I’ve always been fascinated by legends, and I have a natural-born love of the Mexican culture. My husband is Mexican-American, we try hard to instill the Mexican culture into our kids’ lives. When I starting writing, I wanted to bring in elements from this culture I so love being a part of (I like to say I’m Latina-by-marriage). I started with the Lola Cruz mystery series. Lola’s a Latina and who I imagine my daughter might be in a lot of ways. She’s Latina, but American, and I love her! No legends in the Lola series. But when I decided to try my hand at a romantic suspense, I went dark. DARK.
Enter chupacabra.
An urban legend. A mythical blood-sucking goat-like creature. And the perfect backdrop for a romantic suspense novel. They’re creepy, and I was intrigued with the idea of building a story around this legend.
So, what is a chupacabra? A blood-sucking goat-like creature. And the villain in Sacrifice of Passion.
Truth be told, I wasn’t 100% sure I could write a really great romantic suspense, but the legends drew me in and wouldn’t get out of my head and so I had to try. It was surprisingly fun to write, I found out (the second book, Curse of Passion, revolving around the legend of la Llorona, comes out in early 2013). Writing a stand alone book is different than writing a series. With my Lola Cruz Mysteries (and my Magical Dressmaking Mysteries), everything’s about creating sustainability with the characters and their world. There’s never complete resolution with the main characters because their stories keep going.
With a stand alone romance, the happily ever after is a must and so the story has to be wrapped up, which means you go in fast and dig deep. And boy is that an experience. Getting into Vic and Delaney’s heads, delving into their backstories, making them real, living, breathing people was challenging at times, but so rewarding, and in the end, I absolutely love them. Anjana Vasa, a blogger, wrote in a review of Sacrifice of Passion: “Delaney and Vic are quite honestly, two of the most real characters I've ever come across, they're both imperfect and yet you can see what makes them special. I couldn't help but admire Delaney's strength through the entire novel, sure she has her weak and scared moments but she shows that you can make your way back from anything.”
To hear readers say you hit the mark with the characters in a book is the entire reason writers write. It’s a thrill! Add to that the fact that Joyce, here at HEA, read and offered a quote for the book, and writing Sacrifice of Passion has become one of the best book writing experiences I’ve had.
All I can say is that Mexican legends seem to be working for me, and for this book if the reviews are any indication. I guess I did okay with romantic suspense!
Vic Vargas and Delaney West’s story is epic. Intriguing. Evocative.
I hope you love it as much as I do!
Tell me: Have you heard of the legend of chupacabra, and do you think legends like this make good backdrops for romantic suspense novels?
Check out these awesome reviews of Sacrifice of Passion by super bloggers Anjana Vasa (http://www.kindleandme.com/2012/06/sacrifice-of-passion-by-misa-ramirez.html ) and Kayleigh from K-Books (http://k-booksxo.blogspot.com/2012/06/review-sacrifice-of-passion.html). I’m still flying high because of the reviews!
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15709144-sacrifice-of-passion
About Sacrifice of Passion
Texas rancher, Vic Vargas, finds himself facing more than his stubbornly silent son when the chupacabra, a supposedly mythical blood‐sucking beast, starts killing his livestock—and stalking Delaney West, the town’s newly returned veterinary assistant, the sensual woman who ran from the altar and broke his heart twelve years earlier.
Reluctantly, he seeks her help to get to the bottom of the disturbing animal mutilations, only to have her break through to his sullen son...and rekindle the love he’d thought was lost forever. But her refusal to share a terrible secret sends her running straight into the lair of the chupacabra, plunging her back into her worst nightmare, and forcing them both to confront the wrongs of the past—in order to stay alive for the future they desperately want.
Get your copy of Sacrifice of Passion at
BARNES & NOBLE
AMAZON.COM
Also available from Melissa Bourbon Ramirez: Bare Naked Lola
Going undercover is second nature for Private Investigator Lola Cruz, but she’s out of her league when the case of a murdered Royals Courtside Dancer leads her to a local nudist resort. Parading around the sidelines of Sacramento’s professional basketball scene in a barely-there cheerleading outfit is one thing—but parading around in nothing but smile? If she has any chance of hiding this from her traditional family and on-again/off-again boyfriend Jack, she’s going to have a lot more than her duct tape bra and killer dance moves to keep under wraps….
Get your copy of Bare Naked Lola at:
AMAZON.COM
BARNES & NOBLE
BOOKS-A-MILLION
BOOK DEPOSITORY
POWELL'S BOOKS
About Melissa Bourbon Ramirez
Melissa Bourbon, who sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name Misa Ramirez, gave up teaching middle and high school kids in Northern California to write full-time amidst horses and Longhorns in North Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love/hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.
She is the marketing director at Entangled Publishing, is the author of the Lola Cruz Mystery series with St. Martin’s Minotaur and Entangled Publishing, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series with NAL, and is the co-author of The Tricked-out Toolbox and two romantic suspense titles.
Visit Melissa at her website | Twitter Page | Facebook Home | Goodreads | and Books on the House, a website bringing books and readers together!
GIVEAWAY:
The chupacabra is an interesting pick for a romantic suspense novel, I would think a challenge considering the chupacabra is not exactly romantic LOL. BUT I think you can work anything into a story. PLUS it is visually and an almost paradoxical balancing act of the beauty of love and ugliness of the beast and what he represents from the myth. Whenever myths are brought into a story well, I think it can be done in a very successful manner.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post! Thanks for the invite to check it out!
I have heard of the legend - from Scooby-Doo! He's a wonderful source for spooky legends :-)
ReplyDelete