Please give a warm welcome to author Tami Lund, who joins us at the Reading Nook blog today to talk about their book, Naked Truth.
Can
you tell us a little about yourself?
My
name is Tami Lund and I’m an author. I’m also a mother, a wife, and I work
full-time in the “real world.” Oh yeah, and I have a fur baby who doesn’t quite
understand why she must be separated from my side for any period of time
whatsoever (this includes while I’m sitting on the toilet). I’m also a wine
drinker, I’ve won a few awards for my books, and I like to grow pretty flowers.
I was born in and currently live in the Midwest US (Michigan, to be specific),
although I spent a little over a decade living in Louisiana. Quite a few of my
books are based in either Louisiana or Texas (where my best friend lives),
because I have a deep-seated love of all things innately Southern.
What
is your book(s) about?
This
month, I’m re-releasing all three books in my Tough Love series. This series is
about men and women who work in tough careers and who need a little help
finding their happily ever afters.
The
first book, Naked Truth, is about an FBI agent who is working undercover as a
male stripper. (Yep, think Magic Mike.) He starts an affair with his partner’s
wife’s best friend, and they both keep insisting it’s purely physical, until
her life is threatened by his case, and he’s forced to admit that he may be in
love after all.
Book
two is (award-winning) Undercover Heat, and is about two FBI agents who go
undercover as husband and wife and have to try not to blur the line between the
job and their personal lives. (Probably my fave two leading characters…)
The
third book is Delicious Deception and is about a chef who is running from the
FBI. He ends up hiding out and working in a small town restaurant in north
Texas, and eventually falls into bed with the owner, who, he soon learns, is an
FBI agent’s sister. Uh-oh!
What
genres do you write in?
Contemporary,
both romcom and suspense, and paranormal. My paranormal books range from
dragons to witches to vampires and a whole lot in between. And all my books are
loaded with humor!
How
often does your muse distract you from day to day minutiae?
OMG,
she’s terrible. All the time! Seriously. I pretty much function in a distracted
state all day long.
What
do readers have to look forward to in the future from you?
If
you’re into contemporary romance, my writing partner, Misti Murphy, and I have
lots of plans for future funny, sexy romcoms (we wrote the Sexy Bad series
together and No Jerks on Monday). I’m also planning to expand my Tough Love
series, which just re-released this month.
If
you’re into paranormal, I’m planning at least two more books in my Taming the
Dragon series. I also have a book in the Dark Moon Falls box set releasing in
November, and I have plans to do a second book in that world. There’s also my
Lightbearer series, which has several half-written additional books, and I keep
swearing to myself that I’m going to finish them and add to that series. And of
course, I’m always up for writing another vampire book.
So
yeah, stay tuned. Seems like there’s always a new release coming soon…
Do
you prefer to extensively plot your stories, or do you write them as they come
to you?
Totally
write them as they come. In fact, every book I’ve ever tried to plot out is
sitting in the “book graveyard” file on my laptop. Plotting gives me writer’s
block, apparently. Which is funny, because in real life, I’m the biggest
planner around.
What
advantages or challenges does a writer in your genre face in today’s fiction
market?
The
biggest challenge in today’s market (for any genre, really) is that there are
so many books, it’s hard to stand out to readers. Unlike actual books, ebooks
don’t disappear off the shelves to make room for new ones. So the list of
potential reading material grows and grows and grows, which, as both a reader
and author, feels overwhelming.
Has
there been any characters that started off as supporting characters, but then
developed into a more prominent character?
Yes,
in pretty much every series I’ve written! My Tough Love series started out that
way. I only meant to write one book, and it actually isn’t even published.
(Naked Truth starts out at a wedding—and that couple’s story was supposed to be
book 1.) But as I wrote that one, I fell in love with Jack, who is the hero of
Naked Truth (the published book 1 in the series). And then, for some reason
that I now can’t remember, I bounced from the New Orleans FBI regional office
up to Detroit and wrote book 2, Undercover Heat. The guys in the New Orleans
office do get a mention in that one. And then I headed back down south for book
3, Delicious Deception, and wrote it about Jack’s sister, Emily Kate. There are
other secondary characters in these books—Kennedy’s brother (Kennedy is the
heroine in Naked Truth), Connor’s sister (Connor is the hero in Delicious
Deception), and another Detroit FBI agent, Court, who is Quinn’s best friend in
Undercover Heat. I think they all need their own books, and now that I’ve
re-released this series, I’ve started working on making that happen. So stay
tuned :).
What
has been the defining moment in your career that made you think “Yes, I am now
a writer!”?
I
won a Rone Award at the InD’tale conference in 2016. I knew I was up for an
award, but I honestly didn’t think I’d win, and I didn’t prepare a speech. So
when I got called up onto stage, I blathered on about my fabulous editor and my
sexy red heels that my husband had picked out. Luckily, it ended up being funny
rather than embarrassing! By the way, the book that won is Undercover Heat,
which just re-released on October 15!
