Today, we have a character interview with Trent Lancaster, the bad boy billionaire that forced Carrie Hansen into the arms of a better man in book 3 of A Long Road to Love.
Trent, welcome to the hot seat....Hold on, who are you?
Trent: I’m Trent, but you can’t tell people that, or I will
have gone through plastic surgery for nothing. And Coco’s father will hunt me
down and kill me.
Nikki: I promise not to talk to any in your world. But, I
have to say, the surgeon did a great job. I didn’t recognize you. Here’s a copy
of Trent before:
Tell me what all he the doctor did?
Nicki: A Frankenboxer?
Trent: Yes. Exactly.
But when the swelling went down, I was really pleased. I think the major change was removing the bags from my bottom lids and making them more almond shape. He also changed
my eye color from blue to brown with some medicine that has that side effect,
only with giving me thicker eyelashes. Then I stopped having my brows plucked, and I wear my hair differently. My cheeks are a bit more gaunt and my nose has a faint bump now. But I think the major change was my attitude.
Nikki: What was the medicine that changed your eye color called?
Trent: I don’t know. The surgeon had an accent that reminded
me of cats screeching, was incredibly curt and wouldn’t even tell me which face
I was going to get.
Nikki: I surprised you’d put up with that.
Trent: The old Trent would have walked out, but I refuse to be him anymore.
Nikki: That is a major change of attitude. What enabled you
to change so significantly.
Trent: The loss of Carrie. The day she wanted an explanation
for the expose in Gossep magazine, I did a really stupid thing out of
desperation. I thought if I could only make love to her, she’d forgive me. But
she was past forgiving, only I could face reality, so I persisted in
trying to make love to her. My half-brother Sam pulled me out of the
limo to stop me. That moment I hated what I had become. I couldn’t be that
man any more. I had almost raped the ONLY woman who had ever loved me.
Nikki: You're lucky Carrie was so gentle, because you would have fared much worse if you had done have the stuff you did with me.
Trent: I had reasons. Coco’s father, Theo
DeCannon, said he’d destroy Carrie’s life if I didn’t drop her and marry Coco. Still I was wrong to hurt so many people. I could have just let Carrie go. Then DeCannon would have left her alone. But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t give up the one good thing in my life because I always thought of my wants and my needs first.
Nikki: Wow, you’ve really changed.
Trent: I finally understood the fundamental flaws that made
everyone hate me…my selfishness, my lack of compassion, my arrogance, and my
explosive temper when things didn’t go as I wanted. A priest took me back to
his church and after a rather long confession, we talked until late in the
night on how I could become a better man, like St. Francis of Assisi.
Nikki: He was also a rich, spoiled young man who discovered
a better life caring for others.
Trent: I’ll admit I first misunderstood the priest, and
thought Francis was a sissy, but my lawyer straightened me out.
Nikki: And how is your transformation going?
Trent: Really well. Whenever I feel like yelling, I channel
Carrie instead of my father. It turns out charm and persuasion move people much
better than bullying and threats. And
now people smile when they see me, and they like me. The whole town likes
me! Being liked is a heady and addictive
feeling.
I could never go back to the man I was. I have truly become Trevor
Campbell.
Nikki: Have you met any young woman?
Trent: *sighs* I have. Only problem is she’s Sam’s girl.
Nikki: Sam…why is he in your new life?
Trent: He quit and left town with my limo and credit card
before I faked my suicide. Once I recovered from my plastic surgery, I tracked
him down by the credit card bills to a small town in Iowa. He's the sheriff, which is a perfect job for him. He pulled me over right away and was going to give me a ticket. I didn't care, I was so happy to discovered he's a jerk to everyone, not just me. He ended up not giving me a ticket because he liked me right
off. Even sent me to a bar his girlfriend Dani owned so I’d have a room.
Nikki: And in return, you stole his girl?
Trent: No, I'm trying to keep them together, but Sam is
unhappy, and when a Lancaster gets unhappy, they screw everything in sight.
*Trent sighs*
He’s
so much like me. But no matter how much I love Dani, I would never steal her
away. I like having my brother back with me, even if he only thinks of me as a
friend.
Nikki: Well, I can see why he didn’t recognize you. You
haven’t just changed your looks; you've changed your entire outlook in life.
Trent: I had to. And given how happy I am now, I
will never regress. My life is fabulous now.
Climbing Out
of Hell
Book 4 of
the series
A Long Road
to Love
Romantic
Comedy
Billionaire Trent Lancaster has destroyed his
relationship with the only woman who ever loved him. Now we discover the full
truth of what happened.
He actually had reasons for his behaviors.
Still, there is no going back. Trent has lost Carrie
forever, but he would rather die than marry Coco, so he does just that. Trent
gives away most of his possessions, fakes his death, and starts over with a new
face and a better attitude in a small town in Iowa where his half-brother Sam
is sheriff.
