Almost getting murdered by a serial killer gives Cassidy Kincaide a new lease on life and convinces her to go ahead and tackle that ghost-hunter novel she's always wanted to write. So, she hooks up with a gorgeous paranormal investigator named Trace McCord to do some research.
Cassidy and Trace rub each other the wrong way right from the beginning, but they have to put aside their differences when the serial killer who attacked her comes back from the grave to continue his string of grisly murders, with her at the top of his list.
Trace has to keep Cassidy close to keep her safe, and as they try to stay one step ahead of the ghost while figuring out how to stop it, he and Cassidy end up in each other's arms. While Trace has a whole list of reasons why he shouldn't get involved with her, he finds himself falling in love with the beautiful blonde anyway. And even though Cassidy started out thinking he was a jerk, she learns that underneath the rough ghost hunter exterior, he's just the man she's always been looking for. Now, all they have to do, is live long enough to be together.
Paige Tyler is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning writer of erotic romance. She and her research assistant (otherwise known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their easy going dog and their lazy, I-refuse-to-get-off-the-couch-for-anything-but-food cat. When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, doing Pilates, going to the beach, watching Pro football, and vacationing with her husband at Disney. She loves writing about strong, sexy, alpha males and the feisty, independent women who fall for them. From verbal foreplay to sexual heat, her wickedly hot stories of romance, adventure, passion and true love will bring a blush to your cheeks and leave you breathlessly panting for more!
Look for her stories at Ellora's Cave, Whiskey Creek Press Torrid and Blushing Books.
Back list
Ellora's Cave:
DEAD SEXY, Gold Star Award from JERR!
GHOST HUNTER
PIRATE'S WOMAN, Coming in Jun from Ellora's Cave!
GOOD, COP, BAD GIRL, EPIC Award Finalist!
MR. RIGHT-NOW
JUST RIGHT
EROTIC EXPOSURE
UNMASKED
SEXY SECRET SANTA
IF YOU DARE
CAUGHT-RED-HANDED, Free Read!
Whiskey Creek Press Torrid
ANIMAL ATTRACTION, EPIC Award Finalist!
ANIMAL INSTINCT, # 1 Bestseller!
VAMPIRE 101, Book One of Modern Day Vampires
LIBRARIAN BY DAY, Bestseller!
PROTECTIVE CUSTODY, #1 Bestseller
Blushing Books
THE CUTLER BROTHERS SERIES, Including CADE, MADOC and THE CUTLER BRIDES
An Interview with the Paige Tyler
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Paige, thank you for talking with us at TRS BLUE. Your featured book is GHOST HUNTER and it's about a woman writing a book with the help of a paranormal investigator and on the run from the ghost of a serial killer who almost murdered her in life. Where did you get the idea for this amazing story?
PT: I love when I come up with an idea for a book out of the blue, which is what happened with GHOST HUNTER. When I heard my local RWA chapter had set up a lecture with a team of paranormal investigators, it got me thinking right away about writing a book about about a paranormal investigator - though I went with the "ghost hunter" tag. It just sounds a little sexier, right?. Unfortunately, the RWA chapter is kind of a far drive from where we live, so we didn't actually get a chance to go to the lecture. I was a little bummed about that, especially since they were giving out a free EMF detector!!! On second thought, maybe it was better we didn't go. I'd end up winning the ghost detector, and find out that there's a ghost in my house. Ghosts freak me out enough already - I don't need any more reasons.
Enough about me though, back to the story behind the story. While I knew the hero was a ghost hunter named Trace, I wasn't quite sure how the heroine fit into the story, or even who she was. So, my hubby and I played around with a few ideas at our local PF Chang's (we come up with a lot of story ideas there!) We both decided that having the heroine Cassidy need the hero's help because her house was haunted or something like that didn't seem original enough, so we made her a budding romance writer who just lived through a horrible event and decides to try to finally write that book she's always dream of. She tags along with the hero and his team to do some research. Like any good story, though, it had to have some conflict, which is why Trace and Cassidy completely rub each other the wrong way right from the beginning. Actually, she thinks he's a jerk. But don't worry, Cassidy discovers underneath that rough ghost hunter exterior, Trace is just the man she's been looking for. It doesn't hurt that he's hot as hell!
Okay, so we had our hero and heroine. Now we needed a bad guy. That's where the ghost comes in. Ghosts can be a little hard to work in as a convincing bad guy - once they jump out and go boo, what do you do then? But fear not, our ghost is not your standard, everyday ghost. Far from it. He's a serial killer who attacked Cassidy (remember that horrible event I mentioned?) that comes back from the grave to continue his string of grisly murders, and (of course) she's at the top of his list. To make things even more interesting, due to some ghostly technicalities, our dude can not only do all the regular Casper stuff like walk through walls and materialize out of thin air, he can also take solid form. Which makes for some seriously grisly mayhem.
I'm not going to tell you any more than that, though. Don't want to give too much away, you know. I will add that my editor at Ellora's Cave told me she got so caught up in the story, she completely forgot she was reading a submission!
