Fatal Intent Tour- Interview, Review, Giveaway & Excerpt

Hey everyone! Today I have a stop on the Fatal Intent tour. I have info on the book, a review, an excerpt and interview and a giveaway for you all!

Fatal Intent

by Ryshia Kennie

BLURB:

In the heart of the jungle lies more than just the hint of death.

Leading a scientific excursion into the Borneo rain forest is a life long dream for entomologist, Garrett Cole. But when her guide turns up dead and headless, her abilities are tested. As the dense foliage pushes her team further from the river, they are lost. Every shimmer of sound is a threat, and when a blonde haired, half-naked giant emerges from nowhere, she wants to run. But there are no options – she needs help. 

Raised in the lush cradle of the Borneo jungle, Aidan is as unconventional as the fact that he has no last name. While the city is home, he returns to the jungle for peace and solitude. As a PI, how can he ignore the mystery this group and their dead guide poses? Leading them in a convoluted trek in a bid for answers he soon finds himself in a clash of wills with their alluring leader and answers that slide dangerously close to the tribe he loves. 

In the jungle’s torrid heat they find unexpected solace in each others arms. But faced with death and betrayal, in a battle of wits that puts lives on the edge, can anyone be trusted?

My Review

Garrett is finally getting to do what she has always wanted to do. Lead a crew on a scientif excursion in the Borneo rain forest. She thinks it will go smootly and they all will get to explore and hopefully find a new bug. Things quickly go bad when they find their guide killed and beheaded. Even tho she is shaken she has to hold it together and try to get her team to safety even if all they want to do is fight with each other. They soon become lost and night is closing in on the rain forest. Aiden finds them and follows them. He is looking for hunter who are killing monkeys and comes across the team and the body. While he is no stranger to the jungle he now lives in the city as a PI. When he reveals hisself to the team he at first acts like a savage as that is what Garrett thinks he is. Leading them to safety he tries to stay away from Garrett because he is attracted to her. As they journey to a villiage they soon come together but each ones past holds them back from trusting the other. Aiden is also trying to solve the mystery of who killed the guide. A mystery that may just shatter everything he knows.

I liked Garrett as a character. She has had problems in the past but is good at her job. Given the chance she wants to prove to everyone including her dad she can do this. Things are falling apart around her but she holds it together to keep her team going. She shows so much strength in this book. She is attracted to Aiden but fights her feelings for him. Aiden is amazing. You can see how he would fit into the city life and his job as a PI but you can also see he is one with the rain forest. As one of the team calls him a Tarzan. I would go thru the forest with this man. He fights his feelings for Garrett cause he doesn't want a relationship he thinks he just wants sex but you can see he feels more for her than that.

This book starts off with a bang as the body shows up. You really get to see Garrett's personality from the start as she keeps everyone going. The team is fighting with each other and you get to see a little about everyones personality by how they act and thru Aiden's eyes as he follows them. This adds a great part of the book seeing two different POV's. I really enjoyed reading this watching the chemistry between Garrett and Aiden play out, them trying to survive the forest and figure the mystery out. While I did guess who had done it I was still surprised on the ending. The author added some nice touches to make it a very good book. Anyone looking for a good love story with some mystery should read this. It made me want to visit the forest.

4 out of 5 Stars for this book.

Excerpt

Aidan moved vines back, exposing his face. They only had to look in his direction.

He was so close he could have reached out and touched her. She was delicate, out of place here in the midst of this wilderness. Her skin, even beneath the sweat and exertion-stained flush, was fair. She wasn’t built to be here, she was too slight to survive, too weak, too . . . 

She glanced up. A frown immediately seared her face.

“Who the hell are you?” she snarled. 

He bit back a smile. She should have screamed. She hadn’t. All tiny limbs and fragile beauty, and yet she attacked first. 

He let his gaze rove over the group, refusing to be corralled by her attack.

One of the men looked panicked, the others seriously stressed. He shifted his spear to his other hand and waited, taking the warrior advantage of time and observation. The silent often learned much about their enemy. 

“Put that down.” She gestured to his spear. 

His fingers loosened for a millisecond before gripping the spear tighter. Was she out of her mind? Green, innocent, and totally forest-illiterate, but she was feisty. 

Feisty? She was seething, hot, absolutely pissed—about what, he wasn’t sure. Her anger didn’t make much sense. Nothing about this afternoon made much sense.

Interview

Tell me about your book(s). How did you come up with that (story, angle, idea)?

Fatal Intent is a murder-mystery tangled in a romance. When Garrett Cole sets off on a potentially career setting moment leading a team of entomologists into the Borneo jungle, she doesn’t expect to be lost and face to face with tragedy only days later. But that’s what happens when her guide is discovered headless and she must get her team to safety without even a compass to guide her. 

It is then that Aidan makes an appearance. Adopted into the jungle at an early age, he is a man with a foot in two worlds. Garrett is forced to trust Aidan for he is the only person who might be able to get them out of the jungle alive. 

Aidan is immediately drawn to the feisty, small blonde woman who is obviously in charge of the rag-tag group of men. He’s also suspicious, the guide’s death screams foul play and he can’t rule out Garrett or her team as primary suspects. But his method of investigation draws them further into the jungle and as hours lead to days, passion and betrayal become uneasy bed partners.

