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Q&A With Author Debbie Baldwin

I’m so glad to have my friend Debbie on the blog today! I was first “introduced” to her when I signed up to be on a book tour for her book, Illicit Intent, a couple of years ago. Since then, we have ended up in some of the same group chats for bookstagrammers and authors. She’s hilarious by the way! She is also one of the most supportive people of my IG posts, blog, and author services. Debbie wears many hats and you can read all about her below 👇🏻

Debbie! I’m so thrilled to have you on my Q&A. Romantic suspense is one of my favorite genres and always has been. Tell us how your Bishop Security Series came about!

I usually read every night before bed, and I tend to genre binge.  A couple of years ago, I was in a romantic suspense phase and scrolling through the endless thumbnails of book covers on Amazon. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. In my mind, I was looking for an intriguing plot with a dashing but complicated hero who meets his soulmate and saves the day. I also wanted a female protagonist who was no shrinking violet and had her own set of skills. After about an hour of searching, I set my Kindle aside, said: “f**** it, I’ll write what I want.” I went to my laptop and wrote the first three chapters of False Front at one in the morning.

When did you know that you wanted to be a writer and what prompted you to take the leap?

I’ve always been a writer to some extent. I was an English major in college, and in law school, I interned at Newsweek Magazine in their Washington DC bureau. After that, I wrote speeches for a political candidate, worked in marketing, and wrote a humor column in a local paper. In 2015, I wrote and sold a comedy series to ATT/DirecTV. My show, Almost There, aired in 2016. After that, I knew I wanted to focus on a writing project. I just didn’t know what. I think the planets aligned that night when I was looking for a book and couldn’t find anything that grabbed me.

I know in addition to being an author, you’re a mom to 3 kiddos (well, not kids anymore!) as well. Do they read your books?

Hahahaha, good question. My youngest son (19) said he refuses to read my “sex books.” My oldest, my daughter, has read them and loves them—her college friends are all big Bishop Security fans and send me pics reading on the beach or on a plane. My middle child is a bad reader but a great promoter!

Who is a romantic suspense author that inspires you?

There are so many. I love Rachel Grant, Toni Anderson, and Laura Griffin. I don’t even need to read the descriptions of books by Pamela Clare or Jayne Ann Krentz; I just click “buy.”

When in the middle of writing a book, tell us how a typical day of writing looks for you.

Ummm, a lot of puttering. I make myself write a chapter (or fix a chapter), and then I get distracted by Instagram or my pup, or I remember that there are cookies in the kitchen. Then after a suitable amount of procrastinating, I sit down at my computer and start again.

What are some hobbies you love?

I am an exceptionally average baker, but I love it. My family is very patient with my attempts, and every once in a while, I make something delicious.

How do you celebrate a publication day?

Usually by compulsively checking social media and online sites for posted reviews. I’m aware it’s not healthy.

What are you currently reading/watching?

I am obsessed with Ted Lasso and Billions. I am in a real whodunnit phase right now. I’m reading all the old Agatha Christie books and scouring the shelves of my local bookstore for great mysteries. I love a twist that I don’t see coming!

Your first 3 books- False Front, Illicit Intent, and Buried Beneath are out! Is there a 4th in the series coming our way?! If not, can you tell us if you have something else in the works?

Funny you should ask! I just finished the first draft of Book 4, Past Purgatory. Fans of the series have been waiting for Finn’s story, and it’s finally here. Finn is a former Navy SEAL and CIA officer who was captured in combat, and, as a result, one side of his face is badly scarred. He went from being a kind, funny, happy-go-lucky guy to an angry, hateful misanthrope. In Book 3, Finn hits rock bottom and disappears to get his head straight. Book 4 is the story of how he finally heals and (of course) falls in love.

Let’s do some FAVORITES!

Favorite color? Green

Favorite song? Eric Clapton Wonderful Tonight

Favorite meal of the day? Breakfast. I meet my best friend at a hole-in-the-wall diner at least once a week for eggs and pancakes and chit-chat at least once a week.

Favorite restaurant? I don’t have one favorite restaurant; I probably have twenty! I love to eat, and I love to explore new places and new types of cuisine. I obsessively watch weird cooking shows and love learning about restaurants all over the world. I want to plan a culinary tour vacation, where my husband and I eat at all these amazing places.

