Living Passionately in Virginia with Cynthia Arsuaga

My name is Cynthia Arsuaga and I have the honor of presenting Virginia, the state I was born, grew up and found love and married.

I’m an author who went the romance route because I grew up with the “Virginia is for Lovers” brand, it only seemed appropriate I follow through with writing in the genre. Let me tell you a little about Virginia, because the newer slogan is “Live Passionately” which sums everything I do perfectly.

Although I no longer live in Virginia, I still call her my home, my family roots are buried deep there. Born into a career U.S. Navy family, I lived in Virginia for three months until moving to California. Didn’t have

much of a choice as a baby, but duty called for my daddy. After nine years and a few more moves, he finally got orders back to Virginia, Virginia Beach to be exact. I met and married my husband, who also was in the Navy, and we moved around a few times before we finally settled in Florida a few years back. Virginia will always be my home because of her rich history, beautiful scenery from beaches to mountains, country and metropolitan and my family is there.

Without getting into a long dissertation of a history lesson, because believe me I could fill pages worth and most have heard the basic information before, I’ll share how I was impacted by other little known facts about Virginia and Virginia Beach in particular on the contemporary side of history.

The history of Virginia Beach, Virginia, goes back to the Native Americans who lived in the area for thousands of years before the English colonists landed at Cape Henry and established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown a few weeks later. The Colonial Virginia period extended until the American Revolution, and the area has been part of the Commonwealth of Virginia ever since.

Since 1634, the area known today as Virginia Beach has been part of the same unit of local government, except for 11 years. In 1952, when 2-square-mile (5.2 km2) resort Town of Virginia Beach became an independent city, followed by the rest of Princess Anne County which whom it was reunited and politically consolidated by mutual approval of residents to form a new independent city in 1963. Selecting the better-known name of the oceanfront strip area, Virginia Beach has since grown to become the most populated of the city in Hampton Roads, which are each linked by the Hampton Roads Beltway which crosses the harbor of Hampton Roads through two large bridge-tunnels.

I decided to locate my first book in Virginia Beach. As setting, I’ve used several landmarks, real street names and neighborhoods throughout Virginia. I’ve even brought out some of the political goings-on which I witnessed first-hand during the time I dipped my toes into the pool. Of course, there aren’t any vampires in Virginia Beach, at least I don’t think there are, but I sure am having fun acclimating them into real life of the state.

The first book, Born to Be Wild, the heroine begins in Florida and travels to Virginia Beach, tracking a rogue vampire. She’s a bounty hunter on her first solo hunt and teams up with the local Enforcer of the Blood Family of the Mid-Atlantic. The second book, Born to Play, introduces the Master and Commander of the Blood Family and his new love. The underlying story line from book one continues the series with Born Again in Dreams, set in Miami.  With the fourth novel, I return to Virginia Beach with an exotic dancer and the new enforcer, a cowboy vamp from the west. Born Trouble is set for 2015release. 

Here’s an excerpt from Novel 1, Born to Be Wild:

Tilting her head, she coughed to prevent snickering at the mischievous thoughts running through her mind. “And why not, you don’t think I can handle it?”

“I don’t think you’ll like it. It’s an acquired taste,” the stranger said, a slight chuckle to his voice.

Turning to Derek, she said, “I’ll have the house special.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The bartender snickered watching the stranger for approval to proceed. As if there were an unspoken signal given between the two men, the lad turned to fix the drink for Alex.

“I’m Alexandra Carlton. By the way, my friends call me Alex.” She extended her hand.

“I think I will call you Alexandra. Alex sounds like a man, and you are definitely not a man.” Grasping her hand, he brought the palm to his lips, kissing it. The warmth of his lips made her blood rush.

All my books are available at Secret Cravings Publishing, and are intended for mature audiences only.

If you meet the age requirements, you can visit me here:

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