1. I hear you have pets and other animals in your novels. Tell us about the books.
The books I’m featuring here today are Will o’ the Wisp and The Haunting of Laurel Cove. Will o’ the Wisp is contemporary romance with suspense; The Haunting of Laurel Cove is a mystery romance with a bit of the supernatural. Both are published by The Wild Rose Press, and both have animals in the stories.
In Will o’ the Wisp, Allison Delaney runs a boarding stable and gives riding lessons to kids on the farm she inherited from her grandparents. She also rescues horses, which leads to a run in with some less-than-stellar locals. When Shane McBride re-enters her life, Allison isn’t sure which to fear most, the loss of her farm or losing her heart to the man she thought never to see again. And what will he do when he learns her secret? Besides the many horses in the book, Allison’s dog and a few orphan kittens play a big part.
Will o’ the Wisp blurb:
In spite of a broken heart, Allison Delaney carved out a life for herself and her young daughter on her grandparents’ farm. Her child and the horses she rescues are all that matter. Then a sudden threat to their safety puts her back in touch with Shane McBride, the man she never thought to see again.
Returning to the small town of Silver Creek brings back a lot of memories for Shane, ones he treasures haunted by the ones that made him leave, but this time he is determined to stay and make things right.
Trusting Shane may be her only choice, but now Allison fears not only the threat against her farm but the risk of losing her heart again.
Will o’ the Wisp buy link: books2read.com/u/mYQN0w
In The Haunting of Laurel Cove, Jane and her faithful, ragtag companion Pepper come back to Laurel Cove to recover from a vicious attack. She becomes obsessed with an old cabin in the Cove, but Pepper will not let her near it. Jane welcomes her dog’s presence while she discovers answers to the secrets and mysteries of Laurel Cove, while guarding her heart against falling back in love with an old flame, Brendan McGarren.
The Haunting of Laurel Cove blurb:
Shattered dreams, family secrets, rekindled love. Which is the biggest threat to life and sanity to a broken woman trying to heal?
When Jane Stuart returns to the Smoky Mountains and the house she inherited from her grandmother with the hope to heal from a brutal mugging, she finds herself obsessed with a local legend involving a witch and a mysterious cabin.
Upon reconnecting with an old boyfriend now turned handsome environmentalist, she finds herself rekindling her attraction to Brendan McGarren and is drawn into his battle to keep Laurel Cove from becoming a rich man’s playground. As she begins to uncover family secrets pertaining to the witch and the cabin, Jane questions her own sanity. Then the threats begin. Can she trust Brendan?
Will the search for the truth cost Jane her life?
The Haunting of Laurel Cove buy link: books2read.com/u/baBvBx
2. Why did you add animals to these books?
I love animals! I’ve never in my entire life been without at least one or more—often several—pets. My kids are also animal-lovers, and when they were young, we had everything from dogs and cats to hermit crabs, hamsters, a lizard, birds, tropical fish, and a horse.
I currently have one dog (Ace) and one cat (Sandwich), and there are three granddogs in the family. When we get together, it’s a fun, often noisy time. I can’t imagine writing stories without animals involved. They are just part of my everyday life.
3. You also write The Pet Corner. Tell us about it.
Twenty-two years ago, I began writing a monthly column for a local shopper’s guide, Mailmax. My column is called the Pet Corner, and I advocate for pet adoption, pet rescue, and responsible pet ownership. I feature any fundraisers or other activities that may be happening at local rescues and shelters. The link to Pet Corner in Mailmax online is https://mailmax.pageflip.site/editions/MM57473#page/20. The column also appears in print, and I sometimes feature the column in my blog The Zeke Chronicles: http://thezekechronicles.wordpress.com.
4. Tell us about your kudos or reviews.
I’m pleased to say that both of my books have received favorable reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and Netgalley.
5. How do you promote your books?
I have promoted my books through guest blogs, like this one, and in group promotions such as those through BookFunnel and N.N. Light’s Book Heaven. I’ve also participated in a few Facebook promotions/parties. I do try to join any library events for local authors for in-person signings.
