Happy Sunday friend! The spotlight for today is author Katya Summers and her suspence romance novel, Hurricane Ryan. Let’s welcome her and learn about the book.

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Get to know the author: Katya Summers

Welcome Katya! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!

Hello! My name is Katya and I started writing when I was eight years old, but it had been over ten years since I’d written fiction when I started Hurricane Ryan. I didn’t realize how much I missed it.

How do you go back to fiction after ten years? Well, there’s nothing quite like turning thirty the same year your job goes under to make you switch directions. I’m pretty darn happy with how things are going.

I have two dogs and a cat, also a husband. I play World of Warcraft (Alliance for life) and spend entirely too much time reading. 

What inspired you to write this book?

It’s a funny story actually. I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

It starts in late January this year. My mom and I had a huge fight about something stupid, I don’t even remember what. I live in Florida, and she lives up North, so watching soap operas is something we do together when we’re not together. We don’t watch them at the same time or anything but we both try to stay current. Except I was mad at her and I didn’t feel like watching the soap opera. So, I was searching for something else to watch, and there’s this episode of Baywatch I’d been trying to remember the details of for FOREVER so drunk, grumpy Katya started watching Baywatch. I hadn’t seen it since I was a kid, but I had vaguely good memories of watching it with my dad, so why not?

Fast forward two weeks. My best friend had a medical appointment in Miami to find out if she had cancer. (Spoiler, she doesn’t, YAY!) So I drove her down and it’s roughly a four hour drive from where she lives in Orlando. We got a hotel for the night and I did my best to distract her. She fell asleep early and I started reading a book I saw an Instagram ad for called “Outlaw’s Promise” by Helena Newbury. I got a few chapters in before I finally passed out. Our alarm’s went off way too early to get up and go to the appointment. Except due to safety protocols, I couldn’t go in the hospital with her and it was going to take hours. So, I went to the Miami Seaquarium because I didn’t want to sit in my car all day.

Well, I go to the Sea Lion show and it’s a cute, funny show with some silly jokes and gags. Nothing worth writing home about, but enjoyable. UNTIL. The “bad guy” falls in the water and the sea lion has to save them. And what music starts playing? The Baywatch theme! I start laughing hysterically because if this had happened three weeks earlier, I would have never recognized the song. Seriously, it’s probably the stress of the day and being alone in a city I’ve never been to and worrying about my friend, but this was just stupidly funny to me. Still is.

I get a text that she thinks she’s going to be done soonish, I go to one more show and then leave to go get her. Except she’s not done, and I spend another three hours sitting in my car, but hey at least I get to finish “Outlaw’s Promise” and it’s fantastic. It was the first time I’d read a suspense romance. And then I keep sitting in my car. And sitting. And an idea starts forming.

How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?

I didn’t start oultining the book until March, but I finished writing it in like twenty-seven days. Editing took much longer. A couple rounds myself, then over to the boys at Blackbird and Blue Jay editing, and then another round of self edits because something went screwy with the formatting.

Who would enjoy reading your book? 

Anyone who likes protective heroes, suspense romance, damsels in distress who aren’t necessarily helpless but ended up in bad situations, and bad managers losing their jobs.

What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?

You don’t owe it to anyone to stay in a relationship that doesn’t make you happy.

What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?

It’s really hard to look at your friends and go, “Please read this, I wrote it.”

What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?

If you think you’re not good enough, I promise there’s someone out there who thinks they’re amazing and have published trash. Keep going.

If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!

There’s too many to name them all.

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Book Excerpt from
Hurricane Ryan

I’d swum the lagoon enough times to know when I was about a hundred yards out. I stopped for just a second to check my bearings. He was slightly to my right. Either he’d drifted or I hadn’t been swimming straight, and I didn’t have time to wonder which.  

“Sir! I’m coming! Try to stay calm!” I yelled before resuming my relentless pace. There was no way to know if he heard me. I was loud, but he was still almost a hundred yards from me, and the sound of the waves could easily drown me out. We were out deep enough they were no longer cresting, just sweeping swells of water that made us bob up and down.  

Hand over hand, I powered towards him. When I was getting close, I stopped my freestyle stroke and switched to a sideways crawl so I could maintain eye contact. 

“Sir, can you hear me?” 

He mumbled something and his head gave a jerk that might have been a nod before he went under again. I lunged forward and grabbed him under the arms, yanking him back to the surface.  

Oh man, he had to be close to two hundred and fifty pounds and at least six feet tall. 

Never one to let my size stop me, once I had his head above water, I used one arm to tug my buoy to me. I moved behind him and pushed the buoy to his chest. 

“I need you to hold on to this, okay, sir?” 

His arms wrapped around it, but his grip was weak. He wasn’t pale, as I’d expected him to be. His skin had gone almost gray, and his eyes were half-closed. I took a deep breath and snaked one arm around his chest. Well, across his chest. I couldn’t reach all the way around it. So, I wrapped my arm under his arm and up over his shoulder instead. It left me stuck with more of a sidestroke than a backstroke, but it would have to do.  

“My name is Carly. What’s yours?” 

He grunted something that might have been “Rick” or “Dick” or “Rich“. I wasn’t really sure. 

Looking back at the shore nearly two hundred yards off, I cursed the developers in my head again. I could make out two lifeguards standing in the waves in front of my tower, waiting to assist when I got him in. 

“Here we go!” I cried, beginning the extensive work of hauling a man twice my size back to shore. I was suddenly regretting my run into work this morning. 

