Today we are chatting with a fellow Pennsylvanian, author Cindy McDonald. Welcome to Mass Musings Cindy!
MM: Many authors
relate their characters to people they know.
Is this the case with your characters and do you see yourself in any of
them?
People ask me this question often, and one person was very
concerned that I had them in mind when I wrote the character, Ava West. She is
gorgeous, she is manipulative, and she is a real witch. I felt bad that this
individual thought that I felt that way about them, and I assured them that Ava
was a figment of my imagination—nothing more. All of my characters are
fictitious. They are part of my Unbridled stories, and that’s all.
MM: Who is your
favorite character in your book and why?
Honestly, I love all my characters. Each one holds a special
place in my heart, but if I had to pick one to write about today, it would be Lugowski—Lieutenant Carl Lugowski that is. He is
a homicide detective at the Rosemount Police Department, and he dates Mike
West’s ex-wife, Ava. Now here’s the kicker—he’s in love with Mike’s younger
sister, Kate. Ouch! He wrestles and wrangles with his feelings for Kate because
he has always been in love with Ava. And now Ava is exactly where he always
wanted her to be—in his life and in his bed.
Lugowski also has a nicotine addiction. Boy oh boy do I have
a blast writing in his struggle to give up those cigarettes, and all the little
quirks that he has with the cancer sticks. Eric West once said to him (in the
first book, Deadly.Com) “I thought
you quit smoking.” Lugowski answer was—“It’s on my bucket list.”
Will Lugowski ever be able to kick the habit? Mmmm, not on
my watch—he’s just too much fun to torment.
MM: Who is your most
favorite character from any book of all time?
I had to think about this question for quite some time, and
I finally decided upon Scarlett O’Hara.
MM: If you could dive
into the pages of any book, which book would it be and what character would you
be?
*Devilish chuckle* I just loved Cindy Gerard’s Black Ops
series, and I especially enjoyed With No Remorse. Yep, that’s right, I would
love to dive right in that story as the character, Val, and Luke could rescue
me any ol’ day! Yum!
MM: If your book was
to become a movie, which actors/actresses do you see playing the parts of your
characters?
I love this question! How fun! When I started my FB page for
the Unbridled Series I posed this question to my “followers”. Each week I would
post a picture of a character, be it a celebrity or a model as to the person
that I thought fit my characters, and then I asked my followers to post pics of
whom they thought would fit said character.
Here were just some of those results:
Mike West—I chose a photo of a male model from the UK,
Stuart Reardon—minus the tattoos, I’m afraid. But I thought this fabulous
specimen of man candy fit Mike to a T. Well, hands down! Mr. Reardon got
everyone’s vote.
Eric West—the imposing patriarch of Westwood Thoroughbred
Farm conjured different visions for different people. I thought Tom Selleck
would be a great choice, but I got posts for James Brolin—hmmm, too old but not
a bad suggestion. Another person thought Bruce Boxleitner might be
good…interesting.
Punch McMinn—the West’s farm manager is a huge black man
with the heart of a teddy bear—he reminds me of Hoss Cartwright when I write
about him, although Dan Blocker is dead and of course he was a white man, my
daughter suggested that Michael Clarke Duncan would be the perfect actor to
play this role.
Most of the Unbridled cast was actually models rather than
actors or actresses, for example Shane West was portrayed by an Australian
soccer player that was incredibly handsome, but I must admit that Jennifer
Landon would get my vote for the role of Kate.
MM: What can we
expect from Cindy McDonald in the future? Any new projects?
I finished a manuscript for The Unbridled Series in April
and have been editing and tweaking it to get it ready for my editor. The book
is the 3rd book of the series titled Dangerous Deception is set to release in November, and I’ve begun
work on the next book already which should release next spring titled Against the Ropes. I’m always writing.
MM: Where can readers
connect with you?
Yep, I’m on twitter too, here’s my handle: @cindymcdonald7
Thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today.
It's been a wonderful pleasure.
For the past twenty years Cindy has helped
her husband, raise, train, and race thoroughbreds at their forty-five acre farm
known as Fly-By-Night Stables.
During those years Cindy has paid close attention to the
characters that hang-out at the back-side of the track. She found the
situations and life style intriguing. In 2005 she sat down at her computer and
began a journey into writing about this life that few understand.
Cindy has recently retired from making her living as a
professional choreographer and owned and operated a dance school since 1985.
She studied at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and with the Pittsburgh Dance
Alloy at Carnegie Mellon University to name a few. She has choreographed many
musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards.
Cindy’s Unbridled telescripts has
received recommends from three film industry readers and has been a
semi-finalist in the Scriptapalooza Contest, and finalist in the Extreme
Screenwriting Contest, and now will become a book series. The first telescript
to become a book is Deadly.Com which is available NOW on Amazon.com and Kindle
as well!
