Leanna Ellis - Risk Taking 101 + Contest

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Enter to win one of two copies of Plain Fear: Forsaken!
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Risk Taking 101
by Leanna Ellis

I am not a risk taker. Really, I’m a big wimp. If there is ever a show called “America’s Biggest Wimp,” then you’ll probably find me on it. When my sister played softball in college, I watched her risk life and limb to catch a ball or steal a base. When my brother played basketball in college, he took an elbow to the cheek without complaint. When I played sports, I went out of my way not to get hurt. If a ball came right at me, I ducked. I was really a dancer, and loved to twirl and tap and choreograph dances. I was creative. But a risk-taker? Not so much.

But twenty years ago, I was a teacher looking for a way out of the classroom. I often felt like a mouse in a maze, searching for that hidden piece of cheese, which to me was my ‘dream’. What was my dream? Dancing? I was too old to dance professionally and I also wasn’t talented enough. Having a dance studio put me right back where I was already: teaching. So what was I to do?

I read about others pursuing their dreams, but what was mine? My sister pointed out that I was always ‘scribbling away in that journal’ so maybe I should write. That was something I could get excited about. I loved books! My emphasis in teaching was a reading specialization. So in a way, my new dream combined my two passions: reading and writing. Plus, writing required creativity, which was what I loved about both teaching and dancing. But could I be a writer?

When I was a kid, I thought all writers were dead. I never dreamed I could write. What did I know about writing? Did I have something to say? To write? There were all sorts of excuses and reasons why I shouldn’t try to be a published author. Quitting my fairly secure job with a steady paycheck may not have been the smartest decision, except that I felt like I was losing my soul in the classroom. Teaching for the next thirty years seemed scarier to me than taking a leap into the unknown world of writing. And so I jumped out of the classroom and into writing. It became my passion, my obsession. I lived and breathed writing.

Do I regret it? Never. Has it been difficult? Of course. No journey worth anything is easy. All journeys are a struggle. But over the past twenty years, I have met some amazing folks, and I have published eighteen novels. And now, with two children, I am teaching them to pursue their passions.

My latest passion and obsession has been my latest release, Plain Fear: Forsaken. Forsaken actually began as a joke. I’m not kidding! I was at a multi-author book signing and another author and I made a joke about we should write an Amish/vampire story because those were the two genres that were selling so well. Well, it really was a joke. I didn’t rush home and start writing the book. But some seed was planted in my warped little brain and took root. Soon a character was speaking to me about her story and wanting me to write it. I resisted. Really, I didn’t want to take this kind of a risk by attempting to merge two very different genres. But there was a very intriguing element that I couldn’t seem to ignore. To me, this was a Phantom of the Opera type story, with a love triangle, and a clear dividing line between good and evil. The more I thought about this story and these characters the more passionate I became and the more obsessed I was in seeing it published.

Passion is one thing I could understand about my heroine, Hannah, a young Amish woman mourning the mysterious death of her beloved Jacob. She must decide between two brothers, between good and evil. When she learns her first love is now the vampire Akiva, she must forsake him and cling to a new love, a lasting love, one that will save her soul.

It can often be difficult to understand someone from a different culture, but I believe if you dig deep enough, deep into the heart, we are all the same. We have the same fears and doubts, passions and love. Hannah was passionate about Jacob, and that passion became her obsession, which placed her in a position that she must risk not only her life but also her very soul.

PLAIN FEAR: FORSAKEN BY LEANNA ELLIS – IN STORES AUGUST 2011

Not Death, But Love…

Pain choked off anymore words. She grabbed the cold stone marker for support, splayed her hands across its front as a sob wrenched free from her chest. Although she knows that the Amish way is to move on from grief, on to a new season, Hannah cannot move on from Jacob, who was taken too soon.

Jacob’s brother Levi also cannot move on—his love for Hannah burns just as strong as ever. But he knows how much Hannah loved his brother, and the event that took Jacob from them.

And it’s a secret he must take to his grave…

So when a mysterious stranger comes to their community, he too carries a secret; one that will force Hannah to choose between light and dark, between the one she wants to love and a new yearning she fears to embrace.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Leanna Ellis is the winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award and Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award. She has written numerous books for Harlequin/Silhouette and has published four books with B&H Publishing. With her husband, two children, and wide assortment of pets, she lives in Texas. Plain Fear: Forbidden, the next book in the Plain Fear Series, will be in stores in Spring 2012. For more information, please visit www.leannaellis.com.

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