6. Where can readers learn more about your books and connect with you online?
You can find out more about me and my books here:
My website: http://lucynaylorkubash.com
My Amazon Author page: www.amazon.com/author/lucynaylorkubash
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LucyNaylorKubash
Instagram: https://instagram.com/lucykubash_author
DON’T MISS LUCY KUBASH’S EBOOK GIVEAWAY!
Lucy is offering an ebook copy of Will o’ the Wisp to one lucky reader who comments on her interview!
MARCIA: Thank you, Lucy, for being my April interviewee and for offering your ebook to one lucky commenter! I really enjoy romances that feature pets and animals and look forward to reading yours!
MONTHLY BLOG EBOOK CONTEST! Would you like to win a Marcia James’ ebook? Visitors to this pro-pet blog can join in the fun, comment, and/or share photos of their pets for a chance to win one of my ebooks!
Each month, I’ll randomly pick one commenter to win. To leave a comment and/or a photo, click on the word “Reply,” which is just below the social media icons for THIS interview. (Don’t scroll past this interview to the next interview.) Go Pets!
No Luck At All is a western romance set in the mid-1800s. The story centers around Creel Weston and his new wife, Racine. Creel is a Colorado rancher who went to Boston to obtain a medical degree. They met at dinner party hosted by Racine’s father, who was also Creel’s mentor, and Creel was instantly smitten with her, so much that he decided he wasn’t leaving Boston without her. But unbeknownst to him, Racine suffered deep emotional scars, so much that her father intervened and blackmailed Creel into marrying her, before Creel had a chance to propose. The wedding takes place, and they leave Boston for Creel’s home in Colorado. During an overnight stay in Denver, things come to a head and both realize they have made mistakes and unfairly judged the other…until someone from Creel’s past causes Racine’s doubt to return.
Royce Weston knows firsthand women are exceptional liars, especially the one who has wormed her way into his family’s good graces by claiming amnesia. Since Paige didn’t heed his advice at the poker tables, he reasons a bit of friendly persuasion is needed to send her packing. But when she matches him trick for trick and has his ranch hands jumping to please her, Royce is thoroughly disgusted. A simpering miss she is not. Sassy and daring, if only she’d give him a reason to trust her…
Lucas Weston is living proof of the damage a woman can cause. Determined to keep another miss from running roughshod over his heart, Lucas has garnered the reputation of a man who favors flirting and wild times between the sheets. When he’s roped into escorting Missy back to her home in San Francisco, he isn’t too pleased, until he discovers she uses her poker-playing, whiskey-swilling ways to hide her own fears. What they might be, he doesn’t know, but he’s going to find out. Drawn to her from the start, Missy represents the opportunity for the life fate cheated him seven years ago.
Grief and guilt are as much a part of Jess Jansen as riding herd. Twenty-two years he’s longed for the woman who ran out on him, and now his luck is about to change. Needing a place to hole up during a thunderstorm, the Lazy K looks to be a safe haven. There’s a barn―and a body with soft curves and sapphire eyes he’d know anywhere.
1. I hear you have animals in most of your novels. Tell us about your favorite book featuring animals.
In my contemporary romance, All About Charming Alice, my heroine rescues stray dogs—she has a whole house full of them. One stray, nicknamed Killer, brings the gorgeous and sexy writer Jace Constant into Alice’s life. But Alice doesn’t just like dogs. She also studies and protects snakes and actively protests against such cruel practices as snake shows where those creatures are tortured to death for the amusement of tourists. Jace, however, is terrified by snakes, and it does take a bit of coaxing to get him to change his mind.
Another book in the series is Desert Rose. Rose, the heroine, is Alice’s closest friend, and she very unwillingly adopts Noodle, one of Alice’s strays.
My award-winning debut novel, Always a Princess, was the start of the Clifton Hall series. In the novel, the hero has a little sister he hasn’t seen since he left to fight in France. On his return, he gifts her a spaniel puppy–a naughty one. As her pup does not seem to care for Englishmen, she names it Bony “after the French usurper.” Bony was inspired by my bichon fries Cookie, but as his breed (which is Belgian) wasn’t known in England at the time the book is set (1812), I turned him into spaniel puppy. Much of the novel takes place at Clifton Hall in Lancashire and at least one Lancashire estate was known as a place for breeding Springer spaniels in the Regency era.
