Can you introduce yourself to my readers a little?
I’d love to! I’m married to my college sweetheart and we have four sons ages 16, 13 and 11 year old twins. I absolutely adore having a house full of men because they are low maintenance and there is very little drama. Oh, they’ll fight from time to time but as soon as it’s over, they’ve moved on because they don’t hang onto stuff the way women do. At the moment, I’m working full time at The College of Westchester as the Director of High School & Community Relations–essentially I head up the recruiting department and the majority of my job involves public speaking. I also have my own business Taney Speaker Training–we do public speaking coaching & training. I do most of my writing late at night or early in the morning. I love sleep but never get enough of it. I love to read romance almost as much as I love to write it. I am a huge sci-fi movie fan. I love chocolate. I have a love-hate relationship with exercise and I while I like most vegetables, I think peas are repugnant.
I can be found at: website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Goodreads | Speaker Training website
Can you introduce us to the world that you have created?
The Amoveo are secret society of dream-walking, telepathic shape shifters who can travel at the speed of thought. Their race is made up of ten different animal clans, Lion, Cheetah, Tiger, Panther, Wolf, Fox, Bear, Coyote, Eagle and Falcon. They have one pre-destined soul mate and they can only have children with their lifemate. When their mate dies, they lose all of their abilities and eventually die as well. For all of their strengths they are a fragile race because when you kill one Amoveo, their mate dies and you wipe out the possibility of any off-spring. Their race has been hunted to the brink of extinction by the Caedo family, the one human family who has known of their exixtence and have made it their mission to try and wipe the Amoveo out.
According to Amoveo history, their pre-destined mate can only be another Amoveo but the current generation is discovering that’s not entirely true. In Unleashed (Book #1) Malcolm Drew from the Golden Eagle clan finally finds his mate after years of searching but there’s one problem–she hasn’t been looking for him because she’s a hybrid and doesn’t even know it. She’s half human and half Amoveo from the Gray Wolf Clan. Once Malcolm connects with her and slowly brings her into his world, they quickly discover that the Caedo family isn’t the only enemy. A fanatical sect of Amoveo, known as the Purists, will stop at nothing to keep their race pure and free from human blood. In Untouched (Book #2) Dante Coltari from the Fox Clan has found his mate and she too is a hybrid who is unaware of her Panther Clan heritage but there’s another wrinkle. Kerry Smithson has the gift of second sight and with just one touch she will see people’s deepest secrets but along with that touch comes mind numbing pain. Her best friend Samantha is the only person she’s ever been able to touch without pain…until she meets Dante. He knows that the Purists are out there and a danger to his mate but he doesn’t know who they are. The Purists hide in plain sight among the Amoveo and trusting the wrong person will mean the difference between life and death.
Will this be your first RT or are you a veteran? Any advice for those who are going for the first time?
This will be my second RT convention and I can’t wait! My best piece of advice is to get your hands on the schedule as soon as you can. Last year I kept missing workshops that I wanted to attend because I didn’t plan out my days ahead of time. There are lots of great options but if you don’t take a little time to plot your days, it can be overwhelming. Most of all get ready to have fun and meet fantastic people.
Are you speaking on any panels during RT? Are there any you are looking forward to?
I will be hosting a workshop on Wednesday Aprill 11th 2:15pm-3:15pm called Powerful Public Speaking & Communication Skills–so if you’re coming to RT and you’ve afraid of public speaking or have trouble with talking to new people, come on by and get some tips! I’m also participating in a luncheon for book sellers called Afternoon Delight and I’ll be signing at the Giant Book Fair on Saturday-so come on by and see me! I haven’t had a chance to plan out all of my days yet but that’s what the airplane ride will be for!
If someone were wanting to meet up with you at RT, who should they look for?
A smiling blonde with a flip camera. I’ve got a little video blog that I post online and last year I did two special editions to cover RT! People really seemed to enjoy watching them, so I’ll be getting more footage and interviewing folks again this year. So don’t be surprised if I corner you with my camera! You can see last year’s videos on my You Tube channel!
