The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Thank you, Kristine Cayne for tagging me for The Next Big Thing. I just started her romantic suspense DEADLY OBSESSION and love it so far!

The Next Big Thing originated on the She Writes site, as far as we could work out, and is designed to raise awareness of our work, or work in progress. We do that by answering ten questions about it. We graciously thank the person who nominated us, and tag five other authors whose work could well be that NEXT BIG THING.

Kristine had a great post last week all about her HOT firefighter series, Six-Alarm Sexy, and the first book in the series specifically, Under His Command. Now it's my turn to answer some questions about my upcoming work in progress.


What is the title of your next book?
     Next book to be published: Hold On To Me, book 8, Welcome to Redemption Series written with Donna Marie Rogers.
     Next book to write: Run to Rome, book 2 of my Italy series.

Italian countryside southeast of Milan

Where did the idea [for Run to Rome] come from for the book? Readers meet Ben and Evalina in the first book, Lost In Italy. I really wanted to give these two a happily ever after at the end of LII, but they both have so much more to work through before they earn that. The idea for their story came when my brother called me at about 3am Italy time, his flight was cancelled out of Milan due to the volcano in Iceland erupting (remember that??) and he was racing through the night to catch a plane out of Rome at about 8am before they shut down that airport as well. Along the way he encountered a huge traffic jam because of a large fire along the autostrada, so he was navigating all the back roads. Unforeseen events the characters have no control over creates great conflict when they have a time constraint, so I plan to make things really difficult for Ben.

Storm clouds over Rome

What genre does your book fall under? Romantic suspense/action adventure.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? Ben would be played by sexy Jensen Ackles; walk-on-the-wild-side cocky confidence on the outside hides the boy looking for approval, acceptance, and a place to put down some permanent roots. Elisabetta Canalis would make a perfect Evalina; sexy, tough undercover cop persona masks a vulnerable, lonely side - she's terrified of opening her heart after having lost everyone she's ever loved.

 

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? It's not written yet, but Lost in Italy took me a year. I'm hoping to knock out Run to Rome in less than 6 months.

Crumbling old fortress, scheduled for renovation

Who or What inspired you to write this book? Lost In Italy was inspired by a real-life event, and while writing that book, I fell in love with Halli's brother Ben and the fiesty, emotionally-wounded Evalina.  

What else about your book might pique the reader interest? In the fall of 2011 my brother took me along on his business trip to Italy and during one of our free weekends, we drove the general route Ben and Evalina will take from Milan to Rome.  The pictures through the blog today are ones I took for inspiration, and I will use them while writing the book to add authentic flavors of Italy, as well as adding some local stories told to me by my brother's friend, Emilio.

Palazzo Pfanner gardens

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? This is a very rough draft since as you just read, the book is not written yet. 

Charged with delivering the goods to rescue his mother, Ben Sanders must reach Rome before his pursuers catch him and without losing his heart to the sexy Italian undercover cop who left him after one incredible night of passion nine months earlier.

Mediterranean coast

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? Self published. I'm enjoying my full-time writing career and doing fairly well on my own, so I'll stick with this business model for now.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? This is such a hard question since I don't get to read as much as I used to. So instead of comparing it to some books that have blurbs that sound like what I plan mine to sound like, I'll say that Run to Rome will be just like Lost in Italy. It'll have plenty of heart-pounding suspense along with a healthy dose of adventure, a sexy romance, and the occasional light-hearted moment before the dramatic climax and heart-warming ending. Going the movie route, I'd compare my Italy series to Sahara or the Indiana Jones movies...with a lot more romance.

To get an idea of what Run to Rome will be like, my best suggestion is to check out:

Amazon Kindle

Now it's time to pass the torch to 5 more deserving authors so they can tell you about their amazing work. Their posts (which will have the same title: The Next Big Thing Blog Hop) will be live on or around November 28. Here they are:

Lily Silver

CC MacKenzie

Val Clarizio

Jill James

Tamara West

Thank you for joining me on The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. I hope you'll visit my nominees next week when they post their answers to the ten questions.

~ Stacey