Romeo and Juliet— Happily Ever After

Paranormal Romance and NYT bestselling author, Caridad Piñeiro, is my guest today. Her topic is about her fascination with the story of Romeo and Juliet and her new Sin Hunters series, and The Claimed. 

                When I wrote THE LOST, I knew it was intended to be a story about two people who were both coming to terms with who they were.  For Adam Bruno, it was about finding out why he had unusual powers and what to do with them.  For Bobbie Carrera, it was about finding her place in life now that she’s come home wounded from Iraq.

                As I was putting the finishing touches on THE LOST, I had no doubt who would be the hero of the next book in the series – THE CLAIMED.  I loved Christopher Sombrosa and knew that even though he was a Shadow Hunter, there was goodness within him.  I also knew that his role as the leader of the Shadows would not be an easy one.  In fact, it would be life threatening.

                But I also knew that the woman Christopher would come to love would also present a major challenge.  Why?  Because as I let the story ideas for THE CLAIMED percolate in my head, it occurred to me that this story had to be a paranormal, modern-day version of Romeo and Juliet.

                I guess that makes sense since over the years, I’ve loved multiple versions of Shakespeare’s tragedy.  My first love of it was Zefferilli’s Romeo and Juliet with Len Whiting (one of my first crushes).  Len could really fill out those tights nicely.

Then there was West Side Story, a more modern tale of based on the Bard’s famous play.  I loved the Sharks and the Jets and all that singing, even if there was no happily-ever-after.

Last but not least, Shakespeare in Love.  So funny and sexy and smart.  More love for men in tights since John Fiennes was sooooo sexy.

With all those sad tales of woe in my brain, I had no doubt that Shadow Hunter Christopher could only fall in love with the absolute worst woman for him – Light Huntress Victoria Johnson – a woman who is supposed to be Christopher’s mortal enemy.

There’s just one big difference between all those other tragedies and THE CLAIMED – a happily-ever-after.  But that happily-ever-after doesn’t come without a lot of war, death and huge sacrifices by many Light and Shadow Hunters.

I hope you’ll enjoy the tender and emotional scenes between two enemies who come to love one another, as well as the action-packed fight scenes between the Light and Shadow Hunters.  I had a blast of a time, literally, showing you all the different powers that the Hunters possess, including some very sexy powers!

Thanks for coming by.

 

• Since I’ve shared some of my favorite movies, take a moment to share with me some of yours.

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, BAM

THE CLAIMED (Sin Hunters)

Victoria Johnson loves her life. She's her own boss in a quaint beachside town, and has great friends who keep her grounded. If only they knew who she really is: an heiress to an ancient race who possesses astonishing superhuman powers. It's Victoria's duty to restore her clan of Light Hunters to their former glory by choosing the perfect mate. In Christopher Sombrosa, she just may have found him. Strong, smart, and successful, Christopher exudes a powerful energy. Their connection is sensual, irresistible-and forbidden. 

A member of the Shadow Hunter clan, Christopher has defied his own father to lead his people away from affliction and violence. Yet he cannot ignore his duty to carry on his ancient bloodline. Stunningly beautiful and brimming with an erotic life force, Victoria is everything Christopher ever hoped for in a mate . . . but as a Light Hunter, she's his mortal enemy. Together, they could unite their warring tribes. But murderous factions on both sides don't want peace-and they'll stop at nothing to keep light and darkness apart forever . . . EXCERPT

~*~*~

Caridad Piñeiro is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of paranormal romance and romantic suspense. Look for STRONGER THAN SIN, the second book in an exciting new paranormal romance series, on November 1 2010 from Grand Central Publishing. In 2007, a year marked by six releases from Harlequin and Pocket Books, Caridad was selected as the 2007 Golden Apple Author of the Year by the New York City Romance Writers. Caridad's novels have been lauded as the Best Short Contemporary Romance of 2001 in the NJ Romance Writers Golden Leaf Contest, Top Fantasy Books of 2005 and 2006 by CATALINA Magazine and Top Nocturne of 2006 by Cataromance. Caridad has appeared on various television shows, such as the FOX News Early Edition in New York, and articles featuring her novels have been published in several leading newspapers and magazines, such as CATALINA, the New York Daily News, NJ Monthly and the Star Ledger. For more information on Caridad, please visit http://www.caridad.com/ or http://www.thecallingvampirenovels.com/. Facebook Fan Page

READING OUTSIDE MY COMFORT ZONE—The Irish Healer

Plenty interesting topics to read today: A-Z Blogfest. Today's letter is P. You can find a list of participants Here.

