Author, Casi McLean Thrills with Beneath The Lake
Give a big welcome to Casi McLean, author of Beneath The Lake. Have a seat and grab an insulated mug, there’s hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee on the counter. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie
from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Casi’s tell us about your inspiration for Beneath the lake. Thanks for joining us!
I love to talk about my, Beneath The Lake, and the eerie lake lore that inspired my muse. A town that time forgot––the history and creepy stories attached to a rural area that sleeps beneath Atlanta’s famous man-made lake, Sidney Lanier, fascinated me. Homes, churches and businesses still linger beneath the surface. The moonshiners of the 1940’s added built-in suspense, and the birth of NASCAR. Looper Speedway, a half-mile dirt track where bootleggers competed with their souped-up cars, exposed its cement stands in a recent draught.
There’s a Lady of the Lake who haunts the ghost town too––the spine-chilling lore is the basis for book three in my Beneath The Lake series, Between The Shadows. Some say she lures victims to her watery grave. The truth is, swimmers get trapped among the deadfall of sheered-off trees and town remains. Even expert divers get tangled beneath the murky surface, hence the lake’s unnerving label: Lanier never gives up its dead. The inspiration swirled in my mind, begging for a story to be told. What a perfect setting for my romantic time-slip suspense series.
Why time-slip? Ever since my childhood imagination discovered Madeleine L’Engles, A Wrinkle In Time, the idea of time travel intrigued me. And Lake Lanier, a man-made lake with mesmerizing history, presented a plausible theory. What if the excavation explosions triggered a seismic shift? Given enough energy, could the blasts rip a portal into a different dimension or a crack in time? The possibilities were endless.
The birth of Lacey Montgomery evolved through my young adult love for Jude Deveraux’s A Knight In Shining Armor. The time-slip novel introduced her endearing Montgomery family. I hope my books honor her inspiration. My high school friend, Hilary Johnson, inspired the persona of my heroine, Lacey Montgomery. A lawyer, discouraged with defending criminals, yearned to help honest people in trouble. Some of Hillary’s finer qualities became part of Lacey––the dysfunctional relationships came from my own personal experiences. LOL. Once these elements entwined, Beneath The Lake blossomed with an energy and life of its own.
The sequel, Beyond The Mist, picks up where the first story ends incorporating two minor characters as the new hero and heroine. Beyond The Mist is complete, in editing, and will be published in a few months.
For a Free Gift, and a chance to win my entire short story collection, Destiny: Five Novelettes With a Twist, click here: https://spark.adobe.com/page/pxekfzj8Rx4el/
I hope you enjoy my trailer, blurb, and the opening excerpt below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwOqm8DUUfA
Blurb –
A ghost town submerged beneath Atlanta’s famous man-made Lake Lanier reportedly lures victims to a watery grave. But when Lacey Montgomery’s car spins out of control and hurtles into the depths of the icy water, she awakens in the arms of a stranger, in a town she’s never heard of–34 years before she was born.
When the 2012 lawyer tangles with a 1949 hunk, fire and ice swirl into a stream of sweltering desire. Bobby Reynolds is smitten the moment the storm-ravaged woman opens her eyes and, despite adamant protest, Lacey falls in love with a town destined for extinction, and the man who vows to save his legacy.
Threatened by a nefarious stalker, the wrath of bootleggers, and twists of fate, Lacey must find the key to a mysterious portal before time rips the lovers apart, leaving their star-crossed spirits to wander forever through a ghost town buried beneath the lake.
Excerpt:
Lake Lanier, Georgia—June 2011
A final thud hurled him backward, flailing through brush and thickets like a rag doll. Grasping at anything to break momentum, Rob’s hand clung to a branch wedged into the face of the precipice. Spiny splinters sliced his skin. Blood oozed and trickled into his palms, and one by one, his fingers slowly slipped.
A sharp crack echoed through the silence of the ravine as the bough succumbed to his weight. He plummeted into free-fall. Clenching his eyes, he drew in a deep breath, terrified of the pain, the mauling that waited on the jagged rocks below.
When icy water broke his fall, the chill kept him from losing consciousness. He spun, straining to see, but darkness enveloped him. Soggy clothing pulled him deeper—deeper into the murky, fathomless depths. He wrestled to squirm free from the waterlogged jacket dragging him down to a watery grave, watched the coat disappear into black obscurity. Panic gripped his stomach, or was it death that snaked around his chest, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing the air, the life from his body? Lack of oxygen burned his lungs, beckoning surrender, and a shard of rage pierced his gut as reality set in. He lunged upward with one last thrust and burst from the water’s deadly grip, gasping for air. A gurgling howl spewed from the depths of his soul and echoed into silence.
