Double Your Pleasure with the Author Duo of "Written in the Stars"

CONGRATULATIONS TO MAY! 

THE WINNER OF A DIGITAL COPY OF "WRITTEN IN THE STARS"

I'm so pleased to bring you the new-to-me team of Patricia Rosemoor and Sherill Bodine. Their new release from Entangled titled Written in the Stars has one of the most captivating premises I've ever read, and I can't wait to read the whole book. 

Help me welcome Patricia and Sherrill to Get Lost in a Story!

Here's a little bit about the book:

In 1601, Lady Elizabeth York's star-shaped birthmark proclaims her a child of magic.　When she arrives at Dunham Castle to marry Carlyle, heir to the Duke of Lennox, she finds enchantment in the eyes and touch of Will Grey, the Duke's bastard son. Bewitched by Elizabeth, Will defies all for their love, and his jilted half-brother places a curse on them both.

Searching for a treasure ship sunk long ago, present-day marine archeologist Cordelia Ward is pursued romantically by both salvager Innis Foley and treasure hunter Morgan Murphy. She is haunted by a murderous nightmare where one man is the killer and the other the victim. But which man is her enemy--which one her soul mate? Can a journal that belonged to her ancestress, Lady Elizabeth York show her the answers...in time to save her true love?

Chased by evil, two women discover their own magic to fight a villain's curse on the Posey rings that draw them to the men they are destined to love.　

And a little bit of insight from Patricia & Sherrill:

LIZ: You two collaborated on this project. To someone like me, who has enough trouble just getting my own work done and making sense of it, this seems Herculean. Could you tell us the pros and cons of co-writing a book? Have you done this before? If not, would you do it again?

Patricia Rosemoor

PATRICIA: I’ve had other writing partners before. Linda Sweeney and I wrote 23 romances (romcom, romantic suspense, paranormal romance) together, mostly as Lynn Patrick.  We happen to be writing as LP again for Harlequin Heartwarming. Then Rebecca York, Ann Voss Peterson and I did 5 romantic suspense projects together for Harlequin Intrigue.  And Marc Paoletti and I wrote two urban fantasy romantic thrillers for Del Rey. The pros are the inspiration I get working with other creative minds. When I get stuck on a story point, I just have to call my partner, and voila, fixed in no time. The con is adapting to another author’s rhythm and sense of story. We don’t all work the same or have the same vision. But the results are worth compromise. Of course I would do it again.

 LIZ: I am in absolute awe, Patricia! How often do you get lost in a story?

PATRICIA: It depends on the story, but the ones that really speak to me like my half of WRITTEN IN THE STARS really suck me in. The danger and the heart in the story is, IMHO, extreme. Extreme gets me every time.     

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

PATRICIA: LITTLE WOMEN is the first one I remember because it had such an emotional impact on me. But my mother introduced me to the library before I even started school. I could read a little by the time I got to Kindergarten, and I had read every fiction book in the juvenile section of the regional  library by second grade, so they gave me a Senior card, which was usually reserved for seventh graders. Which got me into trouble with Sister Ursula, who caught me reading DOUBLE DATE in class after I finished school work before everyone else. Sister Ursula took the book to check it over, of course, then gave it back to me the next day with the warning that I should be reading geography and history instead of romance.

LIZ: What are the next five books on your ‘to be read’ pile?

PATRICIA:     

Shadowfever, Karen Marie Moning

Inferno, Dan Brown

The 9^th Girl, Tami Hoag

Divergent, Veronica Roth

The (no title yet) sequel to Brilliance, Marcus Sakey – Marcus was my grad student and got his first publishing contract with the book he developed and partially wrote in my classes. Brilliance is... well, brilliant!

LIZ: What’s your favorite fairy tale?

Sherrill Bodine

SHERRILL: But of course it is Cinderella.  I felt like her when I eloped with my husband when I was a freshman in college.  Once I married him I realized he is a work in progress like most mortal men.  Happy to report he is getting very close (most days) to being Prince Charming.