Favorite toy as a child? I loved to play with my older brothers. Although the feeling was not mutual.

Favorite season? Autumn. Boom. Done. I don’t think I could live in a place that didn’t have changing leaves.

Favorite room in the house? There is this super cozy room in a far corner of the house. I love the sunlight and the cozy couch. It’s just a perfect place to read or think ( or fold laundry).

Favorite scent? I love the smell of baking—cinnamon, cookies, pie, bread. I totally understand why real estate agents bake cookies when they are holding an open house. I would be completely sold. Sure, it’s airport-adjacent, but smell that kitchen!!!

Thank you so much Debbie for your time and for participating in this week’s author Q&A 💕. You should come have a baking day with my husband, he’s amazing at baking pies, cheesecakes, cookies, you name it! And I’m a great taste tester, so there’s that! But seriously, thank you for your continued support of my blog and for being a fantastic romantic suspense author-I can’t wait for Past Purgatory and Finn’s story!

Readers, if you enjoy romantic suspense check out Debbie and her books on Instagram or her Blog! You can find her books to purchase on Amazon.

Bookstagrammer Feature @msanniecathryn

It’s that time again! My favorite part of the week when I get to share with you one of my favorite bookstagrammers! Annie is one of the sweetest people and I hope you love getting to know more about her like I did! Check out our chat below.

XOXO,

Kristyn

Annie, it’s been so great to get know you over the past several months on IG! Tell us a little bit about how you got started on bookstagram.

Thank you! It’s been great getting to know you too, Kristyn. When I started my account on Instagram in 2019, I didn’t know about bookstagrammers. I just gravitated toward posting about books because I love to read. By 2020 when Covid hit, I realized there was a growing and thriving bookstagram community, and I started engaging more with other bookstagrammers. Joining the community became a saving grace for me—an outlet during a tumultuous time.

What is your favorite part about being a bookstagrammer?

I love connecting with other book lovers, and also discovering new books that others have enjoyed. Bookstagrammers are so creative with their posts. There have been many times I bought a book because #bookstagrammademedoit

If you had one piece of advice to give to other bookstagrammers, what would it be?

Well, I am not sure other bookstagrammers need my advice! There are so many amazing accounts out there. But for someone just starting out, I would say be authentic, positive, post consistently, and engage.

What genre do you lean towards the most in your reading?

I tend to read rom-coms, women’s fiction, memoirs, and psychological thrillers. I love books that make me feel all the emotions—books that move me to tears and also make me laugh.

You’re the host of the amazing Soulful Series Chat! How did that come about and what types of authors/books do you feature on it?

Thank you for saying that! It happened quickly. Humanitarian and best-selling author, Elizabeth Nyamayaro, asked me to interview her on IG Live. She said she loved my review of her book I AM A GIRL FROM AFRICA. I had never used IG Live or interviewed an author via video, but I said yes. After the interview, I was so inspired that I decided that I wanted to interview more authors because I love reading personal accounts of resilience. I came up with a name, had a logo designed, and reached out to authors who had written a memoir, nonfiction motivational book, or anthology. The response from authors was enthusiastic and I started booking them for chats. I began featuring authors once a month, but this year I am chatting with more authors per month.

Rumor has it you’re working on a debut novel! Is there anything you can share with us about this?!

Yes, it’s a mom-com called The Friendship Breakup and can be described as Bad Moms meets Mean Girls. It’s about a flawed and quirky protagonist who struggles with balancing her relationships and mom responsibilities while building her dreams. She realizes she must let go of the past and her fears in order to live her best life. I just signed with Alcove Press and I’m super excited.

Ahhh that’s so amazing Annie!! You had me at mom-com and Mean Girls 😍 and I’m going to be first in line to read it!!

Now, tell us something about yourself that we wouldn’t know by looking at your bookstagram!

I collect crystals. I love their energy and have them all over my office.

Time for one of my favorites: This or That!

Essential oils or candles? Essential oils

Sweet or savory? Both together, like chocolate-covered pretzels.

Mountains or Beach? Oh gosh! I love both.

Physical book or audio book? Physical

Mom jeans or yoga pants? Definitely yoga pants

City or country? City

Heels or flats? Flats or wedges

Thank you SO MUCH Annie for letting me feature you on my blog and for being one of the sweetest friends on bookstagram! I’m so excited for your book news and love seeing great things happen for you 💕 Readers- If you’d like to keep up with Annie, then check out her IG or Linktree. Don’t forget subscribe and look for my Galentine’s Day post coming soon!

