Author Spotlight - Zee Monodee

Today we welcome Mauritian author Zee Monodee into the Minxy Spotlight.

1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.
Hello everyone! Pleasure to be here today with ye all.  So, a bit about me? Well, I’m in my early thirties, married, mum to a tween boy & stepmum to a teenage lad – and yes, I define myself a lot by whatever role I hold in my family. Even the one of ‘undomestic goddess’; I don’t think you’ll find someone less domesticated than me. I’m on first-name basis with all the dust bunnies in my house, lol. And oh yeah, I’m also an exercise freak. Need my fix of working out everyday otherwise I really feel in withdrawal.

2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)
Technically speaking, it’s number 1. It’s the first story I ever wrote. 9 years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and I knew I had to start living my life already and not keep dreams for ‘one day’. The dream was to write, so I started writing, and The Other Side is the story that came out. It actually got published – my first! – but then I got the rights back, wrote more stories, put this one away, and so on. When it came out again in July 2013, it launched as my 7th release.

3. What inspired this book?
I’d been through an ugly divorce a few years prior to that episode, seen some aspects of the Indian-origin society I grew up in that I never suspected existed (like stigma and gossip). So the starting point was very much my own experience as a Mauritian of Indian origin whose marriage to a British man broke down and she returned ‘home’. That’s how Lara, the heroine, came into being. They say there’s a good deal of autobiography in any author’s first book, and this was very much the case for me. Still, that’s where the similarities end; Lara and I do not take the same path, at least not romantically. 

4. Who or what was the inspiration for your hero?
I have a thing for blond, blue-eyed men. Must be because most of the men I get to see in Mauritius, where I grew up, all have dark hair and eyes. There’s something exotic about blond and not-brown eyes, lol. So, of course, my first hero (I didn’t plan to write more than one book at the time) had to fit this profile. He also had to be totally adorable, and what’s cuter than a man good with children? Thus, Eric became a paediatrician.

But it’s true that I also work a lot with a set ‘template’ for a character, mostly to help me picture him/her better when I imagine my scenes.
Eric Marivaux thus ended up looking like soapie heartthrob Forbes March. That smile? The approachable look? Killer bod? Oh yes, I’d found my hero, all right!

5. Which of your characters would you most like to be?
This is gonna sound scary, but here goes...  I wrote a series called Corpus Brides. It has an espionage slant – think Nikita but from a totally autonomous agency that answers to no government. The focus is on the female spies from this agency. Book 2, Before The Morning, (which also works as the prequel to the trilogy’s main plot), has a woman named Rayne Cheltham as the heroine. She’s the agency’s best assassin, code name Kali. Kali is pretty much a swift, efficient, and lethal sociopath with no qualms to kill – she’s only ever sent out to finish a target.

So, spooky thing – if I could be someone for one day, it would be Rayne. She’s got this brilliant, Sherlock-type mind that processes everything at warp speed; she’s super-fit and trained in all sorts of martial arts; cool, composed, and poised; and she has the most amazing of heroes as her man, Ash. Rayne also comes from a big, boisterous family (something I yearn for!), but it’s Ash who keeps her grounded, keeps her human, so to speak.
It would be a huge challenge to be someone like her, all those facets and having to balance them all.

6. Do you have a writing routine? Do you write every day, and is there a time of day that works best for you in terms of being productive?
No routine as such; I just park myself down on the chair, open the doc, and start typing. More often than not, I’ve already ‘day-dreamed’ the scene for days on end and writing is simply me putting the sequence on paper (or screen).

No, I don’t write every day, though I did do it during my first ever Nano in 2013. I also work as an editor, so I have to split my time during the week (weekends are sacred family and R&R time!) between edits and writing. More often than not, I single out 2 days in the week and keep those only for writing, like 3-4 hours straight.

And I prefer to work in peace and quiet, which I get during the day when the kid is at school and hubby at work. I suppose if push came to shove, I could write at other hours of the day, or night, but this slice of late morning-early afternoon suits me best. Basically, just give me at least a couple of hours with no interruption.

7. How long does it take you to complete a book?
Depends on how many days of the week I have assigned to a project. A typical writing day can see me produce 3-4 thousand words on a story, so the minimum of 2 days per week has me write about 30,000 words in a month. But if I’m on deadline, and/or my editing work schedule permits, I can dedicate more days to writing, and the word count goes up. I guess it depends on the stakes. Like, for Nano, the goal was 50K but I ended up getting 77K in about 25 days, because I wrote every single day.

