A breakneck procedural that is beautifully written and masterfully crafted, Erin Young’s The Fields is a dynamite debut—crime fiction at its very finest.
Some things don’t stay buried.
It starts with a body—a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture.
When Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, arrives on the scene, an already horrific crime becomes personal when she discovers the victim was a childhood friend, connected to a dark past she thought she’d left behind.
The investigation grows complicated as more victims are found. Drawn deeper in, Riley soon discovers implications far beyond her Midwest town.
THE FILEDS (Riley Fisher Book #1) by Erin Young is a gritty, dark, and intense start to a new police procedural crime thriller series featuring a rural American female police sergeant as the protagonist. This is a hunt for a serial killer and the author does not shy away from explicit crime scene descriptions which is fine for an ID and true crime lover as myself, but may be too graphic for some.
Newly promoted Sergeant Riley Fisher is to lead the Black Hawk, Iowa Sheriff’s Office Field Investigations Unit. A young woman is horrifically murdered and is found in a cornfield. When Riley arrives to investigate, she is shocked to discover the victim was a childhood friend.
As the investigation continues, so does the body count and the connection to Riley’s own dark past.
I really loved Riley and am very glad this is a series because there is still so much more I want to know about her. All the secondary characters are interesting and fully fleshed. I felt the police procedural plot was made more realistic with the missteps along the way instead of the usual step-by-step perfect investigation. The inclusion of government corruption and Big Ag interwoven throughout sometimes slowed the pace for me, but it was thought provoking. I will be interested to see where the author takes these characters in the future.
Overall, a strong start to a new police procedural crime thriller series with an intriguing new protagonist.
***
About the Author
The Fields is Erin Young’s debut crime thriller, featuring Sergeant Riley Fisher of Black Hawk County, in the first of a planned series. Young lives and writes in Brighton, England.
An Amish cowboy’s unexpected reunion with the girl who got away could heal his heart … or break it forever.
Daniel is the eldest of the six Miller siblings helping their Old Older Amish parents run the Circle M Ranch in northwestern Montana. Daniel can handle a blizzard, manage a roundup, even birth a calf. But what he can’t do is forget Lovina Lapp, who broke his heart back in Lancaster County and married someone else. When their neighbors gather to help them bring the cattle down from the summer pastures, Daniel is staggered to see Lovina among them. His job is to keep the group safe in the high country. But will he be able to protect his heart?
After a chaotic childhood and a romance with Daniel Miller that ended when he chose Montana over her, Lovina learned the danger of loving a cowboy. She married another man instead—someone who was safe. But after God took her husband in a freak accident, an invitation to go with old friends to visit the national parks seems like a gift. Until she finds herself unexpectedly at the Circle M Ranch, where one look at Daniel tells her there is nothing safe about her feelings for him …
The Montana Millers. They believe in faith, family, and the land. They’ll need all three when love comes to the Circle M!
***
Elise’s Thoughts
The Amish Cowboy by Adina Senft brings to life the Amish community within the Montana setting. It is a ‘what if’ story. What if there were Amish who became cattle ranchers, and what if the hero and heroine had never had a chance reunion?
Daniel Miller is the oldest of six siblings. He is a rugged Amish cowboy who manages roundups, takes care of the land, helps to raise cattle, and expertly rides horses. He is more like the foreman of the family Circle M Ranch in northwestern Montana.
But at the age of twenty-eight he is viewed as a male spinster because he has yet to get married. His heart was broken ten years earlier when the love of his life, Lovina Lapp said no to his marriage proposal. Instead, she married another man who was recently killed in a hunting accident. To overcome their grief, she accepted an invitation to take her eight-year-old son Joel and visit the national parks. But because the van they were in broke down she and Joel were now stranded in Montana with Daniel and his family. Because Joel was so enthusiastic, she agreed to go with the Millers and their neighbors to bring down the cattle before winter came. But due to weather conditions, money restraints, and other circumstances she and Joel stayed much more then they planned. It became obvious that both Daniel and Lovina still have feelings for each other, but would they allow the walls they built around themselves to fall.
Although there might have some liberties taken, the way the story was presented seemed very plausible that the Amish could be cowboys. Readers will take a journey with the characters and learn about Montana. They will also feel a part of the Miller family and will root for them to have a happy ending.
***
Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What about the series?
