Spotlight & Giveaway: Walking the Edge by Sue Ward Drake

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Sue Ward Drake to HJ!

Hi Sue and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Walking the Edge!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Cath Hurley is working to keep her college-aged hearing-impaired brother out of trouble while building her fledging ghost-tour business in New Orleans’s French Quarter. He’s her only family, and Cath, otherwise alone, needs that connection more than anything. What she doesn’t need is the interference of ex-military ranger, Mitch Guidry, who’s aiming to score his first arrest before his Mardi Gras deadline. But when dark forces threaten, can Cath trust Mitch to keep her safe until they find her missing brother?
 

Please share your favorite quote from the book:

[Cath’s former colleague at a competing tour company interrupts the lunch she and Mitch are sharing, but she needs to play nice and not make enemies.]

“It was still a kiss.” Mitch’s hand tightened on the shift lever, and electricity shot across the console from his dark eyes. “I’m a colleague, but you don’t want me even to touch you. No kissing of any kind was discussed.”

OR:
[When Mitch tries to join Cath’s ghost tour]

For one insane moment when his body had brushed hers in the apartment alley, she’d sensed he might kiss her like the prince waking up Sleeping Beauty. He’d awakened something, alright. Cath squared her shoulders and cleared her throat. “Excuse me, this is a paid tour.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The big house where Mitch and his brothers live with and take care of their elderly aunt is actually next to the Fairgrounds Racetrack.
• The paddle wheeler tours do dock on the levee in Audubon Park where the famous Audubon Zoo is located.
• Houses in the French Quarter date from different eras and their differing sizes and building materials depended on the wealth of the owners.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

I would use this scene to audition the main characters because they have to show or hide a variety of emotions. Mitch has joined Cath’s ghost tour and is trying to find a way to make friends so she’ll give him the information he needs.

“I know what you’re trying to do, Mitch Guidry.” As far as she could determine, anyway. “Let me save you some trouble. I don’t have a good side, so you can stop looking for one.”
“Never.” He leaned closer, his warm breath caressing her neck.
Cath shivered. “You think stubbornness is a virtue?”
“Winston Churchill did.”
“Here’s the scoop. We are not fighting World War II.”

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

I hope readers will feel transported to New Orleans and enjoy reading Mitch and Cath’s story. After all, if one is willing to risk facing personal demons, the reward can be love.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A paperback copy of WALKING THE EDGE, by Sue Ward Drake

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Excerpt from Walking the Edge:

Mitch and Cath have found one of her brother’s friends and tracked her down to her bar waitress job at an uptown restaurant. Cath has gone in to see if this girl knows the whereabouts of Cath’s brother.
Cath rushed out of the entrance, head down. Not even looking for him. A bad sign. Hal jogged across the street to intercept her. “Good news?”
“No.” She frowned, her face all scrunched and red. “She knows Les but doesn’t know where he is.”
Mitch ran a hand over his hair and moved closer. To do what? Touching was off-limits. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay. Sarah said she couldn’t remember when she saw him last, but I’m positive she does. I could tell she knew a lot more than she was saying.” Cath stuck an arm into a sleeve, and Mitch held the coat for her. “Maybe you should go in there and talk to her. She might fall for your hunky body like Tiffany did.”
Hunky body? Warmth lifted his chest. Stop. You don’t care how Cath sees you.
“Your brother’s friend knows he’s in trouble, but she doesn’t know you.” Mitch flicked sweat from his brow and unzipped his windbreaker, leading Cath past the restaurant’s turquoise and white striped awnings. “If I turn up asking about him, too, she’ll get even more suspicious. Did you give her my card?”
“Yes. With both our phone numbers. I wrote mine underneath thinking she might feel better calling Les’s sister.” Cath tripped and staggered into the high fence bordering the sidewalk. “Stupid tree roots.” She pulled herself upright. “You can’t walk down the sidewalk without having to detour around buckled cement.”
“Sarah has the card.” Mitch watched that Cath navigated the curb at the corner before continuing. “This is progress. She can call when she has second thoughts.”
“She’s not going to. I ruined everything and wasted the whole day for nothing.” Cath plodded along beside him.
He’d wasted even more. All while under the watchful eyes of his brothers. “We’ve eliminated possibilities. Search and Rescue teams do the same thing when they go through map grids.”
“Search and Rescue? Do you think he’s dead?” She sniffed.
“No.” Mitch crossed his arms to keep from putting an arm around her shoulders. “Sarah would have told you.”
“That would mean she knew before I did.” Cath’s voice quivered. “But I’m his sister.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry. “Aunt Edi would have told us if she’d seen something on TV about an unidentified body. Or Jack or Hal.”
“Unidentified body?” Cath wailed and dug into her handbag.
Mitch tapped a fist against his mouth. RPGs flying into his hide he could handle, but not crying women. “Come on, Cath. We’ll figure out something else.”
She raised her liquid gaze. “He’s my baby brother.”
Her baby brother.
A vise crushed his lungs. Mitch gasped for air, all at once understanding Cath.
Her brother might have broken the law, been arrested, and skipped out on his bail, but none of that mattered to Cath. Les Hurley was her family. He didn’t wear a price tag. If Hal were in the same bind because of a false step or two, which might be all Les had made, Mitch would worry about his brother the same way.
He brushed her hair back, let his hand linger on her neck. The depth of her emotions stunned him, running like an underground river no matter that she put on a brave face. Like him. Were they really that much alike?
“Have you got a tissue?” She slung her bag over her shoulder and swiped at her face with the back of her hand.
Hell. Mitch pulled her into his arms. “You can cry on me.”
She pressed her face into his sweater. A wet spot soaked through and plastered his shirt against his skin. “I don’t cry.” She wound her arms around his waist. “Not usually.”
“I’ll remember that.” He pulled her closer, unable to remember the last time a woman felt this good in his arms.
“You should.” The muffled words fluttering through the wet spot tickled.
What were they talking about? Who cared? He pushed his hands under her open coat and around her waist, closed his eyes, and waited for her to let go and step back. But she clung even harder. He pressed his cheek to the top of her head. “I’m touching you.”
“I know.” She sniffed. “I’m touching you, too.” One of her hands slid up his chest. A shiver spiraled straight to his groin.
He held her hand still. She slipped that one loose and wound both around his neck to tunnel fingers through his hair. He tucked his chin. “I thought you didn’t like this.”
“Aren’t women supposed to be fickle?” She leaned back against his arms and arched those twin auburn eyebrows.
“Not you.” His gaze dropped to her lips. Less than five inches away. He could kiss her, find out if his fantasies were real. That would be crazy. Downright insane.
Mitch maneuvered her closer to the hedge bordering the Garden District mansion beside them. “You sure you want to do this?”
“What do you think we’re doing?” Tears made her voice husky.
“This.” He skated his lips across hers and paused. She opened her eyes. He whispered, “How close am I to crossing your line?”
“My line?” Her frown dissolved into a little smile. “You’re not even close.”
She nibbled the edge of his mouth, and he caught hers in a deeper kiss. She pressed closer, flattening her breasts against him. Egging him on. His need built. She tasted like Heaven, and he needed more.
Girlish giggles erupted nearby.
He dropped his arms and stepped away from Cath. Three school girls in black and white saddle oxfords and plaid skirts whispered together on the corner.
He lifted his chin to acknowledge them. Cath buttoned her coat, and he lowered his head. “Did I overstep your line?”
A groove burrowed between her brows. “I’m not sure.”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

On the knife edge of danger in the streets of New Orleans, these rugged men call the Big Easy home, and they’ll do whatever it takes to protect their own
Ex-army ranger Mitch Guidry never should have let his brothers talk him into joining them in the Big Easy. Particularly when they have him going head-to-head with the very last thing he needs: a feisty redhead who has more opinions than even his hard-headed brothers. Loyal and overprotective to a fault, Catherine Hurley will do everything she can to stop Mitch from finding her fugitive brother…and yet, he can’t get enough of her.

Cath should be furious with the overbearing ex-ranger who shows up on her doorstep looking for her brother. Sure, Mitch Guidry is hotter than a Louisiana summer and pushes every one of her buttons, but he’s also an immediate threat to her family, and family is everything to Cath. Unfortunately, the only way to save her brother is to stick to Mitch like glue. But sharing close quarters with him while they search for her missing brother together proves to be more than a little challenging…particularly when it comes to protecting her heart.

Sue Ward Drake takes you on a wild ride through the steamy streets of New Orleans in this action-packed, sexy romantic suspense!
 
 

Meet the Author:

Sue Ward Drake grew up in an old Southern house full of dark windows, with a passion for writing, travel and international spy thrillers. After college in New Orleans and a year in a farmhouse in Greece, she spent another thirty-four years living and working in various historic neighborhoods of the city, including the French Quarter.
A survivor of the devastating hurricane Katrina, she currently resides in Nevada where she writes the DANGER IN THE BIG EASY series: romantic suspense with humor and hearing loss themes for Sourcebooks Casablanca #OWNVOICES. Look for the first book in December 2020, WALKING THE EDGE.
You can find her at www.SueWardDrake.com