Spotlight & Giveaway: Deadly Vegas Escapade by Anna J Stewart

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Anna J Stewart to HJ!

Hi Anna and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Deadly Vegas Escapade!

 
Thanks so much! Great to be back.
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

I call this my The Hangover meets the Bourne Identity. It’s an on the run, amnesia, opposites attract romantic suspense.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“Just need to rest a bit,” he repeated dazedly. “Then I’ll be out of your hair. Pretty hair.” He lifted a hand and caught a curl, an absent if not detached smile curving full lips. “What color is it? I can’t tell.”
“Red.” The bane of her existence growing up. Her brothers and sisters had hit the brown-hair-brown-eye jackpot while Darcy had inherited her parents’ recessive Celtic genes to the nth degree. “Bet it glows in the sunlight.”
Just her luck, getting hit on by a man with a head injury

On one of the shelves next to the combo unit sat a stack of folded up bathing suits in various colors and styles. Hanging and organized in the adjacent space were diving suits along with air tanks stored beneath on the floor. The water elements decorating the bathroom
made him wonder if he’d somehow found himself a mermaid.

“She seems nice,” Riordan said, that hint of humor returning to his voice.
“Yeah, so do Velociraptors, at first.” Darcy shooed him back to the boat. “I need to get the car… I’ll just… I’ll be there in a second.” She waited until he was on his way before she slid behind the wheel and, resting her forehead on it, let herself shake off the panic, and wonder, honestly, for the first time what she’d gotten herself into.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Where the heroine, Darcy Ford lives, is actually just down the street from my house. Every time I drive past that apartment building, I wave at her.
• Amnesia is probably my least favorite trope. I never buy into it. But this story just cried out for it and I think it ended up working really well!
• The casino/hotel I created in Las Vegas would be like my dream place to visit. Not for the gambling, but all the extras and amenities and the design.
• My favorite scenes in this book are the ones that include Eden St. Claire. She was the heroine in the first Honor Bound book (MORE THAN A LAWMAN) and is surprisingly a voice of reason in this one. She’s still one of my favorite characters I’ve written That’s probably why she keeps popping up.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Darcy is always ready to help someone in need and, finding the hero floating in the river trying to keep his head above water is all she needs to jump into the action. I think that despite the fact he’s physically so much larger and stronger than her, but that despite his circumstances he’s determined to protect her really flips her meter.

As for Riordan, he’s never met anyone like Darcy before. She’s definitely a leap first, think second kind of woman and he finds that shockingly appealing, if not frustrating. She just won’t take no for an answer when it comes to helping him.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

There’s a lot of banter with these two characters and that is always fun to write. This is from their first interaction after she’s rescued him (LOVE that twist, LOL)

“You have a head injury,” Darcy said. “You shouldn’t be alone.”

He tilted his head up, boot laces in hand. “Darcy, I get that you want to lend a hand, but there’s nothing you can do.” He was on his own. And his instincts were telling him he was used to that.

“What about helping you find out what happened last night? I know the river and waterways in this area better than most people. And since I dragged you out, that means you had to go in somewhere. And it would have to be somewhere close with the way the water was running last night. I can help you find that answer at least.”

“Darcy—”
“Do you really think I’m going to just forget about you and not worry whether you pitch over with a brain bleed?”

He would have rolled his eyes if he didn’t think the action would make his head ache more. “I don’t have a brain bleed. A concussion, maybe.”

“A concussion definitely. Ever had one before?”

“I—yes?” He might have gotten away with it if the last word hadn’t sounded like a question. “I appreciate everything you’ve done, but whatever I’m dealing with it can’t involve you.” He stood up, scrunched his toes into his boots when he felt himself sway even as she moved to stand in front of him.

“I’m already involved.” That stubborn chin of hers inched up. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed.”

“Am I not using the right words all of a sudden?” he asked. “Darcy, you aren’t coming with—”

She poked two fingers hard against his shoulder and sent him falling back onto her bed. It took him a moment to realize what had happened even as he blinked up at the ceiling. He tilted his head as she stepped over him, hands on her hips. “You can barely stand up on your own let alone go out into the complete unknown. Either, I come with you, or I make some calls. Did I mention I have two FBI agents on speed dial?”

He leaned on an elbow and glared at her, unable to tell whether she was bluffing. “You do not.”

