Romance on the Riviera with Pamela Clare (Interview/Giveaway)

Welcome to the blog Pamela, and what great timing that you are here to help us celebrate Cinco de Mayo! So everyone grab a margarita, get comfortable, and see if we can take a peek into the mind of Pamela Clare.

Thanks for having me here today! Happy Cinco de Mayo! Break out the margaritas! (I love margaritas!)

Your I-team series starts out with a reporter and a senator, two occupations that usually are like oil and water. Have you known any reporters or peers that fell for someone that could affect their professional career? Or did your journalism experience give you enough to draw from and imagine it?

Or maybe I experienced it myself? 

Being an ethical journalist — an increasingly rare breed of journalist — means always being very careful about relationships with anyone who might fall into the sphere of your professional life. It can be very difficult to walk that line when you find yourself drawn to someone who ought to be the object of dispassionate, objective observation.

There are scenes in that book — the bar scene at the beginning is one of them; yes, I sometimes talk like after three margs — that are straight out of my own life. But that’s all I’ll say about that.

Sounds like you need a few more margaritas, then the stories will flow. Hehehe

Your amazing imagination aside, you seem to be an adventure loving person (see the great white water rafting picture of Pamela on her website). Have you ever been to Mexico? Taken a zip line ride through the forest? Hacked (hiked) your way through the dense humid jungle? 

I have been to Mexico — twice. I love the ocean and the beaches. No zip lines and no jungles. I have done a lot of mountain climbing. I come from a climbing family and pretty much grew up outdoors in the mountains. Unfortunately, I fell 40 feet while climbing back in 1994, and that had a huge impact on my life. I got a free chopper ride to the trauma center, but it would have been much better not to have fallen. 

I do love to raft. I love hiking. I re-climbed the mountain where I fell, and I’ve been known to hit the rock wall at the climbing gym on the odd occasion.

Breaking Point is the fifth book in your I-team series and has your hero and heroine (another journalist with a spine of steel) making their way through desert to reach safety. Seems like it would be hard to hide from trouble in the desert. Did you ever get stuck trying to figure out the logistics of escaping through this landscape?

When people think “desert,” they often think of the Sahara — and endless expanse of sand dunes or a wasteland. But the Sonoran is a really vibrant ecosystem with lots of plant and animal life all adapted to desert live. It’s not a sparse landscape at all. 

Writing that portion of the story was a lot of fun because I got to learn about new plants and animals and how the ecosystem works. I watched videos of illegal desert crossings there, as well, to get an idea of how to do it. I did a ton of research, actually, including using Google to plot out their route from Mexico into the United States and to safety. So I quite literally looked at the land there to help them find their way back.

Your I-team series has a great following. Do you plan on keeping it going? Is there a magic number you will try reach? We will just hope that it’s not five to go along with the Mexican setting in Breaking Point which matches Cinco de Mayo. 

Thanks so much! I’m delighted that so many readers have fallen in love with the series and the characters. Yes, I am going to continue it for three more books. Joaquin gets a book. Holly’s book is last. And the next book is going to revolve around a heroin we haven’t met yet, the reporter who replaces Natalie. Her name is Laura. After three books, I will probably end the series and pick up something new.

The next book, which doesn’t have a title yet, will be out in March 2013. In the meantime, I’m finishing an I-Team After Hours novella, the first in a series of novellas involving I-Team characters. This one is titled SKIN DEEP, and it tells the story of Megan, Marc’s younger sister from UNLAWFUL CONTACT. She gets her own happily ever after here, and she really deserves one after all she went through. There’s are excerpts on my blog — just search for SKIN DEEP. I love the cover of the story and am working to finish it this weekend.

This year for Cinco de Mayo I think I have found the perfect plan. Pick up a copy of Breaking Point, to set the setting and take me deep into Mexico. And then mix a pitcher of some tarantula margarita, I will need plenty because I don’t plan on getting off the couch until the book is done.  Do you have any fun crazy plans for this famous day in May? 

I don’t. That sounds great, though. I do love margaritas! I will be finishing SKIN DEEP and working in my garden.

Thanks for stopping by and celebrating with us Pamela! What a great way to start the summer! You can fin out more about Pamela and her I-Team series at http://pamelaclare.com/

Thank you for having me! I really appreciate it!

~*Giveaway*~

Pamela has had too many margaritas and decided to offer up a goodie to one of our followers! She is giving away one copy of Breaking Point to one reader, open world-wide! To enter leave a comment for Pamela about your Cinco de Mayo plans, or just gushing about her I-Team series then fill out the Rafflecopter below. Additional entries are available but not required. Good luck! 


a Rafflecopter giveaway