PRO CONNECT
L.A. Mondello
USA TODAY Bestselling Author, Lisa Mondello, has held many jobs in her life but being a published author is the last job she'll ever have. She's not retiring! She blames the creation of the personal computer for her leap into writing novels. Otherwise, she'd still be penning stories with paper and pen. Her first book, All I Want for Christmas is You won Best First Book in the Golden Quill. Her books have finaled in the HOLT Medallion, and the Colorado Award of Excellence contests. In 2011 she re-released her award winning book All I Want for Christmas is You along with a re-issue of her romantic comedy, The Marriage Contract, with a new contemporary romance called The Knight and Maggie's Baby. In 2012 she reissued the first 3 books of her popular Western Romance Series TEXAS HEARTS including Her Heart for the Asking, His Heart for the Trusting and The More I See. Writing as LA Mondello, her romantic suspense, MATERIAL WITNESS, book 1 of her Heroes of Providence series made the USA TODAY Bestsellers List and was named one of Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Books of 2012. You can find more information about Lisa Mondello at lisamondello.blogspot.com.
“Mondello's latest, a pulse-pounding, pitch-perfect addition to the romantic-suspense genre... Terrific escapist entertainment, as good as anything in Janet Evanovich's oeuvre.”
– Kirkus Reviews
MYSTERY & CRIME
MATERIAL WITNESS
BY L.A. Mondello • POSTED ON June 6, 2012
Mondello’s latest, a pulse-pounding, pitch-perfect addition to the romantic-suspense genre.
Cassie Alvaraz, a mystery writer in Providence, R.I., is smart, funny and attractively down to earth. She’s also on deadline and in need of inspiration. In search of fresh material, Maureen, her editor, suggests that Cassie dress alluringly and hang out in an infamous underworld bar. Cassie realizes the absurdity of Maureen’s idea too late, but she still feels game after spotting hunky undercover cop Jake Santos. Jake can tell right away that Cassie is no prostitute, and if she doesn’t get herself out of the seedy dive where he’s waiting to meet an informant, she might get hurt. Just as their flirtation threatens to get heavy, gunfire rips apart the bar. When the smoke clears, a local mobster lies in a pool of blood, and Jake realizes that Cassie is the only one who got a good look at the killer. Soon, the duo is on the run with, and later without, FBI protection, and the spark they first felt at the bar slowly kindles a roaring passion. Mondello brings terrific enthusiasm to this material: Cassie, the sassy heroine, is immensely likable, Jake, the dreamboat, is also a thoughtful cop, and their passion feels genuine. Action scenes are taut, while snappy dialogue manages to be by turns tough and cute. The supporting cast provides the right number of red herrings, but the plot breaks no new ground, with the heroes racing through a series of classic witness-in-peril clichés, such as a safe house that isn’t so safe after all. In the end, the real hook is the nimble tone that shifts from breezy to thrilling and back again with masterful precision.
Terrific escapist entertainment, as good as anything in Janet Evanovich’s oeuvre.
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Sept. 5, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
ADDITIONAL WORKS AVAILABLE
All I Want for Christmas is You
Sometimes fate needs a little hand...
Santa Claus is going to have a rough season... Lauren Alexander is raising her daughter alone. Abandoned by her family for her decision to keep her daughter Kristen, she has done a pretty good job for the last six years. Or she thought she had. That's why she is crushed when little Kristen gives up her wish for a toy or goodie and instead asks Santa for a present for her mother. She wants Santa to bring a Daddy. Delivering Daddies isn't Santa's bag.
But this Santa has a plan...
Kyle Preston knows what it is like to be abandoned too. Luckily he found the support of loving adoptive parents and has turned himself into one of the most successful Real Estate developers in town.
Building a house is easy. Building someone's trust is a whole other story. But with a little helping hand, a little Christmas magic can make all the difference in the world.
Published: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 9781465962690
Her Heart for the Asking
Mandy Morgan swore she'd never step foot in Texas again after Beau Gentry left her for life on the rodeo circuit eight years before. But now her uncle's heart is failing and she has to convince him that surgery will save his life. She never dreamed the first thing she'd see when she stepped off the plane would be her biggest nightmare...the one man she'd never stopped loving.
Beau Gentry had the fever for two things: the rodeo and Mandy Morgan. But for Beau, loving Mandy was complicated by his father's vendetta against her uncle. This led him to make the hardest decision of his life and he can still see the bitterness and hurt on Mandy's face. All these years it has killed him to think Mandy had forgotten him and moved as far away as possible from him. But now they're back in Texas, and he's going to do all he can to win back her love.
Published: Feb. 7, 2012
ISBN: 9781465908490
His Heart for the Trusting
Ever since Mitch Broader set foot in Texas, he dreamed of owning his own ranch. Now that he's bought a share in the Double T Ranch, he's one step closer to the dream. Then his past greets him in the form of a baby basket, complete with infant and birth certificate naming him as the father. He can't change diapers and work toward his dream at the same time.
