ROMANTIC THRILLERS WITH A PARANORMAL TWIST by Sarah Raplee

Hi, I’m Sarah Raplee, author of BLINDSIGHT (Psychic Agents Series Book 1).

Psychic Agents Series Blurb:

Over the last hundred years, the number of people with psychic gifts in the general populace, world-wide, continues to increase. The Special Psychic Agents of the FBI’s Global Resources Subdivision are a law enforcement resource hidden deep in the Bureau’s International Operations Division. These men and women are charged with using their powerful psychic Talents in support of FBI operations and foreign law enforcement organizations upon request. These unsung heroes routinely lay their lives—and their hearts—on the line in pursuit of justice for all.

As Matt Buchman said in his post last Saturday, writing a romantic thriller is a balancing act. The thriller storyline and the romance storyline must be so interwoven that one cannot stand without the other.

In the case of paranormal romantic thrillers like BLINDSIGHT, the paranormal elements must be integral to both storylines and to the main characters’ goals, motivations and conflicts. For me, writing one of these edge-of-your-seat stories was a whole lot of fun!

I took a world-building class, a class about weaving together the various elements of a story and a class on researching and writing diverse characters. The characters in this series reflect the richness of our diverse American culture.

Digging into subjects as wide-ranging as bear vaults, hypothermia, invisibility cloaks, and world history was fun. Brainstorming secondary characters, twists and turns in the plot and a doozie of a mid-point reversal was off-the-charts awesome. During revisions, discovering theme was a revelation. Somehow I’d written it in without knowing!

I'd have to say the most difficult thing for me to get right was pacing. Thillers are mostly fast-paced, but this romance needed quieter moments spaced in as well. 

BLINDSIGHT Blurb:

 When psychic FBI Agent Hector Guerrero’s family was kidnapped and murdered, he swore to stop the slave trade in psychics. Undercover for three years in the Mendoza Drug Cartel, he’s zeroing in on a hidden prison camp in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Nothing will stop him from taking down the Cartel.

Blind wedding singer Melisenda Sepulveda can’t keep from projecting her emotional energy onto others through touch. Meli’s nomadic life performing throughout the Pacific Northwest allows her to avoid physical and emotional intimacy. But now the veterinarian insists her only family, her elderly Guide Dog Freddy, must stop traveling. Desperate to pay for a career change so she can work from home and keep her beloved companion, Meli accepts a risky gig at a drug lord’s wilderness wedding.

When the Cartel targets Meli for kidnapping, Hector loses his focus. When Meli blows his cover, she loses Hector’s trust. When Meli rescues Hector from a torture chamber, Hector might well lose his battered heart.

Excerpt:

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, the agent poured his champagne into his neighbor’s empty glass. He couldn’t take a chance on dulling his thought processes.

Being Hector was like wearing an ill-fitting-but-familiar old suit that pinched in a couple of places, but not so badly he couldn’t ignore the discomfort most of the time. He had to be at the top of his game, one-hundred per cent in character to survive long enough to bring down the Mendoza Cartel.

The murmur of the crowd muted. Casting a glance over his shoulder, Hector spotted Killingsworth staring through the open French doors beside the musician’s dais like a lion spotting a threat—or prey. The back of the agent’s neck prickled.

Turning in his seat for a better look, he made out a shadowy female figure wearing a long gown. Why was Killingsworth so interested in her?

A swirl of iridescent fabric the color of sagebrush in springtime accompanied a dainty, green-slippered foot into the soft circle of light spilling from the ballroom. Conversation near the doorway hushed. Every male in the room homed in on the woman who left the shadows, a woman like no other the agent had encountered in the underworld of the Cartel.

Coppery curls spilled over the curve of one shoulder in a long, loose ponytail. In the warm glow of the chandeliers, rhinestones shimmered in her burnished hair and winked from the frames of her mysterious dark glasses. Her demure, floor-length gown failed to conceal her curves or the sweet, girl-next-door sexiness she exuded.

