Today I’m pleased to be hosting Andrea Stein as she presents her contemporary romance, Rough Harbor.
Not only will you discover a talented author today, but you have a chance to win a terrific prize too! Andrea will be awarding a $50 GC, winner’s choice of Starbucks, Amazon or Walmart, to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So be sure to follow the book tour on this and all her other stops as she introduces you to Rough Harbor’s Caitlyn and Maxwell. You can visit all Andrea’s other stops by clicking on the link below, provided by Goddess Fish. The more stops you visit and comment on, the greater your chances of winning this very generous prize that Andrea is offering.
http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/virtual-book-tour-rough-harbor-by.html
Andrea, thank you so much for visiting with us today. Why don’t we start with a few questions, and then I would love for you to share an excerpt from Rough Harbor with my readers.
This book seems to be full of mystery. Do you write any other genres?
Andrea: I love romance and mystery, so I tried to combine both. Rough Harbor has more of a mystery aspect to it than a suspense – there’s a ‘puzzle’ to be solved rather than just a madman on the loose after the heroine Caitlyn. I also working on a mystery series featuring an amateur sleuth, but that will also have a bit of romance in it.
Where do you get the inspiration for the backstory for your main characters?
Andrea: I try to make them interesting, yet believable – sort of the things I would have, should have done if I had the time or had made some different choices. I would have loved to have lived in London – though probably wouldn’t have done something in finance – like Caitlyn. And like Noah I have a background in software development, and though I have never written a piece of software and turned it into the company, I know people who have.
When you start a new manuscript, do you already know how it will end? Or does it take on a life of its own and surprise even you where it ends up?
Andrea: I am very much an outliner – I need to know where I am going, including the general ending. I usually outline with some specific points along the way, but I don’t have a forty page outline – mine’s usually a few pages long and changes as I write and ‘better’ ideas come to me. I don’t always know the exact ending, though in a romance novel, we ‘know’ the two main characters will ‘get together’ but I don’t always know the setting or how they’ll tell each other about their feelings until I am pretty close to the end.
Do you have any new works in the pipeline? What can we expect to see next from Andrea Stein?
Andrea: There is a another Queensbay romance novel ready to come out at the end of January 2013. It features Noah’s best friend and the daughter of a Hollywood legend who might or might not know the location of a famous necklace.
Whose works do you enjoy reading and what book would we find on your nightstand?
Andrea: Right now I am reading Nelson DeMille’s Plum Island. I’ve only read one other DeMille book, Gold Coast, which was also set on Long Island – I’m from there so it’s fun to read about places you know. I’m also reading Marie Force’s The McCarthy’s of Gansett Island.
Thanks for much for giving us some insight on your writing process as well as what we can look forward to in the future from you. And now, let’s get to the heart of the matter, shall we? Here are a blurb and excerpt from Andrea’s book, Rough Harbor.
Andrea, thank you for visiting today, and best of luck with the book tour.
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BLURB:
After a bitter break up and professional set back in London, twenty seven year old Caitlyn has returned to Queensbay to work for Maxwell Randall, an old family friend, at his financial management firm. So far, bit by bit, Caitlyn’s been rebuilding all she lost after Michael St. John broke her heart …and tried to ruin her professional reputation.
But her past comes back to haunt her when Maxwell unexpectedly turns up dead. Not only does Caitlyn find her career in jeopardy but her heart is too, when Noah Randall, Maxwell’s son, and her first love, returns to Queensbay. Once, ten years ago, Caitlyn was sure Noah was the one for her…but the tragedy of her grandfather’s suicide and Noah’s decision to leave town left her bereft…and determined never to trust him again.
Over the past decade, she’s managed to do her best to forget about Noah Randall and the lingering questions surrounding her grandfather’s suicide. But now that’s he back in town – rich and more handsome than ever, and she can’t help wondering what if? What if Noah really was the one?
Noah Randall left home ten years ago to seek his fortune – vowing never to return until he’d made a success of himself – and show Caitlyn Montgomery just what she’d given up. He returns to find that Caitlyn Montgomery has only grown more alluring with time. Noah’s always wanted he couldn’t have…and now he wants Caitlyn again. But she’s determined not to make the same mistake twice.
