Author Interview With Casi McLean

Welcome Casi. What inspired you to become a writer and who are your favorite romance characters besides your own?

Writing has always been a part of me as significant as my heart and soul. My mother said I was born to write. I dictated stories to her before I knew the alphabet. Forth grade had me mesmerized with Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle In Time and I fell in love with time travel.

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My first publication, The Apron String Captain, was written at age nine, and during high school, I was an editor of my high school literary magazine. As a young adult my interests shifted to include romance when Jude Deveraux’s Knight In Shining Armor introduced me to her hero, Nick, and the Montgomery family captured my heart. I taught creative writing, English, and drama from many years before my children took center stage.

What inspired your new release, Beneath The Lake.

A town that time forgot—the eerie lore attached to a rural area that sleeps beneath Atlanta’s famous man-made lake, Sidney Lanier, fascinated me. Homes, churches and businesses still linger beneath the surface.

And Looper Speedway, a half-mile dirt track where bootleggers competed with their souped-up cars, bared its cement stands in a recent draught. The moonshiners of the 1940’s added built-in suspense, not to mention the birth of NASCAR.

There’s a Lady of the Lake who haunts the ghost town too—the lore is creepy. Swimmers get trapped among the deadfall of sheered-off trees and town remains until they join her in her watery grave. Even expert divers get tangled beneath the murky surface, hence the lake’s unnerving label: Lanier never gives up its dead. The inspiration haunted me, begging for a story to be told.

What a perfect setting for my romantic time-slip suspense series.

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So what is Beneath The Lake about?

A ghost town submerged beneath Atlanta’s famous man-made Lake Lanier reportedly lures victims to a watery grave. But when Lacey Montgomery’s car spins out of control and hurtles into the depths of the icy, black water, she awakens in the arms of a handsome stranger, in a place she’s never heard of—34 years before she was born.

When the 2012 lawyer tangles with the 1949 hunk, fire and ice swirl into a stream of sweltering desire.

Bobby Reynolds is smitten the moment the storm-ravaged woman opens her eyes. Learning the truth about her origins does nothing to stop the passion from taking root in his heart, and leaves him torn between finding a way to help Lacey return to 2012 or convincing her stay with him.

A man and woman standing next to each other.

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“SIXTEEN 5 STRARS already tells a story in itself. If you love time travel this is an author you’ll want to follow.” Amazon review.

The desperation to find her way home dissolves as Lacey falls in love with a town destined to be erased from the face of the Earth, and the man who vows to protect it. Will the couple discover the key to a mysterious portal before time rips them apart? Or will their star-crossed spirits wander forever through a ghost town buried beneath the lake?

TimeTravel, RomanticSuspense

What is one of your favorite romantic locales?

Without a doubt, water inspires my romantic creativity. Beaches, waterfalls, remote islands all inspire a trip to paradise. As far as cities or countries, wherever my mind wanders conjures endless fodder.

What would you like to share with our readers?

Beneath The Lake’s heroine, Lacey Madison Montgomery, evolved as an unacknowledged descendant of Jude Deveraux’s endearing Montgomery family. I hope the character lives up to her inspiration.

I’d love for everyone to take a moment to watch my trailer.

My other books include the award winning Destiny Series, five novelette with a twist endings, and Wingless Butterfly, a memoir sparked by discovering a maze of secrets in my past. For more information, please visit my Amazon Author Page.