PLEASE WELCOME BARBARA COOL LEE!

WELCOME!

Today I welcome Barbara Cool Lee as my guest! 

Barb is an award-winning author who, after extensive research, jumped into the self-publishing arena. Her first novel, THE HONEYMOON COTTAGE, jumped to #1 in the Kindle Romance Series Hot New Read, #1 in the Kindle Free Romance Series Bestseller, and into the Top 10 Kindle Paid Romance Series Bestsellers.

INTERVIEW

What is the name of your series of books? 

Hi. Thanks for inviting me to visit your blog, Genie. It's great to be here. My series is called Pajaro Bay Romances.  They are cozy, small-town romances with an undercurrent of suspense.

How many books are in the series? 

I have a dozen of them outlined, but many more ideas. The series could go on for a really long time!

What's the genre/subgenre of your series? 

Sweet romances. Most have some element of suspense, like the first one, The Honeymoon Cottage, which is about a woman whose ex-fiance stole from her employer and then disappeared--leaving behind his eight-year-old son. The local sheriff's captain helps her clear her name, figure out why the little boy was abandoned--and saves her from a serial killer by the end of the story!

What is the premise of your series? What ties it together? Are the characters related, have the same career, live in the same town, etc.?

The little coastal village of Pajaro Bay is the setting for the series. The town has a cast of quirky recurring characters, from Miss Zelda Potter, the elderly former movie star who runs the Historical Society; to Jefferson Stockdale, a long-ago architect who built the village's little cottages; to Hector Peña, the local mechanic who believes in "brownies, dude: the breakfast of champions."

Why write a series? What are the pros and cons? 

This series grew naturally from wanting to revisit the characters and setting of the first book I wrote. I feel like the people are old friends and I love "hanging out" with them. So far I haven't found any cons. I don't know if I'll ever get tired of the town, since I love the people so much.

What's your next project? Is there another series in your writing future? 

I plan to continue the Pajaro Bay series, with my next projects being a set of four novellas, "Pajaro Bay Seasons," which will be set in the four seasons (naturally) of the year:  Beach Blanket Bijou (summer), Billion Dollar Baby (autumn), Dashing Through the Surf (winter), and The Bride of Jonas Collinwood (spring).  

I also have a cozy mystery series I'm writing for next year, set in another beach town called Carina, California. This town is different from Pajaro Bay, in that it's based on Carmel, California, a very exclusive vacation spot for rich movie executives and industrialists. The heroine is a divorcee whose life has taken a radical turn after her movie-producer husband leaves her for a younger woman. She's now an outsider with the rich crowd, but she knows *all* their secrets.

I have a fantasy series as well, called The Tales of the Ariane, about a school for the magical women swordfighters who protect the royal family in a mythical island kingdom. Not sure when I'll be releasing that, since I'm so busy with Pajaro Bay.

Any contests or giveaways related to this blog post or that you are running?

Right now The Honeymoon Cottage is available for only $2.99 on the Kindle. In May, I will be doing a giveaway through Goodreads of the paperback version. If you'd like to be in the running for the free book (and lots of other free books by other authors), I encourage you to check out Goodreads.com.  It's a wonderful place for readers to learn about new books, connect with other readers, and also have the chance to win free books, too!

My author page on Goodreads is:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5774344.Barbara_Cool_Lee

My web site is http://www.BarbaraCoolLee.com, where I will post the recipes mentioned in each of the Pajaro Bay books, as well as the charities which receive part of the proceeds from each book sale.

Any other information you would like to add?

Thanks for reading!

EXCERPT

From The Honeymoon Cottage, and the cover.  The link to the book's page on amazon.com is http://bit.ly/wL0wqG

Ryan felt the hard-packed sand beneath his thin running shoes. He pounded out the miles, ignoring the warmth of the morning sun beating down on his bare back, ignoring the sweat gathering between his shoulder blades. He ran faster, as if he could outrun the thoughts crowding his mind.

Why was she here? She was carrying secrets, she and the little boy who called her Camilla, not mom. His "daddy" was missing. His daddy was her fiancé—the creep who'd ripped her off. But she was taking care of the boy, the child of the man who'd gotten her arrested. That didn't make sense. And he tried to tell himself that was the only reason he wondered. He didn't like things that didn't add up. He needed to solve the riddle.

Though Camilla and Oliver had no business being together, they matched, the two lost waifs. The sadness in the child's eyes when he talked about his jerk of a "daddy." It matched some lostness deep inside the woman. They were alike, woman and child. Both strong, self-contained, but needing help they weren't prepared to ask for.

He passed an elderly couple doing tai chi on the beach. Their matching steel gray hair shone in the sunlight, and their matching workout clothes—blue today, green yesterday, no doubt red tomorrow—made them look almost like twins. They moved as one, in the slow forms of the ancient exercise, just as they did every morning when he passed them at this spot. He briefly wondered what it would be like to be part of a matched set, but knew it wasn't for him.

He resisted the urge to glance up at the steep cliff face that overlooked the beach. He was right below the Cliff Drive cottages now, and he would be able to see their back yards if he just looked up. He didn't look up.

There was no reason to believe she was up there. She had looked tired last night, and was probably still fast asleep in the little Honeymoon Cottage at the top of the cliff. When he got to work he would call the San Jose PD, ask for a copy of the report on the embezzlement case. He tried to tell himself it was just part of his job, but he knew it was a lie. He was just plain curious about her. He hated that. He hadn't been curious about anything for months, and he needed it to stay that way.

He ran faster.