Cat Johnson Braves Doll Lil’s Word Association Challenge!

Kitt: Hi Robin, we’d like to welcome you to Paperback Dolls! We’re so happy to have you here.

Robin: Thanks Kitt! I am so pleased to spend time with you.

Kitt: Since this is your first time at Paperback Dolls, can you tell our readers a little about yourself?

Robin: I’m 43 and a wife and mother to two small kids. I’m an attorney for the U.S. Navy full-time. I’m from a small town, Danville, in southwest Virginia. I modeled the town in my book after it.

Kitt: When did you first start writing? What made you decide – ‘ok, this is it, I’m writing a book’?

Robin: I turned 40! No joke. I hit that birthday and while I don’t mind getting older (it beats the alternative!) I did think about what I wanted to accomplish in my life and thought about all of the scene and snippets under my bed and I decided that I was going to write a full book. The Main Man encouraged me to do it and he told me that when I finished he’d buy me a celebratory laptop to write on. I wrote it (it will never see the light of day) and decided that I was going to submit it for publication. And . . . it did get the computer. My red netbook – Lil’ Red – is what I write on everyday.

Kitt: Do you have any authors that you took inspiration from or influenced you the most?

Robin: Oh, there are a few who I would love to come close to writing as well. Jill Shalvis for her humor. Harper Fox for her emotion. Jo Davis for her real characters. Hank Edwards for his excellent physical humor. And, the production level of Nora Roberts!

Kitt: When you want to get away from your own books and take a break, what do you read?

Robin: I love male/male romance (Harper Fox, Josh Lanyon, and Hank Edwards) – it is so different and yet the same. But, it is different enough to give my brain a break and to keep my mind from “working” as I read. I also soak up anything written by J.R. Ward, Robyn Carr, and Shannon McKenna.

Kitt: Can you tell us a little bit about A Night of Southern Comfort?

Robin: I think the blurb is the absolutely perfect way to describe the book:

One night of passion…

Detective Jackson Cantrell never imagined that one night with an irresistible stranger would turn his life upside down. He’s spent years living in the shadows, but Dr. Michaela Roarke awakened a passion inside him he’d buried years ago.

He never expected the woman would turn out to be the governor’s daughter…and his next assignment. The governor blackmails Jackson to secretly watch over Michaela and protect her from a stalker, or kiss his dream job at the FBI good-bye. Swearing to keep things strictly professional, Jackson moves in with Michaela. Too bad his heart can’t keep the same promise.

But when the stalker’s attacks quickly escalate beyond mere photographs to bodily harm, Jackson must race to save Michaela’s life. And he’ll have to figure out how to keep her once she discovers his lie.

Kitt: Are any of your characters, such as your hero Detective Jackson Cantrell, based on other people? Do you have mental images for your characters?

Robin: All of “The Boys” – Jackson and his friends – are loosely based on my cousins and some of their friends. They were a crazy bunch of guys who loved and beat on each other in equal parts.
I have the goofy habit of finding photographs of actors etc, who look like my characters. Joe Mangianello (Alcide on True Blood) is Jackon – yum! Gwyneth Paltrow is Michaela – so elegant and willowy.

 

 

 

 

 
 
Kitt: Was there a particular scene or part of the book that was more challenging to write, if so, can you explain?

Robin: I have to say that writing the Governor as such a horrible father was hard because my father is so wonderful. He’s kind and encouraging – the total opposite of my Dad. I kept having to resist the urge to make him nice . . . *grin* I finally just thought of the polar opposite of what my dad would do and that is what I had the Governor do.

Kitt: If there is a lesson that each of your main characters need to learn what would it be?

Robin: Michaela to learn to trust in her own strength. She’s so used to bowing to her father that she doubts her own ability to stay strong. Jackson needs to learn that living his own life might be scary but he needs to move out of the shadows and into the light to have any chance at happiness.

Kitt: So, what’s next on your “to-do” list? We know you are busy promoting your new book, but are there any new works in progress we can be anticipating? Or are there any other genres that you’d like to explore?

Robin: I just sold a Christmas novella to Entangled Publishing and it will be out this holiday season. I also have the books for the other “Boys” in ANoSC and I expect to have news on them soon as well as a couple of other projects I am working on. I think that 2013 is going to be a big year for me!

