LeeAnne Hansen's Blog

Patience is so hard when it is super close to a release day! When I reached the end of this novel, I sighed with the biggest relief! Adopting Ray Bradbury's philosophy (that he doesn't really plot because how can you surprise the reader if you haven't surprised yourself), it is always a huge release when everything clicks tight into place and I've succeeded in surprising myself. In the beginning of writing this novel, I was concerned about the two leading characters, apprehensive to see if they would step up to bat, if you will. Struggling not to give anything away, I will tell you that they hit this one out of the park!So coming back to Patience, I adore Hereafter and can not wait to share but to be so close holds a lot of lessons I need to learn. In this area mistakes can be made in haste, so although I want to hit that ready to publish button, I am teaching myself to take a breath and proof it again. Then another breath and proof it again.One thing I did this time, different from the others, I had Beta Readers and friends checking this one out. As many eyes on this novel as I could, was the idea. Enter Most Sublime ( a close friend) on Twitter. She came into my life after reading Ghost Light and we got to talking and I read a lot of her blog posts and this gal is talented to the max and funny as all get out! She was the first fan to get her hands on Hereafter and she said something I was not expecting. She felt one of the characters' from Yonder was a little lack luster and missing what we had come to know him as. She suggested either I give him more time in this novel or cut him. That one suggestion got me thinking and I actually wrote a scene for this guy. It ended up being one of my favorite scenes in Hereafter. If you haven't read this gal's blog, I strongly say that, “You are missing out!” Here is a link so you can follow her. She is constantly sought out to read, review and do author Q&As. https://themostsublime.com/I also had some amazing, amazing Beta Readers. Some in the UK, Canada, Spain, different states- they all had wonderful feedback. I am so blessed to have these guys! They read with a pure passion and care so deeply. If I won the lottery I would fly to where they were and take them all out to dinner, twice!Because of these guys, I no longer fear that the characters didn't stay true to themselves.I am currently waiting on a another proof to ship to me, one with the cover lightened. I am so happy I ordered the printed proof, it didn't seem too dark on the computer.In closing, I will tell you this: at the back of Hereafter, there is a preview for the third book, Beyond. I am planning and hope to have Beyond out around Halloween. I am also planning to give Ghost Light a new cover, one that hints a bit more to romance. Also I am in the works of the sequel to Ghost Light. I have received so much feedback from fans about how they want – demand the losing brother to have his happy ending, wither it is a happy ending or which brother... my lips are sealed.

    Yesterday I received a plea from a fan of “Ghost Light”and “Yonder” asking what books I recommend, that I enjoy reading or are similar in the same vein of the books I write. Which left me flattered, with a broad area to talk about and a problem of where to begin? So, I decided I would start with the beginning. Below are my five recommendations in the romance world:   Number 1- Lisa Kleypas, “Only With Your Love”       Ah! My first romance novel (which I imagine is like your first kiss, being

​ Poor Isabel. She lost her father and, despite her feelings on this man, she is still asking Benjamin to seek out Eliza to cover the mirrors and stop the clocks. But why is she asking him to do these things?   When I was in New York there was a girl who went to school with me and she had told me that her family was rooted in tradition, so much so that even during a thunderstorm they would cover a mirror. When I asked her why, she said it was to keep the souls that come through a mirror during a

  Let's talk about kissing, specifically kissing games that, I am sure, have been around in some fashion since the dawn of time. We all (hopefully) had a turn playing Spin the Bottle or Truth or Dare. I remember going to a birthday party when I was around fourteen and six girls showed up and only one boy... we played Spin the Bottle and Truth or Dare and (looking back on it now) that boy must have been in complete Heaven. From what I remember of that day, most of us girls didn't even necessarily

There is one person in Yonder that is based on a real person and I wanted to tell his story.     I moved to New York City in June of 2001 to attend school, a musical theater school. When I first arrived I lived in student housing in a building known as the Stratford Arms. Now this building was rumored to have been the “Doggy” hotel that Holden, in Catcher in Rye, stays in and almost gets himself a prostitute. It even had the windows that overlooked other parts of the hotel / housing as Salinger

    You may or may not have heard “The Golden Arm” ghost story that Charles tells at Isabel's 16th birthday, but I did when I was a child and it left an impression. When the idea struck me to have Charles tell a ghost story around a campfire, I searched my childhood for memories of just this, you know, the serial killer with the hook for a hand, stuff like that. I suddenly remembered a dear friend telling me this story in my backyard and knew it was prefect. But where did this story originate

    For my first post I decided on telling the story behind the cover. In the beginning process of Yonder coming together I asked my cover guys at Bookbaby for a very specific design. I wanted a girl, around 14, standing at the end of a dock to a small lake, with wavy brown hair in a purple party dress from the 1930s. My reason being that this is a very important scene in Isabel's life and I thought if we could only see her from the back it would spark curiosity and the emotions she was going