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Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh

Book Description

On the three-year anniversary of true crime writer Olivia Cruz’s horrific kidnapping, she’s scheduled to walk her podcaster friend Zoe March through the crime scene, but Zoe fails to show. Olivia knows Zoe would never stand her up—not today.

Zoe’s husband, who claims she never came home the night before, has reported her missing. But marital conflicts make the police suspect she has left him. Olivia thinks otherwise. The police aren’t looking for Zoe, so Olivia begins her own investigation. Retracing her friend’s last steps, she finds Zoe’s phone and a text with one chilling word: Run.

It soon becomes apparent that Zoe has been keeping secrets, and with her true crime podcast, there’s no telling what she has unearthed. To find her, Olivia must dig into her friend’s past. Did Zoe vanish to escape a killer, and is Olivia walking into a deadly trap?

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Elise’s Thoughts

You Can Tell Me by Melinda Leigh features Olivia Cruz. Fans might remember her from the Morgan Dane series. This story plays off what happens to Olivia in Save Your Breath.

It soon becomes apparent that Zoe has been keeping secrets, and with her true crime podcast, there’s no telling what she has unearthed. To find her, Olivia must dig into her friend’s past.

While going to a coffee shop with her niece, Olivia is attacked. But with the help of her niece, Nicki, she thwarts the attacker. Now Nicki demands to join the search for Zoe. The two soon decide that the most likely suspects to have plotted an abduction are those close to Jennifer Hamilton or Evan Brown, the two long-dead victims Zoe had been researching as possible subjects for future seasons.

Olivia also get help from her PI boyfriend Sharp Lincoln, who insists on being involved in the case. Since he is the partner of Morgan Dane’s husband, Lance, they are also brought into the story to help find what happened to Zoe.

Readers will enjoy this first in the series and will yearn for the next book that is sure to have another heartbreaking drama, a suspenseful story, and gripping characters. The exploration of secrets and trust along with the pacing heightens the tension.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why this new series?

Melinda Leigh: It is refreshing for me. I have written police procedurals and law books for the last sixteen books, either Morgan Dane or Bree Taggert. I think with this series I went outside the box. My publisher asked me to write something new, and I immediately thought of Olivia from the Morgan Dane books. She is in books 4, 5, and in 6 plays a significant role.

Writing a series enables me to challenge my protagonists over a long period of time. They can adapt and grow.

EC: Idea for this story?

ML: I wanted to tie it with her experiences the last time she was on the page. Basing a series on a true crime writer, Olivia, gives me more flexibility.

EC: How would you describe Olivia?

ML: She is spunky, bold, and a little different from my other female characters. She is steady, methodical, competitive as the auntie, confident, very smart, and short in statue.

EC: Zoe was a true crime podcaster?

ML: A lot of true crime podcasts are cold cases. They take years of investigations and boil down into about six episodes. With fiction, people can get involved with the characters whereas true crime focuses on the crime. The way I write is to create the plot around the characters, deciding what the characters will experience to get the emotional hit. Most of my books take place over a short period of time, about four or five days. Zoe, one of the main characters, was a true crime podcaster. She was impulsive, punctual, not tidy, loyal, and someone who compartmentalizes.

EC: Did you speak with people who was traumatized?

ML: I have in the past talked to victims who were traumatized, although I did not do it for this story. I do read a lot of memoirs. They are great resources for what happens to someone and their emotional response to it.

EC: How would you describe Nicki, the niece of Olivia?

ML: She is a lot like Olivia. She is a typical Gen-Z. I drew her character from my youngest son and my nieces, although not all her personality. She is arrogant, can be self-centered, stubborn, improvising, independent, and tech savvy. She is very funny.

EC: How did you come up with the date rape drug scene that had Nicki replaying what Olivia told her?

ML: That really happened. I have read cases where even though women are vigilant about their drinks the bartenders or other people have doctored drinks before it gets to the table. I tell my nieces to order cans so they can open them. Go out with a friend and have them watch each other’s backs. It is sad that we must do this.

EC: Do you think Nicki is a lot like Olivia?

ML: They are both bold, outgoing, and fearless.

EC: How would you describe Sharp Lincoln, the male lead?

