Posts in the Romantic Suspense genre

Exclusive Excerpt, Giveaway

Exclusive Excerpt + GIVEAWAY: DUSK by Maureen A. Miller

Dusk Maureen A Miller

As a young girl, Amanda Newton witnessed the brutal murder of her parents. As an adult she is targeted by their murderer.

Beautiful. Reserved. Mysterious. Amanda Newton, the CEO of BLUE-LINK, epitomizes control with her adept handling of the global company. But that control is threatened with a series of attacks against her.

Ray Gordon, a former Navy SEAL is looking to open his own security firm. One more contracting job with BLUE-LINK would complete the funding. When he is hired to protect Amanda Newton, the Ice Queen herself, he never bargained on falling for her.

Amanda has something her attacker wants. He has waited over twenty years to claim it, and he will destroy anyone close to her to get it.

…but he’s met his match in Ray Gordon.

This is a standalone novel. You do not have to read the others in the series.

What is BLUE-LINK?
BLUE-LINK is a fictional global company run by the enigmatic, Amanda Newton, a woman whose signature accessory is a blue diamond ring. The company is designed to assess risk for start-up entrepreneurs in foreign countries. Each book in this series is standalone and features the romance and danger encountered by the employees and associates of BLUE-LINK.

Shadow Mist Dusk Maureen A Miller

Excerpt:

Amanda sat at her office desk with her arms crossed atop the mahogany surface. She glared at the oversized monitor facing her. A grid of six faces stared back, some diffident, some determined. In the upper right-hand corner, Claudia Eichmann from the Berlin office knit her copper eyebrows together as she spoke over the others. Her words were a split-second behind the movement of her lips due to the video conferencing software.

“You are the head of this company. The backbone. The heart. What if something were to happen to you?”

An imperceptible flaring of Amanda’s nostrils might disclose her heavy sigh. “Each of you is fully capable of running BLUE-LINK. You are directors. You are the heart and backbone of your branch. You are my panel of advisors, and I only surround myself with skilled personnel.”

“We appreciate that,” Claudia continued, “but I am sure I speak for the others here in saying that we’re certainly not your equal. None of us would have wanted to take on that Eclipse lawsuit. At the end of the day, it is your company, and you are the one personally vested.”

Several heads bobbed in agreement.

“You need personal security,” Benjamin Forsyth from Australia inserted. “Not a seventy-five year old man.”

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Guest Post

Guest Post: “What Is It About Look-Alikes?” By Mari Manning

Stranger in My House Mari Manning

I became fascinated with the notion of look-alikes or doppelgangers when, at the tender age of 13, I read The Scapegoat by Daphne DuMaurier. In the story a cruel French aristocrat and a mild-mannered British school teacher run into each other in a small French inn and, recognizing they are identical, enjoy dinner together. At some point they trade clothes, and they drink too much, and the school teacher passes out. The next morning the school teacher is mistaken for the Comte and born off to the family chateau. Thus begins the adventure.

What I loved most about the story how much one could learn about someone just by stepping into their lives for a brief time. We don’t see much of the Comte, but by the end of the book we know everything about him, even the darkness living in his soul. The other characters tell us everything we need to know just by the way they relate to him.

None of us will ever find a doppelganger to trade places with, and even if we could, would we want someone else sleeping with our spouse, raising our children or spending our money. Probably not. But sometimes, when I’ve had a rough day, I wouldn’t mind living another life just for a week or two—especially if it involved a French chateau.

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Guest Post

Guest Post: “How I Bucked Family Tradition and Became a Federal Agent and a Romance Writer” by Tee O’Fallon

Burnout Tee O'Fallon

I am the black sheep in a family of severely intelligent overachievers. My mother, father, and brother have collectively amongst them three bachelors degrees, three masters degrees (two in geophysics, one in mechanical engineering), one PhD in geophysics, and one MD. And then there’s me. The fed.

I went to college then dropped out first semester of my sophomore year. Ironic, but if I hadn’t dropped out, I wouldn’t have graduated. At first read, that sentence probably doesn’t make sense to you, but dropping out for a term reaffirmed that I did, indeed, want to go back to school and finish my degree. I bartended a bit on the side for cash and fun then bounced around from being an architecture major, to a geology major, before settling on environmental science. But somewhere inside, I knew science wasn’t for me in the long run. Science was interesting, no doubt, and it was in my blood, but I was fighting my natural inclination. Until I took that hundred-question test they offer you in college to help you figure out what you want to be when you grow up. Still kinda working on that, by the way.

