I love having authors drop by. We have spotlights for books, we do interviews and encourage guest posts. But this is a Return to Rio first–a “Top Five” list! So, what are my top three reasons for being glad Susanne Matthews came by? She’s creative, a class act, and a talented author. Bonus gift–she brought us some “oh, wow!” excerpts. What’s not to love? Please welcome Susanne and learn the five top reasons you’re next book should be a Susanne Matthews book!
Top Five Reasons Why You Should Consider Reading My Books.
Hello and thanks so much for having me here today. When I was considering what to write for this blog post, I couldn’t decide on a number of things—the topic and the book to promote to you were just two of them!
Instead of writing about a particular topic, I decided to talk about all of my books and let you decide which one might suit you best. As an author, I see my books as my children, loving each one equally, but as a reader, I know everyone has favorite genres and subgenres.
1. So, you should consider reading my books if you like romance. All of my books are romance novels, but they don’t follow the formula romance model. You’ll meet my hero and heroine separately, get to know them and their problems before they meet one another. The stories will always have a ‘happily ever after’, but getting there will never be the same.
2. You should consider reading my books if you like suspense. Fire Angel, In Plain Sight, On His Watch, and Echoes of the Past are all novels with strong suspense components. Fire Angel is the story of a serial killer who uses arson as his weapon of choice and Alexis and Jake, the fire investigator and wounded warrior criminal profiler determined to stop him. In the novel In Plain Sight, you’ll meet Misty, a woman in witness protection, on the run from the Irish mob, and Nick, a temporarily blind concert pianist determined to keep her safe. Nikki, in On His Watch, suffers amnesia after a brutal home invasion and Jason, the FBI agent who found her fights his own guilt and attraction as he seeks to keep her safe from a monster who wants her dead and won’t give up. Echoes of the Past brings the past, present and future together as Michelle and Tony, reincarnations of their ancestors, seek to end a curse and save the Lake of the Mountain from ruthless meth dealers.
Excerpt from On His Watch:
The sound of breaking glass coming from downstairs shattered the stillness. Nikki tensed. Had the sound come from the kitchen? Had she left a window open? She’d shut the bedroom window a few moments ago because the wind had picked up and its whistling sound bothered her. Could it have knocked over the crystal vase of roses Sam had sent her this morning? Perhaps Mrs. Olsen’s tabby had jumped in the window and knocked the vase over. The cat had been a regular visitor when the previous owners had lived here, and he saw no reason to curtail his visits. She’d almost had a heart attack the last time he entered, bringing her a gift—a dead mouse—and Danny had laughed himself silly at “Mommy’s girliness.” Sam, not an animal lover, had threatened to poison the animal if it came into the house again. If the cat had broken the vase, its days were numbered.
Or what if someone was in the house? She’d noticed a lot of strangers in town, some looking more unkempt than others. There were plenty of family campers, but every now and then, she’d seen so-called gold prospectors combing the Larosa hills. Trudy, Mandy’s best friend Lily’s mother, had said they were harmless but to a girl like Nikki from San Francisco, dirty, half-starved men meant trouble. They could easily be junkies desperately needing a fix.
She took a deep breath. She didn’t hear any other suspicious sounds. As Sam would say, she was letting her imagination run wild. Most likely it was one of Larosa’s minor quakes that had caused a glass to slip off the table. Just a few miles off the San Andreas Fault, the town was constantly trembling. She barely noticed the Earth’s slight shaking anymore.
Even though she’d convinced herself nothing was amiss, Nikki tiptoed to the guest room, got down on all fours, and peeked under the bed. Mandy was asleep. The child slept like the dead once she was out. Nikki reached for the flashlight, turned it off, and used the bed to leverage her body upright again.
She picked up the cell phone she’d left on the dresser earlier, made sure it was on in case Sam called, and dropped it into the right pocket of her pajama top. Carrying the flashlight, she slipped out of the room, closing the door softly behind her.
Maybe getting a dog’s a good idea. It would keep the damn cat out of the house.
Nikki stood still in the hallway and listened. The only thing she could hear was the sound of the television in the den. Someone was buying a vowel.
She reached Danny’s room and opened the door. When she saw his bed was empty, she relaxed and shook her head in resignation. As much as it annoyed her to admit it, this time Sam was right. Her imagination did tend to look for boogeymen where there weren’t any. Clearly her eight-year-old and his bottomless pit of a stomach had decided to have another bedtime snack. No doubt he was the culprit. She left the room and placed the flashlight on the hall table where it usually sat in case of a power outage.
“What did you break this time?” she called as she headed down the stairs. “I swear, you’re like a bull in a china shop.”
The sound of the garage door opening indicated Sam’s arrival. Although the clinic was nearby, since he carried major opiate drugs back and forth, Sam always took his car to work. He’d enter the house through the garage, leaving his lab coat and shoes out there and washing his hands at the sink he’d had installed for that purpose.
“Let’s get this cleaned up before your father comes in.” She turned the corner into the kitchen and stopped cold.
The fridge door was open, the pitcher of orange juice shattered on the floor beside what was left of her crystal vase full of roses, the red petals vanishing in her son’s blood. So much blood! Danny lay there, his head at an awkward angle, his eyes open, looking into the face of death. A scream froze in her throat as arms grabbed her from behind, and the sting of the knife bit into her upper back.
Amazing body of work, Susanne! I am particularly smitten with your French Canadian duo, and I will be buying them. Best of luck with all of your works and many, many sales!
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Thanks so much for coming by, Deborah! I thought they looked particularly intriguing–although a couple of the excerpts just knocked me out!
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I was totally intrigued too, Leslie, with the wonderfully excerpts, especially One His Watch. Very chilling! Good luck, Susanne!
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Wasn’t that scary? Thanks for coming by, teab123! (aka…lol!)
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