Books-n-Kisses is excited to welcome first time guest Toni Anderson to the blog.  

Toni, can you please share with us a little about yourself.

First, thanks for having me here, Kelly. When I was a little girl I always wanted to travel. After I left home to go to university I got my wish in spades and I’ve since been all over the world. But when I was younger my only escape was through other people’s stories. I was a voracious reader and that’s something I’ve never lost. Thank god for libraries! I grew up in Britain and now live in the Canadian prairies, which always feels weird to say, but it’s home now. I like it—except for the crazy winters J.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

No—I was a Marine Biologist for many years and then I had kids. I found it hard to be part of a scientist couple and to raise kids the way I wanted to raise them. Science isn’t a 9-5 career and I did a lot of fieldwork. I started trying to write a novel to give my brain an escape from being home-with-the-baby syndrome, but I got hooked.

What is your most interesting writing quirk?

I don’t think I have any quirks but I do have a favorite mug I use when I start a new story. It’s from a Highland pottery. I ♥ it.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

My latest release is called DANGEROUS WATERS. It’s a Romantic Suspense novel set in a remote town on Vancouver Island. It combines a strong female lead, RCMP Sergeant Holly Rudd, who becomes involved with a former elite soldier, Finn Carver, who is now the dive master at a world famous marine lab. The story encompasses a modern day murder and a thirty-year-old mystery and I’m hoping readers enjoy both the mystery aspect and the sexy romance.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

Oddly it started as a dream (wow, just flashed to Hot Chocolate’s ‘It Started with a Kiss’ in a weird 80’s moment) and then developed from there. I’ve visited the region where the story is set—Bamfield, BC—and it’s amazing. The dream and the setting clicked together to spark the plot. It all came from there.

Can you share with us your current work(s) in progress?

I’m working on a follow up book to DANGEROUS WATERS featuring some secondary characters from that first story. The next book is tentatively titled DARK WATERS and is another Romantic Suspense.

Who is the one author that you would love to meet someday and why?

I’d love to meet Nora Roberts. She’s an amazing spokesperson for the romance genre and just so smart and savvy.

What is the best piece of advice you would give to someone that wants to get into writing?

Write. It seems so obvious but people put it off for some unspecified time in the future. Do it now. Write every day. And read. Every day. You have to train those muscles.

Can you share with us something off your bucket list.

Funny. I was talking to a friend of mine about bucket lists as he’s training to do a marathon to cross off his. Needless to say a marathon doesn’t feature on mine. My bucket list tends to be places. I’d love to go to New Zealand or Africa.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

ICED by Karen Marie Moning. I’m not into paranormal or urban fantasy but I loved the FEVER series. And SCORCHED by Laura Griffin. Then THE ART OF INTELLIGENCE: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN THE CIA’S CLANDESTINE SERVICE by Henry A. Crumpton. So many books. So little time.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Just thank you for having me here today and that I love hearing from readers. I’d like to offer a copy of SEA OF SUSPICION from my backlist to one lucky commenter that you choose.

Check out Toni’s website and Amazon Author Page for a list of current titles, her blog and Facebook Author Page for writing news. She also has a very infrequent newsletter for special announcements. If you like dogs or weather talk there’s her personal Facebook page, and Twitter (@toniannanderson) for up-to-the-minute chatter.  And she’s on Goodreads.

DANGEROUS WATERS

 Available from Amazon USA or UK. Also, Canada, France, and Germany.

Also in print from Barnes & Noble (US) and McNally Robinson (Canada).

Audio from Brilliance Audio.

Known as the Graveyard of the Pacific, Barkley Sound is notorious for surging swells with the power to pull helpless victims into its merciless abyss…

Sergeant Holly Rudd arrives in the coastal community of Bamfield after local divers discover a body with a knife jutting from its chest in the waters of Barkley Sound. As she investigates the crime, Holly soon realizes the sleepy town is rife with secrets. But what unsettles her most is the residents’ insistence that she bears a striking resemblance to the victim of a murder from three decades earlier. She shrugs off the uncanny likeness as a coincidence. But her simmering attraction to Finn Carver, one of the divers who discovered the corpse, isn’t so easy to ignore.

Finn, a former Special Forces soldier, knows it’s best to keep his distance from Holly. Yet it isn’t long before they both give in to the consuming desire they share. And as the danger escalates, Finn and Holly must rely on each other to thwart the plans of a cold-blooded killer who’s intent on keeping the past buried.

a Rafflecopter giveaway