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I've invited my friend, Cindy Gerard, to talk about her thoughts and her new book.
Cindy writes sexy romantic suspense, the kind that I love to read. Here's the back blurb for Show No Mercy:
The sultry heat . . .
Only two things can compel journalist Jenna McMillan back to Buenos Aires after terrorists held her captive there just months before: a rare interview with a shadowy billionaire and the memory of the dark and dangerous man who saved her. . . .
Hides the deadliest threats . . .
Bad guys, bombs, and bullets are Gabriel Jones’s way of life. But he’ll never forget the brash redhead he rescued not so long ago . . . or the passionate kiss they shared before he sent her packing.
And exposes the deepest desires. . . .
Now, forced together by a bombing at the National Congress, Jenna and Gabe confront the urgent longings that simmer between them. But this surprise meeting is no coincidence. A ruthless enemy stalks them with deadly precision. The question is . . . if they make it out alive, will Gabe turn his back on Jenna . . . again?
Cindy: I think it's his big gun. :o) Seriously, it's the mystery about the man. We want to know what made him the way his is that he is so courageous and always lives on the edge of danger.
That's why I love Cindy. She and I love to check things out.
Cindy: They are just amazing guys. Patriotic, loyal, edgy, sexy and more than a little bit bad. We love a hero who can handle himself, the situation and the heroine if necessary :o)
Me: Give a percentage of the suspense vs the romance in your books. 50-50? 40-60? 1-99?
Cindy: Gosh - I'm thinking i'ts about 40 - 60. I really try to keep a good balance. A good story requires a lot of plot action but I never forget that at the heart of the book, it's the romance that compells us to read on.
Me: What do you think of virgin heroines who are tough, worldly spy-babes?
Cindy: Seriously? I've never given it much thought :o) My heroines are generally a little older with some experience under their belt, but I can certainly see the merits and the possible motivation of a virgin heroine out the save the world and keep the hero panting for her while she's doing it.
Me: So tell us about the hero and heroine in your newest book. Does he like vegetables? Does she drive him crazy?
Cindy: Does she drive him crazy? In a word: YES! We met Gabe - the Archangel - Jones and Jenna - the pain in the ass - McMillan in my last Bodyguard book, INTO THE DARK. In Gabe and Jenna's book - SHOW NO MERCY - these two characters are reuinted at the scene of a bombing in Buenos Aires and neither one of them are happy about it. Gabe is the quintessential lone wolf. An emotionally wounded lone wolf - the most dangerous kind. Jenna is the reporter from hell as far as he's concerned and he could have lived his entire life without her showing up in his territory again. Except, yeah, he's never stopped thinking about her. And she's never stopped thinking about him - the lowlife, alpha dog, bastard that he is. The sparks, they fly! :o)
Me: What is the craziest research you've done for your books? Some authors said they've gone to strip clubs, for example, for their research. A few have gone to the morgue.
Cindy: I jumped off a 40 foot cliff into the Colorado River when I was on a white water rafting/camping trip in the Grand Canyon so I could get an idea of what it felt like to free fall. It was the most extreeme pee I've ever had, let me tell ya. Terrified times 10. I think I saw my dearly departed granny on the way down. Yikes and yikes again.
Me: Would you ever put a crazy female roofer as a small character in your stories? I think you should. It'd be such a clever idea.
Cindy: The only crazy female roofer I know is way too 'larger than life' to settle for a small role in one of my stories. She'd definately command a leading role - possibly the bilingual, hammer totting covert operative who saves the world with hot tar and her nail gun. Humm. I'd better go write that down. The story has definate possibilities.
Me: Any additional comments?
Cindy: Just thanks for having me and to show how grateful I am, I'm giving away an ARC of TAKE NO PRISONERS, book 2 in my new BLACK OPS., INC. series to one lucky person who posts an answer to one of these question: What have YOU done that's scared you lately - or in the past? Or what do you want to do that you know would scare you silly and hope to work up the courage to do some day? Genn will draw the winner the list of names who answers either of those questions.
And do check out my website to see a book trailer and enter my contest and read excerpts from all of my books at www.cindygerard.com
Cindy loves to travel and her stories of her adventures in Europe make me so envious. Food, music, men ;-)....one day, I'll invite her to tell it all here. As you can see from the pic below, she's enjoying her view very much these days ;-).
Thank you, Cindy, for visiting. I can't wait to read your new book! I also think I deserve an ARC, I really do.
Bear with me while I learn. The first button likes the POST. The second button likes the BLOG site. Please help me by "liking" me. Thanks!