LIZ: What’s your favorite cartoon character?

SHERRILL: I adore Betty Boop and have mugs, posters etc – one of my guest bathrooms has a Betty Boop theme!  HOWEVER, she has been surpassed by Blythe/Blight, the 200 year old teenage virgin ghost I write for the comic book series, WHISPERS FROM THE VOID.  LOVE her!

PATRICIA:

Wonder Woman, of course. Even as a kid, I was making up action stories in which I was the star.  These days, I’m partial to Callie, the wounded vampire I write for WHISPERS...

LIZ: Name three things that are, at this moment, in your heroine’s purse, satchel, reticule, weapons belt or amulet bag (or whatever she carries)?

SHERRILL: Lady Elizabeth York carries a small bag to a country fair and in it are gold coins and a handkerchief.  BUT in the celestial girdle wound around her hips is a tiny magic golden dagger forged by the old pagan gods to protect the women of her line.

LIZ: What sound or noise do you love?

SHERRILL: The pop of a champagne cork when I’m ready to celebrate!

   

LIZ: What will always make you smile, even on a bad day?

SHERRILL: A baby!

PATRICIA: A baby animal, be it kitten, puppy, or one of the bunny rabbits born in my yard.

LIZ: Who’s your favorite villain?

PATRICIA: It used to be Malificent from Sleeping Beauty – note that Angelina Jolie will star in the title role when the movie comes out next year. :) At the moment, I love Rumplestiltskin – or Mr. Gold, as he’s known – in tv’s Once Upon a Time. He’s a complex, 3 dimensional villain who has a good side as well as his bad.  Liz: I have such a crush on Mr. Gold -- he is a masterfully created villain!

LIZ: What do you hope for the future of romance publishing?

PATRICIA: That it keeps changing, accepting different forms of crossover fiction that I love.

  

LIZ HAS GOTTA ASK: What’s the most personal thing you’ve ever put in one of your books?

SHERRILL:  OK, the truth.  I put a bit of my personal affair with my husband in the romance scenes.  Truly, how could I not  - I’ve been married to him since I was barely legal!!

DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?

SHERRILL: I LOVE connecting with readers but I’m not sure exactly how to reach out to them (unfortunately I’m a techno sub-zero!)  I do tweet, Facebook, have a website, but what is the best way to chat?  Any and all suggestions very much appreciated!  XO, Sherrill

Liz: What an awesome question. As an author I've never even thought to ask that--I'll be looking at the answers too! 

One  lucky commenter today will win a digital copy of Written in the Stars!

Born to be Wild

BORN TO BE WILD         

Dead Sexy imprint

Entangled Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-62266-986-8

Amazon 

After school one day, eleven year old Lucy Falcon disappears without a trace. Her frantic mother Isabel Falcon calls Lucy’s father, Micah Wild, to tell him, and suddenly their teenage history hits them both hard.

Isabel has to put out of mind that Micah never fought for her. She  hopes that Micah will finally be the man she expected him to be when she learned she was pregnant. Micah already regrets letting Isabel go, and he can’t help but think this never would have happened if Isabel and Lucy had been with him.

           

Now Isabel and Micah must join forces to rescue their daughter before it’s too late. Who would take Lucy and why? Micah doesn’t know how he’s lived without Isabel all this time. Can he win her heart again, save his child and have the family he always wanted?

READ MORE

Micah felt as if his heart had been shredded to bits all over again. Isabel never cried. At sixteen, she’d been so damn tough, she’d been able to handle whatever came at her.

Of course, he’d never had anything to do with her or with any of the detested Falcons.

At least not until that fateful day that seemed like just yesterday...

***

“Yee-haw!” Micah yelled, swatting his horse’s rump with the brim of his hat. “Go, Slade, go!”

