Christina Dodd's Blog - Posts Tagged "thriller"

Dear Ones,
I'm still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of being a Goodreads author, and I don't know if this is the place to post this. Let me know if I've stepped wrong! Anyway …

My publisher, St. Martins Press, and I need your help! Today, Sunday January 10, we’re asking you to choose the cover of my third full-length Virtue Falls suspense, BECAUSE I’M WATCHING! We're doing it with a Google survey here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10vuz... (I would post an image of the two choices, but I'm not even sure the links will work. You might have to cut and paste.)

I love the colors, the way the title and my name pop, and most of all, that creepy handprint on the window. But opinions are all over the map on which head shot best says, “Woman in Jeopardy.” Please vote! Then come back here and let's discuss your choice.

You can read the excerpt here: http://christinadodd.com/book/because... Click the green "Read an Excerpt" button.

Or you can read the description here on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Thank you!

Best, Christina Dodd

Dear Ones,
You picked the cover for the next full-length Virtue Falls thriller, BECAUSE I’M WATCHING! The survey had 2143 responses and some very vehement opinions posted on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and here on Goodreads. The decisive winner is cover #2 with 1398 votes (65.5%.)

If you'd like to:
— See the survey graph, it's here: http://christinadodd.com/news/news/
— Put BECAUSE I'M WATCHING on your Goodreads “To-Read” list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
— Read the BECAUSE I’M WATCHING excerpt, it's here: http://christinadodd.com/book/because...

Thank you for making this easy for my publisher, St. Martins Press, and me. We appreciate your input!

Warmly,
Christina Dodd
http://christinadodd.com

(P.S. I realize the image is big, but I'm pretty amazed I figured out how to put it in at all so let's pretend it's perfect. ;) )

When I say I have never based a book on a dream, I mean it…until OBSESSION FALLS. One night I dreamed I stood in a mountain meadow and heard a man's voice say, "Get him out of the trunk." A child's scream pierced the air and I realized I had stumbled into a murder for hire. What could I do? I had no weapon, no defense. I only knew I faced a moral dilemma. I could flee and report the crime. The child would die and I would live with guilt for the rest of my life. I could attempt to distract the murderers, get myself and the child killed. Or I could distract the murderers and succeed, allowing the child to escape and thus saving his life.

In OBSESSION FALLS, Taylor Summers faces this exact situation. She is an interior decorator, a woman who sacrifices her life for a unknown child. She flees into the mountains, her reputation is destroyed, she loses her identity, she becomes a woman who will do anything survive … and when she arrives in Virtue Falls, she turns the tables on the men who hunt her. She becomes the ultimate survivor. What would you do to save a child's life?




Warmly,
Christina Dodd

Jacob was in Maddie's shower for a long time, and when he came out he smelled like he'd fallen into his mother's herb garden. He was using Maddie's razor to shave when, without fanfare, the door opened. He swung around, ready to kill whoever stood there.
It was Maddie. She held an arm full of clothes. His clothes.
He was naked.
If she cared, she didn't show it. She put the clothes on the hamper. "Here. After the cops left, I went to your house and found you something to wear." Her lips curled with disgust. "You have perfectly good clothes in the closet, and you were wearing … these." With two fingers, she picked up his pants, his underwear, his t-shirt. "I'll take these out to the garbage. You're a pig."
"You sound like my mother."
"That's because we both have vaginas. People with vaginas are smarter than people with penises. If we weren't, we'd live like pigs, too."
His penis apparently heard its name mentioned and took this inopportune moment to remember she had a nice ass. He turned back to the sink to finish shaving.
"When you come out, if you want, I'll give you a hand cutting your hair." She said, "Wow, you're skinny."
He glanced at her.
She was looking at his face. "Shaving makes you look even more like a concentration camp survivor. Not a good look. You should eat something."
For whatever reason, his penis found that exciting, too. So much for his comforting theory that he was impotent.
He leaned against the cold porcelain sink. That knocked back his erection.
Horniness: God's gift for caring whether Maddie walked off a cliff. — BECAUSE I'M WATCHING, Sept 6



Read more and find links at: http://www.christinadodd.com/book/bec...

Today is National Dog Day so we're taking over Mom's Goodreads page.



Hi, I'm Miss Elizabeth Bennett Dog, known as Lizzie. I'm the brunette, the guard dog, and I'm in charge. The parents picked me up at a shelter in Houston and since then I've dedicated my life to training these people to walk me every morning, take me to lunch every noon, and feed me salmon and lamb for dinner. It's been tough, but I just about have them whipped into shape. I'm fifteen years old which in human years is, um, a lot.

Hi, I'm Ritter. I just met you and I love you. My folks trained me to be a CCI assistant dog to help a person in a wheelchair. I was doing great, too, but they got all fussy about how I jumped around when I meet you and the way big fuzzy mascots (the kind at ball games) scare me. So I flunked out of college and now stay home. My hobbies are lolling around and being petted.