While Noah and Caitlyn are revisiting old ground – and forging a new relationship, there’s trouble brewing in Queensbay. Old secrets and new lead Caitlyn to believe that perhaps her grandfather didn’t kill himself – and that Maxwell’s death was no accident. But just how far will someone go to keep her – and Noah – from finding out the truth…and will Queesbay prove to have troubled waters after all?
EXCERPT:
Caitlyn Montgomery carefully let herself in the side door with the key hidden under the flowerpot. Police tape fluttered along the back of the house, the side that faced the water, but here, under the small overhang, there was nothing, only a chilly October breeze and the more distant sound of the water lapping at the rocky shore.
The house was quiet, the silence of sadness. Her footsteps echoed across the polished wood flooring of the hallway as she crossed onto the marble tiles of the foyer. She knew it well, had almost grown up here, and had spent many nights here in the recent months, playing chess and sipping whisky with an old man.
The door to Maxwell Randall’s study swung silently open. Caitlyn crossed the floor quickly, her sneakered feet sinking into the plush carpet. She came around to Maxwell’s desk, an ornate, obnoxious thing meant to look like something a Gilded Age Robber Baron would have owned.
It was just as he’d left it. Empty. Maxwell hadn’t been one for bringing work home, she discovered. His desk was clear, a simple blotter aligned in the middle. A phone off to the right, a brass lamp off to the left. A pad of paper and a can of pens and pencils sat within reach. There was no computer, no planner or desk diary. She supposed if there had been one, the police would have taken it.
Slowly, methodically, she leaned over and began to open the desk drawers. Nothing in the two large ones flanking the right, nor the left. She turned her attention to the middle drawer, the thin one. It stuck a bit, and she felt her heart flutter in anticipation. She knelt down, to get a better view. Caitlyn pushed a strand of her brown-black hair behind her ear and squinted in concentration as she carefully slid her hands toward the back of the narrow drawer.
“What are you doing?”
Her head jerked up, hitting the side of the drawer as she rose to her feet.
“You?” Caitlyn said, surprise radiating through her.
There was a pause. Caitlyn drew herself up to her full height and looked at Noah Randall, all six-feet-one of him, standing in the doorway.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Hi, I’, Andrea Stein an author, mother, wife and blogger and a certified mom-chauffeur. I have been scribbling stories for as long as I can remember, including my first adventure story, inspired by an obsession with Out of Africa (book, movie and biography) about a young girl stranded in Kenya. It was serial fiction handwritten, given to my sister, who couldn’t read my handwriting. That story dies after one installment, but the next year I got a word processor (not a computer, but an ACTUAL WORD PROCESSOR) that showed about twenty lines of text at a time. This was before laptops were widely available and this allowed me to be able to type to my heart’s content in the privacy of my own room. Which I did. I think I spent the time writing stories about my “frenemies” to amuse myself. I also listened to a lot of the Cure and New Wave music. I have since moved on to a happier place.
Even though I read lots of different types of books, I write romance novels with a twist. More like contemporary romance than romantic suspense (I don’t write about serial killers or FBI agents) but I usually like to include a puzzle or mystery for my hero and heroine to solve.
Rough Harbor is my second novel, set in a small New England town. Coming soon is Ivy Cottage, also set in a small New England town on a river.
Other than writing I spend most of my time reading, watching TV, cooking, cleaning, taking care of kids, trying to keep the house clean and folding laundry. I love Twizzlers, chocolate and shows on the WB. For me, reading has always been an escape, a way to escape the ordinary and dive into a world that feels real – but with all of the ‘boring’ parts edited out.
As for the rest of my life, I grew up on Long Island, spent a lot of vacations in small New England towns, went to college in New York City, married by high school sweetheart, worked, had kids, stopped working, and kept on writing. Now I live in rural New Jersey (yes, there is such a thing), and though I don’t own any horses, I do have a barn, which I share with squirrels.
There’s something successful writers always tell new writers about their secret to success. Just do it…Bum Glue…write 1ooo words a day…write for two hours a day….Keep writing. And they’re right. I got more successful with my writing when I started to do it consistently. I don’t write every day, but I shoot for five days a week. This means that the words and pages pile up — and I have stories to shape, make and mold…and share.
I hope you enjoy my books, currently available at http://www.amazon.com
Links – Website:
www.Andreasteinbooks.com
http://www.facebook.com/AndreaSteinBooks
https://twitter.com/andreasteinbook
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