Selena Robins, Author

Welcome Nancy and thank you for sharing an excerpt, a delicious recipe,  hosting a contest, and letting us know all about your CHICK DICK MYSTERIES.

Two lucky winners will be able to read this intriguing, page turning mystery. (Contest details below)

Selena’s Review of SAVING HALEY:

Nancy Lauzon’s flair for unique storytelling and unforgettable characters along with her talent for writing page-flipping prose, keeps the reader riveted to SAVING HALEY. Once again, Nancy Lauzon had this reader feeling the emotions of each character, with laughter, tension and at times a few tears.

SAVING HALEY features an intelligent, strong heroine, and a heart-throb hero who both have a past that they have to deal with in order to be able to move ahead. It is in these characters and in the distinctive plot and subplot that the reader will experience emotional turmoil in this must read.
Nancy Lauzon blends the right amount of mystery, romance, and sprinkles it with a good balance of eccentric, quirky, fun and mysterious characters.

SAVING HALEY is a fast paced mystery that will take the reader on an intriguing path.

INTERVIEW:

Selena: If we could ask your best friend, “What’s the funniest thing you could say about Nancy?” What do you think she would say?

I hope she would say that the funniest thing about me is my writing. Most of my novels contain a bit of humour, and I like books that lift me up. There is so much negativity in the world these days, and so many serious, depressing books. We need to lighten up, and I hope that my books put a smile on readers’ faces. Having said that, Saving Haley is a little bit darker than my other novels.

Selena: The Chick Dick Mysteries are not a series, but rather a collection of novels inspired by your love of Nancy Drew Mysteries. Why did you decide not to write a series?

NANCY: I wanted each novel to feature a unique heroine with her own story and character arc. Unfortunately, I’ve found that some mystery series feature characters who, after the first few novels, tend not to experience any more emotional growth. Their journey stops, and although they continue to solve mysteries, they’re no longer rising to personal challenges or experiencing conflict the way they did in the first novel. And a great novel, in my opinion, is one with conflict on every page.

Selena: If you could get into a time machine and flash back to the last year of high school, what advice would you give yourself?

NANCY: (Names have been changed to protect the innocent)

Don’t bother with Tom, he’s a dead end road.

Pay more attention to Dick. You’ll end up dating him sooner, and he’ll be your prom date, instead of Harry.

Stand your ground with Jane. She runs your life too much, and in thirty years you won’t be friends anymore. Be your own person.

Put your big girl panties on and forget about becoming an actress. Go into journalism. Or better yet, move to New York and become an editor.

Selena: I know you watch the Bachelor/Bachelorette show, if you could take the Bachelorette aside for 10 minutes, what is the one piece of advice you would give her before she starts to weed through the bachelors?

NANCY: I did a blog about this recently, and the answer is simple: BE MORE SUSPICIOUS! In other words, be Nancy Drew for a day. All the guys seem nice, but you don’t know them yet, so treat them with caution until they prove themselves. And for heaven’s sake, listen to the advice of friends! You were warned about Bentley!

Selena: You’re a multi-published author of fiction, have written non-fiction articles for magazines, you have a family, you work full-time, you blog, you’re writing your next book—what movie would apply to your daily life and hectic schedule?

NANCY: Speed – sometimes it feels like my life is a runaway bus. Minus the bomb, of course.

SAVING HALEY

A woman with no future, a man with a past and a house full of secrets.

Hayley Carmichael has lost everything … can her sanity be far behind?

She has no mother, no job, and no home, so Hayley follows her newly acquired fiancé, Brody, to his hometown of St. Augustine, Florida. Brody’s not there, but his family is. There’s Drake, Brody’s sullen twin, identical to his brother minus a little hair; his unhappy wife Meredith, whose marriage is sinking fast; and Eleanor Northwood, Brody’s mother, an eccentric old woman with a big heart and an agenda to match, who invites Hayley to stay at her beautiful inn, Plenty O’ Peace.

But peace isn’t so plentiful when Hayley discovers the house may be haunted and Eleanor’s sexy step-nephew, Jordan, is getting under her skin.

Excerpt:

He walked her to the front door of the bar. Hayley peered through the glass windows. It was raining out.

“My Mom’s not around anymore. She died.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Jimmy’s face blurred. He shoved something at her, a hanky. Her cheeks were wet. She didn’t know when her tears had started, but she used Jimmy’s hanky to mop them up. Who even carried handkerchiefs anymore?

“You’re very sweet, thank you.” She twisted the hanky in her fists.

“No problem. We all have those days, huh?”

He looked at her as though he wanted to kiss her, but it had to be her imagination. Guys this hot didn’t usually look at her twice. Brody was good-looking, but in a safe, clean-shaven way. Not in a stubbly, dangerous way, like Jimmy Dean, who probably got hit on every night of the week.

Someone once told her she looked like Annie, of Broadway musical fame, wholesome and freckled. Her curls had calmed down a bit, her hair was longer and her freckles had faded, but she still felt like Annie sometimes, especially lately, now that she was an orphan, too.

Jimmy had definitely moved closer. Maybe he felt sorry for her. Tears had that effect on some men. Brody didn’t like when she cried, it made him uncomfortable, he said. You’ve got to move on, he told her. It’s been months, now. He didn’t understand that there was a large hole inside of her that would be there forever. How did a person move anywhere hollowed out like that?

Featured Recipe from Saving Haley

Green Apple Martini

If you don’t have a juicer, you can substitute 1/3 cup store-bought unsweetened apple juice for the fresh apple juice in step 2. Repeat this recipe in batches, as needed.

• Yield Makes two 6-ounce martinis

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 medium green apple, about 8 ounces, peeled (peels reserved)
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 ounces best-quality vodka

1. Bring sugar, 1 cup water, and 3/4 of the apple peel to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. (Reserve the remaining apple peel for garnish.) Cook, stirring occasionally, until sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes. Transfer syrup to a medium bowl set over an ice bath; let stand, stirring occasionally, until cool. Pour through a fine sieve into another bowl; discard solids.
2. Cut apple into chunks; press through an electric juicer into a small bowl. Pour through a fine sieve into another bowl; discard any solids, and set juice aside
3. Cut remaining peel into thin, 4-inch-long strips. Tie each strip into a knot; set aside in a bowl of water with lemon juice.
4. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add vodka, 2 ounces syrup, and 1/3 cup apple juice; shake. Divide between 2 martini glasses; garnish with apple knots.

THE CONTEST:

Two ways to be eligible to win one of two copies of SAVING HALEY.

1. Comment on this blog.

2. Follow Nancy’s blog at:  http://nancylauzon.blogspot.com/

Thank you Nancy, I know readers will enjoy Saving Haley as much as I did.

Until next time……………..