INTERVIEW and GIVEAWAY
The Wishes Chronicles Series
by Paula Millhouse
The Wishes Chronicles series is currently on tour with Bewitching Book Tours. The tour stops here today for my interview with the author. There is also a giveaway to enter below. Be sure to visit the other tour stops as well.
Careful What You Wish For... :
The Wishes Chronicles Book 1
The Wishes Chronicles Book 1
Description
Author Evie Longfellow wants to stay alive long enough to write her fourth New York Times Best Seller. She accepts a blind date that changes everything sane in her life. Drugged, kidnapped, and horrified Evie escapes and runs for her life with evidence the FBI needs to nail one of their most wanted.
TV Psychologist Dr. Nick Franklin wants to help Evie with her goals. He hides her from a sadistic mafia kingpin, and even though he doesn’t trust his judgment when it comes to the diagnosis of love, he senses Evie may just be the story of his life.
Hit man Tony Aiello plans to do whatever it takes to protect Miss Aida Marino and her Fortune 500 company. He chases Evie and Nick from New York City to the wilds of rural Vermont to recover the stolen evidence threatening to take Miss Aida down, and faces off with evil in a showdown that brings hometown justice to life.
Excerpt
Curiosity tugged at her. She looked at the laptop, over to the inkwell, then back to the cat. Anticipation tickled her tummy. “What would it hurt to see what Mr. Paulie Marino is into?”
Evie set Boo Boo down, and opened up Paulie’s link.
Now, there are scenes she’d taken in as an author, haunting scenes she’d rationalized, tolerated, blocked. But this…
This took filth to another dimension.
The scene started in an innocent recording studio. A singer, a starlet Evie thought she recognized from a tabloid in the supermarket sidled up to a microphone. Music filtered in. Country-Western. Not Evie’s favorite, but the starlet gave it a good go.
Paulie appeared next to her, partnering with the woman’s words. Not a remarkable tenor, but he kept time with her and they sang the first four bars of a duet.
Evie raised her brows, looked away for a flicker-of-a-second. Not what she expected. Nothing there about any Marino Family history.
The starlet’s voice dropped off.
Evie’s eyes snapped back to the screen. She heard the girl’s scream drown out the music, refused to believe what she saw.
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All Your Wishes... :
The Wishes Chronicles Book 2
The Wishes Chronicles Book 2
Description
A Christmas Story to warm your heart.
Dr. Nick Franklin finds himself falling hard for the love of his life, Evie Longfellow. Hunted by a mafia princess, Evie’s terrified something’s wrong, and revenge won’t let her rest.
Tia Marino figures the person who killed her father is his last victim - Evie Longfellow - the only one that ever got away from Paulie Marino. Tia plans to kill Evie in front of her grandmother just before she takes Miss Aida’s place as the new queen of Marino Industries. Hostile-takeovers have never seen the likes of Tia.
Nick’s not gonna have it.
He’ll do anything to protect Evie, even if it means aligning himself with Miss Aida’s hit-man, Tony Aiello.
Follow Nick and Evie from their simple home in the winter wonderland of Vermont down to New York City in their race to stay alive, and out of the hands of a new generation of criminals intent on tearing them apart.
Christmas has never been so hot.
Excerpt
They sat bleary eyed at their father’s memorial service in a freezing cold wintry-grey cemetery in October in New York City.
Twins, a brother and a sister.
Tia Marino sat beside her twenty-five year old twin brother Jimmy, and shivered, but the cold wasn’t the culprit. Rows of guests stood around for the ceremony. The family sat under the funeral home’s tent in folding chairs, a closed coffin their centerpiece. Tia ground her teeth, and rage chewed at her insides while the robed priest said his words, the final liturgy for their father, Paulie Marino.
“Poppie…” Jimmy sobbed, shaking his head, wiping at crocodile tears. Tia looked over at him, dark olive complexion, darker black-brown hair, a photographer’s study project on the description of the word handsome. She tolerated his outburst, because in his own way, he loved their father. She craned her neck, slow and easy, long strands of stick-straight ebony brown hair spilling out in front of her. She narrowed her gaze at her grandmother who sat across from her, on the other side of the coffin.
All right, Old Woman, what’s holding you back?
Miss Aida had refused to sit with her grandchildren. Instead she took a chair next to the priest, a grim expression on her face, fingering her precious pearls. Tia’s upper lip flinched. Not one single tear for my father? Typical. Dysfunctional didn’t come close to describing Marino Family dynamics.
Tia stared daggars at Miss Aida across the coffin. Sure, she’d paid for the event, dressed in traditional black with her pearls around her neck. She showed no emotion, and spoke to no one, save the priest. I’d like to choke her with those goddamned pearls.
Jimmy sobbed like a bad actor on reality TV. Tia cursed under her breath. This is what you leave me with Poppie? A reject for a brother, a leader with no real power…
A numbing madness stung Tia worse than the wintry wind whipping up the cemetery hills. What was she going to do now?
When Miss Aida phoned and told her their father died as a result of a fatal gunshot wound to the head, Tia’s perception of reality stalked off. All my dreams revoked with the Old Woman’s words. Her pet name for Miss Aida cycled through her mind. Old Woman. Old Woman. Old Woman.
