Thank you for having me today! I am so excited to be sharing with you about my debut novel Poison, a contemporary romantic suspense!
Leanne has a large family and besides her busy imagination, she also has a great love for the outdoors.
She writes 'Romance you can relate to.'
What did you see, hear or dream that
inspired your book?
My characters had a relationship 10 years before the
start of Poison. I actually wrote the original relationship when I was barely
out of high school. So years later when I was deciding what novel to write next
I found the spiral notebooks with John and Cassie’s relationship in it from
when they were 18 and 23…and it got me wondering, who would they be now? What
would draw them back together? And how would they be as a couple now, despite
what happened to them a decade before? And of course I had to add a villain to
really mess with them…and Poison was soon born.
I
love it when stories come back to haunt us like that.
Which one of your main characters came
across strongest to you?
Cassie. She is completely flawed and struggling to put to
rest a troubled past. She made many mistakes in her youth, and she has spent
years trying to rectify them. I love the idea of forgiveness and redemption. Plus
she’s kind of balls out there with who she is…something I only wish I could be!
How long did it take you to fall in love
with your Hero/Heroine?
I have all my characters pretty much living in my
imagination before I type a word about them. So I have to feel them, see them,
hear them and nearly channel them for me to be able to start writing about
them. Sometimes it feels like I verge on multiple personalities the way all
these characters and stories endlessly talk in my head!
I
totally understand where you’re coming from.
Did you borrow certain traits for your
characters from someone you know personally?
Which ones?
I don’t look around me for inspiration. My characters
form in my imagination and simply are who they are. I can’t change them even
when I want too! I have even named characters names I’m not overly fond of
because they simply were “that” person and I couldn’t seem to make them respond
to any other name. I should be in control of all aspects of them…but it doesn’t
always work that way…go figure!
Is this book a single category or can we
expect to see more of your characters in a series?
Poison is the first of a four part series that is all
based in the small ocean side town named Seaclusion.
Book 2, Notorious is contracted and will hopefully be out
later this year! Notorious features the brother and sister of John and Cassie
as they struggle to find their own paths in life.
Well,
I love to read series books, so no doubt will add this to my TBR pile.
What is your most difficult “no-no” when
you write? (Show vs. tell, dialogue, plot problems, passive voice, etc.)
As my editor could attest to, I struggle the most with
line editing. I get the story and characters down, I then spend many, many
rewrites fixing mechanics and small editing mistakes.
Everyone
writes so differently and we all struggle with very different area. I would
have never guessed.
When you take a break from writing, what do
you do to allow your brain time to regroup?
Anything outside! I live on acreage so I spend a lot of
time on yard work and in my garden. My family and I are huge into camping and
boating…so we are constantly off to places all around Washington State. I love
to horseback ride, ride 4-wheelers, swim, fish…the list goes on. It’s a nice
break from typing on the computer.
Ah,
yes activity! I sometimes forget what that is.
Would you consider yourself a plotter or a
pantser?
Pantser. I am ashamed to admit I don’t even know how to
outline a novel or do a character board. When other, more organized writers
start explaining all their prep work and notes…I get itchy. I would never write
a novel if I tried to plot it because I could never make myself start the work
on an outline! Yet to me I am plotted, it’s just all in my head. That’s how it
goes for me… I sit down and type the movie in my head. So I can’t even
contemplate mapping it out beforehand. The fun of writing for me is seeing
where my story lines goes, who and what the characters are…and yes, there are
times it goes completely different than I ever dreamed. In the rest of my life
I am hyper organized with everything; from my house, to my schedule, and my
kids…just not my writing!
In one sentence, tell us what your book is
about.
Cassie betrayed John ten years ago, and now he is the
only person she has to run to when her violent ex-husband starts hunting her
and her young son.
What is your one “guilty” pleasure?
Writing! The time I take to write, where I could be doing
other more obviously productive things on my to-do list…I feel this kind of
naughty pleasure when I take time away to do my most favorite thing…writing!
BLURB:
Cassie Reeves betrayed John Tyler a decade ago, but now, John is the only person Cassie can turn to for help protecting her son from her violent ex-husband. John’s quiet life as a small town doctor in Seaclusion, Washington has no place in it for Cassie, her son, or the feelings Cassie’s presence rekindles. John and Cassie’s mutual attraction reignites, despite everything that drove them apart a decade ago, and threatens to destroy them now. No matter how much Cassie has changed, and tried to right her past wrongs, there is no escaping her ex-husband. Cassie knows that only she can end what her ex-husband has started. But will she survive long enough to have a chance at the happiness that has escaped her for so long?
EXCERPT:
Cassie sighed and pushed the flowers onto the counter between them. She tidied her desk, avoiding his gaze. Finally she stood and gathered her things.
He watched her. He didn’t like hearing Tim was scared his mom wouldn’t come home from work. What kind of knowledge was that for a kid to have? Hell, he didn’t like that Cassie was scared that she wasn’t going to come home from work. He didn’t think anyone could fake the fear she had of the innocuous floral arrangement.
Cassie was just about to hustle past him, when he put a hand on her arm to stop her. She paused, looking at his hand, then up into his eyes. Her lips trembled. She quickly dropped her face from his view. She raised a hand to wipe at her cheeks. Tears?
Damn it all to hell. A stab of genuine sympathy filled him. He put a knuckle under her chin and forced her to look up him. Her eyes were glazed in moisture. She was trying not to cry. He swallowed, unsure why her efforts to hold back tears from him put a knot in his throat. Had he become so heartless with his anger that he couldn’t let her fear a man she seemed to think wanted to physically harm her?
“Cassie—”
Thanks, Leanne for being my special guest today! I'm always excited to have fellow authors on my site to share and promote and get to know!
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