Wow! Thanksgiving is over. I hope all of you had a wonderful time visiting with family and eating way too much food. How many of you have already shopped ‘til you dropped? I’m not even going to ask if any of you have your Christmas shopping done yet. (But if you do, come here and do mine lol.)
I wanted to drop in and chat with all of you today because tomorrow, the 27th, SLOW HEAT, releases. I hope all of you have pre-ordered it so you’ll have it in your hands the day it comes out.
SLOW HEAT is my fifth bounty hunter book but in truth it stands alone. The first four books were about the King family, Greg King, the father, Marc and Jake King, the two sons, and Natasha King, their cousin and office manager for KFA, King Fugitive Apprehension. Now with Greg King’s two sons out on their own, and quite happy I hear with two awesome ladies, he’s hired on new bounty hunters. Micah Jones is one of them and an incredible asset to KFA.
With twenty-five years on the force as a police officer, and now seven years under his belt as a bounty hunter, Greg King is a pretty perceptive man. There’s not much you can pull past him. He notices right away that Micah isn’t like other men. To start, Micah is an incredible shot. In fact, he never misses.
There are a few other personality traits, qualities if you will, although Micah doesn’t view them as such, that King starts to notice. Micah would rather they not be discovered, and his reasons are valid. I don’t want to give too much away about this book but Micah is a man with more secrets than any man I’ve ever had the honor to write about. I think the best way to explain Micah’s story is to give you the blurb, then we can proceed with some questions.
Here is the blurb—and the cover!
In the high-risk world of bounty hunters, one falsely accused woman is searching for justice—and one truly arresting man is feeling the heat…
As a new employee with KFA, the King family’s bounty-hunting agency, Micah Jones feels like he’s a perfect fit. All he has to do is remember…capture, don’t kill. He also needs to keep a low profile so his past life won’t catch up with him. But his latest assignment—to bring in a night-club owner suspected of money-laundering—heats up fast when he meets the “brains” of the outfit: an irresistibly beautiful bookkeeper who’s resisting arrest. In fact, she’s so determined to prove her innocence that she tries calling 911 to report thugs posing as bounty hunters are raiding her night club. Micah wrestles her to the ground before she can make the call, which was his first big mistake. Maggie O’Malley feels a bit too good underneath his powerful body.
Held for questioning but released by police, Maggie O’Malley is still a person of interest. Maggie is interested in Micah Jones—in his services. With his iron-hard muscles and tough-guy exterior, the
Harley-riding bounty hunter is just the man Maggie needs to track down the real crook at the club. A slow-burning attraction ignites a firestorm of insatiable desire—until the secrets of Micah’s past are exposed. Explosive passion now must prove stronger than a history so terrifying it might haunt them forever…
Okay, so there you have it. That is what SLOW HEAT is about—the blurb as it appears on the back of the book. Does that give you a good idea of what this story is about? Are you intrigued?
SLOW HEAT is an action packed suspenseful novel. It’s about an assassin who is trying to start his life over, and not let anyone know who he was in his past. He thinks he’s got it covered. Life is going as planned. He’s got a new life, a new job, and no one suspects a thing. What Micah doesn’t plan on, or expect in any way, is to fall in love. So what happens when Micah finds he can’t quit thinking about Maggie O’Malley?
Micah has to decide how much he will tell Maggie about who he really is—or was. Now I have a question for you. This question plagued me as I was writing Micah’s story. When you enter into a relationship, how much of your past should you share with the person you are falling in love with? Should you be an open book and let this person know everything about you? Or does the past matter as much as the future? I’d like your input. If you had a past that was somewhat questionable, is it as important to share as who you are today, and will be in the future?
I know some folks in relationships who kept the dark secrets of their past to themselves. Their significant other doesn’t know about it. Or at least in one relationship I know of, didn’t know about until long after they were married. In the case of my friends, it all worked out okay. They were in love, in a solid relationship, and when one shared with the other something terrible about their past, their partner was sad to hear about it but it didn’t change the love they had for each other.
It got me thinking, while writing SLOW HEAT, maybe Micah shouldn’t tell Maggie who he had been. I went back and forth about this. Micah is a good man. I know…I know…you’re thinking how can an assassin be a good man? My God! He is a murderer. Can’t get around that.
Micah couldn’t have a simple past. He couldn’t make it easy for me. And truth be told, for himself. He is in one hell of a dilemma. I let my fingers tap away at the keys and was as anxious as I know you are going to be in finding out what he was going to do about Maggie.