Sunlight shimmered across a smooth, indigo lake, but aside from the slight ripples of his own paddling, nothing but stillness surrounded him. He floated toward the shore, sucking deep breaths into his lungs until the pummeling in his chest subsided. When he reached the water’s edge, he hoisted his body onto the soft red clay and collapsed while the sun’s warmth drained the tension from his body.
No one knew he had survived. The rules had shifted. Now he could reinvent himself, become a stealth predator. His target: Lacey Madison Montgomery.
Beneath The Lake is available at:
USA Amazon Link: http://amzn.to/2jB4JXp
Worldwide Amazon Link: http://smarturl.it/BeneathTheLake
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Award winning author, Casi McLean, pens novels to stir the soul with romance, suspense, and a sprinkle of magic. Her writing crosses genres from ethereal, captivating shorts with eerie twist endings to believable time slips, mystical plots, and sensual romantic suspense. Beneath The Lake won the 2016 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence for BEST Romantic Suspense.
Her stories entwine strong, believable heroines with delicious hot heroes to tempt the deepest desires then fans the flames, sweeping readers into their innermost romantic fantasies. Ms. McLean weaves exceptional romantic mystery with suspenseful settings and lovable characters you’ll devour. You’ll see, hear, and feel the magical eeriness of one fateful night. You’ll swear her time travel could happen, be mystified by her other worldly images, and feel heat of romantic suspense, but most of all you’ll want more.
Contact Links:
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It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Beneath The Lake and it’s upcoming sequel, Beyond The Mist.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Atlanta, Casi McLean, Lake Lanier, Mystery, Romance, romantic suspense, Supernatural, Suspense, Time travel by Tena Stetler with 19 comments.
Elizabeth Alsobrooks Author of Stolen Secrets
Give a big welcome to Elizabeth Alsobrooks, author of Stolen Secrets. Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets find out about Elizabeth and Stolen Secrets. Thanks for joining us! Psst…. Don’t forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post for a $10.00 GC.
Elizabeth tell us what inspired this particular story?
Stolen Secrets is a romance spinoff from my Illuminati (Urban Fantasy) series, so is much more character driven and oriented than what is usual for me. It’s steamier, of course, and the hero is hot, hot, hot, if I do say so myself. Here is who I pictured when writing this:
Here’s how it begins:
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged fantasy, fiction, Illuminati, Jinn, mashup, Paranormal, Romance by Tena Stetler with 5 comments.
Welcome Margo Bond Collins Author of Immortal Winter!
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Margo Bond Collins, author of Immortal Winter. Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick a Snicker-doodle and Gingerbread cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets see what Immortal Winter is all about. Thanks for joining us!
A princess locked away in an ice tower.
A handsome kidnapper who insists her savior-queen is a liar.
And a chance to break the curse that binds them all.
Jayla Storm woke up today next to a dead body, with no memory of how it got there. Then Kip Stanton blew up her ice tower—the only home she’s ever known—and kidnapped her, insisting it was for her own good.
Now she’s stuck with a group of rebels hell-bent on usurping the queen who saved Jayla’s life. As her memories resurface, she’s afraid to trust anyone, even while her feelings for Kip grow stronger.
But wherever Jayla goes, the monstrous ravagers follow. If she’s going to survive, and perhaps save Kip and the others, she’ll have to learn to trust someone—maybe especially herself.
Immortal Winter, a stand-alone dystopian paranormal romance
by New York Times bestselling authors N.R. Larry and Margo Bond Collins
A peek into Immortal Winter:
I woke in my ice tower, covered in a coating of sweat, lying next to a dead body.
With a gasp, I scrambled back against the headboard of my own bed. Other than the motionless figure beside me, nothing around me had changed, though it was tinted yellow from the flickering lanterns.
Arina’s dead body?
I’d never seen a corpse. Not a real one. I eyed the spike sticking out of her forehead and the odd snarl twisting her open mouth. My head swam and I swallowed convulsively.
I knew I needed to act, but all I could manage to do was let Arina continue to bleed out—onto the sheets and onto me. I should have been screaming. I should have been throwing myself off the bed and toward the window. But I didn’t, anchored in place by fire and sweat and blood.
I tried to connect the scene in front of me to some memory, something that swam barely out of reach. I stretched after it, catching a fragment: yesterday was Arina’s day. The day I wouldn’t be alone.
A pain day.
I looked forward to those. That much I knew.
Forcing myself to sit up, I scooted away from her still form, my jaw clenched with the memory of pain. I would have laughed at what lingered but there was a body to attend to. Stumbling out of bed, I stepped out of my clothes and limped toward my ivory dresser. On the way, my feet grazed against something rough. Some imperfection in the ice. Something that wasn’t there before.
