Meet Brenda Whiteside and #giveaway

Author Brenda Whiteside joins us today. She's a fellow The Wild Rose Press author and The Roses of Prose blogger. Without further ado, let's meet Brenda.

Welcome, Brenda. Please tell us about yourself.

First let me thank you, Diane, for allowing me the chance to reveal some things about myself and to tell everyone about my latest release. I hope all of your readers will take the time to get their name entered into my rafflecopter giveaway for a $25 Amazon gift card.

I married young at the age of eighteen and hadn’t traveled much outside of Arizona. Marrying a soldier changed that. Even after we got out of the service we kept moving around. After many years of a near gypsy lifestyle, my husband and I have finally landed on the northern prairies of Arizona. We've transitioned from city people to country folk. We share our rambling farmhouse with our son the farmer, his wife, my granddaughter and three dogs. Together, we’ve embraced an age-old lifestyle that has been mostly lost in the United States - multiple generations living under one roof, who share the workload, follow their individual dreams and reap the benefits of combined talents.

For many years, I wanted to be an artist and majored in commercial art. I took a break due to one of our moves, and I sort of stumbled into writing when I took a creative writing class at a community college. I was hooked.

Although I didn’t start out to write romance, I’ve found all good stories have to involve complicated human relationships. I’ve also learned, no matter a person’s age, a new discovery is right around every corner. Whether humorous or serious, straight contemporary or suspense, all my books revolve around those two facts.

Where can readers find you?

Visit me on my website at www.brendawhiteside.com.

Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/brendawhitesid2

I blog on the 9^th and 24^th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com

I blog about prairie life and writing at http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

What does your family think of your writing?

My family is small and although they are all very supportive, they each handle it in a different way. My mom has read everything I’ve written and will bend the ear of anyone near her to brag on me. My husband also reads everything I’ve written, but he didn’t get fully on board until my latest release which is book one in my Love and Murder Series. More up his alley than straight romance. My sister is a sporadic reader, but she gets around to them eventually and says she loves them all. My brother and my son have similar viewpoints. My son has never read anything I’ve written because “I don’t want to know my mom has those thoughts.” Makes me laugh.

How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?

I’ve written eight books (one is an anthology which contains three of my stories). My favorite so far is the one on my editor’s desk. It is book two in the Love and Murder Series entitled Southwest of Love and Murder. My heroine and hero are so different – the cowboy and the bohemian, and my villain is quirky. It was pure fun, and I can’t wait for the release date.

Are your stories driven by plot or character?

Definitely character. People fascinate me – what makes them tick, look like they do, say what they say. Making up characters comes easy, and they sort of dictate the story to me.

If I was a first time reader of your books, which one would you recommend I start with and why?

My latest release, which is book one in my Love and Murder Series. This is a romantic suspense with more depth and story than I’ve ever written. This whole series should be attractive that way. I’m getting great reader reviews for The Art of Love and Murder. My hero is a serious hunk, my heroine is in danger – keeps you reading.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading your work?

The feeling they’ve been entertained and escaped their day-to-day life for a few hours of fun.

Tell us about your latest book.

The Art of Love and Murder lives up to its title. Lacy Dahl, prompted by her daughter, sets out to research some art left by her birth parents who died in an airplane crash when she was an infant. She goes to Flagstaff, Arizona armed with the sketches and visits a step-aunt, an art gallery and a museum. Those visits lead to a collector of the artist’s work and an old friend of her birth mother.  Everyone appears to be holding back some truth. And from her first night in town when she is followed down a dark alley, danger lurks, but she doesn’t know why. When a Paul Bunyan of a man who happens to be Sheriff Chance Meadowlark, comes to her aid, the mystery gets even murkier. His ties to a murder and the art may or may not hinder their relationship. Lacy finds herself discovering secrets and lies that threaten her life.

The Art of Love and Murder is a romantic suspense. I think there is enough of both to satisfy both romance and suspense readers.

Here's the blurb:

Lacy Dahl never questioned her past until the deaths of her adoptive parents and her husband.  A husband who wasn't what he seemed.  Her research uncovers secrets about the mother she never knew; secrets that dispute the identity of her father and threaten her life.

Sheriff Chance Meadowlark is still haunted by the murder of his wife and the revenge he unleashed in the name of justice.  When he meets Lacy he is determined not to become involved, but their pasts may make that impossible.  As they move closer to the truth, saving Lacy may be his only salvation.

Lacy begins to think the present is more important than her past...until Chance's connection to her mother and a murder spin her deeper into danger and further from love.  Will the truth destroy Lacy and Chance or will it be the answer that frees them?

Excerpt:

Momentarily struck dumb by his eye color, she stared back. Why hadn’t she noticed until now? Although not as light as hers or her father’s, the professor’s eyes were a startling green shade.

His hand nudged her arm. “Lacy?”

She jumped. “Oh, yes.” She slipped the tissue from the half-carved wolf. Another glance at his eyes and goose bumps riddled her arms.

He lifted the wood close to his face, using both hands as if handling a delicate hummingbird. His thumb traced the neck of the creature to the juncture of where it emerged from the wood. When he brought the piece to his nose, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Lacy wanted to turn away from the oddly erotic gesture.

He swallowed, opened his eyes and set the wolf back on the tissue. His attention shifted to the photograph of the chest. He touched the photo, a smile on his lips. “Where is the chest?”

The chest. Like he knew it, had seen it before. “I’m having it sent. You’ve seen it before?”

He didn’t move, stared out the window as if deep in thought. “I’d like to show you something, Lacy.”

“All right.” She waited, watching his profile.

He turned and stared into her face a moment. “You’re so very lovely. A creation full of life and passion, surpassing any art form.”

His hypnotic voice floated on the classical strains drifting from the living room. She couldn’t speak. Didn’t know what to say. She’d been lifted upon a pedestal of admiration. With any other man, she might consider his words a means to a sexual end. The professor’s intentions, however, were crystal. He admired her like a work of art.

The Art of Love and Murder is available at:

TWRP

http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=726&zenid=d06039eba05c5b010fb8a707eecd4259

 

Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Love-Murder-Brenda-Whiteside-ebook/dp/B00K0N0Y6M/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399254400&sr=1-1&keywords=the+art+of+love+and+murder  

 

Now for a special treat, Brenda has a giveaway for a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks, Brenda, for visiting today. Wishing you much success with The Art of Love and Murder.