A warm welcome to authors Liv Rancourt & Irene Preston joining us today to talk about new release “Harrowed”.
Check out the guestpost, the excerpt and have a chance to participate in the giveaway!
When I was a kid and my sisters and I would bicker, my mother would sing, “whatever you can do I can do better. I can do anything better than you.”
I have three sisters. My mom sang that song a lot.
A week or so ago, I decided that Irene and I needed a different version of that song. We were down to the wire editing HARROWED, our most recent release, and I started singing, “whatever you can do I can do the exact opposite way and yes I will take a stand and die on that hill if I must.”
Sigh. Made for some interesting messenger chats, if nothing else.
This is our fifth book together, so we’ve had many chances to observe how we each work. Irene takes time to ponder the implications of each word. I throw things at the page, figuring I can fiddle with the nuances later.
She starts working out the character’s backstory before she writes. I need a picture to give me cues to work with.
(Without a picture, I give every character dark curly hair. Don’t ask me why. LOL)
If you read one of our books and something blows up, I did it. If you get to the end and you understand why it exploded, it was Irene who insisted the event make sense. She makes me work for it!!
The thing is – and puhleeze don’t tell her I said this – but she’s often (usually? almost always?) right, and our books are better for her input. As proud as I am of my solo projects, our shared work pushes me further. Take HARROWED, for instance. HARROWED has…
- a prickly psychic who used to be a cop
- a ghost-hunting historian who doesn’t know what to believe
- a seasonally-appropriate haunting
- and Natchitoches meat pies!
It took us a while to get this one published, a very long 2 ½ years. Life has a way of making you prove your commitment sometimes, but we stuck with it, and I couldn’t be happier to have HARROWED in readers’ hands.
Check out the blurb and an excerpt, and make sure you enter our Rafflecopter for a $25 gift card! Thanks so much for reading along!!
#paranormalromance #pnr #KU #gayromance #spooky
Harrowed
Haunts & Hoaxes Book 2
By Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt
Release Date: October 15, 2020
Buy Link: Amazon Harrowed is $3.99 or FREE in KU!
Harrowed Blurb
There’s nothing scarier than the truth…
Noel’s got issues. Like, he doesn’t know what to call his lover. Are they boyfriends? A fling that got out of control? Something more? Even worse, he may sometimes get waylaid by a random ghost or two.
Or else he’s losing his mind.
Now Adam? He’s stable and solid and warm; the kind of guy Noel never knew he wanted. He’s also the historian on Haunts and Hoaxes, which gives him a professional interest in Noel’s “special talent”.
When the ghosthunting crew turns up something weirder than normal at a Louisiana plantation, Adam convinces Noel to check it out. Instead of finding a haunt, they uncover a mystery. Noel used to be a cop and he grabs the chance to investigate something real. DNA is evidence. No matter what Adam says, the ghosts don’t prove anything.
But the past is done hiding and the spirits are going to have their say. Noel better figure out how to listen, because Adam’s job, their relationship, and even his sanity are at risk.
The giveaway will open be thru 10/31/20.
Prize is a $25 Gift Card to Amazon or Barnes and Noble.
Join Liv & Irene in their private reader group, After Hours!
About Irene Preston
Irene Preston has to write romances, after all she is living one. As a starving college student, she met her dream man who whisked her away on a romantic honeymoon across Europe. Today they live in the beautiful hill country outside of Austin, Texas where Dream Man is still working hard to make sure she never has to take off her rose-colored glasses.
Where to find Irene
Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours
About Liv Rancourt
Liv is a huge fan of paranormal romance and urban fantasy and loves history just as much, so her stories often feature vampires or magic or they’re set in the past…or all of the above. When Liv isn’t writing she takes care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether she’s at work or at home. Her husband is a soul of patience, her kids are her pride and joy, and her dogs – Trash Panda and The Boy Genius – are endlessly entertaining.
Where to find Liv
Facebook | Twitter | Mailing List | Goodreads | After Hours
Excerpt A from Harrowed by Irene Preston & Liv Rancourt:
(In which Noel uses the B-word and the world doesn’t end.)
Noel fiddled with his cocktail napkin, parsing possible responses. Quiet sympathy? Meh. Jealousy? Mental shrug.
Outrage? An overwhelming urge to fight Adam’s battles? That’s the one. “What the actual fuck? What’s the hysterical society up to now?”
“Hysterical society.” Adam smirked. “That’s what Jay calls them.”
