Monday, November 25, 2013

Virginia Kelly's Arms of a Stranger (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Today I would like to welcome author, Virginia Kelly, joining us with her romantic suspense that I absolutely loved (look for my review this evening) - IN THE ARMS OF A STRANGER!


Travel and Fiction

Travel begs story. Don’t you come home from a trip with a story? Maybe it’s that your luggage didn’t make it with you. Ours once went to San Jose—yes, the luggage knew “the way to San Jose.” Or maybe it was that first view of the Grand Canyon, when you thought, “I knew it was grand, but Wow!” Or, that not so happy “the hotel was HORRIBLE!”



A road trip gave me many of the locations for scenes when I wrote IN THE ARMS OF A STRANGER. Only it was a backwards road trip because JP Blackmon’s and Abby Price’s story covers those places I passed through on the road back home to the Florida panhandle, rather than the road from Alabama to Texas.  Here’s a rundown of my family road trip and the impressions that made it into the book:

Texas Panhandle: acres and acres of fields and cattle ranches
Oklahoma: flat land, low vegetation (that’s what I remember)
Arkansas: so green after Oklahoma, that I wanted to stop and relax in a cabin in the woods
Louisiana: driving alongside the Mississippi River levee
Mississippi: the Gulf Coast, so damaged by Katrina, but still beautiful
Alabama: rural farm land interspersed with woods and country roads

Every one of these places inspired something in IN THE ARMS OF A STRANGER. Whether it was Abby’s Alabama home, a quick stop while JP and Abby looked for the clues they needed, where they had their first kiss, or the place that proved the most dangerous.

Yes, travel inspires story and storytelling in me. What about you? Has a trip brought you home with an interesting story? Can you share?




In the Arms of a Stranger
A dangerous man on the run…Wounded and accused of treason, CIA operative JP Blackmon is on the run from his own agency and desperate to clear his name. When he finds out his old partner is dead, he’ll do anything to get to the truth…including using his partner’s widow.Finds a vulnerable woman looking for answers…Abby Price wanted nothing more than a family and a safe home. But her late husband kept big secrets from her—secrets that got him killed and has government agents watching her every move. And she’s started fearing for her life. The only man who can help her is a mysterious stranger who suddenly appears out of nowhere. But can she trust him?Together they discover a passion worth dying for.As danger stalks them at every turn, unexpected passion flares between JP and Abby. But the last thing either wants or needs is more complications. Romance? No. Way. That would involve trust—something neither is willing to do. But in the end, sharing their deadly secrets is their only hope for survival…their only hope to hold onto the love they’ve just begun to share…

About Virginia
An RWA Golden Heart® finalist, Virginia Kelly’s first book was published as To the Limit and finaled in several contests such as the Holt Medallion, The Golden Quill and The Aspen Gold.Virginia has always loved adventure novels, but romance is at the core of her stories—romance with the adrenalin rush of danger. Against the Wind, a full-length novel, and Dancing in the Dark, the prequel novella to In the Arms of a Stranger, are about dangerous men and the adventurous women willing to take a chance on them.Traveling is a passion that came early in life. Her first airplane ride was a trip over the Andes Mountains in Peru at the ripe old age of two months. Her travels provide the settings for her novels, whether it’s a fictitious Latin American country based on Peru, the country of her birth, or Florida and the American South where she now lives.A graduate of the University of Alabama with a master’s degree in Library Science, Virginia is an academic librarian. She tries to include a librarian in all of her books as either the heroine or as a minor character.

http://www.virginiakelly.net/index.html





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1 comment:

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