#Interview with Catherine Lanigan, author of Hers to Protect -

Welcome to another stop for Hers to Protect by Catherine Lanigan!
On Tour with Prism Book Tours

If you have been following along the tour, you have probably already read my review of this title over at Andi’s Book Reviews. Today I have a treat for you, as Catherine Lanigan has taken time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about this book and series, as well as some other tidbits about her writing. Please enjoy what she has to say and be sure to enter the great giveaway at the end. And of course, leave her more questions and comments and get your own copy!

What was the inspiration behind this book?

When I wrote FAMILY OF HIS OWN, I created the Hawks’ family. The mother, Connie, was a widow with six children. Three girls and three boys. This family was based on a family I’d known when I was a kid. A prominent attorney in town dropped dead from a heart attack before his 40th birthday, leaving his wife, who had never worked with three children to raise.

I never forgot how she went to back to school and made a life for herself. I was impressed with that. In my story, Connie becomes an architect and lives in a spectacular nearly all-glass house in the country on the far north side of Indian Lake.

Violet Hawks is the first character I’ve written in all these stories who wants to leave our idyllic town of Indian Lake. She can’t wait to head out. However, she can’t find a job anywhere but at the ILPD and she’s stuck handing out traffic tickets when she wants to test her skills as a detective.

What kind of research did you have to do for it?

I interviewed several police detectives, especially since my story is about tracking down a drug lord. In our town, in real life, there is a major drug issue here and the detectives that I spoke with were on the Drug Force Task Team. They had recently conducted a huge bust that captured over 55 drug dealers. In the book, Violet and the team bring the criminals to justice quite quickly. In real life, the team spent over a year and half gathering intel.

Who is your favorite character and why?

I have two favorites. Violet Hawks, the heroine and the hero, Josh Stevens.

I adored Josh. He’s got a bit of chip on his shoulder because he’s very successful and he’s been all over the world racing cars. He literally lives in the fast lane. But the shadows of his past all come back to haunt him in the telling of this story. It’s as if Josh had hit a crisis point in his life and he’s got huge decisions to make. He gets caught between his career, his past, his guilt over his parents’ death and his growing love for the one woman who could end everything for him.

Violet is equally challenged. Her job is on the line if she doesn’t comply and bring Josh in for questioning, when she has just convinced Josh that he can trust her and that she doesn’t want anything from him but his love.

She’s guilty of betraying him. And she goes further to show that to him, when she chooses her career and walks away from him.

If you could live in the world of any of your books, which one would you choose and why?

That’s a tough question, because some of my older books are historicals and I loved writing about the turn of the last century. However, I do adore indoor plumbing and electricity. Antibiotics and movies streamed to my television. So, given all that, I would say that I probably loved WEB OF DECEIT the best. This was set in London and New York during the start of the 1900’s before World War One. The heroine, Amanda Granger, though a victim of class and status on both continents, she rose above it all, believed in a forbidden love and was the first woman editor and owner of a women’s magazine. She didn’t compromise her principals or her goals. She confronted her enemies and bested them. She had immense courage and looking at it now from the mirror of our times when journalism is more fiction than fact, she wrote the truth. She researched and dug until she found the truth. That kind of heroine is one of the heroine’s in WINGS OF DESTINY. Women journalists who muckraked and persevered until they uncovered graft, corruption and lies. Too bad we don’t have more of that today.

What are the ingredients of a great romance novel?

Every editor will tell you it’s conflict, conflict and more conflict. I also think it’s important to have compelling atmosphere. I like backgrounds of war, disaster, cultural conflict and family feuds.

The characters must be believable, lovable and yet have an extra ounce of spunk, courage, creativity, humor and insight that makes them memorable. Their reactions to the ordinary must be extraordinary. Their willingness to answer another’s needs are complete selflessness.

I like diverse geographical landscapes as well.

When I was creating Indian Lake, the town, I wanted to bring in the fact that the four seasons, the lake itself and the surrounding farm lands had a great deal to do with the way people in this area choreographed their lives. Agricultural communities always feel those ancient ties to the land. The land, the trees, the lake are almost like characters themselves. Perhaps it’s my love of Jack London books that makes me think this way, but those elements are part of romance. Romance trappings are the atmosphere. The dinner, the wine, the food, the music. Love is the courage two people need to commit, to believe in each other.

But romance is the stage upon which a love story can take place.

What’s next for you in the writing realm?

I’m currently working on CHRISTMAS UNDER GLASS for Heartwarming, due out in November of this year. I have three stories in the proposal stage for Heartwarming, the first of which I’m barreling down on the minute I finish up my edits on CHRISTMAS UNDER GLASS.

I have a couple thrillers I’m tying up and a paranormal novel as well.

Hers to Protect
(Shores of Indian Lake #11)
By Catherine Lanigan
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 384 Pages
April 1st 2019 by Harlequin Heartwarming

She’s sworn to protect…

But does that include a speeding celebrity?

Violet Hawks is a by-the-books police officer—so when she catches a man speeding, she arrests him. Only, the man is famous race car driver Josh Stevens. To make amends, Josh launches a charm campaign, and it works on the small town…and on Violet. But when Josh is connected to an investigation, Violet begins to wonder—can she trust her instincts when her heart is involved?

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Other Books in the Series

About the Author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts. Ms. Lanigan’s SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE series for HARLEQUIN HEARTWARMING includes LOVE SHADOWS, HEART’S DESIRE , A FINE YEAR FOR LOVE, KATIA’S PROMISE, FEAR OF FALLING, SOPHIE’S PATH, PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, FAMILY OF HIS OWN, HIS BABY DILEMMA, RESCUED BY THE FIREFIGHTER and HER TO PROTECT (2019).

Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com.

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