Thursday, September 1, 2011

Marie Force is in the House!


Going to the Chapel and We’re Gonna Get Maried….

By: Marie Force

Happy September, everyone, and in my house happy—or not-so-happy, depending on your perspective—first day of school. This time of year is always a little bittersweet for me. While it’s nice to be getting back to some semblance of a routine, I’m sad to see the summer come to an end, and believe it or not, I’ll miss having the kids underfoot during the day. They are going into 7th and 11th grades, and the great college search is beginning for my daughter. I’m soooo not ready for that, but ready or not, here it comes.

This is also a time for celebration because Sam and Nick are getting married! Fatal Series fans have been looking forward to the big day for some time now, especially since they helped me settle on the details back in February. Over the last week and a half we’ve been unveiling all the specifics that will make up Washington’s wedding of the year. Visit my blog: http://mariesullivanforce.blogspot.com) to participate in the daily contests and to view the choices for the wedding.

The wedding novella, Fatal Destiny, will be out on Monday, and the best part is that it’s free! Here’s a bit about the novella:

With the week of their wedding finally upon them, Washington, D.C., Police Lieutenant Sam Holland and her fiancé, Senator Nick Cappuano, are at odds. In the aftermath of a tragic loss, they struggle to reconnect as the big day draws near, but their work keeps pulling them apart. When a new clue into a cold case surfaces, Nick asks Sam not to take any foolish chances before the wedding and to leave it alone for the time being. Sam agrees, but she can't let it go entirely and winds up trapped in an explosive situation. Then an unwelcome visitor from her past threatens her future happiness… With trouble at every turn, will Sam survive long enough to walk down the aisle?

I had such a fun time writing Sam and Nick’s wedding, and I can’t wait to hear what you all think of the big day!

Next up for Sam and Nick is Fatal Flaw, coming in February. I finished Flaw in July, and we’re working through some edits now. In the next installment, Sam and Nick are just back from their honeymoon and are discovering not everyone is happy for them. They receive some menacing wedding cards that keep them on edge as one vexing murder after another has Sam, Freddie, Gonzo and the Metropolitan Police Department gang chasing their tails looking for a clever killer. In Flaw, you’ll see more of Sam and Nick’s young friend Scotty Dunlap and a blast from Freddie’s past will rock him and further test his strained relationship with his mother. Detective Jeannie McBride continues her recovery from a brutal attack and struggles valiantly to put her relationship with her boyfriend back on track. Finally, a health crisis for Sam’s dad opens the door to secrets that will resonate through the Holland family for some time to come. Oh, and one more thing from Flaw: watch for another relationship to form between a friend of Sam’s and a friend of Nick’s. Doesn’t Sam just love when their two worlds collide? Not!

One of the my favorite parts of writing the wedding novella was the relationship that develops between Sam and her wedding planner, Shelby Faircloth, who Sam calls Tinker Bell. Their dynamic was so fun that I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can keep Shelby on the canvas in future books. I think I’ve come up with a way to do that, and I’m looking forward to working that into the next book, which will be called Fatal…. something. LOL! Not quite sure yet!

Heading into the sixth book, I’m happy to report that the Fatal Series is still so much fun to write. Sam and Nick have become real people to me, and judging from the comments during the wedding planning,, readers feel the same way. We’ve gotten to know them quite well and have a handle on what they’d like and what they wouldn’t. I hope I will continue to surprise you as they continue to surprise me!

Next up from me is a contemporary called Georgia on My Mind, which I’m hoping to have out by the end of September, followed by a trilogy I’m super excited about: Treading Water, Marking Time and Starting Over. These last three are the first books I ever wrote, and they continue to be my favorites of all my books. I can’t wait to get them out to readers! Find out more about all four upcoming releases on my website at www.mariesullivanforce.com.

I’m sure all the McCarthys of Gansett Island Series fans will want to know how the next book is coming along. Well, not as quickly as I’d like, but with summer coming to an end my life will get back to normal, which means lots of writing time! I’m still hoping to have Grant McCarthy’s book, Falling for Love, out before the end of year. Stay tuned!

I have two last bits of news for you. First, I’ve done some work on my Facebook fan page at facebook.com/MarieForceAuthor where you can check out my bookshelf and gain access to exclusive content (including a first look at Georgia on My Mind) after you “Like” the page. I love what the designer did to the page, and I hope you do, too!

Finally, Christy asked me to tell you that my dog Brandy is now a singer—in addition to her many other skills (newspaper shredding, sock eating, bunny chasing, etc.) During our 50-hour blackout after Hurricane Irene, my daughter broke out her guitar and my husband (The Turnip) played his harmonica. Brandy started “singing” in a voice we’d never heard before. My daughter called it “Brandy Sings the Blues.” The blackout taught me that I wouldn’t have made for a good prairie woman—not that there was ever much debate about that—and that unplugged time with the family is priceless. A perfect end to a wonderful summer.

Some questions for you: What did you do for fun this summer? Any good wedding stories (horror stories)? And, does your dog sing like mine?

Great to be with you all today! I’ll give away a complete set of the Fatal books, so comment away!

