Killer Countdown giveaway
Last week I mentioned the group, Seasoned Romance, on Facebook. We are a group of authors and readers who love mature characters. This is where I met Amelia Autin, who has agreed to join us this week. And, he……re’s Amelia.
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Killer Countdown will be my
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The idea for Killer Countdown came to me when I was at one of the lowest points in my life. My husband had just checked into the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, AZ “for observation,” and I was desperately worried.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, my first book since the late nineties, which was about to be released in another month (Cody Walker’s Woman, Harlequin Romantic Suspense, October 2014), received its first online review. A one-star review. On my publisher’s own web site, no less.
No author enjoys receiving a one-star review, but if the reader had just said the book wasn’t her cup of tea, given it one star, and left it at that, it wouldn’t have upset me…much. But that wasn’t what she did. She didn’t just dislike the book, she actively hated it. I had never read anything quite so vitriolic as that review. The reader trashed the book, revealing critical plot points (without noting they were spoilers), and using the words “Boo hoo!” in a derogatory fashion regarding something in the hero’s past that had scarred him. Ouch!
Then she went on to rip me apart as an author, wondering why the book had even been written. As if I had offended her somehow—how dare I think I could write! There was a lot more in that vein, but I will mercifully draw the curtain at this point.
I tried to ignore that review—I had a real life crisis on my hands, which was far more important than some reader’s negative opinion of my “baby.” Still…it was there in the back of my mind as I lay on a pull-out bed in my husband’s hospital room in the middle of the night.
Sleep was elusive, though I reminded myself I’d pay for it in the morning. Then it came to me, the opening lines of Killer Countdown. Now I still couldn’t sleep, but for a good reason. I quietly dragged out my laptop (so as not to waken my husband) and began writing. All the angst I was experiencing, all the emotional devastation caused by what was happening to my husband and one reader’s vicious review, was poured into those first few chapters.
The book wasn’t written in the week my husband spent in the Mayo Clinic, of course. But writing was my escape, and I survived mentally and emotionally because of it. I eventually turned those opening chapters into a proposal I submitted to my editor…and she bought it. When I look back now on those desperate days in the fall of 2014, I realize what a blessing in disguise they really were. I’m a better person now, I think, for having lived through that experience. I know I’m a better author. And I learned something crucial about myself I hadn’t really known until that point—I’m a writer. Because writers write…no matter what.
Amelia is giving away a copy of Killer Countdown. Check out the excerpt:
Killer Countdown
“What did you say?”
She lifted her head. “I said I never needed a white knight before, but it sure felt nice having one when I did.”
He couldn’t look away from the bright intensity of her blue eyes. “Is that how you see me?”
“Sometimes.”
“What am I when I’m not a white knight?”
“Well, sometimes you’re a hot stud.”
If he’d been drinking something, he would have choked.
Back of the book
TV reporter Carly Edwards has the scoop of a century! She’s discovered that Senator Shane Jones was diagnosed with a life-altering illness, but she can’t help but be drawn to his courage. So when Shane saves Carly’s life from a killer, she resolves to keep her story—and the irresistible politician—alive…
A politician and a media personality are a recipe for romantic disaster. The last thing Shane wants is to endanger Carly. But how can he prevent her from getting close when the very air between them sizzles? As their lives are threatened, Shane realizes Carly’s the one woman he wants forever—if he can keep them both safe!
Available 08/01/2016 (ebook). Pre-order links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Countdown-Mission-Amelia-Autin-ebook/dp/B01BSFBUPO/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/killer-countdown-amelia-autin/1123427221?ean=9781488005107
Available 08/09/2016 (paperback). Pre-order links:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Countdown-Mission-Amelia-Autin/dp/0373281463/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/killer-countdown-amelia-autin/1123427221?ean=9780373281466
How do you enter to win a copy of Killer Countdown? Like most men (my husband included), the hero in Killer Countdown, Shane Jones, is particularly susceptible to a woman in red. So he’s practically speechless when he sees the heroine, Carly Edwards, in red…
When the door swung open Shane started to speak, but the breath left his lungs at the sight of Carly in red, and he had to remind himself to breathe. Last night, in her sparkly blue evening dress that matched her eyes, she’d been regal and radiant. Tonight she was stunning.
When their eyes met he said huskily, “There are no words, Carly.”…
But that’s not my favorite color, which is lavender blue. What’s yours? Comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of Killer Countdown (US residents only; international winners are eligible to win an emailed ebook copy).
