Monday, 22 February 2016

Guest Post: A HOLD ON ME by Pat Esden #newadult #paranormalromance #nalit

Today we have the wonderful Pat Esden talking about her new paranormal romance, A HOLD ON ME. You may remember Pat from her #FridayFandom Author Interview (click here). Today Pat is here talking about her experience in collecting antiques, and the a creepy experience she had while visiting an elderly gentleman in a Victorian manor. I'm already getting chills!!




A Hold on Me by Pat Esden
(Dark Heart, #1)
Published by: Kensington
Publication date: February 23rd 2016
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Romance

She never wanted to return.
He wants nothing more than for her to leave.
But the fire between them is as strong as the past that haunts them.

Annie Freemont grew up on the road, immersed in the romance of rare things, cultivating an eye for artifacts and a spirit for bargaining. It’s a freewheeling life she loves and plans to continue–until her dad is diagnosed with dementia. His illness forces them to return to Moonhill, their ancestral home on the coast of Maine–and to the family they left behind fifteen years ago, after Annie’s mother died in a suspicious accident.

Once at Moonhill, Annie is shocked when her aunt separates her from her father. The next time Annie sees him, he’s a bizarre, violent shadow of his former self. Confused, she turns to an unlikely ally for support–Chase, the dangerously seductive young groundskeeper. With his dark good looks and powerful presence, Chase has an air of mystery that Annie is irresistibly drawn to. But she also senses that behind his penetrating eyes are secrets she can’t even begin to imagine. Secrets that hold the key to the past, to Annie’s own longings–and to all of their futures. Now, to unlock them, she’ll have to face her greatest fears and embrace her legacy…

 


I’m a collector and antique dealer, and I’ve been involved with both since I was a teenager.

Over the years, I’ve dug through a lot of church basements and attics, buying everything from Masonic memorabilia to vintage radiators. I’ve explored abandoned churches as well, and purchased their entire contents—and I mean EVERYTHING: statues, tapestries, all the pews and kneelers, crosses . . . even a hand carved confessional booth.  Honestly, it did feel eerie to strip everything out of a church, and then store it in my home. But I’ve had creepier experiences.

Once, an elderly man asked me to come to his house and look at some items he had for sale.  The house was an old Victorian manor and literally falling-down. He lived in one, squalid room on the first floor. He slept there on a bare cot and used a toilet that barely worked.  The other stories of the manor were unusable because of the sunken floors and enormous holes in the roof. Money wasn’t why he lived like this.  He’d abandoned a nice second home in Florida, so he could die where his ancestors had.  I suspected he’d already stopped eating. It was easy to visualize him lying on the cot, slowly shriveling until someone eventually found his corpse.  The whole visit was difficult and unnerving.  And, there wasn’t one thing in the entire manor that wasn’t too rotted, broken, or moldy to sell.  

Another time, a homeowner gave me directions to a specific hallway on the second floor of his rambling farmhouse. He told me which rooms I could buy things out of, but refused to go upstairs with me because he’d run into ‘something’ up there. The hallway definitely had a disturbing vibe. In fact, the whole time I was upstairs, I had goose bumps.  I did buy a lot of things from him, including some wonderful early books and vintage clothing.

Despite all that, my decision to make the main character in the DARK HEART series an antique dealer wasn’t as much about writing what I know as a matter of creating the perfect character for the plot and setting.  I wanted my main character, Annie, to not be a cliché gothic novel heroine.  By making her an antique dealer, she could be both scared by some aspects of the family mansion and attracted to the antiques and history. This not only added a layer of tension, it also lent more depth and quirkiness to her character. Another of my goals was to find a way to make Annie’s relationship with her father go beyond that of a ‘daddy’s girl’.  As a picker and antique dealer, it made sense for her to be homeschooled and travel extensively with her dad. This expanded her role from devoted daughter to that of a student and eager mentee as well. This career also gave Annie the smarts, determination, and unusual education that would drive her to face the plots’ obstacles rather than retreat.  

Still, though Annie and I may share a love of antiques and sometimes access situations in a similar ways, she isn’t me.

How about you? What kind of plot would challenge and bring out the best in a character with your career, loves, or interests?




PAT ESDEN would love to say she spent her childhood in intellectual pursuits. The truth is she was fonder of exploring abandoned houses and old cemeteries. When not out on her own adventures, she can be found in her northern Vermont home writing stories about brave, smart women and the men who capture their hearts. An antique-dealing florist by trade, she’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.
        



Tour-wide giveaway (INTL) organized by Xpresso Book Tours
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13 comments:

  1. Thanks for hosting today, Melanie! :)

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  2. Thanks for hosting me--and for asking such a wonderful question. It was fun to think about, though a bit hard to limit it to a couple of adventures :)

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  3. A Hold on me sounds great ♡ Looking forward to reading this book. Thank you

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  4. I like that Annie is an antique dealer. It links her to the past in ways that today's youth with all their hi tech can never be.

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  5. I enjoyed learning about the book. It sounds like a good read. The guest post was very interesting. I feel sorry for the old man that he was alone and living the way he was. How sad.

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  6. I enjoyed the post - looks like a good book.

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  7. I found the book to be interesting and I am looking forward to reading it. I found the comments the author made very interesting. My career was as a stay at home mom. There are so many avenues possible. You could do away with teachers, custodians, coaches, ministers, congregation members, other mothers, chairperson, mailperson, meter reader. I could go on and on. I enjoy mysteries so I would go in that direction.
    Thank you for the giveaway and adding an interesting twist to my day.

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  8. I found the book to be interesting and I am looking forward to reading it. I found the comments the author made very interesting. My career was as a stay at home mom. There are so many avenues possible. You could do away with teachers, custodians, coaches, ministers, congregation members, other mothers, chairperson, mailperson, meter reader. I could go on and on. I enjoy mysteries so I would go in that direction.
    Thank you for the giveaway and adding an interesting twist to my day.

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  9. I already have it on my list of books to read. I think it sounds really interesting.

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  10. Thanks for the post. Looks interesting and suspenseful!

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  11. Book sounds great will be a good book to read, thank you...

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  12. Thank you for all of your great writings. Keep up the good work in the future.

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