Tempering Steel
Book 2 ~ Coyote Bluff Series
Erotic/Hot paranormal romance
M/F HEA
55K words
Self pubbed
Preorder 12/3/2014
Releasing 12/17/2014
Blurb:
After
months of aching to be with grumpy Sheriff Connor Manning, Margarete Barrie
finally gets her chance when a coyote shifter takes refuge in her home. She
burns with need every time they’re close, but even she can only take rejection
so many times before giving up.
Connor’s
resolve to stay away from Margie weakens when she takes in his packmate. Fighting
his inner animal and jealousy makes him question his decision to leave women
and love alone.
They’re
thrown together to catch a trapper or hunter threatening the pack. But once
things start to heat up even the possibility of danger doesn’t cool the tension
between them.
Series Teaser:
Coyote
Bluff is a small, quaint town in the mountains of Virginia. With its diner run
by Mama, the police force of one and a single stop light it's much like every
other small town in America. Well, until you take a closer look.
Feel free to come visit Coyote Bluff... but keep
an eye on the wildlife.
Links:
Amazon-
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QHDMK5W
All Romance eBooks-
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-temperingsteel-1689858-340.html
Smashwords- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/498214
B&N-
iBooks-
Goodreads-
PRINT:
What motivates you to sit down and write?
My motivation is completely and totally inside my head. My
Muse, characters, plot lines and scenes nag me if I’m not writing. I’ll dream
about the stories, find myself day dreaming about them. Sounds a little crazy,
and perhaps it is, but it seems to work for me.
Where does your inspiration come from?
I find inspiration in pretty much anything. Standing in the
grocery line and glancing over magazines, an interaction between a couple in an
aisle of Dollar General, a commercial, a dream. It doesn’t take much to tempt
my brain with an idea. That’s probably why my idea folder has close to 50
documents so far.
Do you have any writers that you consider mentors?
Absolutely. I’m a newbie of sorts in the field and
definitely wouldn’t be where I am without a fabulous group of writers keeping
me on the right path. Danica Avet, Anya Richards, Amy Ruttan, and A.M. Griffin
are my core group of mentors. We banded together a couple years ago and I can’t
imagine life without them. When I’m stuck, down on myself, hating a given WIP,
or just need a swift kick in the ass they are there to help.
Do you ever experience writer's block? How do you get through it?
Writer’s block is one of the worst things that can happen to
an author. It’s like getting a head cold for your creativity. Everything gets
stopped up and you end up with nothing flowing. If I truly can’t writing on a
given project I usually set it aside for a while, work on something else, or
read. Reading, especially something in a completely different genre from what
I’m writing, seems to loosen up the words a little. Sometimes changing up my
location, putting different music on, or digging out an idea I haven’t touched
yet makes the characters a little easier to deal with.
Name some authors who have influenced or inspired you?
Wow. There are a lot. But the first authors I read who really
got me started in erotic romance are JR Ward, Laurann Dohner, Jeaniene Frost,
and Julie Walker. I still preorder everything from these ladies and LOVE their
work.
Tell a little about your most recent work.
I’ve been working on a series of shifter books based in a
small town on the mountainside of Coyote Bluff, Virginia. They are typical
people, doing normal things… well, other than the fact that they can shift into
animals. Each book is centered around a single couple, but you get to meet
other folks from the town and hang out with the sexy men of Coyote Bluff.
The first book, Accidentally Yours, brings together a
shunned wolf shifter with a human woman. They are funny, cute and downright
sexy together. The second book, which released a few weeks ago is ‘Tempering
Steel’. You get to meet Margie and Connor in the first book, but we take a walk
on the grumpy side in the second installment.
I love each and every one of these characters. The series is
a blast to write because I introduce so many of the town’s people. I can’t wait
to work on the third book which will finally bring Zeke, the town’s comic
relief, to his knees.
Tell us about your favorite character from the book
.
Favorite characters…. Hmmm…. I love them all, but I would
have to say Zeke is my favorite. He’s childish, strong, loyal, funny… I adore
him.
What makes a good story?
To me a good story pulls me into the world almost
immediately. I want to read the first sentence and get excited about the
adventure to come. There needs to be emotion not only between the hero/heroine,
but within the other characters, within the environment.
How do you market your work?
Ha. Good question. Right now I’m doing some different
things. I’ve tried blog tours, which I still use, FB ads, ads on different
websites and using my social media for reader interaction. I enjoy the
interaction time more than the rest of my methods just because I love talking
to readers. I’ve met some amazing people doing that. I try to glean as much
advice and information from other authors as I can and employ different tactics
depending on what I want to try. Guess you could say I’m a fluid promoter,
using different techniques each time and testing them out.