Losing his true love has fundamentally broken Trent to
his core. His only chance for happiness is to become the better man Carrie
had always seen inside him.
True change is not easy. Can Trent grow up and become
a man we can love?
Excerpt
“Stop it! Get off of me!”
Carrie screamed.
Trent couldn’t lose the only
woman who had ever loved him. He covered her protest with his mouth, certain if
they made love, everything would right itself.
As he fumbled with the zipper
of her pants, the limo jerked to the right and came to a halt. Seconds later,
someone yanked him out and slung him to the sidewalk. He stared up at his
half-brother storming around the car, returning to the driver’s seat.
Tires squealed as the car
pulled out in traffic. Once the vehicle disappeared from sight, Trent focused
on himself. His right knee seared with pain and his head throbbed from slamming
against the concrete. He sat up, so people would stop walking over him. New
York City pedestrians were like marching ants. They stopped for nothing.
He stared at the four lanes
of bumper-to-bumper honking traffic.
Carrie and his limo were
gone.
Along with everything good in
his world.
For one glorious month, life
had been perfection. Well, he’d thought the first week was hell, but compared
to his life now, it had been Nirvana.
He’d lost Carrie forever,
broken a love he’d thought impervious to damage. Due to a stupid error he’d
made months before, a cascade of problems had rained upon him. Trying his
hardest, he still failed to protect her from the blow back.
Tears streamed down his
cheeks for all to see. Normally, he’d be horrified to allow common people to
gawk at him, but his self-respect and pride had been stripped away when Sam had
to pull him from his limo to save Carrie.
From him.
He’d almost raped her—the
only woman he had ever wanted. He thought if they made love, she would forgive
everything he’d done. But he had broken the unbreakable and she wanted nothing
more to do with him.
He buried his face in his
hands and sobbed, knowing there was no way back to his month of happiness.
Everything good in his life was gone.
A gentle hand touched his
shoulder. His heart leapt in joy. Carrie had returned and forgiven him. But,
no. He stared up at an old man in black—a priest—studying him with concern.
“Are you ill? Do you need help?”
He opened his mouth,
intending to declare himself beyond help, but stopped. Maybe the man could be of assistance. “I think I need
an exorcism.”
Links
Just Released May 1, 2014
Book Four of the series:
A Long Road to Love
Climbing out of Hell
Other books in the A Long Road to Love series
Book One
Worst Week Ever
“Love this book and couldn't stop laughing from beginning to end.”
5 stars – Alves - Amazon
Book Two
Oh Stupid Heart
“Be warned though, this book is completely different from The
Worst Week Ever. Yes, there is still humor, dry wit, situations that you would
think...NOT AGAIN but this one humanizes Trent more.” 5 stars - Brian’s Mom –
Amazon
Book Three
Coming to Reason
Once again, Ms. O’Connor has written a brilliant book about the
complexities of relationships, good and bad. Again, to me, the book is the best
break up book EVER and it left my heart singing in the end. Best.Book.Ever…
Other Books by Liza O’Connor
Liza O’Connor
Author Bio:
Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They
hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an
adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New
Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white
sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and
raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur
photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her
entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to
create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens.
FOR MORE
INFORMATION ABOUT
LIZA O'CONNOR & UPCOMING BOOKS:
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to enter the Rafflecopter for the $50 Gift Card.
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each stop 1 commenter who requests a book and leaves their email will win one
of the following:
Worst Week
Ever
Oh Stupid
Heart
Coming to
Reason
Ghost Lover
Trent! Dude! Your face is so hot! But almost raping someone? Not cool!
ReplyDeleteHe knows that. There is no forgiveness for what he almost did.
DeleteGreat interview. I can't wait to read more in Climbing out of Hell. I hope it has a HEA :)
ReplyDeleteIt has a fabulous one.
DeleteAwesome interview with so much insight to Trent. I love seeing if authors really can make me love someone I'm not so fond of and the old Trent definitely seems like he will be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteHe was. New Trevor is soooo much better.
DeleteNow we need someone to fix Sam. I don't like him very much at the moment. Can he have a new face too??
ReplyDeleteNo...there's nothing wrong with his face and no on wants to kill him, but his heart is hurt by his perceived betrayal by women. His mom, Carrie, Dawn and then Dani. I think he needs to meet a woman who had a really bad past, so he can see his mother's actions weren't so bad after all.
ReplyDeleteI have not had a chance to read any of the books in this series yet but I'll be adding them to my reading list - they sound like a fun! Thanks for the giveaway
ReplyDeleteMaria, give me your email address and I'll send you book 1 Worst Week Ever. (It's the funniest book I've ever written)
Delete