Today, I want to welcome D.A. Amberson to my Five on Friday Blog. She and I met several years ago via a writing website. Since she’s a Texas girl, we became fast friends!  Please be sure and check out her book, Ronan Island. Here’s my review of the story. I give it 5 BIG Texas stars!!

Ronan Island is an excellent thriller with well-defined characters, which I got invested in from the get-go, especially Boston Jones. Got me a little book crush on him! In addition to a good mystery, D. A. Amberson has added an element of fantasy that doesn’t include vampires or werewolves (thank goodness). This is an engaging, suspenseful story well worth your time. ~~Ann Everett

Award winning author, D.A. Amberson started writing when she was 13. At 18 she promised herself she would be published by the time she was 20. But life happened and her first novel didn’t get published until she was 61. She likes to think it’s never too late to keep a promise to yourself. 

She is an avid reader of British murder mysteries as well as being a fan of John Sandford, from whom she learned a lot about pacing and character development. The best advice she could give a new writer is to write the novel you want to read.

At present, she works in the healthcare field and lives near her children in West Texas. She is currently writing two follow-up novels to Ronan Island using the same characters. She also writes short stories and bad poems and has won awards for both.

I might also mention, D.A. designed her own book cover, which I think is fabulous! Once you read the story, you’ll understand why it is so perfect!

Ronan Island

 

When a Federal employee takes bribes not to do his job and ends up dead, the killer might not be human.

FBI Special Agent Boston Jones has mixed feelings about his transfer from Lubbock, Texas to San Francisco. A promotion, for sure. But he’s leaving behind the comfort of a familiar job and colleagues – not to mention the rich sunshine and endless blue skies of West Texas.

Before he can get acclimated to his new location, Boston is sent to a fishing village in northern California where a Fish and Wildlife Commissioner has been found murdered and Boston’s supervisor decides a murder investigation is beyond the abilities of the small-town sheriff. When Boston arrives, he finds the sheriff is more than capable of helping him but has a good reason not to.

Fighting a viral illness, Boston struggles to make sense of the multiple suspects, including the victim’s widow, members of a seal saving group and the sheriff’s seductive wife. Boston must unearth who is who in this isolated coastal town without losing his moral compass – and his life – in the process.

https://www.amazon.com/Ronan-Island-D-Amberson-ebook/dp/B018V4ZRG8/

 

Now for the five questions D.A. chose to answer.

1. If you could snap your fingers and make one thing happen, what would it be and why?

D.A.: I would get rid of the Twenty-Second Amendment which would allow Obama to run again.

Ann: anyone who knows me knows I’m the least political person on the planet, so I have no comment for this. Obama was a former president, right? :+)

2. Do you write in silence or listen to music?

D.A.: I listen to meditation music, which really isn’t music but a collection of sounds that are supposed to inspire creativity and lower blood pressure. Whether it’s inspiring or not, I don’t know. I do know it’s soothing and I recommend it.

Ann: I may have to give that a try. Right now, I write in complete silence or I can’t get anything done!

3. What is your favorite book and why?

D.A.: Whenever I hear that an author wants to write the Great American Novel I tell them it’s already been done. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald tells the story of how the wealthy use the poor for their entertainment. It’s also a novel of great hope and despair, accidents, and murder. I love the circular nature of this novel, how Daisy and Tom manage to kill each other’s lovers and get away with it. Only in America.

Ann: I also hear there are no new ideas for books. We’re all just writing the same one with different characters. However, there is no way I could write anything that would compete with the greats like Fitzgerald!

4. What is the single most powerful challenge when it comes to writing a novel?

D.A.: Resisting a writing group reviewer’s bad suggestions. Before I joined a writing group no one had read my work. While I was writing Ronan, some reviewers tried to take over my novel and make it their story by putting it in their voice/style. I also got a lot of good advice. Still, it was hard not to second guess myself, even though I knew the direction they wanted me to go was not the direction I wanted to take the novel.

Ann: I agree with D.A. When we first share our work with others in hopes of getting critique, we have to quickly learn how to stay true to our voice and vision for the story.

5. What’s the best advice you can give a new writer?

D.A.: Write, just write. And when you’re done, write some more.

Ann: Amen, sister.

D.A., thanks so much for being on my blog today. It has been a pleasure and fun!! I loved Ronan Island, and look forward to your next book!!