Jayne reads: A COLD DAY IN HELL

I figure the one thing we all have in common here at RWQ is that we like to read fiction. (Maybe you don't realize how special that makes us. Do you have any idea how few people have read a book in the past six months? Arrrgh. But we won't go there). Anyhow, in the spirit of sharing thoughts on books I'm running a little mini-series of blogs featuring books written by my sister Quills.

No, these aren't reviews. There are enough of those floating around on the Internet. And, no, I'm not going to give you an extensive summary of the story. You can find that elsewhere, too. (Like at the author's web site).

Instead, this series is about telling you why I read the book and what I got out of it. Because no two people bring the same thing to a book and no two people take the same thing away from it.Then I'm going to tell you what the author had to say about her own book. Because no two authors have the same take on any given theme, conflict, archetype or plot. Give ten authors the same plot outline and you will get ten very different stories. That's how fiction works.

A COLD DAY IN HELL, by Stella Cameron

THE STORY: Another volume in Stella's Bayou Books series set in -- where else? Louisiana. This is romantic-suspense featuring a heroine who is trying to raise her teenage son alone and a hero who is trying to manage a nineteen-year old everyone believes is his nephew but who is, in reality, the orphaned son of a notorious mob boss -- a protected witness. You've got murder, strange goings-on in the swamp, an evil ex-husband, a very weird dog and, yes, Christmas is coming.

WHY I READ THE BOOK: I know I can count on Stella to deliver a high-octane read featuring exotic, unpredictable characters, a sexy relationship and major suspense -- all set against a deeply atmospheric landscape.

WHAT I GOT FROM THE BOOK: Chilling murders, a mysterious mystic who lives out in the swamps, hot romance, an ex-CIA hero who gets premonitions and, yes, that weird dog. (I do love animals in a story). Exciting and fast stuff.

ONE OF THE AUTHOR'S UNIQUE TALENTS: A marvelous gift for invoking a sense of eerie dread.

WHAT THE AUTHOR HAD TO SAY ABOUT HER BOOK: "Two elements draw me to write stories like A COLD DAY IN HELL. I don't suppose I'll ever understand the first; my addiction to Louisiana. For a woman who doesn't like to be hot, even close to the sun, and with a healthy respect for all things wild and crawly, the state shouldn't be a first choice. I've decided the closest I'll get to an explanation is an attraction to a place that I find beautiful, exotic, foreign and vaguely dangerous.

The second magnet in these stories is how we find heroes in all shapes and sizes, and in the most unexpected situations. In this story there are characters who wouldn't jump out of a crowd and yell, "I'll kill the dragon!" But they are tigers when the pressure is on. Sometimes heroes (heroines) are spectacular specimens and I love writing about them--Angel and Eileen in CDIH are "smashing." But it's hard not to love a little old lady who takes on a villain, or a man a whole town has branded as weird who proves how wrong first impressions can be."

LAST WORD: Intense

Until next time,

Jayne