Thank you, Kate, for having me as your guest today.
My latest release Viking Gold is book two in the Carswell Adventure Series and I’ve got to tell you that it was so much harder to write than book one. I foolishly thought a series would be easier to write as I knew the characters, but no, that hasn’t been the case…for any of my series.
For instance, while I’m bringing back the major characters from Stone of Heaven, book one of the series, my latest book, Viking Gold centers around Abby Carswell and Hermann Weiss.
The difficulty in their relationship was set up in SOH (Stone of Heaven) with Abby’s penchant for taking huge risks. For VG (Viking Gold) I realized that it was that very risk taking that was the crux of Abby and Hermann’s conflict.
To be sure that my idea regarding their conflict was valid, I interviewed spouses and lovers of people in high-risk-of-mortality jobs, and they all…down to a person…agreed with my conflict. That no matter how much you loved a person, sometimes walking away from a relationship was, for some people, the only thing that could be done to protect oneself. The stress takes its toll on both people in the relationship and becomes unbearable.
But what if this person isn’t taking huge risks for a job, but because of their internal conflict as in the case of VG? Emphatic agreement again that it was a strong potential relationship killer if not fixed. So I plowed ahead with VG.
I did tons of research on Norway, diving there, Viking mythology, Nazi plunder and their occupation of Norway and came up with a contemporary Romantic Adventure.
Blurb:
Norway is the land of Vikings and myths, and deep in a fjord, a sunken Nazi plane filled with gold.
Which is exactly the kind of adventure Abby Carswell and Hermann Weiss relish undertaking. Enough so to make them push aside their misgivings over their enigmatic new business partner.
Abby, an adrenaline junkie, barely avoids death’s scythe on every quest she undertakes. Hermann knows he can’t continue to watch the woman he loves put herself deliberately in harm’s way. He wants her to choose the power of their love over her need to beat the odds.
But first they have to survive this hunt for Viking gold which has turned deadly after they discover the treasure has mythic qualities and is coveted for its power. Their quest becomes a battle against an evil whose tentacles may run deeper than this single expedition.
Live The Adventure ~ Love The Romance
Setting The Scene:
Norway. On Hermann Weiss’s research boat the Brizo.
Death nearly won this round. Abby Carswell’s dive in the dark, treacherous waters of Trondheim fjord moved quickly from exploring the unique and otherworldly red of dead man’s fingers coral to being swept deep into the fjord’s abyss by the tricky currents. Hermann was able to save her because, knowing Abby’s need to test death’s door, he’d been vigilant. But now his frustration over her behavior and his own vulnerability in loving her has passed his limits, as in the scene below.
Excerpt:
She was pulling her suitcase from the small closet when she felt a frisson of electricity spark between them. It invariably happened when Hermann was near—corny, but so true.
He closed the door softly.
“I think I should get a room at the hotel,” Abby said, choking back tears as she kept her back to the door. “We can come up with some excuse.”
“I think that’s a mistake.”
Abby whirled from the compact closet. “I thought you’d be happy if I put some distance between us. I don’t understand why you seem—”
“Abigail, we must talk this through, but this isn’t the right moment, as I’m sure you’ll agree. Nor is it fair to burden Tori and Reid with our personal issue, especially since it’s still their honeymoon. I love you, you are part of my heart, but I cannot watch you try, once again, to destroy yourself. At the end of this hunt we talk, and if we can’t find a reason for your behavior—”
“For God’s sake, Hermann, it was an accident. I wasn’t on a suicide mission. My ‘behavior’ as you call it—”
He held up a hand. “I retract that word. Can we behave normally for the time we’re here?”
Abby shot him a questioning look even as her heart constricted to half its size. “Can you?”
“Ja. For the sake of Tori and Reid, I can do this. Then afterward, we talk.”
“I don’t think I want a ticking bomb between us the whole time we’re here.”
“Think back on my words, and you’ll realize it’s only a ticking bomb if you want it to be. I know you’re exhausted. Go to sleep, rest for tomorrow, and I’ll be quiet when I return from the last plotting session with Andrews.”
Hermann proved his words as he brushed her forehead with his lips, then left.
Stripping to the scrap of lace she wore as panties, Abby pulled on a T-shirt of Hermann’s but only felt more miserable as she crawled between the cold sheets, where his clean, slightly woodsy scent surrounded her.
Yanking off the shirt, she threw it against the wall and waited for the relief to come. When it didn’t, she got up and folded the shirt neatly on the foot of the bed so she could slip it on in case of a boat emergency. With an entirely male crew, leaving the cabin wearing nothing but undies that barely covered anything wasn’t wise.
Abby left the light on over Hermann’s side of the bed. She was exhausted and needed to turn off her brain and her heart. But it just didn’t happen.
Hearing footsteps, she glanced at the clock on the built-in bedside table and saw that an hour had passed, but sleep remained elusive. Closing her eyes, she forced her breathing to be slow and rhythmic.
“Liebchen, you can’t fool me,” Hermann said softly as he closed the door. She heard the zipper of his trousers, the soft movement of the hanger as he put his clothes away, a habit of his, no matter how tired he was. As he climbed into bed, Abby felt the mattress sag and the sheets pull across her as he rolled onto his side, but no breath on her face. He was turned away from her.
Through it all, she kept her eyes closed. It was going to be hell if she didn’t figure out some way to “act normal” for the rest of their sojourn in Norway.
Or, as Hermann said, figure out why she seemed to flirt with death—the same reason that caused her inability to speak those two important words, I do.
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Bio:
L.A. Sartor began telling stories around the age of 4 when her mother, at L.A’s insistence, wrote them down and Leslie illustrated them. As an adult she writes suspense and action adventure novels with a dash of romance, and screenplays—she’s had a contracted adaptation! She lives in Colorado with her husband whom she met on a blind date. L.A. loves to travel and thinks life is an adventure and we should embrace the journey. She has a blog.
She’s had two national bestsellers and has won the International Digital Award.
Titles published:
Dare to Believe (2012)
Stone of Heaven (May 2013) Carswell Adventure Series Book One
Be Mine This Christmas Night (Holiday 2013) Star light ~ Star Bright Series Book One
Forever Yours This New Year’s Night (Holiday 2014) Star light ~ Star Bright Series Book Two
Viking Gold (July 2015) Carswell Adventure Series Book Two
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Hi Kate,
Late to my own party, sigh, that seems to be life today. Thank you so much for hosting me. It’s a treat to be here.
Hugs
LA