Adina Senft: This is book one of six. There are six siblings in the Miller family and each sibling gets their own book. Even though it is a different hero/heroine it is the same family where I weave them into all six books. It will be a happy medium between one sentence telling readers about the rest of the family and a few chapters. It is like an Amish family experience to put all the family members in.
EC: Idea for the story?
AS: I was looking for what has not been done with Amish fiction. I thought about a series set in Montana. This past June my husband and I went there to visit the Amish community. We did feet on the ground research. Plus, a friend of mine, the captain of the firehouse where I live is President of the California cattlemen’s association. He invited me to come to his ranch and watch the roundup. The idea was born between him, the Amish community, and it seemed believable and possible that the Amish could possibly raise beef cows in Montana. The Circle M brand is on the cover.
EC: Amish and horses?
AS: For them horses are for work, not pleasure. Cattle ranchers would use them for work. A cutting horse is one of the most finely tooled instruments I had ever seen. When I was on the California ranch, within hours the calves were separated from the mothers. It was like watching a ballet where everyone knew their steps. When we were in Montana, the Amish came to the school auction on buggies, bicycles, and the occasional riding horse.
EC: Why the Montana setting?
AS: Only a few Amish stories are set here. Plus, I used to live in Alberta Canada, and I knew the ranchers are about seven miles north of the Amish community in Montana. The weather, the way people worked with the land, the short period of time of the growing season, and the terrain were all familiar to me. Montana winters are very long and brutal. I had to move the location in Montana because the Amish community lives in the mountains, which does not lend itself to ranching. I have not met an Amish cowboy, but I think they are possible.
EC: How would you describe Daniel?
AS: The eldest son of a large close-knit family. Very responsible and a nice-looking man. He has a natural command in being the oldest brother. Now at twenty-eight he is still not married because he has been carrying a torch for Lovina for ten years. He is honest, compassionate, patient, and gentle.
EC: How would you describe Lovina?
AS: She had a childhood backstory of never being wanted and never able to get what she wanted. She lost her ability to make connections with people. She was never treated with joy and welcome. Now she is a good mother, very protective, smart, resourceful, but still fearful, vulnerable. She used to be a closed defensive person, but now is opening up.
EC: Why the visit to the twelve national parks?
AS: I had the idea from an Amish girl who told me she and her buddies went on a circuit of the national parks. Lovina turned it into an educational experience as well as a recreational one. It was also a grief recovery trip since she lost her husband, and her son Joel lost his father.
EC: What about the relationship?
AS: She turned down Daniel’s initial proposal of marriage because she never saw herself as worthy. He had hurt feelings. She is confused about her emotions. They are trying to protect themselves from each other, yet the memories of their time together keep creeping in. They need to find trust in each other. She was fearful and he was hurt. He unconsciously compared every girl he met to Lovina, and they never added up. No matter how perfect another woman can be, there is only going to be Lovina for him, even if he does not realize it yet.
EC: In this story, are the Amish modernized?
AS: They used cell phones, the Internet, and horses. The cell phones and the Internet is right from my research, which they use for business. Because they are spaced so far apart with severe weather, cell phones are needed for a matter of safety. In the book, the mother Naomi does keep it in a cookie jar until they go on the roundup. Since they are in harsh weather communities, they are dependent on their neighbors, including the English.
EC: The role of the child, Joel?
AS: He was based on a child I know. He brings people to together through his innocence. He foreshadowed how it could be for Daniel and Lovina. He helps Lovina to connect to the outside and overcome her grief. She notices the setting through his eyes. Joel is curious about the snow, the animals, and the land. At times, he makes her adventurous. He is eight years old, but much older than his years. Joel recognized that the other woman, Susan, was very overbearing and desperate to snare Daniel.
EC: Next book?
AS:The Amish Cowboy’s Baby is currently out. It is the youngest son’s Joshua’s story. He is now a father. The third book is about the very shy twin sister, Rebecca, who is always in the background, and overshadowed by her twin sister. It is titled The Amish Cowboy’s Bride and comes out in May.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today is my turn on the Books ‘n’ All Promotions Blog Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE LIST (Martha Munro Crime Mystery Book #1) by Michael Leese.
Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
***
Book Blurb
It was just an ordinary Wednesday lunchtime when Detective Martha Munro’s life changed forever.
Her sergeant is speaking, but she barely hears what he’s telling her.
Your mother has been shot dead. Your four-year-old daughter has been taken.
