Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of the post for a chance to win one of the following prizes: Grand Prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card.
Second prize: One of five e-copies of ‘Definitely, Maybe, Yours
The tour is sponsored by Pride Promotions.
Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Lissa Reed, author
of Definitely, Maybe, Yours.
Hi Lissa, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us
a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Hi and thanks to you! I am a Louisiana
girl transplanted to Texas after
a lifetime of being moved around the country—Navy Brat! I work with banking
software full-time, but writing is my true passion and has been since I was a
small child with a pencil and a tiny notebook. Though I also knit and do yoga
and have a love of nail art and nail polish that is slowly outgrowing my
apartment along with my book collection, to say nothing of my kitchen gadgets…
Definitely, Maybe,
Yours is my very first book. It’s a story of love, and fear, and getting in
over your head when you’re the type of person who likes very much to help
people. Craig and Alex are opposites, but in the age-old tradition they’re very
attracted to each other. Or is it just that Alex really has a thing for men who
bake cookies?
1) How
do you develop your plots and characters?
Usually I will listen to a lot of music—I will have a vague
idea of someone I have in mind, and I go listen to music to try and pull them
out. I just finished watching this show, Sense8?
And it’s sort of like that, I have people living in my head, but I don’t know
much about them until I find what makes them appear to me and open up.
2) Who doesn’t love a good hero?
Tell us about your protagonist. Was there a real life inspiration behind them?
Not really! Craig grew out of my love for baking, and Alex
out of my anxiety. Not out of people I knew so much as aspects of myself. Craig
bakes, and he is kind and loyal and a hard-worker. Alex is in advertising and works
too hard, and he only calms down when
he is working! I find a lot of myself
in both of them, but they’re also more than just me.
3) What real-life inspirations do
you use when world building?
Honestly, it all goes back to the music! It not only helps
me to flesh out characters, but sometimes I will be listening to a piece of
music that will spark something in my mind and all of a sudden I have a whole
story spinning out. My best example of this right now is a song called Sunny Came Home by Shawn Colvin, it was
popular when I was in high school and I still love it. And one day I was
driving to visit a friend in the hospital and it came on the radio and
suddenly, I had an idea for a story I hope to be able to tell in the future,
about family and going back home when you aren’t sure you ever belonged there.
4) Did you learn anything from this
book and what was it?
That I can finish a book. That was a lesson that was a very
long time coming, and it was hard to get to and I thought I never would. It’s a
real triumph to be able to prove myself wrong!
5) It’s your last meal on earth.
What do you choose?
At first I thought this would be a tough one, but then I
remembered that there’s a restaurant in Dallas, Ellen’s Southern Kitchen, that
serves the most amazing macaroni and cheese I have ever had in my life—and
believe me when I tell you I have eaten a lot of macaroni and cheese. My ample
hind end can attest to that! I would
have it with sliced avocado and bacon and a big glass of sweet tea, and I would
regret not a single thing.
Now about Definitely, Maybe, Yours by Lissa Reed...
Book Name: Definitely, Maybe, Yours
Release
Date: August 11, 2015
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover
Artist:
Cover photography by LaToya Conward
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Cover photography by LaToya Conward
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Blurb:
Seattle-based
baker Craig Oliver leads a life that is happily routine: baking cupcakes for an
enormous family reunion, managing Sucre Coeur for its frequently absent owner,
and closing out his day with a pint at the local pub. He has a kind heart, a
knack for pastry, and a weakness for damaged people.
Habitual playboy Alex Scheff is looking
to drown his sorrows, but instead discovers that he may have a weakness for
Englishmen who carry cookies in their pockets. Can a seemingly incompatible
pair find the recipe for love in a relationship they claim is casual?
Pages or Words: 296 pages
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction,
M/M Romance, Romance
Excerpt:
With a wink, Craig pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his left coat pocket and a carefully bagged almond and raspberry-lemon croissant, Katie's all-time favorite baked good, out of the right. He passes them across the bar as if he's James Bond—a very cheeky and cheery sort of 007. “You know I'll always look out for you. Keep the change.”
