Guest Author Day with June Kramin/contest

Welcome to my Reading Nook, June Kramin. Please make yourself at home and let my cabana boys get you a drink.

Thanks for having me again, Dawn.  Love your wait staff!

Comfortable? Wonderful. Now let’s get started.

To get us started can you tell us a little about what you are working on or have coming out? 

My May release, Money Didn’t Buy Her Love, was a lot of fun for me. As usual, I let the characters run the show. After fleeing her wedding, Danielle quite literally runs into Jeremy. He takes her back to his place so she can call someone, only she doesn’t, and refuses to leave. As the days pass, Jeremy finds it harder to fight off her passes and claims of falling in love with him. 

Besides having almost ten years on her, Jeremy discovers the family secret she had been trying to hide. She’s loaded. Despite every tactic her father throws at her and an ex-fiancé who refuses to let her go, Dani stakes her claim to the only thing she has ever truly wanted in her life and fights to make Jeremy hers.

When I saw my son & DIL’s wedding pictures, I stopped at the one on the cover. “OMG! You are so in touch with your inner-Dani here!”  I had to use it and make my son pose like a previous model I had chosen. It will probably always be my favorite cover. I’m glad edits were done or I would have had to do it with closed eyes on my more “steamy” scenes. LOL

How would you describe yourself using only five words? 

Insert the word “lunatic” & ask word to give you 4 synonyms.

If you could write a warning label for yourself as a person or an author, what would it say? 

A caution tape with “writer at work” should suffice. Yes, you’re all in my novel. Killed off some of you, actually.

Do you have any guilty pleasures? 

Cheese & cheese. It goes with everything!!

Name one thing readers would be surprised to know about you. 

I think after the 1^st year of my blog, any surprises were gone. I’m pretty much an open book. My “tramp stamp” is no longer a secret, my birthday scares everyone (6/6/66), and I’m pretty much the one your mother warned you about.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? 

That’s a really good question. We’re looking at moving & just can’t figure that out. I grew up in Hawaii so “tropical paradise” has already been checked off. I’m open to suggestions.

How do you get yourself in the mood to write? 

I really don’t. When it hits me – it hits hard. I reread a half page or so from the day before & keep on going. Writing is the one part I really enjoy. Stories usually offer themselves to me & I always love my characters, so getting things down isn’t a problem. I have an unfair advantage with my work day so I’m always happy to get at it.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing? 

The only constant I need is silence. I’m hopeless at signing along with my Pandora stations. Customers have complained: “It’s like a morgue in here.” I reply: “Nuh-uh. There’s pretty nice elevator music in a morgue.” Yes, I’d sing along with that, too.

Who are some of your favorite authors? 

There are 2 that I buy immediately. John Sandford & William Kent Krueger. By chance, they are both MN authors, too. I read a lot of books by friends and have found some amazing reads in every genre. Kelly Meding is one you really have to read.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for? 

Gah. Can’t single out any one book. I deal with 3 publishing houses & a lot of friends from a writing forum. I can’t tell you how hard it is to pick my next read.

Is there something special you do to celebrate when one of your books is released? 

Not really anymore. The 1^st couple releases, hubby had a bottle of champagne & a cake when I got home. Now I kinda get, “Did you update all the sites with your new release?” “Yes.” “Beer?” “No thanks. Gonna shower.” LOL

Do you have a favorite TV show you can't miss? 

We cancelled TV about 7 years ago. There just wasn’t anything on we wanted to watch. I did catch an ad for Once Upon a Time & had to get on Hulu to watch it. The theme reminded me of my middle grade series. From there, I had to watch Grimm.  I love fairy tale re-told stories. Castle & Office are about it besides those.

If you could date any character from any book, who would it be and why-no it doesn't have to be from your books?

My answer would have to be Lucas Davenport from John Sandford’s Prey novels. He’s a man-whore but I love him. Of course, this would have to be a few years ago. He’s married now & Weather would kick my butt.

What is the strangest source of writing inspiration you’ve ever had?