There are no leads. Who would want to hurt her family?
Martha realizes it’s time to ask herself some hard questions about her late father.
He led the anti-corruption squad at Scotland Yard. It’s rumoured he kept a list of everyone who worked for him, from coppers to criminals. And just being on that list was a sure-fire way to lower your life expectancy.
Her mother was killed by someone trying to get their hands on that list. Now time is running out for Martha to get her daughter back alive.
Martha is the kind of cop who always goes by the book. But family is EVERYTHING. And she will do ANYTHING to keep them safe.
THE LIST (Martha Munroe Crime Mystery Book #1) by Michael Leese is the first book in a new British crime mystery series and it is constructed like no other I have read before. I was immediately intrigued and could not put it down.
Detective Martha Munroe is informed by her sergeant that her mother has been shot dead and her four-year-old daughter kidnapped.
With the help of longtime friend of the family, Harry the Hat, Martha begins to learn more about her late father who led the anti-corruption unit at The Met and is somehow tied to the forces working to destroy her. A powerful enemy believes Martha has the list belonging to her father that names all the criminals who were working as snitches for him and all the corrupt police on the force and he is willing to do anything to get it for himself.
When Martha and Harry find the list, they must work to decode it to find out who Martha can really trust and who is trying to make sure she ends up dead.
I enjoyed the unique way this story unfolded. Who would put their detective protagonist in such a position in the first book of a series? Well, Mr. Leese did, and I found it kept me turning the pages. Martha and Harry are wonderful characters that are very likeable and fully fleshed. The other characters always had me guessing whether they were good, bad, or varying shades of gray. The plot is full of twists and surprises with an ending that leaves the door open for more. I am looking forward to following Martha in future books in this series.
I recommend this start to a new British crime mystery series!
***
About the Author
Before taking up writing, Michael Leese was a national newspaper journalist for over 25 years, with the last part of his career working for the London Evening Standard. The most memorable stories he covered ranged from Tiananmen Square, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the death of Princess Diana, the 9/11 attacks and the two Gulf wars.
In the latter part of his career, Mike was a news editor. In this role he gained insights into many specialties from crime and court reporting, to political and science news and the behind the scenes working of government, the City and other institutions. Mike’s passion for news and current affairs remains very strong and influences the writing of his books.
Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DRIVEN: A Rita Mars Thriller by Valerie Webster.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links and a giveaway. Enjoy!
***
Book Description
Ex-investigative journalist, Rita Mars loses an old friend to what looks like suicide. She’s convinced he was murdered to cover unethical maneuvers and save reputations in the abyss that is Congress. Back stabbings inside the beltway sometimes extend beyond metaphorical. She’s going to butt heads with the local good ole boy authorities and navigate the deliberately stoked smoke screens of the duly elected, but she is never going to give up.
Genre: Thriller Published by: Ignited Ink Writing Publication Date: May 25th 2021 Number of Pages: 396 ISBN: 1952347033 (ISBN13: 978-1952347030)
***
My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
DRIVEN: A Rita Mars Thriller by Valerie Webster is a debut P.I. thriller/crime mystery with an interesting new protagonist and cast of characters that I am looking forward to following in hopefully many more books to come.
Ex-investigative journalist, now private investigator Rita Mars shows up for a meeting with an old journalist colleague, only to find he has committed suicide. Something is not right with the scene, and Rita will not stop asking questions. Her friend was working an investigation in the beltway where dark money and unethical maneuvers seem to be behind a big pharma legislative bill.
At the same time, she is hired by a woman to document proof of a picture-perfect high-profile ex-husband stalking and terrorizing her. As Rita is investigating this case, he focuses his deadly obsession not only on his ex but also on Rita.
Two cases overlap and Rita is in the crosshairs.
Rita is an interesting protagonist. She is 45, a lesbian, has switched professions, has a lesbian police Captain best friend and a trans ex-Navy SEAL secretary/assistant. She also has past trauma in her life from an abusive alcoholic policeman father who committed suicide. I felt an instant connection to these characters, but there were a few times they felt more like caricatures, especially Bev, Rita’s assistant. The flow of the intertwining crime plots is realistic with believable investigations and build up at an ever-increasing pace to satisfying conclusions.
Overall, I enjoyed this debut P.I. thriller and will be looking for more in this series.
***
Excerpt
Chapter 1
“Rita Mars, this is a voice from your past.”