For the first time in nearly four years, desire unfolded in the agent’s belly.

In the world of the Cartel, women survived and sometimes thrived using a combination of cold cunning and artifice. They grew cynical and hard, or worn-down and resigned. Yet everything about this young woman sang the siren song of wholesome, soul-deep beauty. Even the crowded ballroom’s air smelled fresher with her in the room.

She hesitated, brushing back an errant curl with a small hand covered in sage-green lace. Beneath the twinkle of her dark glasses her wide mouth curved into a smile full of promise.

One of the blue-suited mariachis descended the dais steps and spoke softly to her. She nodded. Tucking one of her hands into the crook of his arm he led her to the little stage. He murmured something into her ear and she smiled. They ascended the three steps and crossed to the middle of the small, raised stage. The mariachi guided her gloved hand to a microphone stand.

Hector’s heart bucked like a wild burro. ¡Mierda! The woman was blind.

©Copyright 2017 Sarah Raplee

Thank you for reading my post. ~ Sarah Raplee

www.sarahraplee.com

A Thrilling Combination: Lovers and Partners

By Linda Lovely

What is a romantic thriller? While there are many definitions, here’s the one I like best: a novel with two threads—one romance, one thriller—and, if you remove either thread, the book doesn’t work.

That’s exactly how I’d describe the first two novels in my Smart Women, Dumb Luck romantic thriller series. The series follows the adventures of three women, who bonded at a university and now know they can count on each other for expert help if they’re ever in danger. 

As the series title suggests, these heroines are bright, competent career women. That doesn’t mean they don’t want and need to partner with men to survive and defeat some very scary villains. In each of the books, the bad guys will cause the deaths of hundreds of people if they’re not unmasked and stopped.

Some romantic thrillers rely on a woman-in-jeopardy model. A heroic male saves a woman who would die if he didn’t intervene. In some thrillers, the woman’s role doesn’t expand much beyond victim.

I prefer a different approach. My heroes and heroines are co-equals. Each brings a different set of skills to solving the mysteries that confront them and thwarting the villains’ plans. That co-equal approach is reflected in my decision to write the books in third-person point-of-view, which lets the reader see in alternate chapters what the heroine is thinking and feeling versus the hero’s thoughts and emotions. The main villain also has a voice and point-of-view so we know what the lovers are up against.

Nexi, the heroine in DeadLine is a forensic accountant, and the co-equal hero is a police detective. In DeadHunt, the heroine, Riley, is a former FBI agent, who is now the head of security for a university. DeadHunt’s hero is a liberal professor taught to hunt in the mountains by his Cherokee uncle. DeadCure will be the third book in the series and will feature Kate, a microbiologist heroine. Since I’m a seat-of-the-pantser and this novel is still evolving. I’ve yet to determine the hero’s identity. But he’ll definitely be Kate’s equal and partner.

In each of these thrillers, a main theme is the need for the heroine and hero to develop the depth of trust needed for them to share secrets and information they would normally never divulge. This means their relationships must go far beyond sexual chemistry—though that’s part of the bonding, too!

I think the interactions between the three lead women in the series add depth to the stories. How did they meet? Riley, then an FBI agent, agreed to participate in a career mentoring program for young women at her alma mater. Nexi and Kate were fortunate enough to have Riley as a mentor. A decade age difference between the women adds another dimension to their relationship.

I enjoyed portraying strong heroines who maintained their friendships with women. These women are available to each other as both confidants and valuable resources. In DeadLine, for example, Nexi, the heroine, can tap Riley’s former FBI resources and take advantage of the contacts Kate developed during her time with the Peace Corps in Jamaica.

Of course, a romantic thriller doesn’t deliver on its promise to the reader if it isn’t, well, thrilling. So I worked hard to ensure the heroine/hero partners had to survive lots of dangerous situations that would test their mental and physical abilities to the limit.

What do you like best about romantic thrillers? Do you want your heroines and heroes to be equal partners?  

For more information about Linda Lovely's romantic thrillers visit her website: www.lindalovely.com