Title: The Smartest Girl in the Room
Series: The New Pioneer Series, Book One
Author: Deborah Nam-Krane
Published: March 29th, 2013
Page Count: 291
Genre: NA Contemporary Romance
Synopsis:
Nineteen year old Emily wants her college diploma fast, and she’s going to get it. But when the perfect night with perfect Mitch leads her to a broken heart, Emily is blind to her vulnerability. When the person she cares about the most is hurt as a result, Emily’s ambition gives way to more than a little ruthlessness. She’s going to use her smarts to take care of herself and protect the people she loves, and everyone else had better stay out of her way. But shouldn’t the smartest girl everyone knows realize that the ones she’d cross the line for would do the same for her?
Title: The Family You Choose
Series: The New Pioneer Series, Book Two
Published: September 28th, 2013
Page Count: 290
Synopsis:
Miranda Harel has been in love with her guardian Alex Sheldon since she was five years old, and Michael Abbot has despised them both for just as long. When Miranda finds out why she wants both men out of her life for good and questions everything she believed about where and who she came from. Finding out the truth will break her heart. Without family or true love, will her friends be enough to bring her back?
Title: An Engagement: A New Pioneers Short Story
Series: The New Pioneer Series Short Stor
Published: March 7th, 2014
Page Count: 20
Synopsis:
Annabelle Hendrickson always knew Alex Sheldon couldn’t be trusted, but even she couldn’t have guessed how far he was willing to go to get what he wanted.
No one was as decent as her brother Jim, but Stephen Abbot had a kind soul behind his mischief. She could accept his reprobate father- he’d be dead soon anyway- but she would never accept his longtime friendship with Alex, her father Gerald’s ambitious employee. Annabelle knew it was just a matter of time before he stepped on someone she cared about.
What a pity she didn’t realize who that person would be- and who was going to give him the opportunity.
Title: The China Doll
Series: The New Pioneer Series, Book Four
Published: March 27th, 2014
Page Count: 202
Synopsis:
Hypocrisy, half truths and lies…
Sick of being treated like she’s going to break, Jessie Bartolome is back to her old ways and calling everyone on their hypocrisy. Sheesh! One little breakdown and even easygoing Martin Shepard thinks she’s too fragile to handle their age difference. Good thing her older and equally yummy teaching assistant Robert Lester thinks otherwise…right?
After spending so long cleaning up after everyone else, Jessie’s cousin Richard has never had the time to start a life of his own. However had he managed to find his girlfriend Zainab? So what is Richard going to do now that everyone else has grown up? Marry Zainab and start a family? Things have never been that easy for a Hendrickson…just ask his cousin Michael.
Richard’s mother, Lucy, is one of the most powerful women in Boston… so when is she going to put a stop to the blackmail ruthless Alex Sheldon has holding over her for years? And if Richard knows more than he’s letting on, why hasn’t he gone after Alex himself? The question is, how much does he- or anyone else- really know?
Welcome to the Bartolome/Hendrickson family.
Title: Let’s Move On
Series: The New Pioneer Series, Book Five
Published: September 29th, 2014
Page Count: 186
Synopsis:
Zainab has spent years keeping Emily from going over the edge, giving Miranda a shoulder to cry on and nursing Jessie back to health. They’ll be the first to agree that she deserves whatever makes her happy, especially after the drama Richard put her through. But did she have to choose the guy who threw everyone’s lives into the shredder?
Richard knows he screwed up and he’d do anything to get Zainab back, but first he needs to make sure his company—and his loyal employees—don’t go under. (Who knew kicking your primary investor to the curb would have consequences?) Good thing his family has such deep pockets; too bad he doesn’t want to take a cent from them. Why should Zainab take him back if he can’t get out of his own way?
Maybe Zainab can eat her cake and have it too—that is, until she’s given an ultimatum. The choice isn’t Lover A or B; it’s protecting her friends or letting them fend for themselves. With that hanging over her head, what’s it going to take to make sure she and everyone else can finally move on?
About the Author
Deborah Nam-Krane is a Boston-based writer. She began working on the New Pioneers almost thirty years ago and is excited to see her creations finally ready to strike out into the world on their own.
Interview from Vicky @ Deal Sharing Aunt:
Tell us your latest news? I released the fourth full-length novel in my new adult series, The New Pioneers, in late September. As of this writing, I just finished drafting the sixth book in the series.
