Spotlight & Giveaway: VANISHED 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, VANISHED!

Thank you! Great to be back with you all and happy holidays!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

After searching for her missing sister for eight years, single mother and survivor advocate Mabel Reynolds might finally get some answers. Unless Paul Flynn, the DA’s special investigator gets in her way.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“YOU were a lot more fun before I died.”

Mabel’s minivan tires ground into the gravel, the sound a crisp, distinct
crunch as she eased to the side of the road. She clenched her chilled hands
around the steering wheel. Moonlight streamed through the windshield, a
spotlight in the darkness of the thickening fog.

She could drive these winding Hollywood Hills roads blindfolded by
now.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• As with all the books in this series, the hero and heroine are named after classic Hollywood movie stars. While Mabel’s first name doesn’t connect, her last name is in honor of Debbie Reynolds. Paul Flynn is a combo of Paul Newman and Errol Flynn.
• This series is so much fun to write–as I don’t plot, I have no idea what’s going to happen next and Mabel and Paul definitely surprised me at every turn.
• As much fun as it was to write, it was also a challenge. I actually ended up rewriting most of it after I turned it in because I just wasn’t happy with it. I am now, though!
• It took me forever to land on exactly what Mabel did as her reaction to her sister’s abduction. It wasn’t until I met a woman (friend of a friend) who works as a rape victim advocate that I found my answer. When I added that piece to the character, everything fell into place.
• I came up with the titles of this series before I even wrote book one. So far, I haven’t changed any of them. They’re helping me with the plot. Book 3 will be out this time next year–and the title and cover will be revealed in my December newsletter.
• Nurse Alicia Florendo, featured in the story, is inspired by an actual nurse of the same name. She’s one of my best friend’s daughter-in-law and she answered a ton of questions for me about ER procedures and hospital operations. Seemed appropriate to put her in the book.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Respect. And it’s mutual. Surprising to Mabel, I think, because she’s been stonewalled by so many people about her sister’s missing person’s case. She expects more of the same now that the case has been reactivated. It catches her off guard that Paul, instead of keeping her in the dark, brings her in. He may have ulterior motives in doing so, but he’s sincere in wanting to uncover the truth and the truth, Mabel soon realizes, is very sexy.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Intense. Dangerous. Complicated. Unexpected. Ill-advised.
 

The First Kiss…

“It’s been an interesting day. A surprising one,” he told her. “And it’s now occurring to me that you and I might have a problem.”

“Only one?” She wanted so much to laugh, but it just wasn’t there. He cupped her face in his palm, looked straight into her eyes. She saw it, felt his barely repressed emotions surging through his fingers. There were so many things she could say to push him away, so many words that would create distance between them, and yet the only thing she could muster the courage to utter was his name. “Paul—”

He kissed her.

It was, she thought, the most tender, affectionate kiss she’d ever received.

She could feel his concern, taste his uncertainty, and she all but vibrated in his hold until he lifted his mouth and rested his forehead against hers.

“I was hoping to prove myself wrong.” He frowned, shook his head. “I didn’t. Dammit. This is the last thing I need.”

“Same.” Determined to keep up a façade for as long as she could, she kept her tone sharp. Hopefully, whatever transference or emotional dependency she was feeling would subside once they both headed home.

Until then, she was stuck feeling like a candle that was in danger of burning itself out. “Just waiting for my defenses to be down, huh? For the record, I always kiss strange men after someone’s tried to kill me.”

“Happened before, has it?” He lifted his other hand to her face. That wasn’t just confusion she saw on his face. There was panic there, as well. Well masked, but there, nonetheless.

“You know what I think?” She challenged, if only because it kept her distracted.

“I couldn’t possibly begin to guess.”

“I think you lied to me earlier. In your office.” She narrowed her eyes as if that would make him seem less puzzling. “When you said you aren’t a nice man.”

“I’m not.”

“Liar.” He was nice, which was something solid to hold onto. “Something’s happening, isn’t it?”

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

This book is seriously intense. I’m dealing with missing women, a secret society determined to keep their actions secret by any means necessary, and powerful people keeping a close watch on everything that’s going on. There’s danger and bumps and scares but…

In the middle of all that I also have Keeley, Mabel’s eight year old daughter who provides a little levity. She’s a Swiftie who loves to sing into a kitchen spoon, but is also a demon when it comes to playing Monopoly. Something Paul unexpectedly discovers. I love writing those “breathe” moments in my suspense books.

“That’s Coruscant Imperial Palace with three cities and a spaceport, which means you owe me …” Keeley scrunched up her face and tapped her fingers on the table, “three thousand four hundred dollars!” Keeley held out her hand and, rather than looking superior—as she had every right to feel— she had an ego-smashing expression of pity on her face. “Sorry.”

“I’ve lost court cases I feel better about,” Paul muttered as he cleaned out his cash and placed the last of his money in her palm. “You know, originally, I planned to ‘let’ you win.”