Occasionally, when I can persuade her, author Kat Sheridan—lover of lush historicals—will contribute something for my readers. I love reading her reviews, articles, short stories, and I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did.

           In the interest of my almost pathological honesty, I should say I’m not the target audience for this book. Well, it IS romance (which I love), and every page is rich with historical detail and lush writing (which I also love), and it’s a tale of loss and redemption and yearning and passion and all those other sorts of things I ALSO adore in a book.

So why is The Irish Healer, the stunningly beautiful debut novel from NancyHerriman, not a novel I’d ordinarily read? Because it’s billed as “inspirational/Christian romance”. To the uneducated (like I was), that meant this book would be filled with the Bible, and Christian values, and I would be preached at on every page. Although I’m a spiritual person, I’m not a Christian. I’m also a published author of erotic romance. How much more “NOTD” (Not Our Type, Darling) could this book be? Therefore, this book was not for me.

            And I couldn't have been more wrong. 

Rachel Dunne—the Irish healer of the title—is running away. Although acquitted of murdering a child under her care, she’s come to London to escape the scandal of her past, vowing to give up her gift of healing, believing it’s really a curse. She finds work with Dr. James Edmunds, a man with tragedies of his own in his past, a physician who is also in the process of giving up his medical practice. Rachel vows only to work as a sort of secretary for him. She will not help him in medical matters, will not sit at the bedside of patients, will not trust or use her own special gifts.

James and Rachel have each in their own way given up on God, as they believe God has abandoned them. Here is one of my favorite scenes:

BUY:Amazon, B&N, Powells 

“I understand loss and trials and difficulties, Dr. Edmunds. I understand struggling to hold onto hope that tomorrow will be better than today. I understand how hard it is to watch a child suffer and feel powerless to help her. I understand wanting to believe that God will perform a miracle and feeling lost and disillusioned when He does not.” Old, sad bitterness tainted her words. “That is what I understand, Dr. Edmunds.”

His gaze searched her face, looked directly into her eyes, straight into her soul. “So what do we do now?”

Confused by his question, Rachel answered the only way she could. “We go forward.”

“But what if you don’t have the strength to go forward? What if you don’t have the courage?”

“Somehow, you have to find it.” (you can read an excerpt of Chapter one.)

Note the subtle way inspirational reference is woven in, without browbeating the reader with it (which was what I had feared from an inspirational romance. Again, I could not have been more wrong.) This is a book about the universal themes of loss and forgiveness, about finding redemption, and most powerfully, about finding love. It transcends a specific, single belief system. It’s about learning to forgive yourself, and love yourself; about accepting love and forgiveness from others. It is also about understanding—accepting—the always-present love and forgiveness of something—someone—greater than you.

The thing is, you don’t have to subscribe to certain beliefs in order to become immersed in a beautiful story. I can read about dragons and genies and mermaids, witches and voodoo priestesses and shamans, and if the story is well done, the characters believable and right for the tale, that writing a feast for the senses, that’s all that really matters. The Irish Healer is that kind of book.

And make no mistake, this is first and foremost, a romance, as sweet and delicious and sexy and yummy as you could ever want. There is no overt sex in this book; there’s barely a single kiss. But oh, the yearning! The longing! Ms. Herriman beautifully, powerfully builds the tension, page by page, a glance, a touch, a sigh at a time, until the reader is as wound up as Rachel and James, an ember about to burst into a conflagration. This is a truly romantic romance.

The power of faith is the backbone of this feast of a novel, but love—God’s and man’s—is the heart and soul of it. I’ve never been happier to have been wrong about something. Missing out on this wonderful book would have been a tragedy indeed.

Question: 

• Inspirational romance is way outside my usual comfort zone of reading. Have you ever read outside your comfort zone? 

• Did you find something new and wonderful?

Kat Sheridan is a recovering project manager and business analyst whose hard-bitten persona has always hidden a secret romantic. She likes her stories with a dark and dangerous flavor, so long as the villains are vanquished and true love triumphs in the end. She is inordinately fond of glitter nail polish, shiny things, bourbon, and any comestibles on which frosting can be placed. Kat splits her time between the Midwest in the summer and the South in the winter. Her peripatetic life is shared with her own real-life hero who shows her every day what happily ever after means. Connect to her on Facebook at or visit her website: Kat Sheridan 

MONDAY’S MUSINGS: Nuances Of Labradorite

I love nuances. The subtle layers of meanings or even alternate meanings of things. Like Labradorite.