On a side note, and I have to share this with you, with every book I write there is a process with editing. The first pass is doing the edits, making any and all changes my editor suggests. A line editor goes through it next and when I receive the book a second time, it’s formatted to go to print. I simply read over it to make sure all is good.
By this point I’ve read the book about five times. I’m well into writing my next book and really don’t like having to stop to do these final line edits. I don’t know an author who does like this stage. Most of us loathe it, in fact. LOL. (To any editors who might be reading this; of course we still do this last
stage of the editing process, and do it diligently. J ) SLOW HEAT is the first book, I think, that I’ve read—for the fifth time—and couldn’t quit reading. It was that good!
And folks, I don’t toot my own horn. I never have. Any of you who know me, know that I don’t. Because honestly I’m never sure if my books are any good or not. But SLOW HEAT, and Micah—damn!
I want to ask you again. How much should a person share about their past, a past they’re trying to bury, with the person they are in love with? Also, if you don’t mind giving me your thoughts on two questions, I’m going to brazenly ask—what do you think of SLOW HEAT from what you’ve heard so far? Think you’ll buy it? If so, why? If not, would you be honest and share why it doesn’t intrigue you?
Okay, let me know your thoughts. I’m anxious to hear what you think.
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For more information, visit www.lorieoclare.com. And for a chance to win a signed ARC of SLOW HEAT with comments written in the book of Lorie’s thoughts as the story progresses, just leave an answer for the above questions. Good luck!
Honorary Mention of Book Sluts 'R' Us Blogger Awards by 
It’s funny that your post is a topic I recently discussed with friends over another book and we chose to agree about disagreeing. I thought that a person should be told about someone’s past and my friends did not. I don’t know if that is lying by omission but it sure was a heated discussion on the car ride home from a book convention. if the past has an impact on the present and/or even the future I think the person’s significant other should be told.
Good morning Eileen,
Sounds like a cool discussion you and your friends had. I wonder if your friends would have been cool with someone leaving knowledge of their past out if they had been an assassin.
Wow, good question. I think the past has to be shared at some point, but maybe not right away, especially if what you are hiding is really big. You want the other person to have a chance to get to know you on a deeper level, so that they can trust you if you say that you have changed. In the end though, I think you have to tell them, otherwise it’s not fair to the relationship.
As for the book, I totally have a soft spot for assassins and ex-assassins, so even though I don’t read that much romantic suspense (and haven’t read the others in this series) this one is going on my wishlist right now.
Jen, I completely agree. You need to get that person to see the real you. After all, we don’t go around telling our darkest secrets to strangers.
I really hope you get a chance to read SLOW HEAT. I think you might like it.
I can’t wait for this new book from the Bounty Hunter series. I am really enjoy your books. Thank you
Laura, I can’t wait for it to release either! I really hope you like the book.
I think that if a person is at a stage when they’re going into a life long relationship that they should be totally honest with the person they love. If the person really loves you, they will overlook your mistakes and bad decisions or whatever it was (if it was something that happened to you). I don’t think anyone should go into a lifelong relationship based n a lie. I have already ordered my copy of “Slow Heat” cause I love this series:)
Woo Hoo! Thanks Maria for pre-ordering your copy. That is how my publisher bases my sales. Pre-orders and buying the first week the book is out really helps me look good–and lets them to agree for me to write more books
. So thank you very much! As for honesty in relationships, I’m the worse liar on the planet LOL. But Micah, he’s lived a world of lies and secrets. Coming clean isn’t going to be easy for him. But then he’s never taken the easy road.
I think people need to share their past as a relationship progresses. If you are serious about someone then they need to understand you and where you came from.
Hi Maureen, I have seen relationships falter when people aren’t honest with each other. I’m not a counselor in anyway but as a writer I do tend to watch people in their relationships and see the many ways they can grow stronger, and how they can turn bad. I love seeing relationships where both are best friends after so many years. You only see that happen when both are fully honest with each other.
Well I will say that you have to let the person your falling in love with know what is in your past. I have been married almost 12yrs, and from experience i know you must tell, I am an exdrug user, and I let my husband know up front all the bad and the good things that I have done in my past, and the way i see it, if you don’t like me, then that is your fault not mine!!! I am an open book, and I would always prefer to have the person I am falling for or becoming friends with to be an open book to me as well!!!
CaSandra, you sound like a strong person. I think that if you’re honest, especially with mistakes you’ve made, and your partner supports how you’ve grown from those mistakes, you are definitely with the right person. I’m an open book, too. Lying just brings a dark aura around a person. It sounds like you are doing what is right to keep your relationship strong. I hope you have a lifetime of happy years with your hubby.