ML: He is Olivia’s boyfriend who is a PI. He has zero tolerance for people who commit crimes. He sees things black and white. He is tough, a mother hen, and protective.

ML: Morgan Dane has a cameo appearance?

EC: They are all part of the same world as Olivia. I do not see how I cannot have them show up. Lance is Sharp’s partner. They all work together. Morgan shares an office with Lance and Sharp. They will interact and run into each other. Morgan will be in more of the books but regarding how much will depend on the storyline. Lance will also probably be in more of the books.

EC: Of course, a Melinda Leigh novel must have a dog in the story. Correct?

ML: Yes-this one has Chewy, a border collie. I had that breed as a child, and I believe the border collie ate our basement door. She was a dog my parents found. This breed needs a lot of physical and mental exercise or they become destructive. I named Chewy because Olivia and Sharp are Star War fans, a play on the name.

EC: Next book(s)?

ML: I will be writing more Bree Taggert books. The eleventh in the series will come out next January. The title is Kill for Her. It is about a gruesome double murder that exposes the secrets of the dead. The next Olivia book is titled I Know Your Secret and will release in September in 2027. It will have secrets and probably someone will be dead. Nicki, Sharp, and Chewy will be in it. I will alternate the two books, writing one every eight months.

THANK YOU!!

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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.

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Where the Truth Lies by Katherine Greene

Book Description

Childhood sweethearts Rhett and Lucinda seem to have the perfect marriage, the child they always wanted, and even the white picket fence. But fifteen years ago, the couple came very close to losing everything. When outsider Jennifer Moore arrived in their tight-knit Kentucky town, a brief but explosive affair between the newcomer and the soon-to-be-married Rhett stirred up a violent storm of betrayal that ended with a dead body and a mystery riddled with corruption and deception.

Now, new evidence has surfaced—including an eyewitness who places Rhett at the scene of the brutal crime. Soon the carefully constructed life Rhett and Lucinda built starts to crumble—and the truth waiting beneath the surface could destroy them both.

In a town steeped in deadly Southern charm, secrets don’t fade—they fester.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Where The Truth Lies by Katherine Greene, the pen name of bestselling authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley, is a domestic suspense story. The small-town setting enhances the secrets, affairs, and deception made by each character, along with the alternating timelines and multiple POVs.

High school sweethearts Rhett Clark and Lucinda Herbaugh seem to have nothing in common. She is from a very powerful and rich family while he is being raised by a single mom who works very hard at her job. Yet, they appear to love each other and to be the picture-perfect couple with the perfect marriage.

But fifteen years ago, the couple came very close to losing everything, when outsider Jennifer Moore arrived in their tight-knit Kentucky town and had a brief but explosive affair with soon-to-be-married Rhett. Fast-forward to the present where new evidence has surfaced, including an eyewitness who places Rhett at the scene of the brutal murder of Jennifer.

Now the betrayal once again comes to the surface, and the mystery of Jenn’s death is riddled with corruption and deception. Everything Rhett and Lucinda strove for is crumbling as the “truth” begins to come out. Abuse plays a role in the story whether emotional, physical, or both. Lucinda’s father made sure everyone in the family and town sided with him. Jenn’s brother believes women should be dominated and intimidated, influencing Rhett in a bad way. With Jenn’s death at the center of the story each of the other character’s will have to answer to their own demons.

Other than Jenn, all the other characters are not likeable and very complex. This story has readers only rooting for Jenn to get justice as they turn the pages to find out the truth.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the story?

Abbi Meredith Walters: It is inspired by true events, a cold case, that happened in Virigina involving people in my family. I had this old scrapbook that was my grandmothers. I sent this to Claire, and we decided to write a book based on the information. There are personality traits like the people the characters were modeled after. We did make changes.

EC: How did you both decide to write together?

Claire C. Riley: Abbi and I have been friends for ten plus years. We met on Facebook in a writer’s group. We had both been writing separately for a very long time. During Covid Abbi had a bit of a writer’s block and I suggested we should write a book together. We both really, really liked doing it.

EC: Why the pen name Katherine Green?

CCR: My middle name is Catherine with a “C”, so I changed it to Katherine with a “K” and Abbi was stuck for a surname. She liked green and so did I, so we chose that as the last name.

EC: What was the role of Jenn in the story?