With a wink, Craig pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his left coat pocket and a carefully bagged almond and raspberry-lemon croissant, Katie's all-time favorite baked good, out of the right. He passes them across the bar as if he's James Bond—a very cheeky and cheery sort of 007. “You know I'll always look out for you. Keep the change.”
Katie squeals and flops across the
bar to squeeze him breathless, and her ponytail slaps him in the nose. She
bounces off with her treat in hand and Craig shakes his head and pulls long
black and red hairs from his face, as he does every time this happens. Katie
really is his favorite bartender at The Order of the Garter, hell, his favorite
bartender in Seattle and maybe even the world. Much too good to be working at a
grotty little pub, fending off unsavory advances and spilled drinks four nights
a week; that's why Craig will bring her any bakery treat she wants, anytime she
wants it, until she finally wises up and gets the hell out of this place.
Time for another sip of this
excellent, excellent stout: Craig reaches forward. It's a good Thursday.
Of course, that's when it takes
quite the sharp turn, leaving every Seattle-pub-Thursday Craig's ever known in
the dust.
“Well, aren't you a hit with the
ladies,” comes a surly drawl from his left, startling Craig just as he's got
his fingers around his glass. “Was that a croissant in your pocket, or were you
actually happy to see her?”
“Both,” Craig replies, shifting
around to lean on his elbow and survey the formerly silent pile of misery
hunched over two stools down, the limp guy at the end of the bar Craig had
spotted on his way in. He is not unconscious after all, much to Craig's
surprise; judging by the row of empty shot glasses upside down in front of him
and the distinct aroma of tequila emanating a good four-foot radius from his
person, he should be. Craig winces and turns away as the fumes burn his
nose.
“Baked goods. That's a new one.
Never saw anyone use baking to hit on the ladies before.” Mr. Misery sways his
head upright, pushes a wild flop of brown hair out of his eyes and swings
around until he locates Craig. He blinks. “Does it work?”
Surprised by the color of the eyes
meeting his—an unusual shade, gray, not blue-gray or blue, but the gray of a
sky covered in early storm clouds—Craig answers without thinking. “I wouldn't
know. I don't hit on girls. Katie's my friend, not my type.”
Sales Links:
Interlude Press: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/frontpage/products/definitely-maybe-yours-by-lissa-reed
Smashwords: (For some reason, this isn’t showing. It should.
I’ll check it out and send you the link)
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Nw89ne
Our books are also available for order from the Apple
iBookstore, Book Depository and Indiebound.
Tour Dates:
11-Aug
12-Aug
13-Aug
14-Aug
17-Aug
18-Aug
19-Aug
20-Aug
21-Aug
24-Aug
About the author:
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her first interest in becoming a writer to the fourth grade, when her teacher gave her the gift of her first composition book. A former newspaper editor, Reed shifted her focus to romance and literary fiction early in her writing career. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and is currently working on her new novel, Certainly, Possibly, You—the sequel to Definitely, Maybe, Yours.
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her first interest in becoming a writer to the fourth grade, when her teacher gave her the gift of her first composition book. A former newspaper editor, Reed shifted her focus to romance and literary fiction early in her writing career. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and is currently working on her new novel, Certainly, Possibly, You—the sequel to Definitely, Maybe, Yours.
Where to find the author:
Connect with Lissa Reed at lissareed.com; on Tumblr at http://lissareedbooks.tumblr.com/; on Twitter @LissaReedBooks; on Goodreads at http://goodreads.com/LissaReedBooks and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
Connect with Lissa Reed at lissareed.com; on Tumblr at http://lissareedbooks.tumblr.com/; on Twitter @LissaReedBooks; on Goodreads at http://goodreads.com/LissaReedBooks and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/
1 comment:
Thank you very much for hosting me today! It's really appreciated!
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