Labra—what?

Is that a dog or something? 


Oops, wrong visual.

It falls into a something category. It’s a gemstone. An unusual one. 

Once upon a time, as legend has it, a northern hunter was stalking game on St. Paul Island, when he came upon a stone and earth bank. In it was a multitude of dazzling colors. He stabbed it with his spear and was amazed at the flow of beautiful colors escaping from the dull bank. Try as he might, he couldn’t release all the colors and that made him sad. Still, he rejoiced for those brilliant colors that did escape. The colors were grateful and forever more show their gratitude by decorating the night sky with radiant displays of color. 

And that, my friends, is the tale of how we got the aurora borealis.

Joshua Strang

And Labradorite.

Labradorite in the rough.

Labradorite is a spectrum or or translucent feldspar and falls into the category of what is known as iridescent gemstones. It means a gem displaying rainbow-like colors. The iridescence is caused by the reflection of light from the gem. Opals are and iridescent stone. Mother of Pearl is another example of iridescence.

Finnish Spectrolite

Another name for Labradorite is Spectrolite. The Finnish have dibs on the most brilliant and sought after forms of Labradorite. The gem takes its name from where it was found in the 1700s in Labrador. But it can be found in India, Madagascar, Newfoundland, and Russia.

Why am I interested in Labradorite?

Because it is also thought to be a stone of power (just as last week’s Heliotrope was), which is of particular interest to me for a series of stories I’m writing. It just so happens one of my main characters wears a pair of favorite earrings and they’re made from Labradorite.


I didn't even realize she wore earrings and I’m writing the story (Don't you just love it when characters do that to you?). I happen to take a nap and in that between state of sleep and awake, I saw her with a pair of earrings and knew her mother gave them to her. I went searching through my research and bingo! There they were. Funny how things work out, isn’t it? And it made me chuckle when I realized another facet of mystical meaning for Labradorite. 


It’s called a stone of destiny.

Labradorite is supposed to allow you to see through illusions and determine the actual form of your dreams. Its power gives the holder perseverance, strength, and enhanced intuition when experiencing conflict and change. 

I love it when research plays out.

Gemstones come with many layers of meaning beyond the obvious and Labradorite is no different. Now you know some of the mystical nuances of the stone beyond what it is and where it's found. J   

LOVING YOUR FAVORITE AUTHORS

It's our love of reading that has us visiting (or haunting) libraries, bookstores, book blogs, and online bookstores. Personally, for me, I would add visiting their websites because you can find amazing deals, excerpts, contests, and all sorts of extra goodies. If you're a writer, you first learned to love reading before you even considered writing.


What can we, readers, do to show love of our favorite author's work? Elisabeth Naughton shares some ways we can make a difference and ensure we're able to continue reading more from our favorites.

First of all, thanks so much for inviting me to stop by during my blog tour for ENRAPTURED. ENRAPTURED is the fourth book in my Eternal Guardians series and recently garnered a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was named a Top Ten Romance for Spring 2012.

One of the things authors struggle with is how to get their books into the hands of readers who want to read them. There are so many books out there right now to choose from–especially with the boom in the Indie market. Does online advertising work? Do blog tours work? Do giveaways work? We’re constantly asking ourselves this question because all of these things—as fun as they can be—take away from what writers love and want to do, which is write that next book. For me the hardest part of being a published author is balancing the promotion side of writing with the actual writing. It’s so easy to use up a whole day (like today!) doing promo for my most recent book when what I need to be doing is writing the next book in the series.

I get a lot of fan mail from readers telling me how much they love my books, and while I truly enjoy hearing from them and appreciate the fact they’ve taken the time to email me, I’ve started passing on information telling them what they can do to help me out. Whether readers want to “see” it or not, publishing is a business. Publishers don’t buy and publish books, series and authors that aren’t selling. And the only way for an author to increase her readership and guarantee there will be additional books down the line is to sell more books.

If you’re a reader (or a writer who also loves to read…which we all are), there are a number of things you can do to help your favorite author sell more books, thereby guaranteeing he/she will continue to write the stories you love.

1. Post a Review! Reviews help new readers find and buy books. If you love a series and want to see it continue, write a review so NEW readers can find the book too. Then publish your review at Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc. to guarantee it will be seen.

2. "Like" books on retail sites like Amazon. Overall rankings are based on a combination of "likes" and sales. The higher the ranking, the better odds new readers have to find the book and author.

