Let’s meet Lily Pearl Evans from Secrets in the Sand, a romantic suspense by Alana Lorens. Welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about your book.

Secrets in the Sand by Alana Lorens

Genre Romantic suspense

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

After a run of bad relationships, Lily Pearl Evans has finally become an independent woman. In the New Mexico desert town of Chaparral, she works for herself, sets her own rules, and is determined no man will hold her back again.
Gene Nicholas worked for more than a decade to achieve his dream to be a doctor. Wanting to share his gifts with those less fortunate, he leaves south Florida to volunteer for Doctors Without Borders in Mexico.
When Gene provokes a showdown with the local Mexican drug cartel, he becomes a man with a price on his head. On the run, he ends up on Lily’s doorstep–a mystery man forced to conceal his past to protect them both. With the cartel’s dangerous web drawing tight around them, can Lily and Gene survive a drug lord’s revenge?

When someone dies, we say they “kicked the bucket.” Therefore, a list of things that a person wants to accomplish, places to go, situations to experience, and so on have become known as a “Bucket List.”

Age: 30-something (a lady doesn’t tell)

Gender: female

Birthplace: Indiana

Profession: whorehouse madam

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Please provide a physical description of yourself.

Let’s say I’m a well-preserved redhead, eyes so dark blue they’re nearly violet. I like to dress in soft, comfortable clothes, but they have to be a little sexy. After all, I run a bordello in New Mexico, just north of the border.

Please tell us a little about yourself.

I didn’t start out to be a madam. My aunt Candy let me visit when I was a teenager, and I always loved her big old house outside of Chaparral. When she died fifteen years ago, she passed it on to me, and I gathered up a group of women I knew were having trouble in their own lives to move in here. Now we each contribute a share to making the place successful. Some work with clients—not me. I provide the place and the management. I’m independent, and don’t need anyone. That’s the way I want to live.

Who is the significant other in your life?

I had a long, sad relationship with Lonnie Berman. Fortunately, he was a long distance trucker, so we didn’t spend that much time together. He taught me not to trust men much. That’s why dealing with them as a business transaction is just fine with me. Until this stranger showed up on my doorstep in the middle of the night, Nick Richards. There’s a lot more to him than appeared on the surface, as I came to find out. He could be a danger—but my heart doesn’t say so.

Bucket List

If you haven’t made a bucket list before, perhaps now would be a good time. Who knows? It might inspire another book. While you’re at it, how about telling us about some of your other favorite things? Here are the questions.

What is your birth order?

Actually, I don’t really know. My real mother went off on some personal kick when I was two and left me with the Evans family next door. She was gone for months. When she came back, they wanted to keep me, and she just signed the papers. Nearly broke my heart when my adopted family told me the truth.

Tell us about your favorite toy as a child.

Books. Definitely books. I was always wanting to live some other life. Never expected to end up in this one, for sure.

Describe your favorite food and how it’s prepared.

I love a great salsa. We have a grill out back where we roast our own peppers, poblano, chipotle and more. Just the right amount of chopped garlic, onion, lime, cilantro and the freshest tomatoes we can find. Oh, heaven—it’s to die for.

Tell us about your best friend.

Esther works with me at the house, managing the kitchen and the backstairs. She’s like a sister, always nagging me about my decisions. She means well. But she knows I’d never let anything happen to her, or any of the other young women who’ve thrown their fates in with mine.

What are two places you would like to visit before you die, and why?

So many places, and I doubt I’ll ever see any of them! When you run a business, it’s hard to take time off. But if I had to choose…I’d say Paris, and the back country of Australia. Ha! Romantic dreams, right? But living in the desert has given me an appreciation of the wild lands, and I’d just love to see a kangaroo!

Where is a place you would never like to return, and why?

The hospital. I hate hospitals. I’ve had really bad migraines since I was about 14, and sometimes it’s necessary to hit the ER. But I hold off until I can’t avoid it. Too many needles and bright lights and people who don’t really care about you.

Who is someone you would like to avoid, and why?

My ex, Lonnie. He drops in every so often, trying to spark me up. I wish he’d just take no for an answer and take off for good.

If you could time travel to any date, what would it be, and what would you do there?

Huh. I don’t know. I think maybe I’d like to go back and ask my birth mother why she left me. Maybe I’d feel less insecure about everything in my life.

About Alana Lorens

Alana Lorens always dreamed of being able to handle the drama and intrigue in everyday life. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a young adult daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.

What was your biggest challenge in writing this book?

These two characters actually came from a science fiction role playing game that my former husband and I used to play on the Internet. We both loved them very much, and I wanted to preserve them in a way that others could share them. At the time, I wasn’t writing sci-fi, so I had to find a way that I could recreate their story in the modern world, in America. Lily Pearl is still a madam, and Gene is still a doctor, but the dangers that face them both are quite different from ray guns and hostile aliens. I’m quite pleased with the transformation!

What genre(s) would you like to write that you haven’t tried yet?

I have jumped into most of them, I think. I write romance and suspense as Alana Lorens, and fantasy and science fiction for adult and young adult as Lyndi Alexander. I don’t focus on one genre—I write the stories that come to me, then figure out where they fit in the literary world.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

When I was a newspaper reporter in south Florida back in the 80s, I got to fly the F-16 flight simulator at Homestead Air Force Base. Totally destroyed a $7 million dollar plane in about five minutes!

Why should readers who haven’t picked up one of your books before give this one a try?

I prefer to write story over sex. While my characters have normal relationships (well, in this book there are some kinks off camera, because of the nature of the beast), I try to write the best suspense/plot I can. When I’m reading a story, if the plot doesn’t hold together, it doesn’t matter how much sexytimes there are, I just can’t keep reading. That being said, I believe readers will be satisfied with what intimate scenes they receive.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers?

I appreciate everyone who reads my stories—that’s why I create them! I hope you enjoy these characters as much as I do.

Where to buy Secrets in the Sand

Publisher https://www.thewildrosepress.com/books/secrets-in-the-sand

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Sand-Alana-Lorens-ebook/dp/B004XJ5YIC/

Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/secrets-in-the-sand-alana-lorens/1030929480

Alana Lorens Social Media

Alana Lorens always dreamed of being able to handle the drama and intrigue in everyday life. She lives as a post-modern hippie in Asheville, North Carolina, a single mother of her last child of seven, a daughter on the autism spectrum, finding that every day feels a lot like first contact with a new species.
Website https://wordpress.com/page/alana-lorens.com/21
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlanaLorens/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4829967.Alana_Lorens
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Alana-Lorens/e/B005GE0WBC/