Character Interview - win a copy of Secrets in the Sand!

 
Meet A Hero Monday, the best part of Monday morning! Today we have a character interview with Gene Nicholas, the hero of Alana Lorens’ SECRETS IN THE SAND, from The Wild Rose Press.

Let’s get the basics first. When is your birthday and how old are you?

March 11, and I’m 42 years old. Some days it feels like more, though.

I hear you. How do you spend your days and what are your hobbies?

I’m filling in as a handyman at Lily Pearl Evans’ Sassafras Social Club, a bordello outside Chaparral, New Mexico. With a houseful of young women, that means I’m unclogging drains and hanging pictures, fixing window frames, you name it. But that’s not my real life, just the one I’m living till I can lift the death sentence hanging over me.

Oh, wow. Sounds like interesting work…and a terrifying situation. Does that leave you any time for hobbies?

Right now there’s only one. Trying to keep from falling in love with Lily Pearl. Well, that and being a good listening ear to any of her girls who need to talk. You’d be surprised how much they just need someone to listen once in awhile. Oh, and I play piano in the evenings for the soirees. I can tear up the keyboard with a mad ragtime number any time.

I love a man with musical talent! Can you list 3 words that best describe you?

Compassionate, idealistic, empathetic

All good qualities. So, where have you traveled?

After medical school, I practiced in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida, delivering babies and then helping keep the little tykes healthy through their growing years. But I got an itch to do something more…I don’t know--useful? So I signed up for Doctors Without Borders and got assigned a great place in Puerto de Anapra, Mexico. At least I thought it was a great place, until I got into it with the local drug lord. He killed Rosa, one of my little patients, so he and I had it out. It didn’t turn out so well for him. Or, I guess, for me, either.

Whoa that sounds terrifying. What an incredible story! If you could keep only one material item you own, what would it be?

My doctor’s bag, fully-stocked. That way I can be ready for anything.

You sound like an excellent guy to have around. What is your favorite food? Favorite drink?

Lily Pearl makes one heck of a ham sandwich, thin sliced meat fresh off the bone, on pumpernickel bread, with the thinnest smear of dark, spicy mustard. I’ve had lots of ham sandwiches before, but hers is the best. Even better than my mother’s. (Sorry, Mom.)

As for something to drink, nothing beats a hot, fresh black cup of strong coffee.

I agree with that! Finally, who would play you in a movie?

Definitely Karl Urban. He can play rough, tough, and soft at the same time. Like me.

Thank you Gene, your story sounds amazing! Readers please enjoy the blurb and leave a comment to enter the giveaway.

BLURB for SECRETS IN THE SAND:

After a run of bad relationships, Lily Pearl Evans has finally become an independent woman. In the New Mexico desert town of Chaparral, she works for herself, sets her own rules, and is determined no man will hold her back again.

Gene Nicholas worked for more than a decade to achieve his dream to be a doctor. Wanting to share his gifts with those less fortunate, he leaves south Florida to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders in Mexico.

When Gene provokes a showdown with the local Mexican drug cartel, he becomes a man with a price on his head. On the run, he ends up on Lily’s doorstep--a mystery man forced to conceal his past to protect them both. With the cartel’s dangerous web drawing tight around them, can Lily and Gene survive a drug lord’s revenge?

Buy links: http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=137&products_id=4466

Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-In-The-Sand-ebook/dp/B004XJ5YIC/ref=la_B005GE0WBC_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1362340750&sr=1-4