Blog Tour: Dangerous Deception by Cindy McDonald (giveaway too)

Welcome to The Wormhole and my day on the tour!

It is with great pleasure that I feature Cindy McDonald and her book, Dangerous Deception from the Unbridled Series.

About the author:

Author Bio: For twenty-six years my life whirled around a song and a dance: I was a professional dancer/choreographer for most of my adult life and never gave much thought to a writing career until 2005. Don’t ask me what happened, but suddenly I felt drawn to my computer to write about things I have experienced (greatly exaggerated upon of course) with my husband’s Thoroughbreds and the happenings at the racetrack. Surprised? Why didn’t I write about my experiences with dance? Eh, believe it or not life at the racetrack is more…racy. The drama is outrageous—not that dancers don’t know how to create drama, believe me, they do but race trackers just seem to get more down and dirty with it which makes great story telling—great fiction. I didn’t start out writing books, The Unbridled Series started out as a TV drama, and the Hollywood readers loved the show. The problem was we just couldn’t sell it. So one of the readers said to me, “Cindy, don’t be stupid. Turn your scripts into a book series.” and so I did! In May of 2011 I took the big leap and exchanged my dancin’ shoes for a lap top—I retired from dance. It was a scary proposition, I was terrified, but I had the full support of my husband, Saint Bill. It has been a huge change for me. I went from dancing hard five hours a night to sitting in front of a computer. I still work-out and I take my dog, Harvey, for a daily run. I have to or I’d be as big as a house. Do I miss dance? Sometimes I do. I miss my students. I miss choreographing musicals, but I love my books and I love sharing them with you. Websites & Links: www.cindymcwriter.com facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/THE-UNBRIDLED-SERIES/234151313271418 twitter: @cindymcdonald7 linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=69379662&trk=tab_pro goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5264796.Cindy_McDonald

The Unbridled Series #3: Dangerous Deception

Old Age Ain’t for Sissies!

Vic Deveaux’s glory days as a winning jockey have ended, but he refuses to accept that pile of horse hockey! 
When the West family asks Vic to take an easier position at their horse farm Westwood, he becomes enraged and teams up with two greedy stable hands in a scheme to kidnap the West’s younger son Shane. 
When Vic discovers that his new-found friends have murder on their minds, things turn ugly. 
Suddenly, Vic finds himself between the rock and the hard place. . He has betrayed his good friend, Eric West, but will he participate in his son’s murder as well? 
Not content to sit and wait for her men to bring her brother home, Kate West convinces homicide detective Carl Lugowski to check out a hunch at an old abandoned mansion. Soon, they’re trapped in a hornet’s nest of a notorious biker gang. 
Oh yeah, Vic’s deception has placed the West family in more danger than they know what to do with!

My Thoughts:

This was my first Cindy McDonald read.  I am so glad I was able to participate in this tour and find a new author to add to my favorites list!  Incredible book.  Although it is book three in the series, it is fully able to stand alone.  I had not read the first two books, I have since gone out and bought them, and I was not lost nor did I ever get the feeling that I had missed something vital. 

About the book:  It is well written and engaging.  It was fast paced, but didn't leave anything out so I never felt like it was running away without me.  The plot is multifaceted and each piece is carefully created and intricately woven together.  The characters are great.  I usually find myself choosing one favorite character in each book I read, but I would be hard pressed to pick just one in this book.  I love the relationships between the West family members, everyone should be able to feel that much respect for their father and that much devotion to their siblings.  The characters are constructed with just enough flaws to make them real and believable, but also enough amazing attributes to leave you searching for such a person in your own life. 

You get to see the characters deal with, be confronted by and experience a wide range of emotions and undercurrents that are found running through this story.  I found myself experiencing it all with them, I was so into the story that it all felt personal.

I was glued to the pages as the tale unfolded to culminate at a fulfilling, yet leave you looking for the next book, ending. 

Cindy has joined us with a guest post:

Hey, remember the TV show, Batman, starring Adam West? I know, it’s a really old show, but I’m sure it’s on some cable network somewhere—they all are. Anyway, in the TV series, Cat Woman was always trying to take Batman down. She was evil. She was beautiful—in a scary kind of way. But c’mon, admit it, didn’t you always secretly want Batman and Cat Woman to hook-up?

No matter how we deny it, everyone (especially women) loves to hate a good female antagonist. They are so good at … antagonizing! As authors we love to write about our antagonists, male or female. In my first book Deadly.Com, George Smuts was my antagonist. He was creepy; he was mentally deranged. He made my reader’s skin crawl—they told me so via emails, reviews on amazon, and blog sites. I loved George and I loved the freaked-out reaction that he extracted from people. That said, my Unbridled series has a full-time antagonist within its pages who seems to really rile women. Her name is Ava West. She is a gorgeous, green eyed, redheaded, manipulative witch. She is Mike’s ex, but she still clutches a corner of his soul. When she’s not tormenting her ex, she’s got Lugowski wrapped tautly around her manicured pinky, except unbeknownst to Ava, she’d better keep him in closer check.

Oh yes, I’ve had women state that they would like to see Ava die … slowly. What? Are you kidding me? Ava is terrific! She is causing my readers to fidget in their seats while they read. In Deadly.Com she did things that made women’s eyes narrow and their brows pinch together. Well, wait to you see what she has in store for you in DANGEROUS DECEPTION. I love all of my Unbridled characters, although Ava holds a special place in my heart, or is that my modem? Truth be told, I’m most relieved that she lives inside my computer and I don’t have to deal with her in reality. Or do I? Surely there must be someone that I know who is very much like Ava West. Hmmm…I’ll have to think on that.

Now here’s the tough question about the hate that we feel for female antagonists: is it really hate that we are experiencing or is it…envy? Ouch! Ava is able to manipulate even the most alpha males in my stories. She has the power to make them see things her way, or else—or else…what? You know what—they’re not going to get to see her naked. Female antagonists are usually beautiful, as is Ava, and they make me wish that I had the manipulative might that they possess…or not.

Sorry readers, Ava West is going to be around to poke at you patience for quite some time—you loathed her in Deadly.Com,  she didn’t win any popularity contests in HOT COCO, and she’s still at it in DANGEROUS DECEPTION. However, at some point in my Unbridled Series you may find yourself rooting for her. Hey, it could happen!

Who is your favorite female antagonist? The one that really irritates you—is she from a movie, book, or TV series? Okay now, be honest—do you really hate her, or do you secretly envy her? ;}

Giveaway!

The author has allowed me to offer one (1) EBook of Deadly.com, the first book in The Unbridled Series, to a follower.  Please fill out the form to enter.  Thanks for stopping by - following and entering!

Happy Reading!