Today on Kiss and Thrill, I am so excited to introduce P. A. DePaul, an amazing romantic suspense author who Julie Ann Walker calls “A bold new voice in romantic suspense”. P. A.’s first book, Exchange of Fire, has one of the best RS covers I’ve ever seen. So I was thrilled to see her recent release, Shadow of Doubt, the second in her SBG military romantic suspense series, has an even better one. And those fabulous covers contain action-packed love stories that remind me of the classic Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter series and Roxanne St. Clair’s Bullet Catchers series.
So let’s get started with a short blurb about Shadow of Doubt:
When her secretly filmed tryst shows up on the internet, Michelle Alger goes on the run. She has no choice. Not only was her one-night stand the son of a US senator, but he’s been murdered—and she’s the number one suspect. With both the senator and an avenging drug lord on her trail, her life is in danger. There’s only man she can trust. He saved her once, but will he still be her hero six years later?
Captain Jeremy Malone and the rest of Delta Squad have the senator’s order: find the mystery woman who killed my son. But to Jeremy, she’s no mystery. Six years ago his team of Green Berets rescued her from the torturous clutches of a Colombian cartel, and he’s never forgotten her. His personal and covert mission: find Michelle before anyone else. When he and Michelle do meet again, the sparks are explosive and consuming. They’re also dangerous as hell.
Because with each new bit of evidence, Jeremy suspects that Michelle’s innocence may be a ruse—a beautiful trap set by a woman who has even more secrets yet to bare.
SW: Welcome, P. A., to Kiss and Thrill!
PD: Hello Kiss and Thrill! I’m so excited to be here today. Thank you for having me!
One of the questions I’m asked a lot is about who inspired me to start writing. I usually blink stupidly at the poor individual while my mind is rapidly imagining every book I’ve ever read. Then panic sets in because I’m such a bookoholic, I know I’m forgetting as many as I’m remembering. Sidebar: I’ve always loved to read since the moment I could sound out the words on the page. Family trips to the library were my favorite and I always took the maximum amount of books out. So from that perspective the simple answer is: Everyone I’ve ever read inspired me. Some authors completely captivated me, sweeping me away into the worlds they created, while others made me slam the book down and think why would the author have the character do X instead of Y.
The real question I think for me to answer is: Which author jolted me so hard, my mind became consumed with “I can do this”? That answer is: J.R. Ward. She wrote a compendium to her Black Dagger Brotherhood series and within those pages was a chapter encouraging anyone with the desire, thought, wish, whatever to just go for it, even if the person never sends it anywhere. I read that chapter before bed and woke up the next morning with an idea for a book. And so began my writing career.
My first completed novel never actually saw the light of day sadly. That story still carries a very special place in my heart and I’m hoping someday the world will want to read about a twenty-one year old boy who dies in a robbery gone wrong and finds out there is an entire world he’s never known existed, and a war raging between heaven and hell…and he’s one of the keys to victory.
I will admit it took me four years (and many manuscript versions, re-writes, and new drafts…not to mention tears, frustrations, and wondering why I thought I could do this) before I sold my first book to a small press publisher. Guardian Redeemed is a paranormal romance about angels, demons, and the humans caught in between. Perversely, in the hurry-and-wait world of publishing, it only took six months before I sold my Romantic Suspense SBG series to Penguin in their Berkeley InterMix line. In this series, SweetBriar Group—or SBG as the operatives like to call it—is a corporation the rest of the world believes is an environmental company, but is really a front for a privately funded clandestine agency. Delta Squad is one of SBG’s Black Ops teams. It’s made up of men and women who have their ups and downs, good days and bad days like the rest of us. They laugh, fight, cry, and squabble but in the end, they are a fully functioning, extremely cohesive group who are closer than family. They’ve learned to rely on each other to the point they’re considered the best of the best.
Now I want to take a moment and pay forward the advice that meant so much to me. If you ever had an inkling, an idea, a crazy thought that maybe, just maybe, you have a story to tell…do it. You never know what you can accomplish until you try. There are so many excellent online courses through powerhouses such as Writer’s Digest and/or writing associations such as Romance Writers of America (RWA), you can learn everything you need to know to start. As J.R. Ward said (and I’m paraphrasing) even if you never present your book to a publisher, at least you have a novel you’d like to read.
SW: And in case you’re still not convinced to give this series a try, here are a few quotes that might change your mind.
Praise for Shadow of Doubt
“Nonstop action and heart-melting romance on every page! P.A. DePaul is a bold new voice in romantic suspense.”— Julie Ann Walker, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
Praise for Exchange of Fire
“If you enjoy military action, suspense, steamy romance, and a little danger, this is the series for you.” —Library Journal
“A pulse-pounding thrill ride from start to finish that will leave you clamoring for more.”—Elle Kennedy, author of the Killer Instincts series
“A dynamic tale…fast-paced and riveting, with surprises at every turn of the plot.”—Fresh Fiction
“This book was everything I love about romantic suspense.”—Smitten with Reading
SW: Thank you, P. A., for spending the day with us and we wish you tons of success with your SBG series!
P.A. DePaul is a multi-genre romance author including paranormal fantasy and romantic suspense. She originally hails from Carroll County and Baltimore County, Maryland, but also lived in Macon and Warner Robins, Georgia. She currently resides in a beautiful community just outside Philadelphia. Shadow of Doubt, is the second novel in the SBG series. You can find the first: Exchange of Fire, at all major E-Retailers. You can also learn more about her at www.padepaul.com, www.facebook.com/padepaul, https://twitter.com/PADePaul, http://www.pinterest.com/padepaul, http://www.goodreads.com/PADePaul, and https://www.tsu.co/PADePaul.
