I have Beth D. Carter visiting today with her hot, new, paranormal romance novel, Recover Me!

Welcome, Beth. Your new novel, Recover Me, sounds intriguing.

All authors have their own reasons for writing a book. What are yours?

I came up with this story about two years ago based off an old Olivia Newton-John song called Recovery (Physical album 1981). The song is about a woman who has decided to live in her mind, her fantasy world, to avoid all the pain in the real world. The chorus goes like this: “Don’t worry about my recovery, ‘Cause lover, you won’t recover me, I’m not too low, I’m not too high, I’ll get by makin’ my recovery”

If you listen to the lyrics they are really amazing and speak on a level most songs don’t touch upon…mental illness. I love the song and obviously I got the title from the chorus.

What would you like readers to take away from your story? Does it contain a message?

I touch upon a few things in this story…addiction, mental illness, past lives, hope and despair. My heroes and heroines aren’t perfect, but then none of us are, and if I hope if anyone finds a message in this story it’s that you should never give up.

Where did you find your inspiration for the story? Was it a person, a current event, something you witnessed, or something else?

The past life aspect of this story came about early on, obviously with the title of Recover Me, but then I had to ask questions like how does Evie reveal this past life? How does she keep connecting to it? When she’s in a coma, does she really experience this or is it just a drug induces hallucination? I wanted to find the right voice her for because I was dealing with some serious issues. My good friend CR Moss let me bounce ideas off her for about two years and she was a great cheerleader for me to finally write this story.

Did you face any obstacles or challenges while writing the story and if so, what were they?

I had to do a lot of research about sleeping pills, their addiction rate, and how they operated on the brain. I wanted to stay as authentic to what Evie was feeling as possible.

What have you learned from the main characters in your story?

To never give up! LOL! Like I said, it took me two years to write this and I couldn’t be more proud of it. And Jay Aheer gave me an amazing cover to present to the world.

How much emphasis do you put on supporting characters to move the plot of your stories along? Have any of your supporting characters ever gotten their own story?

I have a lot of Easter Eggs in my books. The mob boss, Sherman Groto, first made an appearance in my time travel book “When Lightning Strikes”. In that book, the hero Micah John goes to the underground fight because he gets a “tip” who’s going to win. It’s the same fight where Evie and Bishop meet.

Every secondary character I write I do it with the idea in the back of my head that I may or may not expand him or her. In my MC series The Forbidden Rebels, I’m nursing a thought that hitman Masterson (who was in book 3 and will be in book 4) may get his own story at some point.

Do you write in other genres and if so, what are they? What genres would you like to try that you haven’t already?

I write MF and Menage stories, but I do have a pen name who writes MM paranormal romances. So if you think I’m not putting out much content, it’s probably because I’m going back and forth with what I’m writing.

What or who influences your writing?

Music is my biggest influence. I love lyrics that really hit home, that have a powerful meaning behind them. My favorite band is/was Linkin Park because the lyrics to their music were so emotional. Chester Bennington’s suicide hit me hard and if you listen to their last album, One More Light, you come to realize it was either one big cry for help or the most elegant of suicide notes.

What is your writing process? Are you a patnser or a plotter, or a little of both?

I’m a little of both. Mostly a pantser, though. I’ll go through and give a few sentences to outline what needs to go into the chapter, but for the most part I have an idea in my head of where the story needs to go and what I have to do get there.

Do you have any author idols and if so, how would you like to meet them?

I would love to sit down with Judith Tarr and pick her brain. Likewise with Lynn Flewelling, JK Rowland, and Cassandra Clare. Sometimes I’m in awe when I realize I’m Facebook friends with Sam Cresent, Laurann Dohner and Phoebe Conn. I’d love to meet them in a one on one setting so I can just ask them questions, get their autographs and fangirl out.

What are your three favorite books by other authors and why? You don’t have to limit this to three. (I know I can’t.)

Transcendence by Shay Savage (OMG…seriously. This is a must read book!)
The Reluctant Dom by Timber Dalton (If you don’t like crying don’t read this book. It’s so heartfelt and emotional, but such a beautiful love story of starting over)
Avaryan Rising by Judith Tarr (This book really made me want to be the best writer I could be.)

What do you do in your down time to feed your soul?

I have the most romantic bestest partner in life. Saturday is our day. We try to do something amazing, like hiking through the mountains or panning for gold or curling up together to binge watch Netflix. I’ve always believed in soul mates but hadn’t found mine until the day he walked into my life. He’s my best friend, my lover, my everything.

What’s next on your literary horizon?

One of my publishers are going out of business so I’ve regained my rights to those books. Since most of them were published early in career, they’re obviously horrible. LOL! I go through and read some of what I wrote and I shudder. I’ve learned so much since their publication so many years ago that I am reworking the stories, adding to them, making them better in hopes of republishing them.

As for new material, there are two books I have to write in 2018: Book 4 in my Forgotten Rebels MC series, which is Church’s story. I’ve started on it and have some big revelations coming out. The second story is another anthology story for Beachwalk Press. This is one is called Love at the End of the World, and I’m excited to be working again with Ashlynn Monroe, Imogene Nix, and Jaye Shields.

What is important in your life and why?

My son. My boyfriend. I absolutely love my life. I’m blessed with the ability to write and have the platform to perfect my craft, and I’m so honored to be in such wonder company with all the other authors I can talk to and get support from.

Blurb:

Evie Duncan’s dreams are slowly taking over her life. Every night she falls in love with the man invading her subconscious, playing out scenes from a past life. It becomes harder and harder to wake and leave her dream man behind.

Bishop Kain has devoted his life to protecting crime boss Sherman Groto, but when he spots Evie at an underground fight, all he can think about is her. He tries to keep his distance, but like a moth to a flame, she’s a siren he can’t resist.

Danger is coming for Evie and her salvation lies somewhere in the truth of her past life. If Bishop can save her, he may be the one man who can bring her into the light…and for once, she might be willing to stay there.

Excerpt:

“Who are you?” he asked.

She didn’t answer. Instead, she reached up with her free hand and her fingertips lightly traced over his cheek. Fire shot through him from the innocent, delicate exploration and he couldn’t help himself from backing her up until she hit the wall. It was much the same position he’d rescued her from not more than a few minutes earlier, but this time her body language was completely different. Her lips parted, her nipples beaded, and she arched her back toward him. Bishop fitted himself against her, sliding his thigh between her legs to hold her firmly against his body. Every bit of him thrummed to life and he’d never ached so desperately to possess a woman. He wanted to sink his hard cock into her womanly depths and ride her until she screamed his name. The arena, the fight, his job … all of it faded as he stared into her dark, fathomless eyes.

He let go of her arm to sink his fingers into her hair. He tilted her face up to his so he could study her face in an effort to determine why she felt so familiar.

“I didn’t think you were real,” she whispered. “I thought you were only a fantasy.”

“Who are you?” he demanded once more.

“Don’t you remember me?”

Slowly, he shook his head. The urge to kiss her was an overwhelming battle he lost. He bent his head. Her hands slid up his chest, over his shoulders.

“John,” she breathed.

The name jolted him out of whatever euphoria the girl had cast around him. He pulled back from her and grabbed her forearms to prevent her from hugging him.

“My name isn’t John,” he said harshly. Hearing another man’s name drop from her lips had twisted a spike in his gut, and damned if he wanted to analyze that too closely. “It’s Bishop Kain. Now come on. Mr. Groto wants to see you.”