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| Cate Beauman, Author WAITING FOR WREN |
To help develop her characters, Beauman assigns music to them. She shares the tunes she uses in "The Unofficial WAITING FOR WREN Soundtrack" following her interview.
Prior to becoming an author, Beauman worked for 12 years in special education. Today
she lives with her husband, two boys, and their St. Bernard, Bear, in Tennessee.
Don’t
miss the excerpt at the end of the list of music.
Q: Can you explain
the theme of The Bodyguards of L.A. County in your series of books? How did you
conceive of this concept?
Cate Beauman: The
Bodyguards of L.A. County is fairly unique in that it is technically a series
but each novel can be read as a standalone. Each story chronicles a different
Close Protection Agent from Ethan Cooke Security. I’m happy to say that
characters from previous novels continue to share their lives with readers as
each book unfolds, but you don’t have to read book one to understand what is
going on in book four. Each novel is concluded with a satisfying ending so fans
can get ready to fall in love with the next hero and heroine.
The Bodyguards of L.A. County just sort of happened.
Morgan’s Hunter (Book One) was supposed to share the harrowing backcountry
adventures of sassy D.C. socialite Morgan Taylor and her no-nonsense bodyguard
Hunter Phillips, but then I introduced Ethan Cooke and Sarah Johnson to the
pages and new they needed their own book. Again, Ethan and Sarah were supposed
to wrap up the twosome titles, then Austin Casey and Hailey Roberts wanted
their turn. Ideas just kept coming. Forever Alexa (Book Four) was next, and we’ve just launched Waiting For
Wren (Book Five). I’m feverishly working on Justice For Abby (Book Six) now. I
have ideas for at least three more novels after that! I imagine I’ll come up
with even more.
Q: Your reviewers are
really engaged with your characters. How do you create characters that your
readers care for so deeply? Are you a proponent of villains and heroes?
Cate Beauman: I love that my readers love The
Bodyguards of L.A. County crew. I think my audience cares for the characters I
create because I work very hard to make them come alive. By the time I’ve hit
second draft mode, my heroes, heroines, and villains are very real in my mind.
They are no longer characters among the pages of a book, but actual people with
endearing traits, faults and flaws many of us can identify with. There are no
perfect people among the pages of my novels, just characters that are very much
like you and me.
I’m a sucker for good versus evil. I’m a huge fan of the
good guys finding a way to win, but that doesn’t mean the winning comes easy.
The villains I create are disgusting, vile creatures. They are the lowest of the
low in an incredibly sick package. It’s hard to cheer for every human being’s
worst nightmare.
Q: Do you try to
deliver a message in your novels? Or are you primarily interested in
entertaining your readers?
Cate Beauman: For
the most part, I love creating stories for pure entertainment. Sometimes
reality bites, so it’s nice to sit back for an afternoon and get lost in
someone else’s story. Some of the plots focus around true and troubling real
life issues such as Hailey’s brush with the Mexican Drug Cartel or Alexa and
Abby’s encounter with human sex traffickers. Life imitates art and vice versa.
I try to weave fiction and pieces of truth together to create engaging novels
that will have my readers coming back again and again.
About Cate Beauman
Cate
currently lives in Tennessee with her husband, their two boys, and St. Bernard,
Bear. She is the author of the best selling romantic suspense series, The
Bodyguards of L.A. County. Before
her career as an author, Cate worked in special education for 12 years.
“I’m
a pretty lucky girl; one day I woke up and my entire life changed. I saw the
light, so to speak, and decided I was going to be a writer. Now, two years later, I’m working on my
sixth novel and I’m an Amazon best selling author. I’m very grateful for the support and success I have
had. - Cate “
About WAITING FOR WREN
Cate Beauman’s newest release is available now through Amazon and
Barnes and Noble. Visit www.catebeauman.com for more information and to read excerpts
from her best selling series The Bodyguards of L.A. County.
When the past and present collide…
Wren Cooke has everything she’s ever wanted—a thriving
career as one of LA’s top interior designers and a home she loves. Business
trips, mockups, and her demanding clientele keep her busy, almost too busy to
notice Ethan Cooke Security’s gorgeous Close Protection Agent, Tucker Campbell.
Jaded by love and relationships in general, Wren wants
nothing to do with the hazel-eyed stunner and his heart-stopping grins, but
Tucker is always in her way. When Wren suddenly finds herself bombarded by a
mysterious man’s unwanted affections, she’s forced to turn to Tucker for help.
As Wren’s case turns from disturbing to deadly, Tucker
whisks her away to his mountain home in Utah. Haunted by memories and long-ago
tragedies, Tucker soon realizes his past and Wren’s present are colliding. With
a killer on the loose and time running out, Tucker must discover a madman’s
motives before Wren becomes his next victim.
The Unofficial WAITING FOR WREN Soundtrack
As I have discussed with previous book launches, music plays
a huge part in my writing process. I typically listen to Pandora or YouTube and
compile a collection of songs that I feel represent my characters or the
situations they face as the novel unfolds. Here are a few of the songs that I had on “repeat” while I created
Tucker and Wren’s story!
