A Warm Welcome to Morgan O'Reilly writing as Romance Author

SHEA McMASTER

The softer, sweeter side of Morgan O’Reilly, Shea McMaster lives for traditional romance. 

Born in New Orleans, raised in California, Shea/Morgan got moved to Alaska in 1977, where she attended high school before running back to California for college. Alas, once back home she met and fell in love with her own forever true hero, a born and raised Alaska man. Since then she’s had a love-hate relationship with America’s largest state.

BUY 

With her one and only son half way through college, and mostly out of the house, Shea is fortunate to spend her days engaged in daydreaming and turning those dreams into romantic novels and novellas featuring damsels in distress rescued by their own brains and hunky heroes.

FIRST, HERE'S THE BLURB FOR SHEA'S LATEST RELEASE -
 RACHEL DAHLRUMPLE:

Her husband's death is just the beginning of her marital woes. 

Rachel's humiliation over the discovery of her late husband's affairs turns to fear when one of his mistresses sends her a poisoned bouquet. But finding the source of the killer flowers is only one step on her path to solving the mystery her husband left behind. 

Deputy Dan Weston is with Rachel when the bouquet arrives, and he's at her side as she deals with so many of the secrets that come to light after her husband's death. Dan has carried a torch for Rachel since puberty and he's not going to let her dead husband's vindictive girlfriends or his psychotic mother come between them now. But that means finding out who is sending snakes and poisoned posies before one kills Rachel. 

NOW SHEA REVEALS

From where do you get inspiration and what inspired you to write RACHEL DAHLRUMPLE?

I started writing Rachel on the 4^th of July, 2009. Why do I remember that date so specifically? Because of the news events that took place that week. It was a filled one. Death, betrayal, death and betrayal in one. The Luv Gov of South Carolina had just been outted for taking off to Argentina to spend time with his mistress, his government kept in the dark. His wife too. Then Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died on the same day. I was already shaking my head, but when a former Tennessee Titan quarterback was found murdered by his 20 year old girlfriend, a sense of outrage rose up inside me. From this outrage, Rachel began to speak to me. I’d never written first person before, but she insisted. From there I was on a roll. So, in a nutshell, I suppose you could say current events inspired this book.

In a couple of sentences, describe the hero’s character.  What do you like best/least about him?

Delicious, darling, Deputy Dan. What’s not to like? He’s man enough to admit he’s carried a torch for Rachel for years and when her world falls apart he’s there to help her make sense of it again.

And the heroine? How do you relate to her?

Rachel embodies a whole lot of insecurities. Not just mine, but many women will probably see a slice of themselves in her. Her redeeming quality is she’s got spunk. A late bloomer for sure, but she finds her courage when she needs it most and refuses to be knocked down. She’s my poster woman for Girl-Power.

Who controls the story – you or your characters?

Oh, the characters, most definitely. If they’re being difficult, I put them in a scene and see what pops out, but they drive the story. Of course, my critique partners will tell you they control the story! Yes, they have great insights and they challenge me constantly, nonetheless, the good news is I get to return the favor.

What do you enjoy about writing romance?

Got to have my happy ever after ending. And hot sexual tension, if not the actual act spelled out graphically. I love love. Can’t write a story without it.

What is the best writing advice you have ever received?

Put your butt in the chair and write. For this reason, I love National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. No self editing, just sit and let the fingers fly. Worry about cleaning it up later. Can’t work with something that isn’t out of your head and on the computer screen. Write the damn book. Edit later.

What can we look forward to from you in the near future?

I have a Contemporary novel I’m going over for submission. Elegant Englishman and an earthy California mom meet up twenty plus years after making a baby he never knew about. Yes, the secret baby plot lives! Involves lots of jetting about, tea and, of course, mistaken intentions. Very fun.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I do handcrafts. Knitting, crocheting and recently I started embroidering flour sack dishtowels. The set my mother-in-law gave me years ago is worn to rags and she’s no longer doing it. Someone had to. Wasn’t going to be any of the sisters-in-law. They do quilting and weaving if they do any handcrafts at all.  I also treasure my weekly lunches and meetings with the local critique partners. We’ll often hit a yarn store and cause all sorts of trouble wherever we go. They keep me laughing and inspired. I also have a great time with my online friends. Come visit with me on FaceBook. I’m also learning Twitter.

