Get to Know the Author: Anne Patrick

First, my apologies that this weekly post may seem to have vanished off the face of the earth. It hasn’t really. I simply got distracted with a trip to Salt Lake City to visit my sister and kind of let this series slide while I was gone. But it and I are both back now! So today we resume our Get to Know the Author series with romantic suspense author, Anne Patrick.

 JDP: Welcome, Anne! Did your mother read to you as a child?

Anne: Oh yeah!  She passed her love for mystery and suspense on to me, which in turn fueled my very active imagination.  It was my mother who encouraged me to write my adventures down instead of acting them out.  I usually got into less trouble this way :-).

JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?

Anne: A teacher reading Escape from Witch Mountain, by Alexander H. Key, was the first to really inspire me to read.  I still think often about this book and  those two mysterious orphan children, with extraordinary powers, and their black cat named Winkie.  Come to think of it, as much as I enjoyed this book it's a wonder I didn't grow up to be a writer of the paranormal.  Hummm....

JDP: Name a favorite author as an adult.

 Anne: Hands down, it’s inspirational romantic suspense author Dee Henderson.

JDP: Share a book you’ve read multiple times.

Anne: Dee Henderson’s O’Malley series.  I’ve read each at least twice.

JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?  

Anne: After playing with my aunt’s Kindle I have plans to buy my own.

JDP: What’s your favorite place to read?  

Anne: Same place where I write, my faithful rocking chair.

JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres.  

Anne: Inspirational, Romantic Suspense and Mystery.

JDP: What’s the last book you read?  

Anne: Tess Gerritsen’s Ice Cold.

JDP: What are you’re reading now?

Anne: Irene Hannon’s Against All Odds.

JDP: What’s next on your reading list?

Anne: Next on my TBR list is In Harm’s Way by Irene Hannon.

JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)

Anne: Dee Henderson.  Did I mention I love her books! :-)

JDP: You may have mentioned it once or twice. LOL! If you like her that well, I guess I’d better check her books out! Share a favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months. 

Anne: The book that stands out the most is The Shack by William P. Young.  It came out in ‘07 but there was so much controversy connected to it I put off reading it.  I’m glad I read this amazing book.

More about Anne! : Anne Patrick has penned more than a dozen novels of Romance, Mayhem & Faith, including the award-winning and best-selling Journey to Redemption & Fire and Ash.  Her works continue to receive 4 & 5 star reviews from readers and reviewers.  Anne has an alter ego by the name of Kinzie Monroe, who writes Inspirational Romance.  Anne, you might say, is the dark side of Kinzie.  Anne’s books may be darker in subject matter, but they all carry messages of hope and faith.  Born and raised in Oklahoma, she now makes her home in Kansas.

To learn more about Anne, please visit her website or blog. She loves to hear from her readers!

Publishing Credits:

Journey to Redemption

Dark Alliance

Reservations for Two (by Kinzie Monroe)

Lethal Dreams

Ties That Bind

Out of the Darkness

Fire and Ash

No Greater Love (Kinzie Monroe)

Sabotage

Christmas with Hope (short story) – ‘Sweet’ Christmas Anthology

You can find buy links to all my works on Anne’s website.

Summary of Fire and Ash: Fire Investigator Sadie McGregor has been called to her hometown of Emerald Point, Missouri to investigate a suspicious fire which claimed the life of a local college student. By appearance the fire looks like the girl was just careless. What Sadie and Sheriff Quinn Harrington discover will not only affect those close to them, but will rock the entire community of Emerald Point and put Sadie’s life on the line.Sadie’s life isn’t the only thing at stake. Struggling with the guilt of having been responsible for the fire that killed her family, when she was only seven, Sadie doesn’t feel she’s worthy of God’s love and forgiveness. Will Quinn be able to prove otherwise before it’s too late? 

7th Annual Brenda Novak Auction for Diabetes Research...in progress!

I'm posting this a little late, but best selling author Brenda Novak's Auction for Diabetes Research is currently in full swing! 23.6 million children and adults in the USA have diabetes. It runs in my family on my father's side, which is why I am excited to be able to once again support this wonderful cause.

