Saturday, October 06, 2007

COMMENT on this post for a chance to win a copy of Instinct by Denise A. Agnew.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Suspenseful, erotic, edgy,
thrilling, romantic, adventurous. All these words describe Denise A. Agnew's award-winning
novels. Romantic Times Book Review Magazine called her
romantic suspense novels
"top-notch" and her erotic
romance PRIMORDIAL received a TOP PICK from Romantic Times Book Review Magazine. Denise's record proves that with
paranormal, time travel, romantic comedy, contemporary, historical, erotic romance, and romantic suspense novels under her belt, she enjoys writing about a diverse range of subjects. The fact she has lived in Colorado, Hawaii, and the United Kingdom has given her a lifetime of ideas. Her experiences with archaeology and archery have crept into her work, as well as numerous travels through the UK and Ireland. Denise lives in Arizona with her real life hero, her husband. Visit Denise's website at www.deniseagnew.com or email her at danovelist@cox.net


INTERVIEW:

Why did you become a writer? Was it a dream of yours since you were younger or did the desire to write happen later in your life?
Writing is in my blood. It's something I've done off and on since I was fourteen. I was always a big reader from a very early age, and I've always had a tremendously active imagination. When I wrote my first short story at fourteen, I knew I wanted to keep creating more stories. It's a compulsion and a drive that's always there running in the background.

What do you love about being an author? Is there anything you dislike?
I love the freedom this job gives me. I'm my own boss. I make my own hours. I'm very lucky that I can write full time, which certainly isn't something every author can do. I love expressing my inner world, this mysterious workings of the imagination and how that works to help me
form stories. What I dislike the most is when my muse decides it doesn't want to cooperate and a writer's block forms.

How do you balance your personal and writing time?
Sometimes not very well. It's all self-inflicted, usually. :) Sometimes there's something going on I have to take care of, like taking the car to the shop to get the oil changed when I want to be writing instead. In that case I can take my Alpha Smart and continue to write. Sometimes, to
avoid the phone distracting me, I'll put it on the answering machine and do not disturb. That way even the sound of the ringing doesn't snap me right out of my flow. My schedule works best if I can do writing in the morning (and sometimes very late at night) and then if I need to read email and go to appointments, I'll try and keep that for the afternoon.

How do you write? Do your characters come to you first or the plot or the world of the story?
I've had those scenerios all happen. Sometimes it's a character, a plot, or a world. It can be any of those things at any time or more than one thing at a time. Each story comes differently.

What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write?
I've written every subgenre of romance, although I've written mostly paranormal and romantic suspense. Why I write romance with these elements is also sometimes a mystery to me. I've always adored romance and feel that something within me loves to create stories where love
wins over evil, and that love triumphs over any obstacle in the end. I've always been interested in the paranormal, a thrill, the action-adventure elements of suspense. I love to read it as well.

What is the biggest misconception about being an author?
That we're all rich, and that writing a book is easy. Especially if an author writes romance...people often think that writing a romance is fluff and easy.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
It's a mixture sometimes in that every author writes what they know at the very heart of their story, but it's mostly my imagination, of course.

Out of all the characters that you've written, who is your favorite and why?
Oh, man. Not sure I can answer that truthfully. I have a lot of characters I love to write. :) Two heroes I really like are Ben Darrock from OVER THE LINE (Ellora's Cave www.ellorascave.com) and Dorky Shannigan from CLANDESTINE (Ellora's Cave www.ellorascave.com). Ben is Scots and very sexy. Dorky is a character who has come up in several other stories in my Special Investigations Agency series and finally got her own story in CLANDESTINE. I also love Tynan MacBrahin from BRIDGE THROUGH THE MIST (Ellora's Cave November 2007 release). He's a braw, sexy Scot from 1318 Scotland.

