Thirteen years -- that's how long Isabeau Montgomery has been living a lie. After an automobile accident took her mother's life, Izzy hid herself away, surviving the only way she knew how. Now she is happy in her carefully reconstructed life. That is until he walks through the door of her bar...
Black Phoenix singer/front man Noah Clark came to Long Island City with a goal--one that doesn't include an instant, electric attraction to the dark-haired beauty behind the bar. Coaxing her into his bed won't be easy, but he can't get her pale, haunted eyes nor her skill on the piano out of his head.
Can Noah help Isabeau overcome the past? Or will her need to protect her secret force her back into hiding and destroy their chance at happiness?
Reviews for After Midnight
"Bravo, Sarah Grimm, AFTER MIDNIGHT is a beautiful love story that will long live in my memory. It has earned a place on my "keeper" shelves." -- Eye on Romance
As a young girl, Sarah Grimm always had a story to tell. At times they were funny, other times scary, but they were always happily-ever-after.
Sarah spent years scribbling in notebooks, filling the pages with partial chapters and the margins with titles and story ideas. She told friends that the characters spoke to her, and that she was compelled to get their stories on paper. Eventually, she sat down at a computer and wrote her first tale of dangerously sexy suspense. That book, Not Without Risk, was nominated for Long and Short of It's Best Book 2010.
Sarah lives in West Michigan with her husband, two sons and three miniature schnauzers. Between mom's taxi service, parts runs, and answering the phone for the family marine repair business, Sarah can be found curled in her favorite chair, crafting her next novel.
Also by Sarah Grimm:
Not Without Risk
An Interview with Sarah Grimm
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Sarah, thank you for talking with us at TRS! Your featured book is After Midnight. Where did the idea of for this story of a woman living a lie and a man who wants to gain her trust come from?
SG: On the advice of a dear friend, I'm going with this answer:
Teenage fantasies about meeting and marrying a rock star, combined with the maturity to know that a twenty-something musician is not happily-ever-after material. Add to that the picture in my mind of a woman alone in a bar, playing the piano. That picture spawned a series of 'what if' questions which led to After Midnight.
HH: What do you like best about Isabeau and why will readers relate to her?
SG: She's just so very tortured, her past so full of tragedy it's hard not to connect to Isabeau. Yet she's strong, stronger than even she realizes -- you'd have to be to survive what she's been through.
HH: What do you like best about Noah and why will readers love him?
SG: Noah Clark is the ideal romance hero: sexy, patient, and totally committed to Isabeau. However, that doesn't mean he's perfect -- Noah is also stubborn, bull-headed and determined to save Isabeau from herself, even if it's the very last thing she wants.
HH: What sort of research did you do for this work?
SG: I didn't. I took my love for music and the respect I have for those who create it—those with the natural, awe-inspiring ability to just sit down and have music flow from their fingers -- and turned it into a story about what happens when that gift becomes your worst nightmare. I wondered what it would be like to be able to create that way, imagined it was something like how my characters' voices play through my head all day long, and wrote a book around it.
HH: What is the secret to writing a good-suspense filled romance?
SG: Secret? Um... am I supposed to know about this secret? LOL Honestly, I have no idea. I just throw a monkey wrench into the story whenever I think I need to shake things up a bit.
HH: What else do you have in the works?
SG: While writing After Midnight, one of the secondary characters kept telling me he needed his story told, so I'm writing that one now. Midnight Heat is a reunion romance, and although I had no plans to make it so when I started, it looks like it may become a romantic suspense.
HH: How do you personally view the future of ebooks?
SG: Personally, I don't believe that print books will ever completely disappear. However, ebooks are the way of the future. With the continuing advances in technology and how chaotic people's lives are nowadays... it's much simpler to carry books in our smart phones or laptops.
HH: How much of your day is devoted to your writing career?
SG: Lately, not enough. I've been putting in 55+ hour weeks at the day job, and then coming home to help with bookkeeping and invoicing for my husband's business. However, both my husband's business and my job are seasonal, so once the snow flies, which in Michigan can be as early as October, I'll have a lot more time to write.
HH: What's your favorite way to interact with readers?
SG: My all time favorite way to chat with readers is face to face. Unfortunately, I don't get enough of that with my hectic work schedule, so I settle for interacting with readers through online chats and email. I love to hear from readers and encourage them to email me at sarah AT sarahgrimm DOT com.
HH: Any conference or appearance plans this fall?
SG: Unfortunately, I don't have any conference plans this fall. AJ Nuest, Amie Louellen, Arial Burnz and I are planning to meet up at the Romantic Times Convention in the spring though, which should be a lot of fun!