AMW: Claire and I agreed that the victim, Jenn, needed a voice. We wanted the reader to remember she was at the heart of the story and did not want her to get lost in it. She was meant to be the most likeable character in the story.

CCR: After writing about half the book, Abbi realized Jenn needed her own chapters. In the news the victim tends to be lost so we wanted to make her the forefront. We thought it was much more important for her to tell her story, more than anyone else. It helped to build the story around her.

EC: How would you describe Jenn?

Katherine Greene: She started innocent and finished innocent. She is vulnerable, fearful, a teaser, vulnerable, timid, and ran away from her life. Jenn was a prisoner in her family’s home. In some ways she is the other woman but unwillingly because she did not know.

EC: What was the relationship between Jenn and Rhett like?

AMW: He got something for this relationship that was lacking in his life. He was able to control her and felt he was in charge. I do not think he was capable of truly loving her and betrayed her. His entire relationship with her was what she could do to fill his needs.

EC: What about Rhett?

Katherine Greene: He was bullied into submission by this strong-willed family. He enters this dark world and is led astray by the other male character. We wanted to show how he was led down this different path that he meant not to go down. He started off as a lovely person who wants to please all the women in his life. We hope readers like him at first, and then at the end do not like him with the slow descent. At first, he is seen as trustworthy, honest, dependable, quiet, and charming. But then becomes obstinate, lacks common sense, and has rage.

EC: What do you want to say about Lucinda?

CCR: She just wants her parents’ approval and to be loved but must deal with overbearing parents. She has a slow descent into becoming an unlikeable person because of her striving for perfectionism. She is at times out of control, confident, from a privileged family, lonely, manipulator, and strong-willed.

EC: What about Lucinda and Rhett’s relationship?

Katherine Greene: They had secrets. She had old-fashioned values where she wants to get married and have children. He felt trapped in their relationship and felt emasculated by her and her family. She felt betrayed, deceived, and humiliated by him. They were bitter and combative toward each other. She stays with him out of spite because her parents never liked him. He creates a prison for her as much as she does for him. She was trapped by hoping he would love her.

EC: Do you think control plays an important role in the book?

Katherine Greene: The men in this book are all quite toxic in wanting control, while all the women felt they did not have control of their own lives. The continuity is that the characters felt all out of control over their own lives. The main characters each had to deal with overbearing people. Lucinda felt out of control because of her overbearing parents, Rhett felt overbearing by Lucinda, and Jenn ran away from home. No one was in control of their lives or actions. All were led astray by someone else’s actions.

EC: Do you agree that Marty, Jenn’s brother, was a character who did have toxic masculinity?

Katherine Greene: He passed it on to Rhett who latched on to him and had dark thoughts put in his head because he did not start out that way. He is domineering, wants things his way, unethical, intimidating, powerful, sadistic, arrogant, and wants to control the family dynamic. He has this book quote, “Women want to be tamed. They want to be controlled. They want to be put in their place.”

EC: How would you describe Bailey, Lucinda’s sister?

Katherine Greene: She is vulnerable, malleable, and family is most important to her. She has layers. She is also an attention-seeker, angry, possessive, and naïve.

EC: Next book?

Katherine Greene: We are writing two books. One is the sequel to The Lake of Lost Girls. The other book is Here We Lay Our Bones that has four simultaneous storylines, a mystery/thriller. The plot is based around the discovery of some bones.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Cat on a Hot Tin Woof by Spencer Quinn

Book Description

Chet the dog is less than enthusiastic about the Little Detective Agency’s next case. Chet and his human partner, PI Bernie Little, have been hired to find a missing person—only the missing person is a cat. Miss Kitty, an internet sensation, has disappeared, and Chet and Bernie have been hired to find her before her many followers realize something is wrong.

Miss Kitty belongs to Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom. Bitty and her mother are struggling financially, but the arrival of Miss Kitty and the chance discovery of her social media appeal has changed everything. Bitty now has sponsors, a high-powered agent, and all the tools needed to thrive online, and real money is flowing in. At least, it was. With Miss Kitty gone, the family’s income is on the line.