I backed up and stared down at the message scratched into the ice, blood swiped across it to highlight the letters, like ink rubbed on a seal impression to darken the image.
She found me. She knows. Went to warn them. Don’t take the infusions. Watch out for Kip.
My body began to tremble, even before my mind caught up.
Yesterday.
Available from Amazon.com
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Thanks for stopping by Margo. It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Immortal Winter! Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Dystopian, Murder, Paranormal, Queen, Romance by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Release Day for A Witch’s Holiday Wedding
Happy Holidays everyone. Come on in, grab a Snickerdoodle or Gingerbread Cookie. The insulated mugs are on the table beside the pots of hot 
chocolate, hot cider and coffee which are labeled. Pour a mug and make yourself comfortable. Today, I’m taking this opportunity to showcase my a new release A Witch’s Holiday Wedding. It’s the sequel to A Witch’s Journey, set in Lobster Cove, Maine.
I absolutely loved writing these books. I’ve always wanted to visit a small coastal town in Maine, vacation in a cabin or in our fifth wheel on the coast. Walk through the town taking in the ambiance and watching the changing moods of the ocean. Sit and listen to the seabirds and watch the wildlife from a big wrap-around porch. Well, you get the picture. While I wrote these books, that’s where my imagination whisked me off to each day. The world around me faded away as I slipped into a chair in front of my computer and my fingers flew over the keyboard. Elated as I wrote the end, it was sad to say goodbye to my characters. However, a little glimmer of magic spiked as I considered the possibility of telling Gwen and Brock’s story one day. We’ll see. LOL
I love to make new friends and chat with readers, authors and well, just about anyone. LOL Want to know what’s next for me? Sign up for my quarterly newsletter, it’s on my website. You can find me at:
Website: https://www.tenastetler.com,
Blog: https://www.tenastetler.com/my-blog
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Twitter Page: www.twitter.com/TenaStetler
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14187532.Tena_Stetler
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Right now Pepper and Lathen take center stage as their final chapter unfolds in A Witch’s Holiday Wedding. Let me tell you a little about it.
Elemental witch, Pepper McKay and former Navy SEAL, Lathen Quartz have built Lobster Cove Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on enchanted McKay land. During a romantic interlude on Halloween night, Pepper happily agrees to become Lathen’s wife. What better day than Winter Solstice for their wedding in a town that loves celebrations and Christmas. However, planning a wedding and operating their wildlife center takes a toll on both Pepper and Lathen.
When the couple takes a much-needed break for Thanksgiving with family in Colorado, a Maine snowstorm fills the center with injured wildlife. Lathen finds himself drawn into a covert military mission, while trying to deal with issues concerning friends and family. Pepper wants to cancel the wedding. Is she having second thoughts? Will the nosy McKay ghosts, Lathen’s werewolf pack, Pepper’s parents, and her best friend help or hinder the wedding and holiday plans?
Shall we take a little sneak peek into the story and their lives?
They strolled down the sidewalk toward the parking lot and admired the holiday decorations in the shop windows. He helped her into the truck and closed the door, scooting over to the driver’s door in a blink of an eye. He rubbed his hands together and started the engine, turned the defroster on as the windows began to fog.
Half an hour later, Lathen turned the truck onto the gravel drive to the cabin, slowed, and stared at the dark SUV parked in front of the cabin. Slowly he guided the truck behind the vehicle, noticing that the plates were government issue. What the hell is this?
Pepper leaned forward in her seat. “What’s a government SUV doing sitting in front of our home?”
“Maybe it’s the DIFW,” Lathen said hopefully. He turned off the headlights and cut the engine. The doors opened on the SUV, and four men in suits stepped out and waited.
Oh shit, this doesn’t bode well. He recognized one of the men, Lt. Commander Raymond Sale. Lathen jumped out of the truck as Pepper opened her door. “Pepper, why don’t you go on inside, let Tonk and Ember out, but keep them close. I’ll just be a minute.”
A Witch’s Holiday Wedding is available at: Amazon, Kobo, The Wild Rose Press, All Romance, and Barnes & Noble.
It’s been so nice visiting with you. But my current work in progress is calling. Before I go, I want to let you know that the second book in the Demon’s Witch’ series, A Warlock’s Secrets, (Tristian’s story) is in edits as we speak and will be out in 2017. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season!
Watch for new authors to visit this page in the coming weeks!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Christmas, ghosts, Holiday, Paranormal, Romance, Shapeshifters, wildlife, wildlife rescue, Witches by Tena Stetler with 10 comments.