“Mom always says, that, too.” Keeley counted out the money and arranged it onto the nice thick piles she’d been collecting since the first roll of the dice. “She says I have a diabolical mind.”

“I’m not in a position to disagree.”

“Do you like my mom?”

“I do.”

“Like … like like her, or just friends like her?” Keeley pinned him with a look that was all too much like her mother. “Cause friends like is fine; it’s cool and all. But if you maybe wanted to take her out on a date or something, I’d be okay with that.”

“You would?” He didn’t know why but the idea of having earned Keeley’s approval gave him a bit of an unexpected boost.

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “You make her smile. Even when she thinks no one’s looking. She’s been smiling a lot since she met you—well, except for that little time after you left last time.”
“Good to know.” He couldn’t imagine a more uncomfortable conversation to have with anyone, let alone an eight-year-old.

“My dad didn’t make her smile. I don’t think.” She scrunched her nose. “I don’t know for sure, actually. He didn’t want to be a dad. I’ve only seen him a few times.”

“Being a dad isn’t always an easy thing to be.” He couldn’t imagine a man being more shit out of luck than having lost Keeley Reynolds as a daughter.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

Paul and Mabel’s first meeting in his office. That scene sets up everything that comes after. It’s probably the most important scene in the book. The chemistry had to be there from that moment.

“Sit, please.” He motioned to the chair while he shifted the stack of folders into more manageable piles along the counter behind his desk.

Before he faced her again, he did a quick flip-through and pulled one free. “You sure I can’t get you some coffee? I know a caffeine addict when I see one.”

“Stop. Please.” Perched on the edge of the cushioned chair, she took a calming breath. She was here for Sylvie. To give her sister a voice. That was all that mattered. There wasn’t a force in the universe that could puncture the balloon of determination that had inflated eight years ago.
“I’ve been through this polite get-me-to-drop-my-guard routine before with your boss. And with at least three of her underlings—and, to be honest, I’m tired of it. I came here today to get an assurance from you that you’re taking these disappearances seriously. Not to just charm me into a false sense of security before you usher me out again with no more answers than I walked
in with.”

“I am taking the disappearances seriously.” His smile was quick but more somber this time. “I hope that doesn’t mean our meeting is over already.”

She simply stared, waiting, her pulse thudding in her throat.

“Underlings, huh?” Paul’s eyes sparked with dull amusement. “Please tell me you called them that to their faces, and where can I see a video of that interaction?”

Mabel’s mouth twisted. She might have called them that and worse, but only after they’d given her the runaround and she’d threatened a sit-in. Not that she was going to admit it to Paul. “How about we cut through all the bull?”

His eyes cooled. “I wasn’t aware—”

“Seriously.” Exhaustion she hadn’t expected to surge threatened to drain the energy completely out of her. She didn’t want to piss Paul off and close off the only remaining avenue in the DA’s office to get answers, but she needed him to know she meant business. “I’m running on sugar, adrenaline, and about ten hours sleep over the past three nights. I’ve got an eight-yearold with a sudden Stephen King obsession, tax season is about to land on me like a two-ton boulder on my shoulders, and you’re sitting there with a smile that looks like you just walked off the pages of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue.”

His brows shot up.

“So, please,” she said, finishing on a wave of anxiety she hadn’t realized she’d been riding. “Don’t continue with the affectations and devil-may-care attitude. I can assure you: This devil does care. A lot.”

Readers should read this book …

If they like adrenaline rush books. Suspense filled stories spiked with romance, friendship, and secrets. Fans of noir-type films and Hollywood mysteries. Fans of classic Hollywood, the golden age of movies, and Los Angeles history. As with all my books, this series is about family made and the strong bonds women build among themselves. Oh, and there are dogs. A couple of them, LOL.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m currently writing my next book for the 2024 Blackwell series (The Blackwell Belles). For the first time I had a deadline coincide with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so I’m participating in that. I have three more books to write (2 Hawai’i set Heartwarmings and the first in my new McKenna Code series for Harlequin Romantic Suspense) before I get to start book 3 in the Red Lily series. That book is going to be completely different from anything I’ve ever written before. It’ll be Cass’s story, and she’s an agoraphobic dealing with severe PTSS, and she’s a forensic specialist. I can’t wait to find out what happens!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One $15 Amazon Gift Card.
Two winners, each will receive a digital copy of EXPOSED, book 1 in the Circle of the Red Lily series.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: The Circle of the Red Lily series pays homage to one of my favorite interests: old Hollywood and classic movies. What are some of your favorite old movies? Comfort watches? Go to movie stars?

 
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Excerpt from VANISHED:

PAUL wasn’t a man often taken off guard. He definitely wasn’t the kind of man who spoke without thinking. He aired on the side of caution, especially with words, if only because he understood the damage the wrong words could do.

Being prepared for anything was how he’d reached the age of thirtyeight. He spent an inordinate amount of time making sure he was always, always ready for whatever the universe threw in front of him: education opportunities, job offers, tricky defense lawyers. His father’s fists.

