Friday, October 15, 2010

Welcome back Nancy Lennea

Please welcome back Nancy Lennea. She’s got a couple of new books coming out and she’s here to tell us about Destiny’s Mountain.

What can you tell us about your new book?
I created a romantic suspense that incorporates scenery and location as an integral part of the plot. DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN also includes a hint of gothic mystery since I filled my story with stalkers, a murder, mountain rescues, ghostly voices, and sexy romance. It takes place in a quirky college town that is nestled between a river and mountains in northern New Hampshire.

What is your writing routine like? Do you find time to write every day?
I am fortunate in that writing is my current profession and it is up to me each day to get my b*tt in the chair. A few years ago, not the case. I worked outside the home as a 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher when I began writing. I’d use a pencil and pad during breaks then rush home and type it into my computer. People at work helped with the story by editing, sharing ideas, and giving me the confidence to keep at it. Is it any wonder I have dedicated this book to them? After selling our NH home, we moved to North Carolina to be near family. My hubby goes to work and I write. It is my dream come true!

Last time you visited, you mentioned you believed in writing organizations. Still true?
Absolutely! I could not have done this—selling five manuscripts in a little over one year—without the organizations I have joined. Romance writers of America is the biggest. They supply their members with a varied system in order to help young writers, struggling published writers, and even old pros. My local chapter, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, has 137 members and a great mix of men and women, old and young, and we have fantastic, helpful, and fun monthly meetings. On Saturday Oct. 16th our own Sabrina Jeffries will speak along with her agent Pamela Ahearn during an all day workshop. Next month’s talk on November 13th (my birthday!) will feature the Borders Romance Book Buyer, Sue Grimshaw. (find out more at www.heartofcarolina.org) I also belong to a few on-line chapters. Even my two publishers have author loops where we can chat and ask questions and pat each other on the back. Belonging to writing organizations is worth it!

Describe the genre of this book. Is this the only genre you write in?
Due to the intrigue I have wrapped around my characters, I deemed DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN a romantic suspense. Romance is, first and foremost, the basis, but I didn’t want to make the path toward true love too easy for Jacob and Destiny. There are several—read, dozens—of dark moments. My previous release from Red Rose Publishing, SECRET LOVE MATCH, was a more simplified contemporary story about romance between two individuals who were not out to find love. My latest release from Whispers Publishing, DRAGON’S CURSE, is a historical paranormal set on an island off the coast of Scotland. Totally different! I write what comes to my head. I create a story when a certain character demands attention. Crazy, but it works for me.

Having recently achieved your goal to be a published writer, what’s next?
I signed that first contract with Red Rose Publishing in August of 2009. I signed with Whispers Publishing last March. Three books are out. UNWRAPPING CHRIS, a contemporary short story set on an army base, is due out in December from Whispers and I have sold another romantic suspense to Red Rose. I believe in the power of the electronic publishing world, but still enjoy the feel of a book in my hand. I hope to someday have a book in print. So, I’ll keep writing.

What are you working on right now?
My sister and I visited my parents down in Florida back in August and, while enjoying the pool, we started talking about a newly expanded art museum that reopened near our homes in North Carolina. We started throwing out ideas for a paranormal that will include some of the twenty-nine bronze statues by Auguste Rodin. I am working through that book and have come up with some amazing characters and enough of a story arc to create a trilogy. So, in between promoting my current releases and editing my upcoming sales, I will get it done and out to agents. Still looking for an agent.


BOOK BLURB

In a quirky college town surrounded by the mountains of New Hampshire new art history professor, Jacob Oliver, hikes a trail on a crisp September morning. He contemplates his life. Divorced and forced out of his job with the Boston Police due to a horrific accident, he spots a naked woman beneath a majestic waterfall. Escaping, he falls and reinjures his knee.

Destiny Blake hears a noise; someone is on her mountain. She finds a handsome man sitting in the mud. Love blooms and lust consumes them after she helps him to the safety of her cabin. Soon, assumptions pull them apart, leaving her vulnerable to the unwanted attentions of other men.

When Jacob decides he cannot live without her, he must save her from a madman who chases her up her mountain through the cold, snowy darkness of a November night. Ghostly voices push Jacob onward, and urge Destiny to fight back. Pain, hypothermia, and death threaten before the sun rises. Can Destiny and Jacob make it off Destiny's mountain...alive?

EXCERPT

With all the noise, Jacob barely caught her name. Branches cracked and leaves rustled, while small animals high-tailed it out of her way. Chattering squirrels raced up huge pines, and several rabbits hopped past him and his stump. He spied small flashes of tan skin and blonde braid, and his aching body immediately reacted.

God, this girl would make a dead man hard.

When she reappeared with a long branch, he couldn’t look away. She wore no makeup. She didn’t need any. Delicate gold earrings hung from dainty ears, and she had the deepest blue eyes imaginable.

He let his gaze slide down her body, and glimpsed squared shoulders and taut muscles under her mud-spattered, yellow shirt. Two taut nipples jutted out, the soft fabric barely concealing their beauty.

“She’s braless,” he sputtered.

“Did you say something?”

The young woman stopped in front of him. His cock went rigid as a tree trunk, adding a different sort of pain to the mix.

“No, just clearing my throat.”

There’s a time and place for a throbbing erection. This isn’t it.

He hadn’t even shared a regular conversation with this woman. He required her help, so he’d better not scare her away.

“Just breathe and relax,” he muttered. These irrational thoughts could turn into a problem. Air whistled past clenched teeth with an irregularity not caused by his injury.

 He turned away, but kept one eye on her while she peeled twigs and dry leaves off a five-foot-long tree branch.

No panty lines, either.

She must have jumped into her clothes to chase me down. Brave, or just plain stupid? What if I was a rapist or a serial killer?

His mind blanked out on the present situation with swift intensity. Jacob’s brain suddenly relived that long ago horrible night even though he didn’t want to remember the sobbing, near-dead woman he found lying in an alley…


A little bit about Nancy

Nancy grew up on New York’s Long Island then attended school in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. She worked during college in the dining hall while earning a degree in art education. She met her husband at college and they raised a family in nearby Rumney. She volunteered as an EMT/firefighter then worked for the State of New Hampshire as a 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher. Nancy now writes full time, lives in North Carolina, and is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Celtic Heart Romance Writers, and Sisters-in-Crime. She also writes paranormal romance, such as DRAGON’S CURSE, as Nancy Lee Badger. Find out more at www.nancyleebadger.com.

DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN is available now from
Red Rose Publishing at www.RedRosePublishing.com.
The buy link is: http://bit.ly/a4NOHE
Visit my website at: www.nancylennea.com
Visit my blog at: www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com

Have a great weekend everyone! I'm heading to Austria for the weekend so I'll have some pics next week.

1 comments:

Nancy Lee Badger said...

Thanks for having me, Riley. I look forward to your next book, too.

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