Monday, June 23, 2014

THE ART OF LOVE AND MURDER - by Brenda Whiteside

 I'm pleased to present an excerpt of Brenda Whiteside's new book, The Art of Love and Murder, published in April 2014 by The Wild Rose Press. It is "Book One" in the Love and Murder Series. 
 Although she didn’t start out to write romance, Brenda found all good stories involve complicated human relationships. She has also found no matter a person’s age, a new discovery is right around every corner. Whether humorous or serious, straight contemporary or suspense, all her books revolve around those two facts.


In celebration of the release of The Art of Love and Murder, Brenda is offering a $25 Amazon Gift Card. Please take time to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of the blog post.

EXCERPT:
Momentarily struck dumb by his eye color, she stared back. Why hadn’t she noticed until now? Although not as light as hers or her father’s, the professor’s eyes were a startling green shade.
His hand nudged her arm. “Lacy?”
She jumped. “Oh, yes.” She slipped the tissue from the half-carved wolf. Another glance at his eyes and goose bumps riddled her arms.
He lifted the wood close to his face, using both hands as if handling a delicate hummingbird. His thumb traced the neck of the creature to the juncture of where it emerged from the wood. When he brought the piece to his nose, closing his eyes and breathing deeply, Lacy wanted to turn away from the oddly erotic gesture.
He swallowed, opened his eyes and set the wolf back on the tissue. His attention shifted to the photograph of the chest. He touched the photo, a smile on his lips. “Where is the chest?”
The chest. Like he knew it, had seen it before. “I’m having it sent. You’ve seen it before?”
He didn’t move, stared out the window as if deep in thought. “I’d like to show you something, Lacy.”
“All right.” She waited, watching his profile.
He turned and stared into her face a moment. “You’re so very lovely. A creation full of life and passion, surpassing any art form.”
His hypnotic voice floated on the classical strains drifting from the living room. She couldn’t speak. Didn’t know what to say. She’d been lifted upon a pedestal of admiration. With any other man, she might consider his words a means to a sexual end. The professor’s intentions, however, were crystal. He admired her like a work of art. 

BRENDA ASKS HER READERS:
When it comes to the setting in a story, do you prefer an imaginary place or the real thing? To date, all my stories have taken place in real cities. I’ve had to change the names of hotels and restaurants, but I still pattern them after the real places. I have a friend who writes paranormal. What I like about her books, well one of the things I like, is her fantasies take place in real places. Kind of fun to imagine vampires walking next to me on the streets where I live! So how about you, real or imaginary places?

BUY LINKS:
The Wild Rose Press

Amazon

ARe

KOBO

Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com.
She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com
She blogs about writing and prairie life at http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

a Rafflecopter giveaway

12 comments:

  1. I like stories set in real places, with the names changed to protect the innocent and all that....but I do like made-up places too. I think it depends on the story.

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  2. I like both real and imaginary settings. The real if I've been to a place or have wanted to visit there. The imaginary because world building is so much fun to read and write! Best wishes on your book release!

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  3. Good morning. Thanks so much for having me here today, Judy!

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  4. Thanks, Karen and Ashantay. I would probably enjoy world building from scratch. In this series, I'm using real places but embellishing a lot - sort of building a world in a world.

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  5. I like imaginary settings. But I do like to imagine a town I've seen or been in and "remodel" it for my own purposes.

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  6. Brenda--I'm late at coming on here. Busy morning. I'm so happy to have you here on my blog. I'm excited about your new release. Best of luck!

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  7. I'm late too, but would like to add...being an AZ resident...am really enjoying reading about real & familiar places. Such a great setting for this series!!

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  8. Sorry I'm so late to the game! I really enjoyed reading this excerpt. I've never been to AZ, but it's so fun to read about it. I think I'd die from the heat, dry or not! :-)

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    1. I AM dying with the heat right now, J.C. Where my book takes place in Flagstaff is much cooler! Thanks for dropping in.

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