Note from Frolic: Both Kristen Proby and Catherine Cowles have books coming out this month so we had them ask each other a few questions to celebrate!
Kristen Proby: Congratulations on your new release, Beautifully Broken Spirit, Catherine!
I love the blurb on this one! It sounds romantic AND suspenseful! Do you enjoy writing suspense?
Catherine Cowles: Thank you so much! I love adding suspense into my stories. There’s something about that added bit of mystery and threat that heightens the stakes in a way I love.Â
KP: Do each of the books in this series have a suspenseful element?
CC: All four books in the Sutter Lake series have some sort of mystery or suspense running through them. For a small town, the residents have had to deal with a lot of bad guys!
KP: What inspired the Sutter Lake Series?
CC: The setting for the Sutter Lake series was inspired by all the beautiful sights of Central Oregon. I love bringing imagery from my home state into my novels. But the story that kicks the series off was inspired by the loss of my dad. He truly was my best friend and struggled a lot after his passing. I think one of the greatest gifts books can give us is to know we aren’t alone, that others have experienced some of the pain and heartache we are in at that moment. So I set out to tell a story that honestly explores some of the ways grief manifests, and also how people in our lives can help to pull us out of that place. Because I love a hero who will do anything to break down a heroine’s walls!
KP: Who are some of the authors that inspire you?
CC: I love this question! There are so many authors who inspire me for so many different reasons. But some of my all-time favorites are Nora Roberts, Kristen Ashley, Meghan March, Mariana Zapata, Colleen Hoover, and Jennifer L Armentrout.
KP: What is your writing schedule? Do you write every day?
CC: I am someone who thrives off routine, so I do the same thing most days. Wake up, grab a scone from my favorite bakery (gotta have that writing fuel), make my to-do list, write in my gratitude and goals journal, meditate, work on my current book for the rest of the morning and then tackle my admin stuff in the afternoon.
CC: Kristen, your new book, Shadows, is a paranormal romance, what made you want to write in this genre?
KP: I love reading Paranormal romance, and I’ve wanted to write something witchy for a while. Again, Nora Roberts is an inspiration here, with her The Cousins O’Dwyer Trilogy (if you haven’t read it, you MUST!) and her Key Trilogy.
CC: The heroine in Shadows sees spirits, do you believe in ghosts or have you ever seen one?
KP: I do believe in ghosts! And thankfully no, I’ve never seen one.
CC: Did you ever scare yourself while writing or researching this book?
KP: Not really because I know I’m making it all up as I go, so it’s not real. I can’t watch horror movies, though. Those scare me!
CC: What is one thing you are dying for readers to know about Shadows?
KP: That I had the best time writing it. I absolutely love the three sisters, and their special gifts.
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About the Author:
Kristen Proby was born and raised in a small resort town in her beloved Montana. In her mid-twenties, she decided to stretch her wings and move to the Pacific Northwest, where she made her home for more than a dozen years.
During that time, Kristen wrote many romance novels and joined organizations such as RWA and other small writing groups. She spent countless hours in workshops, and more mornings than she can count up before the dawn so she could write before going to work. She submitted many manuscripts to agents and editors alike, but was always told no. In the summer of 2012, the self-publishing scene was new and thriving, and Kristen had one goal: to publish just one book. It was something she longed to cross off of her bucket list.
Not only did she publish one book, she’s since published close to thirty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series, and is also proud to work with William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, with the Fusion Series.
Kristen and her husband, John, make their home in her hometown of Whitefish, Montana with their two pugs and two cats. Find her here: https://www.kristenprobyauthor.com/
Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine Cowles has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend. Find her here: https://www.catherinecowles.com/
Shadows by Kristen Proby, out October 29th
I am never alone. Not even when I am alone.
I see the unquiet dead, the souls that wander through the French Quarter.
They can’t move on, and I can’t stop seeing them.
I wear malachite for protection, and I control what I let in. It’s the only way to stay sane. Everything changes the day Cassian Winslow joins my ghost walking tour and knocks my world off its axis with green eyes the color of the stone around my neck.
An unspeakable evil is loose in New Orleans, taking young women and leaving a bloodbath in his wake. More shadows lurking for me. More unhappy dead. There might be a way to stop it.
Open myself up to Cassian.
If I do, it could spell his death.
But if I don’t, it’s mine.
Beautifully Broken Spirit by Catherine Cowles, out now!
She’s always been his safe place to land.
Jensen has shared a special bond with Tuck for as long as she can remember, their friendship a language that never needed words. But as life threw her one curveball after another, that secret language turned to stony silence.
He’s always been her protector.
Tuck has looked out for Jensen since the day she was born. As his best friend’s little sister, he’s tried to keep her firmly in the friend category. But she’s always been more.
All it takes is one moment of weakness to send Tuck’s fiercely guarded walls crumbling to the ground. As a new fire burns between them, someone watches. Someone who doesn’t like the new life Jensen’s building for herself.
And they’ll stop at nothing to keep her in the dark.
