Blog Archives
The Middle of Turmoil
Summer (With Collateral Damage) follows an attorney spending the summer in her beach condo who has her plans disrupted by a hurricane that destroys the community and puts her in close quarters with a man who is off-limits. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I didn’t have an inspirational moment. The story had an ordinary theme and was boring to me, so I took a dark turn. So I took an ordinary person and put them in the middle of turmoil. I feel life is like that sometimes.
What character did you enjoy writing for? Was there one that was more challenging to write for?
Alyse, she is entitled and has everything.
The hurricane and crime activity alter Alyse’s quiet and luxurious life. Do you think there’s a single moment in everyone’s life, maybe not as traumatic, that is life-changing?
Yes, I do. Maybe it’s something small, maybe it’s a loss, but many things can be life-changing.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when will it be available?
I am not sure where to go with my characters. I might start something completely different. My mind is sorting out small details that I imagine will make a good story.
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Alyse Johnson has lived a sheltered life of privilege and wealth, growing up in her prominent family’s luxurious mansion on Jacksonville Beach. Now an attorney, she enjoys surfing and living a quiet life in her upscale beach condo.
But nothing in her past has prepared her for this wild crazy summer, and what she will go through at the hands of criminals invading her space, all while a Category 4 hurricane blows in off the Atlantic Coast, devastating and destroying her beach community.
Alyse and the Connor family lock themselves in, trying to avoid the criminal forces running rampant in their storm-abandoned neighborhood.
The novel Summer (With Collateral Damage) grabs readers from the first page and is the fourth book of a series that follows the Connor family.
Summer (With Collateral Damage)
Alyse Johnson is a young attorney leading a successful yet simple life. She has everything she needs but feels that something is missing and that something might be a relationship with the one guy who is off-limits. Alyse has vowed to make this summer, her first as a single woman, different. She has decided to play the field but has the lingering feeling that there is more to her friendship with Christian. As a hurricane approaches, Alyse is fortunate to take shelter with her friend’s family. Riding out the storm together, they soon learn that their neighborhood has a new danger on the horizon.
Summer (With Collateral Damage) is the fourth book in a series by Denise Ann Stock. Stock’s series follows the Connor family, and in this exciting fourth installment, the action centers around Alyse Johnson and her experience riding out a category 4 hurricane and the madness that follows. Two parallel storylines are running throughout Stock’s novel. Romance fans will appreciate the internal struggle Alyse experiences as she fights the feelings she has for her best friend’s brother. Tension and anxiety run high as Alyse and Christian deal with being in close proximity while they shelter in place. The threat of criminals skulking around the abandoned neighborhood provides mystery fans with the thrill they seek.
Stock does a beautiful job of building an air of mystery. Alyse shares that she has spotted suspicious vehicles in the neighborhood; readers will enjoy letting their imaginations run wild as they wait for the subsequent development. The evacuated neighborhood is the ideal backdrop for a dramatic buildup and gives ample opportunity for character development. I felt invested in Alyse’s plight, her romantic woes, and the danger building around her.
I appreciate the immersive first-person perspective and the use of present tense, which adds depth to the narrative of Summer (With Collateral Damage). While some moments in the plot lean towards introspection, they provide a unique diary-like charm rather than detract from the action and mystery elements. Fans of thrilling novels with a hint of romance should definitely explore Denise Ann Stock’s Connor family series.
Pages: 210 | ASIN : B0CBTWHCRS
Battles In Our Lives
Random Summer Storms follows Ian and Dee as they recount the various experiences of their family members. What were some ideas that were important for you to convey in your story?
We are all the same in one way or another. We all have battles in our lives. Our little world can look picture perfect from those looking in but we all have problems and none of us are better than the other in the end.
What are some things that you find interesting about the human condition that you think makes for great fiction?
Imperfections in character. We all have flaws that we spend our live correcting or hiding.
What experience in your life has had the biggest impact on your writing?
Loss. I get inside my head when I lose someone. There is no telling what will come out on paper when that happens.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My ideas are forming now. I’m working on a thriller.
Author Links: Twitter | Website
Ian and Dee Conner share the storms their family members experience in this third book of a series. The Conners are a close-knit family of five who live in a beach community, enjoying surfing, biking, and doing what most families do. Together they weather some tumultuous storms.
The couple tried to run from a big storm they created in California, moving to the east coast of Florida to start over and raise their family. They shut away the skeletons of their past, never telling anyone their secrets.
Other skeletons appear on both sides of Ian and Dee’s family trees, but often these skeletons (storms) are what bring families together.
