The Kiss and Thrill blog, where this was originally published, will soon be disappearing, and I am republishing my Kiss and Thrill posts here to keep a copy. This one is from April 2015.
In the 3-1/2 years since Kiss and Thrill launched, the 9 of us who banded together to create the blog have become family—we exchange emails about business, craft, and plotting. We cheer each other on and talk about our families, our struggles, and our successes. I’d be a wreck without my KaT sisters. But our deep and supportive bond only goes so far when one of the KaTs invites an author I adore to the blog. Then it’s time to bring out the claws…
It wasn’t pretty, but I won. But then, I’m not afraid to fight dirty, while Carey and Manda are too nice to resort to blackmail and bribery.
What did I win? The chance to put Laura K. Curtis in the Inside the Actors Studio hot seat!
I devoured Laura’s debut novel, TWISTED, and just neglected my family for the weekend (and a holiday one at that) because I couldn’t put down her latest release, ECHOES.
ECHOES has everything I love in romantic suspense–a hot, hard-edged, former military hero, and a smart, strong, determined heroine who must work together to unravel a complicated, intense mystery. The romance is sexy and fun and moves at a pace that is true to the characters and situation.
ECHOES is set on St. Martin/Sint Maarten, an island I visited for an archaeological project many years ago, which made the book that much more fun for me to read, but you don’t have to have visited the French West Indies to enjoy the lush setting.
It is my absolute joy to be the one who introduces our Kiss and Thrill readers to Laura by subjecting her to the Inside the Actors Studio Questionnaire:
What is your favorite word? Sussurant.
What is your least favorite word? Moist.
What turns you on? Intelligence combined with humor.
What turns you off? Prejudice of any kind.
What sound or noise do you love? The sound of waves on the beach.
What sound or noise do you hate? The sound of an animal in pain.
What is your favorite curse word? Fuck in all its glorious forms.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? I’ve had a number of professions over the years, from teacher, to bartender, to record saleswoman, to glass bead maker. I loved them all for different reasons. I’m not sure what else I’d like to do for a career. There are a number of hobbies I wish I had time to pursue, but not for careers. I guess if I had a chance to go to culinary school, I’d like to be a professional baker.
What profession would you not like to do? Sanitation worker. I have a touch of OCD and that would really not work for me.
If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates? “Fuck.” Or, if I can’t have that, “Here, go play with all the dogs you’ve had over the years.”
I laughed out loud at the last answer. We share an affinity for the same curse word, and I think I want to steal Laura’s response if I’m ever subjected to the quiz again.
Thank you so much, Laura, for joining us today!
Echoes
Who is she?
A single photo of herself as an infant on a beach, taken before the date on her birth certificate, throws everything Calliope Pearson knows about herself into question. Hoping to find answers, she takes advantage of her job as a travel writer to make a reservation at the Caribbean island resort in the picture.
Resort security chief Mac Brody distrusts Callie on sight. After all, she looks exactly like his deceitful missing wife, Nikki, who owns half the resort. But when Nikki’s found dead, Mac’s facing murder charges, and he’s sure that Callie must hold the key to proving his innocence.
The deeper Callie and Mac dive into the mystery of her past, the more bodies surface. And they’ll have to learn to trust each other, or become victims of a dark danger neither could’ve imagined….
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Laura K. Curtis has always done everything backwards. As a child, she was extremely serious, so now that she’s chronologically an adult, she feels perfectly justified in acting the fool. She started teaching at age fifteen, then decided to go back to school herself at thirty. And she wrote her first book in first grade. It was released in (notebook) paperback to rave reviews and she’s been trying to achieve the same level of acclaim ever since. She lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband and a pack of wild Irish Terriers, which has taught her how easily love can coexist with the desire to kill.