“Who the hell is this?” Rita demanded.
It was eleven o’clock, and the dreary end of a long day. A miserable October rain tapped on the office windows. Through the water slashed glass, Baltimore’s Mitchell Court House next door was a smear of grey and black.
“I first met you devouring Hershey bars in the newsroom at midnight.” The man was gleeful.
“That narrows it down.”
Great clue. Hell, she’d been a reporter for seventeen years before she started the agency. Rita cradled her chin. The police department snitch who gave up the narcs ripping off drug dealers? The accountant with the guilty conscience who squealed on the HUD housing contracts?
“We were a pair and then again we were not.”
“Look, pal, I don’t know –”
“I was the snow king and you were the fire breather.”
Rita started to hang up, but there was something eerily familiar about that line.
“You never know when you’ve had your last chance,” the man said.
“Bobby Ellis.” Instinctively, Rita touched the worn chrome Zippo in her pocket that bore those very words. Chills ran along her arms and the hair bristled at her neck.
“Bingo,” Ellis said.
“God, I’m so glad to hear from you. Where are you? When can I see you?
“Sunday.”
“Halloween?”
“The Overlook Inn in Harper’s Ferry. Breakfast at ten. I’ll have a lot to tell you. A story for above the fold.”
Rita scribbled his instructions on a blank notepad. “Tell me now.” Above the fold on a newspaper’s front page was reserved for big time news.
“Just be there.”
Rita thought he was hanging up.
“By the way—ever think you’d see me alive again?” Ellis asked softly.
“No,” Rita said. “I never thought I would.”
Chapter 2
Rita Mars sang along with the Shirelles. She glanced at the Jeep’s speedometer and then at the rearview mirror to check for approaching troopers.
The West Virginia countryside blazed with yellow and scarlet. Sunlight sprinkled the rock-strewn pastures with brilliance and made the car’s white hood shimmer like a snowfield. Even the black and white Holsteins seemed brighter than usual as they ripped up the last shreds of yellowed pasture grass.
Though it was late October, Rita had the top down on the Jeep. It was good to ride on this open road alone with the sun and wind. She couldn’t really be forty-five this year. She ran thirty miles a week and could still get into jeans the size she’d worn in college. Rita peered over the top of her Raybans and took another look in the mirror. Ok, so her dark hair was shot through with silver.
She smiled. It made her look more interesting. After all, how many older women had she fallen madly in love with in her younger years?
Rita flipped the radio off and concentrated on her meeting with Bobby Ellis. She hadn’t seen him in forever. Yes, she had thought he might be dead. A superior journalist, he’d thrown it all away with a coke habit that he paid for with a career and a marriage. No one had seen or heard of him now for more than two years.
After he disappeared, a malaise had set. Rita abandoned investigative reporting and spend her time working on a detective’s license. She was going to right wrongs instead of writing about wrongs as she described her abrupt life change.
She sighed. She wanted to return to the happier thoughts that had so recently danced in her head.
A red truck with a rainbow sticker on the front bumper appeared the in oncoming lane. Rita’s smile came back and she waved as they raced each other.
“We’re everywhere. We’re everywhere,” she hummed to herself.
She returned to her former mood of excited anticipation. She was seeing Bobby again.
They had been reporters together on the Washington Star. More like brother and sister than co-workers, they had fought over editorial recognition, wept on each other’s shoulders, and held each other’s hand during their respective long, dark nights of the soul.
Rita tried sweet talk at first when his habit began to devour him. Then she got tough. They fought bitterly. In the end, he surrendered everything to the white powder.
She’d been as angry with herself as with him. She couldn’t make him stop. Like a flashback, the feelings were the same when she thought about her childhood. She hadn’t been able to stop the runaway train her father rode either. Alcohol carried him far and fast. In the end, he stuck his police revolver into his mouth and killed his pain.
Bad memories again. Rita shook her head and switched the radio back on.
“There she was, just a walkin’ down the street . . . “ Rita sang along at the top of her lungs and pushed the accelerator just a little farther with her docksider.
Five miles and three oldies but goodies later, she slowed as the road narrowed to the twisting mountainside lanes that led to Harper’s Ferry. Down the sheer embankment on the passenger’s side, she could see canoes below on this rocky segment of the Potomac. She took a deep breath. The cobwebs of leftover memory cleared. It was a gorgeous day. At the top of a steep winding hill, Rita spied the flagpole that stood in the center of the Overlook Inn’s circular drive. Old Glory ruffled its red stripes in a soft October breeze that seemed more spring than autumn.
