It’s my pleasure today to welcome author Eliza Daly back to Thoughts in Progress as she celebrates the release of her latest novel, Identity Crisis, with an Excerpt Reveal Tour.
First, a brief synopsis of Identity Crisis.
When Olivia Doyle’s father dies under suspicious circumstances, rather than inheriting a family fortune, she inherits a new identity. She learns they were placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program when she was five years old. Her father was involved in an art forgery ring and testified against the mob.
Brought up not to trust anyone, Olivia has a difficult time relying on U.S. Marshal Ethan Ryder to protect her, and to keep her secret. She fears her father may have continued his life of crime through her art gallery. She has little choice but to depend on Ethan when she realizes someone is now after her. Olivia’s search for the truth leads her and Ethan across country to a family and past she doesn’t remember.
At the age of ten, Ethan witnessed a brutal murder. He vowed when he grew up, he’d protect people in danger. Protecting Olivia is difficult when she won’t trust him. He soon realizes his desire to protect her goes beyond doing his job, but if his judgment becomes clouded by emotions, her safety could be jeopardized.
Can Ethan and Olivia learn to trust each other when they uncover secrets that will change their lives forever?
Identity Crisis is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes, All Romance, eBooks.com, and Kobo.
A Special Prize Giveaway
To celebrate the March 4th release of Identity Crisis, Eliza will be awarding one $20 gift certificate, and two $10 gift certificates, for either Amazon or Barnes & Noble to three randomly drawn commenters during her Excerpt Reveal Tour yesterday and today. Please be sure to include your e-mail address with your comment, if you’d like to be enter in the contest. Winners will be contacted on March 8. Good luck everyone!
Now for the excerpt from Identity Crisis……..
Father Clifford slipped a yellowed envelope from the side pocket of his vestment. “Your father gave this to me many years ago. Asked that I give it to you upon his death.”
She took the envelope from his hand. The organ music faded and a desolate, eerie stillness fell over the church, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. She tightened the shawl around her shoulders. She opened the envelope to find a letter and a newspaper clipping. She started with the letter.
Dear Livvy,
First, know that I loved you more than anything in this world. That’s why I hope someday you’ll forgive me for what I’ve done. Telling you the truth while I was alive could have put your life in danger. Now that I’m gone, I no longer fear for your safety. They would only have hurt you to get to me.
The only way to keep us safe was to enter the Witness Protection
Program when you were five. Leaving our friends and family was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I can’t stand the thought of you now being alone. I hope you’ll go back to our family, in the town where I grew up, Five Lakes, Wisconsin. I’d like to be laid to rest there, next to your mother. Please forgive me enough to grant me this one last wish. If you should ever encounter any problems, contact Roy Howard, the U.S. Marshal who relocated us, at 415-334-9076. I’m so sorry. Please believe you were the most important thing to me. You were my life. My Livvy.
Love, Dad
Olivia stood paralyzed, her mind racing, trying to comprehend the letter. Was this some kind of sick joke? For the past twenty-four years her dad had lived in fear that somebody would hurt them? What had forced him to leave behind everyone he’d loved? Everyone she’d probably loved, but obviously couldn’t remember. And if her mom wasn’t buried in San Francisco, whose grave had Olivia been visiting here all these years? She tried to hold the letter steady in her trembling hands. Of course it was vague. Her dad had been a man of few words. However, these few words expressed a lot of emotion, something he’d never been good at doing.
“Is everything all right?” Father Clifford’s voice penetrated her thoughts.
Concern creased the older man’s brow and from the curiosity filling his gray eyes, he had no clue what the envelope contained. Her dad hadn’t even trusted a priest with his secret. Her dad had been the only person she’d ever really trusted, and it turned out she hadn’t truly known him.
She merely nodded, unable to find her voice. She inhaled a deep breath. The scent of beeswax candles and incense did little to calm the panic racing through her veins. She unfolded a clipping from a Chicago newspaper, dated twenty-four years ago. The headline read Art Dealer in Bed with Mob Blows Whistle on Forgery Ring and Vinnie Carlucci. The article included a photo of police officers escorting her dad. She started reading the article. Prominent Chicago art dealer Andrew Donovan confesses to having sold more than a hundred forgeries …
Her stomach dropped. She slapped a hand over her mouth, certain she was about to vomit right there on the pew.
Her dad had been a criminal.