The case presents a slew of challenges for Chet and Bernie. For one thing, a potential witness is a pig named Senor Piggy who may be in possession of an important piece of evidence. For another, it seems like a possible perp has been killed twice—and there’s evidence implicating Bernie in the crime.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Cat On a Hot Tin Woof by Spencer Quinn has the Little Detective Agency run by Bernie with his furry partner Chet asked to find the internet sensation Miss Kitty, a missing cat. Chet is the narrator and as just as most dog owners, Quinn puts words into his mouth.

Miss Kitty belongs to Bitty, a sweet teenage girl who lives with her mom, Evelyn. Bitty and her mother are struggling financially, but the arrival of Miss Kitty and the chance discovery of her social media appeal has changed everything. Bitty now has sponsors, a high-powered agent, and all the tools needed to thrive online, and real money is flowing in. At least, it was. With Miss Kitty gone, the family’s income is on the line.

The mystery explores social media influencers and the vast amounts of money that companies spend to have their products posted on social media.

Chet is not a fan of cats ever since Chet flunked out of the K9 police academy because of what he did to a cat. There is also a secondary storyline of some trouble in paradise for Bernie’s ex-wife Leda and her hubby.

This is a fun mystery that will keep readers smiling throughout and turning the pages to see who cat nipped Miss Kitty.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Idea for the series?

Spencer Quinn: In many earlier books the stories were much darker with a third person narration. I enjoyed writing about dogs, and they were part of the story. My wife suggested the idea of writing mysteries modeled on the Sherlock Holmes narrative where the sidekick tells the story in the first person. But the sidekick should be a dog, not a talking dog. Some people think this series are cozies but since sometimes dark things happen, they are not in that genre.

EC: How did you get the idea for this book?

SQ: When I began this series in 2009, I do not think there were social media influencers. Now we are moving to a society where everyone will be an influencer or influenced. I do not want to be either. The dog, Chet, has always had a problem with cats. I decided to combine an internet famous cat influencer.

EC: What was the role of Kitty the cat?

SQ: As an influencer the cat was very valuable and worth a lot of money. Chet and Bernie were hired to find this cat who was taken very quickly. I came up with the name because it rhymes with Bitty.

EC: How did you come up with the title?

SQ: Chet has a Facebook page. When I have an idea for a book I write a post. Any reader who suggests the title and I use it gets a signed book copy. I love that kind of reader interaction.

EC: Were you influenced by dog owners who put words to the dog thoughts?

SQ: Yes, just as Shakespeare had Hamlet turn to the audience and recite a soliloquy so the audience knows what is going on in their mind. Similarly, we all talk to our dogs and never lie to them. People say what is in their heart to their dogs. They also can communicate with their owner without talking.

EC: How would you describe Chet?

SQ: He is a 100 plus pounder. His ears do not match. Chet is a mix of some sort. He can bounce back to his reset position very quickly, to have joy in life. I love writing in his voice. I try to keep the human qualities out. He is not a human in a dog suit.

EC: What about the relationship between Chet and Bernie?

SQ: They have a great love for each other, the beating heart of this series. To Chet, Bernie can do no wrong.

EC: How would you describe Bernie?

SQ: Bernie is a war hero, heroically saving a lot of those in his platoon. He is not a salesman at all and financially is not doing very well. He is an introvert. He is dogged when trying to solve a case.

EC: What about Evelyn and Bitty?

SQ: Evelyn, the mom, and Bitty, are Kitty’s owners. They are a divorced family. Bitty’s father is a bad guy. They have a stroke of luck when Miss Kitty becomes popular. I am hoping they are seen as sympathetic characters. Bitty has some childlike elemental goodness in her.

EC: What about Leda and Weatherly?

SQ: When the series starts Bernie is already divorced from Leda. Weatherly, his fiancé, is his true match. In some ways she is just like him. There is something magical about her. We are moving toward a wedding. In some books she plays a huge role but with this one she was not in it much. She is in more in the background in this story. Since this series has a multitude of characters and I always want to advance the story some characters have a bigger role than others.

EC: Next book?

