Beach Kisses, Sunset Wishes
by Nora LeDuc
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GENRE: Contemporary Romance
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NOTE: This book is part of a multibook box set.
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BLURB:
LAST CHANCE BEACH is the island paradise where dreams go to live again and wishes may come true. It’s Summer’s End on the island, and the cottages, condos, hotels, and bungalows are filled to capacity.
There’s still plenty of time to find summer fun and summer love, new romances and second chances; hot alpha males and heartwarming heroes, beach bunnies, dudes, and romance popping up when you least expect it.
Throw a log on the beach bonfire tonight and celebrate LAST CHANCE BEACH: Summer’s End, a special collection of 14 short stories from bestselling authors—all new, never published before—that will thrill the hopeful romantic in you. Some stories are sweet; some are sizzling hot. All will touch your heart and make you want to book a vacation to LAST CHANCE BEACH!
Authors and Titles:
Hot August Night by Joan Reeves, NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
Can a chef and a hot dog loving cop resist desire when they’re forced to share the same overbooked beach cottage?
Something New by Liz Flaherty, USA Today Bestselling Author
Their lives are all planned out--until they're not.
I Do…Again by Nancy Fraser, Amazon Top 100 Author
Can they re-ignite what they once had and take a last chance on love?
The Man in Gull Cottage by Caroline Clemmons, Amazon Top 100 Author
Will the solution to her dilemma drive them apart or into one another's arms?
That One Summer by Maddie James, Amazon Top 100 Author
He's the one who got away. She's the one who couldn't commit.
Romancing the Spouse by Jan Scarbrough, Amazon Bestselling Author
Can she turn back the clock to save her marriage?
Blue Sky Summer by Kathleen Lawless, Amazon Bestselling Author
Of all the beaches on the coast, who does she see again? Him!
Hangover Husband by Bonnie Edwards, Amazon Bestselling Author
What happens in Vegas doesn't always stay there
One Last Shot by Marcia King-Gamble, National Bestselling Author
She can run, but can she hide? Will love still find her?
Secondhand Hearts by Kathryn Hills, Award Winning Author
Life takes you down many winding paths. Will theirs lead to love on Last Chance Beach?
Paradise Perfume by Connie Vines, Award Winning Author
Fragrance and love cannot be hidden.
Dreams of the Past by Laura Hunsaker, Award Winning Author
Can dreams of the future erase her nightmares of the past?
Beach Kisses & Sunset Wishes by Nora LeDuc
She wants someone interested in a fling. He wants someone interested in a ring.
Frankie McKinley’s last three relationships went up in flames. Her best bud insists she needs to relax, have a fling. But Frankie’s not into casual hookups. She vows to resist the lure of romantic Last Chance Beach and take a break from men. She’ll concentrate on her dream, opening a gift shop. Or so she’d promised herself until the morning her gaze locks with the handsome Sean Thomas-Michael’s sea-blue eyes.
Can't Buy Me Love by Hannah Rowan
Things aren't always what they seem.
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Excerpt Two:
His brows shot up with interest. His lips parted slightly. Blue eyes that matched the sea drew Frankie to him and caused a sensation of dizziness to dance in her head. She was aware she was staring, but she couldn’t stop.
The squawk of a bird broke through the scrape of forks against dishes and the murmur of voices. The noises faded away. Even the thud of her heart seemed to pause when he nodded to her.
“Attention, everyone.” A server standing nearby with a carafe of coffee interrupted Frankie’s moment. “MacDyver has been sighted.”
“Quick the food.” Tikki covered their meals with napkins.
Silverware clinked as diners dropped their utensils and popped up their overhead covers–– their futile attempt at protection. As Frankie shoved her chair back to open their umbrella, she peeked at the man.
He picked up his toast and held it for a second. The seagull struck. With one swoop MacDyver grabbed the bread from his fingertips. A hush settled over the throng, and the bird soared heavenward with a snide cackle out the side of his beak and disappeared.