Slade’s muscles bunched and Micah lay along the horse’s neck as they raced up Suicide Hill, a half length ahead of his nearest competitor. He was doing a damn fool thing and the old man would threaten to whip the skin off his hide if he knew what they were about, but being eighteen, he was up for any challenge. He would get away with it, too, just as he always did.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another horse’s nose edging closer from behind. Micah dug his heels in Slade’s sides a little sharper. The horse’s neck was already wet with sweat, his breath heaving, steam coming from his nose. Slade responded with a powerful lunge that almost unseated Micah. Laughing, he grabbed onto the thick mane, tightened his thighs around the horse’s barrel and did his damnedest to hang on until they crested the top of the hill in front of his buddies.

“Woo-hoo!” he yelled, straightening in the saddle and bringing Slade to a dead stop.

The Soto brothers, Bobby and Hank, caught up to him. Though a few years younger, Hank was nearly as big as Bobby. They had the same blue eyes, olive skin, and ink-black hair. Bobby wore his hair longish, in what was little more than a stub of a ponytail at the back of his neck. He also sported a skull tattoo that peeked out from the neckline of his shirt.

“I won,” Micah informed them. “You each owe me a case of beer!”

“As if we’re old enough to actually buy beer,” Hank groused.

Bobby laughed. “Fake ID, bro.”

Hearing hoofbeats behind him, Micah turned in the saddle to see an incredible sight approach—a mahogany bay that had to be seventeen hands or better. The young woman who had complete control of the horse, despite the fact that she was riding bareback, brought him up short.

“What the hell do you boys think you’re doing?” she demanded.

Hank looked uncomfortable, but Bobby laughed again and asked, “Who wound you up, little girl?”

But damn. Isabel Falcon wasn’t little, Micah thought. Not anymore. She’d grown since he’d last seen her. He couldn’t remember when that was. He’d just graduated from high school and she was going to be a junior, so they hadn’t been in the same classes or anything. Even with her sitting a horse, he could tell her hips had widened. Her breasts had definitely filled out. And with the sun behind her, her hair glowed an incredible halo-red, though it was in fact a dark mahogany, nearly the same shade as her mount’s coat.

“Are you trying to kill your horses or yourselves?” she asked. “There’s a reason this is called Suicide Hill.”

Before Bobby could say anything, Micah asked, “So you’ve never tried besting it?”

“I’m not that stupid.”

Obviously meaning she thought they were.

Bobby edged his horse closer to hers, and in a threatening tone said, “You oughta watch that mouth of yours, Isabel, or maybe I’ll shove something long and hard in it to shut you up.”

Bobby and Hank’s father was a friend of Micah’s father, Jonah, and as such had enthusiastically supported the Wilds in their feud against the Falcons. Bobby was just following suit with Isabel.

About to talk him down, Micah started when, like magic, a knife appeared in Isabel’s hand. “Try it, Bobby, and I’ll cut it off.”

Bobby turned to Micah. “Are we gonna let her threaten us like that?”

“Hey, Bobby, maybe we should get going.” Hank backed his horse away from the confrontation. “Mess with her and we’ll get shit at home.”

But Bobby was paying his brother no mind. “Micah?”

“I think you need to cool down, Bobby.” Bobby might be a buddy of his, if not a close friend, but no way would Micah let him do what he appeared ready to do. Still, he wanted to ease the situation, give Bobby a way out, pride intact. “Isabel’s scared of you and defending herself, is all. Let it go.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“Ours.”  Micah was talking to Bobby but watching Isabel. Her anger was palpable but, thankfully, she was keeping her mouth shut. He changed tactics and looked straight into Bobby’s eyes. “You don’t want to get into it with her brother, Cruz, anyway. You touch his sister and he’d split you open and feed you to the coyotes to get rid of the evidence.”

“I’m not afraid of Cruz Falcon.”

Somehow, Micah kept his cool, which he wouldn’t do if Bobby actually tried to carry through with his threat.

