by Sarah | Aug 8, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Writing
- What is your story?
*smirking and arching a brow* Tell me your’s and I’ll tell you mine.
- Who are you?
My name is Angela MacCallister, I’m a report for the Channel 12 News and I’m doing a story on animal cruelty in the sport of rodeo.
- Do you have a problem that wasn’t mentioned in the story?
I don’t have problems, (laughs) I solve them.
- Do you embrace conflict? Or do you run from conflict?
I guess I embrace it as much as anyone does. I mean, if it gets me where I want to be in life, I’ll embrace it. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of conflict but it’s not something I enjoy. If I can avoid it, I will.
- How do you see yourself?
I’m strong and independent. I have been since I was young. I had to be. I guess I’m kind of a loner. I mean, you can’t really ever fully trust anyone but yourself. And if you do, you’re bound to be disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loyal to those I love, there just aren’t many people who I let close enough to see that side of me.
- How do your friends see you?
(Laughing sarcastically) What friends? I don’t really have any. I never have. Like I said, you can’t really trust other people. They might want to help but when push comes to shove, they are going to do what’s best for themselves first. It’s just the way things are. The only person I’d even consider a friend is Joe and he looks at me the same way other people do – frigid, cold. But they also know I can get the job done.
- How do your enemies see you?
I don’t really have any that I know of. I mean, reporting is a cut-throat business but we all know that so it’s not something you hold against another reporter if they scoop you on a story. I guess there are probably some people who don’t like me but it’s probably for the same reasons other people do like me – I’m strong, independent and get the job done.
- How does the author see you?
It’s strange but she likes me. She has this notion that my independence is a coping mechanism, that it’s not who I really am. She sees me as this softie with a tough outer shell and worked really hard to try to crumble it.
- What, if anything, haunts you?
Is this really something we need to talk about? (pauses) I guess my mother’s death, the way she died, that there was nothing I could do to help her, that I watched it happen. No kid should ever have to endure going through that.
- Has anyone ever betrayed you?
(Bitter laugh) Yeah, over and over and, stupidly, I continue to come back for more. I guess it’s that loyalty thing to those I love but I can’t seem to give up and let my father cave to his demons.
- Have you ever failed anyone?
Do we really have to keep talking about this? (Shifting nervously in the chair) Yeah, my mother and my father. I couldn’t save my mother before she died and, as hard as I try, I’m not so sure I’m going to be able to save my father either.
- Have you ever betrayed anyone?
That would depend on who you asked. Mike, Sydney and Scott might tell you I betrayed Derek. I’m not so sure I’d call it a betrayal as much as a mistake. Other’s might believe I betrayed my friend, Joe, but I wouldn’t call it that.
- What was your childhood like?
Pretty bad. Horrible really. If my parents weren’t fighting about my father being drunk, Mom and I were trying to keep everything quiet while he was suffering from a hangover. After she died, I had to take care of both of us. When he had a job, I used to sneak his checks from his wallet before he could cash them and spend it all at the bar on the corner. I think he knew what I was doing but he never said anything. He wasn’t a mean drunk. (sigh) I can’t tell you how many times, as a teenager, I got phone calls from a bartender telling me to come get him.
- What in your past would you like to forget?
Most of it. I don’t really have those sparkly, rainbow memories most kids have. Don’t get me wrong, there were some good times before my mom died but I’d like to flush most of my past down the toilet.
- What in your past would you like others to forget?
Very few people know about my past at all. It’s my present I don’t want them to know about. Joe is the only person who knows about my dad’s drinking problem. If it got out…(shakes head) That’s just something I won’t let happen.
- Who was your first love?
It’s pretty hard to date or fall in love when you’re busy carting your father home from bars each and every night so I only went out on a few dates in high school and never serious. The only person in my life who’s been constant is Joe and we tried that once, in college. That’s just not happening. I care about him, love him even, but like a brother. So, I guess the short answer is when you can’t get close to people and you don’t do relationships, you can’t fall in love.
- Who is your true love?
My imaginary Prince Charming? If I were to pick an ideal man he’d be strong, physically and emotionally, and supportive. He would need to be able to understand and share my loyalty to family. And he would need a great sense of humor. That’s a must because you can’t deal with this much sarcasm without a sense of humor. It wouldn’t hurt if he was good looking but that’s not what’s important to me. It’s what’s in here. (tapping her chest over her heart). If he’s kindhearted without being a pushover, that’s better than looks. If you find a guy like that, hook me up.
- Was there ever a defining moment of your life?
When we got the call from the hospital saying my mother had died. I was in our apartment and heard my father make this God-awful wailing sound, like…I don’t know. He sounded like his heart was being ripped from his chest. He was still drunk but not to the point of falling over but I saw him fall to his knees. I took the phone and tried to sound like an adult on the phone but they knew I was just a kid. When I hung it up, I didn’t cry. I just put my dad back to bed and set a glass of water on the nightstand. I didn’t let myself cry until I was alone in my room. That was the last time I cried. For my mother, for my father, for the childhood I realized I would never have. From that night on, I grew up fast. I had to.
- What is your most closely guarded secret?
In my line of work, you have to be perfect and pleasing so no one at work knows about my father’s drinking except Joe. I’ve been able to keep it quiet and my life out of the limelight but he’s getting worse. I have to get him into a rehab or some sort of treatment program. If I do that, people are bound to find out.
- What is your most prized possession? Why?
My mother’s wedding ring. I keep it on a gold chain and never take it off.
- What one word best describes you?
Cautious
- What is your first memory?
My third birthday. Mom and Dad threw me a little party with the three of us but, I think, it was as the zoo. I remember them pretending the animals were eating cake for my birthday too. It’s one of my best memories as a child and one of the only times I remember my father being completely sober and my mother looked up at him holding me like he hung the moon. In spite of his flaws, she loved him.
- Any non-family member adults stick out in your mind? Who were they, and how did you know them? Why do they stick out?
- Who was your best friend when you were growing up?
That would be Joe. His family moved into our apartment building about a year before my mother died and, since we were the only kids in the complex at the time, we hung out together a lot. We’ve been inseparable since. We went to college together and now he’s my boss. He’s seen the worst times in my life and never turned his back on me. I can trust him when I trust no one else.
- What is your fondest, childhood memory?
Saturday mornings with my mother. I would wake up to her fixing pancakes, always a different flavor, and then we’d clean house together. I know it sounds strange but we had fun doing it together. We’d blast music since dad was working and we’d sing. Badly but it was fun.
- What habit that others have annoys you most?
There are so many things people do to annoy me but I hate it when people try to get away with things they shouldn’t do because they think they can. Maybe it’s why I’m always trying to do an exposé and bring down crooked politicians and scams. I definitely fight for the underdog, even when everyone might be taking advantage of them.
- Do you have any bad habits? If so, what are they, and do you plan to get rid of them?
