DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN and An Interview With Nancy Lennea
When writing, do you have full control of your characters, or at some point do they seem to take on a life of their own?
My characters creep in at unusual times and in unexpected places and, since I realized only recently that I am what we call a plot driven writer, I sometimes do not even give them names until halfway through the manuscript. I’ll call them FH for female heroine or HH for him, my hero. Silly, but a writer learns what works for them and runs with it! My characters might start out as a fuzzy memory of someone I once knew, but they come to life on my pages as their own person. Good or bad, plain or beautiful, I write what I feel at the time they speak to me. In DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN, my recently released romantic suspense from Red Rose Publishing, my heroine is nobody I ever knew. But I placed her in the middle of a quirky college town in northern New Hampshire that is similar to the one where I graduated college. The mountains to the north and the river flowing near Main Street are real, but Destiny is not. I love her just the same. And, so does Jacob.
What is your favorite thing about writing erotic romance?
Erotic? Is that what I write? Don’t tell my mama. I write romance. If the plot calls for sexual tension, in it goes. If the plot demands they make love, I add it, but I do not consider my writing as strictly what you or others might call erotic. I am graphic to the point of showing two people (one male, one woman up to now) as they fall in love. In DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN, I actually have them part after their initial weekend of lovemaking because Jacob thinks she’s a young college student. He worries he could lose his job and she might get expelled if their relationship continues. He still wants her and chastises himself each time his body reacts when their paths cross. Destiny assumes the Boston-bred professor wants nothing to do with a cafeteria worker who lives in a tiny cabin in the woods. I believe my manuscripts start out as a romance and morph into something hotter simply because I feel for these characters. I want them to experience something that will stick with them. I want them to realize by the end of the book that they were meant for one another, not just as bed partners, but as life partners.
Share one of the sexiest of romantic lines from one of your books.
God, this girl would make a dead man hard.
Speaking as one of your characters, describe in a sentence or two what makes your partner irresistible.
“Tall, dark, and handsome….is so yesterday. Jacob, on the other hand, sports a rugged, square chin, chestnut-brown hair in need of a good barber, and jeans tight enough to make a woman’s mouth water. He used to be married? No problem. Men sometimes require practice to get it right. I’ll make him a much better wife if we survive what happens on my mountain.”
Please tell us about your latest release.
DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN takes place in a quirky college town surrounded by the mountains of New Hampshire, new art history professor Jacob Oliver hikes a trail on a crisp September morning. He contemplates his life. Divorced, and forced out of his job with the Boston Police due to a horrific accident, he spots a naked woman beneath a majestic waterfall. Escaping, he falls and re-injures his knee.
Destiny Blake hears a noise; someone is on her mountain. She finds a handsome man sitting in the mud. Love blooms and lust consumes them after she helps him to the safety of her cabin. Soon assumptions tear them apart, leaving her vulnerable to the unwanted attentions of other men.
When Jacob decides he cannot live without her, he must save her from a madman who chases her up her mountain through the cold, snowy darkness of a November night. Ghostly voices push Jacob onward, while another spirit’s voice urges Destiny to fight back. Pain, hypothermia, and death threaten as the sun rises. Can Destiny and Jacob make it off DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN alive?
How can readers buy your book?
DESTINY’S MOUNTAIN is available for download from Red Rose Publishing. The buy link is: http://bit.ly/a4NOHE
Visit my website at: www.nancylennea.com
Visit my blog at: www.nancylennea-inlove.blogspot.com
About Nancy:
Nancy grew up on New York’s Long Island then attended college in the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire. She worked during college in the dining hall while earning a degree in art education. She met her husband on campus and they raised a family in a nearby town. She volunteered as an EMT/firefighter on the Rumney fire department then worked for the State of New Hampshire as a 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Dispatcher. Retired from public service, Nancy now writes full time, lives in North Carolina, and is a member of Romance Writers of America, Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Fantasy-Futuristic & Paranormal Romance Writers, Celtic Heart Romance Writers, and Sisters-in-Crime. She also writes paranormal romance, such as her recent release, DRAGON’S CURSE, as Nancy Lee Badger.
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Great interview, nice pictures. Makes me want to go visit New Hampshire.