“Bobby, c’mon. Leave it.” He kept his voice friendlier than he was feeling now. “Just go on home.”

“Without you? What about the beer Hank and me owe you?”

“Beer?” Isabel echoed. “You’re not even legal, Bobby, and your brother is just a kid, younger than me. What kind of an influence are you on him?”

Micah cringed inside—did Isabel really want to chance raining trouble down on herself?—but kept in bluff mode as he stared Bobby down. “The two of you don’t even have to buy me the beer you owe me if you just leave well enough alone.”

Bobby thought it over for a moment and then said, “Well, as long as there’s something in it for me...”

Taking the easy way out, Bobby shrugged, gave Isabel one last angry look, and to Micah’s relief, rode off.

Hank was right behind him.

“Walk those horses!” Isabel yelled after the boys. “You need to cool them down!”

“I know you’re an expert on horses, and all.” It had been a point of contention between their families that the Falcons ran a horse ranch directly next to the Wilds’ cattle ranch. “But you could stir up Bobby again.”

“I’m not afraid of him.”

For a moment, he almost believed her. Then he caught a glimpse of doubt in her thick-lashed hazel eyes. And her full lower lip trembled before she caught herself and clenched her teeth together. She really was afraid and determined not to let him see it.

“Sure you are,” he said reasonably, “as you should be. You’re just too stubborn to admit it.”

“Am not.” Isabel returned her knife to the sheath attached to her belt. “And you should be walking your horse, too, to cool him down.”

Like he had to be told.

When she turned her gelding, clucked, “C’mon, Crank,” and walked him off, Micah followed on Slade.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.

“Making sure you get home safely.” He was almost disappointed when she didn’t argue. For some reason, he enjoyed her prickliness. “At least to the Falcon property line.”

He didn’t dare ride onto Falcon land without expecting some kind of retribution.

They rode in silence together for a few moments, before she said, “You had to work there to call Bobby off. Thanks.”

“No problem.” As an afterthought, he added, “You know I wouldn’t have let him touch you.”

Isabel glanced at him and something in her expression caught and held him. He felt as if a vise were gripping his throat, making it hard to swallow. She was gazing up at him like he was a hero or something. But Micah knew damn well he was nothing but Trouble-with-a-capital-T, as Dad and Gramps kept telling him.

Shaking away the weird feeling, he asked, “You always carry that thing on you?”

“The knife? When I ride out, absolutely.” Then Isabel smiled at him, a smile that showed her perfect white teeth and made his pulse rush a little faster, and said, “After all, I never know when I’ll run into a snake.”

PATRICIA ROSEMOOR

With 92 novels and more than seven million books in print, Patricia Rosemoor is fascinated with "dangerous love" – combining romance with danger. She has written various forms of romantic and paranormal romantic thrillers, even romantic horror, bringing a different mix of thrills and chills to her stories. Patricia has won a Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America and two Reviewers Choice and two Career Achievement Awards from RT BOOKreviews, and in her other life, she teaches Popular Fiction and Suspense-Thriller Writing, credit courses at Columbia College Chicago.

BORN FOR Q&A

ANGI: What’s your favorite locale for one of your upcoming releases?

PATRICIA: Born To Be Wild is set in Northern New Mexico, including Santa Fe, one of my favorite places to visit. I’ve been there a half-dozen times and hope to return.

ANGI: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you’ve met?

PATRICIA: Dayton Hyde, rancher, naturalist, author and founder and president of the Institute of Range and the American Mustang. His vision brought the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary to Life. I met him on a research trip to the sanctuary and was fascinated by his life. He’s in his mid-eighties now, and he’s still working to save horses that would otherwise be destroyed.

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

PATRICIA: That Micah is not only strong but compassionate.

ANGI: What’s your favorite thing about the heroine of your book?