Thankfully, it was at least easier to swim with the waves than against them. It wasn’t long until my left arm was burning from the tight grip I had on him, but I couldn’t relax, even for a second. He might slip under again. 

“Sir, can you tell me your age?” 

He muttered something incomprehensible, and I frowned. I pegged him somewhere between thirty-five and forty-five. I was just trying to keep him talking and conscious. The more info I had, the better, but my priority was keeping him awake until I could get him out of the water. 

He kept mumbling, but I could either concentrate on figuring out what he was saying or on getting him to safety. I’m sure that line of thinking wasn’t “friendly” enough for Diana, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Efficient and alive was better than friendly and dead.  

We’d made it almost fifty yards when a voice came from beside me. It was a deep baritone, hard, like the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks, but somehow rich and warm, like a fresh cup of coffee. It had just an edge of cockiness to it, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.  

“Need some help?” 

My head snapped around. That wasn’t a voice I recognized, but it was one I could listen to all day.  

Sitting on the paddleboard was the single most attractive man I had ever seen in my life. I can’t say I’ve ever found myself shocked into silence in the middle of a rescue before, but words would not come out of my mouth. I’d frozen in panic a couple times in my early days, yes, but now I was just stunned. I couldn’t look away. I almost couldn’t breathe. 

Despite spending the morning on deep patrol in the waves, his chocolate brown hair was somehow dry and windswept instead of soaked. I found myself wondering if it was as soft as it looked. Dark eyebrows peeked out from underneath the edges. His skin was a warm, tawny shade, as if he had spent his whole life on the beach.  

Most lifeguards are at least average height and usually slim and athletic. I’m the exception to the rule on height. He was the exception to the rule on build. He wasn’t just big; this new lifeguard was ripped. His chest was as broad as the guy I was hauling, but unlike the guest, I couldn’t see an ounce of fat on him. I could have laid on his pecs curled up like a cat with room to spare. His biceps were nearly the size of my head. His thighs, jutting out from the sides of the paddleboard, looked like someone had carved them from stone. His abs had the kind of definition that only comes from a combination of great genes and regular trips to the gym. I couldn’t tell for sure how tall he was with him sitting on the paddleboard, bobbing on the waves, but I knew he’d tower over me almost as much as Aaron.  

“Don’t tell me I’m going to have to rescue you both?” He asked, a smug lilt to his voice. Now he was smirking. His deep brown eyes reminded me of the way light shines through a bottle of dark, spiced rum as they twinkled at me. His lips quirked, shifting from that roguish smirk into a genuine smile as he realized I was staring. The male lifeguards were supposed to stay clean shaven, but it was obvious he hadn’t picked up a razor in a few days – the scruff was close, but dark and it lent a shadow to the deep, even tan on his face. I watched his lips move, frozen in place, as his entire face brightened. One of his eyebrows arched up in amusement, and I finally realized what I was doing.  

I flushed, snapping out of it in an instant. I could feel heat rising in my cheeks all the way to my ears. What was wrong with me!? A guy had never taken me in like that, let alone during a rescue! 

“I’ve got it,” I muttered, resuming my swimming as I desperately tried to cover my embarrassment. I looked anywhere but in his direction. 

“Come on,” the gorgeous stranger said. I could hear him coming closer, the sound of hands hitting the water as he paddled towards me.  

“He’s barely conscious. We can get him back faster on the board.” 

I was tempted just to ignore him and keep going, but at that moment, I felt my grip on the guest slip. He tipped forward. Shit! He’d blacked out!  

That kicked me back into lifeguard mode. I never let anything impede a rescue. Not even my own humiliation. Or stupidity. Or whatever this was. We were still more than a hundred and forty yards out, and it would be faster on the board. 

“Come on,” I muttered, glancing in the direction of the guy on the board without actually looking at him. I didn’t want to be taken in again.  

I turned, putting my back to him and taking a deep breath before I moved closer, pulling my rescue with me. The buoy was the only thing keeping him from tipping all the way forward.  

As soon as I felt the edge of the board against my back, I moved sideways so I was no longer between the guest and it. 

“On three?” I asked, preparing to help lift while he pulled. He just stared at me for half a heartbeat and then he reached under the guy’s arms and hauled, scooting backwards on the paddleboard. Before I could blink, he had the guy laid out, and he was in the water beside me. 

I’d never felt so useless in my life. “Help me with the straps,” he said, going to work strapping down the guy’s chest. Relieved to be doing something right, I scrambled for the strap at the man’s feet.  

Having secured the man to the board, the other lifeguard slid smoothly around to the grab handle at the tail. “Alright. Let’s go,” he murmured, turning away from me without a second look as he started pushing the board towards shore. I scrambled to the other side, putting my left hand on the board to help guide it and using my right arm to keep propelling us forward.  

My brain was buzzing with questions, but I was too flustered to ask any of them, and really all of my energy should have been dedicated to swimming, anyway. I needed to concentrate, but my mind was whirling. 

Who was he? I didn’t know we were hiring. Had someone quit while I was gone? How had they found a replacement so quickly?

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Interested?

Learn more about Hurricane Ryan on Goodreads, Storygraph, IndieStoryGeek and, Amazon.

Thank you for hanging out with us today. Connect with Katya on Twitter, Instagram, website, Goodreads, Amazon and Facebook.

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If you are an indie author and would like to do a book excerpt, check out my work with me page for details. Check out other book excerpts here.

Cover image: Photo on Unsplash