If you were writing a script for the big screen, who would you want to act in your movie?
Another excellent question. Hmmm...I can think of dozens of possibilities. I'd say if I wrote a screenplay of INSTINCT (now available at Ellora's Cave) I'd feature Daniel Craig or Kevin McKidd as the hero. :)

What would you want readers to take away from your books?
I hope they always come away with a satisfied reading experience, and I hope they'll tell other readers about my stories, of course. I hope they are moved to laughter sometimes and to tears. I want my characters to come alive for the reader and for the thrills, chills, and love to come
across the way I intended. Then I would love for them to keep coming back and buying my books, of course.

Do you have any advice for beginning writers in regards to writing a book?
Make sure that you're ready to get critiques and to understand that a thick skin is very, very necessary in this business. Writing is a wonderful career, but it can also be a huge struggle, there can be discouragements as there are in any job. Write what you love and not to trends because that is almost a sure way not to get published. Take time to learn the craft, understand that a successful author doesn't have anything handed to them on a silver plater. A successful author
understand that you should never stop learning and growing.

Who are your favorite authors?
I have so many I can't name them all. A few are Linda Howard, Maureen McCade, Sarah McCarty, Shelby Reed, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Lincoln Preston and Douglas Child, Bonnie Vanak, Linnea Sinclair...I could go on and on. :)

What are you reading right now?
I just finished two books in rapid succession. Linda Howard's latest UP CLOSE AND DANGEROUS, Dean Koontz's The Good Guy as two examples.


ABOUT THE BOOK:

BLURB:

She can't release the past…

But the past is about to take hold of her…

SIA scientist Mina Carling shies from contact with Scottish SIA soldier Lucas Sloan. After all, the gorgeous, tough-talking agent has a reputation for a voracious almost…animal sexual appetite. He's arrogant, and she doesn't like him.

He wants nothing to do with a permanent relationship…

Yet one relationship keeps finding him…

Lucas tracks evil entities in the dark places of the world and never seeks more than physical satisfaction with women. Yet something within Mina calls to his deepest male instincts to protect, even though he doesn't really like her.

Sometimes there are human urges that are just so…animal.

When Mina and Lucas are thrown together at a conference, all the basic instincts they've tried to ignore find a way to escape. All the feelings they thought were dislike melt together, in one hot, unbelievably passionate discovery.


EXCERPT:

Soft moans of ecstasy pierced the night, and she gritted her teeth. Oh great. No, she had no intentions of enjoying this hump fest vicariously. She needed sleep. She tossed the covers to the end of the bed and switched on the lamp. Heat seemed to shimmer under her skin.

As she dressed in slip-on flats, jeans and a halter-top, Mina tried to rein in a secondary sensation. Built-up anger. Hanging around Lucas Sloan would do that to a person. She’d seen him date and drop several women since she’d started working with the SIA a year ago. She’d entered the Science Division and run into Lucas at several of the potluck events during the year. From his accent she’d quickly learned that he hailed from Scotland. Lucas had transferred from Scotland after a successful career as a Royal Marine. Unfortunately, he’d kept the hard mien of a military man, and Mina didn’t care for his edgy, know-it-all attitude.

Damned if she’d let him ruin one more night of sleep before this intelligence conference finished in three days. She grabbed her key card and stuffed it in her jeans back pocket and left her room. Brimming with indignation, she hurried to his door and rapped on it. She heaved a deep breath. The sound of a woman being fucked out of her mind stifled immediately. A scenario ripped through her mind. He’d come to the door with a towel around him and the woman he diddled would probably call out “who is it, honey?” Distaste burned in her stomach, a gnawing sense of dissatisfaction and something more insidious she refused to acknowledge.

The door snapped open and he stood in the threshold, wearing nothing more than immaculately tailored dark blue dress pants. No shirt. No shoes. No socks.

She never fantasized about a man wearing dress pants. But oh, oh, oh. He looked…

Everything female inside her stood up and took notice.

An obvious erection tented his pants. At least, the beginnings of one. She swallowed hard and looked back to his face quickly. Heat burned her cheeks.

Oh great. Great. Don’t look at his cock.

About six-two, he gazed down on her five-foot-five frame, his amber-brown eyes glinting with an animal intensity. Once this man caught her gaze, he mesmerized. She hated how out of control, how hot he made her with one glance. She already felt a little breathless and out of sorts.