I fidget. When I get uptight, I will start messing with my mother’s ring or the chain holding it around my neck. Either rolling the ring or sliding my fingers over the chain. I’ve learned to control it for the most part and usually only mess with it when I’m really stressed now.
- What kind of things embarrass you? Why?
There’s always the little things like toilet paper on my shoe, or food on my cheek but mostly things like crying or showing fear…I don’t like anyone to see weakness in me. It gives them something they can exploit.
- What don’t you like about yourself?
I don’t like the part of me that still hopes for a better future. Life would be so much easier if I could just face reality and accept the situation my dad and I are in. But that “root-for-the-underdog” thing comes back and I want more, a better life, and keep killing myself trying to get it. It’s only more disappointment but I can’t quite give up. Even admitting I want to irritates me but there are just those days when I wish I could just accept things as they are like other people seem to.
- Do you currently have a lover? What is their name, and what is your relationship like? What are they like? Why are you attracted to them?
- What is the perfect romantic date?
I really wouldn’t know. I guess, for me, it would just mean someone allowing me to be myself, to show my vulnerabilities and accept them without judging me. To be held, connected on an emotional level with someone who makes me feel…safe. We wouldn’t need to go anywhere or do anything, just be together. It would be more of a feeling with that person, not a specific thing we do.
- What is more important – sex or intimacy? Why?
(Laughs) Sex is just sex, just another thing you do, without intimacy. I should know. I’ve had sex, meaningless, unfulfilling, unemotional sex. I’ve never had intimacy. I can’t trust anyone.
- What was your most recent relationship like? Who was it with? (Does not need to be sexual, merely romantic.)
My most recent relationship was about a year ago. I went out with a guy from work, a new reporter who was only at the station a few weeks. We had dinner, went back to his place after a few drinks and had sex. I went home. That was all, one date. Two months later, he got picked up by a bigger station. I like it that way. No complications, no emotional connections and I’m completely in control.
- Do you think redemption is possible? If so, can anyone be redeemed, or are there only certain circumstances that can be? If not, why do you think nothing can redeem itself?
I certainly hope there is redemption. I’m the poster child of someone who needs it. I mean, there must be. Everyone needs to be forgiven for something. I’ve seen the secrets people hide, I know what happens when they are revealed. Everyone had something that they need to be redeemed for. I think redemption is available to everyone but you have to want to pay the price and for most people, it’s too high.
- Is it okay for you to cry? When was the last time you cried?
No, next question.
- What do you think is wrong with MOST people, overall?
Do you have all day for me to list everything? I guess, overall, it would be a lack of empathy. I see the underbelly of society every day, even if I am only reporting the sweet stuff on television. People in general only care about themselves and their own little world. They forget there are other people out there worse off. It’s where greed stems from, people hurting other people, taking what doesn’t belong to them. If people would open their eyes, consider the ripple effect of actions before they take them, the world would be a much better place.
- What is the thing that has frightened you most? Do you think there is anything out there that’s scarier than that? What do you think that would be?
Complete and utter vulnerability. I’m sure there are other things out there – terrorism attacks, brutality, acts of nature – that would scare other people but for me, right now in my life this would frighten me most. A close second would be giving up control, trusting someone else with an outcome. If I fail, I know who is to blame and who is responsible, but I also know what I put into it. Trusting someone else? (shakes head) I just don’t think I can do that.
*~*
Blurb
From our NaNoWriMo author T. J. Kline comes the stunning follow up to RODEO QUEEN. When a sexy cowboy falls for a not-so-angelic reporter, secrets and sparks abound.
Reporter Angela McCallister needs the scoop of her career in order to save her father from his bad decisions that have depleted their savings. When the chance to spend a week at the Findley Brothers ranch arises, she sees a chance to get a behind-the-scenes scoop on rodeo. That certainly doesn’t include kissing the devastatingly handsome and charming cowboy, Derek Chandler, who insists on calling her angel.
Derek has a rodeo to run and a chip on his shoulder. He has no time for the fiery woman who is clearly hiding something. But for some reason he can’t keep his hands off of her. Their connection is instant and explosive but Angela’s secrets could threaten his family and Derek needs to prove that he’s not the irresponsible kid brother anymore.
When the rodeo dust has settled, will the Cowboy and his Angel allow themselves to give in to the attraction that threatens to consume them both?
Link to Follow Tour: http://tastybooktours.blogspot.com/2014/06/now-booking-tasty-virtual-tour-for_9536.html
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22493055-the-cowboy-and-the-angel
Buy Links
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JZOX5CM/ref=cm_sw_su_dp?tag=avonromancehc-20
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cowboy-and-the-angel-t-j-kline/1119471859?cm_mmc=affiliates-_-linkshare-_-mdxm68jzjz8-_-10%3a1&ean=9780062370075&isbn=9780062370075&r=1
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/the-cowboy-and-the-angel-4?utm_source=linkshare_us&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=linkshare_us&siteID=MdXm68JZJz8-ZNNsDrsxVS8YoMK7PeFdLw
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-cowboy-and-the-angel/id870615758?mt=11
Author Info
T. J. Kline was raised competing in rodeos and Rodeo Queen competitions since the age of 14 and has thorough knowledge of the sport as well as the culture involved. She has written several articles about rodeo for small periodicals, as well as a more recent how-to article for RevWriter, and has published a nonfiction health book and two inspirational fiction titles under the name Tina Klinesmith. She is also an avid reader and book reviewer for both Tyndale and Multnomah. In her spare time, she can be found laughing hysterically with her husband, children, and their menagerie of pets in Northern California.
Author Links
http://tinaklinesmith.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TKlinesmith
https://twitter.com/TinaKlinesmith
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7379969.T_J_Kline
GIVEAWAY
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sarah | Jul 30, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Writing
- What is your story? I grew up dirt poor in a leaky trailer in the small town of Marshall’s Creek, Virginia. I wish I could say that my parents loved me. But I never knew my Native American mother and my father was a drunken bully who beat me nearly every day I can remember. Until I turned 14 and got to be as big as he was. I threatened to kill him if he ever touched me again. He never did.
- Who are you? I am a retired Navy SEAL, and am now the Chief of Police of Marshall’s Creek, Virginia. I have a beautiful wife and a partner, both of whom I love unconditionally.
- Do you think the author portrayed you accurately? My author knows me better than I know myself. Her faith in me allowed me to be loved by two of the most amazin’ human bein’s on the face of the planet.
- Do you have any special strengths? I believe I’m a pretty good judge of character and have a pretty strong BS detector. Not much gets by me.
- Do you have any special weaknesses? Not that I’m aware of, although, if you were to ask Sarah or Adam if I have any special weaknesses, you’d probably get a different answer.
- What makes you happy? Sarah and Adam.
- What are you afraid of? Losin’ either of them.
