Author L.A. McGinnis

I have been visiting Sanibel Island, Florida since I was about five years old, which would be since 1968.  I can remember when the island was still pretty uninhabited, and we’d drive down a washboard road to get to Bowman’s Beach (my dad would drive as fast as he could while we rattled around in the back of the station wagon), or the sandy road to old marina where they dumped the shrimp straight out into the dock and then scooped them, alive, into paper bags for you to take home and boil for dinner.

Nowadays the island is a little more urbane, but it has lost none of its charm.  We still find a way to get down there at least once a year, and it still feels like home every time I drive across that (brand new) bridge, eye to eye with the pelicans. 

We’re beach people, so the majority of our time is spent on the beaches.  I write every day (or at least until my battery runs out), once my laptop goes dead, I read.  Over the years, we’ve visited every beach, and they each have their particular charm.  Bowman’s has the tidal pools and long sand bars and is wonderful for shelling, the Lighthouse beach is long and shallow, with great views of Fort Myers beach across the bay, and Blind Pass beach, since they dredged the sand out of the pass , has a great current in the channel for both fishing and swimming.  

Back when visitors began pouring in, and the residents feared over development, a large portion of the island was set aside as a refuge, limitations were set for development, and the result is a mix of largely unspoiled, natural island vegetation and pristine beaches.  Our favorite places to eat are Doc Ford’s Rum Bar (great mojito’s and Yucatan shrimp), the Mucky Duck (since 1976- their grouper sandwich is the best), Matzaluna (Italian), Traders and the Over Easy Café for breakfast.  Shelling is best at low tide, and the island has retained the slow, relaxing vibe of island life, but if you like the night life, it’s just over the bridge in Fort Myers.

We’re actually leaving tomorrow, and I can’t wait to go back!

***

Title: Shadows of Ghosts

Series and Book #: Shadows Series Book I

Author/pen name: L. A. McGinnis

Genre:  paranormal romance

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Date of Publication:  October 4, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-5092-1623-9

Number of pages: 294

Word Count:  78,000

Blurb:

Driving to South Carolina to claim an inheritance from a total stranger didn’t figure into Logan Dean’s long term plans. But she'd be a fool to pass up an opportunity, and her mother didn’t raise any fools. Now she's a pawn in a vampire war and fighting to stay alive. Thankfully, she’s discovered an ally in mysterious Ian Grant. As her feelings for Ian grow, Logan comes to realize if she wants the love she deserves, she's going to have to fight the demons of her past.

For over a hundred years, cynical Ian Grant swore to never love another woman. But from the first time he saw Logan, he knew an ancient part of his history had come back to haunt him, and the one thing he doesn't want becomes the one thing he has to have.

Two irreconcilable lives, five hundred years of history, and all they have to do to live happily ever after is defeat the evil that threatens to tear them apart.

Buy links:

The Wild Rose Press https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/all-titles/5297-shadows-of-ghosts.html

Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Ghosts-L-McGinnis-ebook/dp/B0752T367C/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Nook:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shadows-of-ghosts-la-mcginnis/1127065560?ean=2940158879586

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/shadows-of-ghosts-1

ITunes:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/shadows-of-ghosts/id1275823723?mt=11

Bookstrand: http://www.bookstrand.com/la-mcginnis

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36241764-shadows-of-ghosts

Excerpt:

“Why were you talking about me?” Logan countered. Ian walked towards her, but she didn’t back away, fueled in part by curiosity, but mostly because nobody pushed her around. When his golden eyes locked on hers, a strange, sweet feeling swept through her.

The man simply…dazzled. With his fallen angel beauty framed by hair the color of copper and a body that flowed as gracefully as smoke. But it was those eyes, she decided, eyes as gold as Midas that did it for her, slanted above a smile as dangerous as a predator’s.

A wondrous feeling blew through her, like she’d missed him, like her heart had been broken a thousand times and now was finally whole. He was how home smells when you don’t even know how much you’ve missed it until you come through the front door and there it is. Waiting for you.