It also depends on a project. Stories in my Daimsbury Chronicles series (small town romance set in Surrey, England) are rather shorter books, around 15-20K, so these can take me 2-3 weeks to finish. Longer works around the 100K ballpark will need more time.

I also don’t factor in things like writer’s block – to me, you just have to power through the block. I visualize the scene as much as possible before writing it – it’s my mind palace (yes, I’m addicted to Sherlock!) and I do my best to work over every issue and problem in there before I put my fingers to the keyboard. It enables me to keep up a consistent word output then.

8. Are your family and real-life friends supportive? If so, in what ways? If not, do you have another support network for your writing?
My parents and in-laws don’t really much have a clue what ‘being a writer’ implies – I suppose they think it’s like in the movies: I sit down at the keyboard and just pound away, then at the end, I have a book.  They know research is involved, because they have asked me, “How did you write this topic you’re not supposed to know anything about?”

But my family – hubby and the boys – are really the gems in the whole picture. They know that when I’m writing, they should go kill each other away from my ears, and that I’m not available for whatever (except if they’re bleeding or throwing up!) when I’m at my keyboard. During times when I’m working to a deadline, hubby will man the kitchen or get take away so I don’t have to cook, and that’s a huge help. Plus they know to not be worried when I suddenly go quiet and drift away in my head to a story idea; they’ve grown used to that now.

As for friends, my bestie – who however lives in a different country – is my biggest support ever. She’s my cheerleader, my sounding board, my shoulder to lean/cry on – I’d be lost without her. Also an author, she totally ‘gets’ me when I’m having plot or character trouble, and thank goodness for that because the guys here look like deer caught in the headlights when I am ranting away about ‘uncooperative characters!’

9. Do you connect with your readers at all, and if so which is your favourite platform for reaching them?
I love catching up with my readers – there isn’t much I like more than this, actually. There’s this huge rush of pride and affirmation to get to speak with someone who has chosen to share into what you are offering to the world through your words.

Because of an uncooperating ISP, I am no longer that much on Twitter (though I hope this will change soon when we switch ISPs here next month), so I don’t get the chance to interact with readers there. Thanks to time constraints and basically, life, I’m also not as much as I’d want to be on my blog.

So the remaining platform (and that I know how to navigate in, lol!) is Facebook! That’s where I am most of the time. Readers can friend me or just follow if they prefer – most of what I post is Public, anyway. They can interact with me there, PM me.

And if all this fails, let’s get to basics – email! I’m just a click away at this addy zeemonodee@hotmail.com By now, you’ve prolly realized I love to talk, lol, so come on, talk to me. I promise I always reply. 

The Other Side

Lara Reddy is fleeing London. After her husband dumps her and she bumps into him and his pregnant new missus, she jumps on a prestigious job offer. The kicker? The job is in Mauritius, the homeland of her Indian-origin parents, and a restrictive society she ran away from over a decade earlier.

Divorce paints a scarlet letter on her chest when she returns to the culture-driven island. Once there, Lara has no escape--not from the gossip, the contempt, the harassing matchmaking...and certainly not from the man she hoped never to meet again, the boy she’d loved and lost—white Mauritian native, Eric Marivaux.

In the past, fear of social repercussions from the sectarian crowd her family belongs to kept her from giving her all to Eric. Will standing on the other side be the impetus she needs to take a chance on Eric and love again?

The Other Side is available from Amazon, Amazon UK, and direct from Decadent Publishing.

Author Spotlight - Zee Monodee

Today we welcome a Mauritian writer into our spotlight. Yes, we Minxes leave no corner of the globe unexplored in our quest to bring you new books!

Zee's latest release, Before The Morning, is published by Noble Romance, but check out her first book in this series, Walking The Edge, as it's currently free on the publisher's website.

What is your writing process?

A lot of plotting, a lot of thinking, a lot of daydreaming and imagining the scenes and how they happen. *grin* I’m not the kind of author who can sit down right off the bat after a character or a story idea pops into her head, and simply let my fingers fly on the keyboard and see where everything takes her. I envy writers who can do this, actually.
Most of the time, I work with an established ‘face’ for my characters (for example, in Before The Morning, Ash looked like Lost actor Josh Holloway, and Rayne like Russian singer Yulia Volkova, of the former pop band T.A.T.U).
So I visualize my characters with the face I’ve assigned them, the mannerisms, etc, and I also think of all the avenues the story can take, start to middle to end. Once I have all this prep work down, then I start actually writing.

Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

Shoe shopping? Now we’re talking *says the self-confessed shoe-holic and shoe junkie*
Funny you mention shoes, because, just like other women congratulate themselves for a job well done or attaining a milestone point with chocolate, I do that with shoes. I know I will not be able to afford the shoes I love if I’m not putting books out and earning from that process. Full stop. *grin*
Deadlines also help, because then you know there are people counting on you to come through and you would be an absolute cow to let them down. When publishers and editors are taking a bet on you and contracting your work, how on earth can you let them down by not delivering your part of the bargain when the time comes?
And the fans are also a tremendous support. It’s incredibly heartening and empowering to open that email or message that tells you, “I loved this story of yours; when’s the next book in the series coming out, and will you please let me know the minute the book is released?”
How can you let these people down, those same folks you’re writing for?
The key, at least for me, is discipline. If I don’t do it (whatever it happens to be – dinner, mending torn uniform trousers, writing that next book), no one’s gonna do it for me.

Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

Oh, definitely! Not only is sitting in front of the computer a perfect way to lure the pounds to stack on, I’m also on a hormonal therapy (to prevent the recurrence of any cancer – I’ve had breast cancer twice) and this drug makes me pack the weight like never before. Plus, sitting in an office chair all day while writing is not really conducive to a well-rested back. I injured myself in a car accident about a decade ago, where one of my spinal vertebras was crushed, leaving me with lingering back pain.
Now, I’m the original couch potato – I used to whine about having to go up 2 flights of stairs. But not anymore. Exercise is a key way for me to prevent the recurrence of cancer, so I bit the bullet and looked for something that I’d enjoy doing.
I found that in Zumba, which is really dancing and having a lot of fun to upbeat music without realizing you are working out (and the results are visible practically immediately!). To give my body a break and to help with my back pain, I also do some Pilates, which I find more upbeat than yoga (puts me to sleep!). So I’m pretty sure to be exercising for 30 mins – 1 hour every weekday. The sked goes haywire on weekends when the kids are home. *grin*

Do you believe in writer's block?

I used to, but not anymore. When you have a deadline looming on your head, you have to write, writer’s block or not. It might take you a few tries, a lot of delete/cut/paste/overwrite, but ultimately, you will come up with something in the writing. It might be total cr*p, but that’s something you can always edit when you finish your first draft, as opposed to a blank page, where you can do nothing but stare.
Of course, no point beating your head against the wall when it is obvious not even cr*p will come out of your brain, so taking a break is advised then. I allow myself 1 day off when this happens, but the next day, I am back in front of my computer and will get something on that page.

Have you ever used an incident from real life in a book? If so, did it get you into trouble?

In Walking The Edge (Corpus Brides: Book One), my heroine, Amelia, is ‘married’ to this smarmy, manipulative guy, Peter, who always makes her believe she is paranoid and thinking things up, like the fact that he might be having an affair. Never mind that Amelia catches him red-handed calling his mistress, and confronts him. He manages to convince her she is going insane...
I took that scene, practically word for word, from what happened to me during my first marriage. That man was emotionally abusive, manipulative, a cheater, and he loved to toy with his women.
In another book I am currently penning, titled Against The Odds, the heroine, Megha, is diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer. Much of her journey through diagnosis, surgery, chemo, and radiotherapy, is a reflection of my own path when I was first diagnosed.
And no, no throwback to a real event has gotten me into trouble, yet. Let’s hope it keeps being this way. *smile*

In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

I always thought of the published writer like the ones we see in the movies – sitting at their desk in front of their typewriter, typing all day, finishing the ms, send to agent/publisher; rinse and repeat. Reality is far, far from that!
Promo is something that, despite knowing I would have to do it, took me completely by surprise. Having to be ‘out there’, in the public eye, is a bit weird to me because though I come across lively and bubbly and effortlessly making friends, I am a very reserved person with a secret garden in her mind, a secret garden not even those closest to me even know about. Finding that balance between Public and Private persona is a tight rope to walk on for me.