The parking areas along the drive were jammed with American made pickups and SUVs. Lots of military bumper stickers and window decals. Families just out of church hopped out of cars and headed for the Inn’s dining room and Sunday brunch buffet.
As she reached the crest, she had to slam on the brakes. The drive was blocked by two Harper’s Ferry sheriffs’ cars, a West Virginia trooper vehicle—blue gumball lights twirling—an ambulance from nearby Ransom, a fire truck and a dented beige Crown Vic with county plates.
Guests and townies milled around the west annex. A tall, grim-faced sheriff’s deputy held them at bay.
“What the heck is this?” Rita jumped out of the Jeep.
Inside, the interior of the Overlook lobby was cool and dark. The desk clerk was a woman with long red nails and a plunging neckline to her sundress. Her blue eye shadow made her look like an alien. Oblivious to Rita, she leaned across the far end of the registration counter to stare out the front door toward the commotion outside. Rita pulled off her Raybans.
“What happened?” Rita asked.
“Man killed hisself.” The woman continued to lean and stare over the counter.
The taste of metal rose in Rita’s throat. “Killed himself?”
“Room 107. Maid found him.” The clerk’s sense of duty returned and she walked toward the center of the counter where Rita stood. “Can I help you with something?”
Rita felt icy from the inside out. She dug her hand into her pocket to touch that Zippo talisman she always carried.
“I came here to meet someone.” The words jumbled in her mouth.
“Name?” The clerk absently flipped the registration book behind the counter.
Rita said nothing.
The clerk looked up then and said once more. “Name?”
“Bobby Ellis,” Rita whispered.
The two women stared at one another.
***
Author Bio
Valerie Webster spent a career developing law enforcement applications for surveillance, security and forensics. She has also been a triathlete and a crime reporter. She honed her writing skills through “Sisters in Crime” and “Mystery Writers of America’s” mentoring program. In DRIVEN: A RITA MARS THRILLER, she weaves professional experiences into a high tension plot that sweeps the reader into the action from Page 1 to the breath-taking conclusion.
IN THE WEEDS: Around the World and Behind the Scenes with Anthony Bourdain by Tom Vitale is an in-depth personal reflection, travelogue and memoir from Tom Vitale who was a long-time director and producer who accompanied Bourdain around the world for many years. I listened to the audiobook for this review. I enjoyed and appreciated hearing the emotional inflections of the author’s own voice reading his story.
I am a fan of all the No Reservations and Parts Unknown shows which of course made me a fan of Anthony Bourdain. Tom Vitale worked on many of my favorite episodes and to hear his accounts of all the happenings on locations, it made the final product seem even more miraculous. While he talks about his job and the many highs and lows of constantly working on a travel show and dealing with an often mercurial host, he also is dealing with his own grief throughout the story after the sudden suicide of that host.
This audiobook shares Vitale’s stress and loneliness of working on a travel show while also finding it to be the ultimate time of his life. He shares his friendship with Bourdain with an unfiltered lens of love, fear, and hate. He shares his grief over losing a colleague to suicide and his thoughts of what he could have done to see it coming or prevent it. This audiobook is for me the perfect balance of sad, funny, vulnerable, and introspective from a person on the other side of the TV camera lens.
***
TOM VITALE
Season after season Tom Vitale traveled with Anthony Bourdain on a near-nonstop run of eighty trips—roughly five trips a year—to almost every corner of the globe, constantly meeting strangers, often through the context of their food and culture, in the process making over 100 episodes of TV. In addition to the adventure of a lifetime, personal enrichment, and experiences he would never have thought possible, his work rewarded him with a PGA Award nomination, five Emmy wins and four nominations, a Gold World Medal for Best Non-Fiction Program, and he is credited on Parts Unknown’s Peabody Award.
Opposites burn hot enough to melt the snow and ice of an Alaskan winter in this all-new series from USA Today bestselling author Megan Crane.
Quinn Fortune is the official protector of all the unspoiled beauty in Lost Lake, Alaska, as the head of the community trust. A rugged frontiersman through and through, he doesn’t do soft. But he can’t help his fascination with the pink-clad professor who shows up in Lost Lake seeking his approval for her cheerful outsider’s proposal about land that isn’t hers. Still, he agrees to consider it–if she can handle a month of good old-fashioned Alaska living. He’s betting she’ll head back to the safety of the Lower 48 within the week.
