Meet Stephanie Queen - Romantic Comedy/Suspense

Stephanie Queen

Romantic Suspense Author

     Thank you for stopping in to meet Stephanie! We're gathered here tonight on a cobblestone walkway under an old-fashioned street lamp in Boston's Beacon Hill at night. Stephanie should be along shortly so grab a warm drink and then let's all gather close. This is from a scene in her book, THE THROWBACKS, where Grace and her friend Sophia, aka "the Pixie" wait for a taxi after a soiree.

     Stephanie is also holding a contest at the end so please read through her instructions to participate in both contests. Good Luck!

    Stephanie Queen is a romantic at heart, a writer by nature, and has the soul of a cheerleader. She enjoys creating stories where her rose-colored world-view comes to life and the good guys always win. Spending most of her life in New England, she's attended many of the area colleges, including Harvard, and even earned a couple of degrees along the way. Although she lost count of all the jobs she's had before she settled on being a Novelist, her favorite was selling cookies as a Keebler Elf.

Reader’s Haven: Here's Stephanie! thank you so much meeting with us this week! Please share a bit about your book THE THROWBACKS without giving away any spoilers.

Stephanie:  THE THROWBACKS is a romantic comedy suspense—and my favorite book of all I’ve written so far—about a long-suffering middle-aged Brit, David Young, exiled from Scotland Yard and sent to Boston where he needs to redeem his career. David meets a fluffy young decorator, Grace Rogers, who falls head-over-heels for him. Grace always dreamed of making a home of her own with a crowd of kids--and now she wants Mr. Scotland Yard in the role of Dad. Of course Grace is like irresistible kryptonite to David!  It was so much fun to write! Here's a blurb and short excerpt:

The Throwbacks

Short Synopsis

    Vivacious young decorator Grace Rogers sets her sights on that picket-fence life she longs for with the unlikely world-weary British exile, the not-so-young David Young. The ex-Scotland Yard detective joins the Boston Police Department to salvage his career. He hires Grace to decorate his Beacon Hill townhouse—and salvage his life.

     But this rogue detective’s plans for a new beginning are threatened when he can’t resist the seemingly unseemly romance with his too-young bombshell decorator. Grace turns out to be a key witness in his high-stakes kidnapping case--and like Kryptonite to his career and his well-being with her romantic notions of family life.

     David puts his life on the line to save her from the kidnappers, but now is Grace willing to put her dreams on the line to save her real-life superhero from himself?

Excerpt from THE THROWBACKS, Chapter 1:

     Grace tip-toed along the brick path, trying not to get her party heels stuck in the cracks. She heard the cab pull away from the curb and looked back. Sophia bounced behind her, wearing sensible party boots.

     “Do you realize you gave that taxi driver twenty dollars for a two dollar fare?” her friend said.

     “Oh—just like in the song.” Grace smiled and climbed the steps leading to Mabel’s back door. Then she stopped. She felt Sophia stop right behind her.

     “What?” Sophia prompted.

     “You know. The Harry Chapin song where…”

     “Quit stalling, Grace. This is not a surprise birthday party. Open the door.”

    “Are we sure about that? Today is my birthday.” Or at least she’d always celebrated her birthday on October fifteenth as a close approximation. No one had ever come up with a more likely date.

    “No kidding?  Not your thirtieth birthday is it?” Sophia stood on the step below her, making her even shorter than she already was. She looked like an updated version of Lucille Ball with an attitude and a bob. That thought made Grace smile.

    “Wait until you turn thirty and see. You’ll have palpitations too.” Grace turned and pushed through the door into the back hall of Mabel’s Beacon Hill townhouse, willing away that intruder sensation she always got. Mabel was as good as family, she almost said out loud. Like the eccentric old aunt she used to dream up for herself back when she used to dream about it.

    As they stepped into the old woman’s kitchen, the powerful aroma of food and familiarity warmed her. Even the clatter of the no-doubt expensive caterers didn’t spoil the homey effect.

    “Mabel went all out for this bash.  Any idea why she would be hosting this Scotland Yard party?” Sophia asked as she followed her through the kitchen

    “I don’t know. It’s a very big deal to her, though. My attendance was a command performance. I only wish I had a date.” She looked down at her friend. “No offense.”

