Happy Friday, folks! I’m pleased to welcome Mary Behre this week. Guarded, the second book in her Tidewater series, looks like an awful lot of fun.  Check it out!

GIVEAWAY! Mary and I are each doing a giveaway! Leave a comment below (with a means of contacting you) for a chance to win a copy the first book in the series, Spirited. I’ll be giving away my personal paperback copy to one US / CA winner next week (bonus points if you follow Para-Un, or Mary, on FB or Twitter). Mary is also giving away a copy of Guarded to one person who leaves a comment.

Elisabeth: Hi, Mary, thank you for joining us today!

Mary: Hi Elisabeth! Thank you for having me here today! I’m excited to be on Paranormal Unbound.

 Elisabeth: We at Paranormal Unbound like to think (as our tag line suggests) that we are all about breaking rules, redefining genre, and stuffed full of awesome. How does this apply to your series and to your brand new release?

 Mary: I don’t often think of myself as rule breaker—I’m kind of a rule follower. Okay, I couldn’t even type that with a straight face. 🙂

 I think the one thing that sets this series apart is that it is not a straight paranormal or a straight romantic suspense. It’s a blend of the two genres.

 The Tidewater series is really about the people in the fictional city of Tidewater, Virginia. In every book, there’s at least one murder, at least one psychic, and a mystery to solve. Each psychic with has a unique crift (cursed gift). This crift helps solve the mystery.

 There’s also a romance in every story because I’m a sucker for happy endings!

Elisabeth:  On that note, many of us write supposedly “done to death” paranormal like vampires and werewolves and angels (oh, my), but I believe every author here at Paranormal Unbound has a truly unique spin on her work. You write psychics, which in and of itself isn’t a new concept, but I thought Spirited had some original twists and I’m looking forward to Guarded. What makes Guarded uniquely your story?

 Mary: In Guarded, the heroine is an animal empath or animal whisperer. And when exotic animals begin disappearing from the local zoo, only the psychic possesses the ability to solve the crime. There is one thing, psychic abilities will only take the heroine so far, at some point intelligence, cunning, and little help from the sexy hero are needed.

Elisabeth: I’m getting a protective cop-hero theme from this series. I recently wrote a blog post that mentioned the sexiness of command presence. What, in your opinion, makes police detective heroes so sexy?

 Mary: There’s definitely something to the command presence. But I think part of the allure of sexy cop is that most cops are alpha males. Plus, when it comes to solving a mystery, the well-trained, hot cop with a gun is always a good thing to have.

Elisabeth: If you weren’t writing strong, psychic heroines and the heroes who love them, what genre would you be writing?

Mary: I’d probably be writing strong kick butt heroines and the dragons who need them. Something definitely sexy about a mythical beast that can shift into human form and swears undying devotion, don’t you think?

Elisabeth: What do you read when you aren’t writing?

Mary: I read everything…romance-wise. Historical, romantic suspense, light paranormal, dark paranormal, fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary, and the list goes on. Basically, if it’s a great story, I’m there ready to read.

Elisabeth: Can you tell us what you have planned next?

 Mary: Thank you for asking, I’m working on the next book in the Tidewater series, Energized (working title). Book three features, Hannah, the youngest of the three Scott sisters. She possesses the power of psychometry. One touch of a metal object and she is in the head of the person who touched it before her.

 Hannah has always played with her crift, dancing through other people’s memories, briefly feeling their feelings. Until the day she handles an object touched by a serial killer. Suddenly, her mental trips through another person’s mind, threaten her sanity.

 Of course, there’s a sexy hero. A Marine, this time. And he’s got more at stake than his growing attraction to Hannah. The man the serial killer has just taken, is the hero’s brother. Can the Marine ask the psychic to risk her mind to save his brother? If she does it, will love be enough to save them all?

Elisabeth: Ooh, that sounds exciting. Can’t wait!

Thank you again for having me on Paranormal Unbound!

Elisabeth: Thank you for being here today!

About Guarded:

A psychic veterinarian who can talk to everything from naked mole rats to ferrets, stumbles onto an exotic animal kidnapping ring. When a zoo owner is murdered and all signs point to the vet as the killer, she enlists the aid of her super sexy cop friend.

Will he be able to help her clear her name before he’s forced to arrest her?

 Find it: Amazon | B&N | Powell’s | Goodreads

About the author:

Mary Behre is the author of The Tidewater Series. Stories with humor, suspense, and a psychic love-connection.

 

Her debut novel, SPIRITED (Tidewater Novel #1) was an award-winning manuscript before it sold to Berkley Sensation. GUARDED (Tidewater Novel #2), is already receiving praise from reviewers and readers.

 

The Tidewater Series features three sisters separated years before in the foster care system. They search for love, each other, and a way to live with their psychic abilities. In each book, they’re tossed into the middle of mysteries that only their unique gifts can help solve.