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| Cate Beauman, Author FINDING LYLA 10th Bodyguards of LA County Series |
Romance-suspense author Cate Beauman has just
released FINDING LYLA, the tenth book in her best-selling Bodyguards of LA
County series. As to the suspense part of her newest mystery, reviewers say "Talk about nail biting!" Beauman creates her stories from crime documentaries or
articles. For FINDING LYLA she chose the career of her heroine as a Russian
ballerina to fit into her interest in the Russian/US conflict.
When she’s not writing,
Beauman spends time with her family and two St. Bernards at their home in
North Carolina. She is currently busy working on the eleventh Bodyguard novel, Deceiving
Bella.
Q: A key contributor
to your romantic suspense Bodyguards of LA County is the profession of your
heroine. How and why did you choose dancing for your heroine in FINDING LYLA?
Cate Beauman: Almost
all of my ideas for a story come from crime documentaries or interesting
articles I find in newspapers and magazines. Usually a topic catches my
interest and something just sort of clicks. While I was searching for a new plot
idea, I found myself interested in the ongoing Russia/US conflict. I thought
the best way to tie the story together would be to make Lyla a ballerina since
ballet is such a huge piece of Russia’s culture and an art treasured by so many
countries around the world.
As I started building on my initial plot and got to know who
I wanted Lyla to be, I knew making her a ballerina was a must. She’s all things
that I believe a ballerina to be: strong, dedicated, determined, yet she’s kind
and gentle. Collin is funny and easy-going, making this couple a perfect match.
Q: Do you start to
write your story with a mystery/plot and then create your hero and heroine to
fit the plot? Or do you begin with a heroine and build the mystery around her?
Cate Beauman: It
really depends. Each story is different. Because I write a series, it’s a given
that some characters are already destined to have a story told about them and I
must make the plot work around them, but when I’m starting fresh with a new
hero/heroine, the plot typically evolves first and I make the characters fit
the situations they will face in their journey among the pages.
Q: How do you select
the settings for your story? For FINDING LYLA, did you choose locations where a
dancer would perform? Did that influence the direction of the story?
Cate Beauman: For
FINDING LYLA, the plot evolved before Lyla’s profession came about. Creating
Lyla as a dancer certainly made sense. I had to do a lot of research to make
this story come together—far more than typical. Learning about a new culture is
always daunting, but I found myself fascinated.
Q: Each of your
Bodyguard novels includes the first name of your heroine. How do you select the
“verb” that accompanies the name? Is it a difficult process, or is it obvious,
given the plot?
Cate Beauman: Creating
the titles for the Bodyguards series keeps the novels cohesive. The verb must
have something to do with the plot. Now that I’ve completed ten books and have
moved on to tell the eleventh story in the series, it’s becoming a bit trickier
to find the right word, but I’m determined to keep finding the perfect verb
until the last bodyguard of Ethan Cooke Security has had their story told.
Q: What attracted you
to write in the suspense/romance genre? Why do you choose to write in this
genre?
Cate Beauman: I
truly can’t imagine writing anything other than romantic suspense. Love and
danger are such an adventurous mix, heightening both elements in each story.
Love is more powerful when there’s something to lose. Danger is more potent
when the hero/heroine’s wellbeing is at stake. Writing can be a tedious
process. It’s much easier to sit down with my laptop everyday when I get to
create action and sexual tension among the pages of my books.
About Cate Beauman
International bestselling author Cate
Beauman is known for her full-length, action-packed romantic suspense series,
The Bodyguards of L.A. County. Her novels have been nominated for the National
Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, National Indie Excellence Award, Golden
Quill Award, Writers Touch Award, and have been named Readers Favorite Five
Star books. In 2015, JUSTICE FOR ABBY was selected as the Readers' Favorite
International Book Award Gold Medalist, while SAVING SOPHIE took the Silver
Medal. SAVING SOPHIE was also selected as the 2015 Readers Crown Award winner
for Romantic Suspense and FALLING FOR SARAH received the silver medal for the
2014 Readers' Favorite Awards.
Cate makes her home in North Carolina
with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernards, Bear and Jack. Currently
Cate is working on Deceiving Bella, the
eleventh novel in her popular Bodyguards
series.