Eventually, Ian and Dee realize that nothing can stop a raging storm: They must face the past to have a future. Their family and children must chart their own course in life. It may not always be what they hoped, but one day the storm will end, and the waters will calm. That is, until the next Random Summer Storms.
Random Summer Storms
Dee has never known boredom. There isn’t a day in her life that hasn’t been fraught with drama, violence, or intrigue of one kind or another. From very early in life, Dee lived a youth that was leaps and bound beyond those of others her age. She and her surfer friends managed to survive a youth most could never imagine. After overcoming threats against her family and an unwilling involvement with the Cartel, Dee manages to build a life for herself–one that is filled with all the luxuries one could ever desire. Her life with Ian is, by all accounts, a perfect one. Or is it?
Random Summer Storms: Book Three–Family, by Denise Ann Stock, details the life of Dee and those who are important to her. Dee has a large closely knit family, and she reminisces about all of their accomplishments and relishes the thought of her own children’s promising futures. Family is everything to Dee and her husband, Ian. Their questionable past is behind them, and they have moved forward to create an enviable life.
As narratives go, Stock’s book has it all. Dee’s story lacks absolutely nothing when it comes to descriptions of the character’s lives, the lives of their children, and the interactions they have with extended family and friends. From Dee and Ian’s youth to their present stage of life, this first-person narrative extensively describes the lives of virtually everyone involved in Dee and Ian’s lives.
While the author does a thorough job of writing a well-developed narrative, there is almost no dialogue in the book. For all of the incredible life situations the narrator describes, I feel there is a lack of exchanges between characters that could have added to the intensity and drama of the book. A few verbal exchanges occur in flashbacks as Dee reminisces, but it isn’t extensive and doesn’t lend itself to any plot point.
I also missed any rising action and climax in this installment of the Random Summer Storms series. Early on, there is a hint at what may be coming. The narrator gives a mention of some impending doom, but then the reader is led on a journey through Dee’s memories and descriptions of her new life. After a couple of chapters, it is easy to forget there was a mention of a possible conflict.
Random Summer Storms has the potential to be a fascinating journal-style novel or an incredible drama. I can, however, recommend this book to any fan of personal narratives. Stock’s characters are interesting and represent amazing lives readers will find intriguing.
Pages: 252 | ISBN: 1952269474
Remembering the Wonderful People
The Eyes of Summer follows a young woman on a summer trip that turns deadly when her curiosity lands her in the middle of a crime ring. How did the idea for this story start and change as you wrote?
I love to read detective novels. The idea was a second Adventure with the characters from my first book Blow Out Summer. The first draft was too ordinary. I wanted something with shock value as well as mystery. As I began to rewrite it Catalina Island was mentioned. I love the island and I decided to incorporate it into the story.
The story takes place around Catalina Island and it felt very authentic. What is your experience with the island?
I have visited Catalina many many times. My husbands family had a mooring in Cat Harbor. We spent weekends enjoying the beautiful Island.
Are there any pieces of your characters that are based on real people?
Yes, remembering the wonderful people I met there in the past helped create other boaters for the setting, they weren’t criminals.
Do you have other stories planned for Dee?
Book 3 was released in February of this year.
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Ian Conner, a medical student interning at the University of California, Irvine, and his surfer girlfriend Dee live in Huntington Beach. The two are spending their summer on a 70-foot yacht moored at Catalina Island.
Naturally curious, Dee is a journalist for a local newspaper, leading the couple to soon suspect that some illegal activity is going on at another yacht. The situation turns sinister when they discover what they believe to be drugs and money laundering taking place.
In the blink of an eye, the couple’s summer jaunt turns from pleasurable to deadly.
The Eyes of Summer: Another Summer with Ian and Dee
The Eyes of Summer is a fun-filled tale of adventure, mystery, and danger aboard a luxury yacht.
Ian Conner, a medical student interning at the University of California, Irvine, and his surfer girlfriend Dee live in Huntington Beach. The two are spending their summer on a 70-foot yacht moored at Catalina Island.
Naturally curious, Dee is a journalist for a local newspaper, leading the couple to soon suspect that some illegal activity is going on at another yacht. The situation turns sinister when they discover what they believe to be drugs and money laundering taking place.
In the blink of an eye, the couple’s summer jaunt turns from pleasurable to deadly.
A beach lover, Denise Ann Stock grew up in Huntington Beach, California, and currently resides in Florida. This is the sequel to her novel Blow Out Summer.
LITERARY TITAN 