In 2010, the auction raised $303,000 for diabetes research. Wouldn't it be great to break that record this year? You can help and get something back in the process. Once again, I am donating a copy of my sweet medieval romance, Loyalty's Web, to this auction. If you'd like to bid on it, click here.

Already have a copy? Not a problem! There are literally hundreds of other items you can bid on. Why not take a stroll on over to the site and at least take a peek? Click here for the main online auction page.

Deadline for bids is May 31, 2011, so don't delay! Remember...it's for a great cause!

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's a teaser from Abinadi:

Then he fell against the cushions, barely awake. He didn't mind the stale stench of spilt wine as he let his eyes close. The image of the preacher stayed in his mind, but within moments Alma was sure it would be obliterated by his dreams.

From Abinadi, by Heather B. Moore, p 171

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

What Am I Reading Now?

I finished Mark of Royalty while I was on vacation in Utah, the night before I attended the LDS Storymakers Writers Conference. Instead of starting another book on my Kindle, I got sucked into the LDS Sorymakers Conference bookstore and bought a print copy of Abinadi, by Heather B. Moore. (Yes, I know, kind of defeats the purpose of carrying a Kindle with me, but they weren't selling Kindle books in the bookstore.) Abinadi is based on a scripture story in the Book of Mormon, and I'm going to be honest ... I have a hard time with fictionalized versions of scripture stories in general, because I tend to have already sort of rewritten the stories in my own head when I read them. Not the basic facts, but you know, what I think the people looked like, what they might have been thinking or feeling during the actual scripture story, etc. So it's hard for me to give up my own "vision" to read someone else's, but I've heard tons of good things about this book, so I wanted to give it a try. (The one exception with scripture-based novels for me was The Chariot of Israel, and that was because the author somehow managed to strike a chord of how I had already pictured Elijah in my own head, so I didn't get jarred every time Elijah appeared on the fictionalized pages.)

Here's the back cover blurb for Abinadi:

Raquel has a secret. As the daughter of one of King Noah's priests, she enjoys a luxurious life and the admiration of powerful men. But her heart belongs to a commoner, a man with no earthly wealth but rich heavenly gifts. When King Noah demands that Raquel join his harem, she flees the only life she has known and marries her secret love. His name is Abinadi. The couple finds abundant joy in their community of believers and in their firstborn son. But when the Lord calls Abinadi as His prophet, their faith is tested to the outermost limits. Abinadi's commitment to the Lord requires them both to give their all—even unto death. Yet if Alma, the newest priest in King Noah's court, chooses to overcome his troubled past and cleave unto the truth, their sacrifice may yield rich fruit. With vivid detail and poignant emotion, this historical novel pulls readers into a fiery tale of love, courage, and faith that is difficult to put down and impossible to forget.


Stop by on Tuesday to read a Tuesday Teaser from Abinadi. (And yes, when I finish this book, I'm going to finally finish reading King John, by W.L. Warren!)

My trip to the Utah Renaissance Festival

My sister took me to the Utah Renaissance Festival for my birthday this year! Though quite a bit smaller than the Arizona RenFest, it was still quite fun. Their regular site got flooded out in April, so they had to find a substitute "home" for 2011, but I think they did quite well. Here are a few highlights from my visit.

First we stopped to visit the Little Chapel of Miracles and watched a friendship "handfesting" there.

Next we visited inside the Little Chapel of Miracles. It was too dark inside to snap too many pictures, but I did manage this one of the bible. Maybe I'll work a bible like this into a future medieval story of mine.

Next we watched the Oak Hills Vaulters doing balancing acts on horseback!

From there we stopped to visit a good author friend of mine, Anna Del C. Dye. Check out her books on her website!

I just thought this was a pretty shop flag at the faire.

This angel's name is Serene. This is where lost children go to find their parents at the faire.

If you get hungry, one of your many eating options at the faire is "The Holy Crepe"!

There was a nifty pirate ship...

...sometimes filled with pirates...

...including Captain Jack!

Here's Queen Elizabeth and part of her court.

And last but not least, what's a Renaissance Festival without jousting!

Thank you, Dear Sister, for giving me such a great birthday present this year! Huzzah!