipi Ryan, and so many more.
And I have to say that one dream I always had was being part of a group of writers who worked together, had fun together, talked writing, books, etc. – endless fun in my opinion. I got to realize that dream in 2007 when I became part of the blog group, The Romance Bandits. That’s one fine group of fabulous writers and that’s really a realized dream, to be a part of that group.
DONNELL: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
JEANNE: Another fun question! I seem to always pick one word to overuse in each book/manuscript, and it’s different for every story. In Dark and Dangerous, everyone stepped. They stepped up, stepped back, went up the steps, stepped aside, stepped over, around…you name it, there was stepping involved. Grins.
In Dark and Deadly, the word was against – people were against the heroine doing her work. Things leaned against the wall, the doors, or the car. The hero was constantly leaning against tables, or doorjambs.
In Deadly Little Secrets it was other. Every other kind of thing was other – in other words, the other woman, the other day…if a phrase COULD have “other” in it, I put it in.
In Deadly Little Lies it was drip. The water dripped. The blood dripped, the walls dripped with peeling wallpaper. Drip, drip, drip. Ugh.
Thankfully, I know this quirk now and catch on pretty quickly as to what word’s going to be my “beast” for a given book. Then at the end, I do a Find and replace 9/10ths of whatever word it is. Grins.
Oh, another quirk I have is that the more people I kill off in the book, the more gleeful I am about how the day’s writing went. (This kinda freaks my husband out….don’t know why….)
DONNELL: What was one of the most surprising things you learned while writing/researching a book?
JEANNE: That you cannot blow up a car by shooting the gas tank, a la Hollywood. You have to hit the battery, which is in a different place in virtually every car made. To blow up the car, you have to know where the battery is on that make and model and shoot THAT. Hit it? BLAMMO! Miss? Ping….chink…nuthin.
DONNELL: If you’re not writing, where will we find you?
JEANNE: Walking the dogs, curled up reading either by myself or with my youngest boy, or watching my eldest play baseball (at which he excels) or yakkin’ on the Romance Bandit blog.
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JEANNE ADAMS: Okay, readers, turn-about is fair play. I LOVE the questions posed here, so now I have one for you! In Deadly Little Lies, the hero, Davros, and his lady, Carrie, are kidnapped and dumped in a cell in Central America. While the situation is terribly dangerous, they do make the most of it….
If you could pick anyone – real or imaginary – with whom to be stranded, who would it be? (Now, pick someone OTHER than your spouse or boyfriend, ladies (or gents), because that’s more fun!)
If you had to be stranded with that hottie, hero or historic figure, WHERE would you choose to be stranded?
READY TO HAVE SOME FUN? Answer Jeanne's question and be entered for a chance to win Deadly Little Lies.
Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless otherwise indicated by guest author. If an electronic Copy is available, the author may utilize that option. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. It is the responsibility of the winning commenter to contact GLIAS with their email address or those participating may leave their email addresses in their public post.
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