That’s
right, Coco Beardmore is sizzling hot and she’s landed in Mike West’s lap.
Problem is Coco’s middle name is chaos! Her driving skills are a real bang-into
Mike’s horse trailer. Her sultry seduction will set the room on fire-the
kitchen that is.
But what’s worse is her mischievous Thoroughbreds ability to mimic their
owner’s habit of screwing things up. It’s enough to send a normally calm and
collected Mike West to the very edge.
But Mike’s not the only one having problems with women, his father Eric has
bitten off more that he can chew, and he’s about to get spit out by two women:
One that he’s in love with, and one that thinks he’s in love with her. Oh yeah,
things are hot around Westwood Thoroughbred Farm… and someone’s about to get
burned!
Excerpts :
The following excerpt is taken from Chapter 5. Coco has
invited Mike to her home for
dinner after she had accidentally wrecked her Escalade into his
horse trailer that afternoon...
While waiting on the steps of Coco’s brown
stone townhouse, Mike hoped his evening would be
worth the trashed trailer and rather acute
case of heartburn that he was anticipating. He cocked his head when he heard
what sounded like a large dog growling and barking from behind the lavishly,
beveled front door. He looked around at the meticulously landscaped townhouses
with sporty Mercedes, Porsches, and BMW’s parked in the driveways before
glancing over his shoulder at his pickup parked next to Coco’s wrecked SUV.
When the door finally opened the Cocker Spaniel sprung out to circle his legs
while sniffing, barking, and snarling at him.
“Booger, behave.” Coco looked like
forgiveness wrapped in a little black peel-me-off when she
appeared in the doorway. “Don’t worry, he
doesn’t bite. Come in, Mike.” She said like a spider coaxing a fly.
She guided him through the foyer into a
living room decked-to- the-hilt with stylish, French
provincial furnishings. Booger sniffed and
nipped at Mike’s legs while following close behind.
Beautiful paintings hung on the walls in
ornate frames. Mike knew exactly one thing about artists
or artwork: Jackshit. But it was obvious,
even to him, that these pieces had come from a gallery, rather than a retail
store. The vibrant colors splashed across the canvas were thick, and sweeping,
and perhaps a little angry, that much he could appreciate—kinda.
A large, gilded mirror hung on the wall
behind the sofa. Crystal framed photographs of Coco and
her father filled the coffee tables. Classy.
“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll be right
back.” She slipped through the doorway into the
kitchen.
Mike buried his hands into the pockets of his
Levis and studied an abstract work of art on the
wall. What
the hell is that supposed to be?
Booger’s growl thinned to a low grouse. His
curly ears perked, and he stomped his paws against
the white carpet.
“What’s the matter, boy?” Purring cautiously
at the spunky spaniel, he patted Booger on the
head, and then turned his attention to a
photo of Stanley Beardmore, with his arms wrapped around
Coco. Booger sprung at him, clamped his
little body around Mike’s leg. Wagging his tiny tail, he
humped and panted erotically.
Holy shit. Mike’s eyes widened. Shaking his leg
frantically, he danced around the room while
trying to free himself from the dog’s
nirvanas grip. He braced against a table while kicking his leg, but Booger,
enjoying the ride, hung on tight.
“Booger, that’s not nice.” Holding two full
wine glasses, Coco trotted toward them. After
hurriedly setting one of the glasses on the
table, she slapped Booger on the top of his head, during which the wine in the
glass splashed down Mike’s white shirt. Booger shrunk away from his leg with a
yelp and scampered out of the room with his tail-tucked between his legs.
“Oh Mike, I’m sorry!”
Hoping that he wouldn’t only have to envision
this butterfingered beauty naked tonight, he took
a deep breath. He truly hoped that it would
be an evening of pleasure worth the abyss of calamities that seemed to suck her
in.
“Quick, take that shirt off, and I’ll soak it
in seltzer water.” She fumbled with the buttons until
she opened the shirt to reveal his muscled
pecks and tight abs. Her fingers fluttered over his shoulders
and down his strong arms when she slipped the
shirt from his torso. Blushing, she averted her gaze to
the red stain on his shirt. She wet her pink,
full lips and looked into his eyes. Good
God, he’s setting me on fire. Can I make it through dinner?
Smiling, she brushed a wisp of his dark hair
away from his brow. “I’ll be right back.”
Listening to her trot up the stairs, he found
his thoughts going to Ava’s cat. He hated that cat.
She was an evil little thing. He wasn’t
exactly in love with Coco’s Cocker Spaniel. Go
figure.
When he spied the glass on the table, he
drank down the remaining wine to wet his dry mouth.
He heard her footsteps on the stairs, and she
reappeared with a shirt draped over her arm. She
held up the over-sized nightshirt, which she
helped him slip into. Although it was over-sized for her, it
was a quite taut for him.