Kitt: We want to thank you so much for taking the time to visit us and answer our questions! We are super thrilled to have you on Paperback Dolls. Best of Luck to you!

Robin: Thank You! I had a great time.

On her fortieth birthday, Robin Covington decided that having a mid-life crisis and finding a boy-toy were far too tacky, so she delved a little deeper into the “bucket list” and pulled out the long-shelved dream of becoming an author. Now, she spends her time writing sizzling romance where the hero and heroine can’t keep their hands off each other.

She doesn’t miss the boy-toy at all.

Robin is a member of the Romance Writers of America, the Washington Romance Writers, a faculty member at Romance University, a member of the Waterworld Mermaids, and a guest contributor to the Happy Ever After blog at USA Today.

Robin lives in Maryland with her hilarious husband, brilliant children, and ginormous puppy.

Find Robin Covington: Website | Blog | | |

One night of passion…

Detective Jackson Cantrell never imagined that one night with an irresistible stranger would turn his life upside down. He’s spent years living in the shadows, but Dr. Michaela Roarke awakened a passion inside him he’d buried years ago.

He never expected the woman would turn out to be the governor’s daughter…and his next assignment. The governor blackmails Jackson to secretly watch over Michaela and protect her from a stalker, or kiss his dream job at the FBI good-bye. Swearing to keep things strictly professional, Jackson moves in with Michaela. Too bad his heart can’t keep the same promise.

But when the stalker’s attacks quickly escalate beyond mere photographs to bodily harm, Jackson must race to save Michaela’s life. And he’ll have to figure out how to keep her once she discovers his lie.

Excerpt from A Night of Southern Comfort by Robin Covington:

Mr. Sex-on-a-Stick took his last shot and accepted the congratulatory thumps on the back from his friends. He didn’t smile in response, just quirked his full, sensual lips and turned to face her head-on with an expression full of hot promise. Catcalls and low whistles from his friends drifted across the crowded bar.

Come on, handsome. Don’t let me strike out at my first real bar pickup.

The breath she didn’t realize she was holding whooshed out as he separated himself from his friends and headed over to her. His movements were precise, controlled, and deliciously predatory. He possessed the confident demeanor of either military or law enforcement. He definitely wasn’t a paper-pushing warlord or a politico. Years of experience trained her to spot those guys a mile away. No, his mask of control was one born of the need for survival, much like hers.

Okay, big boy. You let me peek behind yours and I’ll let you peek behind mine.

He stopped in front of her, his thigh brushing her leg and setting off a series of sparks underneath her skin. His chocolate brown eyes met hers, filled with the assurance of decadent possibilities.

Michaela opened her mouth and shut it again. Now that he was here, she had no idea what to say. What would Angelina do? Channel your inner Jolie.

She cleared her throat. The result was a sultry, sexy voice she didn’t know she possessed. “May I buy you a drink?”

He glanced at the glass in her hand and nodded.

“A Southern Comfort.” She spoke in the general direction of the bartender, unable to tear herself away from her companion. “Neat.”

He slid onto the stool next her, his leg still against hers and her temperature hovering near the boiling point. He leaned on the bar, creating their own intimate circle as the noise of the busy bar faded into the background. His lips curved into a slight smile.

“Is there something funny?”

“No. Not at all.” His deep voice rumbled in her ear, his warm breath grazed her cheek. “I didn’t take you for the whiskey type.”

“And what type am I?”

He leaned back, examining her ice-blue satin, strapless cocktail dress and matching Manolo Blahnik pumps. She squirmed in her seat as her body responded to the desire pulsing between them.

“Honestly?” He cocked his head. “You strike me as the chardonnay type. A proper drink for a proper lady.”

She laughed. Any other night, his description would have been close to the mark. “Whiskey’s a drink of control and power.” She took another sip and caught his stare over the rim of her glass.

“I see.” He lifted his glass and downed the contents, then turned his full attention back to her. “So…why are you drinking alone?”

“I’m not drinking alone. Now.” Michaela gestured toward his drink and ordered him another when he nodded.

“Okay, so you’re here…?”

“Celebrating my new life.”

“Aahhh.” He lifted his glass to her in salute. “Let me be the first to say that your ex-husband is an idiot.”

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