-Kristyn

Don’t miss this new romcom!

It’s Pub Day for How to Love Your Neighbor by Sophie Sullivan! That means you should run get it! Check out my review below!

💞Review💞

Could this book BE any cuter?! (Cue Chandler Bing voice-because I know Sophie is a Friends addict like myself
– but I digress).
Seriously though, I loved Noah and Grace. After being dealt a bad hand for family, Grace is slowly finding her way in life while remaining strong and independent. Noah knows what he wants and how he’s going get it, but also beginning to realize there’s more to life than making deals. These two mismatched neighbors are in it for a battle of the wills and it’s completely enjoyable to watch unfold .

💞Full Description 💞

Interior Design School? Check. Cute house to fix up? Check.

Sexy, grumpy neighbor who is going to get in the way of your plans? Check. Unfortunately.

Grace Travis has it all figured out. In between finishing school and working a million odd jobs, she’ll get her degree and her dream job. Most importantly, she’ll have a place to belong, something her harsh mother could never make. When an opportunity to fix up―and live in―a little house on the beach comes along, Grace is all in. Until her biggest roadblock moves in next door.

Noah Jansen knows how to make a deal. As a real estate developer, he knows when he’s found something special. Something he could even call home. Provided he can expand by taking over the house next door–the house with the combative and beautiful woman living in it.

With the rules for being neighborly going out the window, Grace and Noah are in an all-out feud. But sometimes, your nemesis can show you that home is always where the heart is.

Q&A with Author Jaime Lynn Hendricks

Hey Everyone! Today I am THRILLED to have Jaime Lynn Hendricks on for Q&A! She’s a thriller author who wrote Finding Tessa, one of my favorites last year! She has the best answers and was so fun to chat with. Check it out!

Hi Jaime Lynn, I’m so excited to have you for this Q&A! Finding Tessa was one of my most anticipated thriller reads of 2021 and it did NOT disappoint. I honestly couldn’t believe it was a debut novel! Tell us a little bit about how this book came about.

Well, 99% of the time, a “debut” isn’t the author’s first manuscript. Funny story! The book that got my agent is actually the one coming out next spring, It Could Be Anyone (which was my 5th manuscript!). While that was on submission to publishers, I wrote Finding Tessa, because everyone says the best way to distract yourself is to dive deep into something new. A book came to market that was a bit similar to my project on sub, so we pulled it and subbed Finding Tessa instead. Through a series of events, I ended up having to rewrite the last half (message me if you want to know the original ending, ha ha!) but it sold relatively quickly after that. And my publisher took It Could Be Anyone as my option, so it’s a dream come true that they are both going to be published in hardcover!

Writing a thriller/suspense has got to be hard! As an avid reader, I have to have that “wow” factor in my thrillers. You were able to do that! Did you know where the book was going before you got there?

Yes! “That” twist was actually the first thing I thought of doing. Like you, I read constantly (always thrillers!) because I consider it research. I’d never seen that sort of twist done before, so I thought to myself: could I write a book around something like that? So, I wrote out the first two chapters with no idea how the story was going to progress, just that “that” was going to happen. It was fun to see all the directions I had it going, knowing none of them were the truth.

How was your experience as a published debut author?

Obviously, it’s every writer’s dream to be published, from the first time they type “the end” on their first manuscript. It was a bit tricky for so many debuting the last couple of years, since so many in-person events were canceled (bookstores, conferences, etc.). Luckily, authors are awesome people (truly!) and I’ve had SO MUCH support from established authors that I kind of worship, so that was surreal, and I can’t wait to pay it forward.

My husband and I ran out to a Barnes & Noble on my debut day. The first time seeing my book on a shelf, I had to pinch myself. Even better was seeing it on the main thriller wall at B&N in Union Square in NYC, which is the gold standard. Signing books is an incredible feeling that will never get old.

What did you do to celebrate when you finished writing your book? (I remember seeing a cake involved!)

My very first book was finished in 2014 and I celebrated by immediately sending it out to try to get an agent which was the absolute wrong thing to do. It wasn’t ready, and I shot myself in the foot because you only get one chance to grab that agent’s attention. I kept writing and getting rejected and kept trashing manuscripts, but each one got better.