22 comments:

Christy Reece said...

Welcome Marie! Thanks so much for stopping by and give us an update on everything. Wow, you have been one busy author and I'm so excited for your success. I'm a little behind on Sam and Nick and hope to get caught up soon. Will definitely be downloading Fatal Destiny on Monday!

And thanks for telling us more about Brandy. I love reading your posts on Facebook about her adventures.

Hope you have fun today!

Marie Force said...

Thanks for having me, Christy! Looking forward to visiting with you and all your peeps today!

Brandy is a character! I couldn't make up a dog with more personality than my Brandana has! :-)

Tasty Book Tours said...

I am actually reading Sweet Justice right now and all I have to say is ....YUMMY SETH!! So far its great....and as I am a huge fan of Marie's I wanted to stop over and say HELLO...I am so ready for Fatal Flaw to come out and extremely excited that the Fatal Series will be continuing past book five. Can't wait for the new books coming out....Marie keep up the AMAZING writing and as I am a new reader of Christy's, I think I will have to go back and start the Rescue series from the beginning!!

Anonymous said...

Hi Marie! I have read all your books and love them all!! Can't wait for Sam and Ncik's wedding and the next book in the series. The fatal series is on of my favorites. Looking forward to reading your new books coming out!

I don't have a singing dog, but a snoring one! Taylor is a character also and her nick name in our house is the little actress.
Have a great day!
Patti Fleming
gfleming@comcast.net

ShellyE said...

Hi Christy & Marie!! Two of my fave authors together in one spot! Awesome!!

I have had several singing dogs - all scotties. One would sing along when I played my flute. The others would sing along with the hydrolic brakes on the garbage truck, or whenever we would howl at them. With 3, it could be quite a concert!!

Didn't do too much exciting this summer, but we did just see an awesome concert at Purdue by Grupo Fantasma - they are lating funk. Great music and a fun group to see.

Can't wait to read more of the Fatel Series, I am way behind, and also all your other books!!

ShellyE said...

BTW - that should say Latin Fund, not lating funk!

Ronlyn said...

*waving hello*!!
I'm in month-end H-E-double hockey sticks at the moment, but wanted to say hello to two of my favorite people!
Wedding horror stories...did I tell you about the cake debacle for my step-sisters wedding? It got crushed on the way to the reception site.
Seriously, the back side of the cake was a complete mess. Awful.

Unknown said...

LOL...I was reading about the singing dog and it made me think about my "wiener" dog Thor. Every time we would sing the song Hot Diggity Dog he would chime in with his howls. It was the only song he would sing but we would sing that song whenever we needed a laugh because Thor either hated it or loved it. Looking back I am leaning towards the hating it but it was sure funny.

Alison said...

Hi Christy! Hi Marie!

I'm so excited for Sam and Nick's wedding!

No singing dogs in my house, just a couple of 80 lb lapdogs who excel in bed hogging.

I'm off to hang out with my fam whose visiting for the holiday weekend! Have a great day everyone!

CrystalGB said...

Hi Marie. We went to Pigeon Forge TN this summer for vacation. It was a lot of fun. My dog Gypsy will "sing" with you if you sing. She is so funny. My nephew had a lovely outdoor wedding on April 30th.
Crystal816[at]hotmail[dot]com

Marie Force said...

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for reading the Fatal books! I'm so glad you enjoy them. And you will love Christy's books, too. I'm looking forward to Sweet Justice!

Hi Patti,
Can't wait to hear what you think of the wedding! Thank goodness Brandy doesn't snore! LOL! She has a lot of tricks but that's not one of them!

Hi Shelly,
Your dogs sound really fun! I knew I was really married to a Hoosier when I stood on the lawn at Purdue and sang Back Home Again in Indiana on our first Fourth of July as Mr. and Mrs. LOL! Beautiful campus!

Hi Ronlyn,
Ohhhh, your poor sister! I am sure it was just as yummy crushed as it was uncrushed, but the photos.... LOL! Hope your HELL passes soon!

Hi Sarah,
That is hilarious! My DH had a dog that went wild over the words "Cocoa Puff" during the kukoo for Cocoa Puff commercial days! They are so funny!

Hi Alison,
Brandy is a 65 lb lapdog and MAJOR bed hog! She is always pushing one of us out of bed!

Hi Crystal,
Sounds like you had a fun summer!

Marie Force said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elke said...

Hi Marie and Christy,
just stopping by to thank Marie for helping Ronlyn getting me FATAL AFFAIR and for actually signing it. Thanks so much Marie and I really liked Sam and Nick.
As I have no kindle ( although I am seriously thinking about buying one) my question is:will the Fatal series be realeased in print and if so what are the release dates? I would love to read more about Sam and Nick.
When I checked last on amazon Germany they were not offered there.

Funny to hear about your singing dog, Marie. We have a dog as well - Andor - but he is a quiet guy and does´nt even bark much. But when I was a child we had a wiener dog called Moritz who "sang" every time he heard a opera singer on the radio - usually much louder than the singer. My mom who is a great fan of classic music and operas was not very pleased, but we children loved it when our dog sang (lol.I didn´t think of that for ages).

