His Acadian Lady

Remember that cruise ship romance I wrote for NaNoWriMo 2012? I’m happy to announce that I just contracted with Evernight (the publisher my alter-ego Lila Shaw has used for most of her books) to release it under the title of Boss Overboard! Woo-hoo! The contract says release will be in October sometime. Awesome!

Thanks to all the Pens sisters for helping me end the agonizing over the proper title for this novel, which had previously been working titled: Cruise Ship Mistress and His Acadian Lady.

Here’s what it’s about (in case you missed the nine hundred other posts while it was in process):

An all expenses paid, trans-Atlantic cruise aboard the Acadian Lady has romance written all over it…unless you’re the poor sap who has to inspect the toilets and time the cafeteria lines.

When Lydia Johnson, operations manager for J. P. Theriot Enterprises, is tapped to do a staff-level task, she’s not buying that it’s because the head of the company only wants “the best”. If that were the case, why would she also be saddled with an untrained assistant? She should be moving up the corporate ladder, not slumming with new hires doing entry level quality control audits for a floundering cruise ship.

Paul Thomas may be brand new to secret shopping, but he certainly knows his way around the ship and especially its casino. He’s also not the least bit shy about expressing his frank appreciation for his ambitious manager. The Cajun charmer is tempting to Lydia’s self-control, but she won’t make the mistake of mixing business with pleasure, especially not with a heart barely healed from her ex-fiance’s deceit.

One thing is for certain: Paul has never given up on anything he wants and what he wants now is the woman who knows more about him than any other … except who he really is–J.P. Theriot.

Once upon a time I considered self-publishing this one, but since I changed my mind, I guess I won’t be needing this anymore. I still like it though. 🙂 I’m sure I’ll reuse the graphic in the days ahead.

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My eight sentences for Weekend Writing Warriors this week come from my WIP, His Acadian Lady that I’m currently polishing up for submission.

Here’s a little bit of early relationship banter between the heroine, Lydia, and hero, Paul:

“Red sky at night,” Paul began.

“Sailors take fright.”

Paul shot her a wry glance. “You’ve got it backwards.”

Lydia smiled to herself. “I don’t think so. It’s red skies at night, sailors take fright, red skies at dawn, troubles be gone.”

A chuckle and shake of his head greeted her attempt to tug on his leg.

Heh! Paul’s right. It’s “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning.”

More from this story in the weeks ahead! Got a nibble on a toe-in-the-water submission already. Not holding my breath on it, but you never know, and it does tell me that perhaps the query is not too bad. 😉 This is the one I used. It’s obviously still a work in process:

An all expenses paid trans-Atlantic cruise from New Orleans to Rome has romance written all over it…unless you’re the poor employee who has to audit the last time someone cleaned the toilets or how fast-moving the cafeteria lines are.

When Lydia Johnson, quality control manager at J. P. Theriot Enterprises is tapped to do the job typically done by lower level staff, she’s not buying that it’s because the head of the company only wants “the best”. If that were the case, she wouldn’t be saddled with an untrained assistant.

Paul Thomas may be new to secret shopping aboard The Acadian Lady, but he certainly knows his way around the ship and especially its casino. He’s also not the least bit shy about expressing his frank appreciation for his ambitious manager. The Cajun charmer is tempting to Lydia’s self-control, but he could also be a spy sent to test her seaworthiness as a manager.

One thing is for certain: Paul has never given up on anything he wants and right now what he wants is the woman who knows more about him than any other … except who he really is–J. P. Theriot.

Now… my other me, Lila Shaw, has a book that is tame enough for my readers, but still spicy enough to be interesting. Wild West Succubus is available NOW. and I’m currently giving away FIVE (5) free copies at the end of my tour. If you’re interested, use the Rafflecopter to enter:
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Lots of fun stops so far.