The idea for Fatal Intent came out of a trip to Borneo where I visited an Iban longhouse. I remember walking up those worn, steep wooden steps from the river and seeing the verandah stretched out with mats and rice drying, the weather beaten old women looking at us almost with distrust or possibly disdain, and the human skull hanging from the rafter. Now the skull might have been there for the benefit of tourists but I like the explanation our guide offered, that it was the last head hunted over a hundred years ago. That skull and the longhouse were the seed of the story. 

What kind of research did you do for this book(s)?

While I was in Borneo I knew I wanted to write a story set there. So I did as much research as I could on location. I also researched online and I read a few books on the history of headhunting, the tribes in Borneo and the geography of the area. Borneo was one of the most fascinating settings I’ve used so far. 

What's a typical working day like for you? When and where do you write? 

My office is in the basement. It’s newly renovated and I love the fact that the old panel walls and faded red and gold carpet is now gone and soft tones and lovely mocha trim now replace it all. It’s quiet place in a corner of the house where the only window is my imagination. 

I begin early in the morning usually about six, sometimes earlier, and write through the morning or as long as my dog will let me before he demands his walk. We try to walk three kilometers or more on a good day. It’s in the morning when I can write with less interruption from family needing this or that. Through the rest of the day there’s always something going on and I write in the spaces around it. 

Do you set a daily writing goal?

I don’t set a daily writing goal. What I do is write as much as I can in the space of those morning hours. I usually average a couple of thousand words a day unless, of course, I’m doing revisions rather than writing.

What is the hardest part of writing for you?

I love the creative process of marketing, and reaching out to people but it can also be one of the hardest parts of writing because it’s almost impossible to measure and determine what works and what doesn’t. Some of the marketing possibilities have outcomes that are as vague as the choices are numerous. But when you find people who want to read your book or have read your book and loved it – well that makes all that marketing trial and error worthwhile because you got the book into the hands of someone who appreciates it. 

What’s the best thing about being an author?

There’s nothing better than hearing from a reader about how much they enjoyed your book. 

What do you do when your not writing?

When I’m not writing, I’m probably doing housework catching up on this or that or trying to reconnect all my widowed socks but then I could also be reading, traveling, experimenting with another dog food recipe or if the weather’s good – golfing or riding my bike.

Which one of your characters is most like you?

I don’t think I’ve ever written a character who is like me. Often they may have traits that I wish I had but more often they are a combination of traits I’ve observed in others. So the character becomes a mishmash of a few living characters and a few imagined, a kind of a hybrid, rather than a reflection of anyone living or dead.

What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question? 

I tried but you know I can’t think of anything I’ve really wanted someone to ask that hasn’t been asked. Over time the variety of questions adds up. This tour for Fatal Intent, for example. If anyone has followed the tour they’ll see that while some questions follow a pattern, on average each interview is unique and the end result is a wide range of questions. In fact, sometimes questions surprise me, in a good way of course, and make me think about things just a little differently.

If you were writing a book about your life, what would the title be?

It’s Only Just Begun

Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)?

So far I haven’t had the option to travel as a direct result of my books, most of my book signings have been local and tours have been online. And as far as research, while many of my books are a result of my traveling, they’re not the reason for traveling. So the trip comes first and then the idea for the story follows. As I’m getting on the plane I’m thinking about what research I can acquire for the story. 

What was the first book you remember reading?

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. While I didn’t read it, it’s the first “book” I remember. I had it memorized at two and my grandmother was horribly excited because she thought I could read when I turned each page at exactly the right spot. 

Where did your love of books come from?

I always loved books, paper and pens, and words. I remember my father did too and so did my grandfather. My grandfather was a voracious reader and fluent in three languages, and my father had a way of spinning words and phrases that made him in high demand whenever a school essay was due. As a child, my mother read endlessly to me and when I could read she took me to the library every week. And growing up in the days before mega television channels, I suppose I had no choice but to love books.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Ryshia Kennie is the author of two published romances. From the Dust, is a romance set during the Great Depression. Her second book, Ring of Desire, was set against a backdrop of magic and mystery, in medieval England. An award winning author, her recent novels now focus on suspense and women’s fiction – always with a hint or even a dollop, of romance. The Canadian prairies are home where she lives with her husband and one opinionated Irish Terrier. 

Visit her website at http://www.ryshiakennie.com.

Author blog: ryshia.blogspot.com

Author on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ryshia.kennie

Author on Twitter: twitter.com/ryshia

Author at Goodreads www.goodreads.com/author/show/1400598.Ryshia_Kennie

Giveaway

 Ryshia will award one commenter an ebook copy of From the Dust at each stop on the tour, a historical romance set in Depression Era Saskatchewan. The grand prize for the tour will be an autographed copy of From the Dust, a book unique bookmark, and a Region 1 DVD of East of Borneo, a 1931 B&W movie. Be sure to comment and leave your email address for your chance to winand follow the tour.

http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/12/virtual-nbtm-tour-fatal-intent-by.html