The soundtrack, of sorts, for WAITING FOR WREN:
·
Gone, Gone, Gone by Phillip Phillips
·
Lego House by Ed Sheeran
·
Wanted by Hunter Hayes
·
What Would Happen If We Kissed by Meredith
Brooks
·
Trying Not to Love You by Nickelback
·
Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth Ft. Emeli
Sande
·
I Hate How Much I Love You by Rhianna Ft. NeYo
·
Be Still by The Fray
·
All Along by Remedy Drive
·
Clarity by Zedd
·
Mirrors by Justin Timberlake
·
To Build A Home by Cinematic Orchestra
Read an excerpt from WAITING FOR WREN:
She pulled in her drive, dropped
her phone, and gripped the wheel with trembling hands as heat from the vents
rushed over her. She stared at her darkened front steps in the shadows cast
about from the neighbors’ tall trees. What if he was here? His texts weren’t
threatening, and technically neither were the flowers, but Rex wasn’t healthy.
In the two years she’d owned her home, she’d never been terrified to get out of
her car and go inside like she was now.
This
is what he wants. He wants you to be afraid while he plays his games.
Steeling herself, she grabbed her phone and got out with her key fob clutched
in her unsteady hand. The cool rush of wind tossed her hair in her face, and
she swiped wavy locks behind her ear as she strained to hear over the rustling
leaves. She walked quickly, her eyes darting everywhere.
She just had to get to the door and
step inside. The panic button was in the entryway if she needed it. The police
would come help her, along with whoever was fielding calls at Ethan’s company
tonight. “I’m almost there. I’m almost there,” she whispered, flinching,
blinking, startled as the sensor lights flashed on to brighten the walkway. The
security lights. It was just the security lights. She forgot she reactivated
the feature the night of the gala. She took another step forward and saw the
blood by the pretty pot of red mums. “Oh my god. Oh my god.” A black cat lay on
her step, decapitated and bloated in a pool of dark, congealed crimson. “Oh
my…”
Her breath rushed in and out as she
stumbled back. The cellphone in her clammy hand rang, and she screamed.
Blindly, she pressed “talk.” “Hell—hello?”
“Do you like it?” someone
whispered.
She whirled, scanning, searching
for Rex. He was here, somewhere. He had to be.
“Why won’t you call me?” The
whisper turned into a pathetic whine. “Why won’t you call me, Wren?”
“Stop,” she shuddered out as she
hurried to her car, looking over her shoulder from time to time, sure he was
waiting to pounce. “Stop doing this. I’m calling the police.”
The whining stopped abruptly and
turned into mad, riotous laughter. “They won’t believe you! They won’t believe
you!”
“Leave me alone!” She hung up, gasping for air. Tears poured down her cheeks,
and her hand shook as she opened her door, took her seat, and locked herself
in. She had to get out of here. She had to get away. It took her two tries to
shove the key in the ignition as she glanced at the bloodstained step once more
and backed out with a squeal of tires. She sped off, heading toward Ethan’s
until she remembered he was gone and a quarter of his house had been gutted for
the new edition. All of them were gone—Ethan, Hunter, and Austin. She pressed
‘one’ on her speed dial, listening to the repetitive ringing. Ethan’s smooth
voice told her to leave a message, but she hung up instead. She turned down
another street, taking her farther from her home, and punched in Ethan Cooke
Security’s twenty-four hour assistance line.
“Ethan Cooke Security. This is
Mia.”
“Mia, it’s Wren.”
“Wren, are you okay?”
“Yes.” Her voice broke, and she
shook her head as she clutched the wheel with one hand. “No. No, I’m not.
There’s a dead cat on my porch.”
“Oh.”
That didn’t exactly describe the
horror she’d just backed away from. “Someone killed a cat and left it on my
front step.”
“Oh my god. Where are you?”
“In my car.” She sniffed. “Driving
around. I don’t want to go back to my house alone.”
“Of course not. Let me patch you
through to Tucker Campbell. He’s on call.”
Tucker?
“No, wait—” But it was too late. Soothing music played in her ear.
“Wren?” Tucker’s deep voice hummed
with concern.
Her lip wobbled, and tears began to
fall again. “Yeah, I’m here.”
“What’s going on? Mia said
something about a dead cat?”
“Someone chopped some sweet cat’s
head off and put the body on my front step.”
He muttered a swear. “Are you there
now?”
“No, I’m in my car, driving around.
It freaked me out. I don’t want to be at the house by myself.”
“I don’t want you there either.
Come to my place until we get this figured out.”
If choking fingers of terror didn’t
have her by the throat, she would’ve refused, but Tucker was offering his help.
She needed help. “I don’t—I don’t know where you live.”
“Ocean View Apartments, off Highway
One.”
“What if he follows me? He might be
following me right now.” She glanced in the rearview mirror and cringed as
headlights trailed behind her.
“Who?”
“Rex.”
“Who the hell is Rex?”
“The crazy bastard who left the
dead cat on my porch.”
“Son of a bitch, Cooke. Don’t stop.
Don’t’ pull over. Drive on a flat tire if you have to. Just get here. I’ll be
waiting outside.”
“Okay,” she sniffed, too afraid to
be prideful. “I’m about ten minutes away.”
Did you enjoy the
excerpt? You can read the first three
chapters on her website, www.catebeauman.com
Contact Cate
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