Arts & Entertainment

With New Novel, Local Author Entertains Non-Traditional Romance Fans

Three Village author Terri Herman-Poncé has crafted a 'paranormal romantic suspense' story.

Most published authors will tell you not to read the reviews. Terri Herman-Poncé has broken that rule.

"They tell you not to read the reviews because sometimes you take them too personally, but I can’t help it," she said. "It’s kind of nice to see the feedback. ... It really is nice to see people who are entertained by something you’ve created."

But Herman-Poncé has nothing to worry about anyway: the reviews of her latest novel, Covet – which she describes as a "paranormal romantic suspense" story – have been positive.

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The Reading Café called Covet an "amazing story of suspense, mystery and past life regression." Author Shelley K. Wall called it "a creative story of past lives, past loves, and past dangers that will keep you reading until the very end," and nine Amazon reviewers gave it four- or five-star ratings.

Covet, the second novel from Herman-Poncé, tells the story of a man named David Bellotti, whose espionage mission leads him to the discovery that "his life isn’t what it seems and that the people in it are keeping dangerous information from him," Amazon writes. The idea of reincarnation – embodied in a romance that has survived past life after past life – is a central concept in the story.

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While her debut novel, In This Life, was in the works for about eight years, Herman-Poncé said, Covet came together in about 10 months. She said she still sometimes finds herself up against writer's block.

"You just have to let your imagination take you, and that sometimes is hard," said Herman-Poncé, a Three Village resident since 1986. "I’m too much of a perfectionist, so I try to want to get things right the first time, but after all these years I still have to just let go. ... The editing is easy."

In This Life and Covet are part of her "Past Life" series, but each can be read on their own as an individual story. The works don't fall into the typical romance genre: "My books have a romantic element, but it just clicked," Herman-Poncé said. "They were looking for unique and different, not necessarily a formula in the romance genre. I’m not formula, but because I have that romantic element in there, it worked."

Among her influences is mystery writer Robert Crais. "I just think he’s so damn good at what he does," she said. "There’s a saying: There’s a difference between good writing and great writing. Good writing sounds like writing, and great writing tells a story. And he knows how to tell a story."

Up next for Herman-Poncé: More on the way in her "Past Life" series. For now, though, she works in the field of corporate communications and professional training.

"I would love to do this every day and earn a living at it," she said. "If that never happens, at least I can say I get to do my writing. I enjoy it so much I could never give it up."

Covet is published by Crimson Romance. Visit Terri Herman-Poncé online at http://terriponce.com, find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Terri.Ponce.Author, or follow her on Twitter at @TerriPonce.


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