Caught between vengeful employees, a sister who likes to party, and a hot CIA agent-Rena's corporate training didn't prepare her for this. Can she trust her instincts to save the people and resort she's grown to love?
Reviews for Last Resort
"Overall, this was a truly enjoyable story and one that had me looking forward to other books that are written by this author in the future." - The Romance Studio
Visit Rolynn Anderson's web site
Read an excerpt from Last Resort
About Rolynn Anderson Scandinavian, Army Brat, Midwesterner, English Teacher, High School Principal, Golfer, Boater, World Traveler. Author. With my experiences I'm fairly bursting with stories about extraordinary people and amazing settings, real and imagined. Now add my competitive spirit and my love of 'the makeover.' One day I'll play a stunning eighteen holes on the golf course; one year I'll pilot our boat on a perfect cruise from Washington State to Alaska. But today my goal is to write another 'makeover' novel you'll devour in the wee hours of the morning, because my story, the setting and the characters, capture your interest and your heart.
An Interview with Rolynn Anderson
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Rolynn, thank you so much for talking with us at TRS. Your featured
book is Last Resort. Where did you get the idea for this tale of a
corporate fixer, an FBI agent and a lot of trouble? RA: I'm a boater. My husband and I live on a 42 foot Kady
Krogen trawler from June through September. One of our favorite
haunts is Big Bay, B.C., the spectacular setting for LAST RESORT.
Rumor was, one of the resorts in the Bay was owned by drug lords back
in the day. I'd also learned from locals that a major U.S. TV station
was using a Big Bay resort as their headquarters for the Olympic
Winter Games, flying daily by helicopter from the resort to the
Whistler site. Finally, I'd had long talks with the assistant manager
at Big Bay's Dent Lodge, discovering that she (a former executive from
Seattle), had fallen in love and married a Dent Lodge fishing guide.
All these true stories meshed into a big time fiction thriller!
HH: What do you like about Rena and why will readers identify with her? RA: Rena has pulled herself up by her bootstraps. She comes
from poverty with a mother as her only parent. In order to be
successful, she patterns herself after others who have climbed the
corporate ladder. The trouble is, she's lost a sense of who she is in
the process, and she has no idea if her instincts are viable,
especially when it comes to trusting her attraction for a fishing
guide (a covert CIA agent).
Rena is one of three women in this novel who are searching
for a sense of self. Rena's punk sister, Nora is on the edge, lost in
partying, drugs and attitude. A third character, Sandy, raised by
mullah radicals to hate Americans, has to learn to trust her own
judgment about the world. Every reader will empathize with these
three women as they face enormous, life changing challenges in LAST
RESORT.
HH: What can you tell us about Neal and why will readers love him? RA: Neal is a no-nonsense CIA agent, good at his job, but
critical of the convoluted structure of U.S. intelligence in the new
dawn of Home Security. Readers will identify with him and love him
because he's a dedicated, competent crime-fighter, for the first time,
bowled over by a woman. It's fun to watch him get flustered and angry
at his inability to structure his responses to her, avoid her, not
think about her, not try to protect her. He's one tough guy with a
stunning track record as an agent, but when it comes to Rena, and the
trouble she gets into at the resort…she becomes everything to him when
she's not supposed to be.
HH: What sort of research did you do for this story? RA: Lots! I made sure I understood the flow chart of U.S. government intelligence agencies (I'm smiling here…no one can
understand this flow chart). Another challenge was to learn the lingo
(from my nieces and nephews) typical of a twenty-one year old party
girl. That was an eye-opener!
I researched corporate fixers, helicopters (large and
small), helicopter ‘black boxes,' helicopter insurance, extreme
skiing, lake fishing, ocean fishing, fishing boats, Muslim upbringing,
American prisons for Muslim radicals, Muslim radicals and terrorism in
North America, the global war on terrorism, the Bly, Oregon terrorist
incident, CIA agent 'habits,' the Olympic games, Whistler, B.C, haz-mat trucks, properties of propane, the weather in Big Bay, B.C.,
habits of Grizzly Bears, salmon, currents and tides and specific
resorts in Big Bay, B.C.
HH: What can you tell us about your journey to becoming a published
author? RA: I'm reminded of "The Long and Winding Road." Truth is, I am
a statistical exemplar. I wrote for eight years and wrote eight books
before I was published. Evidently, this is the average amount of
time it takes a writer to get published…if she's also working very
hard to gather rejections along the way <g>. I attended conferences,
joined an RWA on-line chapter (From the Heart Romance Writers), worked
with a critique group, entered contests and submitted to both
publishers and agents more times than I care to count. The rejections
got more personal, while I grew more confident as a writer. The
turning point for me was grabbing a mentor through my on-line chapter,
a published writer by the pen name of JL Wilson. She helped me find
The Wild Rose Press, their brilliant editor, Laura Kelly, and a
fabulous group of writer friends.
HH: What else do you have in the works? RA: Think Wedding Planner (the movie with Jennifer Lopez). Now think Funeral Planner, a three-part series I've written: FADEOUT, SWOON, and FAINT. My heroine, Jan Solvang, plans boutique events, mostly funerals, for quirky people demanding out-of-the-box
celebrations. Complication comes when her dead clients and their
survivors hide secrets that Jan, new to risk-taking, feels compelled
to understand. Enter, Martin Davis, a dumpster-diving journalist
whose documentaries tell the awful truth about people. Their
attraction for each other and the horrors upended in truth-telling
create conflict and danger.
HH: Do you own an ebook reader or read on an electronic device? If so,
what? RA: I own a KINDLE, and I love it! Quick downloads, print as large
as I want it, and a way to take notes. I can take all the books I
want to read along with me on my boat, leaving more space for wine!
HH: As a romance reader, what sort of stories do you personally prefer? RA: I write suspense-spiked-with-romance novels because that's my go-to
favorite kind of novel to read. I like some intrigue with my rocky
relationships, some tricky business to challenge the hero and heroine
while they figure out if/how they might be a couple. Contemporary is
my first choice (Deborah Smith's WHEN VENUS FELL is an example of low
level intrigue). Anything by Suzanne Brockman or Linda Howard for
high level drama. I enjoy the OUTLANDER series by Diana Gabaldon.
Women's fiction, low key science fiction…I read widely and
voraciously. When I hear the words: 'I just read a fabulous book,'
I'm on that title immediately.
That being said, it's ironic that my LAST RESORT is my first novel to
sell. It's a thriller with a complex subplot, a challenge I'd taken
on after writing seven suspense novels. Even before Wild Rose Press
offered me a contract, I finished writing a 'normal' paranormal,
again, to push my writing boundaries.
HH: What's your favorite guilty pleasure? RA: High quality milk chocolate;
peanut butter on a buttered English muffin. The toast has to be hot
and the peanut better melted for ultimate pleasure.
HH: Any vacation or appearance plans this summer? RA: As I said, I live on a trawler with my husband for the four
months out of the year. For the first time, we're exploring the
Inside Passage of Alaska. I have already run out of superlatives to
describe this sprawling, gorgeous waterworld. Example: I've seen more
Humpback Whales than I can count, to the point I can recognize the
smell of their blow!
I'm hauling copies of LAST RESORT with me to all the marinas I visit
this summer. Over the years, my boating friends have listened to my
writing adventures until I'm sure they wished I'd shut up. They'll be
pleased to buy my book; I can't wait to sign each copy, thanking them
for their support.
I'll be signing books in San Luis Obispo, CA (at the Mission) on
Sunday, September 18, from 10:00-4:00.
HH: Thank you!
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