It’d really be tough to nail down any one thing. It seems like my brain is always on the lookout to make my past & every day into a book. I watched a pregnant lady “waddle” down the street & immediately wrote a great scene into what I was working on at the time. One week, everything made it into my novel. From my sister in law setting off a smoke detector while cooking to my son’s in-laws taking in a boxer to be its foster home. One of my favorite books, Double Mocha, Heavy on Your Phone Number, came from my hubby telling me about helping a guy stranded with his stalled motorcycle. I changed it to a girl, wrote a few pages – the entire story build from there. I stopped at a stop sign and imagined someone running out in front of me. When I put it to paper, the person suddenly had a wedding dress on and Money Didn’t Buy Her Love was born. I guess everything is waiting to be a story. You just need the right characters & their colored pasts to fit it all together

If your muse were to talk behind your back, what secrets would he/she tell?

She’d probably complain that I kept her boxed up for so long. Too much time between being told I would be a writer to when I finally made it happen. Ah-ha! That’s what those voices were in my head all these years! *whew*

Anything else you want to add? 

http://www.junekramin.com/

http://www.facebook.com/JuneKramin

http://about.me/june.kramin

http://www.beforehappilyeverafter.com/

https://twitter.com/junekramin

Money Didn't Buy Her Love by June Kramin

 A billion reasons not to fall in love, but only two hearts matter.

Trying to get his bearings on an unfamiliar street and not paying attention, Jeremy slams his breaks to avoid hitting the most beautiful bride he has ever seen. When Danielle climbs in his truck, he assumes she’s in a hurry to get to her wedding; he didn’t realize she was escaping one. He agrees to let her return to his apartment so she can call for help, only she refuses to leave.

 As the days pass, Jeremy finds it harder to fight off her passes and claims of falling in love with him. Besides having almost ten years on her, Jeremy discovers the family secret she had been trying to hide. How could the daughter of a billionaire settle for a plumber living paycheck to paycheck?

 Despite every tactic her father throws at her and an ex-fiancé who refuses to let her go, Dani stakes her claim to the only thing she has ever truly wanted in her life and fights to make Jeremy hers.

Excerpt:

“Exactly who the hell are you, Dani? Paris Hilton?”

She walked to a bench then sat down. “We’re doing this sooner than I hoped.”

“What’s your last name?”

Again she sighed. “Houseman.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“I wish I was.”

Jeremy sat down, afraid his knees would give away. “You’re… your dad is… Dani that’s…” He couldn’t form a proper sentence and opted to shut up.

“That’s pretty much how everyone reacts. It was nice while it lasted.” She went to stand up, but he held her hand and pulled her back down.

“First of all, nothing about this was nice, so cut the crap. You pretty much kidnapped and raped me… twice on that second one.”

She managed a giggle.

“I’m sorry I was a stammering idiot. I guess I’ve never been in the presence of a billionairess before. My humble plumbing and heating ass feels a little put to shame.”

She rested her cheek to his chest; he wrapped an arm around her. “I liked that you liked me for me, not who I was.”

“I don’t like you. What are you talking about?”

She gave him a playful slap on his chest. “You were starting to like me. Admit it.”

“Maybe I finally got to where I could tolerate your two a.m. jumpings.”

Again she laughed. “What Blake and I had was practically a medieval arranged marriage. His family is even more loaded than mine. I didn’t date much before him because I was always under lock and key. I was damn lucky I didn’t have a chastity belt put on me. If I was out with family without him, everyone swooned over me like a trophy. They wanted to date me because of who I was.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. You’re gorgeous.”

“You never said you like the way I look.”

“Am I dead? Come on, Dani. You have to know how beautiful you are.”

“I don’t think anyone has told me that – not anyone who didn’t want something from me, anyway.”

“Well then, I guess you can take my compliment off your list of firsts.”

“Why? You don’t want anything from me.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” He moved her off his chest and stood up.

She followed him up. “You do like me. I knew it!”

“You are certifiable – a total nut job, one of the pickiest eaters I have ever known… but you drive me crazy.” She tiptoed up to wrap her arms around his neck, but he stopped her and held her by the wrists. “Nothing has changed, Dani. No, wait. In fact is has. It’s worse. We are even more of a mismatch than we’ve ever been. I’m still too old for you and you still need to wake up and quit your pouting. I knew I should have stuck to my guns about us. Nothing good is going to come to me for falling for you. There’s no way your family will tolerate anything less than this Blake.”

Publisher Buy link: http://www.writersamuseme.com/junekramin.htm#864719203

(Dawn – it’s not there yet but it will be by the time this goes live. Same as amazon. I’ll just use my name page for now)

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=june+kramin