“FBI Special Agent Slade Palmer. Well, former agent. It’s…complicated.” She waved a hand in the air as if erasing words. “But if you’re picky as to whether they’re currently employed by the
bureau, I can call my friend Eamon. He’s either in Sac, or he’s in San Francisco for the week. Hard to keep track, as he goes back and forth a lot.” She blinked and gave him a smile he felt sure she could use to sell ice to a penguin. “Slade’s a better bet. Plus his wife is one of my very best—”

“All right!” Arguing with her was only going to eat up the day and give him a bigger headache. “Get dressed, and you can help me figure out what kind of accident I had last night. But that’s it! No calls,” he added when she spun around and disappeared into her closet.

She poked her head back out, face alight with excitement. “While you’re sitting there—”

“I’m getting up.” He lay on his back again and continued to stare up at the ceiling.

“Well, until you do, what do you want me to call you? I was thinking Arthur—”

“You were?” Baffled, he sat up and turned toward her voice. “Why?”

“Arthur Cur—you know, superhero water guy, looks great in green Spandex. Never mind. How about Duckie? Too eighties?” She leaned back into her closet.

“I don’t even know how to—”

“Bubbles? Flipper? Oh, Caspian!”

“Maybe I can make a break for it,” he muttered.

“I’ve got it.” She stepped out of the closet, her robe gaping just enough for him to get a glimpse of her toned thigh. “Clyde. For the river in Scotland. It’s on my bucket list to visit. Yeah. Clyde works. At least until that noggin of yours starts working right.” She nodded, pleased with herself and as if he had no say in the matter. “Nice to meet you, Clyde. I’ll be ready in a jiff.”

“Clyde.” The name didn’t come close to sounding right. For anything or anyone. But, for now, for this moment, he’d take it.

Readers should read this book….

If you’re looking for an unexpected roller coaster ride of a story. It was a little hard to keep up with to be honest. I was never sure where they were going to take me which makes for the best kind of writing experience. It’s also about two people who don’t realize they need someone and, despite their incredible differences, they simply fit. Eventually.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I’m currently writing the next installment of the Blackwell series I write along with four other Harlequin Heartwarming authors. This one will be called The Blackwell Belles and will start releasing in August of 2024.

As for other releases… along with DEADLY VEGAS ESCAPADE, the 2nd in my Hawaiian Reunions series, THEIR SURPRISE ISLAND WEDDING (from Harlequin Heartwarming) is out this month! On October 10th LIGHTS, CAMERA, CHRISTMAS TOWN, a collection of 8 brand new sweet holiday romances will be out (this is our 8th (I think?) collection and revolves around the filming of a sweet holiday TV movie in Christmas Town. November 21st brings VANISHED, the second in my darker CIRCLE OF THE RED LILY romantic suspense series. I’m SO excited about this release. My editor thinks it’s better than EXPOSED (book 1), so I’m hoping readers enjoy it as well.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: 1 winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card. Two additional winners will receive digital copies of GUARDING HIS MIDNIGHT WITNESS, PRISON BREAK HOSTAGE, and THE PI’S DEADLY CHARADE.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Vegas is one of my favorite places to visit–but not for the gambling. I love doing all the sight seeing and checking out the fabulous restaurants. Maybe take in a concert or a fan convention. My first stop is always the gelato bar at Caesar’s Palace. Mmmmm…. pistachio gelato. Yum. Have you been to Las Vegas? What’s your favorite hotel to stay in? What do you like to do and where do you go?

 
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Excerpt from Deadly Vegas Escapade:

She was shivering when she returned below deck, but the cold was forgotten at the sight of him hovering over her laptop examining the GPS map the new program made available to them. As for the laptop Eden and Jason had provided? She’d consider using that as her final option.

“You get a handle on that yet?” She retrieved the rest of the shopping bags she’d set by the forward berth.

“It’s pretty straightforward,” Riordan said almost absently. “How big a warning did Eden give you about me before she left?”

“Big enough to make me accept I’m not jumping in blindly,” she admitted readily. “Not so big to make me think about walking away.”

He shook his head. “From what I learned this evening, you have a lot of people who care about you, Darcy. Why you’d throw that away for—”

“A suspected murderer?” She forced a smile and shoved doubt aside. “Maybe I see someone worth fighting for. Fair warning, she took the Impala.” She paused. “You don’t look surprised.”

“I’m not. That car isn’t inconspicuous, nor is it a vehicle we can rely on for any potential situation. That Range Rover should get us through anything.”

“Car seat included,” she added. “Did you find your rental?”

“Tracing where it’s been.” He scrolled down to shrink the map on the screen. “Eden was right. There’s not a blip of it since late last night, but the program she showed us mirrors the GPS record, meaning every time the car stops and starts, it registers the location in longitude and latitude.”

