Author Name: Della Rose
The hero or heroine in your latest book is asked to decorate for a Halloween party. What does he/she use?
Since my heroine, Vee Wentworth, is an artist and works in an art gallery, she decorates with stylized paper mache pumpkins, witch hats, black cats, and spider webs that she creates herself. Some are abstract, some more realistic. All are black, purple or orange, some with hints of glitter. Vee and her friends carve real pumpkins with terrific details: the face of fire, a witch riding her broom in front of the moon, the face of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, a large hoot owl with a rat in it’s mouth, a cat with its back arched. All the carved pumpkins are lit with lights that constantly change colors. The art gallery needs to look a little spooky, a little festive, and very sophisticated. She also offers witches brew (margaritas) from a huge black caldron along with “finger” food (appetizers in the shape of fingers, eyeballs, ratty hair, dead mice) as refreshments for a gallery show on Halloween. Vee adds a creaky door sound recorder that goes off when anyone opens the front door to the gallery along with Bach organ music played during the art show. Each art show attendee receives a goody bag handmade by Vee. She stenciled the gallery name along with a devil’s pitch fork on small canvass totes and filled them with handmade Halloween candy from a local chocolate shop, wax Dracula teeth, along with the usual gallery promo items.
Your hero or heroine occupies a room in a haunted mansion. Which room is it and why?
Vee spends her time in the library. The room is two stories tall, completely lined from floor to ceiling with books. There is a huge red toned oriental rug on the center of the floor, an ample button tufted leather sofa, a large mahogany writing desk with leather swivel chair, a mahogany coffee table with two matching end tables, several floor lamps and desk lamps and an enormous stone fireplace. Being an artist, the old, dusty volumes with their colorful and detailed illustration plates draw Vee to them. She spends her night pouring over the books, discovering a diary of a previous resident that contains great details about her romantic life, her fantasies, and how the two mesh together adding thrills to her otherwise dull life.
What is your favorite Halloween or autumn decoration?
Pumpkins and gourds
Links:
http://www.dellaroseromance.wix.com/della-rose-romance (web site and blog)
www.facebook.com/dellaroseromance
twitter@DellaRose228811
dellaroseromance@outlook.com
Featured Book Title: Painted Love Part 1 Logan
Purchase Links:
Amazon – paperback
Amazon – Kindle
Smashwords – Nook, I-Pad, etc
https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=painted+love+part+1+logan
Blurb:
Vee Wentworth spends her life in the Cleveland art scene with her coterie of close friends: James, her boss and father figure, her sassy best friend Claire, and Omar, her ever-steady shoulder to lean on. Vee’s comfortable life is swept away when a sexy new artist blows into town. Talented and passionate in the studio and the bedroom, Logan Colchester sweeps Vee off her feet and into the sheets! But when this bad-boy cowboy doesn’t add up, Vee learns who really has her best interest at heart. Painted Love Part 1, Logan is a tale of friendship, romance, self-love, and knowing what, and who, truly matters.
Excerpt:
Painted Love Part 1 Logan
I stepped out the back door into the dimly lit alley behind the gallery.
I leaned up against the rough, brick wall of our building and heard a smooth male voice say, “You needed a break, too?” I looked over to see Logan approaching me from across the alley. As he neared, I saw he was smoking. He came closer and offered me a hit. He was smoking a joint. Now, I’m not unrealistic about drugs—I just don’t like them. I know plenty of people smoke grass all the time but not me. The most I ever do is drink one too many martinis. I had many friends ruin their lives because of drugs, and I didn’t want to fall into those ranks.
“No, thanks,” I said and turned to go back inside.
“Hey, beautiful. Don’t walk away. Let’s talk,” Logan said.
“I need to get back to work.” Something about him, his aura perhaps, gave me an unsettling feeling. I didn’t feel afraid, just cautious. He walked up close to me and said, “You sure don’t look like you’re dressed to work, unless you work the streets.”
The insult stung and I was going to make sure he knew it. I reached up to slap his face, but he caught my wrist before I landed my palm on his cheek. He held my arm tight but with a gentleness that came with an overwhelming charge of electricity. We held each other’s gaze for what seemed to be forever and then he moved in and kissed me. His lips were moist and he pressed them hard against my lips. He still held my wrist and moved my arm down to his side. With his other hand, he reached around my back and stroked my long wavy hair.
His breath was steaming across my face. At first, I resisted, but the longer he held my lips to his, the more I weakened. I could feel myself on fire, that feeling between my legs, moist and needy, and he knew it. He pulled his mouth from mine and let go of my wrist. He cupped my face in his hand while still stroking my hair with his other hand and said, “Still want to go back to work?”
I kept my eyes locked on his incredibly blue, intense eyes, but I stepped back towards the door to the gallery. As I put my hand on the doorknob, I could hear James shouting my name. I pulled opened the door, whooshing the air around it, stirring up alley dust, and went into the gallery without saying a word to Logan.
Author Bio:
Della Rose lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. When she’s not writing about sharp women, you might find her watching a baseball game or attending an orchestra concert. She loves scenic drives along a lake shore or through farm country. In her spare time, you might also find her enjoying a good meal with a glass of wine or a martini along with family and friends.
Halloween Page Contest
As part of the Halloween Page Contest, Della is offering a paperback copy of Painted Love Part 1 Logan signed by the author (available in US and Canada only). For details on how to enter for the chance to win, visit http://www.kate-hill.com/halloween2014.html.
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Indeed, I did enjoy the excerpt. I look forward in reading more.
Thanks for the great excerpt. I wish I was artistic.