The nature of his crime made it all the more surreal.
She stared in disbelief at the papers in her hand. His name had been Andrew Donovan, not Alex Doyle. Her last name was Donovan. Was her first name actually Olivia? Instead of inheriting a family fortune, she’d inherited a new identity.
Or rather, an old one.
Now doesn’t that just grab your attention? So many unanswered questions and wondering where it all will lead.
If you haven’t meet Eliza before, let me tell you a bit about her. Eliza’s first attempt at creative writing was in fourth grade. She and her friends were huge Charlie’s Angels fans and she would sit in her bedroom at night writing scripts for them to act out at recess the following day. She was Kelly Garrett. Fast forward to the present, she’s still writing stories about beautiful women who always get their men. The journey from fourth grade script writer to published author wasn’t an easy one, but it was always an adventure and the final destination was well worth it.
When Eliza isn’t traveling for her job as an event planner, or tracing her ancestry roots through Ireland, she’s at home in Milwaukee working on her next novel, bouncing ideas off her husband Mark, and her cats Quigley, Frankie, and Sammy.
You can find Eliza at her website, and on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
Thanks so much for stopping by today. What would you do if you suddenly found out your family had been living in the Witness Protection Program all of your life?
(Giveaway announcement: The winners of Eliza's giveaway have been selected. The winners are: Margaret Literary Chanteuse won the copy of UNDER HER SPELL and mushuu 17 won the $10 gift certificate. Thanks so much to all who participated.)
One of the joys of blogging has been the opportunity to meet authors and learn more about how ideas become the books I love to read. One such author is the delightful Eliza Daly whose lighthearted debut romance, UNDER HER SPELL, was recently released by Crimson Romance.
Here’s a brief blurb of UNDER HER SPELL (on sale this week for only $1.99!):
When a series of failed relationships and business ventures have Monica Jackson doubting her self-worth, she turns to spell casting to attract positive energy and the opportunities needed to achieve her goals. But can Monica’s belief in spells restore her belief in herself?
Monica creates a spell to find her soul mate, and one to ensure the success of her new romantic event planning company, Enhance Your Romance. Monica is confident she has found her niche until divorce lawyer Reed Walker opens a practice next door to her office. The anti-marriage slogan plastered on his office window, and his down-on-love clients, quickly prove detrimental to Monica’s business. When his arrival appears to trigger a string of bad luck, Monica fears one of her spells sent negative energy into the universe and it has returned to her threefold. Although Reed is beyond sexy, and she admires his self-confidence, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the universe back on her side, and Reed out of her life. No way is she losing another business.
Reed finds himself attracted to Monica’s beauty and her optimism. His job and his parents’ divorce have made him a pessimist, especially when it comes to love. However, he soon finds that Monica’s pro-love attitude is rubbing off on him, causing him to lose his edge. If Reed doesn’t distance himself from Monica, he’ll likely destroy his reputation as a pit bull divorce lawyer.
Can Monica and Reed look past what they might be losing to realize the love they have found?
Eliza joins us today and takes a different spin on the normal Q&A by interviewing herself. This way she gets to answer questions she’s been dying to answer, but no one has asked. In addition, she has a tantalizing giveaway for a lucky visitor.
I would like to thank Mason for helping me celebrate the release 
of my debut romantic comedy, UNDER HER SPELL. I’m excited to be here today at Thoughts in Progress. I’ve conducted several interviews since my book was recently released, so to make an interview as fresh as possible, I decided to answer some questions I haven’t been asked.
What are some unique book titles on your shelves?
* Alice et Les Chats Persans (Alice and the Persian Cats. My French isn’t great, but I bought it one time when I was in Paris because it had a cute cat on the cover.)
* French for Cats (I bought it in Savannah so my cats Quigley and Frankie could translate the previous book for me.)
* Talk to the Tail ‘Cause the Whiskers Ain’t Listenin’! (Story of my life. Are you seeing a pattern here?)
* The Definitive Guide to Underground Humor: Quaint Quotes about Death, Funny Funeral Home Stories, and Hilarious Headstone Epitaphs. (I love visiting cemeteries, especially in Ireland, even if I don’t know anyone buried there. I bought this book when writing an upcoming romantic comedy titled Thinking Outside the Box, in which the heroine plans themed funerals.)