For my celebration for Finding Tessa, on debut day I had a few friends over for champagne and pizza. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but I try to stick to a Paleo diet, so it was a HUGE DEAL for me to house half of that large pie with extra cheese! 😊 A few days later my husband had a release party for me at our local favorite restaurant and we had a cake done with the Finding Tessa cover, which was super cool.

Did you grow up knowing that you wanted to be an author?

I’ve always been a writer, even when I was in kindergarten. I’d put my stickers on stapled pieces of paper and make up a story for the characters (I guess that was me illustrating too? Ha). I moved to NYC when I was twenty-five and started writing the first manuscript, but then life got in the way, and I didn’t write for years—I had to deal with real life things like relationships, jobs, family, and bills. When I got bored of life being in the way of everything, I just started typing. Along the way, I realized there was so much to learn, and knowing that is half the battle. When I decided I was serious about becoming a published author, I swallowed my pride. It’s easy to stay arrogant because your friends and family liked the first book, but if you don’t learn the business side, it’s easy to become bitter. Everyone has room for improvement and learning from those who were steps ahead of me is what got me here.

Do you read your book reviews? (I would have a hard time NOT reading them, lol) What do you do with the good ones/bad ones?

In the beginning, I used to check ten times a day! That gets tiring after a hundred or so reviews, because you’re never going to make everyone happy. It’s an amazing high to see strangers gushing over something you’ve written, but one person trashing it can negate everything good, so it’s just not worth it to me. I always think of it this way: some of my favorite books have awful, horrible reviews, and some books I couldn’t stand are NYT bestsellers with publicity everywhere. Books are really just one individual person’s opinion, so I try not to get hung up on it. That being said, I’m sure I’ll start the cycle over with It Could Be Anyone. But only for the start!

I’ve noticed on your IG that you’re a hockey fan! What or who instilled your love for the sport?

That’s all Dad! He’s had NY Rangers season tickets since 1961, so I grew up going to the games with my family. When I lived in the city, he transferred them over to me because he and my mother moved a bit further away and it was much more of a hike for him. I lived a few blocks from Madison Square Garden, so I was there all the time. It’s been a bit challenging now that I’m in suburbia myself, but yes, I still have the tickets!

What’s your favorite way to spend a day off?

I love to read (by the pool if I’m in Florida, which I am almost half the time lately!), having lunch with friends, catching up on my shows on Hulu or Netflix, and if I need to, I get a massage. That’s my ultimate guilty pleasure.

What was the last book you read?

Like a Sister by Kellye Garrett is the last one I finished (look for my AMAZING review in Suspense Magazine in the spring!) and I’m almost done with another that comes out next year called When She Disappeared by Steph Mullin and Nicole Mabry. I’m blurbing it for them, and I can’t wait to finish because it’s terrific so far! Next up on my pleasure reading list is The Girl She Was Before by Jess Kitching.

Last one and then I’ll post some this or that! Please, please, please tell us more about your new book, It Could Be Anyone, coming out in 2022!!

I won’t lie, I love this book! It’s deliciously twisty with tons of secrets that you’ll think you have figured out, but even when I tell you what they are, they twist again. It’s centered around a destination wedding in Miami, where five friends travel to see their college friend get married. The horrible groom is named Trevor Vaughn, and he’s been blackmailing all of them, but none know about the others. They’re all doing what he says to save themselves, and when he drops dead at the wedding (this happens halfway through page 1, I’m giving nothing away, haha) you have to figure out who in the bridal party did it. And why.

This or That:

Traveler or homebody? Used to be a traveler, but I haven’t been on a plane in 2 years so now I’m definitely a homebody.

Introvert or extrovert? Extrovert

Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate

iPhone or Android? iPhone

Coffee or Tea? Coffee

Cook or takeout? Cook

Facebook or IG? IG

Saturday or Sunday? Saturday

Truth or dare? Dare. Thriller writers hide too much and can never tell the truth 😊

Thank you so much Jaime Lynn! I’m definitely going to message you about that alternate ending 😅 and I CAN’T WAIT to read It Could be Anyone (coming May 10, 2022)! To find out more about Jaime Lynn and her books, check her out on IG HERE.