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Paranormal Romance Author

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Pick of the week

I am honoured that my new release Abigail Cottage has been named Pick of the week by thriller writer Lorrie Struiff

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Abigail Cottage

When Abigail falls in love with Justin she can’t begin to know the world of hurt she is heading into. Gorgeous, kind, rich – he’s the man we all dream to meet. BUT, all is not what it seems because Justin is a true demon from hell, disguised as a mortal being. He wants her and will do, kill or maim anyone who tries to stop him. Namely Shaun the real hero, who wants Abigail more! So what does a mortal man do against a demon? He enlists the help of a gypsy of course. But not any old gypsy. Rosa knows Justin very well and has the powers of the spirit world on her side to fight him. Using crystals as a powerful weapon, the light of the spirit world to lead them, they embark on a battle with the whole of the underworld. Many loved ones will lose their lives. This isn’t a book where everyone survives. In real life, bad things happen. In Abigail Cottage, terrible tragedies occur too. Believe... not every story can have a happy ending.

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Friday 18 June 2010

Welcome to Patti Hultstrand


It is so nice to have Patti with me today.





She's published everything from magazines and catalogs, to books and short stories. She's been a graphic designer for over 20 years and is a single mother.


Today she is talking about Romance. A word thats dear to my heart!!


TO SAVE OR TO BE SAVED – THAT IS THE QUESTION IN ROMANCE STORIES





One of my favorite questions ever asked of me:
You've successfully slain the dragon! How will you toast your marshmallows?
PJ Hultstrand, author of Time Conquers All:
On his dead and burning carcass as I drink and dance around the bonfire in victory.

The reason the answer to the question above is so important is it really does play into how I write my heroines and heroes in my romance stories. Many women now days want to be empowered and feel in control of their own destinies. However, even more women still hide behind the man in their lives or feel they must have a man to take care of them.
While I am attempting to save my home from the cruel clutches of the bank, my lawyer made the statement the other day that I could either win the lottery or marry a rich old man to take care of me. I know my mother would love that idea of having her daughter taken care of financially; I have not been that swooning damsel in distress for quite some time. There is nobody coming in on his white horse. Besides the fact that I live in a no-horse community, I have no dilutions that some great guy is going to come into my life and sweep me off my feet!
As young girls, didn’t most of us love Prince Charming and the fairy tales where the hero swooped in and saved the princess or the woman in the story? I am no different, I dreamt of being a ballerina, but even longer, I dreamt of being a princess. Even into high school I wore tiaras as a baton twirler and some guys in my life referred to me as their princess.
This could be embarrassing now that I am 47 and divorced, except that the princess I wanted to be all those years ago finally came out in the pages of my Chasing Time book series. But, this princess isn’t the one I had inside me when I was a young, naïve girl; this princess doesn’t expect to be saved by any man!
Instead, Princess Tamea does her fair share of doing the saving. She has saved King Parker from assassins several times, saved him from issues of his troubled mind on multiple occasions, and it is with this same must save the man mentality that I start book one with Tamea’s desire to do the saving.
Around the India region of the world in the late 1500’s, anyone else would have had to come in with sword swinging, riding a camel. It was only the upper class of citizens that could afford a great white horse. A smelly, brown camel that would rather spit at you, kind of takes away from the ROMANCE of the story. I guess it’s a good thing Tamea is a princess from a rich enough country to afford for her to come into the scene to save Parker on that proverbial WHITE HORSE to save his ass.
And believe me, she would slay that dragon and then roast marshmallows on his dead and burning carcass as she drinks and dances around the bonfire in victory!


Here's her cover and an excerpt to whet your appetitie.







Excerpt


Tamea scanned for the presence and instinctively knew it was stalking them. The dagger hilt rested in her left palm, ready if it was needed. Her intentions included getting him into the room and making love to him for the rest of the night. She did not appreciate whoever was interrupting her plan. She continued to glance behind them after they got off the bike and Parker retrieved his saddlebags.

The attack did not come from any hand-to-hand exchange. Multiple gunshots fired from an unseen assailant, out of reach for Tamea’s dagger. Even her throwing knives were useless at that distance.

Parker went down, his blood splattered onto the black leather jacket she wore. He tore at her body on his way to the ground, pulling her with him as she realized the utter uselessness of her metal weapons. If she had her crossbow, it may have been different. She was helpless in saving him from bleeding onto the ground.

“No!” she screamed at the hidden assailant. The question that followed came out in flawless Cantonese. “Who the hell are you to take his life this way?”

His assassin had heard Tamea’s question and had understood it, even in that foreign tongue, but was disinclined to show her what she was up against. The sniper had not been worried about her shooting him back, because her only weapons would be bladed and small, allowing them to remain concealed. He also knew her range with the throwing knives, so made certain not to be exposed. This time he planned to beat them both by succeeding in killing Parker. He left her a calling card and melted back into the denser forest.

Tamea put her backpack under Parker’s head and ran in the direction the shots had come from within the trees. Her years of military training compelled her to locate the assassin. She moved through the foliage in a desperate need to lash out at whoever robbed her of the precious moments she planned to savor with Parker. But this was not how she wanted to leave him. Tamea wanted him to live out his life, as it was meant to be.

You can see more of these excerpts here on the Monday 14th and here on Wednesday 16th June.


7 comments:

  1. Thank you Margaret for having me today on your blog. Want to talk time-travel, romance or women who save others, come by for a chat today anytime. I will be checking in often all day and night.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Romance. A small word with a big impact. Is it really dead? Patti and I would love to hear your experiences of romance in the real world!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's a hard question to answer, ladies. I think the day of the prince riding his white horse to save the damsel is only in novels and how we still wish it were so.
    But, alas,we are realists. We love to live it vicariously and not too many princes are out in the world. But, you never know, you may have to kiss a lot of frogs to find that prince.
    Lorrie

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great excerpt Patti! I don't think romance is dead, but I do think it's evolving into more subgenres that appeal to a wider range of readers, which is a good thing. I love realistic characters I can relate to (although a great fantasy hooks me every time too!). I'm in favor of mutual saving. :)
    Too bad you can't fire that banker. Sheesh. Wishing you all the best

    ReplyDelete
  6. Actually wish we could take the bankers to that bonfire party, and roast their tiny marshmallows.
    Did I say that?

    I think men no longer know how to treat women because the lines are blurred with too many legal issues of sexual harassment and politically correct confusion, which make it harder to deal with each other. I for one, don't mind a saucy come back between a man and woman, especially when there is no real expectation of sex afterwards. It is a matter of mutual respect that has to be there between all people and I'm sorry to say that personal respect for each other is just not there any more. So, we have to have all that red tape and legal ramifications if a man even so much as winks at us.

    I for one could use a nice wink or compliment once in awhile about looking particularly lovely that day. Isn't that what romance is all about.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Lorrie -- I gave up on princes when I divorced my king of the castle. But, I do have hope to be content with what life has in store for me.

    Cate -- I believe in subgenres too. This allows us writers to expand our reader's horizons with infinite possibilities. And for those who like more heated exchanges, there are those stories to satisfy them too.

    Thank you both for stopping by today.
    I welcome further discussion on the world of romance and romance writers.

    ReplyDelete

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