Today, I have author Nikki Logan here with us talking about how she came to write her new romantic suspense release, Wild Encounter.
Welcome to The Book Vixen Nikki!
A Dream Experience
My debut romantic suspense ‘Wild Encounter’ was also my debut as a fiction writer (although it has come out after the ten books that followed it). I wrote it while on six months (paid) long-service leave from my government job and I wrote it in one gluttonous sitting. It was the ultimate luxury, being paid a full time wage to do nothing but let my washing mound up as the word count did.
Ah… Good, good times.
I knew that I would go mad without a project for those six months and so I decided I’d write a book. I’d been having myself a Tony Park-a-thon (Tony’s an Australian author who writes ‘romance for blokes’ all set in Africa and all with military/thriller themes) and so I had danger and Africa and wildlife very much on my mind.
The premise for Wild Encounter came to me in a dream. I know… cliché alert but there it is. I had an intensely vivid dream in which the POV kept switching between first and third to keep me disoriented and the woman in the dream traded on the intense chemistry between she and her captor to get him onside and to leverage any opportunity that came her way. The one thing she did have over them (given she had nothing else at her disposal) was her brain. She was smarter than all of them, including the alpha baddie. So when her chance to escape came, my dream heroine knew she had to be smart, she couldn’t just go galumphing off into the shadows because—of course—they’d find her. She might have been smarter but they were tougher and more experienced and familiar in the terrain.
So in the dream she messed with their heads and they fell for it (that’s the spoiler-free version for those of you yet to read Wild Encounter). A right proper dose of crying wolf. Very appropriate for a wildlife book.
I remember waking from that dream and lying there, rushing with adrenaline (as I often get with the intense running-for-your-life dreams) but fixated on the residual sense of empowerment coursing through my body. That dream was all about using whatever you had to get out of danger. And my dream heroine only had her brains and the chemistry between she and her captor. Turns out that was quite a lot.
Claire in Wild Encounter has one more thing going for her, too, but you’ll have to read it to find out what.
I think that’s part of the fantasy with romantic suspense. That—when the chips are down—as a woman you’ll be smart enough and courageous enough and confident enough to beat all the bad guys and survive or save others. I know that’s what I enjoy when I read it (and I guess that’s why I dreamed about it).
As my Wild Encounter book trailer asks… “What would you do to survive? What wouldn’t you do?”
Nikki Logan lives amongst a string of wetlands in Western Australia with her long-suffering partner and a menagerie of furred, feathered and scaly mates.
She studied film and theatre at university, and worked for years in advertising and film distribution before finally settling down in the wildlife industry.
Her romance with nature goes way back, and she considers her life charmed, given that she works with wildlife by day and writes fiction by night–the perfect way to combine her two loves.
Nikki believes that the passion and risk of falling in love are perfectly mirrored in the danger and beauty of wild places. Every romance she writes contains an element of nature, and if readers catch a waft of rich earth or the spray of wild ocean between the pages she knows her job is done.
Find the author online: website | twitter | facebook
A wildlife release mission in Africa turns deadly when the convoy is hijacked by smugglers, and veterinarian Clare Delaney is taken hostage. Terrified for her life and her animals, the intrepid Clare establishes a rapport with the man she believes is the criminals’ leader, and reluctantly finds herself under his protection...and falling hard for the enigmatic man.Alpha-to-the-max Simon deVries sees right through his sexy captive’s attempt to seduce her way to freedom. So when their simmering attraction flares into true passion, it takes them both by surprise. Now he’s torn between completing his secret mission and letting her escape without telling her his true identity. He knows if he lets her go, he will be risking his career, his life...and his heart.
Thanks to Entangled Publishing and Nikki Logan, one lucky winner will receive an ebook copy of Wild Encounter. Good luck to all who enter!
- No purchase necessary.
- Must be 18 years old or older to enter.
- Giveaway open Internationally. Void where prohibited.
- Comments are appreciated, however, you must fill out the Rafflecopter form in order to enter this giveaway.
- Please read TBV's Giveaway Policy before entering.
- Giveaway ends 9:01 pm (Pacific Time) on 10/30/2012.
Your book sounds really good! Thanks for the entries.
ReplyDeleteI've already downloaded it, but if I win, I'll give away the copy on my blog. It sounds fantastic, Nikki. I love reading about - and writing about! - veterinarians and animals and wildlife so I know I'll love this story.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations and best of luck!
sounds like a great book.i like the cover. thanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDelete