5 Questions for a Romantic Suspense Author - Nichole Severn

Welcome back to the Weird, the Wild, and the Wicked. Today I have the honor of hosting romantic suspense author Nichole Severn with a new release through The Wild Rose Press, Sour Cherry. Nichole holds a degree in psychology, which fuels her interest in serial killers and suspense, and she’s been my friend for several years now. What does that say about me? Eep! Now she offers a new contemporary romantic suspense to entice you. She is also graciously offering an excerpt and a copy of her ebook to one lucky commenter.

Welcome, Nichole. Thank you for being with me today. What started you on the path to becoming an author?

It’s a little embarrassing, but I have to say Stephanie Meyer inspired me to sit down and write my first book. Not just with the Twilight series, but with The Host too. She made it look easy (it’s not) and I took a chance. From there, my passion grew until I realized, at age twenty-one, once the inspiration is used, it never stops! I’ve been writing for over five years now and can’t see myself quitting. Add some great friends, some serious research and a lot of tears, and I finally made it into “authorship”.

Congratulations on your recent release on Sour Cherry with The Wild Rose Press. Introduce us to the main characters and premise of your story.

Thank you! This is one of my favorite stories I’ve written so far. My heroine made me laugh practically the entire time with her sarcasm and banter and my hero turned out to be one hunky guy. Here’s the little snippet my editor wrote about the characters and premise.

Cherish "Cherry" Williams has been betrayed by her own motorcycle club. After a late night package delivery goes bad, her club president wants her head. With every member of the club out looking for her, she seeks help from the last place they'd suspect to find her: behind enemy lines.

Cooper Nolan was supposed to be a one-night stand. Now he's her only hope of survival. But the Vice President of Cherry’s rival club has secrets of his own, and war between their clubs is inevitable if he doesn't turn Cherry over to her president.

As connection after connection unravels, Cooper and Cherry's days—and lust-fueled nights—become a race against time. Will she and her hot, sexy bartender choose love and trust over duty and image or will murder, corruption, and lies turn Cherry and the best night of her life into nothing more than a memory?

Did anything in particular inspire this story?

So many things, one of which I’ll answer in the next question.

I’ve fallen into the habit of choosing a theme song for each book I write. It’ll depict the tone, perhaps even a character or two, and help me along the way in tough spots. For this particular story, Sour Cherry by The Kills played a huge role. The beat and odd lyrics gave me the tone—and the title—I needed to get the story right. As you can see, it also gave me my heroine’s nickname.

Alongside that, Vegas has always been a part of my life. Being born and raised here, then coming back in adulthood, I think the city provides an unlimited amount of opportunities to explore. And it did just that when researching gang activity and boundaries.

What made you choose motorcycle gangs as your stage set?

Sons of Anarchy! Haven’t missed an episode.

Living in such a dangerous world, amazing things are bound to happen. I love the complicated situations and relationships that can arise out of such hazardous situations involving guns, drugs and blood. By setting my characters within rival motorcycle gangs, I explore the “opposites attract” idea, but give my characters common ground as well. From there, I’m able to tap into a whole world of fictitious villainy.

What other projects are on the horizon for you that we’re likely to see?

I’m excited to announce my self-published suspense, Let Me Out, is being released through Beyond the Page Publishing in the next couple months! Should be available everywhere by Spring 2013.

I also have the sequel, Die For Me, coming from Beyond the Page Publishing right around the same time! We’re in the middle of edits right now, but I’m so looking forward to sharing this amazing story with you. I’ll keep you updated!

Thank you for joining me today, Nichole, and we look forward to all your upcoming releases!

If you’d like a copy of Sour Cherry, you can find it at:

Kindle Direct Program until official release date May 29, 2013 here.

If you can't wait that long, Nichole is giving away a free ecopy of Sour Cherry to one commenter who tells Nichole who’s your favorite badass character (television or novel) and why. Please leave your email address or Twitter handle in your comment to have a chance to win. The giveaway is open until 8:00 pm Pacific time Thursday, February 21, 2013. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday. Please void where prohibited and you must be 18 years old to win.

You can find Nichole at:

www.nicholesevern.com 

@nicholesevern

Facebook

Excerpt:

Some people are cursed with the ability to remember every object and scent in their surroundings for the rest of their lives. Sherlock Holmes, Sean Spencer from Psych, and even Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory share this predicament. They possess something called Eidetic Memory.

I, however, do not.

Which would explain why I couldn't remember how I'd ended up with a broken nose on Las Vegas Boulevard at eight in the morning.

Oh, wait. Yes, I could.

The bitch standing in front of me had just hit me in the face. With a skateboard.

My name is Cherish Williams, Cherry for embarrassment's sake, and right now, I looked at a whole lot of woman. Blonde, to be exact, with tattoos, and a set of Double Ds. Complete opposite of my five-foot-six gangly frame. Along with the fact that I've never been the kind of person to hit someone in the face with a skateboard as they walked down the Las Vegas Strip. I tried to inhale the hot, dry air through my now-broken nose, but the sounds of passing cars reverberated too loudly in my head to concentrate on one simple task. Breathe in. Breathe out.

All I could see was Blondie. The amount of pain coursing through my head wouldn't be anything compared to how much it would hurt for me to deflate that chest of hers, but if anger management had taught me anything, it was to evaluate first then react. I coddled my nose, wincing when waves of pain filled my skull. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you just randomly hit people in the face with skateboards?"