Hayley McAllister is the fiercely determined and focused successor of her Father’s international company. With a pair of unusual green eyes and a usually reserved and somewhat cold outlook on life, which had earned her the nickname the ‘Ice Queen’, she has vowed to never let any man turn her into a ‘love-sick-schoolgirl’, until the day the dark and devastatingly sexy Shay Maraschino steps into her world, shattering the ice and taking her sanity and half of her company, with her Father’s blessing.

Determined to get rid of the man she sees as a threat and an outsider, she loses herself in his fiery eyes and delicious body instead, letting him take her to heights she had never known possible and showing her a world she could never have imagined.

Until proof of the ultimate betrayal lands on her desk and her reaction causes a chain of events and a lifelong shocking secret to be revealed that turns her entire world upside down.

What genre is this?
Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction.

Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love Unexpected Partners.
Can I say if you love a good story, wine, sassy, strong woman, good men, wine, spice, coffee…and did mention wine…you’ll love this book … probably not what you were looking for though…

No no no, that’s perfect. But you can name some similar authors, if you like.
If you like Louise Bagshawe and/or Nora Roberts, you’ll love this book.

Tell us about Hayley and Shay.
Hayley McAllister – total powerhouse; worked her butt off to get to where she is, and has earned respect for it, but useless when it comes to emotional connections – seems to focused, aloof or even cold for it. but like most of us, there is an insecure side to her that she keeps well hidden.

Shay Maraschino – successful, driven, charmer with a bit of dark in him; just the way we like them. a little arrogant and lot of sexiness. Past has taught him to be go for what you wants, and he assumes he knows exactly what type of woman Hayley is.

How much of you – or the person you wish you were – is in Hayley?
Mmm … anyone that knows me or has read my bio, will probably be stuffing their finger in my face right now, going “you’re Hayley…or you use to be Hayley…before…” So I’ll have to be honest and say, this character in particular has a lot of me in her…

In what way? Tell us about yourself.
Um…this is a harder question to answer than most people would think…which version of me would you like to know about?

There’s more than one of you?
Right now, I’m probably half powerhouse, uber-driven manager, with all the ambitious and foot stomping tendencies that go with that…then half ‘insecure-Indie-Author-in-progress-of-self-discovery’…and then off road bike riding mom and wife with a farm and four crazy dogs all the time…

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.sternakruger.com.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@SternaKruger
www.facebook.com/sternakindieauthor.

Tell us about this series.
Unexpected Partners is the first book in the Unexpected Series, with the second – Unexpected Love, being released in October and the third, Unexpected Strangers, hopefully November, so yes, please read all of them!

The story is connected…nice little saucy secret in there…

How easily do new storylines come to you? If we give you four random words – Man, Woman, Airport, Darkness – can you give us a brief storyline?
…if I think of a great one can I use it for my next series?

He knew she was safe, that was all that mattered to Ltn Avery Carter; fighting a war that he did not believe in, against a man-made enemy that no one understood. The world as we know it was not a safe place anymore, and the only hope for mankind rest with an elite few chosen to be flown to SLAFH, aka Safe Living Area For Humans.

Clara had a gift, or rather a great bit of knowledge that came with studying the man-made enemy before they had even struck, she had known, even before it had happened, but no one wanted to listen then.

Now Clara is on her way to SLAFH, with orders to try and stay one step ahead of the man-made enemy while the love of her life is left fighting for the human’s survival in the darkness.

But Clara has discovered something at the airport , something so profound that it could mean savior to them all, if only she could get away from the other members of SLAFH and help her people.