Karen's Killer BOOK BENCH

Karen’s Killer Book Bench **Spring Madness** #Paranormal #UrbanFantasy: DRIVEN BY DESIRE, Possessed by Passion Collection by Rita Delude ETAL

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KAREN’S KILLER BOOK BENCH: Welcome to Karen’s Killer Book Bench where readers can discover talented new authors and take a peek inside their wonderful books. This is not an age-filtered site so all book peeks are PG-13 or better. Come back and visit often. Happy reading!

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DRIVEN BY DESIRE
Possessed by Passion Collection
BY RITA DELUDE ETAL

Crazy Ink Publishing, LLC is pleased to present a USA Today bestseller list-aiming dark romance and paranormal romance collection boxset for release on March 16, 2021. Featuring stories from USA Today and International Bestselling authors, this set includes more than twenty romantic novels and novellas aimed to ignite your passions and make you fall in love with the characters. Pre order your copy today!

Collection Blurb

Passions pulsate.
Destinies collide.
Humans, angels, and demons alike are possessed with a common bind—desire.

Experience exquisite and sultry seraphs, demonic witches, a hellfire phoenix, a vengeful gargoyle, ordinary humans with dark sides, vampires, werewolves, ghostly spirits, and other creatures of the night, who will whet your desire for romance and seduction. Travel with them into their worlds as they lust for love, romance, and pleasure.

Will they find what they are searching for? Will you?
Find out in this twenty-plus, limited time paranormal and dark romance collection by USA Today, international bestselling, and award-winning authors.

Experience the passion.

Readers of Anne Rice, Debbie Paterson, Linda Howard, Dean Koontz, Kristen Ashley, and Paul Tremblay will love this dark collection! One click now to become POSSESSED…

Featuring the works of USA Today and International Bestselling Authors:

Bella Emy – USA Today Bestseller – For Better or For Cursed

Alyssa Drake – USA Today Bestseller – For Better or For Cursed

Cora Kenborn – USA Today Bestseller – Cast Stones

Catherine Wiltcher – Amazon All Star – Cast Stones

Erin Lee – USA Today Bestseller – Blank Slate

Olivia Marie –USA Today Bestseller– Blood Bound

Lorah Jaiyn – USA Today Bestseller – The Immortal Stone

Murphy Wallace – International Bestseller – Death in the Flames

N Isabelle Blanco – International Bestseller – Malice

Rena Marin – International Bestseller – The Arisen

Rita Delude – International Bestseller – Driven by Desire

M W Brown – International Bestseller – Under the Moonlight

Diana Register – International Bestseller – Electric Man

Stephanie Ayers – International Bestseller – Blood White

Yolanda Allard – International Bestseller – Gargoyles: Stone Curse

Sian B. Claven – International Bestseller – Neutral Ground

LJC Fynn – International Bestseller – Blank Slate

John Watson – International Bestseller – The Hollow-Eyed Girl

Tiffany Carby – International Bestseller – Meet Cut(e)

Michelle Edwards – International Bestseller – Demonic Destiny

Tracy A. Ball – International Bestseller – Blood Like Rain

Eve Corso – International Bestseller – Spellbound

Marie Ahls – International Bestseller – Villainous

Rheanon Nicole – International Bestseller – His Soul to Keep

Cloud S Riser – International Bestseller – Queen of Stone

Editor’s Note: Look for **Spring Madness** spotlights through March and April for authors included in this collection, a deeper look at the individual authors and their books, including Excerpts, Author Interviews, and Character Interviews!

DRIVEN BY DESIRE
Possessed by Passion Collection
BY RITA DELUDE ETAL

Included in Possessed by Passion Collection

Blurb

Ashley Gage sells out her half of G & J’s Renovations business to her partner, Rex Johnson, and leaves town after an ugly breakup with her husband of six years, who cheated on her.