“Who the hell are you, Grant?” She managed, as he stopped a few inches away. The fierceness of his gaze set off another sensation, and as need curled through her, she reeled. It was as if she knew. Knew what his mouth tasted like. Knew his weight on her body. Because she’d felt them before. Staggering forward, Logan found herself caught by capable hands. “Oh God, what’s happening to me?”

Warm breath feathered her ear. “You’re curious, aren’t you? You feel it, don’t you?” Logan stood helpless, held in place not by him but by something inside her that made it impossible to leave. And when he reached out and tucked a stray hair behind her ear, a gesture so tender, yet so achingly familiar, she couldn’t breathe. “You always had the most beautiful hair.”

“What kind of games are you playing, Grant?” Logan managed.

“Unfortunately for us, Miss Dean, this is not a game.” Clouds covered the sun, cutting off the nimbuses that fractured the gloom, plunging the room into shadow. It was a sign, she thought, of something momentous. Or at least, she was going to take it as a sign, which meant pretty much the same thing. Right about then she realized they weren’t alone.

“What the hell is going on here, Ian?” Face burning, she stepped away from him immediately. Busted. Robert carefully looked between the two of them, a growing awareness on his face.

Grant smoothly took over. “I just drove out to see Bart’s old place. I’d hoped Miss Dean might be interested in selling.” Just like that, he became completely detached. Gone was any trace of whatever had happened between them. The moment felt stolen, instead of real. He didn’t want Robert to know. Know what, she wasn’t sure, but she did remember Robert’s final words yesterday…get the hell out of here, Ian… Her legs were still a little shaky, but as the distance opened between them, her bearings came back. Fine, she thought, two can play at that game.

“Mr. Grant was explaining to me his plans for Aviemore.” She felt Grant’s jolt of surprise behind her. “I’m afraid I’ve…” she went on sweetly, “…fallen in love with the old place, too. So, of course I can’t sell.”

It was a small victory to see that coolness crack for a second. “Then I believe I won’t waste any more of your time.” Footsteps echoed down the empty hall.

Logan held up a hand to Robert. “Give us just a sec, will you?” She waited on the porch until Ian opened his car door before calling out. “Why did you come out here, Grant?”

“You don’t want the kind of answers I’ll give you, Miss Dean. Trust me.”

She bit back a laugh.  “Yeah? Well, sometimes those are the only kind you get.”

Author bio:

From the first time she picked up a book, L.A. was hooked. By the time she left elementary school, she’d read every volume in the C. H. Campbell library, forcing the poor librarian to order more Norse mythology books. When she wasn’t running through the woods or rescuing animals, she could be found curled up in the backyard with a book, escaping to even greater adventures. But Laura always dreamed of the day when she’d tell the really, really big story, the tale of growing up in the American twentieth century. But between riding horses and driving fast cars, somehow her teenage years flashed by. Realizing that everyone has to grow up, she walked into a classroom at KSU and began studying Chaucer and Shakespeare and Old English, and once again fell in love with storytelling. Eventually, her creativity came full circle, and as she changed from artist to mother, the dream of the Great American Novel was put on hold by all the other things that big life demands. Then one day, in between rolling her eyes and ordering her son to complete the ten page report that was, of course, due the very next day, she had to stop for a moment when he challenged her, “Well, when was the last time you wrote ten pages?”

So she wrote, badly at first, and then, to her delight, discovered that she loved it, perhaps even more than she had before. After pecking out a longer-than-life YA novel and a somewhat convoluted apocalyptic horror manuscript, she finally found a genre that she adored. And once the first draft was done, she thought, well, this really isn’t too bad. Not as bad as say…the convoluted apocalyptic horror story. After more edits than she can even count, she hopes you enjoy Shadows of Ghosts, the story of Logan and Ian. Laura is a graduate of Kent State University, and has been writing since 2007. She belongs to both the RWA and the NEORWA and has attended the annual Sanibel Island Writer’s Conferences, as well as the NEORWA Writer’s Conferences, and participates in their yearly writing retreat.

Author website and social media links:

my website: https://lamcginnis.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lamcginnis.darkparanormal/?modal=media_composer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LAMcGinnis1520

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/l.a.mcginnis/