Do you have a current work in progress? Can you tell a little bit about it?
I’m currently working on two books. The first is book one of
a brand new series for me. The book is called Penemaue. Looks strange, right?
That is the hero’s name. He was a Watcher which is similar to an angel.
Watchers were discussed in the Book of Enoch, a biblical writing that isn’t
currently in the bible. It’s an action-packed novella about Pen’s journey of
forgiveness and love. This will release in late January/early February.
The other book I’m working on is the third in the Coyote
Bluff series. Zeke finally finds his match and his mate. The book is called
‘Switching Gears’ and should release in the end of March/early April.
Tell us about yourself, outside of writing.
I am a black hole of nothingness outside of writing. Wait.
No. LOL I’m a mom to three kidlets ranging from 15 to 7. They keep me running
and laughing. I’m married to my middle school sweetheart and will be
celebrating our 20th anniversary in May. I’m also a fulltime data
guru. I write scripts, run reports, show off my talents in Excel and generally
roll around in corporate data. Oh, and I play in science education as well. J
So, I’m pretty busy and don’t spend nearly as much time writing as I’d like to.
Thank you so much for taking a minute to learn about me and
my work. Hope to find out you’ve read something and loved it. ~ Lea
Author Bio:
Lea
lives in Western New York with her hubby, three children, and miscellaneous
critters. Before the rug rats, she lived a life of adventure, following her
husband all over Europe with the US military. She's slept in a car outside
Paris, drove six hours just to see tulips in the Netherlands, and knocked ash
from her shoes at Pompeii. Now she spends her time in life's adventures at
soccer games, PTA meetings and school plays.
Lea has loved reading from a very young age,
spending many sleepless nights devouring books. Science fiction and paranormal
were her favorite genres to read as a teenager, and that love bled into her
adult life. She started writing during a bout of insomnia, to fill time, and
found it filled a creative void. Now she communes regularly with the characters
in her head and tries not to laugh out loud when they say something funny.
When Lea isn't reading, writing or corralling
kids, she enjoys watching movies and sciencey shows, or just kicking back and
listening to some music.
Twitter-
@leabarrymire
First
kiss:
“You… you shot me.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
He was already listing to one side and she rushed forward to
help me sit against a tree. “Because you needed to calm down. I need to look at
this wolf and I can’t do that if you’ve got him all pissed off.”
“Dangerous.”
His eyes drooped. She leaned down and kissed the lines of
confusion between his brows. “I know. That’s why I gave him a little more than
you. He’ll be sleeping like a cub in about two minutes.”
“Sorry about being mad. She called me that before she left.”
Connor mumbled.
The slurred words had her ears perking up like a fox’s after
hearing the squeak of a mouse. She. Margie squashed the questions
bubbling up. Instead she turned, gathered her gear and slowly approached the
downed wolf. In the back of her mind Connor’s words swirled. Someone had hurt
him. Some female. A growl of her own laced with jealousy and anger
vibrated in her chest.
Excerpt:
His gaze swung back immediately and she could see the
resolve gleaming from the dark depths of his eyes. “Sorry, Margie. I don’t mean
to worry you. I came by for two reasons. First I was going to check on Zeke,
but as you’ve said he’s gone. I also wanted to know if you’d accompany me to
Cammie and Ian’s mating ceremony on Saturday.”
Her mind froze. Mating ceremony. Go with him? Together?
“Um.”
“You don’t have to, but I thought seeing I’d be driving by
your house and you don’t know the way to the farm I could pick you up.”
The small flutter of hope died a tragic, fiery death in her
chest. “Right. You’re going to be driving by anyway, and me, being a woman and
all, might have a tough time following directions. I see.”
Something that sounded close to ‘stupid moron’ fell from his
lips, too quiet for Margie to hear. It didn’t matter. She’s taken as much shit
from the man she’d craved for over two years as she could take.
“Connor Manning. You will leave my property right now or you’ll
be held responsible for my actions. I’ve had enough of your redneck,
condescending, male-chauvinistic bullshit to last me a lifetime. I have a
fucking GPS in my car and know damn well where the farm is. I’ve been treating
you people ever since I moved here. Hell, Skip has a tab account now
because I spend so much time out there. And anyway, Zeke already asked me if I
wanted to go with him. You don’t need to take care of lil’ ol’ me.”
Chapter
one- free read:
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