Thursday, May 9, 2013

Talking with Desiree Holt & a Giveaway

Desiree Holt, one of my favorite authors and a wonderful friend, sat down with me on her blog tour today and answered a few questions I had for her...

Please tell us about the projects you are currently working on; what can readers expect to see in the coming months?
I am currently in the process of writing Beyond Addiction, the story of a woman caught between the really bad Dom who drew her into BDSM and her current Dom who is the complete opposite and really loves her. Next up is Aftershock, sequel to Joy Ride, Lock and Load,  Book Two in my Attack Force  series, Hard to Handle, Book #5 in the  Rawhide series, and the next two books in my Night Seeker series. Also a couple of short stories in between there!

Who's more fun to write about: bad boys or perfect gentlemen and why?
Oh, bad boys, definitely. They are just so damn sexy, so punch-to-the-gut mysterious. They can turn you on with a look or a word, maybe because they are such forbidden fruit. Longish hair, simmering dark eyes, a five o’clock shadow and of course, a tattoo.

What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Mostly I read. I’ve always been an avid reader, and a fast one. I also love sports, so depending on the season my habits are dictated by the schedule of my teams. Football season is the hardest  because there are games on all the time.

What is the biggest misconception about being an author?
That we sit around in satin sleep shirt, sipping wine, can knock out stories without hardly lifting a finger and that fame comes easily. Nothing is further than the truth. We work very hard for everything, strive to make every manuscript the very best and fight like hell for recognition and sales. Come see me in my Hello Kitty yoga pants, Michigan t-shirt and no makeup and tell me how glamorous I look!

Could you tell us a little about how you develop your characters? Who has been your favorite character to write? The most challenging?
Wow. Hmm. Well, sometimes I’m inspired by someone I see, sometimes by someone I know. But the basic characters jumps into my mind and then I begin to ask questions: what does he/she like? What do they do and why? What’s close to their hearts? What do they want in a relationship? I keep building on that and my story actually develops from my character(s). I once wrote a novel based on the image of my villain who just popped into my head after seeing someone like him on the street, and I had one line for the woman he’d married: “Rot in hell, you son of a bitch.” Everything came after that.

It’s really hard to say which is my favorite character because I love so many of them, but here are a few: Grace and Ben from Rodeo Heat;  Joe from Once Upon a Wedding, Marc and Emma from Joy Ride; and Matt from Stark Naked. Hope you take the time to meet them.


About Buck Naked by Desiree Holt
Samhain Publishing

Sometimes out of the frying pan and into the fire is the best way to burn.
Naked Cowboys, Book 2
Amy Stark has it all together—except for chronic bad taste in men. She’s firmly in hands-off-all-men mode when a flat tire forces her to accept the help of exactly the type of man she’s sworn off. Arrogant, cocky and condescending.
When she runs into him again later that day and then finds out her brother has invited him for dinner, the fire between them has a sizzle of a different kind.
At eighteen, Buck Montgomery left home to make his mark on the bull-riding circuit. He may have had wild success in rodeo but his personal life is in the dust, and while he’s ready to start a new life he’s wary to expose his heart. Buck knows he should tell Amy the truth, but every time he opens his mouth, hers is right there with kisses like molten lava.
When his past resurfaces at the worst possible time, Buck can only wonder if Amy will love the man he has become…or if the man he was will chase her away.
Product Warnings: Contains barnyard language and clap-your-hands-over-your-mama’s-eyes sex between a cowboy with a checkered past and a ranch girl with all the right moves
Teaser Excerpt:
Amy ran her finger around the rim of her mug. “I understand you met our new neighbor. Buck Montgomery.” She made her voice as casual as possible.

Matt looked at her with curiosity. “Yeah, I did. How did you know?”

“I met him at the auction.” She didn’t see the need to tell him the flat-tire story, or the fact that just the short time she’d spent with him, only minutes, had given rise to erotic fantasies in her dreams that made her squirm when she remembered them. “He, uh, seems very nice.”