The Regency era Romany were persecuted as an underclass, so the warning bell of a dog’s bark meant a lot. Valkin is the Romany hero in this book, and he attempts to subdue his powerful attraction to the heroine, so he spends most of the book frustrated and fantasising–while Chore, the largest canine in the camp, is rutting about all over the place producing pups at a prodigious rate. Chore is the Romany word for ‘thief’ and is a bit of a dig at the many false accusations of theft the Romany are forced to face, both in the past and even today.
Hall. This novella is a race to wed for Chal (Valkin’s youngest brother) and his betrothed. Chore’s main activity in this shorter story is swallowing mince pies at the Christmas feast, destroying the remains of three roast geese, and herding children away from the burning yule log fire as the very English Cliftons and their Romany friends and family feast outdoors. The novella appears in a holiday duet alongside Heather Hallman’s Edwardian Seduction of Tokyo novella, which is excellent as well–although, unfortunately, there are no dogs in this one.
A Delicate Investigation novella in Summer Secrets of the Soho Club:
The Christmas Salon
Love Unbroken appears in Love for Maui (a charity anthology)
The opening book in the series (soon to be seven) was written and published many years ago. Murder and Mint Tea has earned many reviews mostly good but some not. When I wrote Murder and Mint Tea, I had no thoughts of writing a series. The heroine is quirky and mothers her neighborhood. The cat, Robespierre, is based on a real cat, my companion for many years.
As to the genres, I write contemporary romance, romantic suspense, fantasy–both romance and young adult, a bit of historical and some nonfiction.
Seppal blurb:
Brenda and Rusty
The Deep Well of Love and Murder is the fourth book in my Wild Horse Peaks novels. Laura is running from a criminal ex-husband. She meets the foreman of the ranch where she’s serving as a nanny. Randy is still nursing a broken heart after many years, but also fighting to hold on to his own small ranch. Perro is Randy’s deaf and mute dog friend. There are villains aplenty in this romantic suspense.
Trick or Meet Blurb: In Holidaze, New York, nearly every day’s a holiday–but Halloween is the best time of year for practical, straight-laced Hannah. Her work as a ghostwriter picks up, her candy addiction becomes socially acceptable, and the line between the living and the dead is so thin, she can feel the spirit of Justin, her late husband, in a way she can’t the rest of the year.
Since childhood I’ve always had cats, and they’re such a comforting, steady link to different phases of one’s life. When I was finishing kindergarten, we adopted a tiny kitten that my sister named Marbley (she was all black like Ghost and looked like a little marble)–and she lived until a few months after I graduated from college! Marbley was with me through all the highs and lows of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and was such an affectionate and loyal friend to the end.
Kiss Kringle, my second book in the series, is a Christmas romance, and I’m now working on a Thanksgiving romance. Every book features a pet or animal of some sort. Kiss Kringle has a very sleepy dog named Blitzen, and my Thanksgiving romance will feature a couple of pet turkeys.
Rescued is the true story of Dancer, the dog who began my “career” in rescue. It’s a saga of recovery, not only for the dog, but for me! Trying to recover from loss, I decided one day to go to my local shelter and adopt a dog…you know, some cute cuddly little thing…not a pit bull. We all know how that goes.
2. Tell us about your dog rescues.
4. Tell us about your kudos or reviews.
I have also started another series, “Holidays in White Oaks Valley.” There is only one book at this time, A Grand Slam Kind of Christmas.
Dog of Thieves features stolen treasures, a cane-whacking elderly woman and a couple of dead bodies.
My first published mystery was Mahu, the first of my Mahu Investigations, about a Honolulu homicide detective who is dragged out of the closet while investigating a dangerous case. In thirteen books so far, his detective work has illuminated his gradual coming out, to the point where now he is a loving partner and dad to twins. Since then I’ve written over fifty other books in mystery, adventure and romance.