She settles in the town of Nashua, New Hampshire and purchases an old Victorian house that needs lots of elbow grease, tender loving care, and talent to bring it back to the splendor of its past. She’s driven to succeed in everything she does, and she knows what this house needs and can do it herself. Just before she signs the deed on the bottom line, the realtor says, “I am legally obligated to tell you that someone died in the house.”

Ashley laughs and signs for the dream house she’s always wanted. Will it become her nightmare or her wish come true?

DRIVEN BY DESIRE
Possessed by Passion Collection
BY RITA DELUDE ETAL

Included in Possessed by Passion Collection

Discussion of Driven by Desire by Rita Delude

1. In your own words, how would you describe your book?

My book for the Possessed by Passion collection is called Driven by Desire. It’s a paranormal, dark romance about a heart and a house under reconstruction. It’s a contemporary story about Ashley Gage, who is a custom home reconstruction specialist who most often restores Victorian homes to their original luster. But through a ghost, Perry Lucier, she is haunted by in a home she purchases, the reader also steps back into 1920’s when some dreadful things happened in that home she loves.

2. What are some hashtags you’d use to draw readers in?

#PNR #paranormalromance #darkromance #ghosts #haunting #lovestory #mystery #murder #Victorian #history

3. What surprised you most when writing this book?

The amount of research I needed to do for the book surprised me. I know a lot about home construction because I’ve done plenty of that, so it wasn’t so much of that I needed to research, but I researched the 1920’s, ghosts, and the city of Nashua, New Hampshire, where the haunted house is located.

It was also surprising how much I truly enjoyed this story because of the various twists and turns it took me on. Never an outliner, I have a general story idea before I begin, but go with the natural progression of the story as it moves along during its creation. This one surprised me many times in delightful ways.

4. Can you tease us with the first few lines of your book?

“Ashley had put in sixteen hours on the job site working with her partner Rex Johnson and a crew of seven others because Dr. and Mrs. David Waller were due back from their honeymoon to Spain in two weeks. They wanted the renovations completed, the decorator to have finalized his work, and all the furnishings moved in and properly styled before they returned. Zachary Falcon couldn’t start bringing all the items he’d purchased and had warehoused for them until final polishing was complete. That day, Ashley and Rex and the crew of G & J’s Renovations had put the finishing touches on their makeover of the 1876 Victorian on Belmont Street, one of the most coveted old homes in Brattleboro, Vermont.

She loved her work. The satisfaction of bringing the fine all-wood carvings of the Victorian Era back to their original glory and of reviving tired, dry wood until it shined with a pop of energy that only the veins of real wood could reveal delighted her time after time. It never got old for Ashley Gage, who knew as a child that she wasn’t meant to be sitting behind a desk. She’d rather be moving all day long with a different challenge each day. Old home renovations offered her dream occupation, and she and Rex, a friend since high school, shared that love.

But the love waiting at home for her was Brody.”

5. What inspired this story?

When I was invited to join this limited-time collection and was told the stories could be paranormal or dark romance, I knew immediately I wanted a protagonist in love with a ghost, but my books always have twists. Since the set also allows for dark romance, I knew I wanted there to be a dark side to Ashley’s love interest. That’s as much as I needed for the creativity sparks to fly in my rather warped mind, I guess.

6. Can you tell us what your favorite part of the book is?

Ashley meets someone totally by chance. He’s a big, black man, who I modeled after Tyrus, a former WWE wrestler. Scenes with him are touching and fun. I always try to include humor in my stories.

7. And last but not least, what are some of your favorite movies dealing with hauntings?

I only have one, no other can touch it—Ghost with Patrick Swayze.

Note: I hope everyone picks up a copy of Possessed by Passion. How can tyou lose with twenty-one novels and novellas by USA Today and International Bestselling Authors for just 99 cents?

INTERVIEW
Rita Delude

Before we get started talking about your writing, tell us a little about yourself, where you’re from, what you do for a living (if you’re not a full-time writer) what hobbies you have, etc. Whatever you’d like to share to introduce yourself.