Being un-surpriseable (was that even a word?) had, on more than one occasion, saved, if not his life, certainly his sanity.

But all that was before Mabel Reynolds.

He had completely underestimated the power of one determined, angry, gorgeous woman. Not just any woman. The twin sister of one of his assigned victims.

A beautiful sister of one of his victims.

And it wasn’t just anger he picked up on but a deep-seated thirst for vengeance he’d bet had no bottom.

He’d felt the fury wafting off her in waves big enough to shut down the Santa Monica Pier. It was the kind of sensation that left him feeling both sympathetic and determined to help her rid herself of it. He wanted to attempt to heal her emotional wounds. Or at the very least, start to stitch them back together.

He flexed his hands, as if he could dislodge the sparks he’d felt the instant he’d touched her. The last time he’d felt this shaken, his professional life had begun to fall apart. No—no, no, no. This was not going to happen.

He’d already broken one of his personal promises.

He had no intention of breaking another.

Paul walked back around his desk and took a seat, his gaze caught by the solitary cupcake sitting in front of his computer screen. He reached out, dipped his finger into the creamy frosting, and took a taste. His tastebuds grabbed hold of the sugar almost immediately as the earthy chocolate danced on his tongue.

He could almost hear Mabel’s laughter—a sound he had to imagine as he hadn’t quite been able to make her laugh. He suspected he’d prefer that sound to the howling cries that had followed him out of the Tenado estate.

The very idea of her laughter instantly brought to mind her face: those wildly determined eyes and a smile that almost made him forget anything other than Mabel Reynolds existed.

“Okay, that just won’t do at all,” he muttered to himself before calling for his assistant. “Kent!”

His assistant appeared in the doorway almost instantly. “Sir?”

This feeling of being off-kilter, that one woman had the power to shove him off balance to the point he couldn’t quite decide which way to go, was not something he intended to get used to. “Two things.”

“Yes, sir.” Kent practically shot to attention.

“Make that three,” Paul said. “First, relax. This isn’t a military academy, and I’m not your superior officer.”

Kent tilted his head. “Well, actually, sir—”

“Second.” Paul stood back up and stepped around his desk, unable to ignore the floral scent left by Mabel’s perfume. He blew out a breath. This might end up being more difficult than he thought. “I’d like you to build a file for me on Mabel Reynolds. Everything you can find. Nothing is too small to note.”

“Yes, sir.” Kent nodded. “And third?”

And third.

Paul rested his hands on his hips, looked at her now vacant chair.

“Anytime Ms. Reynolds calls, I want you to put her through. Open-door policy from here on.”

“But—”

“If she comes to the building, I want her to be cleared to come up.”

“Ah, sir, the District Attorney—”

“Doesn’t want to deal with her. And she won’t have to,” Paul said. “I will. This is my case now. Mabel Reynolds is my problem. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” Kent didn’t look entirely convinced.

“Do you have a problem, Kent?”

“No, sir. I’ll call Charlie down in security right now. And I’ll get that report going.”

“Great. Thanks. Oh, and you can put that call through to the DA,” he said after Kent turned to leave.

“Yes, sir. I’ll get her on the phone right now.” Kent closed the door behind him.

Paul sighed. They were going to have work on this sir thing. He knew it was the professional thing to do, but every time he heard it ….

His head was beginning to feel like an old-fashioned Etch-a-sketch with the number of thoughts he kept trying to erase from his mind. Didn’t matter how much he tried, however. All his thoughts—both impressive and inappropriate—about Mabel weren’t going anywhere.

And neither, it seemed, he reminded himself as he grabbed a stack of file folders and set them on his desk, was she.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

She’ll risk everything to expose the truth.

Since her twin sister Sylvie’s disappearance seven years ago, single mother Mabel Reynolds has turned grief into action and become a strong voice for victims of violence and abuse. When new revelations shed light on what may have happened not only to Sylvie, but dozens of other women, Mabel’s hope for answers is reignited. But the new oh-so-charming DA overseeing the investigation seems more interested in a quick rather than an accurate resolution. With little faith in the system, Mabel isn’t about to stay quiet, not when she’s finally close to the truth. She’s willing to go up against anyone—even a smug, irritating, attractive DA to get the answers she and other families deserve.

Open and shut.

That’s what Assistant DA Paul Flynn has been told about his new assignment supervising a house of horrors case. With a high-profile conviction at stake, Paul can’t afford to make a wrong move if his professional goals are to be achieved. But Mabel Reynolds has his attention. All of it. Attraction aside, the woman knows far more than what’s in the official files which makes her something even more intriguing. But using Mabel as an asset means exposing her and her young daughter to even more danger. Danger that is closing in on them from every side. As even darker forces appear, and their lives are threatened, Paul is faced with risking not only his entire career, but also the one thing he never anticipated losing: his heart.
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Meet the Author:

Anna J Stewart is the USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty sweet to spicy romances. Primarily 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. Most recently, EXPOSED won the Maggie for best romantic suspense of 2023. 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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