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Thursday 26 March 2015

Blog Tour Guest Post - Three Days to Forever by Lauren Carr


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Three Days to Forever
Author: Lauren Carr
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Pages: 466
Genre: Mystery
Format: Paperback/Kindle

Book Description:
In this latest Mac Faraday Mystery from best-selling mystery author Lauren Carr, readers will embark on a rollercoaster adventure with old friends (including the Lovers in Crime team of Prosecutor Joshua Thornton and Homicide Detective Cameron Gates), but also meet new ones as Mac Faraday’s daughter Jessica Faraday and Joshua Thornton’s son Murphy Thornton join the team in the race to get the love birds to the altar!

With three days left to the year, Deep Creek Lake is hopping with holiday vacationers and wedding guests pouring into the Spencer Inn for Mac Faraday and Archie Monday’s huge wedding ceremony which is being touted as the social event of the year.

But droopy flowers and guests who failed to RSVP are the least of Mac’s and Archie’s problems when a professional hit squad hits Spencer Manor to send the groom, Joshua Thornton, Archie’s mother, and Gnarly running for their lives.

With time running out to the big day, Mac Faraday and Spencer’s small police force have to sort through the clues to figure out not only who has been targeted for assassination, but also who is determined to stop everything … FOREVER!

Buy Links:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24019097-three-days-to-forever


 

Praise for Three Days to Forever:
“Lauren Carr’s mystery novels are indeed one of my go-tos when I’m looking for a good whodunit.” –Reviewer: Shana Benedict, ABookVacation Book Reviews.

“Lauren Carr does a good job of moving the quirky storyline along nicely with an abundance of witty dialogue.  And you have no idea who the good guys are and who the bad guys are until the end." - Reviewer: Every Free Chance Book Reviews.



GUEST POST
To Raise the Bar … Or Not to Raise the Bar 
By Lauren Carr


A few years ago, I attended a banquet at yet another conference. The special guest speaker, whose name I can’t remember now, was telling the audience, all authors, about his journey to success.
His very first book, he was blessed to be picked up by a big New York publisher with a huge advance and his book was a hit. His second book was not so great because, as he explained, he wrote the book he wanted to write. The readers, expecting it to be like his first, deserted him … as did his publisher.
So, for his third book, he went back to the formula of his first book, expanded on it, and regained his success. That book went to Hollywood.
As he explained it, this author’s journey was really not that uncommon. Generally, authors write their first books for publishers and literary agents. After obtaining their goal of snagging a literary agent and publisher, many authors proceed to write what they want to write. Upon being chastised by lack of sales (and most likely the loss of their publisher and/or agent), they return to their proven formula for success.
After working more than thirty years to make it to best-selling status and having consistent sales and fabulous reviews from readers and book reviewers, I can understand the fear that some successful authors may have about changing anything in their books, especially if it is a series, for fear of losing devoted readers.
Most likely, this may explain why I have heard many readers say about some of their favorite, or rather one-time favorite authors, “All of her/his books are the same. Each one has the same general plot. All she/he does is change the names.”
These authors are afraid of messing with success. Why fix what isn’t broken? they may ask.
That’s not me. When I was nineteen years old, I went up in an airplane for the first time and jumped out. Fortunately, I was wearing a parachute. Even more fortunately, it opened. I didn’t go up in a plane and land in it until I went to Washington, D.C. four years later.
If I wasn’t fearless I would never have struck out to be an independent author and tried to make my way through the world of publishing on my own.
Several years ago, after my second book A Reunion to Die For was published, I attended an event in which two cozy authors spoke. Both of these writers had been published by New York houses. During her presentation, one expressed frustration with both her publisher and literary agent because now, a successful cozy author, she found herself in a box. She had written a romantic suspense but her publisher rejected it because her fans knew her as a cozy author and her literary agent was uncertain if he could sell it elsewhere for the same reason.
Actually, the categorization of genres (mystery, suspense, thriller, romance, humor) was created by brick and mortar bookstores for a simple reason—so that they would know which shelf to place books for customers to easily find—based on the genre they are looking for.
As a result, many authors, upon succeeding in one genre, can be afraid of writing outside the confines of that box for fear of not being able to get back inside if they fail.
However, I believe, the tidal wave of independent publishing has overturned the apple carts in which authors have allowed themselves to be confined. Writers and as a result, their readers, are now allowed to reach outside the box with their imaginations and be thrilled by the experience.
In her review of Three Days to Forever, Glenda Bixler of Book Reader’s Heaven marveled at my ability to cross-genres:
The reason why this intrigued me was the cross-genres of this latest book! Actually, it has all of my favorites in this beautiful mix: Action, Mystery, Police Procedure, Romantic Suspense, and most of all Thriller. With this book, in my opinion, Lauren Carr has taken a major move in the complexity and diversity of her books.
Authors are like athletes. We need to write every day or our writing muscles lose their strength. Also, like athletes, we need to push ourselves harder in order to reach bigger goals in our craft. When authors get content to write at the same level, without pushing themselves (and even their characters), then their writing becomes stale, not only for the writer penning it, but for their readers.
Despite the risk, in my heart, I’m still the same girl who jumped out of an airplane at nineteen. 
I admit, I do keep my readers in mind when I pen my mysteries. With them in mind, I don’t expect my readers to have any more fun reading the same book over and over again than I would have writing it over and over again. So, it is not only for my own selfish reasons that, when I sat down to write Three Days to Forever that I set out to—
Raise the Bar!
As one reader posted in his review on Amazon, I unleashed my hidden imp! Another declared it a Mac Faraday book on steroids. Most have proclaimed Three Days to Forever the “best of my best!”
In Three Days to Forever, I bring the unpleasant, less than cozy, war on terror into Deep Creek Lake. Current events are used as jumping off points for the story. Realizing that some more sensitive readers in today’s volatile climate may read certain plotlines as a political commentary, I included a note at the beginning explaining that I wrote Three Days to Forever strictly for a great adventure—no politics intended. As expected, a few readers took it exactly that way. Others were upset that I brought such nasty terrorists to Deep Creek Lake and—heaven-forbid—people got killed in my murder mystery. (Sorry, I didn’t think cute cozy cuddly terrorists would be realistic.)
But, I look at it this way. Sometimes, when you jump out of an airplane, your chute doesn’t open. But when it does, you get to enjoy a wonderful ride that others can only wish they could experience.
Three Days to Forever has proven to be just such a ride!
Dear readers, when I unleashed my hidden imp in Three Days to Forever, I did it not only for me, but for you, too. If you’re open to adventures, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the wild ride reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
(Readers, consider yourself warned. This is not my last parachute jump!)
Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads

About the Author 
Lauren Carr is the best-selling author of the Mac Faraday Mysteries, which takes place in Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. Three Days to Forever is the ninth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series.

In addition to her series set on Deep Creek Lake, Lauren Carr has also written the Lovers in Crime Mysteries, which features prosecutor Joshua Thornton with homicide detective Cameron Gates, who were introduced in Shades of Murder, the third book in the Mac Faraday Mysteries. They also make an appearance in The Lady Who Cried Murder. 

Three Days to Forever introduces Lauren Carr’s latest series
detectives, Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday in the Thorny Rose Mysteries. Look for the first installment in this series in Spring 2015.

The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, editor, cover and layout designer, and marketing agent for independent authors. This year, several books, over a variety of genre, written by independent authors will be released through the management of Acorn Book Services, which is currently accepting submissions. Visit Acorn Book Services website for more information.

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She also passes on what she has learned in her years of writing and publishing by conducting workshops and teaching in community education classes.

She lives with her husband, son, and three dogs on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV. 

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