25 comments:
Ooh ARC of the next book!
Thinking...hmm...
The scariest thing I've done in the past was running away from home. I still think back on it -all my planning and determination, all the horrible crazy trouble I got into! That was a while back, but I learned a lot. Unless your parents are evil, don't ever run away from home when you're kid, girls!
My husband and I watched this special about the Top 10 scariest roller coasters. There's one in New Jersey that I want to go on. I know I'd be terrified the entire time, but I'd love it when it was over. LOL
Love your books, Cindy. I loved Gabe and Jenna's story. It was amazing.
Lucia - Running away from home? That HAD to have been very scary. An great advice for anyone thinking of doing it. DON'T!
Casee - Okay. roller coasters top my list. I think I'm more afraid of them than the idea of skydiving. So you go, girl. Do it. You won't be sorry.
And thanks for the comment on SHOW NO MERCY. I soooo appreciate it and I'm loving it that you liked the book.
I have a feeling that the scariest thing I've ever done is what I am about to do. Admit that I have never read a Cindy Gerard book! LOL
To be honest, the scariest thing I have ever done was hike down to Ooh Ahh point on the South Kaibab Trail down into the Grand Canyon. I have a combination of "maladies" that makes that just one of the most terrifying experiences ever. I have a terrible sense of balance, a lack of proper depth perception, a fear of heights, and mild vertigo if I look down from too high a height. Add to that the fear that if I did go down, I'd accidentally take someone with me. My hubby made me stand at the edge with him when we got to the Point. It's an amazing vista but I could only look out, not down at all and I was terrified even though I knew he wouldn't let me fall.
Jumping off a 30 ft cliff in Mexico and plunging into water where you couldn't see bottom. Yes,many have gone before me. ;-) Still scared me shitless. I panicked and ended up bruising the entire right side of my thigh. What fun. Yes, I did it again. Scariest thing yet to do? I think grandchildren might scare me. I shudder at the thought. That's what happens when your teenage daughter has a serious boyfriend.
Give Kyle/Kim/Susan a big hug for me.
uh...that was supposed to be Kylie, not Kyle. Just what she needs, another name!
The scariest thing I have ever done might not seem sacry to you. OK here I go...The scariest thing I have ever done was skip my physics class on the day of my lab. I have never skipped any of my classes so I was worried about the school office comming after me for missing my one class. I was worried for 2 whole days and the worste part was that I didn't tell my parents and I was afraid they might find out and I might have to face a 3 hour lecture about why you shouldn't skip classes even if you had to complete you're math assignment in order not to get a zero. Doesn't sound scary, does it? But it is, especially if you have my parents. LOL
Cara
Mo - No worries. :o) You're more than forgiven. Lots of books out there ... so little time. Oh - and I've hiked the Grand Canyon too but I went down AND up Bright Angel trail, not Kaibab. Why? Because I heard how steep Kaibab was and didn't know if my knees could take it. so good for you!
Sadista - Yeah! Jumping off a cliff. I can so identify. We couldn't see the bottom either. It was the scariest thing in the world, right?? I'll see Kim/Susan/Kylie later this week and I'll be sure to pass on the hug.
By the way - Can I share some good news? Just got a call from my editor. SHOW NO MERCY hit #1 on the Waldenbooks Romance best seller list for last week. Yea! And thanks to everyone who bought the book! Couldn't have happened without you.
Cara - you know what? That sounds scary to me. I was a 'good girl' too, in school and skipping a class just wasn't on the agenda because I had the same kind of parents that you do :o) They would have made me pay big time...
Hmmm...scariest thing I've ever done...face down two of my high school students who were both much taller than I was. All I can say is, "thank goodness for open doors and panic buttons."
Scariest thing I would LIKE to do: scuba dive. That never used to scare me, so I thought I had plenty of time to get around to it, but in the past couple of years I've suddenly gotten claustrophobic.
Cindy, I just had to say, I love, love, LOVE your work! Jenn, thanks for setting up this contest!
Interesting on the Bright Angel trail. We didn't use that one because it was supposedly the more dangerous one. Kaibab is steep and the switchbacks at the top are brutal. Ooh-Ahh was as far as I could go because the turn there has sheer drop on 3 sides. I simply could not force myself to do that. The walk back up though was amazing. Hubby and I were the last two and during one of our breaks, a squirrel sat about 3 feet from us eating and watching us. I was soooo mad we didn't have the camera with us.
