Beautiful Storm is the first book in my Lightning Strikes Trilogy. Lightning plays a significant role in each novel that features, love, romance, mystery and suspense. There’s an over-arching mystery that plays out over the three books as well. In Beautiful Storm, Alicia Monroe is a news photographer by day and a storm chaser by night. She is obsessed with photographing lightning storms. In one of those storms, she captures a couple caught in a flash of lightning. They’re fighting. The woman is screaming. When Alicia gets to the scene, she doesn’t find a body, but she does find a military tag from a woman who has been missing for two months. That starts her adventure into Miami’s Cuban-American community and takes her into arms of a sexy, moody stranger, who is also the prime suspect in the woman’s disappearance.
Who are your literary heroes? Why do they inspire you?
I’ve been a voracious reader since I was a child, so my literary heroes have changes many times over the years. Currently, some of my favorite writers include Nora Roberts, Karen Robards, Carla Neggars, Dean Koontz and Kay Hooper. I love a good storyteller and all of these authors consistently deliver a great story.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice for me as a writer: Write the next book! The best advice for me in life: Stay in the moment as long as possible.
Who is your favorite fictional couple from literature?
Probably Scarlet and Rhett from Gone With The Wind as a classic couple.
Which books would we be surprised to find on your shelves?
A young adult fantasy novel called The Awakening by Anne Zoelle. Very cool story of magic and fantasy.
Say you’re hosting a dinner party and can invite anyone in the world, alive or dead, fictional or real. Who’s coming to dinner?
I’d have to invite some of the best writers of all time. I think Mark Twain, Stephen King and Nora Roberts would head my list. Fictional couples would have to include my Callaway family couples because I’ve spent the past three years creating their world, and I think we’d have a great time if they all came to life!
Where is your happy place? Why does it bring you joy?
I love the beach. There’s something about the water, the constant push and pull of the tide, the endless horizon that always inspires me. It makes the world feel much bigger to me and takes me away from my personal problems.
What’s your favorite quote from Beautiful Storm?
He stared into her bright, sparkling eyes and felt an incredible pull. This woman was turning his life upside down, taking him out of the darkness and moving him toward a very hopeful light. His nerves were on fire. His pulse was pounding. And he wasn’t thinking about the notes anymore, but about the woman standing in front of him, the woman with the heart of a lion and the mouth of a goddess.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
Be the Reason Someone Smiles Today.
Barbara Freethy is the author of the new book Beautiful Storm.
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