Interview: Romantic Suspense Author Anna del Mar

Anna del Mar writes hot, smart romances that soothe the soul, challenge the mind, and satisfy the heart. Her stories focus on strong heroines struggling to find their place in the world and the brave, sexy, kickass, military heroes who defy the limits of their broken bodies to protect the women they love. She’s the author of The Asset, At the Brink and her newest romantic suspense, The Stranger. Anna enjoys traveling, hiking, skiing, and the sea. Writing is her addiction, her drug of choice, and what she wants to do all the time. The extraordinary men and women she met during her years as a Navy wife inspire the fabulous heroes and heroines at the center of her stories. When she stays put—which doesn’t happen very often—she lives in Florida with her indulgent husband and two very opinionated cats.

Congratulations on the release of your latest book, The Stranger.

Thank you! I’m so very excited to share The Stranger with my readers.

When did you start writing and what got you into the romantic suspense genre?

Romantic suspense has always been one of my favorite genres to read. I guess I write what I love to read. I began writing romantic suspense a couple of years ago and discovered great joy in a process that combines a hot, sexy, sizzling romance with action, adventure and stunning settings. I mean, can you think of a better way to test a relationship than to throw two conflicted human beings fighting a pervasive attraction for each other into a boiling cauldron of trouble in a challenging setting and watch love save the day?

What is your book about? 

The Stranger is the second novel of my “Wounded Warrior Series”/a>, coming on the heels of the Amazon bestseller, The Asset. The “Wounded Warrior Series” is all about strong heroines struggling to make their mark in the world and the brave, sexy heroes who will stop at nothing to protect the women they love. The series explores lust and love’s extraordinary healing powers. Each novel, though related in theme and style, is a standalone journey, so you can read it in whichever order you choose.

The Stranger features Seth Erickson, a powerful Alaskan tycoon dealing with a quarreling family and a hostile takeover attempt. He’s also a helicopter pilot, a wounded warrior struggling to recover from injuries he sustained while serving in Afghanistan, a man haunted by his past and fighting his own demons. Seth is blunt, systematic and precise, always cool and in command, a man who despises emotion and sticks to his icy logic… that is, until he comes across a beautiful stranger stranded on a desolate Alaskan road.

Summer Silva is a warmth-loving Miami architect who has come to Alaska chasing after her reckless sibling, who ran away with a guy she met on the internet. Summer is bright, curious, hard-working and dutiful. She’s essentially a tropical being with a fiery attitude and a heart of gold. Alaska has never been on her list of places to visit, but here she is, off-grid, having just survived an inexplicable murder attempt, with a Bering Sea superstorm bearing down on her, facing off with the cantankerous stranger who is also her only hope for rescue.

What happens next is an epic Alaskan romance. You know there’s going to be trouble, because Seth has his demons to sort out and Summer has a secret that lands her in Seth’s bed, where she becomes the superstorm of his lifetime.

As you may suspect, the morning after is quite a mess. Ice and fire meet and sparks fly. But Seth is determined to keep Summer safe from danger and now two strangers from different worlds and opposite spectrums of the thermometer are caught in a vortex of passion that defies their differences and enrages their enemies. To survive, they must unravel the intrigues that threaten their lives and chase after a new dream in spectacular Alaska.

What was your inspiration for it?

Alaska, the whole stunning, majestic, place, the people, the Native cultures, the vast expanses of wilderness and the challenges of thriving in one of the last wild places on earth.

What type of challenges did you face while writing this book?

Distance was a challenge. I live in Florida and Alaska is as far away as you can get from Florida and still be in North America.  I traveled to Alaska several times, because being there, experiencing the place was the best research for The Stranger.  The weather was a challenge as well. My blood is totally tropical and I had to suck it up and gear up for the mission.

What do you hope readers will get from your book?

I hope they will be stolen away from their daily worries and come along with Summer and Seth in a thrilling journey that will fill their hearts with love, lust, wonder and adventure. I hope they travel to Alaska with me and maybe even fall in love with it, like I did. And I hope that they will cheer Summer and Seth on as they defy their enemies, their demons and each other on their way to true, forever love.

Did your book require a lot of research?

Yes, The Stranger required a good amount of research. My protagonists are very complex characters and their respective situations had me googling, interviewing, reading and researching a wide variety of subjects. Also, like I mentioned above, a lot of the setting research was done on the ground in Alaska. Getting to places was a challenge, because if you want to get into the backcountry, it’s almost always in tiny, brain-rattling, single-engine planes that ride like a motorcycle in the sky. I’m a white-knuckled flier as it is, so you can imagine my face every time we climbed into one of those. But I did it. And I so enjoyed seeing Alaska.

What do you do when your muse refuses to collaborate?

My muse is a regular chatterbox. She’s always hyped up and rarely refuses to collaborate. She keeps me so busy that somedays I have to talk her down from her creative frenzies. Now that I think about it, my muse needs to chill and let the rest of me catch up with the work load. One of these days, I’m going to send her on a vacation.  

Do you have a website or blog where readers can find out more about your work? 

Yes, of course. My website is Anna del Mar. You can find out all about me and my books there. I keep a blog, which I update at least a couple of times a month. There’s a news ticker, with all of the latest, and excerpts, reviews and information on all my novels and upcoming projects. I’m also on Facebook and Twitter. So stop by or drop me a line. Chatting with my readers always makes my day.

Cover art published with permission from the author.