Noel’s jaw tightened further. The ex-girlfriend might not be an issue, but the hot historian could still make Noel want to knock their heads together. Like, he trusted Adam. He did, and he knew this reaction came straight out of high school, but still. Before he could dive too far down that wormhole, Adam spoke up.
“Apparently, the idea that I might be involved in the debunking of their local legend is not sitting well with them.”
“You’d think they’d want the truth.”
“Sure. As long as it involves Marie and Valsin riding off into the sunset, we’re golden.” His shoulders slumped. “That was a great group. They invited me to speak at one of their meetings while I was up there filming. Their president is the sweetest little old lady. I can’t believe they’re upset by this.”
“Are they going to sue Angela Davenport for having a different version of her family’s history?”
Adam’s shrug spoke more of exhaustion than anything else. Noel had never seen him so discouraged. “Jesus, I’m sorry. You’ve probably worked seventy hours in the last five days. Let’s finish up here and go to bed.”
Adam stirred the mess of rice and oysters on his plate. “Maybe I should go back to my apartment. I’m not very good company right now.”
Noel swallowed his initial protest. They didn’t live together, and Adam had a right to ask for privacy. Except… “What’s really going on?”
Adam blinked, his chin tucked against his chest.
“I mean…” Noel scrambled for a way out of this particular hornet’s nest. “We’re here because you wanted to talk, and whatever bee’s flown up Annemarie’s bonnet will keep till later.”
The restaurant’s tables were close together, and they both jumped when a neighbor’s attempt to stand banged right into Adam’s chair. Noel took the moment of distraction to flag the waitress and order another round of drinks.
“I don’t want—”
Noel raised his hand. “Quiet. It’s medicinal.”
Adam propped both elbows on the table, his head in his hands.
“I’m going to get you drunk and take advantage of you.”
Peering from between his fingers, Adam grinned, or at least his lips twitched in the general direction of a smile.
“I get the feeling this is bigger than a hundred-year-old mystery, and if you want to talk about it, I’m here.” Whoo boy. Look at me, being all grown-up and sympathetic and stuff.
Adam’s smile grew more sincere. “Don’t I look pitiful? I mean, it’s not that big a deal. I’m just not sure I’m in the right place.”
Right place? Right here, right now? With an effort, Noel bit back his initial response. Not everything is about you, Chandler. “Oh yeah?”
“Take this last week, for instance. I was on point with stuff for the camera, but every time I turned around, somebody from publicity wanted to know why I wasn’t Twittering, I mean tweeting. I’m supposed to be feeding the fan base on social media, when all I want to do is, I don’t know, dig through old records and reconstruct the past.”
Relief made Noel even more sympathetic. Not that he’d really expected Adam would break up with him without any warning, but that whole “don’t know if I’m in the right place” thing had sounded threatening.
The waitress brought their next round. Noel killed his old gin and tonic, handed her the glass, and took a deep swallow of the new one. The alcohol amplified his sense of relief, and he exhaled, letting go of the tension.
Adam’s phone buzzed, and this time, he answered it right away. “Hmph.” He blinked at Noel, his expression confused. “Jay wants to know how much progress you’ve made. He thinks we’re going to need to present our findings to the Historical Society before things get any further out of whack.” He blinked again. “Jay knew you were working on the DNA angle?”
“Well, yeah.” Damn it. He’d only just talked Adam off the ledge. “He’s the one who arranged for Angela to give a sample, so he let me know when the results were in.”
“Oh.” Adam rubbed his mouth with an open palm. “The way he said it, I thought… I, uh…sorry. I’m in a lousy mood today.”
“It’s okay.” Noel rested his hand on Adam’s, twining their fingers together. “Drink that”—he nodded at Adam’s beer—“and let’s get out of here.”
He reinforced his desire to leave by catching Adam’s calf with his foot and giving it a rub.
“At any rate”—Adam glanced at his phone again—“looks like I’ve got about two weeks to come up with something. Annemarie and Jay seem to think if I speak at the Historical Society again, I’ll be able to smooth things over.
“Not you, babe. We.”
Adam raked his fingers through his hair. “Are you sure you want to go back there with me?”
“Hell, no.” Noel squeezed Adam’s fingers. “But I will.” He didn’t know what to name the feeling, that warm, swelling sensation that reached from under his sternum to the pit of his belly.
Either he was going to have a heart attack, or he was falling…
Nah.
He didn’t have a heart attack. In fact, after he and Adam finished their lunch, they headed back to Noel’s duplex, where he was able to welcome his boyfriend home properly.
Boyfriend. Might be time to own that word.