When Sara Lightfoot, "Miss Hollywood" in Mitch's eyes, rescues him with her particular knack for handling his precocious son, he hires her on the spot as a temporary nanny. No matter how much Sara's dark eyes and warm heart make this bachelor think of making their arrangement permanent, she's made it perfectly clear she has other plans that don't include him or his dreams.
Sara Lightfoot never thought she'd return to her home on the reservation. Now she plans to go back to the reservation as a Native American storyteller, teaching the Apache children stories of their culture. She didn't expect Mitch Broader's sexy smile or job offer as a live-in nanny to derail those plans. After all she's been through to come home, can she open up her heart once again to love?
Published: Feb. 22, 2012
ISBN: 9781466004849
Nothing But Trouble
What's a girl to do all alone with a rodeo cowboy for 1 month in the Wyoming wilderness?
Melanie Summers has something to prove! Being a zoologist is her dream and the only thing standing in the way of her going on an African expedition is her father and his fear.
So she strikes a deal. She has to spend a full month in the Wyoming wilderness and show her father she can handle being in a remote area while managing her Type 1 diabetes before he'll agree to fund the expedition to Africa and allow her to go. But her daddy isn't the only one convinced she'll fail...
But she's not about to let any man underestimate what she can do. Especially not the sexy rodeo cowboy she's hired to help get her through the month in the wilderness.
Yes, he knows what he's doing. But so does she! Yes, he's ruggedly handsome...well, he can't help that, can he? But no sexy cowboy is going to keep her down!
Stoney Buxton needs to raise cash fast to save the family ranch after a barn fire injured his father and left the family finances in ruin. Re-entering the rodeo circuit seems like the best way to get the money he needs. That is until Melanie Summers shows up at his ranch flashing easy money. To everyone else, Melanie's offer seems like the answer to all his prayers. But one look at her long legs and pouting lips and Stoney knows this high society gal is going to be nothing but trouble...for his cowboy heart.
Published: Sept. 19, 2011
ISBN: 9781465786425
The Knight and Maggie's Baby
Sometimes fate needs a little help…
Jonah Wallace knows what it’s like to grow up without love. Despite having more money than the Queen of England, his childhood was cold and stale as he grew up in boarding schools. He’s dedicated his life to helping homeless and displaced children find the love and support they need by creating the Haven House Foundation, work that resulted in him being Knighted by the Queen.
Now that he’s living in America, his work is going along just fine…until his grandfather gives fate a little nudge by insisting he take a wife before he can inherit.
Coffee shop owner, Maggie Bonelli, is pregnant and the baby’s dad has gone AWOL. She knows too well the pain of growing up without a daddy. So when Jonah Wallace comes into her shop proposing marriage for a year, she takes him up on his offer, even if it’s only for a year. Live in a mansion and give her baby a name and a daddy to call his/her own. But can they keep their perfect arraignment strictly business…or will fate’s helping hand bring them love at last?
Published: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 9781466056404
The Marriage Contract
What would you do to get a second chance at love? Sometimes fate needs a little helping hand...
When Ruthie Carvalho finds an old birthday card with a marriage proposal scribbled on the back, she figures she's hit pay dirt and is destined to get her 35 year old daughter married.
The trouble is, Ruthie can't stand Cara's boyfriend and Cara is just stubborn enough to push in the opposite direction of what her mother wants.
When Devin Michaels gets a phone call from his old friend's mom, he knows Ruthie is up to something. But he's at a crossroad. It's been 17 years since he's seen Cara and memories of their soulful talks and walks on the beach make him long to reconnect.
Going back to the seaside town of Westport Massachusetts to reconnect with Cara seems like just the thing to do. One look at Cara and the years seem to melt away. With a little help and "creative" planning from Ruthie, can these old friends become lovers and have a second chance at happiness?
Published: Sept. 1, 2011
ISBN: 9781466120518
The More I See
As a top-notch cutting horse trainer, Cody Gentry was riding high until he lost his eyesight after a freak chemical accident. Unable to see the hand in front of his face, never mind the horse or cattle he trained, he knows his life is over and slips deep into depression. His whole future hinges on the success of an eye surgery that could give him his old life back.
When guide dog trainer, Lyssa McElhannon, arrives on his ranch like Florence Nightingale coming to save him, he wants no part of her or her guide dog. But something about Lyssa's musical laugh coupled with her tenacity digs under his skin and won't let go. Having been blind most of her life, Lyssa understands the paralyzing fear Cody feels after losing his vision. But she refuses to let the stubborn cowboy waste his life away sitting in a chair when she knows first-hand that a good guide dog can change his world. She just needs one month to prove it to him.
Falling in love with Cody was not part of Lyssa's plan, nor was having him open her eyes to see that there was a whole lot of living she'd been missing.
Published: April 22, 2012
ISBN: 9781476431666