* So Is He Gay? The Single Woman’s Guide to Whether He’d Make a Better Groom or Caterer at Your Wedding. (Bought it because the title made me laugh out loud in the store!)
What were the hardest and the easiest elements for you to learn about the craft of writing?
Dialogue came naturally for me. When I first started writing I could have written a book 100% in dialogue I enjoyed writing it so much. I maybe should have considered writing a screenplay instead of a book. The hardest thing for me to learn was writing conflict and tension. Probably because I avoid both in real life.
What does your office look like?
A retro groovy pad that Marsha Brady would die for. Easier to show than to tell, which is what all good writers strive to do.
You wrote a book about spell casting, does this mean you believe in spells?
I believe in positive thinking and that believing strongly in a goal will help you achieve it. And that is the essence of spell casting. Do I actively cast spells? No, but I no longer believe they are merely a bunch of hocus pocus, like the movie with that same name suggests. (Although I must admit I love that movie.)
Do you have an English or creative writing degree?
I am often asked this question. Many people think this is true of writers. I would like to debunk that myth right now. A lot of writers I know write about what they know, or at least this is often the case early in their writing careers. Look at John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Lisa Scottoline. They all wrote about their professions. I’m an event planner who travels, and I’ve written several books with event planner heroines and several set in Paris, my favorite city. The first book I wrote was a romantic comedy about a businesswoman who was stressed out from flying. Hmm…me? The book was actually very therapeutic.
What other types of books have you written?
I also write lighthearted women’s fiction and paranormal young adult. You can check out my YA book at www.bethwatson.net. I’m currently querying this book to agents along with a women’s fiction book set in Paris.
If you could temporarily move anywhere in the world while writing a book set there, where would it be?
My first reaction is to say Ireland, my favorite country, so I’m going to surprise everyone who knows me and say Monte Carlo. I could improve my French. Eat pain au chocolat for breakfast daily. Try a different local wine with dinner nightly… And of course, write. There’s an air of intrigue and romance about Monte Carlo that has always drawn me to the city. However, I’ll have to be a NYT bestselling author to afford to live there even temporarily.
You’ve mentioned that you love to travel. What’s the most unique picture you have of yourself while on vacation?
A picture of me with two monkeys at a floating market in Thailand. I’d just stepped off a boat and a woman tossed these two monkeys at me and they started climbing all over me. I laughed until I started panicking about contracting some rare tropical disease.
GIVEAWAY
I’ll be giving away a copy of my e-book UNDER HER SPELL (from Amazon, B&N, or Kobo) and a $10 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift certificate. Either leave your e-mail address with your comment or check back here November 11 for the winners’ names and instructions. Please ask me a question to be eligible to win one of these prizes. Please keep it PG13, or maybe even G.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by today. Please check out future stops on my blog tour, ending November 27. I’ll be giving away a variety of gifts. If you comment on 5 stops, and are a Facebook fan, you’ll be eligible to win one of two $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift certificates at the end of my blog tour. Winners will be announced on my website’s news page the end of November. A December Holiday Giveaway for my readers will also be revealed at that time.
Eliza, thanks so much for joining us today. I so enjoyed your interview. I had never stopped to think that there were questions authors hadn’t been asked that they wished they had been.
Now let me share a bit of background on Eliza. Her first attempt at creative writing was in fourth grade. She and her friends were huge Charlie’s Angels fans and she would sit in her bedroom at night writing scripts for them to act out at recess the following day. She was Kelly Garrett. Fast forward to the present, she’s still writing stories about beautiful women who always get their men. Eliza says the journey from fourth grade script writer to published author wasn’t an easy one, but it was always an adventure and the final destination was well worth it.
When Eliza isn’t traveling for her job as an event planner, or tracing her ancestry roots through Ireland, she’s at home in Milwaukee working on her next novel, bouncing ideas off her husband Mark, and her cats Quigley and Frankie.
For more about Eliza and her writing, you can check out her website, visit her on Facebook, find her on Twitter, and visit with her at Goodreads.
UNDER HER SPELL is available at Amazon (on sale this week for only $1.99!), iTunes, Google Play (Nook compatible) and Barnes & Noble (coming soon).
If you’re an author, what is one thing you’ve never been asked that you wish someone had asked? If you’re a reader, what one question you would like to ask your favorite author? Remember, be sure to ask Eliza a question for a chance to win one of the fun prizes she’s giving away. Thanks so much for stopping by today.