- What do you regret? That I left town the day of Sarah’s eighteenth birthday and stayed away for eight years before tryin’ to put things right.
- What is your biggest disappointment? I try not to dwell on negative things in my life.
- What in your past had the most profound effect on you? Seein’ Sarah on the day of her eighteenth birthday about to be raped. I still have nightmares about it.
- Who is your true love? Well, in case you haven’t guessed by now, Sarah.
- What is the most important thing that ever happened to you? Gettin’ a job when I was nineteen as a gardener’s assistant at Marshall’s Hill, the estate home of Sarah Marshall. Why? Because that was the day I rescued her from a thirty-foot fall out of a tree.
- Was there a major turning point in your life? I would say that becomin’ a SEAL was a pretty major turning point. Up until that point, I’d never really challenged myself and discoverin’ what I was truly capable of was pretty satisfying.
- What is your most closely guarded secret? Well, now, if I tell you that, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore, now, would it?
- Do you have any hobbies? You know, I really don’t. I’ve never thought about it before, and can’t think of a single thing I’d like to do as a hobby. I don’t see me takin’ up golf, for instance. Or goin’ fishin’. I have no talent for anything of an artistic nature. I do love to travel. And read.
- Name five items in your purse, briefcase, or pockets. My keys, some change, my Swiss Army knife (never leave home without it), my wallet, and my cell phone.
- If you had the power to change one thing in the world that didn’t affect you personally, what would it be? I’d get rid of bullying.
- How do you envision your future? I see Sarah, Adam, and me settlin’ down, maybe havin’ a couple of kids. That’s gonna be kinda tricky, considerin’ the lifestyle we lead, but it can be done. I would love to have some kids. Damn sure I’ll be a better father than my own was.
- What is your most prized mundane possession? My dog-eared copy of Watership Down. Why do you value it so much? It was the first book Sarah made me read. When I saw that it was a 500-page book about rabbits, I nearly balked. I mean, c’mon. But I read it and wished it was 800 pages, it was so phenomenal.
- What was your family like? Never met my Native American mother. My father said she ran off with another man when I was just a toddler. Frankly, I always suspected that he’d simply killed her and hid her body deep in the woods around our town. He was a drunken bully and used to beat me every day. Haven’t seen him since I was 17.
- When’s the last time you saw any member of your family? I have two older cousins, Brian and Matt Wilson. I saw Brian just yesterday when I went over to Marshall’s Hill to check on the BDSM Club he’s creatin’ for us at Marshall’s Hill, Sarah’s old home. Saw Matt just a few days ago. Where are they now? Matt’s probably either in his garage or at his biker bar, Brian’s probably over at Marshall’s Hill.
- Did you ever meet any other family members? Don’t have any other family. Who were they? What did you think of them?
- What is your worst childhood memory? The sound of my dad taking off his belt.
- What is something you had to learn that you hated? Never learned to hate anything. The things I hate I always knew I hated, bullies, abusers, liars.
- What do you find most relaxing? (Not as in stress relief, but as something that actually calms you down.) Comin’ home and seein’ Sarah in her submissive posture, ready to please me. When she hands me her power that calms me to my core.
- What is the perfect romantic date? Flowers, a candlelit dinner, dancin’ in the moonlight, strawberries and champagne, a petal-strewn bed, and Sarah, bound and spread and beggin’ to be allowed to come.
- What is more important – sex or intimacy? Intimacy. Why? Because sex without intimacy does nothing to nurture a relationship. There needs to be a deep emotional connection between the partners for the act of sex to soar to new heights. That’s what I love about our D/s way of life. With every power exchange, the emotional bond between Adam, Sarah, and I grows stronger. With every sexual interaction, the trust grows deeper, the love more profound. With true intimacy, the sex is so deeply intertwined, the two can no longer be separated.
- What’s the worst thing you’ve done to someone you loved? I left Sarah in the lurch the day of her eighteenth birthday. After I pulled her would-be rapist off of her, I locked us in her father’s study to wait for the police. She threw herself at me, begged me to make love to her, and I panicked. I knew that if I stayed in Marshall’s Creek, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from takin’ her. So I left town, like a coward, with no word of good-bye or explanation. I wanted the break to be clean, so she’d forget all about me.
- What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? Leavin’ Sarah without sayin’ good-bye. What one act in your past are you most proud of? Leavin’ Sarah without sayin’ good-bye. If I had stayed, I would have destroyed her future. I would have made her my woman, whether she was ready to be or not. She never would have gone to college, never would have become the brilliant attorney she is today. So, yeah, that eight-year separation was emotionally devastating to both of us, but in the end it made both of us much stronger people.
- What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it? Honesty. I know my friends and my SEAL buddies are honest with me, but not many other people are.
- Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Which is more valuable? Why do you feel this way? These are difficult questions. If your ounce of prevention is to have ‘round the clock bodyguards for someone under the threat of kidnappin’ and that someone gets kidnapped anyway, the point is rather moot, don’t you think?
- What one word best describes you? Bad-ass [grins]
- How do your friends see you? They see me as a man of honor and integrity, who will always speak the truth, and who can be relied upon in a tight spot.
- How do your enemies see you? As their worst nightmare…to coin a phrase.
- What, if anything, haunts you? I don’t let anything haunt me. Life is too short. Sarah and Adam have introduced me to so many joys that it would be foolish to allow shadows from the past to diminish the experience.
- How private of a person are you? To my friends and family, I’m an open book. To others, I’m guarded until I get to know them. Why? Because, frankly, it’s nobody’s business what I do, think, or feel, except for those close, intimate few with whom I’m sharing’ those thoughts or feelin’s.
- If you were to gain an obscenely large sum of money (via an inhertiance, a lawsuit, a lottery, or anything else) what would you do with it? I already have an obscenely large sum of money, thanks to years of wise investments by Adam’s Uncle Joe. I’m spending a walloping amount on turning Marshall’s Hill, Sarah’s ancestral home, into an exclusive BDSM Club. I fund two psychiatric clinics, one in England and one here in the States, for women who’ve been trafficked as sex slaves. Along with my cousin Brian Wilson, who owns a construction company, I’m turning an old, abandoned cotton mill on the outskirts of Marshall’s Creek into luxury apartments. The money we collect in rents will fund a shelter for battered women.
- What would you wish for if you found a genie? World peace. No, truly. This is not a cliché. I would wish for world peace.
*~*~*~*
KEEPING SARAH BACK COVER BLURB
Honeymooning in England, Jesse Colter, Adam Sinclair and their beloved wife, Sarah, are heading for their friend Thorne Cahill’s BDSM club for dinner when another car deliberately tries to run them off the road. Thanks to their own driver’s skills, the other car is destroyed, the two unknown occupants killed.