PATRICIA: That Isabel might be fearful for her daughter Lucy’s fate, but she is fearless for herself.

ANGI: What’s the most unusual way someone’s been killed in one of your books?

PATRICIA: Geez, if I told you, that would spoil HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON and NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON, my November and December releases from Dead Sexy. Let me just say Santa Claus is killed in both of them in the most unusual ways.

ANGI: Where’s the most unusual place your characters have “made out” in your books?

PATRICIA: Hum. Lots of fun places, because I challenge myself not to use beds if I can help it. I’m thinking a pirogue in Louisiana bayou is one of them.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: Hey Pat, I know you love showing off Chicago (whoot, we’ll have to get together again while I’m there over Thanksgiving!). What is your favorite, favorite thing about your city?

PATRICIA’S GOTTA ANSWER: Lake Michigan. I live about a mile and a half west of the lake, the farthest I’ve lived from it in my adult life. I’m always fascinated to see its many moods, from soft Caribbean-like color and waves to dark and stormy to cold and icy. I always get a thrill driving on Lake Shore Drive.

FINDING PATRICIA

Email   Website    Facebook   

Patricia’s Novels on Facebook   

Twitter @PRosemoor    Goodreads   

Intrigue Authors Blog    Previous GLIAS interview

                                   

UP NEXT

From Entangled Publishing’s Dead Sexy line:

HOLIDAY IN CRIMSON (Nov)

NIGHTMARE IN CRIMSON (Dec)

PREVIOUS RELEASES

The McKenna Legacy novels:

SEE ME IN YOUR DREAMS

TELL ME NO LIES

TOUCH ME IN THE DARK

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?

Available Now --Great for Halloween

I would be happy to have a drawing – the prize would be a free copy of HAUNTED, of course, because Halloween is just around the corner and what would be more fun than curling up with a romantic suspense that is also a different kind of ghost story?

INTERNATIONAL DRAWING. Please leave your email address to be eligible. The winner will receive a Smashwords code for a free book in any digital format.

Note: COMMENTERS are encouraged to leave a contact email address to speed the prize notification process. Offer void where prohibited. 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 Donnell tomorrow when she hosts Barbara Kroon. And come back Friday when Jill is here with Samantha Grace. ~Angi  

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS? How has your taste in romantic suspense changed since you started reading RS? What is it that surprises and satisfies you?

Patricia Rosemoor

BRAZEN
Harlequin Intrigue
ISBN: 0373695284

Despite their uncanny psychic connection, Siobhan McKenna had once pushed Clay Salazar away. Better to break his heart than to be responsible for his death, as her family curse threatened any man she loved. But now the feisty McKenna faces trouble on her ranch—someone's trying to drive the Double JA into the dust! Her solution: hire Clay, a Navajo-trained horse gentler, to run the place. With their special connection severed, his life should be safe.

GETTING TO KNOW PATRICIA ROSEMOOR

Feeling that justice is all too rare in real life, Patricia Rosemoor drives her characters to seek an equitable resolution, no matter the personal sacrifice. Her fascination with "dangerous love" – combining romance with danger – has led her to write various forms of romantic suspense and paranormal romantic thrillers, bringing a different mix of thrills and chills and romance to each book. She believes strongly in breaking down barriers to write crossover fiction that appeals to a large and varied audience.

Patricia has won a Golden Heart from Romance Writers of America and two Reviewers Choice and two Career Achievement Awards from RT BOOKreviews, and in her other life, she teaches Popular Fiction and Suspense-Thriller Writing, credit courses in the Fiction Writing Department of Columbia College Chicago. Five of her former students are now published in novel-length fiction.