Thanks so much, we are doing well, We have two beautiful kids together, and I left out one thing earlier, my hubby knew i was still using drugs when we got together, and he is the one that helped me kick the habit!! so i was very very lucky in finding him!
You are lucky. Alcoholism and drug use run in our family, too. It took years for everyone to be clean and sober. But it can happen. We have a wonderful family. I wouldn’t trade any of them for the world. I’m proud of you! You conquered a tough road.
Maureen – It’s always a two way street, don’t you think? Relationships are a work in progress. Micah and Maggie have their work cut out for them. His past as an assassin is going to make “happily ever after” a bit of a challenge. It’s amazing what the power of love can pull off though, when two people set their minds to being together forever.
I’m a new follower and came here via my first newsletter from you! Micah and Maggie will be my first Bounty Hunter book. I was in a verbally abusive relationship before I met my now-husband. We were married before I told him what had happened. I honestly don’t know if I would have ever shared it with him if it had not been causing me problems. He was very understanding, adjusted the way he did certain things to help me alleviate my fears, and we’ve been married for 30+ years.
Terri, I’m such a sucker for happy endings. That is so beautiful. I think you’ll love reading about Micah and Maggie. Maggie is your average lady, like you and me. She isn’t perfect but definitely not a bad person. Her family has its share of drama, but don’t all of ours? That doesn’t make it any easier when she starts suspecting the darkness she sees inside Micah might be something stronger than what she can tolerate. Worse yet, because he is falling in love with Maggie, Micah knows he can’t possibly allow her to see the monster that lies just underneath the flesh. Micah, I think, has to come to terms with his own demons before he can tell anyone else about them. Sometimes that is how it has to be.
Ooh, great question, Lorie. I do think that while you don’t have to start out sharing every last detail with someone else, once you’re in a committed relationship, you do want to be able to. I do think that sharing even the parts of yourself or your past that make you cringe can ultimately be a gift to both parties–it is tremendous to know that you are loved so much that someone entrusts themselves to you; it is equally amazing to know you are loved so much that your past does not cloud their appreciation of you–it’s just a part of who you are.
And I do have a thing about honesty–it’s very hard to read about a growing relationship where part of it is a lie. It is akin to being unfaithful in a sense (that is maybe too strong a comparison)–it just doesn’t seem right!
Can’t wait to read Slow Heat, Lorie!
Oh, that is so well said. Bravo! Lying is a form of being unfaithful. You might not be committing adultery, but you are saying–without saying it–that you’ve concluded without giving your partner a chance that they aren’t worthy of the truth. Being unfaithful happens in more ways than just sexually. In the early stages of romance there are so many layers of trust to work through. Especially for someone like Micah, who has never trusted anyone, nor asked to be trusted. He was raised to be a killer. So at first he thinks keeping his life, who he really is, from Maggie, is the only way she will love him. Micah knows she will run terrified if she ever learned the truth about him. And, he is right….
I think until you really know each other any secrets you are worried about should kept to yourself until you are more confident about telling your partner. Always ready for a new book from you. I wish you would write more and faster. Thanks a bunch and been with the hubby 26 years he now knows me very well.
Hi Pam, 26 years is wonderful! And I love hearing that you’re excited about SLOW HEAT. I hope you love it. And Micah. He is one amazing man. Maggie is quite the woman, too. I just can’t say enough good things about either one of them. Pretty crazy considering one of them is an assassin, lol.
Congrats on the new release, Lorie. I’m a fan of your bounty hunter books, so I’m excited about “Slow Heat.” I think you should be able to share your past with your partner, but it’s hard to say exactly how much.
It’s hard for Micah to know how much to tell Maggie. Maggie doesn’t necessarily hold secrets from Micah, but she does her family. All in all, secrets can cause trouble, and cut those who love you deeply. I really think you’re going to like Slow Heat. Micah is a pretty intense, dark character, with layers so deep it takes him a while to see the surface and what kind of person he really is–other than the monster he fears others will see him as.
I firmly believe our past and our choices to how we responded to it, shapes who we are now. The past is important. If we recognize our mistakes and let them grow and mature us into better people then anything can be shared. It takes a loving and committed lifelong relationship to be able to grow through tough past stuff. Seeing how authors respond to these things makes for fantastic reading and it’s one of the reasons I read romance. I know going in that they WILL work it out all in the end and they WILL have their “Happily Ever After”. I can’t wait to read your next book, it seems like forever since you released a new Bounty Hunters Book
I guess that is a good sign since the last one came out in March, and the one before it the previous October. All my releases have been “roughly” around six months apart. If it feels its been forever I must be doing something right.