Through Thorne, they discover that they’re the targets of a “blood feud”, instigated by Konstandin Sokolov, son of Viktor Sokolov, the Albanian mobster who had unwisely kidnapped Sarah a few months back, and paid for it with his life. They also discover that Thorne’s guests, ruthless human traffickers, have gathered at the club for a slave auction being held the following night. Konstandin Sokolov happens to be one of the buyers.
Fraught with treachery, betrayal, and deadly danger, Keeping Sarah keeps the reader on a knife’s edge of tension, while simultaneously exploring the deepening emotional and physical commitment between Jesse and Adam. They already trust each other with their lives. Now they must learn how to trust each other with their love.
STORY EXCERPT
As they raised their heads, both men noticed the headlights of the car behind them, approaching way too fast for such mountainous terrain. Jesse knew that they were in a section of the Pennines where the road hugged the cliff face. Beyond, to their left, only a slender guard rail stood between them and a sheer drop-off of hundreds of feet. He also knew that the car rapidly approaching them was not going to swerve off and pass them by.
“Clay!” Jesse roared, pressing the button for the intercom. “What the fuck?”
“Yeah, I see ’em,” was Clay’s laconic response. “Brace yourselves.”
“Crap! Hang on, Sarah!” Grabbing Sarah’s seat belt, Jesse managed to buckle it around her just as the car behind them, what looked like a Honda CR-V, crashed into their rear bumper in an impact that would have been much worse if Clay hadn’t skillfully countered it by speeding up at the last second. Crystal rattled and champagne went flying, drenching everything with the sticky liquid. As the limo shot forward, the headlights of the other vehicle swung wildly to the right as the driver tried to avoid running over the pieces of his own front end that now littered the road.
Clay increased speed, taking the next turn with a loud squeal of the tires, and the SUV’s headlights were lost around a bend. But within seconds it had caught up, trying to pull alongside the black Mercedes. Clay swerved abruptly, cutting them off. Both vehicles zig-zagged wildly back and forth, each trying to gain the advantage as they hurtled down the road. The SUV veered wide, turned back hard, and slammed into the right rear quarter panel of the limo with a resounding crash of metal. Miraculously, Clay’s skillful driving kept the heavy limo firmly on the road. The SUV veered wide again. Clay waited until they were about to slam into the Mercedes again, before countering their move by slamming the heavier limo into the driver’s side of the SUV, doubling the force of the resulting impact and sending the SUV, tires screeching, skidding across the road toward the sheer cliff face. Amid the crash and shriek of metal striking metal, Clay slammed into them again, keeping the pressure on as the limo’s superior weight slowly pushed the smaller, lighter-weight car sideways off the road and onto the narrow shoulder. The driver’s side rear window of the SUV lowered and Jesse could see the passenger kneeling in his seat and aiming what looked like a Kalashnikov assault rifle in their direction.
“Clay!” Jesse yelled again.
EDITOR’S COMMENTS ON KEEPING SARAH
“I heartily enjoyed this book. It’s truly an erotic BDSM ménage epic, and it’s extremely well written. The locations are sweeping and exotic, the food is lusciously described, the sex scenes are plentiful and romantic and delightfully perverse. Pacing is breezy throughout, even though this is a fairly long novel, and the suspense plot keeps the reader wanting more. It’s excellent that the menage relationship features a lot of hot M/M scenes between Jesse and Adam, not to mention the pegging by Sarah. I can’t compliment Keeping Sarah highly enough.
Special mention should be made of the Sybian competition and slave auction scenes. These were both highly unique, beautifully written, disturbing, and felt like Sadean ceremonies. The Sybian competition had an exuberance and weirdness about it that was both comical and surreal. It showed great imagination. The slave auction was nightmarish—imagining this secret organization existing was very frightening. The poetic details were what really made it—the fact that the boy being auctioned was chubby and albino, the disturbing concept of “pony girls,” and the appearance of the sinister Mistress Diabolica. I loved it.” J
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Julie has always loved stories, both reading and writing them, ever since she was old enough to hold a book in her hands. One of her favorite childhood activities was smuggling books under the covers to read by flashlight after she was supposed to be asleep.
A career as a children’s librarian eventually led to her dream career as a freelance storyteller and puppeteer, a business she operated successfully for twenty-five years. During that time she created and wrote all the original material for a monthly language arts newsletter full of poems, songs, puppet and flannel-board stories, fingerplays, and other resource material for early childhood educators. For that endeavor she won the prestigious EDPRESS Award for the best educational newsletter of 1982. She has also written other resource materials for preschool and early elementary teachers.
Julie lives in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Now widowed and retired, she once again has time to devote to her two favorite things—reading and writing—especially her new love, erotic romances.
Keeping Sarah is available now for pre-order at a discount at www.bookstrand.com/keeping-sarah.
*~*
BUY LINKS FOR LOVING SARAH
| Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Siren-Bookstrand | Kobobooks | GooglePlay |
COVER BLURB FOR LOVING SARAH
Eight years ago Jesse Colter fled his small town, leaving behind eighteen-year-old Sarah Marshall, broken-hearted and devastated. Now a retired Navy SEAL, he’s back and he wants only one thing—Sarah Marshall—preferably bound, naked, and on her knees before him.
She has never forgotten Jesse. He’s been the object of all her sexual fantasies since she was fifteen, as well as the star of nightly dreams that have become increasingly erotic over the years. So when he suddenly reappears in her life, she is torn. Can she trust him not to hurt her, or will he once again break her heart? Warily, she agrees to let him introduce her to his world—the world of bondage, Domination, and erotic slavery. When he also introduces her to his best friend, Adam Sinclair, Sarah faces a daunting future of sexual submission to two powerful alpha males.
But Sarah faces an even bigger challenge. Someone is stalking her. Is it the old enemy who’s just been released from prison? Or is it someone else from her past who is determined to destroy any chance she has at happiness? Can Adam’s and Jesse’s love protect her? Or will her world explode in a cataclysm of betrayal and violence that will destroy them all?
*~*
BUY LINKS FOR OWNING SARAH
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Siren-Bookstrand | Kobobooks |
Owning Sarah, back cover blurb
It’s been a month since Sarah Marshall was kidnapped and held at knife-point by her ex-fiance. But Jesse Colter and Adam Sinclair, her two loving Doms, know that there is an even deadlier threat still out there—Ryder Malone.
He blames both Sarah and Jesse for sending him to prison eight years ago for attempted rape, and he’s determined to make them pay. So, he begins a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation against them. But the danger he poses doesn’t end there.
Set against the deepening love and commitment between Sarah, Jesse, and Adam, Owning Sarah is more than just a sexy, sensual, BDSM love story. It is a harrowing race against time for Jesse, Adam, and a team of former SEALs to stop one of the biggest arms-for-drugs deals in U.S. history. And to rescue Sarah before Malone sells her to a human trafficker and she’s lost to her men forever.