All gazes fell on the stranger MacDyver had robbed as he rose to his six-foot-plus height.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Nora grew up in rural New England where she currently lives with her family. She enjoys visiting and spending time with her friends, the Winettes, in Florida, where she continues to write. Her current book, Beach Kisses, Sunset Wishes is her seventeenth. In October, Christmas at the Easy Breezy will be released. You can find Nora on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook and her website: Noraleduc.com. She also contributes to the Romance Gems’ Blog every month.
Interview with Nora LeDuc
1. What is your favorite part of this book and why?
The declaration of love in the book is always a huge moment for the characters and a favorite of mine. There’s something about overcoming all the book’s conflicts when couples can finally find their way to each other. In Beach Kisses & Sunset Wishes, the main characters are on the brink of giving up on finding “the one” until they meet. Even then, it’s a difficult journey. But the hero realizes he must risk revealing his heart or lose her. He decides to prove how much he cares for the heroine. He not only confronts his fear of commitment but faces a personal phobia from an earlier trauma. The heroine grasps he has put himself in danger to show her how deep his feelings for her run. His action forces her to take a leap of faith and declare her love too. This scene lifted me up, and I hope it will do the same for readers.
2. If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?
I’d spend the day with my hero, Lucas Davis, from Trail of Secrets. He’s running his own private investigation office after solving a tough murder case. We’ll head to breakfast at the Ocean Shore Grill. First, we’ll people watch on the boardwalk. You never know who will pass by. Then we’ll head to the grill and sit on the patio below the dunes to discuss his latest case and the clues. I love mysteries. After eating, we’ll head to Turtle Beach where he’ll attempt to teach me to stand on a surfboard. Lucas is an excellent surfer. I’m thankful for the privacy since I expect to spend most of the time falling into the water. At lunch, we’ll join his girlfriend and my new book editor, Mia McGuire, at the Penguin Diner. They have a wall-size window where we watch the skydivers jumping out of the planes from the nearby Skydive business. We’ll end our day at Lucas’s ocean-blue cottage where he’s the estate security expert. Sitting on his lanai, Mia, Lucas and I will enjoy the sunset sky streaked with oranges and yellows.
3. If you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book would you choose? Since I just finished reading Robyn Carr’s Virgin River, I will choose her book. My friends were recommending it as a must-watch on Netflix. So I jumped to binge it. Yes, I wanted to go with the main character, Melinda to the mountain town of Virgin River. I’d like to live in her cabin, the redone version, in the tall firs. I’ll sit on the porch and enjoy the view of the wildlife. I’d like to enjoy a daily coffee with that good-looking, ex-marine Jack at his eatery. Maybe he’d like to give me a fly-fishing lesson. Then there’s the danger of a few unsavory characters hanging around, but with Jack, his marine friends, and a town with a strong sense of protecting their own, I’ll feel safe.
4. Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?
Most of my characters are born in my imagination. I’ve learned while some people are thrilled to be in a book, others aren’t as happy. I once used the name of a friend, thinking she’d be excited. Instead, she wrote me an email, telling me she disliked her namesake and they had nothing in common. That was true. Many characters evolve from movies I’ve watched or news articles I’ve read. Seeing an actor displaying an emotion in a scene that’s similar in tone to mine sparks ideas for writing. However, there are folks who like to be in books. In my upcoming October release, the character of Roxanne is named for a woman I met at the Fall in Love Conference last year. She won that honor in a drawing at my workshop.
5. What made you want to become a writer? I didn’t believe I could be a writer until later in life. When I did, it was because I’d found the genre of romance and knew this was what I could write. I soon discovered other benefits. First, the romance community can be very supportive and loyal. The readers bond with their books and their authors. The writers will share their knowledge and most will do anything to help you. I’ve been lucky enough to make wonderful friends online and in person. The happily ever after, the declarations of love, and the hero and heroine overcoming all obstacles are parts of stories I never tire of telling. Writing these tales always fills me with joy because I’ve landed in a place where dreams come true.
6. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?
Once I decided to write, the goal was always to get that draft shiny and published. I started in the olden days of traditional press when you usually only had one shot per story. I took lots of care writing, rewriting, and entering contests for helpful comments.
Now that I self-publish, I worry more about my manuscript being ready for the world to read. Although I have content and copy editors, but they’re not the gatekeepers for deciding if my what is or isn’t publishable. They give me advice from their knowledge, and I can revise or not. To help me make this threshold decision, I’ve used more beta readers. I truly find this a difficult judgment and will revise and revise. I’m still working on when to let go.
7. What is the best and worst advice --
The best pieces of advice I’ve received:
-Be prepared to rewrite your story many times.
-Real writing is rewriting.
-Don’t be afraid to share your story but don’t put it out until it’s ready for the public.
-Get feedback.
-If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Writing isn’t like solving a math equation where you have one answer and that’s it. There are many genres of romance and many styles. Yours is there.
Worst Advice
-You will only be successful if you can plan out your whole book before you write––This has never worked for me. I work in chunks as the story comes to me. Many people plan not at all and are successful.
-When you’re thinking up ideas for your book, don’t use the first ones––Hey, sometimes inspiration strikes immediately. There is no time clock on which ideas are the best.
-Only write the book of your heart–– If that were true, a lot of writers would not be working. Trends come and go. You might only love vampires, but the readers need a break. As they say, you’re not a one trick pony, I guarantee.
8. Do you outline or just start writing?
I’ve tried outlining many times. I can do vague outlines, but composing an entire detailed framework is not how my mind works. As my hero and heroine take shape and the story progresses, I have other ideas emerge that I hadn’t imagined. Sometimes, what I thought would work, just sounds boring on my screen. So now I loosely plan my beginning, midpoint, and ending. After I’ve written one chapter, I think ahead to the next and figure out the next. Often I imagine an exciting or painful moment for my characters and can’t wait to get there!
9. Have you started your next project-share a little?
As I mentioned, my holiday book will be coming out in Oct. Christmas at the Easy Breezy. The heroine’s world changes after her uncle, who raised her, surprises everyone and marries. He spends all his times with his new wife and her kids and grandkids. Now the heroine reassess her life and decides she wants more. She’s determined to find her deceased mother’s family that she never knew. She does this in the modern way by joining an online program similar to Ancestry.com. There she discovers a cousin and immediately plans a trip to visit him, despite knowing little about him. This sets up a series of unexpected events and a lesson in what is family.
On her trip, she meets the hero. He has trouble accepting change in his personal life and in his father’s business that he inherited. His dad passed away several years ago at Christmas. The hero has a large family, who he wishes would butt out of his life, especially since they love to give him advice on his love life. It’s a fun read with of course with an uplifting ending.
10. Who is your favorite actor and actress?
I’m a big fan of the English actor Freddie Highmore. I watched him in the Bates Motel and was intrigued by his interpretation of the character of Norman Bates. At times, he managed to make me feel sympathy and other scenes stirred my loathing and fear, depending on the episode. I became enthusiastic about the show although I knew it had a tragic ending. Now he’s the lead in The Good Doctor. Shaun Murphy, a young autistic surgeon who has savant syndrome. He can have a brilliant future if he can fit into the social world of medicine. Once again, Freddie displays a wide range of acting abilities.
My favorite actress is Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson in Law & Order Special Victims. Her character has to demonstrate an understanding and a gentle approach with the wounded while keeping a hardline with the perps she has to put away. She’s a heroine who’s grown over the years. Olivia’s no longer just her partner’s other half. She’s now a police chief in charge of her unit and exhibits leadership skills she previously didn’t utilize.
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Nora LeDuc will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
RAFFLECOPTER:
I thought I had life figured out: finish high school, go to college, and become a Pulitzer prize winning journalist with a passion for activism.