Promotion is no longer a dirty word. In what ways do you strive to reach more readers?

I have no clue if what I’m doing is bringing me new readers or not, lol, so I can only tell you what I’m doing, and not specifically ‘what I’m doing that is successful.’
A good friend of mine, author Margie Church, told me that the best promo is to be where the readers are and being yourself with them. So that’s basically what I do – especially the ‘being myself’ part. I blog about aspects of my personal life, like how my kids are driving me crazy, in between the book news and tidbits; I tweet about my day and what’s happening in my life and career. Facebook is a bit more private, since my profile is for Friends only, so I talk more about my personal life there. I do my best to interact and cheer and support people in places like Goodreads discussion boards and Facebook groups. I take part in blog hops.
I dunno, really – I never leave a comment on my blog, or an email, unreplied. I really believe I am in this for the long haul, which means, strong relationships with readers and potential readers that I am slowly but surely building.

What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Don’t be a cow! If people comment on your blog, or go out of their way to get in touch with you, do not ignore them. If someone helps you (word of mouth, a retweet, a beta read, a critique, anything!), help back when you can. Nobody wants to recommend or say wonderful, gushing things about a total cow – so don’t be one!

What did you learn while writing this book?

Beyond the technical stuff to put this espionage story together – the slew of guns, biological warfare methods and how to counter them, espionage tradecraft and secrets, clandestine operation management, clandestine lifestyle techniques, combat methods, various languages, details about all the locations presented in the book – the whole book was a voyage of discovery. Before The Morning is a book that really showed me how much I can push myself as a writer, how far I can take a character and make her memorable and sympathetic, despite being the darkest character I have ever imagined.
Rayne, the heroine, is a cold assassin in this story, but the hidden side of her is that she is nothing more than a woman yearning for love and the possibility of a future, of a family, of creating a unit with the one man she has always loved. She is a complex character, full of facets and secrets, ultimately dark and twisted as much as she is desirous of finally belonging somewhere beyond any pretence.
I learned that it is possible to write deep and dark, almost sinister characters, and redeem them, too.

What was the most fun part of writing this book?

Rayne’s family. She comes from a big family. Her father is of Russian origin (her great-grandmother fled the Bolshevik Revolution and married the Polish Hussar who had helped her escape), and Rayne still has her Russian grandmother, an eccentric ninety-something lady intent on ways of the Old World, and who absolutely abhors her daughter-in-law. Rayne’s mother is Irish, from a rambunctious family with hot tempers and fiery red hair. Then there are her siblings – her brother and two younger sisters. One of the girls is getting married to Ash’s brother, so that wedding is a big part of the proceedings during the book. Rayne and Ash go home for the wedding, and in the process, drop the bomb that they, too, just got married in Vegas. Their combined families’ reactions to this news, and the craziness of putting together a Russian-Irish wedding were real fun, for the wedding traditions alone. I also loved putting stiff and composed Rayne back into this chaotic mayhem – at one point, she wonders that her agency had taught her how to cope with any situation... but she’d never imagined having to face her mother and the rest of the family when her folks were intent on an idea and wanted to reel Rayne and Ash in. Her biggest mission starts now – dealing with her family without killing anyone in the process!

And just for fun: what would your hero’s honeymoon destination of choice be?

Lol, since they do get married in the book, they actually go on honeymoon in the French Provence. But, as readers will find out, Rayne has an ulterior motive for choosing that destination.
If it were up to Ash, he’d whisk them to a secluded villa with its private beach on a sunny tropical island. A place like Mauritius *wink*

Before The Morning (Corpus Brides: Book Two)

Before The Morning
. . . is a time of great darkness. . .

A trained killer with borderline sociopathic tendencies:
Rayne Cheltham traced out her life's path when she was twelve: she would marry her best friend and bear his children, and in the process, stifle the restless edge in her. When he vows never to marry, she gives in to the darkness and becomes a clandestine agent—until the day he walks into her world again, and her carefully fabricated façade crumbles.

A former cop burned by life and his personal demons:
When Ash Gilfoy meets a woman who reminds him of his childhood best friend, he starts upon a path that leads him down into an abyss once again. The day Rayne waltzes back into his life, he knows she is his second chance, and the one who will save him.

