Guest Post and Giveaway: The Secret of Hunter’s Bog by Ally Blue

We’re so pleased to welcome author Ally Blue today, on the tour for her new novel The Secret of Hunter’s Bog. Enjoy and be sure to check out the giveaway details so you can enter for the chance to win some free e-books from Ally.

Good luck!

Hi y’all! I’m Ally Blue. Welcome to my blog tour for my newest book, The Secret of Hunter’s Bog. Thank you for stopping by. Be sure to comment on this post, or any of the posts on the tour, for a chance to win a full set of my Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Read on and enjoy!

The Secret of Hunter’s Bog has plenty of mystery and action. There’s a maybe-haunted bog. There’s a mysterious journal. There’s a missing man. There’s thievery, arson, bad guys with weapons, getting lost in a swamp, and high-speed boat chases.

Okay, there’s no boat chase. That would’ve been kind of cool, though.

My point is, the book has its fair share of excitement. But at its heart, it’s a romance. Which means the whole thing is built on characters you can love and root for.

In this particular case, the idea for the book began with a place rather than a person. It was a weird stretch of dreary, desolate marsh across the street from a strip mall out in the wilds of suburbia south of Chicago. But the characters didn’t wait long to pop up and start introducing themselves. In fact, one of Our Heroes, Koichi McNab, began taking shape during the same cab ride during which the book idea itself first sparked. He was originally going to be the owner of a nail salon in my fictional strip mall, but that ended up not feeling right. So he ended up being part owner of an organic home goods store instead, the co-owner being his twin sister, Kimmy.

Koichi materialized in my head first, but he and Kimmy very quickly became a matched set. They developed together. I always keep files on each main character, and when I was developing my characters I kept switching back and forth between Koichi’s and Kimmy’s files as new aspects of their personalities came forward. Both of them came so easily to me. They were like old friends. For example, I knew immediately that Koichi was reserved with strangers, that he kept things to himself most of the time with everybody except Kimmy (usually), that he wasn’t comfortable with relationships outside of his family. And I knew that Kimmy was practically her brother’s polar opposite: outgoing, straightforward, always wanting to get to know everyone around her.

Irrelevant factoid: in my head, Kimmy has always looked like Joanna Gaines from Fixer Upper on HGTV. I don’t know why. Probably because I think Kimmy and Jo are both awesome.

My other hero, Will Hood, took a little more time to get to know. I knew right away that he was from a wealthy family, and that he wasn’t close to them. Strangely, the only other thing I knew from the get-go was that he was into glamping and that he would open a glamping business next door to the McNab’s organic home goods store. At least, I thought that was a weird thing to know. Everything else came more slowly, but I eventually figured out that he was from Houston, that the man he’d loved had vanished and this was why he’d come to Alabama, and lots of other little details. I was writing a scene and found myself typing out that Will was dyslexic, which was a surprise. It’s always kind of cool when that sort of thing happens, though.

Another factoid: an online friend of mine sent me a seriously cool drawing quite a while back of this really cute guy wearing a leather aviator’s cap and steampunk-type goggles, and he basically said “write this guy’s story!” In a way, The Secret of Hunter’s Bog is that guy’s story, because his face is Will Hood’s face, even if Will doesn’t ever wear a leather cap and goggles. Also, Will is named after my friend. So, Will P., this is for you, honey. Thanks for the inspiration!

And while I’m thanking people, big thank you to my hosts here on the blog for having me here today, and extra special thanks to all the readers for coming by and letting me share with you. Y’all are the best!

About The Secret of Hunter’s Bog: For Koichi McNab, the shop he and his twin sister Kimmy are opening in Hunter’s Bog Mall is a fresh start after their old one burned down. A way to move on. Especially when he meets the hunky owner of the luxury camping goods store next door. Koichi’s never been an outdoorsy guy, but Will Hood just might change his mind.

Will came to Southern Alabama to establish his own life away from his big, intrusive family—and in hopes of finding Anthony, the lover who vanished two years ago. But meeting Koichi throws everything off-kilter. Anthony was a long time ago. Koichi’s right here, smart and funny and cute, and Will wants him.

As Koichi and Will become friends, then lovers, Will’s past and Koichi’s present tangle into a dangerous knot that brings them face-to-face with secrets, theft, treachery . . . maybe even murder. With their lives on the line, their only way to safety is together.

About Ally Blue: Ally Blue is acknowledged by the world at large (or at least by her heroes, who tend to suffer a lot) as the Popess of Gay Angst.

She has a great big suggestively-shaped hat and rides in a bullet-proof Plexiglas bubble in Christmas parades. Her harem of manwhores does double duty as bodyguards and inspirational entertainment. Her favorite band is Radiohead, her favorite color is lime green and her favorite way to waste a perfectly good Saturday is to watch all three extended version LOTR movies in a row.

Her ultimate dream is to one day ditch the evil day job and support the family on manlove alone. She is not a hippie or a brain surgeon, no matter what her kids’ friends say.

Connect with Ally: Website || Twitter || Tumblr || Facebook fan page || Facebook profile page || Group blog || Goodreads

Giveaway: Leave a comment for a chance to win a full set of Ally’s Mojo Mysteries series—Demon Dog, A Ghost Most Elusive, and Myth Adventures—in the winner’s choice of electronic format. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on March 12, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

The Fine Print:

*Entrants must be 18 years or older to qualify
*All comments must be relevant to the author’s prompt to be eligible (when applicable)
*The Novel Approach will not be held liable for prize delivery unless otherwise specified
*Void where prohibited by law