Thursday, January 5, 2012

Today's Special - - Kat Martin

It's our pleasure today to welcome Kat Martin back to The Romance Dish!  HOT RAIN, a romantic suspense book from Kat was re-released this week and today, she's here to tell us about a real-life adventure of her own.  Take it away, Kat!











MY MEXICAN ADVENTURE
by Kat Martin

This January, one of my earlier romantic suspense novels is being re-released, a personal favorite--HOT RAIN.  A portion of the book takes place in the jungles of Mexico.  In the book, Jake Dawson is an undercover agent on a very dangerous job, but Allie Parker believes he’s one of the murdering drug dealers holding her prisoner aboard their yacht headed for Mexico.  Thinking about the book started me reminiscing...remembering my first trip across the border.

I was a college student at the University of California in Santa Barbara.  Being from a small town, my first time living away from home and never been to a foreign country, I was extremely naive.  A group of us decided we were going down to Ensenada, which as the most adventurous thing I had ever done.  I remember the beautiful coastline and going to the famous Hussong’s Cantina.  I remember walking on the beach and drinking margaritas and laughing and just having a wonderful time.  

There were a mix of guys and gals on the trip, friends from the dorm where we all lived.  Everything was going great until it was time to go home.  Just as we approached the border, one of the guys--his name was Toby, I think--a big guy with his leg in a cast to mid-thigh, leaned down and said, “I hope they don’t search us.  The hubcaps are full of firecrackers and they’re illegal.”

I remember thinking ohmygod, and then, what a bunch of dofusses, but my heart kicked up a little, having heard stories of people being thrown into Mexican jails and not getting out for years.  

I was telling myself it was no big deal when one of the border guards asked Brian, the driver, if we were bringing anything back into the country.  Brian must have looked guilty when he said no because the border patrol guard waved the car over to the side, and we all got out, and the guards started searching the car.  

My heart was beating pretty hard by the time they found the first stash of fireworks, and border patrol was not pleased.  They asked if we had any more, the guys lied again, and the guards continued to search, taking the car apart piece by piece and finding firecrackers hidden everywhere.  

They were furious.  I was petrified by now, in a cold sweat, and if someone had asked me my name, I couldn’t have told them.

This went on for a good half hour (or maybe it was only ten minutes that seemed like an hour) until one of the girls said, “You guys tell them where the rest of the firecrackers are right now!  Before we get into serious trouble!”

So the boys finally relented and gave up the cherry bombs, bottle rockets, roman candles and everything else.  Some of my tension began to ease.  My heart was starting to beat almost normally as we walked toward the car, then good old Toby leaned down and said,
“Good thing they didn’t strip search us--you wouldn’t believe what I’ve got stuffed in my cast.”

How I made it to the car on those wobbly legs I’ll never know.  I was so scared I was shaking.  To this day, I have no idea what Toby might have had hidden inside his plaster cast or if he was just being funny.  I remember he did have a wicked sense of humor.
Over the years, I’ve only been back to Mexico a couple of times, but writing HOT RAIN gave me a chance to live a high action adventure vicariously through Allie and Jake.  If you haven’t read the book, I hope you’ll give HOT RAIN a try and that you enjoy it.  Very best wishes for a great 2012.   

~Kat  

Tell us about an adventure you've had!  Kat's giving away a Kindle edition of HOT RAIN to one randomly selected person who leaves a comment on today's blog.

18 comments:

  1. Hi Kat! Welcome back! Love that cover on HOT RAIN. It sure would make me take a second look!

    I'm working this morning but will pop back in later to chat with everyone.

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  2. i must admit that i dont like adventure ;(

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  3. I had an interesting situation that happened with my parents. We went on a family vacation to Canada. My mother fell in love with some flowers outside the cabin we were staying in and got permission to uproot some to take home, she also uprooted some natural blueberry plants. Needless to say when we got to the US/Canada border they asked us to declare things and my dad said ...well...the problem ended up being with the US side of the border and mom had to surrender her legally gotten but still foreign plants...that's about the biggest adventure I've had traveling...lol

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  4. Hi Kat nice to see your here. I have been seeing this book around and it looks really good. Can't wait to read it.

    I haven't had any big adventures lately other then in books.

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  5. Hello and welcome, Kat! Congrats on your rerelease! :)

    Thanks for sharing your adventure with us! I haven't had any adventures like yours, but may when I go on a cruise this summer...or maybe I should hope to NOT have one. lol

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  6. There are a lot of people who don't, Eli. No worries! ;-)

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  7. Oh my goodness, Maria! I hope your mom wasn't too sad!

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  8. Virginia, books are the best place for an adventure. You can't get into trouble that way!

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  9. Good morning, guys! Lots of great comments. I think Andrea is right--the best place for an adventure is in a book! I love to travel, so have had a few pretty exciting/scary moments...like getting lost in the subway in Vienna! Worth it. Though I would rather things went a little more smoothly. I love action adventure novels and tend in that direction myself whenever possible. Hope you like Hot Rain

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  10. Most of my adventures involve getting lost. I have a terrible sense of direction. It's legendary.