Each thinks the other is their redemption . . . until they discover how deep the other's edge of darkness goes

No one knows Rayne used to be a spy and an assassin, and no one knows why Ash left the police force. The secrets between them make them sit on a keg of gunpowder with a lit fuse in their hands. Neither knows what 'normal' means now, especially Rayne, whose whole life is built on a lie. Truth is threatening to explode in their faces, and that is not the only menace they have to face. Someone is out to get Rayne, and she must disclose her past before it is too late.

Can Rayne and Ash survive all that's thrown in their path? Can they hang on to the last thread of their relationship, and can they emerge, still together and still alive, in the morning after the deepest darkness?

Watch the trailer here and buy the book here. Before the Monring is also available from Amazon, Amazon UK and Barnes & Noble.


And please note that Book 1 of the Corpus Brides series is currently FREE on the Noble Romance website!

WALKING THE EDGE (Corpus Brides: Book 1): A romantic suspense novel, wherein an amnesiac woman is on the quest for her forgotten memory... Escape from London all the way to Marseille, France, and discover the secrets, deceit, danger, & the powerful love, she uncovers during her search!

You can find Zee online at her blog, and she's on Twitter and Goodreads.

Author Spotlight - Zee Monodee

I met Zee when I was still a complete newbie writer, and her support and encouragement really helped get me on teh right track, so I am pleased and proud to have her here in our Spotlight today. Zee lives in the exotic island paradise of Mauritius and is published under several names.

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?

I had just sold my first novel (The Other Side, written under the name of Aasiyah Qamar) to a big publisher over here in Mauritius. At the time, I had pretty much completed my second book, and was working on ideas for more books down the line.

I had to admit I was a total newbie back then and when I started penning stories some 6 years ago. Apart from English and literature classes I took in secondary school, I’ve never been formally ‘trained’ into writing. I had a knack for languages, all right – had a good way with words and yes, was totally wordy too. I just knew I wanted to write, and had no clue how exactly to make a career out of it. I thought you wrote, offered the book up to an editor, and if it got accepted, great. The book was pubbed, and you went on with writing the next book, and so on.

While publishing with a big print house (as was the case for my first sale) is very close to this scenario, when I started looking into e-publishing houses over in the US, I found out that being an author wasn’t just about writing books, but a totally different kettle of fish on top. I learned everything from scratch, from self-editing to self-proofing to finding critique partners and establishing my name and Web presence. I’m still learning to this day.

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

I’ve always loved a good story featuring amnesia. The buried past, the secrets just under the surface, the smokescreen of deception that hovers because the memory is blank. I wanted to write a story with an amnesiac heroine, to bring my own version of secrets and buried past to the light. I started this plot about 3-4 years ago, but back then the story was going nowhere because I wasn’t satisfied with the boring skeletons the heroine, Amelia, could bring out of her closet. I let the story stand on my hard drive, and delved into other mss.

Then, a combination of factors happened to steer me in the direction to pen Walking The Edge. It was the thick of winter here, and my son was on school break. I came down with a bad cold and tried a new medication, which threw me off my trolley while I was under its influence. I’d wake up, and not know if I was fully awake or dreaming, a sort of strange déjà vu feeling. During those moments of near-lucidity, I could hear the mind-numbing music of my son’s SpongeBob game which he bandied around on his GameBoy. This was a really weird moment in my life, and it got me thinking – what if Amelia felt like this too? She’d need to be under the influence of drugs for this to happen, and thus her cold, manipulating husband, Peter, came on board as the bad guy. What was his game?

And then I watched the movie Wanted starring Angelina Jolie, and things just clicked. I had the secrets that were lurking inside Amelia’s closet, the secrets Peter wanted no one to discover. Why? Well, *wink*, that’s in the book.

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Still writing and putting a few books out per year, having an established reader base, making a difference in my readers’ lives, the way a good book makes my day/week better.

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long. I love historical romances, and I’m always in awe of how good historical authors bring worlds of times past into scope for the reader. This one caught me under a spell – it’s one of those books that read effortlessly. There’s this ‘flawed’ hero, this duke in fact, who’s out for revenge, but things don’t turn out the way he planned, because the heroine is no simpering miss. Lots of twists, turns, surprises, and these totally amazing, vivid characters that leapt off the page. That story captivated me, and I was going, “Darn, she’s good!”, about Ms. Long’s easy manner of drawing the reader into the story.