SQ: It will be out in April 2027. The title is Raiders of the Lost Bark. The plot has competing paleontologists trying to find the giant desert tortoise thought to be extinct.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Girl with the List by Shari J. Ryan

Book Description

Day in, day out, servant Rosalie is forced to aid in the harrowing medical selections at Auschwitz, marking prisoners as “fit” or “unfit” with trembling hands. She once thought “unfit” meant they’d get the help they needed. Now she knows the devastating truth: “Fit” means they live another day, “unfit” means they don’t…

Every day, her heart breaks further as she hopelessly scans the crowds for the face of the man she loves, torn from her a year ago simply for being Jewish. Praying that he’s still alive, Rosalie desperately tries to save as many other men as she can—risking everything by marking them as fit and hoping her act of rebellion isn’t noticed.

Then one icy morning, she looks up from her list into the stunning green eyes of the man in her line—the man her heart beats for. And now the real fight begins, as Rosalie risks her life to save Stefan’s again and again. But then one morning, Stefan isn’t there. Rosalie frantically searches for him, blood turning to ice. He’s gone. But how far will she go to find him? And can he stay alive without her until she does…?

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Elise’s Thoughts

The Girl with the List by Shari J. Ryan is a powerful story that shows the emotional and physical cruelty of the Nazis. The plot has Rosalie Kaufman and Stefan Selig trying to fight for survival while in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

This novel is told from the perspectives of Rosalie and Stefan where chapters alternate back and forth between them and their time in Auschwitz and the times before and early in the war.

Rosalie and Stefan meet when she becomes the midwife for his mom during a challenging pregnancy. While living together within the same household they grow very close and fall in love. But when the Nazis come to their small Polish town, they are separated.

She is forced to become the midwife, nanny, and assistant to SS officer Weyman, who is stationed at Auschwitz. Rosalie is made to aid the Nazi officer not only in their home, but in the camp deciding the fate of the lined-up prisoners as fit or unfit for work. Fit prisoners were sent to the factories and farms to work, while the unfit were eliminated.

Then one morning as the prisoners are lined up, she stares into the eyes of the man she fell in love with, Stefan. Rosalie had to endure Weyman’s psychological torments by using her morality, ethics, and compassion for others against her. She knows Stefan has epilepsy and is very weak from hunger but day in and day out she still marks him as fit. Rosalie risks her life to keep him alive.

Readers will be completely invested in both Rosalie’s and Stefan’s stories. They will anxiously be turning the pages to find out what happens to these characters and will they get a happy ending. Anyone who reads one Shari J. Ryan book will automatically want to read the next book.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Why write about the Holocaust?

Shari J. Ryan: I had family who survived the Holocaust, my grandmother and great grandmother. The rest of my family did not. This is the reason I have been writing books focused on the Holocaust. The stories resemble people they were associated with or others that experienced similar journeys. The material found is factual with the characters fictional.

EC: How did you get the idea for this story?

SJR: I am focused on those servants who were taken to serve the SS and their families in their homes, outside of Auschwitz. This inspired Rosalie’s story. She was forced by the SS officer Weyman to follow his directions. Stefan’s story was inspired by a disability he had.

EC: This book discusses the cruelty of the Kapos, Jews who served the Nazis?

SJR: Yes, sometimes they were crueler than the Nazis and were motivated by getting more food and other things. They did it for self-survival. I have read books that discuss what it would take for someone to survive and how can they live with themselves after.

EC: The Nazi family members living outside of Auschwitz had to know something?

SJR: Lotte, Weyman’s wife, represented those who played dumb. Anyone in that situation had to know enough and it was a matter of maintaining a façade. What played a big part of my thoughts, ‘how could you not know your husband is doing this?’ In the book Lotte says, “Rank must be determined by the number of innocent lives killed.” She knew and stayed quiet to maintain her own safety, the silent wife. She wanted to preserve a life for her and her children until she could find a way out.

EC: Do you think Rosalie played God? The famous line during Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, says who shall live and who shall die will be determined?

SJR: I do think it will haunt her forever. Her motivation was to save people. But know Weyman made her choose who shall live and who shall die. There really were people in Auschwitz who had to do this inhumane decision. Rosalie had to determine who was fit to live and unfit to live.

EC: How would you describe Rosalie?

SJR: She was nicknamed ‘the girl who saves babies,’ because she was a midwife for pregnant women. She is quiet, defiant, sarcastic, impatient, brave, and caring. Once the Nazis took over, she was a slave laborer.

EC: How would you describe Stefan?