Tousled, copper penny hair fell over his forehead, and a thick five o’clock shadow covered his upper lip and jawline. His face, a mixture of hard angles and intriguing planes, didn’t qualify as handsome. No, he defied description with the slashing eyebrows and hard mouth, his nose a blade of determination. He scowled better than anyone she knew. One frown from dour Lucas Sloan scared the shit out of law-abiding and not so law-abiding citizens. He was the walking, talking poster boy for repressed sexual energy.

Okay, Mina. When you return home, you might want to start dating again. Anything to take your mind off Lucas Sloan. After all, he isn’t even personable.

No. Lucas had a medieval, carnal handsomeness that qualified as gut-wrenching, knee-melting gorgeous. As she took in her view of the tall, broad-shouldered man’s chest, she gulped.

Holy…

Lightly tanned, muscular chest was sprinkled with russet hair across his pecs and down over his rippling stomach muscles. His arms were carved, hard sinew. Oh. Oh man. A shivery, hot sensation wended through her body and pooled low in her loins. Just like it always did when she saw him. Just like it always did when he stood too near, like now.

No. No, I won’t allow him to do this to me. I won’t react like the silly women at the SIA who are constantly gushing about Lucas as if he were some heartthrob in the movies.

His gaze traveled with hungry interest over the stretchy, snug material of her flaming red halter and form-fitting jeans. His attention lingered over her full breasts for a few seconds before he jerked his gaze back to hers. Her nipples peaked, tightening against the material.

His nostrils flared, a sigh parting his lips.

Okay, so this wasn’t the first time he’d given her the once over, looking at her like he would love to dine on her rather than with her. Yet she put little credence in the gesture. He probably looked at other women like this all the time.

One corner of his mouth turned upwards until his lips curved in a heart-stopping grin she hadn’t seen often. “Hey, Mina.”

His voice sounded rough, gravely with sleep, and oh-so-sexy deep. Women at the SIA constantly made comments on how much they loved his Scottish accent. All except her, of course. So what if he had the sexiest freakin’ accent and voice she’d ever heard?

“It’s one in the morning. What are you doing up?” he asked.

Her glance flicked to the room and with a start of surprise saw his bed was made and not a woman in sight. “Uh…did you have…I mean there was a lot of noise coming from your room. I thought I heard…”

He cracked another grin, this one sly and knowing. His voice lowered yet again, the velvet and thousand-proof whiskey quality filling her with a slow, maddening heat. “Ah, bollocks. Sorry about that. The walls are thin in here, aren’t they? Yeah, I was watching a movie preview on television.” He crossed his arms over that magnificent chest and his biceps bulged. “I just came in from a meeting with Ben Darrock about twenty minutes ago. Did I wake you?”

Her gaze landed on his exquisitely carved chest, and she had to force her eyes back to his. “Yes. Most definitely. What on earth were you doing meeting with Ben at this time of night?”

He didn’t speak for a second then he reached for her upper arm and tugged her into the room. “Come inside and we’ll talk.”


REVIEW:

"What a great story! Denise A. Agnew comes through again. The men of SIA are all hot, devastatingly handsome, and…did I say hot? Mina's strong character made the tension between them high, and Lucas' equally strong character made the chase fun, romantic, and sexy as all get-out—just like him. Mina and Lucas are made for each other, and the attraction that pulls them together time and again, had me reaching for a fan. The sex scenes between them are very erotic. If you like your sex hot, and your men even hotter, Instinct will keep you simmering and turning the pages as fast as possible to find out what happens next, in the story and in the relationship. I was sorry to see the story end. But I know there are more agents out there…"
-- Chris P., Fallen Angel Reviews


Instinct by Denise A. Agnew
(Special Investigations Agency series)
ISBN: 978-1-419-91184-2
Release Date: August 2007
Genre: Paranormal Romance
$4.45 from Ellorascave.com


Purchase Instinct by Denise A. Agnew HERE!!!