ONE RED SHOE Worldwide Release Tour
I’m thrilled to have, dear friend and fellow Author Diane Burton as my guest today. She’s here to tell us about her Romantic Suspense, One Red Shoe. Take it away Diane!
Reinventing One’s Self
Jane Pauley was on the Today Show last week. While getting my coffee and trying to pry open my eyelids, something she said caught my attention. The words “reinventing herself.” Whoa. I can identify with that.
I always wanted to be a teacher. When we were little, my younger sister and I played “school” and I was the teacher—that’s when we weren’t playing “church” and I was the priest. But I digress. Being the oldest of seven, I was a natural teacher. I helped Mom with the little ones and gradually taught them new skills. Eventually, I went to college and became a real teacher. When my own children came along, I was a stay-at-home mom who taught her own kids. (Not home schooling, though.) I did some substitute teaching when they were in school, but never went back full time.
When my husband was downsized in the late 1980s, I looked for work. Going back into the classroom meant going back to school for an advanced degree and recertifying. I didn’t want to be a substitute again. So I looked for something I could do. I was pretty good with computers, word processing, some data inputting, very little but some spreadsheet experience. What job did I get? Inventory clerk for a flute store. All because I happened to see a little sign on the counter when I went in to buy reeds for my son’s saxophone. I was the only non-musician in a company that not only sold flute music in the local store but worldwide through their catalog. Lest you think I was a complete dunce regarding music, I have to say my dad was an opera and classical music buff. I grew up listening to the Metropolitan Opera on radio every Saturday afternoon. Frankly, I wanted to listen to Tiger Baseball. But that’s another story.
They say when a door closes another opens. Or are you supposed to open a window? Maybe I’m mixing metaphors. At any rate, whenever I’ve needed a job, I’ve taken existing skills (like word processing, data entry, and spreadsheets) and found a position where I could use them. My last was with an oil and gas exploration company where I discovered the cure for insomnia, reading oil and gas leases.
In my romantic suspense One Red Shoe my heroine is an elementary teacher (well, they say write what you know. LOL) and she’s stuck in a rut. When she was orphaned at thirteen, her older brothers came home to take care of her. As she approaches the big THREE-O, they still treat her like she’s a kid. She yearns for adventure and she finds it in writing mystery stories. Not content to live vicariously through her own heroine, she’s about to set off on her own adventure. She gets more than she bargained for.
Blurb for One Red Shoe:
Wannabe writer rescues wounded spy while risking her heart.
Daria Mason’s life is too predictable. Nothing ever happens in her small Iowa town where everybody knows everybody else. But when she travels to New York City looking for a little excitement, she never expects to bring home a wounded spy.
From the moment agent Sam Jozwiak steals intel vital to US security from a Russian Mafia kingpin, Murphy’s Law takes over. No matter how he covers his tracks, the kingpin’s assassins find him. What’s worse than getting shot in the butt? Accepting help from an Iowa tourist.
Sam and Daria flee cross country with the assassins right behind them. Sharing danger and excitement—and a few kisses—with Sam soon has Daria convinced he’s the man for her. He thinks she’ll be better off once he’s out of her life for good. With their lives on the line, can she convince him they belong together?
Excerpt from One Red Shoe:
Daria started running up the stairs to the fifth floor, hoping she would get to the restroom in time. As a teacher who couldn’t leave second-graders alone, she’d trained herself to hold it until scheduled breaks. But she should never have waited this long. Despite the cramping in her legs, she put on a burst of speed. As she passed the door to the fourth floor, she realized the stairs had gotten darker. She looked up to see if a light was out. On the half-way landing stood a man…pointing a gun at her.
She nearly wet her pants.
“What are you doing here?” the man demanded as he whisked his gun out of sight.
Daria froze. She clutched the rail with one hand, her bag of books with the other. She suddenly understood the line from Romancing the Stone because, just like Joan Wilder, Daria was paralyzed from the neck up. The rest of her wasn’t moving, either.
“Where are you going?” He had a faint accent. British, maybe. His eyes flickered with impatience. Hard glacial blue eyes. His voice, cultured with a hint of menace, frightened her more.
His shoes were level with her eyes. Shiny brown Florsheims. His jeans were new with distinct creases from being folded. They brushed the tops of his polished dress shoes.
Brown Shoes came down three steps and halted. He reached inside his black light-weight jacket and Daria prayed it wasn’t for a gun. That made no sense. Why didn’t he use the one he’d tucked behind his back? He pulled out a leather folder and flipped it open. A gold badge. He was the police. Daria sagged in relief.
With a quick motion, Brown Shoes flipped the folder closed and stuffed it back in his pocket. “What is your business?” He tapped his brown shoe impatiently.
Her throat began to close in fear from his anger.
One Red Shoe is available at:
The Wild Rose Press: http://www.wildrosepublishing.com/maincatalog_v151/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=1082
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B00FDXRHZA
And wherever ebooks are sold.
About the author:
Diane Burton combines her love of mystery, adventure, science fiction and romance into writing romantic fiction. Besides the science fiction romance Switched series, she is the author of The Pilot, the first book in a series about strong women on the frontier of space. One Red Shoe is her first romantic suspense. She is also a contributor to the anthology How I Met My Husband. Diane and her husband live in Michigan. They have two children and two grandchildren.
For more info and excerpts from her books, visit Diane’s website: http://www.dianeburton.com
Connect with Diane Burton online
Blog: http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmburton72
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dianeburtonauthor
Goodreads: Diane Burton Author
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/dmburton72/
Diane is giving away a $20 eGift Card from Amazon or Barnes & Noble to a lucky commenter. For extra chances, please follow the link below to use Rafflecopter:
http://dianeburton.blogspot.com/2014/01/one-red-shoe-worldwide-release.html
Darcy Flynn 