Oh! I almost forgot! Since I'm Mom's assistant dog, I also write all her books. I'm not a ghostwriter, I'm a poochwriter.

Here I am with my newest suspense, BECAUSE I'M WATCHING.



Do you have any furry friends? Tell us about them.

Want to know more about Ritter the (Almost) Assistance Dog? You can read about him here. http://www.christinadodd.com/photo/ch...

Warmly,
Christina Dodd
NYT Bestselling Author

Dear Readers,
In book #3 of the Cape Charade series, which I'm writing now, seven-year-old Rae Di Luca gets a dog and it needs a name. Thank you to everyone on social media who came to my rescue and suggested a name.



There were thousands! I narrowed down the choices based on:
— Names I love (I'll use it a lot!)
— Names I haven't used before in one of my books (Think about it! I've named hundreds of characters/pets.)
— Names that aren't the names of my friends or relatives (Rule #1: Never name anything after your mother-in-law! ;) )

Then I created a survey, and it is waiting for your vote. But first!

To help you choose, I wrote an original scene with Rae, Max and Grandma Verona Di Luca, that introduces the new dog. Read, then vote!

Rae ran into the kitchen yelling, “Grandma! We got a dog!”
Verona turned away from the accounts spread across the table. “Well, let me see it… My God, what’s that?” She pulled off her reading glasses and stared as the fifty pounds of red muscled beast bounded in, tail wagging, and explored her kitchen.
Rae ran after it. “It’s my dog! It’s my dog!”
“That’s not a puppy. You were going to get a puppy!” Verona's horror was palpable.
Max wandered in, hands in his pockets. “Rae and that dog looked at each other, and it was love at first sight.”
“What is it?” Verona demanded.
"It's a dog!" Rae said.
“According to the animal shelter," Max said, "she’s half Australian cattle dog, half full sized poodle.”
“And half some other breeds. That is a mutt!” Verona turned in her chair and watched the dog race into the living room, nose to the ground. “How old is it?”
Rae ran after it.
“About eighteen months. It's a stray."
In a goaded voice, Verona said, "Maximilian, you promised you were going to get a small dog. A puppy! A Pomeranian or a…a Puggle."
"On the bright side, she's housebroken."
From the living room, they heard a crash and Rae yelling, "It's okay! Nothing's hurt. It was her tail!"
"House broken is exactly the term I would use," Verona said ominously. "We won't be drinking wine in the living room any time soon."
The dog ran back into the kitchen and for the first time seemed to notice Verona. It stopped, stiff-legged, and stared her full in the face.
Verona stared back.
The dog smiled. It actually smiled, pranced over in a display of delight and affection, leaned against Verona's leg and put its head in her lap. And smiled some more. "Oh, no," Verona said. "It likes me."
Max and Rae exchanged smirks.
"She loves you, Grandma," Rae said.
"Of course it does." Verona sighed. "What's its name?"
"We don't know. What do you think we should name her?"
"She's part French poodle, so how about Fifi?" Max laughed at his mother's expression, laughed hard.
His laugher warmed Verona's heart. He hadn't smiled for so long… "How about Luna, like the moon… and lunatic?" she asked tartly.
"I could call her Bella Luna. Beautiful moon. That's a great name!" Rae said.
Max got a mixing bowl out of the cupboard, filled it with water, and put it on the utility porch. "She looks like a Sadie."
"Calamity." Verona absentmindedly scratched the dog between the ears.
"Or a Mabel," Max said.
"Quirky, because she's so funny and fun." Rae knelt down and hugged her new dog.
"Since she's half cattle dog and half poodle, how about Canoodle?" Max grinned at his little girl.
"Daddy, that's a funny name. I like Cara Mia." Rae crooned to the dog in a perfect Italian accent. "My beloved."
With a sigh, the dog subsided onto Verona's feet.
"Ramona, like Ramona in the Beverly Cleary books Rae is reading now," Max said.
"But Daddy, Ramona's always in trouble!" Rae protested.
"How about that?" Verona muttered.
"She'll be a superhero like Mommy and me, so — SuperNova!" Rae stretched out on the floor, her head on the dog's side. "When Mommy comes home, she'll be so excited to meet my new dog!"
"Yes." Max took a painful breath. "She will. Now, let's all vote on a name!"

Vote here by June 25 at midnight. I can’t wait to see what name you choose!

Warmly,

Christina Dodd
New York Times bestselling author of
DEAD GIRL RUNNING Out now!
WHAT DOESN'T KILL HER (Had Better Start Running) Coming 1/29/2019
Printable Book List (Updated)
Books by Series And In Order

"They say it is better to be poor and happy than rich and miserable, but how about a compromise like moderately rich and just moody?"