Marie-Nicole Ryan Talks Shop, Raffles Amazon Gift Certificate!

Good afternoon, my lovlies! Let's all give a warm Fantasy Unbound welcome to All Things Romantic Suspense guest author Marie-Nicole Ryan!

Marie-Nicole is here today to answer some questions about her life as a writer and her latest release, Love Me if You Can. She's also giving away a $5 gift certificate for either Amazon or B&N to one lucky commenter, so be sure to share your love!

First, as always, have a blurb:

Nashville sizzles in the summer. No wonder Tess and Scott combust.

Nashville Homicide Detective Tess O’Malley has a lot to prove. She comes from a long line of police officers, including her father and older brothers. First she and her partner are taken off a high profile case and sidelined with a cold case instead. After reviewing the files, she’s certain her cold case is connected to the current one, and she sets out to prove it. Too bad it means locking horns with a handsome PI who could win her heart and derail her career.

PI Scott Holt is all business when it comes to running his family’s PI firm. When the lovely Detective O’Malley comes to question him about his possible involvement in her cold case, he has everything but business on his mind. Like locking lips with the fiery redhead.

And now I turn the floor over to Marie-Nicole, beneath the jump.

RH: Have you ever written outside the romance genre? If not, do you ever plan to?

MNR: Yes, I’ve written one mystery/suspense novel. One Too Many is the sequel to a romantic suspense. Unfortunately my publisher stopped taking anything but romance-driven stories, so the mystery series died an early death.

RH: By night you’re a caped crusader/romance writer. What do you do by day?

MNR: That’s backwards for me. I’m retired so I’m a romance writer by day. By night, I’m a TV nut.

RH: What was the very first romance you ever read? How old were you? Were you being naughty and sneaking it off the shelf before you really even knew what sex was? How did it make you feel, and is that what hooked you on the genre?

MNR: As the romance genre exists now, the first romance I read was Sweet Savage Love, by Rosemary Rogers. I was an adult, so there was no naughtiness involved by reading it. I loved the wide scope of the story and, of course, the sex. At the time I read a reviewer who called it an “erotic epic.” I knew then I wanted to write one. And I banged out about a hundred pages of one on an old Smith Corona portable typewriter before I gave up.

RH: What would constitute your own personal happily ever after?

MNR: If my house in Nashville would sell, and I make a profit on it. That would be a HEA for me.

RH: Do you own an ereader? Why or why not? If so, what’s on it?

MNR: I own a Kindle Version I. What’s on it? Some classics, lots of romantic suspense, contemporary western romances, a few historical romances, a few bestsellers, a few freebies. I love the ease with which I can download a book, as well as the number of books I can have right at my fingerstips.

RH: Are you a book hoarder?

MNR: I used to be, but since I had to downsize and give away about forty boxes of books to the library, I am no longer. I live in a small apartment and only have space for one bookcase which is filled with my keepers. So far I have about 140 books on my ereader and there’s plenty of room on it.

RH: What’s the one question you wish people would ask you when you tell them you’re a writer? How would you answer it?

MNR: I wish they’d ask me where to buy my book, and I’d tell them. LOL

RH: If you were doomed to spend the rest of your life on an island with only one book, one person, one food (coconuts and fish aside), and one object from the modern world (computer, deodorant, vibrator, etc.), what would they be?

MNR: One book would be Anya Seton’s Green Darkness because it was the novel which influenced my paranormal romantic suspense novel, See You In My Dreams. The person—can’t think of anyone, except maybe my sister, I’d want to be on a island with. Truth be known, my Sheltie Cassie would make a fantastic companion, too. Food would be either French fries or pizza. The object would be a computer of some type with a long life killer of a battery and a tremendous wifi connection.

RH: Speaking of online hangouts, where are yours? Where can your readers find you?

MNR Website

Facebook

Twitter

RH: What’s your current book list and where can we buy them?

MNR: In addition to being available at my publishers’, my books are also available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, etc.

NOVELS

Love Me If You Can, http://thewildrosepress.com

Seducing the Sheriff, http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

Holding Her Own http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

One Too Many http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

Love on the Run http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

Too Good to Be True http://store.samhainpublishing.com/marienicole-ryan-pa-259.html

The Man for the Job, re-release on Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble

See You in My Dreams, re-release on Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble

HOLIDAY SHORT STORIES

Mistletoe and Mario, Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble

Pillow Talk, Amazon.com & Barnes & Noble

RH: Anything else you’d like to add?

MNR: Yes, anyone who comments today will be entered in a drawing for a $5.00 GC at either Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Thanks for having me.

Not only did Marie-Nicole agree to answer my questions today, she also provided me with an excerpt of Love Me If You Can to share with you all. If the teaser tantalizes, you can buy the book at Wild Rose Press, Amazon, B&N, or ARe.

Scott parked his car in the lot and glanced at his watch. His first appointment wasn’t for another twenty minutes. Just enough time to duck into the Coffee Shack for his morning jolt of java. Great. Only one customer ahead of him.

The one was a spectacular redhead with a killer body, wearing a light tan jacket and a brown skirt just short enough to show off a great set of wheels. Not that he paid any attention to a woman’s body.

Now, the mind… Who was he fooling?

“Arabian Mocha Sanani. Double grande, skim—no, whole—no, skim.” Her voice was low and pleasant, but did she have to waffle over what kind of milk?

Her head bobbed from side to side while she considered. “No, skim, definitely skim.”

Enough already. “Could you just make up your mind? Some of us have to go to work.”

She whirled and glared. Her wide gray eyes, with flecks of darker gray, flashed with anger. “I just did.” She turned back to the clerk. “Definitely whole.”

There was something familiar about her. Maybe they’d met before? Gone to school together? He glanced at his watch and started tapping his foot.

“Sometime this century, Red.”

This time she whipped around and flashed a badge. “One more word and I’ll arrest you for being a public nuisance.”

A Metro Nashville gold shield. Yeah, one of the O’Malleys. “You’ll arrest me?” Unable to resist, he grinned. “How about I make a citizen’s arrest because you’re a—”

Her fair cheeks flushed an angry red as she interrupted him, “Careful, you are so close to—”

So she had the typical redhead’s temper. Aw hell, she was too cute to alienate. Women love it when a man admits he’s wrong. “All right. I’m a nuisance—one Scott Holt. I admit it. Why don’t you let me buy your coffee, and then maybe you’ll let me apologize over dinner?”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

A flicker of something sparked, then died in her gaze. “Hmph. Is that your idea of a smooth come-on?”

He tried a smile. Maybe his charm alone would soften her attitude. “It’s the best I can do on short notice.”

Her hardened expression softened. Her lips twitched. “I’ll pass.”

“Now here I thought you were softening toward me. You know you almost smiled. I’m very observant.”

She glanced at her watch. A self-satisfied smile lifted the corners of her luscious mouth. “Thought you had to get to work?”

“Won’t hurt. I’m the boss.”

“Well, I’m not the boss, and I do have to get to work.”

Without another word, she paid for her java, took a sip, and then sailed by him. His chin dropped.

She left the store and headed down Fifth. He smiled. Nice hitch in her get-along. Oh, yeah.

“Hey, buddy,” the barista interrupted Scott’s train of thought. “You gonna order or stare at the scenery.”

Scott laughed. The redhead had him dazzled all right.

And dazzled was rare.