How
do you like to relax after a day writing?
With
a glass of wine and reading someone else’s book. I don’t have nearly as much
reading time as I’d like, so I truly appreciate it when I am able to enjoy that
(not so) guilty pleasure.
NAKED TRUTH by Tami Lund
Book One in the Tough Love Series
He’s a playboy FBI agent, working
undercover as a male stripper. She’s a burned divorcee, struggling to make ends
meet and embarrassed by how her marriage ended.
They both insist it’s a no-strings-attached
affair.
Until she gets caught up in his
case.
Now, both their hearts and lives
are in danger.
Released: 10/8/2019
Other books in the series:
Undercover Heat – released
10/15/2019
Delicious Deception – released
10/22/2019
Excerpt from Naked Truth:
“What are you
doing?” she asked.
“Hitting on you.
Is it working?”
“Um…”
“Want to go
somewhere more private?”
“Umm…”
He twirled her
away, pulled her back and caught her, squeezing her more tightly than he had
been a moment before. Kennedy forgot to breathe. She was distantly aware of the
fact that he was backing her off the dance floor. She knew she should, but she
made no move to stop him. Sabrina’s warning echoed in her head, but all she
could think was, I deserve to have fun
tonight. I can handle a one-night stand.
I want a one-night stand.
A few minutes
later, he led her up a set of stairs that climbed from a hallway near the
kitchen to the second floor.
“How did you
know these stairs were even here?” she wondered as she held his hand and
followed.
“I scoped out
the place when we first arrived. Force of habit,” he admitted. She knew he was
talking about his job, not his past liaisons, which she appreciated. For the
moment, she wanted to pretend she was the only one. Otherwise, she might back
out.
At the top of the stairs, he paused to flash
her a grin over his shoulder. She gave him a wobbly smile in return. He tugged
her hand, leading her to the bride’s room.
Where they found
Cullen and Sabrina, prematurely sealing their wedding vows.
“Guess they
can’t get it annulled now,” Jack remarked as he quietly pulled the door closed.
She shook her
head, the reality of this decision finally pushing through the haze of alcohol
and lust. “This is a bad idea. Sabrina says I’m supposed to stay away from
you.”
“I’m going to
have a talk with Sabrina about interfering with my sex life,” Jack muttered.
“Why did she say that?”
Kennedy
shrugged. “You’re a player.”
“Are you looking
for forever, Kennedy?”
She gasped and
vehemently shook her head. Been there,
done that, didn’t work out the way it was supposed to, she almost said out
loud.
“Me neither. So
how is this a bad thing again?”
“Umm…”
“I’m usually
pretty good with the intuition thing. And my intuition is telling me that you
are attracted to me.”
Kennedy cleared
her throat. “I–I think your intuition is correct.”
Jack grinned. “I
thought so. And I’m sure it’s pretty damn obvious that I’m attracted to you.”
To prove his
point, he backed her up to the wall, pressed his palms against the wallpaper
and dipped his head to nibble at her throat. She made a small, strangled noise
and grabbed his shoulders to keep herself from falling when her knees buckled.
Jack sucked her
earlobe into his mouth. “I promise, babe, you won’t regret it. I’m a very
attentive lover.”
“Oh God.”
“I want to hear
you scream that.”
“Limo,” she
managed to say on a gasp, and she grabbed his hand and dragged him back down
the hall to the stairs. She had no idea what caused her to think of the
stretched vehicle out in the parking lot, all she knew was that three years of
self-enforced celibacy had pushed her libido to the limit. She wanted to break
her fast, and she wanted to do it right now, with this man.
Whatever
happened tomorrow didn’t matter. Whatever happened in two hours wouldn’t
matter. She just needed right now, and she needed it to involve she and Jack
and a distinct lack of clothing.
The driver sat
in the front seat, reading a newspaper and tapping his foot to the beat of a
country song blaring from the speakers. Jack handed him a wad of cash and
tucked Kennedy into the back of the limo. As soon as they were inside, the car
lurched into motion, sending her tumbling into the groomsman’s lap. He pushed
the button to raise the darkened glass that separated them from the front.
“We aren’t
really doing this, are we?” she asked as Jack smoothed her skirt up her legs so
she could straddle his lap without tearing her dress.
“Hell yes, we
are. You don’t want to know how much I just paid that guy to drive around in
circles for half an hour.”
“Half an hour?”
“Trust me,
babe.”
***
Author Biography
Tami Lund is an author, a wine drinker, an award winner, and
a lover of romance. She writes happily ever afters of both the contemporary and
paranormal kind. There’s probably a new release coming soon. You should sign up
for her newsletter so you know when: http://www.subscribepage.com/Tami_Lund
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