The sequel to The Werewolf Whisperer! Jazmine Carmichael is the leader of a pack of werewolves living in Eclipse, California. When two of the pack members die under mysterious circumstances, she's determined to get answers.
Blaze Petrofsky and two other researchers often played a game of what if. What if werewolves were real? They set about creating the virus, meeting failure after failure, until he buys an old trunk in an auction. In a small silver tin, he finds werewolf cream. One of his colleagues tries it out, and it works. Before Blaze can look for a cure, he's removed from the project and the government takes over.
Now, five years later, the nightmare has come back to haunt him when a beautiful, mysterious, sexy woman brings him a wolf to autopsy. A wolf who, on closer inspection, is human. When Jazmine is arrested, Blaze follows the clues she left behind, hoping to pay back the debt he owes for rediscovering and unleashing lyncanthropy. But is he too late to save the woman he's come to love?
Ericka Scott is a multi-published, bestselling author of seductive suspense. She's written stories for as long as she can remember and reads anything under the sun (including the back of cereal boxes in a pinch). She got hooked on romantic suspense in her college days, when reading anything but a textbook was a guilty pleasure. Now, when she's not chauffeuring children around, wishing she had a maid, or lurking at the library, she's spinning her own web of fantasy and penning tales of seduction and suspense. She currently lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. You can find out more about her at www.erickascott.com.
Backlist
The Lady is a Vamp - Total E-bound
Losing It - Cobblestone Press
Out of Time - Phaze
Song of Seduction - Cobblestone Press
Beckon the Dark - Cobblestone Press
The Werewolf Whisperer in PRINT - Phaze
An Interview with Ericka Scott
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Ericka, thank you for talking with us at TRS BLUE. Please tell us about your featured book, Unleashed.
ES:Unleashed: Jazmine Carmichael is the leader of a pack of werewolves living in Eclipse, California. When two of the pack members die under mysterious circumstances, she's determined to get answers.
Blaze Petrofsky and two other researchers often played a game of what if. What if werewolves were real? They set about creating the virus, meeting failure after failure, until he buys an old trunk in an auction. In a small silver tin, he finds werewolf cream. One of his colleagues tries it out, and it works. Before Blaze can look for a cure, he's removed from the project and the government takes over.
Now, five years later, the nightmare has come back to haunt him when a beautiful, mysterious, sexy woman brings him a wolf to autopsy. A wolf who, on closer inspection, is human. When Jazmine is arrested, Blaze follows the clues she left behind, hoping to pay back the debt he owes for rediscovering and unleashing lyncanthropy. But is he too late to save the woman he's come to love?
HH: This is the sequel to The Werewolf Whisperer. Where did you get the idea for that sizzling story?
ES: My in-laws were visiting, so instead of watching all the crime scene investigation dramas I usually watch, they enjoy reality shows, the news, and the droning aircraft channel. To strike a compromise, we started watching The Dog Whisperer. My mother-in-law remarked that wasn't it marvelous that the same techniques could be used on small and large dogs. Which got me thinking about the biggest "dog" of them all...the werewolf. And the idea was born.
HH: How does Unleashed continue the tale?
ES: At the end of The Werewolf Whisperer, Jazmine has just kicked the previous Alpha's butt and taken over the pack. I wanted her to earn her happily ever after and to do so, I threw a few dead bodies her way.
HH: She is leader of her werewolf pack and he's a researcher wondering if werewolves do indeed exist. Where did you get the idea for their story?
ES: Like all writers, I pick up bits and pieces of things from all over. The original premise for the story was very different and it didn't work. So, I put it on the back burner to stew over the summer. Coincidentally, my daughter had surgery on the UCLA campus in September and I based Blaze loosely on her wonderful and talented neurosurgeon. Once I had the characters, the story flowed.
HH: What do you like best about Jazmine and how do you identify with her?
ES: Jazmine is again, loosely based on my best friend, a beautiful woman who's looks often overshadow the fact that she's a flipping genius (no kidding). She's looking for a man who isn't smarter than her and ends up with a man who is her equal. Although in the beginning Blaze is blindsided by her looks, he quickly comes to admire her intelligence.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers?
ES: In June, I'll have two exciting releases. Wanton Wishes, part of the Lustbites collection at Total E-bound and Twilight's Embrace, coming from Cobblestone Press. I also completed my first full-length romantic suspense and am currently shopping it around to agents and publishers.
HH: What's your favorite type of story to write and why?
ES: I love paranormal romantic suspense/thrillers. Having a touch of the paranormal lets you bend the rules of the real world while still telling the story of very real, contemporary characters.
HH: What are you reading at the moment?
ES: Right now I'm working on improving my craft by reading, Don't Murder Your Mystery by Chris Roerden. I'm hoping his 24 tips will keep Crisscross out of the rejected pile.
HH: What do you do when you're stuck in a story?
ES: When I'm stuck, I tend to pick up a book and read. For some reason, putting the puzzle aside for a little while and enjoying solving someone else's who-dun-it often gives me the inspiration to see my way through a plot point or help me decide on a new twist to get me to the end. For instance, in Crisscross I had this scene with the hero tromping around town questioning people. Yeah, he was getting the answers, but I wasn't happy with it. Then, I picked up a book (I won't share the title) and simply couldn't get into it...there was simply too much pedestrian questioning of suspects being done. B-o-r-i-n-g! So, I cut that whole scene, threw in a bomb (literally), and was off and running.
HH: What do you most want to accomplish in your writing career this year?
ES: accomplished my biggest goal, to write a full-length novel (Yippeee!). So, for the rest of the year, I'm concentrating on improving my craft. I'm attending the All Writers, All Weekend conference hosted by the Silicon Valley RWA the first weekend in May and I've purchased quite a few novel writing books to study. But don't worry, I've also got a couple of hot little novellas to write and a full-length novel plotted so I'll be working on those well.