I hope you keep feeling that way. I really want SLOW HEAT to be a book that sticks with you forever. It has stuck in my head even as I’ve gone on to write other books. Micah is a man I’ll never forget.
Sounds great. Can’t wait to read it. I believe a person can not love another person if that person is keeping secrets. They always come back to haunt you. And I would rather be told up front, than find out in a horrible situation.
Yes, I definitely will buy the book. I love action books with romance added in. And this one sounds perfect combination of the two.
Thanks for the giveaway,
Elizabeth Gray
elizabethgr@sbcglobal.net
Thank you for buying SLOW HEAT, Elizabeth. It’s definitely action packed. There were times when I was writing the book, I wouldn’t be able to stop typing just because I had to know what was going to happen next.
Sometimes we just have to be patient with the person who doesn’t want to talk about something in their past. If you try to push the person, the only thing you may do is push them away. If they understand that you love them for who they are, you may find that at some point they will talk to you about what pains them the most. But they also have to respect your feelings and understand that by not saying anything, they may be telling you that they don’t have faith in you as a person. It tends to be a double-edged sword.
I have loved your work for a while now so I’m super excited by this great giveaway. Thank you.
Happy Holidays!
Lynn
lareynolds0316@gmail.com
Lynn,
You have the same take on keeping secrets in a relationship that Maggie does in SLOW HEAT. She knows Micah has terrible ghosts haunting him. She also sees how rough and tough he is and that he isn’t going to sit down and have an emotional heart to heart with her. In his own way, on his own time, he will tell her what happened to him in his past. Of course, she has no idea it will be something as horrific as…”by the way I’m an assassin and I’ve been murdering people most of my life.” Not exactly what we expect to hear.
I look forward to reading your latest. I’ve been a fan of yours for a while. I hope you enjoy your holidays. Lynn
I think you should tell the person you love all about your past. You need to be honest and it will help you move on. I love the sound of your book I can’t wait to read it. It sounds good.
Thanks Victoria. I really hope you like it. I got in to writing SLOW HEAT. I’m almost sorry I’m done with that story.
If it’s a secret that keeps eating at you and isn’t so in the past then it may help to share with someone you care about. If a secret might affect a relationship it’s better to have it out in the open then let it fester and blow up in a negative way. Secrets have a way of coming up. It’s better to share when you’re ready as well.
This secret is a deal breaker. Micah knows that. But he also knows not telling Maggie would mean leaving her. He can’t live with her without her wondering why he is always hiding and on the move.
I’m of the full disclosure opinion. The truth will come out in the worst way possible, unless you head it off by telling it. If someone cannot take the truth of your past, they are not the one for you.
Karin
AquarianDancer at gmail dot com
Hi Karin,
And I also agree with you. Micah has tough choices throughout the book. I do hope you are patient with him as he stumbles around the right thing to do.
I love your screen name.
Don’t know what happened to first post. I also agree with Karin, the truth will always come out eventually. So just get it over with and you won’t have the worry hanging over your head that the secret will come out. They either love and accept you or they can’t handle it.
I love the excerpt and I’m putting the series on my TRL as well as Slow Heat.
Carol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
You can read the first chapter of SLOW HEAT, and of many of my books, on my website if you want a better idea of what the books are about, or to see if they appeal to you.
Lorie
I really don’t like secrets between the main couple once they have made an emotional connection – it just leads to mis-communication & frustration on my part.
I do enjoy a good romantic suspense – I’ll look for this series.
sallans d at yahoo dot com
Hi Diane, I hope you check out my bounty hunter books. SLOW HEAT can be read on its own without reading the previously released books. If you’re interested, go to my website and see all the bounty hunter books. You can read the first chapter from each book to see if you’re interested. http://lorieoclare.com/Bounty_Hunter_Books.html
I think they should share all of their past if they want to be together forever.
I think I will buy it, sounds really good.
Oh thank you! That is good to hear. I really hope you like it!
I believe in total honesty. I’m not proud of some of the things I did when I was stupid and young but it all helped shaped me into the person I am today. There is not one thing my husband doesn’t know about me, good and bad. If you love someone, you will look past their past transgressions. Being open and honest also boosts trust. You can’t have a relationship without trust. This book sounds really good and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Thanks for the chance to win
Good luck in the contest, Jolene. I should wish everyone good luck! One way or another, I hope you pick up a copy of SLOW HEAT. I think you’ll like it.
This sounds like a good book. Nice post.