trueromance

RUNNING SCARED

RUNNING SCARED was a lot of fun to write. Why? Because of the characters, and, oh, yeah the plot. Though the love story is between Daegan O’Rourke (one of my favorite heroes!)and Kate Summers, the plot spins off Kate’s son, Jon, and his birth about fifteen years ago.

Have you ever had a secret you couldn’t share with a soul? Not even your best friend? That’s what’s going on here; it’s the secret of Jon’s birth. You see, Kate was given this baby, a child she needed to mend an open hole in her heart from the loss of her own daughter, but she had to keep his birth quiet. And she did. For fifteen years and now, her boy, unique in his own right, sees his own death, at the hands of a stranger.

When Daegan O’Rourke slips into Hopewell, Oregon, all of Kate’s fears congeal. She knows her sexy neighbor has a few secrets of his own and that Jon is at the heart of them. She’s frantic that all hell about to break out and she’ll lose her child!

RUNNING SCARED is a book I’ve rewritten. (It was originally titled WISHES.) My publisher wanted me to “ramp up the suspense” in the book and give it more of an edge. I was more than willing and, boy, did I have a great time reworking the book. (This is every author’s secret dream.)

I had to reacquaint myself with the characters and found myself falling in love with Daegan O’Rourke all over again. Though he grew up in Boston, he fell out of favor with his family–that can happen when you’re an unwanted son born to a beautiful mistress-and he headed west to put on his western gear. He’s had more than his share of hard knocks in his life, has skirted the law and, in my opinion, become a real heartbreaker with his killer good looks, sexy smile and wicked sense of humor.

As I reworked the book, I realized that I’d forgotten how much I’d enjoyed all the scenes with Jon and that he had a touch of ESP. Man, it was fun to meet and play with him again. And Kate, talk about a mother-bear, a woman who would lay down her life for her child and, of course, lie and hold secrets for him. An interesting woman; one I’d like to meet in real life.

This is one of the books that taught me that characters really make the story. The better and deeper the character -the more layered he/she is- the better the book. I learned that black and white often merge into gray and that good vs evil is often a state of mind.

People ask me if my characters resemble myself and my answer is always the same: “NO WAY!” In a situation of fight or flight, trust me, it’s flight every time for moi. (Well, truthfully I would die and probably kill to save my children–but that’s about it and please, God, that I never be put to that test! However, Daegan, Kate and Jon are in it for the battle. Trust me.

Also, people ask me if my characters are based on real people, again the answer is “No.” Aside from a few cameos of friends who got a real kick out of being a peripheral character, all of the people in my book live on the pages and in my head exclusively. Well, until they’re in yours!

If you’re curious (well, and even if you’re not) I just wrapped up my next project which is DEVIOUS, another New Orleans book featuring Detectives Montoya and Bentz and I got the word today that my editor loves it. (Yays all around! DEVIOUS will be out at the end of March 2011.) I’m now writing the next “wicked” book with my sister, author Nancy Bush. WICKED LIES, the sequel to WICKED GAME will be available in June of 2011. (I’d better get crackin’ on that one, eh? Remember Justice, the killer in WICKED GAME. Hate to tell ya, but he’s BaAck!)

For now, I guess the question I think is provocative for RUNNING SCARED is just how far would you, as a person, go for love. Not only the romantic love of your life, but for your children as well. Did Kate do the right thing when she accepted an infant, some cash, and disappeared? What do ya think?

2 randomly chosen commenters will receive a new book from Kensington — Good Luck!

If you want to learn more about my books, go to www.lisajackson.com or my fan page on facebook!

Hard to Hold by Stephanie Tyler
Setting: Present day – Virginia and Africa
Subgenre: Romantic Suspense
Hero: Jake Hansen, a Navy SEAL, and a man with a lot of secrets.
Heroine: Isabelle Markham, a plastic surgeon who works with Doctors Without Borders.

One sentence summary: Navy SEAL Jake Hansen saves Dr. Isabelle Markham on the tail end of another mission in Africa – and the two find themselves bonded on a level they never expected…and can’t seem to forget.

Scene you like most and would never cut: It’s what I call the handcuff scene. During the initial courtship of Jake and Isabelle, things move slowly on the physical front, since she’s been assaulted, and there’s this scene – the first one I ever wrote for this book (because I write out of order) where Jake handcuffs himself so Isabelle feels safe with him while they’re kissing (and more)…I just love it because it shows so much trust between them, and so much willingness to do things they might not ordinarily do. Right then and there, I knew I had some magic in the story.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: Take me someplace really crowded.

Scene in the book moved you the most as you wrote it, or made you the most happy?
Aside from the scene mentioned above, it would have to be the prologue, when Jake first finds Isabelle left for dead. His emotions in that scene shocked him - and me as well – because in my mind, he fell in love with her right then and there, and Isabelle with him. It was kind of amazing for me to watch that connection form.

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: Both Nick and Chris. Really, I couldn’t have written this book without bringing in the other two characters from the next books in the trilogy - they’re all brothers by adoption and they’re all Navy SEALs.

Question of the Day:
What is one thing in your history that has influenced your writing, whether it’s a character, your work habits, or your favorite plot conflict?
Well, for this book, I think it was my grandfather, although I didn’t know it at the time. See, when I started writing this book, I had Jake fake his age and sneak in at fifteen. It had to be fifteen – and I didn’t know why until after the book was finished. I was talking to my uncle about my grandfather – he died about ten years before I was born, so I only know him through pictures and I did know he was in the Navy – and my uncle said, You do know that your grandfather went into the Navy when he was fifteen, right? And he gave me his birth certificate – both of them. So I think I got a push in the right direction there.

Giveaway: 5 lucky winners to be randomly chosen to receive Book 2 in the series, TOO HOT TO HOLD

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