For today’s Friday Friends feature, I am celebrating the life and work of one of my favorite author friends. I don’t exactly know how to introduce her because she has a number of different pen names: Lyndi Alexander, Alana Lorens, Barbara Mountjoy... She also writes in an amazing range of genres: sweet romance, science fiction, paranormal/horror, suspense and urban fantasy.
Babs has been a guest at Beyond Romance many times. (Follow the links on the genre names above for some of her posts.) She has also been kind enough to host me for almost every book I’ve released over the past five or six years, since we got to know each other. Like me, she’s a “mature” woman (don’t ask us our ages!) She’s also a huge ailurophile. Maybe even more than I am – she fosters homeless cats and kittens, teaching them what it’s like to be loved.
Here’s
a photo she shared of her “catio”, where the felines that she
cares for hang out. Lucky cats!
One of the things I love about Lyndi/Alana/Babs is that I can never predict the twists in her books. One of the first things I read by her was The Elf Queen.
Blurb
At her friend's coaxing, Jelani tries on a glass slipper left lying on the sidewalk. When she steps into the shoe, it shatters, cutting her foot. As blood trickles to the pavement and mingles with the broken glass, dozens of two-inch high creatures emerge and then scurry away into the shadows. Soon she is approached by two mysterious and handsome men claiming to be elves who need her help to rescue their queen. More revelations come, threatening to unravel the life of this sassy barista from Missoula, Montana. Jelani must learn to accept that elves are real and living in the forests of the Bitterroot Mountains
You can read my review here: https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2020/09/review-tuesday-elf-queen-by-lyndi.html
I loved the complexity of the back story, the elven politics, and the setting. (I’ve spent time in Missoula myself.) Although I guess the book fits the general notion of “urban fantasy”, its themes are a long way from the typical “vampires-werewolves-demons taking over” tropes that I’ve come to associate with the genre.
More recently, I devoured Remnants of Fire, which I guess you’d consider paranormal suspense.
Blurb
Looking for a fresh start, Sara Woods takes a job as a news reporter in a small town. Her first assignment for the Ralston Courier is to investigate a string of deaths, all young women, all her age. To deal with chronic back pain, she goes to the Goldstone Clinic, a local healing center with a strange reputation. As local doctor Rick Paulsen teaches Sara how to access hidden energy skills and reveal secrets from her past, police officer Brendon watches Sara’s every move. The deeper she digs into the Goldstone, the harder it is to deny links to the paranormal. Can she figure out what is going on and who to trust before it’s too late?
Read my review here: https://lisabetsarai.blogspot.com/2023/09/review-tuesday-remnants-of-fire-by.html
This is one of the most suspenseful and creepy novels I’ve read in a while. It put me through the emotional wringer. That’s a good thing – when a book keeps you up at night, you know it’s skillfully written.
Here’s an excerpt. Sara, the heroine, is talking to her fellow reporter Dedra. They’ve both been treated at the Goldstone Clinic.
“So they didn’t creep you out? All that touchy-feely stuff?” Dedra shifted in her chair and hugged her knees close to her chest.
“What do you mean? It’s a medical clinic. There’ll be examinations and manipulation of bones and things.” But I knew what she meant. The nurse, the doctor, both had touched me much more often than I’d expected.
Europeans as a whole had a reputation for more body contact between friends and associates than Americans. Maybe it was just their way.
“This was different. First the nurse, who kept smoothing down my arms and back after she asked me all her usual questions. You know, patting me, like I was a dog.” She demonstrated by running her hand down her arm, shoulder to wrist. “It felt cold the first couple of times she did it. By the end, it was warm, almost hot.”
“Hmm. That’s an odd technique. Not what happened to me, but we had different complaints, you know?”
“I guess.”
“Maybe it’s just part of their treatment, a therapeutic touch. Like all those studies that show old people living alone need hugs frequently, to help stimulate their immune system? Every time they are touched, it gives their own healing powers a kick in the pants.”
“Oh, I remember reading that,” Dedra said.
“If everyone in the clinic is vested in helping your treatment, if they’re working together, that makes sense.”
Dedra swirled the tea in her cup. “Did you ever give blood?” she asked. My breath caught in my throat, and I nodded slowly.
“When he was done, it felt just like I felt after that.” Dedra looked at me in earnest across the table.
So we’d both felt depleted of life fluids? I sat back, feeling the solid chair behind me, my feet on the floor, again solid, something I was sure of. That reaction was surely unique and more than a coincidence. But the clinic practitioners hadn’t done anything that could be envisioned as removing blood or plasma or anything. No needles. No medications.
A cold rock about the size of my fist formed in my stomach. Something wasn’t right. Something frightening. No. My journalist’s ear for accurate wording nagged at me. Not frightening. More like disquieting. The feeling the moment just before opening the dark and scary door. Waiting to see what was going to grab you.
What was making me so uncomfortable? I felt so much better, so in tune with how my body was supposed to be. No pain! But at the same time, there was something. Maybe just the novelty of the new age healing: chakras and reflexology and acupressure. Previously, I’d gone the strict medical route. This was different. I had the opportunity now to get some information, particularly if it was going to be practiced on me.
I realized with a start that Dedra had babbled on, and I made a conscious effort to catch up with the random thread.
“I’ll have to thank Melissa for recommending the place,” Dedra was saying. “If I can get rid of a migraine that quickly, I’ll do it in a minute. Besides, if I can see Chal more often, my life is destined to improve dramatically.” She giggled.
“I wouldn’t mind seeing him myself.” I thought about that brief burst of heat when our eyes met. More than a spark there, I was sure of it.
“Oh, no you don’t. He’s mine.” Triumph spread her grin wide.
That made me laugh. “You did get first shot.” A quick memory of the nurse’s admonition to the man, this one is for Dr. Ruprei, passed through my mind. Was that strange? Or was I just paranoid by now, thinking about the oddities? “And those paintings.”
Dedra blinked. “No kidding. They were something else. I couldn’t stop looking at them.”
“Or the staff. They were all really beautiful.” As I said it, I realized it was true. All the women, even the man in black, had thick, shiny hair, smooth, perfect skin. They were fit and proportioned perfectly.
“I noticed that. Huh.” Dedra finished her tea. “Want another?”
I shook my head and stood up. Dedra had reclaimed some of her usual perk, and I had things to do. “No, I’d better go home. I plan to take it easy tonight, though. You should, too.”
I discovered in looking at her Amazon author’s page that Babs has been writing for more than four decades, including her work as a newspaper reporter and her non-fiction. Makes my two and half decades sound paltry!
Just to pique your interest, here are a few more of her books:
Anyway, I hope this Friends Friday feature has made you a bit curious about Babs/Alana/Lyndi. You can find out more about her work at https://lyndialexander.wordpress.com/ and https://alana-lorens.com/
