LaNora Mangano

I want to introduce you to my characters the way I envisioned them when I wrote them in the beginning.

When I come up for a book idea, and loosely plot it all out, the next thing I do is search for the perfect face to fit the image in my head.  Sometimes, I already  have a person picked out, and sometimes I find 2 or 3 faces that works and then I weed out the few who doesn't.  It's one of the things I really have a lot of fun doing and I admit, I tend to go a little crazy in my searches.  So without further ado, meet my characters in my Emergency Calls Series. 

LOVE OVER TROUBLED WATERS

The first two characters you meet is hunky Fireman and Para rescue Jake Madison.  He jobs is to rappel from a helicopter line, that happens to be swinging a little on the wild side.  He's trying to rescue the woman, whose car fell into the river after the bridge collapsed.

Maggie Connors is the person who happened to be driving on that bridge during a storm when it decided to crumble underneath her, plunging both her and her car in the river below.  Maggies manages to escape the vehicle without drowning but she get pretty beat up by all of the debris in the river as it tumbles and pushes her downhill.  When Jake makes one last heroic effort to save Maggie, he succeeds but she's barely clinging on to life.  Find out more inLove Over Troubled Waters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE UNKNOWN SON:

So when I envisioned, para rescueman, Scotty Hartford, my imediate image was Wentworth Miller "Prison Break" without all of the tats.  Just that youthful, handsome face, that also seems genuine and thoughtful.  With muscles!  So I used this picture as my focal point for fleshing out his character.  It was difficult for me to find the perfect Aly.  She had to be 29 years old (max 30) and was a single parent which suggest that she often went without many things so that her son could have it all.  This is the image I settled for.  I wasn't looking for beautiful.  I wanted her to seem like she was once a sweet teenage girl from this small town, long ago and now she's back home, with a surprise.    The biggest surprise to me is that my cover artist nailed the look I had in head for years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES - BOOK THREE

I really struggled between two different images for Chief Noah Baird.  I held both images aside for most of the book until I had to finally pick one to finish writing his story and I chose this one.  He was a little bit older than the other one and he gave me the man who would have more demanding and leadership qualities.  Finding Reporter, Shayna Allen, was pretty easy.  I knew that I wanted her image to portray a pretty face on a serious mission.  One who could be both hard and soft, but above all driven.  Noah and Shayna clashed at every emergency site because, she tries to get up close and personal to the action to report it, while Noah tries to make sure she stays a safe distance away to avoid getting hurt or in the way.  Lives are changed forever, once Lightning Strikes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TO CLAIM HIS HEART - BOOK FOUR

Helicopter pilot Ben Jamerson, retired military, and firemen picture was spot on.  The first time I saw him, I knew that he was my Ben, and I never waivered from him.  Ben was one of my favorite characters to write since beginning the series.  Ben is soft spoken, very laid back, yet confident in who he is and what he wants.  Enters Alex (Alexis) Davidson who blows him away with her beauty, her intelligence and her tradesmen training.  She was the last thing he expected when he flew over the flood damaged town to pick up the insurance representatives to assess the damages and offer settlements.

I picked Mandy Moore to be my inspiration for Alex because she had the girl next door look and the know how to work about structures like the carpenter guy next door.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECOND CHANCE DINER - Book Five

I originally wrote this book as book four but after re-reading these, I decided that it fits better after Ben's story.

I'll explain why I was able to flip books around so easily a little bit later on and then you'll understand why.

 

Cal Hartford, is the older brother of Scotty Hartford, and he is a widower with a 13 year old son he's raising alone.  Cal is a good firefighter and is also second in command behind Noah.  It makes him more than nervous to be carrying around a secret crush he has on the only town's diner, waitress, Flo.  They see each other all of the time but it's never more than pleasantries and coffee or a meal.  Flo reminds Cal of Strawberry Shortcake, all grown up.

Flo has only lived in two just under five years and she loves the place and the people.  She thinks that Cal Hartford sure is cute but she knows that he doesn't date and that his deceased wife was the love of his life.  She could dream, couldn't she?  Besides, there was nothing wrong with being friends and she'll take that.  Until one magical night at a single's mingle, changed directions of both their lives.  Searching for the perfect Flo was fun becasue I just had to look for a Strawberry Shortcake all grown up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Sixth and last book in this series is "IN THE HEAT OF THE MATTER."

 

Ryan McLaughlin, firefighter and Kayla Matthews female Firefighters, are not only co workers, they are also best friends.  When Ryan is in between dating, if that is what he wants to call them, he's either drinking or relaxing with Kayla.   His biggest fear is that when he comes clean, it will mean the end of their best friend status.  So he keeps in a secret but when Kayla is almost killed at an emergency site, he has to come to grips with the very real fact that he couldn't get to her in time to save her.  Some other man, a policeman , had to step in and do what he couldn't.  In that one single moment, he lost Kayla's heart to anther man.

So this is kind of who I had in mind for Ryan and this is what I settled with for Kayla.  I can't say that I'm over the moon with her image, which means that she will  change sooner or later.  In fact, this is the book that I'm going to try my hand creating a book trailer.  Some day.  I've already asked a male model to play Ryan and he has said yes but the search for a Kayla still goes on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two characters that have secondary romances throughout two of the books and they are Chad Lowry, who we first meet when he is one of the insurance reps that comes to town to survey the damage and make settlement offers.  After he meets, Marie, another young waitress, who happens to have a smile that drops him to his knees, he knows that he wants her in his life.  He decides to take a leap and move to town and sign up to train for the fire department to stay close to Marie.
My inspiration from the beginning was Christian Kane as Chad and Vanessa Hudgeons as Marie.