First I want to apologize to my guest, Alice and to my readers and floowers. I normally post this on Saturdays but yesterday was when we held the memorial for my mother-in-law. That was all I was focused on. I didn't even realize that I had forgotten until I woke up this morning. So a date but always fun come and meet ly latest guest.
I
want to welcome Alice Orr. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.
Tell
us about your latest release.
The book I’d like to focus on here is
titled A Wrong Way Home and is Book
1 of my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense series. I’m now writing Book 4 but Book
1 – A Wrong Way Home – is a free
eBook at Amazon and other online retailers and a good introduction to my
writing. This is the story of Kara and Matt. She has come back to her hometown
though she’d vowed she never would. He hoped she’d never return because she
broke his heart before she left. All these two seem to have in common is the
murder of a bad man and how his death can damage a lot of good people in
Riverton. Now Kara and Matt must work together to find the killer before he strikes
again.
Now
I have a few questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun
things about us writers.
1.)
Who is your favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie
or TV show. And why?
My favorite villain and least favorite
story character is Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights. I dislike him so much
because he is filled with rage and bitterness and he takes out his rage and
bitterness on everyone around him. He resents the hard life he had as a boy and
now that he’s made himself wealthy he uses that wealth and power to take
revenge. Unfortunately he’s also very sexy and that turns out to be nothing but
trouble for the women who love him. My advice – stay away from guys like this.
2.)
Who is your favorite character out of your books and why?
This is like asking a mother to pick her
favorite child. I have to say my heroines are all my favorite characters. They
are strong women but each is strong in her own way. Kara of A Wrong Way Home is in-your-face
feisty. Hailey of A Year of Summer
Shadows is quieter in her strength but she will do whatever is necessary –
including put herself in danger – to protect those who need her. Bethany of A Vacancy at the Inn is a single mother
going through a tough time but she never gives up her struggle to make life the
best it can be for her son. Vanessa of A
Villain for Vanessa is my current favorite because I’m writing about her
right now. Her strength lies in her determination to find out the truth behind
the secrets and half-truths she’s been told about her family and her life. I
love all of these women who have – during my writing of this series – become my
valued friends.
3.)
What genre do you write? What made you pick that one?
I write Romantic Suspense. I love authors who tell a good tight thriller-mystery –
from Michael Connelly to Nora Roberts with Stephen King thrown in when I want
to be scared to death. They’ve made me want to write the same kind of stories.
It all began with Nancy Drew and reading under the covers at night – as I
suspect many of us book people did. Later on I discovered the movies of Alfred
Hitchcock and I was hooked. Murder and twisted motives with a conflicted
romantic relationship in the mix. Those make my favorite cup of writing tea –
right down to the leaves that predict how it will end.
4.)
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on
Book 4 in my Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series called A Villain for Vanessa. It is a story about tangled roots and family
secrets and that’s all I’m going to say. Because I don’t want to spoil the suspense
– for me or for you.
5.)
What got you to start writing?
In the eighth grade I had a teacher
named Mrs. Mahon. I was a restless student. Then she assigned a writing project
that really interested me. I wrote several pages without a restless moment in any
of them. The day Mrs. Mahon handed back the graded papers she dropped mine on
my desk as she passed by and said something that would change my life. “You
know how to write, girl.” I was sure there had to be some truth in that because
Mrs. Mahon wouldn’t have given a compliment to a difficult student like me
unless she meant it. At last I had something I loved to do that I was good at
doing.
6.)
Where do you get your ideas?
Most of my ideas come from my own
history. There haven’t been murderers in my life like in my stories – at least
I don’t think so – but there have been lots of rumors and secrets and
interesting people. In other words lots of “What if?” For example A Year of Summer Shadows came from
asking myself this. “What if my father was right about Uncle Howard? What if
his death really was mysterious?” The one time I heard Dad tell that tale my
mother shushed up him immediately. All my life I knew there was a story behind
her shushing so I finally wrote it.
7.)
What would your readers be surprised to find out about you?
I write about remote northern New York
State – referred to by the locals as the North Country – and a town there that
is something like the town where I was born and raised. I write about that place
as if I walked down its main street every day and lived the life of a smallish
town person. The truth is in my day to day life I live in a place very unlike
Riverton. I live in New York City and have for a long time. But somewhere near
the center of my heart and my imagination I’m still back home.
8.)
Do you have any special talents?
I’d say that my current and most
favorite special talent is for being a loving grandma. I had a wonderful
grandmother who was a huge influence in my life and my goal in life is to be to
my grandkids what she was to me.
9.)
What was the one piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author
that has stuck with you and why?
There’s
so much good advice I’ve been given along the way but I think the most
important thing for all of us as writers to hear – over and over again – is
that nothing counts as much as the quality of the storytelling. You can be the
most gifted marketing maven around but if the story is lacking – your career
success will most likely be lacking too.
10.)
If you could talk to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would
it be and what would you talk about?
I think I’d speak to St. Francis of
Assisi and ask him to tell me more about his famous prayer on love. Love is
patient and kind and unselfish and so many other things in that prayer. I’d ask
him to teach me how to be better at those things. Better at being loving.
11.)
What song would you say describes your life?
The song that best describes my life is
an old one – “You Never Walk Alone.” It’s the true truth of my life because
even when I believed I was alone – I was not.
12.)
If you could come back as any animal – what would it be?
If I could come back as any animal it
would be a female gorilla. She loves and cares for her young and fiercely
protects them against all threats. She is strong and brave and true and those
are the things I’d most wish to be.
A
WRONG WAY HOME
Riverton
Road Romantic Suspense Book 1
Matt
& Kara’s Story by Alice Orr
Going
home can be dangerous.
Kara Cartwright returns to her hometown on
the same night Anthony Benton is murdered. She knows nothing about that or how
it will unhinge her life. She only knows she vowed never to come back to
Riverton or to see Matt Kalli again.
Matt has made a vow of his own. He’ll never
forgive Kara – the woman who loved him then betrayed him nine years ago. And he
can’t forgive himself for the way she’s stuck in his heart.
All these two have in common is their
hatred of Anthony Benton. Now Benton is dead and they could be suspects. People
they care deeply about are suspects too. That gives Matt and Kara something
else in common – a perilous search for the real killer before he murders again.
A Wrong Way Home is
Book 1 in the
Riverton Road Romantic
Suspense series
featuring the Kalli family – and beginning with Book 3 – the
Miller family too in stories of danger and romance.
A Wrong Way Home is a
FREE
eBook at Amazon and other online retailers. All of Alice’s books are available
at
http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Orr/e/B000APC22E.
Alice Orr – In
Her Own Words
An Amazon reviewer says, "Alice Orr is a
brilliant writer who has a Number One best seller hidden in her pocket. I look
forward to more of her work." I say “Thanks!” I love to write. Especially
romantic suspense novels and blog posts. I’ve been a workshop leader, book
editor and literary agent. Now I live my dream of writing full-time. I’ve published
thirteen novels and four novellas – both traditionally and independently – plus
a memoir so far. I wrote my nonfiction book, No More Rejections, as a gift to the writers' community I cherish.
A revised edition is now in progress. Amazon says, "This book has it
all." About my romantic suspense, Amazon says, "Alice Orr turns up
the heat." Most of all, I’m thrilled to hear from readers. Visit my website
at
www.aliceorrbooks.com. I have two grown children and two perfect
grandchildren and I live with my husband Jonathan in New York City.
