The Angels Present * Blue 52 by Elaine Cantrell

Please welcome Elaine Cantrel author of Blue 52.

Elaine will be awarding a free ecopy of Return Engagement to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop and a Grand prize of a $50 gift certificate for Amazon or B&N to one commenter during this tour and the Review Tour. A randomly drawn host will be awarded a copy of both Return Engagement and Blue 52. If the winning host reviewed Blue 52, they'll get a copy of The Enchanted instead.

In order to win you need to use the rafflecopter below and leave a comment.

Blue 52

by Elaine Cantrell

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"First Lady Kills President Lovinggood"

December 29, 2018

Thirty years later Hank Lovinggood embarks on a quest to prove his mother's innocence and punish the killers who took his family from him. Together Hank and lovely physicist Kathryn Sinclair confront an implacable, twisted, merciless enemy who'll do whatever it takes to hide the truth forever.

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Elaine Cantrell and Blue 52

1. What or who inspired you to start writing? Oh, I have to give my son credit for that. While he was in school he won a writing competition, and shortly after that he came to me and said that he’d written a book and wanted me to read it. Can you imagine a mother’s pride? I guess I was insufferable. For days I went around telling everyone I met about my talented son, even those who really had no interest in books or writing. I knew he got his talent from me-his father can’t spell cat or tell a story if his life depended on it-so with the encouragement of my friends, I decided to give writing a try myself. 

That first book sat on my computer for ten years before I sent it out into the world to find a home. A New Dream is its title, and I believe I’ve sold more copies of A New Dream than I have any other book. 

I wasn’t idle in that ten year period, though. My second book won the 2003 Timeless Love contest and was published in 2004 by Oak Tree Press. 

My son who really is talented decided not to write after all. He became a musician instead. He and his group are in great demand for dances and festivals.

2. What elements are necessary components for this genre? Blue 52 is a mainstream romance so of course we have a beautiful heroine and a strong, handsome hero. What’s a romance without characters to drool over? In addition, the supporting cast has to be either sympathetic or unlikeable, depending on whether they’re the good guys or the bad guys. I also think that in a mainstream romance, a big external conflict is necessary. In the case of Blue 52, the external conflict comes from an evil man who’s trying to keep his role in the assassination of the president a secret. If my hero and heroine can’t defeat him legally, they’ll have to kill him or he’ll murder them first.

And of course we need some internal conflict, something that will keep the characters apart for a time. Blue 52 is bursting with internal conflict, a lot of which stems from my hero’s insecurity. In fact, that’s one thing I love about the book: Hank’s transformation from a mourning dove to a hawk. 

3. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?  I don’t belong to a formal critique group, but I have some readers I use as a sounding board, especially my friend Jennifer who’s an English teacher and a writer. I once belonged to a critique group, but two people could read the same passage, and one would love it and the other would hate it, so I was constantly confused.

4. Do you outline your books or just start writing?  A little bit of both, I guess. I have a general idea of where I want to start and where I want to end up. I also have a vague idea about how I might get from point A to point B, but no I don’t outline.

5. How did you come up with your idea for your novel?  Everyone always asks me this, and sometimes I don’t know; the idea just comes out of nowhere, but this time I do know. Blue 52 is a sequel to Return Engagement which is also published by Whiskey Creek Press.  I loved my characters in Return Engagement so much that I was toying with the idea of a sequel when I read an article about the Enigma code that was used in World War II. I liked the idea of a secret code, and that gave me the idea for a sequel in which a code plays a major role.

6. What expertise did you bring to your writing?  Not one thing except that thanks to my mother I’ve been a reader my entire life. I guess I absorbed some techniques without realizing it. 

7. How do you maintain your creativity?  I still read. I watch TV. I listen when people speak. I’ve found that it isn’t something I can force. If I’m open to new thoughts, ideas, and people, creativity flows more freely.

8. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?  I have three revised manuscripts ready to send to my publisher, but so far I haven’t done it. I need to get busy on that. I’ve also started work on Book 3 in my Lovinggood trilogy. Return Engagement is book one. Blue 52 is book two, and the yet unnamed manuscript will be book three.

9. Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why? My absolute favorite is my hero Hank Lovinggood. I like Hank because even though he’s born into a family that’s as close to royalty as America gets, he’s still vulnerable, kind, and has problems. I like watching him come out of his shell and gain the confidence to do something no one has ever done before, not only do it, but do it well and with style. I like watching his transformation into a man his father would admire. 

10. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?  I’m passionate about animal rights. I’m always shocked and amazed at man’s capacity for cruelty, and I try in whatever small way I can to educate people and to help the animals.

The backhoe roared to life and started to dig. Hank stoically thrust his hands into his pockets and stood ramrod straight. He felt like sitting down and crying, but he’d be damned if he would. Nobody ever told any stories about his father whimpering and crying, and he wouldn’t do it either. His father wouldn’t know one way or the other, but he’d know. If he didn’t behave with decorum and restraint, it would haunt him until the day he died.

It seemed to take forever for the first coffin to see the light of day. Hank watched as cemetery workers placed the coffin on a dolly that carried it to the back of a hearse. He had no doubt in his mind that he had just seen his father’s coffin. For some reason he had thought it would be bronze colored, but it wasn’t. It was gray.

Unconsciously, he had moved a few feet toward the hearse. His stomach quivered when he saw the presidential seal emblazoned across the top of the coffin. It was his father, all right.

It didn’t take as long for his mother’s coffin to be removed. The two coffins looked identical, which surprised him. I thought they would be different.

Seeing this coffin brought goose bumps to Hank’s arms. If the history books had it right, he would soon come face to face with the woman whose vicious act had caused them to be in this awful place on this nice, sunshiny morning.

If she hadn’t murdered his father, they’d be like any other normal family, planning a menu for Thanksgiving, putting up their Christmas tree, and doing their holiday shopping. They might even be happy.

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Elaine Cantrell was born and raised in South Carolina where she obtained a master’s degree in personnel services from Clemson University.  She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary society for women educators, Romance Writers of America, and EPIC authors.  Her first novel, A New Leaf, was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love Contest.  When she’s not writing or teaching, she enjoys movies, quilting, reading, and collecting vintage Christmas ornaments. 

Find Elaine at the following locations.

http://www.elainecantrell.com

http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com

http://www.facebook.com/elainepcantrell

http://www.twitter.com/elainecantrell

http://www.pinterest.com/elainecantrell

http://www.goodreads.com/elainecantrell

Buy Links:

 http://www.amazon.com/Blue-52-Elaine-Cantrell-ebook/dp/B00H1MHC24/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388763664&sr=8-1&keywords=blue52+by+elaine+Cantrell

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blue-52-elaine-cantrell/1117552083?ean=2940148981893

http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1171&zenid=07435ca83ccdf8de84ac176bb0022c8a

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/386031

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