3. Tell your friends! Give them a book to borrow, tell them about an amazing story or series. Talk about it via social media sites like Twitter and Facebook and your own blog (if you have one).

4.  Sign up for the Author's newsletter so you can find out when the next great book is released. If you already get an author's newsletter, forward it to a friend you think might be interested. 

5. Like the Author's Facebook page. Follow the author on Twitter. Get involved in their online community and spread your interest to your friends.

6. Join the Author's readers group - if the Author has one.

7. Form a street team – a group of readers who spread promo materials like bookmarks and trading cards to readers they think will love an author’s work.

Any and all of these things help authors spread the word about books AND guarantee those authors will keep writing the books you love. They also help cut down on the amount of promo authors have to do from one book to the next so they can focus on writing that next story you’re so eagerly waiting for.  If you’re a reader who wants to help an author continue writing, you can pick and choose from the list. All efforts are appreciated on the author’s side. Trust me!

Thank you so much to all the readers who have found my books, loved them and spread the word! And thanks to all the readers who have bought ENRAPTURED so far! For those who haven’t…what are you waiting for? Run out and buy it today!

Sourcebooks is giving away two copies of my latest release, ENRAPTURED, to two lucky commenters today. 

• Simply tell me what you've done lately to help spread the word about your favorite author or series.

ENRAPTURED BY ELISABETH NAUGHTON – IN STORES APRIL 2012

Orpheus—To most he's an enigma, a devil-may-care rogue who does whatever he pleases whenever he wants. Now this loose cannon is part of the Eternal Guardians—elite warriors assigned to protect the human realm—whether he likes it or not.

Orpheus has just one goal: to rescue his brother from the Underworld. He's not expecting a woman to get in the way. Especially not a Siren as gorgeous as Skyla. He has no idea she's an assassin sent by Zeus to seduce, entrap, and ultimately destroy him.

Yet Skyla herself might have the most to lose. There's a reason Orpheus feels so familiar to her, a reason her body seems to crave him. Perhaps he's not the man everyone thinks... The truth could reveal a deadly secret as old as the Eternal Guardians themselves. EXCERPT

><:><:><

A former junior high science teacher, Elisabeth Naughton traded in her red pen and test-tube set for a laptop and research books. She now writes sexy romantic adventure and paranormal novels full-time from her home in western Oregon, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards, including the prestigious RITA Awards of Romance Writers of America, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, the Golden Leaf, and the Golden Heart. When not writing, Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ball park, or dreaming up new and exciting adventures.
Visit her:
www.elisabethnaughton.com to learn more about her and her books. Her next book in the Eternal Guardians series, Enslaved, will be in stores in November 2012.

Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter

NUDITY… IT’S WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST.

JUDI Fennell is my guest today, Over Coffee. She's here to talk about her newest romance and how it came to be. Considering her topic I've decided to add Iced Coffee to today's coffee bar.

There’s a naked man in my kitchen.

(Don’t I wish!)

Sadly, there is no naked man in my kitchen at the moment. Which is probably a good thing, given all the teenagers milling about my first floor with their, “Mom, what’s for dinner?” “Is the laundry done?” “Can I have money for lunch tomorrow”-isms. Imagine their looks if there was a naked man in my kitchen. Especially one who looks like the cover model on my latest release.

Go ahead. Imagine. I’ll wait.

(You sooooooooo weren’t imagining the teenagers looking at him, now, were you? J)

Ladies, you were just perusing the fine form of Todd Best. Otherwise known as The Best. Name fits, doesn’t it?

So how does the naked man sentence above relate to Todd Best? Well, other than the fact that you probably wouldn’t mind seeing him naked… Todd is the hero of Beauty and The Best, the first release in my Once-Upon-A-Time Romance series. (And for the record, I came up with that title long before ABC put the show on the air. But of course I’m watching that show. It practically has Judi Fennell written all over it!)

Ahem, where was I? Oh, yes. Todd. He’s the hunky hero in the story, but when we first meet him, well, he’s not so heroic. He is however, hunky.

Naked and hunky.

Naked and hung over but still hunky.

Yeah, hung over. “What kind of romance novel hero is that?” you ask.

I’m hoping he’s one you’ll feel for. (No, not feel period, but feel for.) There’s a reason for his nudity and it’s a doozy. So please forgive him the hangover. Our heroine, Jolie, does.

Jolie Gardener is Todd’s new personal chef. The reason he has a personal chef is tied in with the hangover thing, but for the moment let’s just go with it. Jolie’s there, all ready to prepare his breakfast when Naked Guy walks in and gets her all flustered. Things start burning (read all the double entendres into that that you want) and breakfast is shot. So is Jolie’s composure. But from this, um, interesting beginning, a romance is born.

Beauty And The Best

Jolie Gardener, personal chef by day, aspiring romance writer by night,

likes to talk and does it a lot. She has to because if she stops, all the pain, disillusionment, and abandonment of her AWOL mother, question-mark father, and foster-care childhood will rise up like a chocolate soufflé on steroids, sweeping away the fragile infrastructure of her life.

But she's fine. Really. She is.

Or so she thinks. 

Todd Best isn't fine. He knows it. And doesn't care.

After his wife died—the woman who believed in him when he was a struggling artist—he put painting aside, moved from their home, and lost himself in the minutiae of daily life. 

Alone. Private. The way he likes it.

The last thing he needs is some chatty cook seeping into the perfectly bland canvas of his life.

Or so he thinks. 

So when Jonathan, a guardian-angel-in-training, turns himself into a kitten to help these two lonely souls find a happily ever after together, it ought to be a piece of cake.

Or so he thinks… Excerpt

Pick up Beauty and The Best at:

Amazon Barnes & Noble Smashwords 

This story holds a special place in my heart. I can’t say it’s my favorite story because, like my kids and my dogs (I’d say husbands, but since I have and only have had one, there’s no contest there), I don’t have favorites. But just as you like your kids for different reasons, so, too, do I have a special reason for liking this story.

It was in Romantic Times Magazine’s American Title contest. Then it went on to be the only romance in the Top 20 finalists of 2700 entries in the Gather.com/Simon & Schuster First Chapters contest. My writing got a lot of exposure (pun not intended, but I giggled, so you might as well, too) to the reading public, so much so that people have been emailing me for years asking me when this story would be published.

I can finally answer, “Now!”

Below is an excerpt from the story that you can’t get on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or any other online retailer, but if you want to check out the naked man in my kitchen scene, the links below will take you to the Look Inside/Sample feature on the sites.

What you won’t find out is why Todd’s naked. For that, you’ll have to read page—

Nah. You’ll have to read the whole thing because just like love scenes shouldn’t be read out of context, Big Reveal scenes shouldn’t be either. And, yes, I meant that pun.

Bon appétit!

CONTEST: JUDI FENNELL and DANA MARTON are doing a drawing for signed original manuscripts, tote bags, and a few other goodies for readers who LIKE both their FB pages. 

PRISM Award and Golden Leaf Award-winning author, Judi Fennell, has had her nose in a book and her head in some celestial realm all her life, including those early years when her mom would exhort her to “get outside!” instead of watching Bewitched or I Dream of Jeannie on television. So she did—right into Dad’s hammock with her Nancy Drew books.

These days she’s more likely to have her nose in her laptop and her head (and the rest of her body) at her favorite writing spot, but she’s still reading, whether it be her latest manuscript or friends’ books.

Author of “fairy tales with a twist,” pun-filled, tongue-in-cheek, contemporary paranormal romances, starting with the Tritone Trilogy about Mermen and the Humans who love them, her Bottled Magic Series about genies and magic and falling in love, and now her Once-Upon-A-Time Romances, those twisted fairy tales that were the inspiration for her tagline.

Dive into the romance on her website, www.JudiFennell.com, for excerpts, deleted scenes, reviews, contests, and pictures from reader and writer conferences, or check her out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Judi-Fennell/325890415256

MONDAY MUSINGS—Heliotrope's Mystical Power

I was doing some research for a story I’m writing and in the process found all sorts of interesting tidbits about the word heliotrope.

It’s a color, it’s a flower (I have some), and it’s also a gemstone. 

Bloodstone Hill, Isle of Rum 

It’s the gemstone I was interested in and the fact that one of the places it can be found is in the Hebrides of Scotland, on the Isle of Rhum or Rum.

Heliotrope also has another name—Bloodstone.

What the heck is a Bloodstone? Glad you asked. J

It’s a variety of the chalcedony, or quartz gemstones.

In the ancient world, Chalcedony was widely used for various purposes. Archaeology verifies it was a common material used in artwork, such as cameos, utensil decorations, inkstands and seals. Jewelry was another popular use for quartz gemstones, ornaments such as pins, amulets, and brooches. Heliotrope also has qualities similar to flint and was used for axe heads and tools knife blades, and for metaphysical properties in healing.

