Good Morning, Booklovers!
Pull up a chair and join me in welcoming guest author Alana Lorens (Barbara Mountjoy) bringing us her featured suspense/thriller, Encounter.
Nice to have you with us, Alana. How do you take your coffee?
AL: Definitely high-test, full caffeine, with flavored creamers.
Ally: That’s an easy request. While I get our drinks, please tell readers about yourself.
Bio:
Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by two crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Once upon a time, I got up on a nightclub stage and sang “Killing Me Softly” with the Morris Brothers band on Presque Isle, PA.”
Social media links:
Website http://Alana-lorens.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D1aJmCwdYk&t=28s
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens
Twitter: @AlexanderLyndi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/
Alana Lorens has been a published writer for more than forty years, after working as a pizza maker, a floral designer, a journalist and a family law attorney. Currently a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, the aging hippie loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She writes romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and sci-fi, fantasy and paranormal mystery as Lyndi Alexander. One of her novellas, THAT GIRL’S THE ONE I LOVE, is set in the city of Asheville during the old Bele Chere festival. She lives with her daughter on the autism spectrum, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by two crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.
Something unique/unusual that isn't in your regular bio: “Once upon a time, I got up on a nightclub stage and sang “Killing Me Softly” with the Morris Brothers band on Presque Isle, PA.”
Social media links:
Website http://Alana-lorens.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D1aJmCwdYk&t=28s
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alana-lorens
Twitter: @AlexanderLyndi
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexander_lyndi/
INTERVIEW:
Ally: Tell us about the models for your book characters. Do they come from people you know?
AL: The book I’m working on currently has a heroine that may be too much like me. I wanted to write a book with a character that has some chronic illnesses, because I think most heroines are glaringly physically perfect.
I’ve written my ex-husbands—and other people’s ex-husbands, for that matter--into books, where horrible things have happened to them. Sometimes it’s just satisfying.
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond to them? Are you affected by them?
AL: I do. I’m always hoping people will enjoy the stories I tell. I’ve also got to remember, like my old Con Law professor used to say, that a “C” is considered average/normal. We all were used to getting A’s easily before law school, and kinda freaked out if we got a C. You’ve got to consider who your competition is. So many choices out there for readers, that a 3 out of 5 stars means that the book told a good story and read well. 4 and 5, of course is better! 😊
I don’t respond, though. People’s opinion is their opinion. I’m certainly not going to change it by arguing with them!
Ally: If you could rewrite the ending of any book ever written, what would it be and why?
AL: Oh, wow. I’d love to see a different ending for Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. But it wouldn’t fit, at all. Just so depressing.
Ally: If you switched careers with the main character of the last book you read, what would it be?
AL: Ha! I’d be Walter Bishop, crazed, LSD-scarred scientist working for the FBI on the Fringe Project. Wouldn’t that be a blast!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
AL: My contemporary second-chance romance A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME will be released by The Wild Rose Press on January 10, 2022.
Blurb: Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.
Russell's marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons' lives. In his Internet wanderings, he's found feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what's happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down.
What Russell doesn't know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you select?
AL:
Ally: Tell us about the models for your book characters. Do they come from people you know?
AL: The book I’m working on currently has a heroine that may be too much like me. I wanted to write a book with a character that has some chronic illnesses, because I think most heroines are glaringly physically perfect.
I’ve written my ex-husbands—and other people’s ex-husbands, for that matter--into books, where horrible things have happened to them. Sometimes it’s just satisfying.
Ally: Do you read reviews of your books? Do you respond to them? Are you affected by them?
AL: I do. I’m always hoping people will enjoy the stories I tell. I’ve also got to remember, like my old Con Law professor used to say, that a “C” is considered average/normal. We all were used to getting A’s easily before law school, and kinda freaked out if we got a C. You’ve got to consider who your competition is. So many choices out there for readers, that a 3 out of 5 stars means that the book told a good story and read well. 4 and 5, of course is better! 😊
I don’t respond, though. People’s opinion is their opinion. I’m certainly not going to change it by arguing with them!
Ally: If you could rewrite the ending of any book ever written, what would it be and why?
AL: Oh, wow. I’d love to see a different ending for Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD. But it wouldn’t fit, at all. Just so depressing.
Ally: If you switched careers with the main character of the last book you read, what would it be?
AL: Ha! I’d be Walter Bishop, crazed, LSD-scarred scientist working for the FBI on the Fringe Project. Wouldn’t that be a blast!
Ally: What is your next writing project? Anticipated release date?
AL: My contemporary second-chance romance A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME will be released by The Wild Rose Press on January 10, 2022.
