An Interview with Toni Anderson!

Please welcome Toni Anderson to my blog today!

Alisha: Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood? Favorite memories?

Toni: I spent the first six years of my life in Ironbridge, Shropshire which is the site of the Industrial Revolution. Contrary to expectation it is one of the most rural landscapes in England with leafy copses and the meandering River Severn snaking through its heart. As a kid I remember all the children in the lane, about 12 of us in all, building a den in the woods and making rope swings. I also remember my dad constructing an igloo in the ponies’ field behind our cottage after one rare winter snowstorm and me and my siblings tramping around in our wellies getting cold toes.

Alisha: How lovely! I can see you ducking into the igloo, freezing and giggling. Tell us about the hero and heroine in your latest release.

Toni: The heroine in HER SANCTUARY is Eliza Ward, an ex FBI agent. I think it is fair to say she’s a feisty scrapper but at the start of the book she’s been through the worst life can offer and she’s scared and she’s running.
My hero is Nat Sullivan. Nat is struggling to keep the family ranch from going bankrupt and trying to look after his ailing family. He’s a classic cowboy: determined, hardworking, loyal, dependable, smart and sexy as hell—picture a young Paul Newman on a gorgeous grey stallion.

Alisha: Sigh...I can picture that little piece of heaven! If you were granted three wishes by a genie, what would they be?

Toni: An end to the world’s dependence on fossil fuels. A united, international approach to the conservation of the worlds’ oceans (I was a marine biologist). And ‘World Peace’.

Alisha: If you could go anywhere to tomorrow, where would you go?

Toni: To my hometown to visit my family.

Alisha: If you could see anyone tomorrow (dead or alive), who would it be?

Toni: It would have to be my grandad. I haven’t seen him for 2 years because we moved to Canada. He’s just turned 88. I dedicated this book to him actually, although I’m not sure what he’ll think about the sex scenes...

Alisha: Snicker...isn't it funny how we're all so worried about our grandparents reading the sex scenes? My grandmother told me I was writing about "life" and it was nothing to be worried about..lol. What word or phrase tingles in all the right places for you?

Toni: Chocolate :) Yep, I’m tingling.

Alisha: If you had one day to spoil yourself, what would you do?

Toni: I’d go to the cinema and have a movie marathon. I haven’t been to anything except kids movies for ages and I really want to see the new Bond movie and AUSTRALIA.

Alisha: Oooooh, I'm dying to see Australia too! If you could change one incident in your life, what would it be and how would you change it?

Toni: I would have pursued writing novels much earlier than I did.

Alisha: Me too. If we could plan it all out and do it over, we'd have many more books under our belts. What's the sexiest thing a man has ever done for you or said to you or both?

Toni: My husband tells me he loves me every day. He’s Irish so I think that’s pretty sexy.

Alisha: Woo hooooo! Those Irish men are just plain HOT! That accent alone is enough to make me melt like ice cream on a hot summer day!



Short Excerpt from HER SANCTUARY…

Though it was pitch-black, Nat’s eyesight was sharp and well-adjusted. He knew every inch of ground, every stone, fence, and broken-down piece of machinery on his land. Picking out shades of gray, he moved towards the car. Flicked off the rifle’s safety and peered in through the frosted-up glass. It was like trying to see to the bottom of a riverbed in the middle of winter. He couldn’t make out a damned thing.
With one finger, he lifted the handle of the driver’s side door. It clicked open, but no interior light came on. Nat took a step back and peered inside, made out a bundled up figure in the back seat, curled up, unmoving.
Gripping his rifle he felt the tension crackle like static on a dry day. The fine hairs at his nape sprang up, tensile and erect.
“Drop the rifle, mister.” The voice was softly feminine.
“Now why would I want to do that?” he asked.
She was silent. He could feel her apprehension; almost see her weighing her choices in the concealment of the Jeep.
His teeth locked together. “I don’t think so, ma’am.” He might have been raised to be polite to women, but he wasn’t dumb. “Not ‘til you tell me why the hell you’re sneaking onto my property in the middle of the night.”
She shifted slightly. He heard the rustle as she pushed aside the blankets.
“What’s your name?” she asked. There was a lilt, some sort of accent in her voice that sounded both warm and aggressive at the same time. It undid some of his irritation and sparked a glimmer of curiosity.
“Well, ma’am.” Pitched low, Nat’s voice was steely with courteousness. “A better question would be what the hell’s yours?”


HER SANCTUARY

ebook available 19th December 2008
PRINT available 20th March 2009
ISBN 1-60154-418-9


Running for her life, ex-FBI agent Elizabeth Ward escapes to Montana with a new identity. She craves peace and solitude, but instead finds handsome rancher Nat Sullivan.

Nat is trying to hold his ailing family together, while struggling to keep the ranch from bankruptcy. The last thing he needs is a beautiful stranger reminding him there is more to life than work.

But Elizabeth isn't what she seems. And when a murderer and rapist track her down to the remote ranch, they all find out about the power of revenge.

Revenge or Redemption...Which would you choose?