MY LINKS
Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/UsPzGk
Website: http://bit.ly/Nn2gPE
Facebook author page: http://on.fb.me/19nGsh2
LinkedIn Profile: http://linkd.in/1gYBG9p
by Sarah | Apr 9, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Thursday Tell All, Writing
Hi. This is Jane Austeen, and welcome to Proud but Not Prejudiced. Today I’m here with Amy Evans, an animated redhead in her early thirties. Amy is dressed rather unusually for our show in a full-length classic black gown. But I must say, Amy, that off-the-shoulder style and deep plunging back really show off your gorgeous tan. I take it you’ve spent a lot of time out in the sun lately?
AMY: Thanks for inviting me today, Jane. Yes, we moved from Cincinnati down to Providenciales this summer. No more snow for this gal. And you-all know what they say: when you’re in the islands, live like the islanders.
JANE: So Amy, tell our audience what you were doing in Cincinnati.
AMY: To tell the truth, Jane, I was a stripper. Oh, should I have said adult entertainer or one of those other fancy terms? Well, whatever you call it, I showed men my titties for tips.
JANE: Um, wow. I don’t think I’ve ever interviewed a stripper before. I’m not sure what to ask.
AMY: Oh, I don’t do that anymore. Walt hit a big lottery and his wife agreed to a divorce for half which wasn’t so unexpected ‘cause they hadn’t been in love for a long time. And then we met and he invited me to go on a trip with him, and the rest, as they say, is history.
JANE: So a romantic road trip led to your happy relationship?
AMY: Well, I’m not sure how romantic it was, especially at first. Walter was a perfect gentleman, damnit. He seemed to like my son JG better than me. But Aunt Morgan said be patient, he liked me fine. And it turned out she was right. She usually is.
JANE: So you called your Aunt Morgan for advice in matters of the heart?
AMY: Oh, no. She was there too. In fact, to tell the truth, Walt loves her almost as much as he loves me.
JANE (with an uneasy laugh): You mean loves her in a platonic sort of way, of course.
AMY: No, not really. Aunt Morgan is smokin’ hot, and she’s fascinating to talk to. And Walt is real smart, loves history and all that stuff.
JANE: My goodness. Your aunt must be quite a woman.
MORGAN: Thank you.
JANE: Wait, who said that?
AMY: Oh, that was Aunt Morgan.
JANE: You mean like she’s a multiple personality or something?
AMY: Naw, nothing fancy like that, although it is a bit complicated. She’s a real person except that she lives in here with me. Ask her something.
JANE: Hello, Aunt Morgan. How long have you lived there with Amy?
MORGAN: I came to live with Amy when she was six. I’d been living with her grandmother, but she was in the hospital dying when Amy came to visit. Seemed like a good choice, and she’s turned out to be my favorite special niece ever.
AMY: Why thanks, Aunt Morgan. That’s a real nice thing to say.
JANE: So I take it you’ve been doing this for a long time, Aunt Morgan. So how old are you anyway?
MORGAN: You know a woman doesn’t like to talk about her age, particularly a woman like me.
JANE: Our audience is the soul of discretion. You can tell us.
MORGAN: They probably won’t believe it anyway. But the truth is, Jane, I’m more than 1500 years old.
JANE: 1500 years? I’m not too good with math, but that was long before Columbus. Were you a Native American?
MORGAN: Of course not. I’m British. A queen in my first life. In fact, you’ve heard of me. And my half brother Arthur was a king. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.
JANE: Um, King . . . Arthur? Morgan? You mean, you’re that Morgan? Morgan le Fay?
AMY: And Aunt Morgan told me that this gown was way better than anything Guinevere ever owned. That’s why I wore it.
(at this point the network interrupted the broadcast, so we’re not sure what happens next)
*~*~*~*~*
Strange Bedfellows has 4 first-person narrators. In this excerpt, Amy’s 11-year-old son JG is speaking.
Sava pats my hand. “Now tell me what’s so epic about Aunt Morgan, JG.”
“One day, Walt asked her a question directly, and she answered him just like an ordinary person would. So although I’ve been around her eleven years more than him, he’d already figured out that she was like a different person. So I got my nerve up and asked her like who she really was, and she answered me too. Said, ‘Hold that thought.’
“Then while we were driving down here she started telling us her life story. How she was born back in the fifth century in Cornwall which I looked up and it’s a part of Great Britain. And how her father was a duke who was killed fighting against the king who then married her mother and then guess what! She’s Morgan le Fay! The evil witch from the King Arthur story only she’s not really evil although she really is a witch. And somehow she learned how to jump from person to person so she wouldn’t die but we haven’t gotten to that part of the story yet and now she’s living inside my mom!”
I got a little loud as I told that last part and Sava holds a finger to my lips. “Shhh. Don’t tell everybody, doofus.” She’d picked that up from Marcus, but coming from her it seemed, well, friendlier. “Let me see if I got this straight. Your mom’s cool enough to sunbathe in the nude and she’s a stripper who trusts you enough to leave you at home at night all by yourself and she’s traveling with a really nice guy who isn’t sleeping with her because you haven’t said it’s okay, AND she has the real Morgan le Fay living in her head, and you somehow think I might not want to be your girlfriend anymore because of that?” She does this real exaggerated show like she’s scratching her head. “Let me see. Um, gee, I don’t know.” She crosses her arms and shakes her head sadly. “Marcus is right. You are a doofus.”
At least I think that’s what she said. I sort of lost track of everything after the word ‘girlfriend.’
*~*~*~*~*
| [amazon_link id=”B00ISC1RHC” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |
BLURB
Commentators claim that Politics makes Strange Bedfellows. Politics? Hah. I heap scorn on such an ill-considered opinion. For you and I both know: it is love that makes the strangest bedfellows.
Here. Let me give you just one example. A strange tale that begins with . . .
Walter—a loveable middle-aged accounting nerd. Crappy job, boss from hell, loveless marriage—who gets a do-over when he wins a big lottery. He hits the road only to find . . .
Amy—Sweet, Southern gal stuck in Cincinnati, stripping for a living because it pays better than Wal-Mart. Seems an unlikely candidate to do-over with, but stranger things have happened. It might work out, except she’s got this crazy . . .
Aunt Morgan—everybody has a crazy aunt, but this one is special. Engaging, seductive even . . . how old is she, anyway? And how can she always be around?
*~*~*~*~*
Rusty Rhoad grew up on the South Carolina coast, practiced chemical engineering near Houston, Texas for 32 years, and now writes humorous Arthurian fiction “full time.” “I love characters who see the world with their tongues firmly in their cheeks,” Rhoad writes. “Life is too often serious; fiction should always have a place for the offbeat, the quirky, and the sardonic.”
Rhoad’s first novel, Return from Avalon (and Points West), was released by Soul Mate Publishing in July 2013; his second novel, Strange Bedfellows, was published in March 2014. A third book, Avalon, South Carolina, is due out this summer.
