Happy Sunday readers.
Please join me in welcoming TWRP author, Leanna Sain
to the blog, as she shares her new book, Red Curtains,
and tell us a little about herself.
Please join me in welcoming TWRP author, Leanna Sain
to the blog, as she shares her new book, Red Curtains,
and tell us a little about herself.
Tell me three words that describe yourself starting with A, B, and C.
Creative, old-fashioned, farmer-girl
What are your three favorite things?
Writing, taking care of animals,
kayaking
Are you self- published or with a publishing company (if so, which one?)?
Publishing company: The Wild Rose Press
What for you is the best
part of writing? What is the worst?
The best part of writing for me is when the characters take over the story
and carry it off in an uplanned direction. I call that the “magic.” I just hold
on for the ride, typing as fast as my fingers will go. When I come to the end of that scene, I just
sit back, almost out of breath, and say, “Whew! Didn’t see THAT coming.”
There are two “worst parts.” One… painting myself into a corner. The
antedote to that usually comes while I’m in the shower. I think, maybe the
steam lubricates my brain so it’s able to come up with a solution. Two…having
ideas coming at me like machine-gun fire and being unable to write because I’m
in the middle of one job or another. My husband and I own a Amish furniture
store and it keeps us pretty darn busy, and living on a farm, like I do, there
are always unplanned jobs that MUST be done first. Very frustrating.
Was there any particular inspiration for your characters or story?
The story seed for RED CURTAINS came from a trip to Savannah,
Georgia. It was our first visit there, and a celebration of our 26th
anniversary. While we waited for a tour bus, a homeless man, wearing a long
trench coat over ragged layers of
clothing, and a goofy court-jester type hat with little bells on the
ends of each dangly point, sauntered up to a mailbox and proceeded to sprinkle
some invisible substance around the base of a mailbox while chanting some
unknown language.
Boom! I had a story. Once on the bus, I jotted notes furiously, my mind
going much faster than I could transfer them to paper. This character became Lily in Red Curtains.
Will there be more books in your series, or can you tell us about any
previous books?
Red Curtains is the first book of my GRITS
series. (Girls-Raised-In-The-South) It’s
a different kind of “series” in that each book will be a stand-alone story with
no overlapping character. They will all feature a strong, creative Southern
girl and be
set somewhere in the South,
and will be in the romantic suspense genre.
I’ve already signed a contract for the next one (Half-Moon Lake), and
have two more already completed, and two more outlined. There are many, many
more in my
mind.
When writing, which do you prefer to write
with, computer or paper and pen?
I write the first draft on my
computer, all the way through, from beginning to end, creating what I call a
“story skeleton.” Once I have the skeleton, I go back through and add l the
rest of the body: muscles, heart and lungs, “plumping it up,” and
making it come
alive. Once that’s done, I print it off and read through, adding scenes where I
feel like they’re needed. Sometimes scenes get moved around for a smoother
story. There’s a lot of scribbling in the margins, circled portions with
arrows pointing
where things need to move, etc. Then I go back to the computer and make the
necessary changes. After that, I have some trusted author buddies who read it
and give honest evaluation and suggestions. That’s it.
EXCERPT
A bit about me:
Dead bodies, fake money
and falling in love were NOT part of the assignment.
Cleo Davis must find a model for her
senior art project or she won’t graduate. When she discovers Lily
Telfair-Gordon, she gets more than just an eccentric old woman who spouts famous
quotes, talks to ghosts, and wears a weird hat. Lily has unwittingly stumbled
upon a counterfeiting ring, and Cleo gets dragged right into the middle of it.
Jonas Holmes, an investigative reporter
for the local paper, is asking the question: why do bodies of homeless men keep
showing up in the river? But the homeless are scared and won’t talk to him.
When he finds Cleo and Lily, he thinks his problems are solved; he doesn’t
realize that they’re just
beginning.
While
romance blossoms between Cleo and Jonas, they work together to see how the two
things are connected, but will they find out before it’s too late?
“Cleo!”
she greeted me joyously, as if we were long, lost friends instead of mortal
enemies. “It’s so good to see you!”
“Ellie.”
Her eyes narrowed at my mispronunciation, but she didn’t correct me. I gave her
a cold stare. The only thing that kept me from yanking her out of my seat by
her dark rooted, bottle-blond hair was sheer, iron will.
