COVET's Terri Herman-Ponce Discusses the Inspiration to Her Writing

Welcome to my stop on the book tour for Covet by Terri Herman-Ponce, a mystery thriller with paranormal elements. Terri will be awarding one free Ecopy of Covet (book two of the Past Life series) and In This Life (book one of the Past Life series), to a randomly chosen commenter at each stop and a Grand Prize of a $50 Amazon gift card to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour.

Click here to see the other stops on the tour. Remember, the more stops you visit, the more chances you earn to win.

Blurb

Everyone wants something.

Even if it belongs to someone else.

And some will destroy the very thing they want, just so no one else can have it.

Professional soldier David Bellotti's latest mission seems simple: steal the key card to a drug lord's compound so the empire can be infiltrated and destroyed. But when David discovers evidence of his lover Lottie’s possible infidelity, his mission turns personal. He searches for answers others would kill to keep buried and discovers a link to the past he's been trying hard to ignore.

Ancient lives, twelve thousand year old secrets, murder, and primal instincts lead David on a journey through past lives and present danger—all to save the woman he loves.

Find your way back through history, when hunter-gatherers roamed and David and Lottie's past incarnations began. The Reading Café calls Covet, Book Two of the Past Life Series, "An amazing and fascinating storyline of suspense, mystery, betrayal, hatred and love."

Excerpt

I blew out the entrance and took off, hustling through the panicked crowd. Another gun fired and police sirens sounded in the distance. I made a left down a small street then a right into an alley, jumping a garbage can, hurtling over a short wall, and disappearing into the neighborhood. If Galen didn't make it to our backup rendezvous point, I had to get to the safe house and that was five miles away. And right now, I had no idea if Galen and Lady in Blue were still alive.

I skidded past a corner, wondering if I should take the chance and call an alert into HQ, when I heard screeching tires. I backed up, pressed myself against a wall, and realized who it was. Galen in a Toyota. He threw open the passenger door and I jumped in, slamming the door shut as Galen jammed the gas pedal.

“You get it?” he asked, swerving through a turn then dropping our speed so we didn’t draw attention.

I nodded. “Is Lady in Blue okay?”

Galen hugged another turn. “She will be. She came to when the gunshots were fired.”

I blew out a sigh of relief. It wasn't the first time a distraction job had taken a bad turn, but it was still a worry. “And the cops?”

“All at the nightclub. But we will have to lose the car.” He used his cell phone and dialed our contact, making arrangements for cleanup.

I pulled out Sahin’s wallet and lifted the keycard. “Payday,” I said, holding it up.

“Mommie Dearest says we should leave the wallet and card with the car.” Galen disconnected the call. “They will pick it all up at the Starbucks near the safe house in ten minutes.”

I drew in a breath and held it, forcing my heart and my lungs to calm down. Another close call. I loved this stuff.

“You love this stuff way too much,” Galen said, glancing my way.

I had known Galen all of three months, and he was far too good at reading my mind already. I was trying to get my head wrapped around the fact that we were connected in a way that didn't make sense, but that didn't mean I had to like it. Ignoring him, I sank into the seat, letting the adrenalin wear off.

“Let’s see what else we’ve got on this guy.” Inside his wallet I found a black American Express, a MasterCard, and over five thousand Euros in the billfold. A picture was tucked in with his identification. I pulled it out and held it up to catch the light from passing street lamps.

It was a photo of the love of my life kissing another man.

Inspiration to Your Writing

What inspired you to write the Past Life series and specifically, Covet?

Often, I get inspired for a story by a song. I can be in the middle anything – driving, running, cooking – and a song will come on and, like a thunderbolt, an image or a scene will pop into my head. It’ll be in 3-D surround sound, too. Like a movie, come to life, and one that I just can’t ignore.

When I set out to write the Past Life series, I was enamored with my characters but I was also intrigued by the idea of second chances. You know, what would happen if you got a do-over? And what would happen if that do-over didn’t turn out the way you expected? And because I’m also enamored with Ancient Egyptians and their conceptions of the afterlife, I thought: what if you had a second chance to right a wrong, or fix a mistake, from a previous life in the one you’re living now? The possibilities were endless!

Once I finished writing In This Life, book one of the Past Life series, I knew there was so much more story to tell. However, In This Life was written from Lottie’s point of view, and by the time I typed in “The End” I had become majorly intrigued with David’s character. For those of you who don’t know (yet), David and Lottie are soul mates whose relationships span millennia. And while Lottie’s journey in the first book was an emotional one with mystery and suspense added in, I knew David’s journey would be different. He’s an ex-Marine turned professional soldier, so he’s all about the action and making things happen and being a guy. And that meant I would have the chance to give my writing a different spin. Suspense, but more. Paranormal, but more. Ancient history, but more.

See, each book in the Past Life series focuses on a specific part of Lottie and David’s past lives, and while I’m intrigued with Ancient Egypt (the past life setting for In This Life) I’m also very intrigued with human history. Where we came from. How we developed. And the idea that our ancestors may have been more advanced than we give them credit for. Plus, I wanted David’s story in Covet to be older. Like, really older. So I thought about David’s personality, and the fact that he can sometimes fall into a caveman mentality, and decided to go with a Paleolithic backdrop.

As it turned out, writing Covet was a blast.

I not only got to write from a male point of view, but I also got to write about the one character I love (lust for) the most. I got to play with human history, work in the paranormal and, like In This Life, throw in a revenge that had, until now, been buried for nearly twelve thousand years.

So there you have it. My inspiration.

Thank you for having me here today! It was fun to share some of my thoughts that went into writing Covet, and I truly hope those who read it enjoy it!

 

About the Author

Terri looks for any opportunity to make stuff up. She thinks anything that can’t so easily be explained is worth an extra look and often makes a great story. She loves red wine, scotch, sunrises, Ancient Egypt, the beach—and a host of other stuff that would take too much real estate to talk about. The youngest of five children, Terri lives with her husband and son on Long Island. And, in her next life, if she hasn’t moved on to somewhere else, she wants to be an astronomer. Terri’s fascinated with the night skies almost as much as she’s fascinated with ancient Egypt.

Terri is a member of member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, and you can read about her at http://terriponce.com/.

If you love social media, you can also find Terri on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Terri.Ponce.Author and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TerriPonce. Come visit. She’d love to hear from you!

Links

• Amazon 
• Barnes and Noble  

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