SJR: He is Jewish, charming, resourceful, funny, and has epilepsy. Once at Auschwitz he becomes dehydrated, exhausted, hungry, and strives to protect Rosalie. The protectiveness is more of an emotional journey for him and a physical journey for her.

EC: How did religion play within the relationship?

SJR: Rosalie tells him, “I greatly admire the Jewish faith-your pride of culture and tradition, strength and perseverance.” To build on a relationship there must be understanding of both sides. She was not really raised with a strong sense of religion. For her, this was her first taste of a strong faith and what Stefan’s family believed in, and why they believed in it. She was getting a front row view that gave her a sense of belonging since both her parents died.

EC: What about their relationship?

SJR: She feels whoever she loves dies. She feels she failed him repeatedly as she kept him alive. She was going against the grain, fighting for him. She felt she left him vulnerable and had a lot of self-blame. In my mind she blamed herself for her mother’s death, a response to the trauma she saw.

EC: How would you describe the SS officer Weyman?

SJR: He is a killer, cruel, evil, manipulative, uncaring, savage, inhumane, feels power is pride. His attitude was the Jews need to be wiped from the earth.

EC: Was the doctor in the story Mengele?

SJR: Yes, even though I did not mention him by name. He had experimentations, Eugenics, sterilizations, and thought that those with diseases like Stefan’s epilepsy should be killed or sterilized. He was cruel and I did a lot of research on prisoners which I wish I could erase from my brain as I did my research.

EC: Next book?

SJR: It will be Celina’s story who was a servant for a family of an SS officer who was at Auschwitz. She was hiding her Jewish faith and has a loved one. Her story takes place following the days of liberation. She survived after surviving. Her war was not over after liberation. It will be out in August of this year and is titled The Lost Husband.

THANK YOU!!

***

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: An Amish Marriage Agreement and The Amish Baker’s Redemption by Patrice Lewis

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Book Description and Elise’s Thoughts – An Amish Marriage Agreement

An Amish Marriage Agreement has Amish basket-maker Olivia Bontrager moving to Montana looking for a fresh start after her father dies. Unexpectedly, she finds her sister has abandoned her baby on Olivia’s doorstep. Wanting to give her niece a stable life, she accepts help from handyman Andrew Eicher, who offers a shocking proposal: a marriage of convenience because he wants to pull their finances to buy a farm. Now, after long resigning herself to spinsterhood, Olivia says yes knowing she will have the home and family she’s always yearned for. As they get closer Andrew realizes Olivia is everything he wanted in a wife, and she realizes she is falling in love with him. Everything seems to be going great until Olivia’s sister, Adele, reappears and jeopardizes the happiness they’ve found.

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Book Description and Elise’s Thoughts – The Amish Baker’s Redemption

The Amish Baker’s Redemption is Adele’s redemption story. After spending years in the English world, Adele Bontrager returns to her Amish community, desperate to redeem herself and reclaim her faith. Working in an Amish bakery, she feels like her life is finally moving in the right direction until Isaiah King arrives as the new head baker. Single father Isaiah has his hands full trying to raise his rebellious teenage daughter, Phoebe, and is grateful when Adele strikes up a friendship with his sullen child, despite her obvious reluctance toward him. But when he learns of her troubled history, he’ll need to decide if her past is worth risking their future and does he want her around Phoebe.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for An Amish Marriage Agreement?

Patrice Lewis: I liked the idea of a beautiful sister and a plain sister. The main character, Olivia, had a wonderful personality and a skill set, but lacks beauty.

EC: How would you describe Olivia?

PL: She is grief-filled after losing her dad. She considers herself a spinster. Olivia is stubborn, determined, responsible, self-deprecating, believes she is gangly looking, a risk-taker, kind, generous, hard-working, and clever.

EC: How would you describe the male lead, Andrew?

PL: He is bitter and angry about Sarah, his former girlfriend, who dumped him. He is orderly, level-headed, enthusiastic, and generous.

EC: What is the difference between Sarah and Olivia?

PL: They are opposites. Sarah has a shallow personality, while Olivia is a truly wonderful person inside and out. The only thing Sarah has going for her is beauty.

EC: What about the relationship between Olivia and Andrew?

PL: First, they were business partners, then friends who teased good-naturedly, shared chores, could make small talk, and both feel like outsiders. Andrew now believes he wants someone with beauty inside, not on the outside. He starts to recognize the value of Olivia.