I’m originally from Troy, NY, where Clement’s famous The Night Before Christmas was written in the 1800’s. But I moved to Merrimack, NH 47 years ago when I married a man from New Hampshire, so I feel more like a Live Free or Die (that’s NH’s state slogan) person than a New Yorker.

As a college professor, I taught writing but am retired now. I also worked for a local newspaper creating a weekly column and feature stories, and I wrote for education magazines.

My favorite hobby is quilting. In fact, they say, “write what you know,” so my first published book was set in a small town where a broken-hearted woman started her life over by opening a custom quilting shop. It became a series of three books: Kaleidoscope, Baby Blues, and Adam’s Anguish, all involving the women and men and their families who worked in the shop or lived in the town. They are contemporary romances.

Visiting with grandchildren, two to twenty-three, is another of my favorite pastimes.

1. How did you get started writing?

Like many writers, once I took pencil in hand to form words, I was hooked. As am elementary school student, I was selected to write for the school’s newspaper and that pleasure continued through high school and college.

So writing a weekly newspaper column came naturally to me as did magazine writing. But writing fiction didn’t happen until I was in my MFA (Masters of Fine Arts in Writing) program. I loved it and still do.

2. What genre(s) do you write in and why?

I began with contemporary romance including those I mentioned above plus Catch. net about finding love on the internet and Caught in the Middle, the sequel.

Since, I’ve been challenged by my publisher to branch out. I’ve published 18 books including YA Romance, Contemporary Romance, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance and Suspense/Thrillers.

3. What do you think about when you’re alone in your car?

Often I pre-write while alone in my car. It’s a great time to flesh out a particular character or a setting for a book. I keep a small tape recorder in my car to record my thoughts and transcribe them when I get home.

4. What is your favorite part of writing?

Gosh, that’s a tough one. I love pre-writing (plotting and planning what will happen, generally, in a novel, but I don’t outline. I’m a punster. I love the writing and the research that I find is needed in nearly every book, and, believe it or not, I like the editing. In fact, I edit for other authors. But my favorite part is holding that published book in my hands. It’s such a treasure.

5. What is your least favorite part of writing?

Seeing the edits from my editor is my least favorite. I always kick myself for not catching what she caught. For each book, I do a line edit at least three times, read the book aloud to my legally blind mother, have my husband edit it, and still she finds issues. Ninety-nine percent of the time, she is spot on, and it drives me crazy to realize I didn’t catch the errors.

6. Pick two celebrities to be your parents. Who would they be and why?

They aren’t the right age, but if they were, I’d want Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks as they were in Sleepless in Seattle.

7. Where do you get the ideas for your stories?

Having published my first book at age 65, I’d say my ideas come from several different jobs I’ve held, four kids I’ve raised, nine grandchildren I spoil, trips I’ve taken, and just living a long life. Ideas are everywhere.

8. Tell me about your ideal reader

One who posts reviews! I don’t care if they are one or five stars, although I prefer the fives, I love the feedback. I learn from it when the review isn’t five-star if they explain why, and I feel wonderful when I see five stars, especially if they explain why they liked my work so much.

9. What is your “go to” routine that helps you get in the mood to write? Special beverage? Music? Etc.

I need silence, absolute silence, diet Coke or water, and sometimes a salty snack. I write best in early morning before I start the routine of the day, and research and edit late at night and sometimes into the early morning. I write daily.

10. Tell us about your next book & when is it being published?

Possessed by Passion releases on March 16, 2021. It’s a collection of twenty-one dark romance and paranormal reads. For that collection, I wrote Driven by Desire about a female home renovator, whose own Victorian home is haunted by a ghost who was killed in the home 100 years before. They fall in love, but she finds dark secrets written in a journal that was hidden in the rafters of her attic. It’s a HEA, but takes many twists and turns to get there.

If you mean a book that isn’t from a collection, my most recent book is a contemporary love story called Rescue Beagle about a wounded warrior, a broken woman, and a beagle that rescues them. It will release in eBook on May 5, 2021. The eBook is on pre-order and the paperback is live at mybook.to/rescuedaisy.