I took the test. Shock of all shocks, seemed like everything I liked was about law enforcement. Plus, Adam-12 reruns were my favorite show. Kent McCord was such a hottie. And lordy, did that man age well! But I digress, so back to fighting my natural inclination.

I graduated, got good grades, and did work for a bit in the sciences for an unnamed federal agency in New York City. There I became intrigued by the locked door on the second floor. Someone finally told me:  That’s where all the federal agents are. How intrigued was I? Enough to get an interview with the Special Agent in Charge of that unnamed agency. Sadly, they weren’t hiring at the time, but the agency across the river in New Jersey was. I got another interview, got hired, and went to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, GA. I left there with another new diploma, along with a shiny gold badge, handcuffs, and a gun. I’ve been a fed ever since.

So how did I stray down the path toward becoming a Romance writer?

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Swoon-Worthy Heroes

Swoon-Worthy Heroes: Chief Logan Richards from HE KILLS ME, HE KILLS ME NOT by Lena Diaz

In the first of her Deadly Games series, He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not,
He Kills Me, He Kills Me Not by Lena Diaz author Lena Diaz gives us a terrifying serial killer, the one victim who got away, and the tough, no nonsense police chief determined to catch the killer and protect the victim, Amanda. omg yes

Logan, like any cop, has reasons for the decisions he’s made in his career. When he moves back to Shadow Falls to become Chief of Police, he has no idea he’s going to end up on the trail of a killer who has been operating for years under the radar, a killer with only one living victim. The minute Logan and Amanda meet, there is an instant attraction, and Logan vows to do anything to protect her…even sacrificing his own life.

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Autumn Thorns Yasmine Galenorn
Q&A

Q&A: Anne Calhoun of UNDER THE SURFACE

Under The Surface Anne Calhoun

Today we take a peek into the mind of Anne Calhoun, author of the ever-so-steamy Alpha Ops series! Her latest installment, Under the Surface, is out now!

FAVORITE MOVIES:

What are your five favorite movies with romance or romantic elements?

Persuasion

Pride and Prejudice (1995)

Bridget Jones’ Diary

Sense and Sensibility

Bright Star (a romance with a very unhappy ending, but gorgeously filmed)

Describe your favorite scene from each one.

Persuasion: The scene where Wentworth hands Anne up into the carriage when he sees she’s tired. So thoughtful, and he can’t bear to look at her afterwards.

Pride and Prejudice: The scene where Darcy scurries to catch up with Elizabeth after the wet shirt scene. We see how far he’s come, that he’s willing to be caught in such an undignified situation but then go after her.

Bridget Jones’ Diary: the fight scene between Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy. It’s ridiculous to watch these two Cambridge-educated men scrabble around in an attempt to hurt each other. So funny.

Sense and Sensibility: When Colonel Brandon staggers in, soaked to his skin, carrying Marianne, then collapses to his knees with exhaustion. “Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad.” So controlled. So in love.

Bright Star: the scene where Keats and Fanny Brawne are sitting together, touching each other’s hands.

Did you have any of these scenes in mind when writing scenes from your latest release?

Not a one!

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Exclusive Excerpt

Exclusive Excerpt: Paige Tyler on her Favorite Scene from TO LOVE A WOLF

To Love a Wolf Paige Tyler

What was your favorite scene to write for To Love a Wolf and why?

This is a seriously tough question since every scene in the book tells a critical part of the story, and without any of them the book would fall apart. But all that being said, if pressed, I’d have to say that it’s the opening scene of the book—the entire prologue really—which has a special place in my heart.

To understand why, you need to know two things.

One, my hubby and I write together. When you read those intense action sequences—or the parts where the SWAT team is bonding over a moment that most women would consider pure insanity—you need to understand that those scenes are his influence into the joint work.

Two, you need to know that my husband spent twenty-one years in Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), better known as the bomb squad. Before I even go one step further, he wants me to point out that he’d never been asked to do anything even close to what occurs in the beginning of To Love a Wolf—thank God! But he did know many men and woman who were asked to take The Long Walk—manually approaching a suspect package known as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). And some of them never came back from that Walk.

Because of this and his connection to these people that he knew so well, he refused to even consider putting an EOD guy in any of the books we wrote for nearly ten years. It just never seemed right to him, and he couldn’t bring himself to even start the story.

But with Cooper’s story I think he finally got to a place where he felt it was okay to go back and think about people whose names are now listed on a memorial wall at the Joint Service EOD School.

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Guest Post

Guest Post: “Sit in the Chair and Write” by M.L. Buchman

Flash of Fire M.L. Buchman

Writing is a curious profession.

We humans are social animals. We work better in groups: whether hunting on African plains (something I’ve never done) or brainstorming in a corporate meeting (something I’ve done far too much of). We are more effective when we work together.

