When lives are on the line, sometimes the wrong thing is the right thing to do.
Born into a Chicago cop family, Angela DeLuca gets her rush from saving lives while her brothers get theirs from catching the bad guys. A tough beauty with a heart perhaps too big, she champions the underdog because, as the youngest of six siblings, she often felt like one.
ICE Special Agent Troy Deavers became a cop to prove he wasn’t like his father—a southern politician who brought his family down with greed and corruption. He doesn’t suffer victims well. At first intrigued by Angela’s passion, he soon fears that the fire in Angela’s heart will be her undoing.
What happens when Troy falls in love with the lovely but infuriating Angela, the Chicago paramedic who insists on protecting a young witness and her unborn baby—a witness who could break his case wide open?
You met the DeLuca family in heartbeats, now come to know them even better in ICE blue.
Where Do All Your Ideas Come From?
This is the number one question I get from readers when they ask me about my books. Very often I am tempted to respond with, “Where don’t they come from?” As a writer, I am first an observer. I watch and listen to people all the time. People fascinate me. Characters fascinate me. I will often watch a TV show not because I necessarily enjoy the content, but because I am curious to see how the characters interact with each other, especially on the so-called reality shows. Of all the reality shows out there, Survivor and The Amazing Race are the most interesting to me because they reveal character types. With that being said, though, I observe people everywhere--in the doctor’s office, at restaurants, even in the theater. While others are watching the play on the stage, I’m often studying the audience and their reactions to what’s happening on that stage.
I am also a reader. I read at least one newspaper every day and I get many of my story ideas from the articles I read. Then, as I am writing a book, I will often use the newspaper as a resource to help fill out the details in my stories. For example, ICE blue is about illegal immigration and human trafficking. That is a very hot topic today. Newspapers have been filled with articles regarding it. I use them as a jumping off point for more research on the internet. My first novel, heartbeats, was about a cardiologist and the main story idea was inspired by a newspaper article. I can’t say any more than that, or it would give the whole story away!
I am also inspired by the people around me and their stories. ICE blue is also about loss and overcoming the obstacles life puts in one’s path. The inspiration there came from the experiences of some of my friends and family and my admiration for their strength they manage to muster in dealing with their difficulties.
Of course, once I get all that input, I stir it all up and move it around until I come up with a work of fiction that has its own unique storyline and characters. And that’s the fun of it. Writing a romantic suspense novel is like making a delicious pot of stew. You take a solid chunk of meat, throw in a bunch of different vegetables for variety, add some spice, give it time to simmer, and sooner or later you have a novel with characters that people can believe in and identify with and a storyline that will hopefully bring joy, fear, laughter and even tears to your readers, and maybe raise their awareness of things outside their normal everyday life along the way.
Happy Reading!
Susan Rae
I write, basically, because I just can’t help myself. I can't resist the challenge of taking the intriguing characters and storylines that pop into my head and fleshing them out into compelling manuscripts. Romantic suspense is a natural to me, because it allows me to combine a sexy, passionate love story with a gritty suspense tale—in my opinion, the best of both worlds. It also lets me express my appreciation for the outdoors in the settings which I recreate on the page.
Freefall, my second novel, takes place in Wisconsin's Kettle Moraine Forest and beautiful Door County. ICE blue returns to the busy streets of Chicago and the shores of Lake Michigan to continue the story of the DeLuca family which began in my award winning first novel, heartbeats. I am currently working on the third book in the DeLuca series, TRUE blue, due out in 2014, where it seems my characters must take a trip to Montana’s majestic Glacier National Park.
When I’m not sketching characters or working out plot problems, you might find me on the golf course working on my handicap. I also enjoy traveling around the country seeking out new settings for my novels with my husband and my empty nest puppies, Ginger and Nikute.
Hi all! Susan Rae here. I just want to let you know that my books are also available direct from my publisher, www.musapublishing.com, from Barnes and Noble Nook, and all other major e-retailers!
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