TWENTY QUESTIONS

okay, it's more like ten [[GRIN]]

ANGI: How often do you get lost in a story?
PATRICIA: All stories are not equal in what I get from them or in how much they affect me, but I would say I get lost in some scenes in every story I write. Truthfully, it’s usually in the suspense scenes, but some romances touch me more than others. BRAZEN was one of those stories. Clay and Siobhan’s love story in the past called to me so strongly that I had to write it. So as the present day story progresses, the reader gets thrown back to the past, alternating in their points of view up to the point that Clay leaves town brokenhearted. Every one of those scenes sucked me in as my hero and heroine told me about their past together.

ANGI: What’s the first book you remember reading?
PATRICIA: I truly don’t remember my first book, but I remember my first significant read. I know my mother made me a “reader” before I started school. At the time, the library had 3 levels of cards–Juvenile, Senior (for 7th graders and up) and Adult. By the time I was in second grade, I had read or been read every book in the juvenile section, so I started reading senior books. I skipped a grade and so was in third grade for the last few months of that year. Still, I always finished my work in class before the other students, so I would read a library book. The nun caught me reading and took the book – DOUBLE DATE by Rosemary DuJardin – and said she was going to look at it. The next day she gave it back to me and told me I should be reading history and geography instead.

ANGI: What turns you off like nothing else?
PATRICIA: Reading a book in which I realize the author didn’t do enough research to suspend my disbelief. It’s probably why I’m so paranoid about “getting it right.”

ANGI: Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?
PATRICIA: Definitely Action Adventure. I know authors who love writing the beginning of their stories but aren’t thrilled figuring out and writing the end because it’s so difficult. I LOVE writing the big finish, the longer, more action packed, more suspense and thrill filled the better. My July book DEAL BREAKER didn’t feel as special as BRAZEN when I was writing it, but I just read the galleys last week and realized my big was the entire last fourth of the book and it sucked me in! I surprised myself.

ANGI: What was the first story you remember writing?
PATRICIA: Oh, dear, I don’t remember the title, but it was an historical romance with a shipwreck involved. It was never published. As a matter of fact, the first rejection letter I got was badly xeroxed telling me good luck elsewhere and signed off “The Editors” – no actual signature. I gave up, decided writing wasn’t for me. And then six months later, I started my second historical romance that didn’t get published.

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
PATRICIA: WITNESS. Hum, that might have something to do with Harrison Ford playing the hero...now if only they had ended up together at the end. Sigh.

ANGI: Who’s your favorite villain?
PATRICIA: Oh, come now, isn’t Hannibal Lecter everyone’s favorite? He’s the perfect example of a three dimensional villain. He has so many sides to him, it’s difficult to hate him. Be scared of meeting him in a dark alley, yes, but not hate him.

ANGI: Is writing or story-telling easier for you?
PATRICIA: Aren’t they the same? When I write I am telling myself a story. I love having written. But half the time (maybe more), writing is something to be avoided whenever possible until that deadline starts looming closer. It’s always great to get to those scenes where I “lose myself,” but the rest of the book usually feels like torture. My students hand in first draft. I probably rewrite a scene twenty times before I think it works.

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK: So, Patricia, what’s your favorite “paranormal” element to add to a story?
PATRICIA’S GOTTA ANSWER: I like playing with psychic abilities, especially when it has to do with animals–I’ve used human connection both to wolves and horses in my McKenna books. I think it’s true that we humans use only a fraction of our brain power and if we found a way to develop them, we would feel a real connection not only to each other, but to the animals around us.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?
I would love to know if/how they can suspend their disbelief when it comes to psychic abilities.

PATRICIA will be happy to send an autographed copy of BRAZEN to someone leaving a comment today.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only. If an electronic Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.

HERE’s how and where you can contact Patricia: website; Facebook; Patricia Rosemoor’s Novels at Facebook; and Twitter.

DON’T FORGET to “Like” us on Facebook, “Follow” us on Twitter, and visit here Thursday when Heather interviews Historical author Julie Anne Long AND again on Friday when Simone Gets Lost with Erin Kellison. See you next Wednesday when I bring you Historical author Winnie Griggs.

~~Til then, Angi