*~*~*~*~*
Blog: http://allthingswordsblog.wordpress.com/
by Sarah | Mar 26, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Thursday Tell All, Writing
What is your story?
My story is about me returning to Montana to help Reagan plan her wedding as I finally cut all ties with my first love, Caleb, and realize my love for Chayton. And some of the crap we went through to get where we are now, including dangerous stuff I’d rather not relive.
Who are you?
I’m an obsessive-compulsive fashion consultant who likes to be in control and needs things organized. I’m working on some of those traits.
Do you feel your author, Angela Smith, portrayed you accurately?
She portrayed me pretty well, even the bad parts.
Do you have any special strengths?
My biggest strength is clothes related, of course, seeing as how I’m a fashion consultant and have been for many high-end clients. I can fix just about any wardrope emergency or problems with hair or makeup. I could be a professional organizer, too, because I have a knack for getting things organized.
Do you have any special weaknesses?
I’m OCD and I expect everyone to abide by my standards. If I want the towel hanging a certain way, why can’t they just do it that way?
What makes you happy?
My friends and family, especially when they do things my way, haha. No really, I’m not that bad.
What are you afraid of?
I used to be afraid of, not necessarily change, but the things that go with change. I need my roots to have stable ground. But I’m learning to let go of some of my roots and plant new ones.
What do you regret?
My past and some of the things that happened, some of the things I couldn’t control and even some of the things that aren’t my fault but will always make me feel guilty. Sometimes I feel guilty for being so happy, for being the one who survived.
What is your biggest disappointment?
There are so many, I don’t want to give anything in the story away. But you’ll learn about them if you read my story.
What in your past had the most profound effect on you?
Being in a wreck with Caleb when I was eighteen years old.
Who is your true love?
Chayton Chambers.
What is the most important thing that ever happened to you? Why?
Being in a wreck with Caleb years ago changed my entire life, my entire perspective on life, and it made me who I am today.
Was there a major turning point in your life?
I think coming to Montana with my cousin and meeting Chayton was the biggest turning point in my life. We really had a connection, even though we were just friends at the time, and I was still trying to hold onto a failing relationship with Caleb.
What is your most closely guarded secret?
I don’t really have secrets anymore.
Do you have any hobbies?
Lots! I love fashion, and I love going out on the slopes with Chayton. We love skiing and snowboarding, and he’s going to teach me to ice climb. And of course the summer we love to be outside to fish, kayak, and dirt bike. Chayton is working at getting the city out of me.
Name five items in your purse, briefcase, or pockets.
A really good mirror, concealer, lipstick, a comb, and antibacterial lotion.
If you had the power to change one thing in the world that didn’t affect you personally, what would it be?
My past. Not that I haven’t learned to appreciate the present, but there’s a lot of things in my past I wish I could change and take back.
How do you envision your future?
I envision Chayton putting a ring on my finger and maybe eventually building a house together like Garret and Reagan did.
What is your most prized mundane possession? Why do you value it so much?
The stuffed bear Reagan gave me, because it is a symbol of my new life, of who I am today and everything we have both gone through. She has her stuffed moose, and I have my stuffed bear. We laugh about that a lot.
What was your family like?
Crazy. My mom was a little obsessive herself. She always wanted me to be on my best behavior, to grin and fake it. Now that I’m older, I know she only had the best intentions, but it drives me crazy sometimes because I can’t hold off on speaking my mind most of the time even when I know I should.
When’s the last time you saw any member of your family? Where are they now?
I see Reagan, my cousin, every day. I saw most of my family at Reagan’s wedding and we plan to go visit them and they’ll visit us soon.
Did you ever meet any other family members? Who were they? What did you think of them?
I know all of my family and now I am meeting Chayton’s.
What is your worst childhood memory?
The wreck that killed my friends.
What is something you had to learn that you hated?
I always hated math, but it’s important to know measurements and such in fashion.
What do you find most relaxing? (Not as in stress relief, but as something that actually calms you down.)
Being on the slopes with Chayton, and going to his cabin to lounge in the hot springs.
What is the perfect romantic date?
Pretty much what I mentioned above. Having a nice dinner outside in the warmer weather. Cooking together and enjoying a glass of wine or one of Chayton’s’ cocktails while we watch the sunset on the porch.
What is more important – sex or intimacy? Why?
Both! I believe it’s important to have sex to strengthen intimacy and I believe increased intimacy.
What’s the worst thing you’ve done to someone you loved?
I was pretty mean and insensitive to Chayton, but that was before I admitted my love for him.
What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? What one act in your past are you most proud of?
I am proud of who I have become. I’m sorry that I didn’t’ try to change things when I was younger.
What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it?
Honesty. I find it often among my true friends, but sometimes honesty is in the eye of the beholder.
Is an ounce of prevention really worth a pound of cure? Which is more valuable? Why do you feel this way?
Oh yes. There’s a lot of things I could have prevented if I’d tried hard enough, including hurting others. That’s one of the reasons I’m trying to watch my words. Then again, there are some things you just can’t prevent.
What one word best describes you?
Obsessive.
How do your friends see you?
I think they look up to me. I mean, they know I’m a genuine person and I’d do anything for them. I love a good party and I love to help organize parties, but I’m also a bit rash in my decisions. I tend to overreact sometimes.
How do your enemies see you?
Umm, I don’t think I have any enemies, but if I did they’d probably see me as rash.
What, if anything, haunts you?
My past and some of the things that happened.
How private of a person are you? Why?
Not really at all, depending on the person I’m with. I’m an open book to most people who know me.
If you were to gain an obscenely large sum of money (via an inhertiance, a lawsuit, a lottery, or anything else) what would you do with it?
Give most of it away and invest some for me and my family’s future.
What would you wish for if you found a genie?
I’d wish for the ability to see the future and make decisions based on that. But in reality I wouldn’t because even that would have consequences.
*~*~*~*
| [amazon_link id=”B00IPSCM3W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] | BN | Crimson Romance | iTunes |
Blurb:
Hollywood fashion consultant Naomi Fisher is happy to use her obsessive-compulsive planning to assist with her cousin’s wedding, but her history with the sexy and sullen Chayton Chambers, the groom’s brother, terrifies her. When the groom is kidnapped at his own wedding, Chayton and Naomi rush to find an important relic to satisfy the ransom before her cousin becomes a widow before a bride. Naomi trades garters for guns as survival, and love becomes a deadly game impossible to resist.
Information about the book:
Title: Fatal Snag
Author: Angela Smith
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: 17 March 2014
Publisher: Crimson Romance
About the Author:
During her senior year in high school, Angela Smith was dubbed most likely to write a novel, and that has been her dream ever since her mother read Brer Rabbit to her and her sister so often that they were able to recite it back to each other before actually learning to read. She’s always enjoyed stories about the adventure of love, and getting involved in the legal field developed her love of suspense. A certified paralegal, work gives her perfect fodder for her romantic suspense stories. When not caring for her small farm or spending time with her husband of two decades, she enjoys creating, reading, and dreaming of the places she’ll visit one day.