    Grace began to give herself the usual pep talk for going into a party dateless, the one about her soul mate being around the next corner, when her purse rang. Somewhere deep inside her bag her ringing phone hid. Weaving around the catering staff, she crossed the black-and-white tiled kitchen to the swinging doors as she dug inside the bag to find the phone.

    “Buck up,” Sophia said. “After all, thirty is the new twenty, right? It‘s not like you’re a spinster.”

    The ringing grew louder as she pulled the phone from its depths. Mabel’s Scotland Yard party waited on the other side of the door in front of them. Pushing through the door into the room that Mabel called the “grand salon,” she stabbed the call button and spoke into the phone. Using what she hoped was a discreet voice, she said “Hello.”

    “Grace! I’m so glad I got you!” Her friend Theresa Torini’s voice boomed from the other end of the line so that anyone might hear everything.

     “There’s been a murder!”

Reader’s Haven:  Deanna loves anything to do with London! Do you write under a pen name?

Stephanie: Stephanie Queen is my pen name!  

Reader’s Haven: Readers love to know what we do all day! Tell us about a typical day in your life as a writer.

Stephanie:  My cat wakes me (at whatever time she so chooses—it varies) and I then feed her right away or she’ll trip me on my way to get my coffee. Then coffee in hand I sit at my computer and tap, tap, tap away—until I must jump from my chair and pace around and think. This process is repeated throughout the day, intermittently interrupted by excursions to get provisions (chocolate). I know I’m finished when my cat leaps onto my keyboard and types “$^*&*$%!” which loosely translated means “Enough already!”.

Reader’s Haven: Do your books have a common theme or are they all different?

Stephanie:   The common theme is romance and intrigue. Mostly I write lighthearted (I know—shocking, right?), but I had one deviation – PLAYING THE GAME. It’s less lighthearted—a very angsty story. Some readers have even claimed to cry—it seems to elicit strong emotional reactions according to reviews, but they enjoy it immensely!

Reader’s Haven: Do you have to be alone to write?

Stephanie: Actually, the more the merrier! Too much silence and stillness makes me look over my shoulder too much!

Reader’s Haven: How do you go about naming characters?

Stephanie:  Come to think of it, I could use a better process for this besides sitting around thinking, umm, ummm.
 

Reader’s Haven: Is it easier to write about the characters if you find pictures of them before you write or do you write then find character pictures?

Stephanie: I always have a picture of them in my head—usually a movie star or famous person—usually someone old or dead no one else ever heard of because you’re all younger than me. (You have a teenage audience, right?)

Reader’s Haven:  Uumm...we're pleading the fifth on being younger than you! How do you pick locations for your stories?

Stephanie:  Boston. That’s my town. Any side trips—even the trip to London—are all incidental.

Reader’s Haven: What are you working on now and what should readers be looking forward to from you in the future?

Stephanie:  I’m working on another romantic comedy suspense - THE HOT SHOTS - Book 2 in the Scotland Yard Exchange Program Series. It should be out next month. Then I’ll start on Book 3. I have a plot and characters, but no title yet.  Any ideas?  Seriously—there’s a free book or two in it for you if you come up with the title.

Reader's Haven:  Stehpanie, thank you so much for being with us this week. Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

Stephanie:  My website is www.StephanieQueen.com, I’m on Facebook as Stephanie Queen and my Twitter handle is @StephanieQueen.

     You can buy THE THROWBACKS at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Sony and Smashwords.
      Other novels by Stephanie Queen include two contemporary romance, Playing the Game and Between a Rock and a Mad Woman. Both are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Links

THE THROWBACKS

Amazon

PLAYING THE GAME

Amazon

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A MAD WOMAN

Amazon

Facebook

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/#!/StephanieQueen

GIVEAWAY:  Be sure to enter the Rafflecopter to be included in the contest but also leave the following answers in your comment. 

       I would love to give away a copy of the prequel to my series, BETWEEN A ROCK AND A MAD WOMAN and a $10 Amazon/B&N Gift Card.

       One winner will be picked for the book and one winner will get the gift card. To be eligible for the GIFT CARD, sign-up for Blog RSS Feed and in the comment, give me a title idea for a new romantic comedy suspense along the lines of The Throwbacks and The Hot Shots. (think London, a royal relative and a kidnap plot). I’m not asking for your first born.

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