Author, A. J. Llewellyn

Aloha Gang!

 Today we’re going to meet the awesome EDEN BAYLEE, author of The Lei Crime World Series novel, Seal of a Monk. 

She’s fabulous! To check out this book, click the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lei-Crime-Series-Novella-ebook/dp/B012OW06AK/

OR

Comment here to enter the draw to win a FREE copy!

Keep reading to see just how fabulous EDEN BAYLEE is! I mean, she answered ALL my STUPID QUESTIONS!!! Yeah, baby! It’s Tiki Time!

1. Hi Eden, what’s your favorite cocktail? I’ll have the cabana boys whip one up for you while I ask you some stupid, I mean irrelevant. no, no, I mean important questions.

 Haha! Thanks AJ. I love stupid—I mean important questions! As for the cocktail, hmm … I’m not one for sweet drinks, but I do love a strong scotch, especially when served to me by a cabana boy. I take it neat, water on the side. Stick an umbrella in it if you like!  And AJ, this was an important question to start with. VERY important!

2. I thought so too! So, Eden, what was your favorite toy growing up and do you still have it?

 I’ve always loved jigsaw puzzles and would compete with my mom and siblings to see who finished a 100-piece puzzle first. That love for puzzles translated to LEGO, and then to crossword puzzles and Scrabble. Today, I play online Scrabble with friends and strangers all over the world. I have about thirty games on the go right now. It’s a bit of an addiction.

3. I love scrabble. Game on? Now, on to an impertinent, er, important question. Do you write naked?

 God no, I live in Canada!

 Nine months out of the year we’re in a deep freeze, so that would mean freezing my girly bits – not fun! My body temperature tends toward the cool side so I always need heat. In the winter, I wear a scarf, sweater and a wool hat, and that’s INSIDE the house! 

4. I so agree. Cold girly bits are so uncomfortable. What is your favorite beach in all the world? If you could take only one book to read what would it be (not your own, of course)?

Lombok in Indonesia. I had the beach all to myself when I was there. The white sand was like baby powder. The ocean was calm and I could walk out for miles before the water reached my waist.

ONE book? Wow … tough question. It would have to be a book of poetry by Bukowski. Poetry expands my mind and enhances my ability to visualize the world. It would help me create stories in my head while soaking in the sun and watching the waves. 

5. I love your description of that sand. Like baby powder, huh? Now, imagine you’re stuck there, or any deserted island after a three hour tour that goes awry. Name six people alive or dead that you’d like to be marooned with…and your fantasy castaway meal.

 AJ, your questions keep getting more difficult!

 Firstly, my best friend Mae, whom I’ve known since we were six. We always said we’d live near each other until we died, so I’d better take her or she’ll be pissed! She’s also an excellent cook, renovator, and decorator—very helpful on a deserted island.

 My husband, John, who is a designer, painter, and musician. He has an eye for beautiful things, which makes life worth living even when days are difficult.

 Peter Frampton, great musician, fun disposition, married and divorced three times – I’m sure he has a lot of stories to tell.

 The Beatles (I’ll use the collective and count them as one!) Love them, their catalogue of music, their humor.

 Sigmund Freud, because I studied him when he was much more relevant, and I’m interested in the mind. He was a forward thinker for his time, and it’d be interesting to talk with him about the changes that have happened in modern psychology.

 Lastly, Aristotle, the father of all philosophers. He’d keep everyone on their toes.

 As for my meal — East Indian — butter chicken, saag paneer, basmati rice, kheer, lime jello, red wine.

 Thanks for the fun interview, and the NOT so stupid questions, AJ!

 

Thank you, Eden! I love your wonderful choices for dinner companions. I love Peter Frampton too!!

 Purchase link for SEAL of a Monk:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Lei-Crime-Series-Novella-ebook/dp/B012OW06AK/

SEAL of a Monk 

SYNOPSIS:

The ancient jungles of Kauai provide the perfect setting for self-discovery.

Despite the terror she experienced on her last trip, Lainey Lee returns to Hawaii to manage a silent meditation course on the Coconut Coast. Twenty-five women are under her care for ten days in a beautiful and remote location. Lainey expects to find inner peace, but four days into the course, one of the meditators disappears without a trace.

Did the girl leave of her own free will, or was she lured away by a strange cult? Lainey is frantic to answer these questions. As her desperation grows, she finds help from an unexpected source—a retired Navy SEAL named Maximillian Scott.

Now, Lainey has two mysteries to solve: what happened to the missing girl and the case of her own heart. Can she ever trust a man again?

 

EXCERPT:  

Day one in the woods.

Late afternoon.

Heavy footsteps and shouting faded behind her sometime ago, but she kept up the grueling pace. The forest fell silent except for the thrumming in her ears as her legs pounded the ground. Every time she tripped on vines or underbrush, she scrambled up and kept running. Her shoes sank into the damp earth, jagged edges where erosion had split the soil like decaying flesh. The terrain changed quickly and often. No time to adjust her speed. She dared not look behind her.

Distance offered safety.

Tenderness in her right ankle worried her, but the adrenaline pumping through her veins kept her going. Fear trumped logic that told her she had to stop.

Snapping twigs and shoving branches out of the way, her peripheral vision blurred while her surroundings flew by. She blinked back tears and her face stung. Several minutes later, her legs turned to stone pillars. Her lungs were on fire. On the verge of collapse, she slowed down but swerved abruptly to avoid running into a low-hanging branch.

A dry gasp forced out a sudden, sharp cough when she stopped. She clamped her hands over her mouth while the sound echoed like an explosion around her. A flurry of activity hit her senses. Her own heartbeat thumped in her head along with a cacophony above her. She glared up at an open patch of sky to see a flock of yellow birds funnel upward like a tornado. They chirped loudly in unison as if admonishing her for destroying their peace.

She struggled to regain her breath, rolled her aching shoulders to expand her lungs. Ahh … she forgot about the fifty-pound weight on her back. She released the hip belt and dropped the pack to the ground. Relief. While running, she considered unbuckling the sack and discarding it. Crazed as she was at the time, she couldn’t do it. It would’ve been suicide.

Squatted beside her bag, her almond-shaped eyes flittered back and forth for any movement nearby. Scampering sounds came from behind trees like kids playing hide-and-seek. Were they small animals? Or large ones? Every strange noise alerted her to danger, and there were so many she had never heard.

Crouched down, a different perspective met her view, all of it foreign to her—dense, tropical forest with no clear path, no posted signs. The boughs of conifers loomed over her like giant arms. Were they pines? She couldn’t be sure, never paid much attention to plant life in the city.

She was in deep trouble.

 

Author Links:

Website: http://edenbaylee.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/edenbaylee

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edenbaylee