EC: Why a marriage of convenience?

PL: They both wanted something very badly. The only way to get it was to join forces. Olivia had a baby placed on her doorstep, abandoned by her sister, so she felt the baby needed a father figure. Andrew knew he needed a financial partner in the farm. They decided to team up, both thinking they would not marry for love.

EC: What is the role of the baby, Helen?

PL: Olivia has no clue on how to raise the baby. I put in the scene on how they meet, and hope readers thought it was humorous. She literally yanked open the door and had a baby there. She panicked and motherhood did not come naturally for her. Andrew was on the doorstep because he was sent to repair the house. He knew what to do on how to handle a baby.

EC: Why did she keep Helen?

PL: She was Olivia’s father’s only grandchild and was named after her mother, both parents had died. She was motivation for Olivia to buy a farm with Andrew because he promised to be a father to Helen.

EC: What was the role of Adele?

PL: Flighty, selfish, self-centered, criticized Olivia’s looks, made her feel inferior, and yet was jealous of her. She was also shallow, insecure, and beautiful.

EC: Has Adele changed in The Amish Baker’s Redemption, the next book in the series?

PL: In the last story at the ending Adele had hit bottom. Before that she sought after wealthy, powerful men who were attracted to her because of her looks, but not her personality. She was rebellious, restless, and callous. In this book she changes because of the guilt she gave up her baby, men started dumping her, jealous of her sister’s life, and being financially destitute. Adele had to get redemption. She decided to now make the right choices. She became responsible, modest, has a good work ethic, devout, has humility,

and is avoiding men. Adele saw herself as a fallen women who wanted to redeem herself in the eyes of God, the community, Andrew, and Olivia.

EC: Idea for the story?

PL: I wanted to show how Olivia had to develop her personality because she did not have beauty, while Adele used her beauty to get what she wanted. Many beautiful women are as kind, loving, and caring as anybody else, but not Adele. She never developed her personality.

EC: How would you describe the male lead, Isiah?

PL: Stable, moralistic, hard-working, and scared his daughter is making the wrong choices.

EC: What about the relationship between Adele and Isiah?

PL: He admires her and he wants to court her. She feels she is not worthy of his affection, especially after he finds out about her past.

EC: What is the role of Isiah’s daughter, Phoebe?

PL: Adele realizes if Phoebe takes her path she will get into trouble because she does not have Adele’s good looks. Phoebe wants to travel the world, does not want to be baptized, and wants adventures. She is thinking of leaving the faith and at first does not realize she will lose the support of the Church and community, Adele is motivated to save Phoebe from herself. Phoebe hero worships Adele, while Adele sees herself as Phoebe’s mentor, to save Phoebe from herself so she will not make the same mistakes as Adele.

EC: How would you describe Phoebe?

PL: She is candid, rebellious, restless, impatient, and vulnerable. She is good hearted.

EC: Next book?

PL: The Amish Nanny’s Marriage Offer which will be released in May. The hero and heroine are widowed. He has a daughter and she has a son. During Church services since men and women are separated, they watch each other’s child. He gave her a job to babysit his daughter. The heroine left for Montana because she was being pressured by her family to marry a psychopath.

THANK YOU!!

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Raging Waters by Dana Mentink

Book Description

When Mackenzie Bardine’s brother Aaron was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong, she started a true crime podcast dedicated to exposing “Bullseye,” the drug kingpin responsible. But her protective heart has never let go of the blame she places on herself and Aaron’s best friend, Gideon Landry. On the run to the wilds of Washington to chase a recent lead, she meets none other than Gideon himself.

While conducting a wilderness survival class in remote Washington, Gideon never expected to cross paths with Mackenzie, and he’s certainly not interested in helping her after he’s already declined to participate in her vigilante podcasting. He carries a mountain of guilt about Aaron’s fatal choices, but not for the reasons Mackenzie suspects.

As killers begin to circle Mackenzie like sharks, it’s clear to Gideon she’s in over her head, and in light of his troubled past with her brother, he can’t bring himself to ignore her perilous situation. Then a flood threatens the town, turning their investigation into a race to escape the raging waters and the wrath of a powerful kingpin who wants to sink them both.