Award-winning author Amelia Autin is an inveterate reader who can’t bear to put a good book down…or part with it. Her bookshelves are crammed with books her Ph.D. engineer husband periodically threatens to donate to a worthy cause, but he always relents…eventually.
Amelia is a long-time member of Romance Writers of America (RWA), and served three years as its treasurer. She resides with her husband (a real-life hero she affectionately refers to as Bodyguard on Facebook) in quiet Vail, Arizona, where they can see the stars at night and have a “million dollar view” of the Rincon Mountains from their back yard.
Follow Amelia around:
Website: www.AmeliaAutin.com
Email: AmeliaAutin@aol.com
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Amelia-Autin/e/B000APUHNA/
Harlequin Author Page: http://www.harlequin.com/author.html?authorid=2619
Twitter: @Amelia_Autin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Amelia-Autin/100008236030992
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I love the color blue, it has to be bright blue so it pops.
Blue is Gene’s favorite color too.
I’m a “winter” so pastels don’t do much for me. I have to wear vivid colors, like bright blue, fuschia, red (my husband’s fave, so I wear it a lot).
I love any shade of purple and bold pink colors.
Ah, a girl after my own heart!!!!!
My absolute favorite color is purple…but my favorite color to WEAR is black…which is just about all that’s in my closet! LOL!
Black is universal and looks great on everyone. Make sure you check out the Harley t-shirt I’m giving away this month. Click on Giveaways on the right.
I have a lavender purple (as opposed to lavender blue) blouse I wear a lot.
Red
Lady in Red. Also a favorite song by Chris De Burgh!
Red is my husband’s favorite color (as it is for a lot of men). It’s Shane’s favorite color, too (hero of KILLER COUNTDOWN), Even though blue is my favorite, I wear a lot of red…for Bodyguard. (Tee hee hee!)
Yellow is my absolute favorite color!
Sunny and bright. That’s fabulous.
Ahhh, yellow. Chris Colton, hero of HER COLTON P.I., absolutely adores Holly McCay (heroine) wearing yellow. PJ is right, it’s so sunny and bright. But I can’t wear yellow (alas) because it doesn’t go with my complexion. So I had to resort to fiction! (Holly is a blonde and it works on her.)
Orange is mine right now.
That tells me it changes from time to time? 🙂 Good for you.
It certainly does. At one time, it was black and then red and now orange.
Blue
Thanks Yvonne. Blue is my husband’s favorite too.
Green
Thank you Jennifer. Green is my favorite too!
I like the color black.
Black is good. Sliming too.
Absolutely, PJ!
Purple
Thank you Yaritza, purple is a great color.
My favorite color is blue.
Thank you Rachael.
A woman after my own heart.
Blue
Thank you Leslie.
Your Welcome
As my web site says, my favorite color is “Blue. Lavender blue. Cobalt blue. Baby blue. Teal blue. Royal blue. Sky blue. Forget-me-not blue. All shades and hues of blue, really. There’s just something so peaceful, so soothing about blue.”
My favorite color is blue.
Thanks Patti.
PURPLE AND RED. THANKS FOR THE GIVEAWAY!
Great combination. You’re welcome and thank you for participating.
lavender and electric blue
Ooooo, fabulous.
Lavender blue is my absolute favorite. I even gave a heroine that favorite color, Juliana Richardson in KING’S RANSOM.
Oh, and it’s funny, but when I went to write about Queen Juliana as a secondary character in THE BODYGUARD’S BRIDE-TO-BE, my editor removed the word blue from “lavender blue,” saying lavender was purple. I had to stet it back in and provide links to web sites proving that “lavender blue” was an actual color! (It has only been my favorite for umpteen years!)
Pink is my favorite color!
Fabulous. Thank you Jeanna.
It’s funny, Jeanna, but I remember when my nephew was a little boy, his favorite color was pink, too. And his mother told him it was absolutely okay to be a boy and love the color pink. He grew up to be a wonderful man!
Royal Blue is my favorite color!
Very classy.
I once wore a royal blue costume in a play, Kris (back in my teen years), and loved it so much I ended up buying it for myself after the production was over!
any shade of purple is my favorite color! it’s perfect for all occasions!
I have to agree with you.
I love a very bright blue
Sounds beautiful.
I love all shades of blue, although I tend not to wear pastel blues because I’m a “winter” and pastels don’t go with my complexion. But Robert Frost could have written his poem “Fragmentary Blue” just for me.
Purple
Fabulous!