The bloodstone is unique from other quartz gemstones. It’s a deep green in color with distinctive markings of red jasper. It’s the bright red that gives it the name Bloodstone.

There was another reason is was a highly prized stone in ancient times—Heliotrope or Bloodstone is a stone of mystical power.

For ancient Christians, it represented the power of Christ through his blood—the bright red markings was thought to be as a result of Christ’s blood dripping onto the green earth at his death. But even before Christ, the bloodstone was considered special.

Goddess Athena carved in Bloodstone

The Greeks called it Heliotrope (Sun-turner) and felt the stone would ward off evil and wore the gemstone in amulets as well placing them on door lintels. It was also regarded as a stone of change and justice. Probably having to do with the unfortunate spilling of blood to bring forth change and justice.

Bloodstone was also considered a stone of courage. It was once believed to overcome enemies, to open locked doors and break down blockages. Soldiers carried bloodstone as protection against being wounded and to stop bleeding. In ancient times, women wore bloodstones to ensure a safe pregnancy and easy childbirth. Bloodstone was used to facilitate a communication with the spiritual realms. There is legend that says heliotrope could, in certain circumstances, render the carrier invisible.

Bloodstone pendant from the Isle of Rum

Today, Bloodstone is still considered a mystical stone of power and used as a health talisman to heal illnesses related to the blood and circulatory system. It is worn by athletes to increase power and strength and for victory, to secure success in physical battles, competition and on a personal level. Among the properties attributed to the stone, good luck, courage, the power of clear thinking, increases the flow of life energy, and helps to remove energy blocks. Bloodstone gems are mostly used in making pendant, necklaces, and other pieces of jewelry.

Heliotrope or Bloodstone has had an interesting history through the years. Many of its magical properties are still believed in and used. But I still haven’t found any secret military labs, in modern times, exploring it’s mystical property of invisibility. 

Yet. J

GETAWAY

Tropical beaches, too many margaritas, add a sexy tempting stranger, and you have an engrossing tale filled with excitement and danger.

Getaway

Lisa Brackmann

Hardcover, 320 pages

Soho Press

May 1, 2012
5 Stars

WELCOME to gorgeous Puerto Vallarta, Mexico—home of margaritas, sunset beaches, a shady American ex-pat community, and a barely-hidden drug syndicate. This will be the most dangerous vacation of Michelle’s life.

Michelle Mason just came to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta for a short vacation. When good-looking man named Daniel approaches her on the beach, the margaritas kick in and she decides: why not? But the date doesn’t as either of them planned. A break-in in her hotel room, switched cell phones and an encounter with a friend of Daniel’s named Gary get Michelle enmeshed in a covert operation involving drug runners, goons, and venture capitalist, Michelle knows she’s caught in a dangerous trap, and quickly finds that running in not an option. If she’s not careful she’ll end up buried in the town dump, with the rest of the trash. Now she needs to fight smart if she wants to survive her vacation.

My thoughts:  I have been looking forward to reading this book since I first heard about the setting and premise. Getaway didn't disappoint me. It's well written and all too believable. I can actually see where this situation could happen. Getaway was so good it kept me turning the pages and I finished it in one day. If you like thrillers with a plausible setting, realistic characters, and danger, then this is the book to read this summer.

Ms. Brackmann has a knack of creating characters that have faced trauma in their lives and as a result have become somewhat indifferent or ambivalent; and placing them in situations that forces them to pull on inner reserves and strengths to deal with it. 

Case in point, Michelle Mason. Recently widowed, Michelle is facing, thanks to her dearly departed husband, social scandal and financial ruin—the end of the life she has become accustomed to. Puerto Vallarta was supposed to be a vacation and a time to reflect upon what she was going to do with the rest of her life. Instead, like Alice in Wonderland, she gets dropped down the rabbit hole into a world where nothing is what it seems to be. Drug wars, the DEA, and where good guys aren’t always good and trusting the wrong people can get you killed. Michelle’s journey pulls her out of her apathy and into fighting for survival against the odds where she can’t trust anyone but herself. 

What follows is an edge of your seat, believable, tightly woven story of suspense and danger played out in the steamy underbelly of Mexico—where winning means you live.

Lisa Brackmann has worked as a motion picture executive and an issues researcher in a presidential campaign. A southern California native, she currently lives  in Venice California, with her three cats. Her critically acclaimed debut novel Rock Paper Tiger, was an Amazon best book of 2010.


You can find Lisa: Website, Twitter, Facebook