“I
saw you come in earlier,” she trilled in her fake- friendly voice. “I wanted to
be sure to
come tell you ‘hi.’ Imagine my disappointment when I finally made it to your
table and found you were gone. But luckily...”
she gave Jonas an impudent smile. “...this
nice man
was good enough to
let me sit here and wait for you.”
Finally
made it to my table? Yeah, right. I was sure
she’d waited—on purpose—for me to leave
before she
swooped in. I’d
seen this act before, and I thought I was
ready for it, but I guess I wasn’t. When she finished
her
little performance
with a wink, I think I may have growled.
“Well, that worked
out well for you, didn’t it?” My
smile was brittle. One false move and my face might
shatter into a
thousand little pieces. I waited stiffly for
her to vacate my seat. Could a person’s
blood actually
boil?
Jonas was casting
an uncertain look between the
two
of us. I’m sure he was astute enough to feel the
undercurrents. He might not understand
them, but he
had to be aware of
them.
Then he sort of
jumped, shoulders stiffening, eyes
widening in shock as he stared across the table. What
was that about? I glanced
at Ellie, looking for an
answer.
Uh-oh. I knew that look. I’d seen her use it
often enough. It was her “come and get me”
expression—gazing up through her mascara thickened
lashes, a
seductive smile curving her lips, promising
things I didn’t even want to know
about—the look that
reduced
men to puppy-like creatures, eager to please. A
movement under the table caught my eye and
my jaw
dropped. Ellie’s
stiletto-clad foot was rubbing suggestively up and down Jonas’ leg.
Obviously, Ellie
had
no intention of relinquishing her spot at the table.
Oh, no
you don’t, girlfriend! Not this time!
I made a totally out-of-character and utterly rash decision, praying
that Jonas would just go with it and
that it wouldn’t backfire. I slipped into the seat
beside
him, snuggling up
close. “I like it better on this side,
anyway.”
I’ll have to hand
it to him. It only took him a split
second of startled uncertainty before he dropped his
arm around my
shoulder, pulling me even closer. He
put his lips to my ear, whispering, “I guess
you’ll explain what’s going on later?”
His warm breath
against my ear caused goose
bumps
to shiver along my arms and down my legs, but I
dimpled up at him and answered, “You know
I will.”
Turning to Ellie,
I almost shouted over an explosion of
laughter from the bar. “Isn’t he a sweetheart? I just
love
him to death!”
Ellie’s expression
had become a bit frosty and I
almost
giggled with delight. It felt wonderful to be
vindicated. Not to mention, it was very, very cozy to be
snuggled up
against Jonas like this.
She slid toward
the outside edge of the seat. “It was
good to see you, Cleo. Happy holidays. Nice to meet
you, Jonas. Maybe
we could meet for a drink
sometime?”
“Sounds good,” he
said. “I’ll let you set it up with
Cleo.”
Ellie’s jaw
tightened. “Of course. See you later.”
She spun around and stalked away, swaying a little on
her four-inch
heels.
Buy
links:
The Wild Rose Press
Amazon
iTunes
Barnes and Noble
KOBO
https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/red-curtains
A bit about me:
North
Carolina native, Leanna Sain, earned her BA from the University of South
Carolina and lives in the mountains of western NC with her husband. Her “Gate”
trilogy has stacked up numerous awards, from Foreword Magazine’s
Book-of-the-Year to the Clark Cox Historical Fiction Award from the North
Carolina Society of Historians. Sain’s fourth novel, Wish, is a
stand-alone, YA crossover, a change from her usual Southern romantic suspense
or “grit-lit,” but fans will still get the strong, sometimes-snarky characters,
gripping dialogue, and vivid descriptions that they’ve come to expect from her
novels. RED CURTAINS is the first book in her GRITS (Girls-Raised-In-The-South) series. She has
just signed a contract for HALF-MOON LAKE, the next novel in the series, has
two additional books written, and several more in the works.
Sain has
skillfully created her own character supported/plot driven style that
successfully rolls Mary Kay Andrews, Nicholas Sparks, and Jan Karon all into
one. Regional fiction lovers and readers who enjoy suspense with a magical
twist will want these books.
She loves leading
discussion groups and book clubs. For more information or to contact her,
visit: www.LeannaSain.com
Social Media Links:
Facebook:
Twitter:
Leanna Sain@Leannasbooks
Website and blog:
Goodreads:
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