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Elise’s Thoughts

The plot for Raging Waters, by Dana Mentink, comes right out of the headlines. A major role in the book is the Air Force SERE tactics. In the news recently the Air Force Colonel who had to eject from his F-15 fighter jet over Iran had to avoid the Iranians who had put a bounty on his head. To avoid the enemy, he used the SERE training. This book’s plot has the hero and heroine trying to evade capture by the enemy, Bullseye, a drug kingpin, by using SERE tactics.

The book starts out with Mackenzie Bardine (Zee) haunted by the murder of her brother Aaron. Determined to bring the man responsible to light, she pours her heart into a true crime podcast focused on exposing the mysterious drug kingpin known as “Bullseye. She had not forgiven herself or her brother’s best friend, Gideon Landry, for not doing more to help her brother.

A lead on Bullseye’s identity brings Mackenzie to the remote Washington State town of Oakleaf. There she encounters Gideon, an Air Force SERE instructor, who works in the community. He realizes that Zee is over her head in finding her brother’s killers and decides to help her. This ruthless drug kingpin is intent on destroying them and has people everywhere, making it hard for Gideon and Zee to know who to trust. It becomes a cat and mouse game where they are after Bullseye who has hired minions to find and kill them. In addition to having to use SERE tactics to escape Bullseye they must find safety against torrential rains, raging waters, and a dam that is about to break.

The action in the book is non-stop creating relentless tension. Combining the threat from dangerous enemies and the natural disasters makes for a gripping read. There is heart-stopping danger with twists and turns that leads to a stormy ending.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Do you like writing books where the setting becomes a character?

Dana Mentink: This is my favorite type of story. I think nature is marvelous and terrifying, where it pits the characters versus the environment. My first book involved a volcano. This series books are about surviving the environment. They are wilderness survival stories. I have a fear of water in general and like to write about what scares me. There is nothing scarier than being trapped in a small town with a failing dam. Besides the dam this story had rain, a chilling river, and the flood from a dam breaking with a major current. It seemed like the perfect place to set a suspense idea.

EC: Did SERE play an important role in the book?

DM: It stands for survive, evade, resist, and escape. It is the Air Force survival training where the protagonist is an instructor. It comes in real handy. It is an intense program where they learn cagey skills. I found true testimonies of people who experienced being lost. Makes for a great hero where someone knows what to do.

EC: Can you explain the book quote, “Fix it, don’t film it”?

DM: After a disaster there are all these videos. It occurred to me, ‘why don’t you just put down the phone and go help that person.’ People have become too enamored with social media they forget it is really life.

EC: Can you describe Zee?

DM: Zee is angry, believes the ends justify the means, can be reckless, audacious, stubborn, gritty, determined, charismatic, vulnerable, and a true crime podcaster crusader.

EC: What about Gideon?

DM: He is sarcastic, smart, savvy, clever, a warrior, and believes people should not terrorize others. In the beginning of the book, he has no filters.

EC: What is the role of Aaron, Zee’s brother?

DM: He shattered lives, never grew up, and did not believe there were consequences to his actions. He does not take responsibility. Zee stopped living her life to get revenge for his murder. She also must come to grips with the image she had of her brother and who he really was. It is difficult for her to accept it.

EC: What about Zee and Gideon?

DM: He felt she was not trustworthy. At a younger age she had a crush on him when he was her brother’s best friend. Now she blames him for not helping her brother. While in some ways he blames himself. She does not want him around because he is a reminder of Aaron. There is a lot of guilt to be resolved. She also has guilt because of a blindness to some things about him, feeling she could have prevented his murder if she was more insightful.

EC: How would you describe the bad guy, Bullseye?

DM: Evil, manipulative, controlling, powerful, vengeful, enjoys using fear, violent, and a stone-cold killer.

EC: What about your next books?

DM: It will be the first in a new series, titled Hidden America. It is about a TV scout media team checking out locations for the TV show called “Hidden America.” It is a show about abandoned places. It will come out probably next spring.

Another book will be a historical cozy mystery coming out in September. It is titled Murders in the Marquee. It is the first book in a series. It is set in a San Francisco luxury hotel in 1905 called the Marquee. It has three unlikely crime solvers.

THANK YOU!!

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