Blurb: Up-and-coming mommyblogger and single mom Marisol Herrera Slade returns to her old hometown in western Pennsylvania for her 20th high school reunion in 2005, reluctant and yet compelled to see her high school sweetheart, Russell Asher, who dumped her for the homecoming queen.
Russell's marriage to the golden girl, however, ended in a nasty divorce, and he has been systematically excluded from his sons' lives. In his Internet wanderings, he's found feminist blogger named Jerrika Jones, who glorifies single motherhood, essentially putting a stamp of approval on what's happened to him. His group of single dad advocates have vowed to take this woman down.
What Russell doesn't know, when he thinks to rekindle what he had with Marisol, is that Marisol and Jerrika are one and the same. When his group discovers the truth, will their drive for revenge derail any chance the couple have to reunite? Or will they find they have more in common than they ever expected?
Ally: Which of the trivia questions did you select?
AL:
- memorable book you’ve read: The Stand by Stephen King—unabridged version!
- a movie you’ll always remember: Contact
- favorite comfort food: Southern-style banana pudding
- last time you rode a train (not subway): My daughter Beth bought me a ticket to travel from Erie, PA round-trip to Reno, Nevada on Amtrak. What a beautiful trip through the Rockies!!
- Your pets - All our rescue kitties: Kitty Lou, age 20, Dilly, age 10, Twilight Sparkle, age 10, Zigzag, age 3, Clarice and Reba, sisters age 3, Daisy Mae, age 2, Korben Dallas, age 2 and Terra, age 2.
Encounter
Author: Alana Lorens
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Teo Haroun and the other lawyers in his firm look forward in varying degrees to the retreat at the Sherman Ranch in northern New Mexico. The boss has laid down some rules—no phones, no computers, no communication with the outside world—that makes them uneasy. But the corporate team-building exercises are necessary for this firm to survive its inner sniping and turmoil—and to protect the secrets they hold.
Inez Suela and thirty other Mexicans have paid a coyote hundreds of pesos to take them across the border into the United States, where they hope to make a better life. The crowded truck heads north into New Mexico to meet their local driver, the occupants unaware that a freak March snowstorm is waiting in its path.
Jake Patrin, the caretaker of the Ranch, fights demons of his own as he struggles daily with addiction. Working far from the city on the lonely Ranch, hosting those who rent the facility, is his protection and solace. But he’s about to lose the only peace he’s been able to grasp.
Davi Pilar needs to make some fast money to appease a couple of St. Louis loan sharks, so he agrees to pick up a truckload of illegals and take them to St. Louis. He drives to New Mexico, not knowing that Inez, the woman who rejected him years before, is one of those on that truck.
The intersection of these people, the collision of their cultures, the revelation of their secrets—all these things lead to violence, death, and even redemption in their New Mexico ENCOUNTER.
BOOK TRAILER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb96vbSfiH8&t=84s
Buy Links:
PAP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278965/
PAP: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666296044/
HRD: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278973/
HRD: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666295030/
Amz Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096T8ZWT6/
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/encounter/id1570703068/
Kobo Books: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/encounter-31
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940162514800/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1087545?ref=dfpbooks
Author: Alana Lorens
Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Rating: PG-13
Teo Haroun and the other lawyers in his firm look forward in varying degrees to the retreat at the Sherman Ranch in northern New Mexico. The boss has laid down some rules—no phones, no computers, no communication with the outside world—that makes them uneasy. But the corporate team-building exercises are necessary for this firm to survive its inner sniping and turmoil—and to protect the secrets they hold.
Inez Suela and thirty other Mexicans have paid a coyote hundreds of pesos to take them across the border into the United States, where they hope to make a better life. The crowded truck heads north into New Mexico to meet their local driver, the occupants unaware that a freak March snowstorm is waiting in its path.
Jake Patrin, the caretaker of the Ranch, fights demons of his own as he struggles daily with addiction. Working far from the city on the lonely Ranch, hosting those who rent the facility, is his protection and solace. But he’s about to lose the only peace he’s been able to grasp.
Davi Pilar needs to make some fast money to appease a couple of St. Louis loan sharks, so he agrees to pick up a truckload of illegals and take them to St. Louis. He drives to New Mexico, not knowing that Inez, the woman who rejected him years before, is one of those on that truck.
The intersection of these people, the collision of their cultures, the revelation of their secrets—all these things lead to violence, death, and even redemption in their New Mexico ENCOUNTER.
BOOK TRAILER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb96vbSfiH8&t=84s
Buy Links:
PAP: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278965/
PAP: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666296044/
HRD: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941278973/
HRD: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/9781666295030/
Amz Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B096T8ZWT6/
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/encounter/id1570703068/
Kobo Books: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/encounter-31
B&N Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940162514800/
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1087545?ref=dfpbooks
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