Have a nice day everyone,

Mary G said...

Hi Marie
So great to see you here - two of my faves together. It's also wonderful to see your respective successes since I started following you both. I've met some awesome people from both blogs (and I'm sure there's duplication LOL). We all love good rom. susp.

Marie- I think it's telling that you still have Fatal stories to tell. That shows that it was meant to be done & I'm glad you knew a series would work.

Summer for me is lots of tennis & reading but then that's all year for me anyway.

Luci said...

Hey Marie,

I so love the Fatal series! Cannot wait for the books to come out, thank God just a few days till we read about Sam and Nick's wedding. Hope I find it available on Kindle - I had trouble with the second and third books being available to Europe. I had wrote to you about them. After they were made available for a couple of days they disappeared again - thank God I had downloaded them immediately.

So much going on in your writing world:). I have the first three McCarthy books on my Kindle ready for me to read and I am really looking forward to them - have read great reviews.

Summer has flown by however, here in Malta kids start school end of September so we still have around 4 weeks of holidays.

Loads of luck with all your books - am so excited for Fatal Flaw!

oklanannie said...

Hey it's "twofer" day! I love a good bargain expecially when it includes my favorites!

The excitement could be FATAL when you are facing two SWEET treats in one week. This Labor Day holiday promises to be a great one for readers!

Marie, I just visited the new FB site and read the 2 chapters from "Georgia On My Mind" and I'll just say one thing - - DIBS ON THE JOGGER!!!!

No singing dog like your SWEET Brandy -- but I like to think that my beloved Clementine is barking in the halls of heaven!

Summertime in Oklahoma brought awful heat and the need for cool dips in the pool, lots of ice cold drinks, and electric bills that will long be remembered. I had to share the book budget to pay them!! LOL!

Seven years ago, July 31, my daughter's wedding was near perfect EXCEPT the limo forgot to pick up the bride and groom from the church for delivery to the reception. After one hysterical phone call to the mother of the bride (that would be me!), we tagged the limo driver and after a wild ride across town, bride and groom arrived at their reception to begin their HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!

Fun blog today - glad you could be here Marie!

krisgils33 said...

Hi Marie and Christy,
As you know, we are in SanFran and I'm writing this from the pier in Sausalito. We just finished a morning hike through Muir Woods and some meandering around town. Looking forward to the ferry ride back to the city. It's another beautiful day here. Thanks for the fun blog!

Marie Force said...

sHi Elke,
Nice to see you here from Germany. I'm so glad you like the signed copy of Fatal Affair. Not sure yet what the plan is for future printings of Fatal books. I know Justice was probably going to print, but haven't heard for sure. Check again on Amazon for Justice, Consequences and Destiny (Monday) as ebooks.

I'm glad the singing dog memory gave you a smile!

Hi Mary,
Thanks for your kind words. Yes, I knew this series would work and I'm grateful for the opportunity to able to keep it going. I started work this week on the next one. I think I've discovered the secret to writing those books, thanks to something that happened with Flaw. So now I'm going to apply it and hope for the best!

Hi Luci,
I have mentioned the problem in Europe to the proper people at Harlequin in the hopes that Destiny will be available there on Monday. Let me know if you can't get it. I'm so glad you're enjoying the series! I hope you like the McCarthy books, too!

Hi Anne,
Your posts always make me smile. :-) I love that story about your daughter's wedding. The best laid plans, right? I bet the newlyweds put that extra time to "good" use. :-)

Hi Kris,
I'm so jealous that you're hanging out in my favorite city this week! Enjoy every minute!

Christy Reece said...

Butting in quickly to say: Hi Lisa! Thanks for reading SWEET JUSTICE. Hope you enjoy!

Oh, and I should have mentioned that I have a singing dog too-we call her the drama queen. Sometimes she'll just lift her head and start singing at us and we have no idea what she's trying to say. She also joins me in a duet whenever I'm singing around the house. I have a feeling that she's just trying to cover up my atrocious voice though. (:

Crystal said...

Great interview Marie! I'm looking forward to getting back to the Fatal series. Hope your kiddos are happy to be back to school. It seems like yesterday I was going into 11th grade! Time flies by. My summer has been insane! I've basically moved 4 times this summer. Luckily we should be put for a few months. :)

Amber said...

Hi Marie! Congratulations on your upcoming book FATAL DESTINY. I haven't had a chance to read your Fatal series, but can't wait to. I just had to leave a comment to tell you how much I love all the books that I have read buy you. In fact as soon as your books and Christy Reece's are out I have to either run to the book store or download it. Thank you for the updates on your future books can't wait for them or the next McCarthy books to be released!

Amber E.

Marie Force said...

Crystal,
The kids are definitely NOT happy to be back at school. We're all sad to see the summer coming to an end. Sniff. Hope you are settled now after all those moves!

Amber,
Thanks so much for reading! I'm so glad you've enjoyed my books so far. I'm working on the next McCarthy book, and hope to have it out before the end of the year. Fingers crossed!