    On my last trip to Europe I got myself lost in the narrow passageways of Venice. If you have ever been to Venice you know that there is a labyrinth of narrow streets, many which lead to dead ends and water. I got really turned around and had no idea where I was. I heard singing and decided to follow it. I ended up at an ancient building. It turns out that people were rehearsing for the opera La Traviata. The first show was that night. I decided to buy tickets and came back for the production. It was a fun discovery that would never have happened if I hadn't gotten lost.

    geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com

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  11. Hi Kat! I have been getting your newsletter with excerpts of Hot Rain and have to have it! I absolutely your books. I guess my most famous adventure was when we were in Alaska when I was 16 and it was the4th of July. Our cara had broken down, so my dad had gone to Whitehorse to get it fixed. My mom, brother, and I got a brilliant idea to take a 6 mile walk and take little American flags with us. We were walking along the road (forest all around us) and singing Yankee Doodle and waving our little flags. A sled dog came running out of the bush (what they call their huge forests), circled around us several times, and sunk it's teeth into my left leg around the knee. It didn't hurt and I didn't say anything, but mom asked if it had bitten me. When dad got back, we went to the local hospital, and I got a tetanaus shot.

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  12. Hi Kat! Good to see you again! Wow, that is some story. I would have been scared to death. And then I would have beat Toby!! :-)

    I'm pretty low key so I don't engage in much activity that could get me in trouble, but during a trip to Israel I did get into with two Israeli peddlers. It ended with both of them calling me a stupid American and with me jumping on the tour bus. LOL!

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  13. Foreign adventures are amazing. I've been in those narrow, narrow streets of Venice. My umbrella got stuck between the two sides of the street!
    Kathy-- are you sure you didn't get bit by a wolf? Lots of them up there--they look a lot like sled dogs! Love to see Israel sometime. kat

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  14. Hi Kat! Just have to say love your books! My biggest adventure was driving to Florida to go to Disney World and being in a tropical storm a few years ago all it did was rain and rain and rain. We were so disappointed but what can you do..We didnt' even see one character at the park...Good luck with your new book..

    Donna

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  15. Kat, I was told the best way to see Venice is to get lost. My niece and I did just that and had a wonderful time!

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  16. Hi Kat,
    I'm another lover of all your books. This cover is really great. And yes, the safest and best place for adventure is through books.I haven't had any experiences lately . But I can remember going to the Drive -in theater with about 8 people, 4 of them in the trunk. As we drove in to pay the attendant said "anyone inside that trunk(everyone did it) and one of the girls immediately started crying and saying I knew they shouldn't have hidden in the trunk now we're probably going to jail..Amidst groans and being scared to death the attendant actually started laughing and waved us through. He thought she was joking. That was the last time I got involved in a prank.I was shaking too hard with thoughts of my Dad having to come bail me out of jail. lol
    Hot Rain is already on my TRL. Thanks so much for the opportunity to win.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  17. Welcome, Kat. Love your books, but have only read the historicals. This sounds like a good contemporary to start with. Your AGAINST series is at the top of my Wish List.

    I was in the Peace Corps for three years and had some wonderful adventures. One who's memory can still wake me in a sweat happened in Indonesia on my way home. I was traveling by train heading out of Jakarta across the island towards Bali. It was listed as the tourist train, but arrived at my stop at 2 or 3 AM. The train station was not in town and to this day I have no idea how far out it was. I was the only non-Indonesian on the train and one of only a handful of people who got off. The only transportation was the bicycle-cabs. No one spoke english and I had to negotiate a price to the place I was staying. It by the way was $5 or less a night, sort of a hostel. I finally got a price which was probably much more than it should have been. We left the station and there I was , in the middle of the jungle, pitch dark, with no idea where we were going. We finally got to the place and I didn't have the correct change to pay him. He went ballistic certain I was trying to cheat him. I was finally able to wake the owner of the house (the driver's shouting probably helped). He was able to calm the driver and paid him. About that time, I realized no one had any idea where I was other than Indonesia and that is a big country. It would have been very easy to disappear and never be found.
    I traveled like that frequently over my three years, but that was one of the few times I was really concerned. I went to visit another volunteer in a remote area once, but he wasn't there. I had to travel by bus for two or three days through a remote area to get back "home." The principal at the volunteer's school gave me a paper with his name and contact information on it as a sort of introduction for a place to stay when the bus stopped overnight. After he gave it to me he made some comment about how much trouble he would get into if they found it on my body. Big confidence builder that.

    Thanks for bringing back some good memories.

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  18. Hi Kat, it's nice to have a chance to meet you. I have not read any of your books yet, but I do hear from friends that I should. Loved the story and this might be the right time to start reading your work.

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