Her brother leaned forward on his elbows. “He is nice. He bought the Hayes Ranch and plans to increase the stock and bring it back up to the level it once was.”
“He must have a lot of money,” Reenie commented. “As we all know, ranching’s not cheap.”
Matt shifted his gaze from his wife to his sister and back again, his face nearly expressionless. “I believe he had a nest egg he cashed in. He’ll be running pretty close to the bone for a while, but I have a feeling he’ll make a success out of that place.”
“What do you know about him?” Amy asked. “Where did he come from?”
Matt laughed. “Amy, if you’re so interested, why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“Yes,” Reenie chimed in. “In fact, let’s invite him over for dinner.”
Amy drained the last of her coffee. “Are you sure that’s such a good idea? I mean, he seemed nice enough, but what do you really know about him?”
Matt snorted. “Damn, Amy, how much do I need to know to be a good neighbor? I’ve spent a little time with him twice, and I’m pretty sure he’s not an ax murderer on the loose.”
“That’s not what I meant, I just—”
“He’s a neighbor,” Matt stressed. “Since when did you become so antisocial?”
Since I had an unwanted physical reaction to the man. And dreams that I can’t seem to control.
“Fine.” She pushed back her chair. “Fine, fine, fine. Call him and invite him over. You can do your famous barbecue steaks.” She rinsed out her mug and put it in the dishwasher. “I have some errands to do in town. I promised Hank I’d ride fences with him this afternoon.”
Hank was the oldest of their hands, the one who’d been here the longest. He’d been the one to put Amy on her first horse and to show her “which end of the cattle eats and which end craps,” as he’d so colorfully put it.
“You know you don’t have to do that,” Matt pointed out. “You’ve got records to bring up to date and the monthly weight-gain reports to get out. And Hank just wants an audience for those tales he’s told a thousand times.”
When their parents had decided to move New Mexico, she and Matt had split up the responsibilities of the ranch. She took care of all the paperwork, which he hated, and he served as the actual foreman, supervising the hands and overseeing the daily care and feeding of the cattle as well as maintaining the fences and outbuildings. But when she was younger she had often ridden fences with Hank, listening to his. She figured by now she was the only one left who’d put up with them.
“I’m good,” she told him. “And sometimes it just clears my head to ride along with Hank.” She picked her keys up from the counter. “See y’all later.”
All the way into town, she couldn’t seem to get Buck Montgomery out of her head. She’d hardly spent much time with him, and half of that she’d been royally pissed. But the image of the man just lingered in her brain, not to mention what thoughts of him did to her body.
Wait. She was an intelligent thirty-year-old woman not given to stray erotic fantasies. Especially about men she hardly knew. It was bad enough when she fantasized about men she did know and they all turned out to be assholes. But lordy. There was just something about Buck Montgomery that set her pulse to pounding, her blood to racing and every hormone in her body to waving a flag.
She reached the center of town almost before she realized it, and considered herself lucky to find a parking place on Main Street. The entire time she did her shopping, Buck Montgomery occupied her thoughts. She was so distracted by the time she stopped at the office-supply store, she picked out some items she’d purchased the week before. The salesman jokingly asked her if she wasn’t a little young for her memory to be fading. Finally, she decided to stop and get something to eat. Maybe a full stomach would make her brain behave better. But as she went to open the door of Bit and Bite, a hand reached out ahead of her.
“Allow me.”
There it was, that deep, rich voice that haunted her dreams and sent shivers skating along her spine. And made the pulse deep inside her body throb hard and fast.
Buck.

Buy Links:

Amazon




Samhain:
Nook:
Connect with Desiree:
Link to Contact page: http://www.desireeholt.com/contact/
Giveaway Info:
Desiree is giving away an Ebook of choice from her backlist for each blog stop plus she has two grand prizes. (1) 6 ebooks (winner's choice) from backlist and a Phoenix Agency Mug and  (2) Buck Naked mouse pad and a Wild West messenger bag. Grand prizes will be drawn via rafflecopter (code below) and individual blog prizes will be drawn from commenters. Please be sure your readers leave an email so I can get in touch with them. I will pick winners the week after tour end and contact them.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


5 comments:

Unknown said...

Love to read your books.
lauratroxelatyahoodotcom

Booksrforever123 said...

Love your books. Does the Michigan T-shirt mean you live there too or are you just a fan?
carolyn
j-coverholser at sbcglobal dot net

June M. said...

Since I love to wear pajamas as much as possible (although My version is cartoon boxers & t-shirts), I love the idea of you wearing Hello Kitty PJs :) Congrats on your release!
June
manning_J2004 at yahoo dot com

Emily said...

I'm with you. I like to read about bad boys more than perfect gentleman, though part of that is because I live vicariously through the heroes and heroines who fall for bad boys.

tiger-chick-1(at)hotmail(dot)com

Catherine Lee said...

That is just a GREAT, priceless name for a book! LOVE IT.
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com

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