Stepping back to take a look, she giggled.
He looked down and groaned. The shirt was
brown with pink lettering that read: “Chocolate
and
men, the richer, the better.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing.” She felt
how the shirt clung to his firm torso and outlined every
detail of his pecs and abs. “Although,
nothing would be fine, too.” Her hands traced his shoulders, down his arms,
through his fingertips, and then lightly across the crotch of his jeans. “Come
sit at the table,” she whispered. “Dinner’s almost ready.”
Mike was feeling the heat, but he managed to
ask, “What are we having?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I can hardly wait.”
She led him into a spacious, gourmet kitchen.
The stainless steel appliances gleamed in the
bright lights. The white cabinetry swooped
around dark, granite counters.
Mike took a seat at the table, which was
dressed in white, satin linens and delicate, fine china.
The light from the crystal chandelier glinted
off the silverware. Booger scooted under the table to mope.
The kitchen was most impressive, but when he
sat at the table with a fresh glass of wine, it
wasn’t the cabinetry that he was admiring. Christ, she looks so damned tasty in that
tight little rip-it-offme-now dress. He took a
big gulp of wine and swallowed hard while trying to keep other hard thingsunder
wraps.
Coco carefully placed several pieces of meat
into a skillet. It spit and sizzled in the hot oil. She
cradled her wine glass in her fingers. “Your
shirt should be ready for the dryer after dinner.”
“That’s fine.” He felt the squeeze of the dog
latching around his shin again. Sonofabitch.
He
kicked. The dog yelped. He grinned.
Coco was attracted to this handsome man
sitting at her table. She was more aroused by the fact
that he didn’t cancel their dinner date after
she had smashed his horse trailer. He’s
definitely a gentleman cowboy. How sexy is that? Her lips curled at the thought. With a sultry
gleam, in her sapphire eyes, she strode toward him.
More than the meat was sizzling.
Mike knew what that look meant. Oh, yeah, no imagination needed. The
ballerina is about to do
her little dance.
She leaned over him.
While she paused to take in his hazel eyes,
he could feel her breath on his face.
“I wanted to cook something fancy,” she
whispered, “because it makes me feel fancy,” Her lips
crashed against his. Her tongue searched his
mouth.
He ran his fingers through her hair. Cupping
her face in his hands, he kissed her back with
passion.
The meat crackled in the skillet.
She ran her hands over his chest and down to
his hips. Her fingers found the outline of his
erection pressing against his jeans. She
groped at his belt.
Kissing her neck, he slipped a sleeve of the
dress off her shoulder and nipped at her shoulder.
Tasting her skin, he made his way hungrily
down her chest.
Crunch! The force of a body wrapped around his leg broke through the lust.
Booger humped and
pushed, which made it impossible to ignore.
Damn it. Mike’s eyes popped open. He attempted to kick the dog, but he was
fastened on tight
and going at it strong.
Abruptly, he became aware that Booger’s love
connection to his leg wasn’t the biggest problem
at hand. Smoke billowed from the skillet.
Flames leapt from the stove. Greasy fireballs ignited dish
towels. The curtains were already ablaze.
Shoving Coco onto the table, Mike sprung to
his feet.
Her face lit up with intense desire. “Oh
Mike, you are naughty,” she gasped.
“Coco, where’s your fire extinguisher?”
“You wanna be a fireman?” Coco was giddy.
Booger was rapt.
Mike was exasperated. “No, your fire
extinguisher, where is it?”
Flames shot across the counter top. The
smoking skillet spit sparks and fire like a cannon.
He snatched the tablecloth from under Coco
and ripped it off the table. China, glassware, silver,
crashed and broke against the wall and on the
floor. He beat the flames while dragging the horny,
Cocker Spaniel, still humping his leg, across
the room with him.
“Call the fire department.”
“Wha—” Coco stammered while trying to get a
grasp on the situation.
“9-1-1,” Mike shrieked while thrashing the
flames, kicking his leg, and cursing her calamity.
Genre:
The series is a family drama, that said each book is quite individual.
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date: June 15, 2012
Website - http://www.cindymcwriter.com
Giveaway:
#1-We are doing a drawing at the end of the tour
to include anyone who
commented or participated in the conversation at the blogs I visited
for a free signed copy OR ebook of Hot Coco.
#2- A drawing at the end of the tour for a $25.00 amazon gift card for
anyone who purchased a book/ebook of Hot Coco during the
tour.
#3-is actually a surprise at the end of the tour--I hate coming in
second, so the second person's name that is drawn from giveaway #1
will receive a copy OR ebook of Deadly.Com-the first book of the
Unbridled Series.
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Phyllis Campagna
Jerry Campagna
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