I've always wanted to bungee jump. I'm somewhat afraid of heights. I don't have problems riding escalators or standing on a balcony, but if I look down I get queasy. I hope someday soon I'll get the nerve to jump off someplace with only a cord tied to my ankle.
Laura - I can't imagine facing down someone physically larger than me. Very scary. And yes on the scuba. I have snorkled and it's a big thrill. And I've swam with giant sting rays. Another thrill! Scuba? Not so sure about that. Revs up my "Yikes!" factor :o)
And thanks so much for the nice words about my books. Love hearing that :o)
Mo - I actually hiked all the way to the bottom of the Canyon - that was 4 years ago. We stayed down at Phantom ranch for 2 nights - needed both of them to get the legs working again. Hiking out was every bit as hard as hiking in. But what views!!
Jane - a friend of mine bungie jumped. She's my hero. I want to know if you pull it off. I'm afraid I'd be afraid of it and like - oh pee my pants or something. Yeah, that would happen.
Oh I faced down someone larger than me when I was in grade 10. Well we didn't get physical because I threatened to go to the principle's office if he touched me. Of course he DIDN'T touch me but I still went to the principle's office to complain about him. Guess what I complained about? He was a stupid guy that colled me "pink pig". LOL I even broke his sellphone.
Cara
Sorry I meant "Cell phone".
I would love to win an ARC! The scariest thing that I want to do is go skydiving. Jenn's video makes it look so unscary. NOT.
Pink Pig? He deserved whatever you did to him!
Marisa - that's right. Our Jen went skydiving. She's the bomb!!!
After almost killing myself sledding for the first time in my life (completely the hubby's fault, he couldn't tell me how to stop.) I hobbled back up the hill (that looked like a mountain after that) and did it again. I was afraid I would fear it the rest of my life. Mind you, I haven't done it since.
Oh, and did I mention, I had black and blue marks all over my body and the left side of my face, a huge lump on my forhead, probably had a concussion (too stubborn - err, stupid to go to the hospital) and got the wind knocked out of me. Now I know that "getting the wind knocked out of you" is not just a saying. It wasn't pretty finding that out.
Deb
Deborah
Sledding: The ultimate thrill ride. Very scary stuff!
The scariest thing (and most possibly the bravest I think) Ive ever done was pull out my own tooth. One time when I was young I hated the dentist because she gave me a shot in the mouth before she pulled out my tooth. But because of the anesthesia my mouth and jaw was numb for so long I got so scared something was wrong. When I had a loose tooth I didn't tell my parents and I prayed it would fall out by itself. One day I just mucked up the courage and pulled it out myself. Scariest thing ever lol (my teeth are fine just in case anyone was wondering lol I didn't need to get braces :D so I consider myself very lucky)
Hi Cindy,
I'm not here for the arc but to tell you I have Into the Dark right here in front of me. I need to refresh my memory of how Gabe and Jenna left off before I start on Show No Mercy (which is sitting on my bedside table for me to start on tonight). I was told by my reading group your latest is very, very good. I already had Gabe & Jenna in my sights when reading Amy & Dallas' story so I'm looking forward to seeing the Archangel fall...in love.
Oh, Yikes. pulling your own tooth? Now that takes guts!! I bow to you :o)
Elaine - what can I say? You're a doll! thanks!!!!
Scary things... living life, falling in love again, yikes! I was just thinking about this today before I read the post. I'm deathly afraid of heights and have a friend who is a skydiving instructor. He always tells his students the most dangerous part of your day was the drive here this morning. :) The thought of willingly jumping out of a working plane... hmmm. Maybe.
Cindy, I absolutely love your books . They are on the auto buy for me. As soon as I can get my hands on them, I have to have them. I read "Man Around the House" years ago and thought you were one of the funniest, most refreshing writers ever. Still do. Can't wait for the next one.
Hi Theresa
You couldn't be more right about life being scary - and exhilarating! I have a friend who is just now back in the dating game and it's very scary. Something I hadn't thought about for a long time.
and thanks so much for your wonderful words about my books. Man. You guys have really made me feel great today!
I read through everyone's scariest experience here, and although each of y'all did some really fantastically heartjumping things, I just have to choose...
ANONYMOUS
WHO PULLED OUT HER OWN TOOTH.
Come on, can any one of us even think of duplicating this feat?! Not me.
Anonymous, can you email me with your personal deets (name and address) so I can forward it to Cindy?
If I don't hear from Anonymous in a week, I'll choose another winner from this excellent pool of daredevils ;-).
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