Violet Parrish is a thinker, not a doer, but desperate times call for extraordinary measures–like taking on the Alaskan wilderness. In January. Off the grid. With a mountain man hot enough to melt a glacier. The frozen Alaskan tundra should be no match for Violet’s determination, but the sheer immensity of the Last Frontier takes her by surprise–as does her attraction to gruff, impossibly handsome Quinn, and the unexpected heat that burns between them during the freezing Alaska nights…
***
Elise’s Thoughts
Bold Fortune by M. M. Crane aka Megan Crane brings to life an “opposites attract” story within an Alaskan setting. The plot has action, intensity, and emotion. The best part is the banter between the characters.
The plot begins with an Internet boyfriend stealing Violet Parrish’s research and reputation. She realizes she must do something to keep her job. She offers to convert the small-town of Lost Lake Alaska into a trust to protect the land and make the old mine there a historical landmark. But she must convince Quinn Fortune, the representative and protector of the land to go along with her plan. After arriving in this bush wilderness, she accepts Quinn’s challenge that he will discuss her proposal if she spends time in the Alaskan wilderness. No matter what he throws at her, Violet keeps derailing his plans and shows she is up to the challenge.
Violet is a strong female character. She is fierce, smart, independent, determined, and enthusiastic. But she also drives Quinn crazy with an over-the-top love of pink. Quinn is a mountain man who believes in the rugged frontier and on the outside has a rugged grumpy and gruff attitude. Together they realize that there is a mutual attraction.
This is a wonderful adventure story that has romance, and great banter between the characters. Although not a suspenseful romance as in her previous books, this one has plenty of action.
***
Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Are you ever going to write suspense romance again?
Megan Crane: I would love to. I really enjoy writing those type of books. It was a lot of fun. I would love to hear from my readers if they want me to write more books like the Alaskan Force Special Ops series. They can contact me at https://megancrane.com/contact.php#email .
EC: The idea for this story?
MC: My editor wanted me to write something still in Alaska but with a frontiersman. I created a little town with a lot of snow, a lake, and an abandoned mine having a tight-knit community.
EC: You continue the Alaskan setting?
MC: This is a very different Alaska than what I wrote about in the Alaskan Force series, the coastal region. Here in the interior, there is winter for ten months, not much daylight, very quiet. I found out during winter is when this part of the state opens. Since there are no roads in the winter, after the snow falls, people use their snowmobile. They do not think of the snow as an impediment but as something that allows them to connect. I even put tidbits I found out. For instance, no one should eat the snow, but must let it melt. It is all about the expanding of calories and dehydrating. To get here people need to fly or find a way with the river.
EC: How would you describe Violet?
MC: A brain in a jar. She is trying to figure out how to be a whole person and what she is capable of. She is intellectual, charming, confident, enthusiastic, and adaptable.
EC: Why pink?
MC: I thought a man like Quinn would find it outrageous. Violet wants happy colors and feels black, and grey are not bright. This is me. I have a pair of red pants to brighten things up. Eventually he finds it endearing.
EC: Describe Quinn?
MC: Grumpy, a martyr about his self-imposed responsibility. Blunt, rugged, loner, stubborn, and practical.
EC: Relationship?
MC: She gets him to open. He finds her fascinating especially since she steps up to his challenges. They complement each other’s feelings. Violet is not intimidated by him. He has a marshmallow center and ends up falling for her.
EC: What is the role of Stuart?
MC: Stuart is a make-believe boyfriend, while Quinn is real. Stuart is a narcissist. She only knows him through the Zoom calls. It was only a relationship in her head. Stuart tries to convince Quinn that Violet had ulterior motives and her feelings are not real.
EC: Next book?
MC: The second book in the series is Quinn’s brother Bowie. He gets involved in a mail-order-bride contest. The title is Reckless Fortune and will be out in fall. Then in March 2022 will be the book written with my author friends: Nicole Helm, Jackie Ashenden, and Maisey Yates. It is titled Sweet Home Cowboy. The plot has four Hathaway sisters who had grown up apart, but they agree to move to Jasper Creek, Oregon, to revitalize their grandfather’s farm. It is very humorous.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