Meet Author Rita Delude…

It’s never too late to chase a writing dream. But in order to pen it best, an author must first live it. International Bestselling Author Rita Delude has done just that. Raised by a hardworking alcoholic in a house full of both love and chaos, Delude creates rich, deep characters, who pop from the page. Unafraid to dive into important young and new adult subjects like bullying, bigotry, homosexuality, drugs, kidnapping, and sexual abuse, she also writes adult contemporary, historical, paranormal romance, and suspense/horror. Together, like the quilts she sews, her stories stitch together the experiences she’s had as a junior high teacher, college professor, newspaper reporter, parent, and grandparent.

Delude has published Kaleidoscope, Baby Blues, and Adam’s Anguish, a three-part contemporary romance set in Escape, CO around Alice Glover and her quilting shop and family and friends who run it. She’s also published Catch.net and Caught in the Middle, a two-part series about finding love on the internet and keeping the flame burning after almost a decade of marriage. Rhode Island Rendezvous and Chance Meeting are two more contemporary romances of hers. Sister’s Revenge is her horror/suspense read with Sweet Revenge its sequel. Dracula’s Choice is an adult paranormal romance for readers who enjoy the darker side of love. Her other works include YA romances: Bubble Gum Love, Lemon Yellow, Lollipop Lure, and Strawberry Blonde.

Hoarder, the second book in the Crazy Town Series released in February 2021. Her historical romance is The Locket, set in World War II. She has also penned Driven by Desire, a dark paranormal romance, for the Possessed by Passion boxset that releases on March 16, 2021.

She’s published short stories in numerous anthologies by multiple publishers. These days, when she’s not out living and learning, she can be found quilting or researching for upcoming works including For the Love of Lily, a historical romance, and Second Ride, set partly in the 1970’s and partly in contemporary time.

Now a Crazy Ink exclusive author, she has been a magazine writer and a newspaper columnist for decades. Delude holds a MFA in Writing. She is retired from her position as a full professor at Nashua Community College, Nashua, New Hampshire. She lives in New Hampshire, USA with her husband and their rescue dog, Daisy.

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Links to Possessed by Passion Rita’s website, blog, books, etc.:

UBL: https://books2read.com/POSSESSEDBP

Amazon: mybook.to/PBP

Apple: https://apple.co/3kqjj3e

Nook: https://bit.ly/33GUjhw

Kobo: https://bit.ly/35FXys0

Like our page:
Possessed by Passion facebook.com/PossessedbyPassion/

Join our party room: 
facebook.com/groups/PossessedbyPassion/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/PossessdPassion

Instagram: 
https://www.instagram.com/possessedbypassion/

Website:
http://www.possessedbypassion.com/

Connect with the author here:

Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Rita-Delude/e/B078XJRF7X%3Fref

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRitaDelude/

MeWe: https://mewe.com/profile/5c4bf5331982a604fc8c524e

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ritadelude2797/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rita-delude

Book and Main Bites: https://bookandmainbites.com/RitaDelude

Twitter: https://twitter.com/author_rita    

Web: https://authorritadelude.com

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Pre-order POSSESSED BY PASSION for only $.99!

 

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SPECIAL GIVEAWAY: Rita will give away an eBook copy of Kaleidoscope to one lucky reader and one eBook copy of Catch .net to another lucky reader who comments on her Karen’s Killer Book Bench blog.

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Thanks, Rita, for sharing your story with us!

Don’t miss the chance to read this book!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 thoughts on “Karen’s Killer Book Bench **Spring Madness** #Paranormal #UrbanFantasy: DRIVEN BY DESIRE, Possessed by Passion Collection by Rita Delude ETAL”

  3. Good morning, Rita, and welcome to Karen’s Killer Book Bench. I’m really intrigued by the premise of your book. I enjoyed both interviews, about the book and about yourself. I, often wondered what it would be like to renovate an old house with history. I can’t wait to read this book in the collection. Thanks for sharing it with us today!

    Reply

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