Yet writing drives us into a corner and says, “Sit alone and write.”

They say it is the profession of introverts.

I’m beginning to think that it is rather a profession that creates introverts.

I was a much more social animal in the past. I’m not the wildly out-going sort, but I did enjoy dinner parties, going to movies or a party with friends, spending a day out on a sailboat with a merry group. Over the last few decades of writing, I’ve found myself more and more comfortable being alone and by myself. I no longer am energized by the crowd and the feeling of intense activity.

I’m not becoming curmudgeonly.

I’m becoming a writer.

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Guest Post

Guest Post: Katee Robert on Marriages of Convenience in Romance

The Wedding Pact Katee Robert

The arranged marriage tropes is, hands down, one of my favorites. I found the romance genre with historicals, because one of my favorite suspense authors had started there. So I picked up one of her Scottish Highlander historical romances about a highlander who was being forced to marry someone not of his choosing. My twelve-year-old mind was blown. I proceeded to devour every historical romance I could get my hands on, and that love of romance hasn’t changed as the years have gone by.

But I’m not going to lie—the marriage of convenience trope is still my favorite.

It’s got elements that are just catnip for me. Two people, often who either hate each other or don’t know each other at all, forced into what is arguably one of the most intimate relationships in existence. They had to deal with living with this near-stranger, and all the sexy good times that usually result!

I wasn’t sure it could get better than that. But then I started finding marriage of convenience tropes popping up in contemporary romance novels. The reasoning behind the marriages themselves changed with the times—less because they were found in compromising positions and more for things like business mergers—but the things I love about the trope are still present and accounted for.

A favorite of mine is The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst. Both hero and heroine get something from marrying each other that has nothing to do with love, but then you have this cold and distant hero who’s having to deal with a woman who has the habit of sneaking animals into his house without warning in an effort to save them from being put down. I’m sure you can imagine the hilarity that ensues.

And that’s not even getting into the sheer sexual tension that arises from the forced proximity of having this other person in their house, sharing their space, popping up when they least expect it. Something that used to be as simple as having late night ice cream in the kitchen is suddenly rife with the possibilities of running into each other and for one thing to lead to another.

As I’ve said—catnip.

What about you? Which book with a marriage of convenience is your favorite?

Katee RobertKatee Robert learned to tell stories at her grandpa’s knee. Her favorites then were the rather epic adventures of The Three Bears, but at age twelve she discovered romance novels and never looked back.

Though she dabbled in writing, life got in the way—as it often does—and she spent a few years traveling, living in both Philadelphia and Germany. In between traveling and raising her two wee ones, she had the crazy idea that she’d like to write a book and try to get published.

Her first novel was an epic fantasy that, God willing, will never see the light of day. From there, she dabbled in YA and horror, before finally finding speculative romance. Because, really, who wouldn’t want to write entire books about the smoking-hot relationships between two people?

She now spends her time—when not lost in Far Reach worlds—playing imaginary games with her wee ones, writing, ogling men, and planning for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Steals & Deals

Deal Alert: Susan Kearney, Katie Cross, and Addison Moore

We bring you this Deal Alert with a satisfied sigh. Not to brag, but our sales sniffing prowess goes from the clothing rack straight to the bookshelf! We’ve found some amazing FREE and almost FREE titles from Susan Kearney, Katie Cross, and Addison Moore just for you. Enjoy!

The Challenge Susan Kearney
The Challenge by Susan Kearney

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Guest Post

Guest Post: Katie Ruggle on Forensics, Nerdery, and HOLD YOUR BREATH

Hold Your Breath by Katie Ruggle

When I started working on a police Crime Scene Team, I discovered something: I’m a forensics nerd. On the first day of training, a whole world opened up, one overflowing with the possibility of evidence. No fingerprints? Then check for shoe prints. No? Let’s try DNA. Or maybe fibers or gun powder residue or bullet casings or anything else that could have been left behind at the scene.

The processes available fascinated me. At one burglary scene, we found a pair of used latex gloves. The burglar’s fingerprints could be on the inside of the gloves, but how could they be retrieved? After (very carefully) turning each finger inside out, we hung them in a Plexiglas container with a small amount of superglue and secured the airtight lid. When we heated the superglue, a fog-like vapor filled the space.

The superglue vapor attached to what the person wearing the gloves had left behind (amino acids, fatty acids and proteins), leaving a white residue that followed the lines of the latent prints. In this way, the invisible became visible and told us who’d been wearing the gloves (in this case, the home owner. It turned out that he’d faked the burglary to get insurance money).

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