Tia wiped down tears from the endless fountain springing inside. Her covert plans to coronate Paulie head of Marino Industries in Miss Aida’s stead would never be realized. The Old Woman refused to name a successor.
Her grief tore past mourning. A foundering rage displaced it. Defined it. Built a skyscraper of hatred in memorial to him, to Paulie, her hero.
Why won’t you cry for him? Miss Aida’s tear-free face infuriated her. She glared at her grandmother. “She’s weak. She’s got to be dealt with.”
Her brother shook his head, pleaded a whisper her way. “Tia, stop. We’ll discuss that later.”
Tia’s throat seized up, and strangled her words. “Fuck off, Jimmy.”
Miss Aida’s beautiful head snapped up. The priest stumbled over his words. Great. Tia’s lips curled away from her teeth. Her head tilted. She anticipated words from the Old Woman, wanted her speak, couldn’t wait to tangle with her grandmother. Miss Aida held silent.
The priest commended Paulie’s soul to heaven, and the graveyard workers slowly lowered his elaborate coffin into the freshly dug hole. The grating sound caught the air.
The finality of the act tore new avenues of hatred and disease through the fertile plain of Tia’s mind.
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Interview with the Author
Hi Paula, thanks for joining me today to discuss your Romantic Suspense series, The Wishes Chronicles, featuring Careful What You Wish For… and All Your Wishes…
Hi Lynda and Books Direct – Happy New Year! I love your blog. Thanks for having me visit today, and I hope your readers find something of value in my stories.
Thanks, Paula. Which writers have influenced you the most?
I love the suspense and thrillers James Patterson and Steven James write, but honestly I long for more romance in my stories. So, I wrote a cross-genre series where Romance is at the heart of a Suspenseful Thriller.
What age group do you recommend your book for?
My books are definitely written for adults. There are open-door love scenes integral to the story, and some violent scenes not appropriate for the kiddos.
What sparked the idea for this book?
While doing research on my first novel I stumbled onto INTERPOL’s website. A visceral gut punch overcame me, and a question formed: What if a girl got all caught up in one of the FBI’s Most Wanted cases? My heroine, Evie Longfellow showed up for work the next day.
Which comes first? The character's story or the idea for the novel?
For me, the problem comes first. In Evie’s case the problem was a serial killer stalker with mafia ties which made him powerful enough to cause her tons of problems.
My characters grow out of the problems they face.
What was the hardest part to write in this book?
Definitely the violence. I didn’t write the books to glorify violence, but let’s face it – our society is inundated every day. I wrote my stories to show how heroes, everyday people who find the courage to stand up against violence, draw a clear line in the sand and defy those heinous acts.
How do you hope this book affects its readers?
I hope readers can’t put the stories down and are left with a sense of hope and justice, and for these characters at least, a Happily Ever After.
How did you get your book published?
I went Indie with The Wishes Chronicles, and the best thing about working as an Indie author is you have total control. The worst thing about working as an Indie author is you have total control. It’s a double-edged sword.
I also have stories published with Boroughs Publishing Group, and while I like having control over my projects, the truth is it’s nice to have some things taken care of by a publisher.
I think the smart writers of the future will blend both over their writing career. I like the idea of the hybrid approach to publishing.
What advice do you have for someone who would like to become a published writer?
Write. Write. Write. And then write some more.
Join your genre’s national organization – I’m a member of Romance Writers of America, and the benefits and support I get from RWA’s members has astounded me.
Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I do hear from readers. The resonating things they say is write more crime fiction.
What can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on my Fantasy Romance series, the Kingdom of Chalvaren Romances. These follow-up stories to my Lunchbox Romance Dragonstone show the dragons and elves of an alternate reality working together to protect their world – I’ve combined Romantic Suspense and Fantasy in this series.
I’m also working on a novella that details more of Tony Aiello and Janet Pierce’s romance – quite an unlikely pair with insurmountable odds stacked against their budding love story, somehow I think they’re gonna make it.
Thank you for taking the time to stop by today, Paula. Best of luck with your future projects.
About the Author
Paula Millhouse grew up in Savannah, Georgia where Spanish moss whispers tales in breezes from the Atlantic Ocean, and the Intracoastal Waterway. As a child Paula soaked in the sunshine and heritage of cobblestones, pirate lore, and stories steeped in savory mysteries of the south.
She’s a member of Romance Writers of America, the Fantasy, Futuristic, & Paranormal Writers specialty chapter, and the KOD Mystery and Suspense Writers specialty chapter. She achieved the opportunity to become a member of the distinguished RWA designation of PRO after submitting her first full-length romance novel for publication in 2013.
In the southern tradition of storytellers, she loves sharing the lives of her characters with readers, and following her muse on the quest for happily-ever-afters. She writes fantasy romance and romantic suspense.
She lives with her hero, her husband of twenty-five years at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their pack and pride of furry babies.
Giveaway
Enter the tour-wide giveaway for a chance to win a $10.00 gift card from Amazon (international) or 10 custom book thongs that match the series (US only).
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