For information on Cate's new releases,
monthly giveaways, and upcoming events, sign up for her newsletter at: http://www.catebeauman.com/author/home.html#!newsletter-sign-up/c9td
About FINDING LYLA
Principal Dancer
Lyla Markovik-Avery is always on the go. Grueling practices and endless
performances rule her busy days—and things are about to get more hectic. Russia
is rolling out the red carpet for their beloved star, despite the string of
violent terrorist attacks that have rocked the nation.
Bodyguard Collin
Michaels’ life is falling apart. His long-time relationship recently ended.
He’s trying to start over, but that’s easier said than done. Luckily, Collin
has a new assignment on the horizon: keeping a beautiful ballerina safe for the
next three weeks.
Collin finds comfort
in Lyla’s easy friendship, but that all changes after a night out on the town.
Simple feelings become complicated—something Collin can’t afford, especially
when tragedy strikes and Collin realizes Lyla’s caught in the middle of a
dangerous plot for revenge.
Collin and Lyla are
forced to flee. They need to reach the border before it’s too late, but the
odds are stacked against them in a country that wants them dead. With time
running out, Collin formulates a risky plan that might be their only chance of
making it out alive.
Excerpt
Collin settled beneath the covers on his temporary bed as
the dim glow of city lights radiated through the windows. He reached out,
grabbing the remote off the coffee table he’d pushed off to the side, and
flipped through several channels, stopping on SportsCenter. Scores and updates
ticked by on the bottom of the screen, and he moved on, not all that interested
in hockey stats.
He stopped again when the live footage from Saint
Petersburg, Russia caught his attention. With the volume on mute, he searched
for the closed caption button and sat up, reading the news report while the
station switched back and forth between the newscaster and images of the police
surrounding a trolleybus in the middle of a downtown street. The reporter spoke
of a bomb discovered during the busy morning rush hour, mere miles from the
plaza where dozens had been killed on New Year’s Eve. Luckily a citizen had
been paying attention, and the explosive device had been deactivated, stopping
another disaster.
Early reports were suggesting that the same rebel group
responsible for the December thirty-first bombing, Chechen Freedom, had
attempted to strike again. The news segment switched to snippets of the video
released weeks ago, shortly after the slaughter of innocent civilians, where
the masked men promised more violence in retaliation for The Federation killing
one of their leaders. The man pointed at the camera, vowing to continue with
his plans to destroy Russia until the regime relented and gave the Chechens
back their country.
Sighing, Collin rubbed at his jaw. Why did he feel like he
was walking into a losing situation? Everyday there was something new going on
over there. If it wasn’t bomb threats and anti-American rallies, it was
anti-Putin demonstrations outside the Kremlin walls, which often ended with
tear gas and riot gear. And he and Lyla were only hours away from their
late-afternoon flight.
The issues in Saint Petersburg weren’t necessarily one of
his concerns. The city was a good nine hours away from their destination. It
was the possibility of terrorist attacks in Moscow and Russia’s discord with the
United States in general that had him on edge. The fact that Lyla was a dual
citizen of two countries at odds had the potential to work for her…or very much
against her. Only time would tell which way things were going to go, and they
would be along for the ride while they waited to figure it out.
The Unofficial FINDING LYLA
Soundtrack
“Music plays a HUGE
part in my writing process. I typically listen to Pandora or YouTube while I
create my stories and compile a collection of songs that I feel represent my
characters or the situations they face as each novel unfolds. It’s a rare
occasion that my creativity demands silence (And that’s a good thing. I’m a
mother of two boys. Quiet doesn’t exist in my house.). I thought it would be
fun to create a list of songs that ‘spoke’ to me while I wrote the Bodyguards of L.A. County series. You can listen
to the “soundtrack” for each book on my website www.catebeauman.com “
The soundtrack, of sorts, for FINDING LYLA:
· Today by Steve Moakler
· Beautiful Things by Gungor
· Teneferie Sea by Ed Sheeran
· Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
· Anywhere but Here by Safety Suit
· Never Gonna Be Alone by Nickelback
· Nirvana by Sam Smith
· Don’t Deserve You by Plumb
· Unconditionally by Katy Perry
· You’re in Love by Taylor Swift
· Fight Song by Rachel Platton
Links
Purchase links
Author Links
Hi Joyce!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited to be back on your blog! Thank you very much for being such a good friend!
~Cate