What was your favourite book as a child/teen/adult? Are you currently reading anything?

Yes, I’m reading. As to what I’m reading, I’ll have to tell you when this posts because I go through a whole lot of books very fast. I’m ahead on my goal to read 200 books in 2011. Check me out on GoodReads to stay current with my reading list. ( http://www.goodreads.com/morganqoreilly )

What is your culinary speciality?

I make a killer lasagne that’s growing in fame. I use my big roasting pan and it must weigh darn near fifteen pounds when I’m done. It provides many, many leftover meals. My son’s godfather often asks when I’ll make another one for him. Since he broke his leg, I might have to do just that and make him his very own.

dates link

AND FINALLY A TANTALISING TEASER:

I looked up and took in Dan’s expression. All teasing gone. Cop mode.

            “I’m a simple person, Deputy Weston. Steady and calm. Boring. I don’t offend anyone, and no one gives me trouble. Unless you’re talking about Jose Delgado, who is three weeks late with the last book he checked out.”

“I don’t think Jose wrote this.” With a deepening scowl, he turned the card so I could read it through the clear plastic.

Black, block letters, innocuous enough, aside from the message. Ah, yes, the kicker.

Let him go. We want to be together. Start divorce proceedings. Or better yet, end your pitiful life. Your choice. For now.

Dan’s gaze was glued to my face, which first felt hot, then cold. My head swam and my breathing wheezed in and out, as ragged as my stuttering heartbeat.

That bastard. The low down, scheming, rotten, lying, slimy, vile, despicable…

“Care to revise your statement?”

A few quick blinks brought the deputy back into focus, though I could feel the airways in my lungs constricting.

“I know who’s going to die, and isn’t going to be me,” I whispered. “Chinese water torture is too good for him. Splinter those bamboo chopsticks and the minute he gets home, they’re going under his fingernails” I’d learned a few things from my father’s stories of ’Nam. And of course, by reading about the war. After all, I was a librarian. I’d read nearly every book on the shelves. Briefly, I considered doing a search on torture techniques.

The tanned face so near mine blanched. “Easy going, ma’am.”

Right. I wasn’t known for saying such things. I wasn’t known for saying much.

“Well?” I demanded. My fragile world had just vaporized before my eyes and it was far too soon to see what might be left. If anything. The only future visible looked like a rapidly expanding black hole.

Someone wanted me dead. But who? My husband? His girlfriend? Divorce loomed in front of me like a huge gaping maw. I wanted to wail, gnash my teeth, and obliterate something, anything. Of course, I was Rachel the Mouse, so I did my best to hide the violent urges building inside. Rachel the Meek never, ever, let loose with her most primitive emotions. She hid them deep, keeping a calm, submissive, accepting face turned toward the world at large.

“What would you do?”

For the first time I could remember in our long history, Dan looked directly, and very deeply, into my eyes. The sympathy, sincerity, and concern on his face hit me before his words did. Already overwhelmed from too many emotions boiling in my heart and head, I had no defense or response for his reply, or the way he ever so lightly caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers.

“Since I’m not the kind of idiot your husband is, Rachel, I wouldn’t be stupid enough to screw around on the most amazing woman anywhere. Were I the lucky one to have you, I wouldn’t leave you alone long enough for you to ever feel abandoned.”

Aside from the asthma and allergy thing, I was a healthy woman. I’d never, ever, once fainted in my life. But the shocks to my system that night hit too hard. A poisonous gift, a nasty note, knowledge I didn’t want of my husband’s cheating ways, and a gorgeous, younger man, telling me he considered me amazing… The zing I felt in my tummy from his touch did me in.

Black waves engulfing me, limbs losing strength, I slowly collapsed and Dan caught me at the last moment of consciousness. Like any nineteenth-century heiress worth her crumpets and tea, I fainted right into his arms.

Shea McMaster

Traditional Romance for Modern Women

Website: http://sheamcmaster.com

FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shea-McMaster/240251469328338

http://morganqoreilly.com

http://themorgandiaries.blogspot.com

Also Available From Shea

Borealis II: A Space Anthology – Bleu Lies  AND Six Foot Hero

IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU, SHEA, AND I WISH YOU GREAT SUCCESS WITH
RACHEL DAHLRUMPLE. LOVE THE TITLE, BTW!

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