Friday Fanfare Welcomes:

Leanna Sain  – Half-Moon Lake

How did the writer’s journey begin for you?

My novel writing journey began at a Halloween party where I saw the “Gate to Nowhere” (the title of my first novel) and the stories just keep coming. My “Gate” books have stacked up numerous awards, from Foreword Magazine’s Book-of-the-Year to the Clark Cox Historical Fiction Award from the North Carolina Society of Historians. My fourth novel, WISH, is a stand-alone, YA crossover.

My Southern romantic suspense or “GRIT-lit,” showcases my plot-driven method of writing that successfully rolls the styles of best-selling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Nicholas Sparks, and Jan Karon into a delightfully hybrid style that is all my own. Regional fiction lovers and readers who enjoy suspense with a magical twist will want my books.

Tell us three things about you-the writer-readers wouldn’t typically know.

1. I’m one of the fastest goat-milkers I know.
2. I’m terrified of heights
3. Wasp/Hornet spray stuns a rattlesnake so you can kill it (voice of experience talking here), but you have to unload the whole can on it.

Well, I know what I’m reaching for next time I see a rattler! LOL

It all began when…

It all began when my husband and I were doing a furniture delivery down in the Nantahalla Valley. The kudzu inspired it.

Where did you get the premise for this book?

I was on a ‘twins’ kick. I wondered about something bad happening to one twin that resulted in their death and the psychological trauma causing amnesia in the remaining twin.

Interesting. What stands out about this story that made writing it different for you?

It was my first book written in 1^st person. I actually wrote this one before Red Curtains (the first book in my GRITS series). Everything is in Kate’s POV. It was so much fun I decided to do all the GRITS books in 1^st person too.

Were there any difficult challenges or special subject matter you came across while writing this book?

No difficult challenges, but since kudzu plays an important part in the story, I had to do a lot of research about the plant. I wove what I learned into the story. There’s more to it than just an invasive vine.

I thought that said invasive wine. I was about to grab my glass! 😆

What about this book would make us want to read it more than others of similar taste?

I think my characters are just more believable and although it’s a suspense/mystery, it’s a FUN read. I made myself laugh…out loud. Plus Levi is just plain HOT!

LOL!

What do you want readers to take away from this book?

I want them to love the book so much that they can’t wait to go out and get all my other books.

Tell us about the finished book. Is there anything special we might not know after reading it?

When Kathryn Dorne is summoned to Half-Moon Lake for the reading of her father’s will, she discovers a shocking truth: everything in her life—including her name—is a lie.

Learning that her name is Katelyn Eubanks is only the first surprise. Second, she had an identical twin sister who drowned at the age of nine. Since Katelyn can’t remember anything prior to that age, it seems more than mere coincidence. The biggest surprise is that her father, a man she never knew existed, left his entire estate to her, enraging other would-be heirs.

With her unremembered, but closest childhood friend, Levi, as well as help from the estate’s deaf-mute gardener, and the outspoken cook, Katelyn searches for answers to questions that have plagued her all her life, but doing so, opens the proverbial Pandora’s box.  As her memories return, so does the terrible danger she escaped fifteen years earlier.

I hope readers get their curiosity piqued when the story mentions Half Moon, the Cherokee Indian medicine woman, and the MacKinlay family (see the Gate to Nowhere Trilogy).

Where can readers find you and your books?

https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/search?controller=search&orderby=position&orderway=desc&search_query=half-moon+lake&submit_search=

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=half-moon+lake+leanna+sain 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/half-moon-lake/id1241572035?mt=11

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/half-moon-lake-leanna-sain/1126450434?ean=2940157456566

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/half-moon-lake-1

Is there anything else you want to share or add?

I love talking to book clubs or women’s groups. If your group is within an hour or two of western NC, I’d love to come see you. Contact me at http://www.LeannaSain.com

I wish I lived closer! Thanks for visiting Leanna!

K folks, it’s a nasty, rainy day here in Oklahoma, and I don’t have a fireplace. So, I’ll gift one commenter with a copy of my ebook Risk Factors if you share this post on FB and Twitter then post both direct links in comments. I’ll draw the winner Sunday night.

Dodadaghovi~