Angela Smith LOVES talking to readers. You can contact her in the following ways:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSmith
Twitter – https://twitter.com/angelaswriter
Goodreads – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7173505.Angela_Smith
Website – http://www.loveisamystery.com
Email – angela@loveisamystery.com
by Sarah | Mar 19, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Thursday Tell All, Writing
Paterson Evening News, July 31, 1913
AN INTERVIEW WITH SARAH BRESSLER
Reporter’s introduction: Sarah Bressler is one of our most distinguished and controversial citizens. As an indefatigable fighter for woman suffrage, child welfare and reproductive freedom Sarah is revered by women and reviled by many men. The Paterson Evening News is delighted Sarah has graciously accepted our request for an interview.
Reporter: Sarah, I would like to start at the beginning. When did you arrive in America?
I was born in 1885 in Lebau, Latvia. I immigrated to Paterson, New Jersey with my parents in 1902. Unlike many immigrants, I was fluent in English. My father was a school teacher and taught me. I had worked with my father and planned to become a teacher to help other immigrants.
Reporter: What happened to make you put off your plan to teach?
I fell in love, married, and my dreams died.
Reporter: How did falling in love destroy your dreams?
My husband, Abraham, was also from Lebau but left at age thirteen to avoid being drafted into the Czar’s army. I was three and barely remembered him except for thinking how tall he was. As I said, my father was a teacher and Abraham was one of his students. When we met again in Paterson of course he was still tall, but he was also very handsome and a charmer. He said he loved me and respected me and we married.
Reporter: That still doesn’t explain how your dream died.
Abraham had told me he felt the same way I did about the new calling of a modern woman. We had our first child right away, and I wanted to go back to teaching after he was born, but he demanded I stay home and take care of his house and his child.
Reporter: Isn’t that what wives are supposed to do?
Sarah frowned and exhaled sharply: Isn’t it interesting that men think that way until their family needs money, then they allow, or should I say demand, their wives go to work in the silk mills. I guess most women would envy me. My husband is a man of means and I didn’t have to work. Anyway, I acceded to his demands for eight years, bearing 4 sons.
Reporter: When did things change for you? How did you get so involved with woman suffrage?
Sarah: By accident. Newly arrived immigrants from Lebau brought news that the Czar’s pogroms against the Jews were getting worse. Abe’s father had passed and my husband decided to go back and bring his mother to the United States. I was really scared about his going, but he was a stubborn man and wouldn’t listen to me.
Reporter: You were scared that he would be killed?
Sarah: Of course.
Reporter: Because your children would grow up without a father?
Sarah: Certainly, but worse. My husband’s business depended solely on him. He did not own a mill. He was a jobber. He bought and sold silk yarn. Without him there was no business. If he were to befall an accident how could I support five children―
Reporter: Didn’t you say you had four children?
Sarah: I was pregnant with my fifth.
Reporter: Oh.
Sarah: As I was saying, how could I support five children on a teacher’s salary―
Reporter: And you would have to give up this big house and return to the tenements.
Sarah: I resent that question. I lived in the tenements before I was married. Many of my friends still live in the tenements.
Reporter: I’m sorry.
Sarah: You’re forgiven. What I was afraid of mostly was that my older children would have to go to work in the mills. You know what happens to children in the mills.
Reporter: Of course.
Sarah: Their hands get mangled in the looms. They get lung illness from the toxic fumes in the dye houses.
Reporter: Is that why you also became active to restrict child labor as well as fighting for woman suffrage?
Sarah: Yes. I wanted the same protection for all children, not just those of wealthy families.
Reporter: Let’s get back to how you began your campaigns.
Sarah: I started when Abe was away. I had a young girl helping me with the housework. I was able to leave the house for an hour or two to go to the market. But I couldn’t leave four rambunctious children with her for long. But one day I saw a sign about a suffrage meeting. I went. I decided right then that I was going to get involved no matter what my husband said. And I did.
Reporter: Weren’t you worried about what your husband would say when he got home?
Sarah: Of course, and to tell you the truth, I didn’t think I could become active in the movement because of him. Like I said, he is very insistent on the proper place for his wife. And now I was also going to have an elderly person in the house to care for.
Reporter: But of course you did become active.
Sarah: As it turned out, his mother was the one who allowed me to immerse myself into Paterson’s suffrage movement.
Reporter: How so?
Sarah: My mother-in-law was not feeble like I thought she would be. She had raised five sons. She knew how to handle rambunctious boys and was a great help tending to her grandchildren. For the first time since I married I felt like a free woman. I was able to attend meetings and I even held strategy meetings in my house. Did I tell you Alice Paul was in town one day and came to my house?
Reporter: Alice Paul! She’s quite the revolutionary. Wasn’t she arrested in England when she was part of Emmeline Pankhurst’s radical suffrage group?
Sarah: Yes she was.
They fell into a strained silence while the reporter wrote on his pad. Looking back at Sarah he asked: And you did all this without your husband getting suspicious?
Sarah: He worked all day. He obviously thought I was home taking care of his mother and the children.
Reporter: His mother said nothing?
Sarah: She thought what I was doing was wonderful.
Reporter: Eventually your husband did discover what you were doing. How?
Sarah: When I was arrested. I thought he was going to explode. Would you like some tea?
Although anxious to hear the rest of her story, the reporter acquiesced to the break: Yes, thank you.
*~*
| [amazon_link id=”B003BVJFJW” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] |
SILK LEGACY has been called:
“An Epic Family Saga”
“A Tumultuous Love Story”
“A Slice of American History”
Jealousy, infidelity, arrogance, greed—the characters’ titanic struggles will catapult you into the heights of their euphoria and the depths of their despair. Who will triumph and who will be humbled is not certain until the last page.
EXCERPT FROM SILK LEGACY:
Set up: 1904, Abe and Sarah were on their first date. They had been on the chasm bridge marveling at the great waterfall when she said she wanted to see his bar. (Abe owned a bar before getting into the silk business.) Abe was reluctant at first. It wasn’t a place for a proper woman, but Sarah insisted. The following is a piece of the dialogue once they got to the bar.
“Can I see your apartment?” Sarah asked. (Note: His apartment was above the bar)
….
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone I was up there.”
….
As she moved around the living room, she ran her finger tips over the silk upholstery and silk draperies, barely caressing them, as she would a delicate flower whose petals might break off if touched too hard.
….
Sarah stared at the Edison phonograph. “I wish we had one of those.”
“Would you like to hear it?”
“Oh, yes.”
….
“Sounds raspy, doesn’t it?” Abe asked. “Not like real singing.”
“I love it. I love all the new inventions.”
“The world is a thrilling place,” he said.
….
“I want to act in a flicker,” she said.
“You’d radiate off the screen and delight everyone in the audience.”
“You make me blush.”
….
“When you smile your eyes sparkle like the mist from the falls that bursts up into the rays of the morning sun.”
She dropped her eyes and reached out to the wing chair for support.
“Do you want to see the rest of the apartment?”
Raising her eyes to meet his, she said, barely louder than a whisper, “Yes.”
He opened the door to the master bedroom. She looked in and absently said, “Interesting uniforms your bar-maids wear.” She glanced at her chest. “I wonder how I would look in one of them?”
“All the men would want only you to wait on them,” he said.
“You think I have enough to fill it out?”
….
His eyes drifted over the curves of her body. You certainly have enough to fill out any dress, he thought, imagining her bare breasts, round and firm, their rosy nipples taut as he suckled them. He moved his head to her cheek, inhaling her essence, so fresh and clean. He kissed her ever so lightly.
She didn’t jump away, but turned to face him. “Your mustache tickles.”
“You don’t like it?”
“No, I think it’s handsome. It makes you look very distinguished.”
Their lips, slowly, cautiously came together. Abe opened his mouth, drawing her lips apart with his. He touched her tongue with his. She pulled back, but only for a moment before following his lead.
*~*
Richard Brawer writes mystery, suspense and historical fiction novels. When not writing, he spends his time sailing and exploring local history. He has two married daughters and lives in New Jersey with his wife.
Read more about SILK LEGACY and all Richard’s books at his website: www.silklegacy.com
SILK LEGACY is available on Kindle and any e-reader, computer, Apple or Android device that has a Kindle APP, or any tablet that can access Kindle books. (Note: Although not self published the book is no longer available in print as the publisher has gone out of business.)
The Price is $2.99
by Sarah | Mar 12, 2014 | Character Interview, Guest Authors, Thursday Tell All, Writing
- What is your story?
I’m the heir to a banking empire headquartered in Boston. I met the love of my life before I was old enough to accept that’s who she was. I lost her and spent the last few years looking for her.
- Do you have any special strengths?
I have the ability to go after what I want with single-minded determination until I get it.
- Do you have any special weaknesses?
Unfortunately, that strength could be considered a weakness if what I want and what I need are two different things.
- Did you ever meet any other family members? Who were they? What did you think of them?
My father died when I was very young so I don’t remember very much about him. He was a banker, a very important man so he was always dressed well. He was very stern. I don’t think I ever remember seeing him smile. But he loved my mother. I remember he would bring home a flower to her every day, even in winter. I always thought he was a magician, until I grew up and realized that anything could be bought, even in winter.
- What is your worst childhood memory?
The day my father died. I wasn’t there when it happened, but I remember coming home to see my mother sitting in the front parlor. It’s where she would wait for him every afternoon. She already knew. I didn’t know yet, but the look on her face was terrifying. I’d never seen it look so empty, so devoid of anything. You have to understand, my mother is a talker and very animated. It was so unlike her to be so still. I still remember that moment.
- What is more important – sex or intimacy? Why?
For a long time I thought sex was more important. Where I come from women only want two things from me: my name and my money. If they can’t have the first, they’re more than happy to enjoy the second. I never thought intimacy, real intimacy, was possible. The one time I caught a glimpse of it…it scared the hell out of me. Now I know better.
- What’s the worst thing you’ve done to someone you loved?
- What one act in your past are you most ashamed of? What one act in your past are you most proud of?
Leaving Charity is both the worst thing I’ve done to someone and the one act I’m most ashamed of. I ran from her love because I was a coward, I was afraid. I didn’t even have a good reason.
I’m most proud of the work I’ve done to bring my uncle to justice.
- What trait do you find most admirable, and how often do you find it?
Honesty. I’ve found that very few people are actually capable of it.
- What one word best describes you?
Determined
- How private of a person are you? Why?
I’m a very private person. I’m a Davenport, so people have always expected me to play a certain role. Playboy, gambler. When I was younger, I found it easier to play along than to allow them to know the real me.
- What would you wish for if you found a genie?
I don’t make wishes. I prefer to make things happen.
*~*~*~*
| [amazon_link id=”B00GPDYNRW” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Amazon[/amazon_link] | BN |
Blurb:
Montana Territory, 1887
Heiress-turned-outlaw Charity Blake is determined to get back the fortune the Davenport banking family took from her father—even if she has to hold Brent Davenport ransom to do it! After all, the seductive charmer stole something even more valuable from her five years ago: her heart. But once she has Brent in chains, Charity must face the fact that her desire for the man has grown from the sweet dreams of a young girl to the unquenchable passion of a woman. And soon it’s not clear whether she’s the captor, or the captive….
Excerpt:
“Don’t worry, folks. We ain’t here for yer valuables, just the money in the vault.” Charity’s contrived accent came out deep and loud to make it past the muffling barrier of the scarf covering the lower half of her face and to hide her cultured Bostonian intonation.
As she spoke, her partners took their appointed positions. Elle had come in through the back door and quietly made her presence known, while Dew moved to disarm the men in the room, quickly establishing a stack of revolvers in the far corner.
“Get up and open the vault.” Charity barked the order to the manager.
He sputtered for a moment as if he might argue and looked at the customer sitting across the desk from him. Had she not been watching so closely, Charity would have missed the almost imperceptible nod from the man that gave the manager the courage to get on his feet. Hands still in the air, he walked his wiry frame to the vault, which sat in plain view behind the row of clerks, and stopped there, afraid to proceed.
“Th-the key is on my belt.” He explained, hands still in the air. His gaze went from her to the customer left sitting at his desk.
Charity followed his gaze and found herself looking at a broad pair of shoulders encased in a fine wool coat. The coat was impeccably tailored, not the roughspun typically found this far outside of the town of Helena. A banking official was her first thought, but that didn’t explain why her heart was suddenly threatening to pound out of her chest and the blood had gone cold in her veins. The girl who had long ago been banished to areas deep in her subconscious had already recognized the set of those shoulders. She knew that thick, sable hair brushed back in a style that had been entirely too long for Boston society but was a trademark of his contemptuous nature.
*~*
Author bio
Harper St. George was raised in the rural backwoods of Alabama and along the tranquil coast of northwest Florida. It was a setting filled with stories of the old days that instilled in her a love of history, romance, and adventure. By high school, she had discovered the historical romance novel which combined all of those elements into one perfect package. She has been hooked ever since.
She lives in Atlanta, GA with her husband and two young children. Look for her short story in the upcoming Romance Writers of America anthology. She would love to hear from you. Please visit her website at harperstgeorge.com.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/harperstgeorge
Twitter: @HarperStGeorge
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/harperstgeorge
Blurb