“Took me ages as a kid to get those two straight.” It didn’t escape her notice that he seemed comfortable with the computer, adding one more thing to her vault of knowledge about him. Darcy stepped behind him, leaned in and peered over his shoulder. “So we can assume you picked up the car in Vegas from someone you must know since it’s listed as still on-site.”

“I must know someone there,” Riordan mused. “Can’t imagine any business would turn over a car like that to someone they didn’t trust.”

She reached out, traced a finger over the red line that did a bunch of circling in the same area before heading northwest. “You only made one stop on your way here from Vegas, and that was before you hit Davis. Travis Air Force Base. Two days ago.” She planted her hands on her hips. “That would have been the day before I found you.”

“Which means whatever happened that had me in that river, happened fast. Can’t be a coincidence. How much you want to bet I paid a visit to Jay Russo?”

“Can’t prove it one way or the other unless you feel like hacking into a military database.” At his surprised expression, she continued.

“These days, all visitor logs are digitized, right? You have to sign in as far as where you’re going and who you’re seeing. You show your face down there and it’s game over.”

“I’ve never wanted to hack something more in my entire life.”

She knew the feeling. “So, this here is where you crashed by the river I take it.” She pointed to one of the dots.

“There’s nothing beyond it.” Riordan pinched two fingers into the bridge of his nose. It was obvious he was running out of steam, which made sense considering they’d been going since daybreak.

“Car’s gone.”

“Good. That means we’ve hit the proverbial wall and can get some sleep.” She dug through the bags and pulled out a box of painkillers, shook them in the air to make sure he saw them. “I did some shopping for you. Just a few basic clothes, toiletries. Nothing fancy and nothing expensive. I didn’t have a lot of cash on me, and I didn’t want to use my credit card.” She nibbled on her lower lip.

“You look as if that wasn’t a good idea. Quite the contrary, those were all the right things to do.” He got to his feet, accepted the items. “I appreciate it.”

“I guessed on the sizes. Might have gone bigger than necessary, but…” She shrugged. “And there’s also…” She dug around for the disposable razors, shaving cream and box of temporary hair dye.
“So you can stop looking like you. It’s this twist and apply brush thingy. Looks easy enough. I was going to get one for your beard, then realized that was dumb. You’d make more of a change by
shaving.”

“Yeah.” He scrubbed a hand over his neatly maintained beard. “I was already planning on that.”

“It’s a shame.” She reached up, touched her fingers to his face, tried to convince herself the spark she felt against her skin was nothing more than her imagination. “I like the beard.”

He smiled. “Noted for future reference.” His response surprised them both, but before Darcy could comment further, he stepped away. “What we both need right now is some sleep. I checked out the berths. You should take the main one at the stern.” He pointed behind him. “The smaller one works fine for me. Eden turned on the water heater before she left.”

“Oh. Right. Sure.” It wasn’t as if she’d expected to share a bed with him or anything. Her face heated like an overstressed furnace.

“A shower definitely sounds great. In which case…” She stepped around him, retrieved her backpack and plastic bag of her own items and moved away. She was about to turn back, then hesitated, glanced at him.

“Go, Darcy.” There was warning in his voice. But also longing.

“Yeah.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Good night, Riordan.”

He was still standing there, watching her, as she slid the bedroom door closed.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Gambling with their lives, all bets are off.

On the lam from a murder charge, Riordan Malloy is saved from drowning by water rescuer Darcy Ford. On land, the mysterious man has no memory of his identity or his secret past. He only knows that he’s endangering Darcy. When all clues lead the unlikely pair to a posh Vegas casino, they must fight to stay alive—and fall in love—against all odds.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo |
 
 

Meet the Author:

writing for Harlequin’s Heartwarming (sweet romance) and Romantic Suspense (spicy) lines, she also writes romantic thrillers for Arc Manor’s Caezik Romance. In addition to being a Holt Medallion winner (Bride on the Run), she’s finaled in the Daphne duMaurier Award for Excellence, the National Readers’ Choice and had one of her books optioned as a TV movie. No matter the story, Anna’s books are always about family—the ones we’re born to and the ones we create. Anna lives in Northern California where she loves going to the movies, attending fan conventions, and heading to Disneyland, her favorite place on earth. When she’s not writing, she is usually cooking, baking, binge-watching her newest TV addiction, or re-watching her all-time favorite shows, Supernatural and all things Star Trek. She also spends a frustrating amount of time wrangling two monstrous cats named Rosie and Sherlock.
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