HH: What sort of research did you do for this story?
PT: We didn't know a lot about ghosts or ghost hunting, so we did a lot more research for this book than any other I've written. First, we checked out the website for the paranormal investigators who lectured at the RWA chapter meeting. It had so much cool stuff on there, not only about ghosts and how to hunt them, but also information on all the neat gadgets they use, like the EMF meter! We also had to figure out where the book was going to take place and once we picked Sleepy Hollow, NY, we had to do research on that and the surrounding area, like Stamford and Fairfield, CT, the other towns in the book. Had to be technically correct when we talked about driving distances and the types of haunted houses in the area, you know? I even had to do serious research on shotgun types and how they work. That was fun!
HH: What do you like about Cassidy and why will readers relate to her?
PT: Cassidy is a down-to-earth, believeable character. Like a lot of people, she experienced something in her life that changed her. In her case, it also made her take a good long look at her life and see if it was going in the direction she wanted. The near-death experience she has makes her realize she needs to start following her dreams, and one of those dreams is to write that romance book she's always wanted to write. The decision to finally do it brings her into contact with people she would normally have never met, like Trace, the paranormal investigator who has to protect her from the serial killing ghost who's targeted her.
HH: What do you like best about Trace and why will readers love him?
PT: To begin with, Trace is gorgeous (see the smokin' hot cover!) But he's not just a handsome face and incredible body. Like Cassidy, he experienced something in his life that changed him and made him go out and devote himself to hunting ghost and other paranormal bad guys. That's made him a little rough around the edges, but underneath, he's exactly the man the heroine has been looking for, and readers, too!
HH: What distinguishes this story from any of your previous works?
PT: For one thing, it's a full-length novel, like my other book, DEAD SEXY. For another, GHOST HUNTER is more of a traditional romance than an erotic romance. While it still has hot, graphic sex, there isn't as much as you'd find in my other books. But it still has all the romance, adventure and excitement my other books have, not to mention a great hero and heroine! As one reader put it on the Ellora's Cave website, "This was something very different from Paige Tyler and well worth reading. Her personal sexy touch was here as ever but also a true talent for thrilling, suspenseful story telling."
HH: What else do you have in the works?
PT: Well, I just signed with Ellora's Cave for a sci-fi erotic romance called PIRATE'S WOMAN for their Ahoy! theme series. To honor the debt her family owes the pirate, Slayter Cardona, beautiful Teyla Dunai agrees to let him sell her as a sex slave in the markets of Arkhon. She's determined to bring as much value as she can on the auction block, but she's inexperienced where men are concerned so she asks the handsome pirate if he'll teach her how to pleasure a man. Intrigued, and more than a little attracted to the lavender-eyed beauty, Slayter agrees. As he initiates her into the world of bondage, spanking and out-of-this-galaxy sex, though, they find themselves falling for each other, which makes things quite complicated! It's hot, sexy and fun and it comes out in June, so don't forget to look for it!
I'm also just finishing up another sci-fi erotic romance, as well as a fantasy romance. Then it's on to the second book in my Modern Day Vampire Series. After that, who knows?!
HH: What do you enjoy most about the writing itself?
PT: There are so many things! Writing is my passion and I love everything about it, from the reseach to the editing. I love meeting new characters and telling their story. I love creating heroines readers can identify with, heroes they can fall in love with and stories that grab hold of the heart and don't let go. It's hard to describe the sense of satisfaction I get when I finish up a book and get it out to the publisher - knowing I've written something that will be read for years to come is amazing! And, of course, it totally makes my day when a reader tells me they read long into the night because they couldn't put the book down.
HH: What advice would you give to aspiring writers today?
PT: I used to tell aspiring writers to write what you know, and while that's still true, I think it's more important to write the kind of book you'd want to read. If it's a story you're passionate about, then the book is going to be way better than if you write about something just because it's in-thing right now. And write because that's what you love to do, not because you you expect other people to love it, or because you think you're going to make a million dollars. You're in control of the first reason, not so much with the other two.
HH: What are you reading right now?
PT: I'm reading the Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer, and I love them! I know, I'm probably like the only one who hadn't read it! LOL! But after seeing the movies and hearing how great the books are, I had to read them. Because I hadn't read the books before seeing the movies, I didn't have any preconceived notions about the movies like I did with the Harry Potter movies. So, in that regard, I kind of look at the books more like a companion to the movies. While I think the books give you more insight into the other characters, particularly Alice and Emmett, the movies let you see what's going on outside of Bella's point of view.
HH: Any fun plans for the summer?
PT: Well, I love the beach, so we go as much as we can. We're also going to Lori Foster's Get Together and Ellora's Cave RomantiCon, where I'll be giving out my new Romance Trading Cards featuring Drake Parrish and Trace McCord, the hunky heroes from DEAD SEXY and GHOST HUNTER. Oh, and we're training for a marathon!
