SHOT ACROSS THE BOW
By Julie Ann Walker
Book Five in the Deep Six series
Release Date: November 29, 2021
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julie Ann Walker delivers perfect pulse-pounding romantic suspense! The former Navy SEALs of Deep Six Salvage thought they could retire to the sea and hunt for treasures of the deep, but when trouble comes to visit, there’ll be hell to pay.
Former Navy SEAL Spiro “Romeo” Delgado is six-plus feet of high-octane charm, and he has two hard and fast rules. One, always come to the rescue of those in need. And two, never give up his fast and furious bachelor ways. But when Mia Ennis joins Deep Six Salvage on the hunt for the Santa Cristina, her mesmerizing blend of brains, beauty, and bravery makes him question everything he thought he wanted in life.
Mia’s traumatic past has taught her to keep everyone she meets at arm’s length. But Romeo, with that body that is forever tensed for action and that dark gaze that tracks her every move, makes her feel safe in a way she never expected. Yet the secret she carries compels her to keep her distance—even as the past comes back to haunt them.
A harrowing plane crash ends with Romeo and Mia marooned on a desert island. When a boatful of men bent on murder drop anchor, Mia discovers her only hope for survival depends on her letting her guard down around Romeo. But surrendering to the passion she feels for him might be the most dangerous thing of all…
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PRAISE FOR JULIE ANN WALKER’S DEEP SIX SERIES
“Hot men, hot action, and hot temperatures make for one hot romance!”
— BookPage
“Walker blends the tender romance of a reassuring touch with lusty sex scenes… Readers will be panting.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Julie Ann Walker and her SEALs serve up spicy fare…an exciting, spellbinding story.”
— Long and Short Reviews
Please share the opening lines of this book:
Tactical awareness…
It meant knowing all the exits in the bar. Having a close approximation of how many people were inside making merry. And recognizing the two guys in the corner drinking whiskey and wearing ten-gallon cowboy hats carried concealed weapons in calf holsters under their Wranglers—Texans, ya gotta love ’em.
For Spiro “Romeo” Delgado, tactical awareness also meant knowing the exact moment Mia Ennis walked into the place.
The hairs on his arms stood up. His stomach balled into a tight fist. And the oxygen in the room was reduced by half—which was something considering Schooner Warf Bar was open air along three whole sides.
These physical symptoms caused by her mere presence were nothing new. He’d been suffering from them ever since she’d been hired on to oversee the excavation he and his former SEAL Team members and current Deep Six Salvage partners were doing on the legendary Santa Cristina. And no two ways around it, they happened because Romeo had a thing for the brainy little strawberry blonde.
Nah. Not a thing. That word didn’t come close to capturing what he felt.
It was more like he craved her like a drowning man craved air. Like a starving man craved an all-you-can-eat buffet. Like a poor man craved a winning lottery ticket.
It was a bone-deep hunger—emphasis on the ‘bone’ and the ‘deep.’
Please share a few Fun facts about this book.
I like to say it’s The Goonies (for adults) meets Six Days, Seven nights. If you like action, adventure, romance, and wonderfully quotable one-liners, this book is for you!
Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?
The hero and heroine of this book share a love for paranormal romance. There’s a scene where they reenact something they read in their favorite PNR series. It’s fun and sexy and so relatable to those of us who like to share snippets (or entire chapters) of the books we read with our partners. Plus, I love how this scene shows the hero’s and heroine’s more playful, whimsical sides.
How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?
I always say that I’m both a pantser and a plotter when it comes to writing my books. I completely fly by the seat of my pants in regards to the action and suspense arcs of each novel. But I’m a total plotter in regards to the characters.
Before I start a book, I do an in-depth character sketch of my protagonists. Not just what they look like, where they’re from, or what they sound like. But also the defining moments in their lives, their relationships with their families, their strengths and weaknesses, their insecurities and blind spots, and most definitely their motivations.
The books in the Deep Six series are fast-paced. The entire story for each novel is usually told within a day, or a few days at the most. In order for the reader to buy into, and become invested in, the characters and their story in that short amount of time, I have to make sure those characters absolutely shine on the page. Which means I have to know everything I possibly can about them.
That being said, it doesn’t matter how well I think I know them, they always surprise me at some point. Because once I start writing them, they take on a life of their own and become human. Which means they are prone to all the vagaries and whims of human nature.
Using just 5 words, how would you describe Hero and Heroin’s love affair?
Friends to lovers with DRAMA!
Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Julie grew up in a house full of women – she has three older sisters. As you can imagine, there was no lack of drama… or romance. Her mother enrolled her in a book club as soon as she began to read and it was the small spark that ignited her voracious appetite for the written word.
Because of Julie’s early immersion in literature, she found writing came quite naturally. In high school, she won multiple writing contests and was the proud senior editor of The Tiger’s Tale – her school newspaper.
During her college years, however, she longed for a challenge. “Reading and writing felt like second nature to me, so I looked for a way to flex my mental muscles,” she recalls. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, Julie began teaching advanced high school mathematics.
“I loved working with the students and facing the challenges of the classroom, but I longed for the occasional snow day when I could race to the local book store, buy two or three new novels, and curl up in front of the fire to read.”
It wasn’t until a fortuitous move to Chicago that Julie once more returned to her first passion.
Now Julie loves to travel the world looking for views to compete with her deadlines. When she’s not writing, she enjoys camping, hiking, cycling, cooking, petting every dog that walks by her, and… reading, of course!
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