When and why did you begin writing? I began writing when I was eight, but I thought I'd be a playwright. When I was thirteen I decided I wanted to be a novelist. Why? I've been telling stories since I was very little, and there is nothing like knowing that someone heard you.
When did you first consider yourself a writer? I would say I started to feel like I could call myself a writer when I finished the first draft of my first book, but I really felt it when someone read my story and said, basically, "I get it."
What inspired you to write your first book? I have had a few characters running around in my head since I was thirteen, but it wasn't until I could blend them into some stories that were inspired by things I saw in college that I could make them jump off the page.
Do you have a specific writing style? For each book I try to use a slightly different style to reflect the main characters; Emily is very analytical, Miranda is very in touch with her emotions, Jessie is angry and tormented and Zainab is well-adjusted (now ask me which was the hardest to write!) . But most of my characters are very chatty, so expect a lot of dialogue!
How did you come up with the title? For the first four books, there was only one that I had to have, and that was Book Three, The China Doll. For all of the other titles I did have to spend a little time agonizing over what would be just right not just for the characters and their story but also for the overall series. Emily is very book smart, so I knew I needed that word in there somewhere. And I kept coming back to what something someone once told me, which is that you never want to be the smartest person in any room, because then you're not going to learn anything. So The Smartest Girl in the Room seemed perfect for a character who overthought everything couldn't get out of her own way. Miranda's story is a lot about the loss of family and the importance of friends, and the title The Family You Choose is a riff on the saying "Friends are the family you choose". The fourth book, which gives Zainab more of a story but also wraps up everyone else's, was about growing up. That would be a lousy title, though (and did somebody already use it?), so I thought about what I wanted to say to all of them. Let's Move On was perfect. Finally, for the short story, which comes between The Family You Choose and The China Doll, because it focused on the beginning of an important couple, An Engagement fit just right.
Happy to report that Books Five and Six already have titles, and I knew what they were as I was writing them. (Some things do get better with practice!)
Is there a message in your novels that you want readers to grasp? Life may be filled with upheaval and drama, but strong relationships are what pull you through.
How much of the book is realistic? Funny you should ask that! If you mean are there any paranormal elements in my stories, no, not at all. But if you mean how believable are they...let's just say the truth is stranger than fiction, and I've had to tone down a lot of things that have happened in real-life to make them believable.
Are experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life? A mixture of both. Again, some of the things I've heard in real-life I couldn't put into a book because they're so outrageous readers wouldn't believe me.
What books have most influenced your life most? So many! A Tale of Two Cities, The Tenant at Wildfell Hall, The White Goddess, Princess Daisy, The Thorn Birds, Jane Eyre, The Wide Sargasso Sea, The Brothers Dostoevsky, Anna Karenina, Backlash, Dracula, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd...I could go on and on. If it's good writing, it could be about astronomy and it'll make my list.
If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? If I could sit at the feet of any one of the Bronte sisters, I would be incredibly happy.
What book are you reading now? I just finished drafting my latest manuscript, so I haven't started reading anything in earnest yet. However, I have been dipping in every night into some of my favorite mythology references: Who's Who in Greek and Roman Mythology, Bulfinch's Mythology, and Classical Mythology. (Everyone has their comfort reading!)
Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest? One of the great things about being an indie is that you meet all sorts of writers you would never have met before (and since I'm also a reviewer, they'll give me their stuff to read!). I loved Danielle-Claude Ngontang Mba's Bird of Prey series, and Erin Cawood's book Tainted Love made me cry. Sarah Woodbury wrote one of the best versions of Merlin I've ever read in Cold My Heart, and Caroline Fardig's It's Just A Little Crush was one of the funniest murder mysteries I have ever read. I also loved Claudia Hall Christian's Alex The Fey series. Not an indie, but Mary Osborne's Nonna's Book of Mysteries was also amazing.
What are your current projects? I know I have to edit Books Five and Six, but I am already starting to mentally outline Book Seven. And there is a character in my series that everyone gushes over; I think that person needs a short story or two.
What would you like my readers to know? That I write modern stories about modern young women, but I still believe that we deserve happy endings, even if we only get them in fiction.
Giveaway
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28b5dae6198
Thanks for having me!
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