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

Vikram Seth and his novel A Suitable Boy. It’s a huge tome, but the read is riveting. It was like being in India during the times he talks about, feeling what the characters are feeling, smelling the food, discovering a new world of customs and traditions, a whole ‘other’ way of life. My ancestors hail from India, and I grew up in this Indian culture that’s somehow adapted to our adopted homeland, Mauritius, but which still bears striking resemblances to the ways of India.

I was inspired by Mr. Seth’s writing because I wanted to make people discover Mauritius and my world the way he brought the late 1940s India to life.

That’s how I started my career writing penning culture-based romances set in Mauritius. And then I discovered British authors Jill Mansell and Sophie Kinsella. Riotous romps set in England, a land close to my heart, that didn’t feature culture or traditions but which were so entertaining and fun. I wanted to write that kind of story too, and this is how I started penning non-cultural romance too.

6. Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?

I used to cringe at writing love scenes, mostly because I imagined my very strict mother and aunts reading the words over my shoulder. I loosened up afterwards though, when I realized that writing love scenes didn’t have to mean writing total smut.


Today they’re neither giggle-worthy (like, say, my first attempts that were littered with purple prose), nor are they cringe-worthy (like the ‘smut’ I was once encouraged to write). I’ve found my right balance with love scenes, which I love to write, because it’s a new dimension to bring to the dynamics between a man and a woman. Some stories beg to be written with the bedroom door closed, others let you peek in, and others take place ‘in the open’, so to speak. I usually let my characters dictate the path to their very own love scenes.

7. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

When my husband told me right away to go for my dream of writing. He didn’t ask questions, didn’t ridicule any mention of ‘romance’ – just gave me his unending support at a time my life was spinning off its axis. Many men in his shoes could’ve dropped me like a hot potato, because I got sick and having a wife who’s not in perfect health condition is not exactly glamorous. He stuck by me through thick and thin, and that’s the most heroic thing a man can do, in my book.

8. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

That it doesn’t end with selling a book! In fact, it all starts when you sell a book. I wish I’d known about things like promo, and establishing presence and name. Being an author is not being an island out there in the world. You have to be a total continent with bridges to every other land imaginable in your realm. Today I’m much more comfortable with myself as an author because I know I am doing everything I can to not be this remote, unreachable island.

9. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

To write your story, your way. I can’t remember exactly who said this to me. A lot of people have tried to advise me and through this advice, shape me into something I wasn’t. Of course, writing your story your way doesn’t mean you don’t care about facts and rules of grammar and story construction, etc. It simply means to be true to yourself, all the way. Ultimately, you have to be able to look into the mirror and be able to bear the image that beams back at you. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your reflection, and what better way to ensure such a thing never happens than being true to yourself?

10. Tell us about your latest release.

Walking The Edge is a novel that bridges over quite a few genres, and stands as Book 1 of the Corpus Brides series. At the heart of it, the story is the journey of an amnesiac woman who is out to find out what her erased past hides. It’s a mystery she must unravel, and along the way, help happens in the form of a French police commissioner. At first, he wants her as far away from him as possible, but events unfold that draw him to her like moth to a flame. Romance blooms between them as they go about the city of Marseille trying to figure out who she is, but what will happen when she does find out who she truly is?

This is the blurb for the story:

The next step might be the last...

A woman without a past
Left amnesiac after an accident, Amelia Jamison struggles as her instincts slowly rise from the depths of oblivion, leading her to question her life as the wife of a cold, manipulating and distant man. Wisps of a dream show her another man she may have known intimately, but is he a memory, or a figment of her imagination?

A man with too much information
After many aliases, today Gerard Besson is simply a police commissaire in Marseille. When a mysterious woman starts to follow him, he is suspicious - and intrigued. But things aren't what they seem, and as he reluctantly gets closer to her, dregs of his painful, buried past emerge and make him question her identity.

Each seems to have led several different lives
But neither is prepared for what awaits them when they cross the fine line between knowing your true self and that of your alter ego.

Danger is the name of the game, and as it catches up with them in the French Provence, both know they better be ready for the inevitable fall.

The book can be found at the Noble Romance Publishing website - buy links coming soon.

11. What’s next for you?

Penning more stories! I have Book 2 of the Corpus Brides under way, titled Before The Morning, and it will be the prequel to Walking The Edge. Book 3, the final one for this series, is still in the outlining stages.