1. Lily Pearl Evans is our romantic heroine—and is also a whorehouse madam in modern-day New Mexico, just north of the border. How does she pull this off? You’ll have to read it to find out. 😊
2. Both Lily Pearl and Gene Nicholas were characters that my husband and I played in a long-running online role-playing game set in space. The setting has been changed, but the emotions were quite real.
3. New Mexico is the one place in my life that, if I could have had infinite powers for one moment, I would have changed my life on the spot to recreate my life there back in 1999. The deserts around Albuquerque and Santa Fe are a magical experience.
4. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas movie, for all its over-the-top bravado and dance numbers, has some truly sweet moments, and may have contributed some inspiration to SECRETS IN THE SAND. Also, Charles Durning. 😊 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AALREbJZEZk
5. At least eight deadly creatures live in New Mexico, including the most poisonous scorpion in North America. The only deadly creatures who appear in the book are humans, who are, after all, some of the worst ever. https://animalvivid.com/dangerous-animals-in-new-mexico/
Blurb
After a run of bad relationships, Lily Pearl Evans has finally become an independent woman. In the New Mexico desert town of Chaparral, she works for herself, sets her own rules, and is determined no man will hold her back again. Gene Nicholas worked for more than a decade to achieve his dream to be a doctor. Wanting to share his gifts with those less fortunate, he leaves south Florida to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders in Mexico. When Gene provokes a showdown with the local Mexican drug cartel, he becomes a man with a price on his head. On the run, he ends up on Lily's doorstep--a mystery man forced to conceal his past to protect them both. With the cartel's dangerous web drawing tight around them, can Lily and Gene survive a drug lord's revenge?
Book Trailer:
Excerpt
Gene stood up, becoming aware that most of the women weren’t dressed in what he expected as usual afternoon casual wear in suburbia. No culottes or capris here. Their hair curled loose around bare shoulders. Two wore cocktail dresses, the rest some sort of silky lingerie. They seemed perfectly comfortable as his gaze crawled over their exposed bodies. Most wore no makeup, but he believed they were all beautiful. In diagnostic mode, his brain clicked forward along whatever logical track he could get his hook into.
“Is this a…?” The woman smiled.
“Bordello? You could say that.” She walked across the room toward him, the lower front of her skirt flowing open, revealing legs that couldn’t possibly be on the upward side of thirty, although his trained eye recognized subtle evidence of her age. She held out a peach-nailed hand. “I’m Lily Pearl Evans. Welcome to the Sassafras Social Club.”
He automatically took the hand extended to him, felt the softness of her skin against his. Up close like this, he could see she had obviously cultivated an early beauty into striking middle-age allure. Without releasing her gaze, Gene smiled. “I’m sorry to impose.”
“So, Mr. Richards, I’m curious what brought you to us.” Her fingers took hold of his hand, turning it over so she could examine it. He tried to pull away, but she held tight, her grip stronger than he’d expected. “What are you looking for?” he asked, suddenly very aware of his lack of footwear and his vulnerable position.
What if the bordello had ties to Agustin’s cartel? Several of the girls had olive skin, dark hair and eyes. Thinking he was safe, he could have landed in the snake pit.
Your fate line is very strong,” Lily said, tracing the midline of his palm.
“Is it now?” He looked down at his hand, in his mind’s eye seeing it covered in the blood of the women at his Doctors without Borders clinic, the women and girls assaulted by Agustin and his men. Rejecting the image, Gene let his mind go numb. His eyes closed and shut out the world.
The warmth of her hand didn’t leave his. “I’ve got an itch under my skin that tells me there’s more to you than meets the eye, Mr. Richards.”
All he could do was shrug. So much confusion whirled in his mind. He didn’t know if he could trust Lily Pearl. He could hardly trust himself. A week before, he wouldn’t have believed he was capable of killing a man in cold blood.
Author 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 three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.
Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter and editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, loving her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and eight crotchety cats.
Author Links
Website
Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
Book trailer:
Bookbub:
Twitter:
@AlexanderLyndi
Instagram:
Comentários