Genesis of a Romantic Suspense Junkie By Deliah Lawrence

Deliah Lawrence is a Maryland-based attorney, author, blogger and workshop facilitator who writes romantic suspense novels as well as poetry and short stories. Her debut novel, Gotta Let It Go, set in Baltimore, won the 2011 Finalist Next Generation Indie Book Award in the multi-cultural fiction category.

                                      

Constantly on the go, Deliah is also an active member of the Maryland

Writers’ Association, Black Writers’ Guild of Maryland, and Sisters in Crime. And most recently, Joel Furches (reviewer, CBS Baltimore) named her as one of five Baltimore authors to put on readers 2018 summer reading list. Visit her at www.authordeelawrence.com.

I first met Dee at a Creatures, Crimes, and creativity Conference on Columbia MD (yet another reason to catch this nifty little gem of a con) and it’s always a treat to run into her, whether online or in person, though in person is better. She’s a hoot.

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My love of words started at a very early age when my mother would read me bedtime stories in an animated style. I can vividly remember her voice changing for each character and her hands moving wildly in describing the action within the stories. I would close my eyes and imagine being swept away to another world. This led me to daydream quite a bit, but I also realized later on how much it helped shape my creative thinking and writing.

As a young girl, my library card was one of my prized possessions. I looked forward to hanging out at the library after school and on the weekends with my friends who were avid readers. We would read and trade mystery books like Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. As we got older, we would do the same with Harlequin romance novels. But sadly, the characters I was reading about didn’t look or sound like me.

Fast forward many years later as an adult and I’ve added thrillers by John Grisham, Tom Clancy, and James Patterson to my reading list. While I enjoyed reading these books because they were exciting and adrenaline driven, I still yearned for books that delivered stories that represented more diverse characters. Stories about people of color that zinged with action, romance, drama, and spicy dialogue.

So, when I stumbled upon Eric Jerome Dickey (I’ve met him twice) I fell in love with his characters: strong, vulnerable, sexy, smart people of color who are multi-dimensional and complex. They love deeply, kick ass and take no prisoners. I love the rhythm of the dialogue and the intricacies of the storylines. EJD’s books are high octane and like a junkie I was hooked on the deliciousness of reading them. Finally, I’ve found an author who delivers stories with heart-pounding action and sexual tension that would keep me on the edge of my seat.

I’m excited that my reading list has now expanded to include Eric Jerome Dickey along with Walter Mosely, Brenda Jackson, Leslie Esdaile Banks and quite a few other authors. But I’m even more excited that I’ve taken the leap to write stories that deliver a thrill ride that are anchored in Baltimore. Without a doubt my love of words has come full circle from listening to my mother read me bedtime stories to reading mystery/suspense and romance books to writing romantic suspense novels.

I currently have two novels, Gotta Let It Go and Gotta Get It Back which are part of a trilogy (Gotta Have It All is forthcoming). My protagonist, Deidre Hunter, is a sexy, sassy, and smart headstrong former prosecutor on the quest for justice who unwittingly at times gets tangled up in romantic situations between the two men in her life: her ex-husband and her lover, the detective assigned to handle the criminal cases.

Sounds like something you could get into? Well, buckle up for a roller coaster ride from this romantic suspense junkie!

Diversity Friday: Why I Had to Write Eye of the Eagle by Sharon Buchbinder

Eye of the Eagle is the third book in my Hotel LaBelle Series. Many would say it should have been easier than the first two, but in fact, it was my most challenging to write. Out of all my books, the heroine in this story is my most personal. Phoebe Wagner is based on my grandmother, Bessie T. Engelman, who gave me unconditional love when I needed it most.At the age of three years old, my mother put me on a plane in Washington, D.C., and sent me to Connecticut to live with my deaf grandmother, my aunt, uncle, cousin, two Chihuahuas, and a parakeet. At night, I would cry because I missed my family. As I sobbed, my grandmother would take me in her arms and hug me. I’d fall asleep wondering if I’d ever see my family again, not knowing that my parents were divorcing.

A year after being shipped north, I was reunited with my family. Another year

later, we moved out of my aunt’s basement and into government subsidized housing. The years passed, marred by poverty and abuse at my mother’s hands. During the first semester of my freshman year, my grandmother became ill and died at home at the age of eighty-nine. Claiming that she didn’t want to “disrupt” my studies, my mother withheld the knowledge until I came home months later. I was devastated. I never had the chance to say good-bye to the woman who loved me unconditionally.

When I hit my fifth decade, I felt compelled to research my family tree, beginning with my beloved grandmother. My only clues were embedded in childhood memories of kitchen table conversations between my mother and aunt. The family legend, told and re-told, with American Sign Language (ASL) consultations for verification, was that my grandmother was born hearing and healthy to a wealthy family. My research gave me much more than I expected: it gave me a love story and insight into this feisty woman.

Born in 1881, my grandmother contracted spinal meningitis at sixteen months of age and lost her hearing. She was a resident at what is now the Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville, Kentucky from age seven to twenty-one. An educated and strong woman, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked for a Congressman addressing envelopes with her beautiful penmanship. She met my grandfather, Carl Rhodes, on a blind date. A wild man on a motorcycle, Carl was born deaf, became a ward of the Department of the Interior, and attended Kendall School housed on the campus of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.  Defying her wealthy Kentucky family, my grandmother married her “bad boy” and raised six hearing children in Washington, D.C. where my grandfather worked for the U.S. Botanical Gardens and the White House.

Every day I thank my grandmother for defying her parents, for marrying my grandfather, and for showing me the most important of all abilities: persistence, hope, compassion, and love. I know she is my guardian angel, always looking out for me and my family. Eye of the Eagle is my love story for my grandmother, inspired by her love for me.

One soars like an eagle. One strikes like a thunderbird. But for both hearts, revenge can be deadly when it's nourished.

Anomaly Defense Director and shapeshifter Bert Blackfeather doesn't need a boss with no experience. So what if she's beautiful or gives him a jolt when she shakes his hand? He never plans to get seriously involved with another woman—not in this lifetime.

Phoebe Wagner, an empath with psychometric abilities and an advocate for the deaf, gets more than she bargained for with Bert. One touch and she relives his IED injuries. So what if he's handsome and hot? She doesn't need to add his secrets to her own. Phoebe's are bad enough.

When his niece goes missing from Hotel LaBelle, Bert goes to Montana to help—and Phoebe insists on going with him. Can these two hard-headed people share their darkest secrets in order to work together? It may be the only way to save an endangered child—and their own hearts when Bert's past rears its ugly head.

Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/O9uml6F9tw8

Buy Links:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLSGYW6

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eye-of-the-eagle-sharon-buchbinder/1129689525?ean=2940161597996

iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/eye-of-the-eagle/id1436346614?mt=11

You, too, can have a spot on a Diversity Friday. Drop me a line at danakingcrime (at) gmail and we'll set it up.