Guys, Crista is giving away a copy of The Tears of Elios to one lucky blog commentor. Leave a comment below to enter. Contest is open until Sunday, November 27th, 2011 Midnight EST. Good Luck.

(Lynette again. I am so honored to have Ms. Jenkins this week. I rarely gush over authors but Ms. Jenkins has been my idol since I walked in a bookstore way back in the day and saw one of her historical romances on the shelves. She is an amazing writer who writes with great historical detail. She is also the reason I took so many African American History courses when I was in college. Anyhoo. Sorry for the major gush fest here, back to the point . . . . Ms. Jenkins will be offering a copy of her latest release Night Hawk to a commentor to my blog. You have until Sunday, November 20th Midnight EST to enter. And you should, because seriously, Ms. Jenkins is just freaking amazing.)

Happy Monday!
The Winner of If You Hear Her by Shiloh Walker is comment number 13.

In your previous Inside the Author's Studio interview on my blog, you mentioned that you always wanted to write. What led you to writing romance and what was the first romance novel that you've ever read?




Thank you Shiloh for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with me today. Ms. Walker has graciously agreed to send a copy of If You Hear Her (awesome, awesome book by the way) see my review HERE to one lucky person who comments to this post. You have midnight Sunday EST to comment. Good luck!

Happy Monday. According to Random.org. The winner of A HAPPILY EVER AFTER OF HER OWN is . .

Linda. I'm forwarding your contact information to Nadia. Enjoy the book! Thank you everyone for entering. Look for more giveaways soon!

Bilingual former management consultant Nadia Lee has lived in four different countries and enjoyed many adventures and excellent food around the globe. In the last eight years, she has kissed stingrays, been bitten by a shark, ridden an elephant and petted tigers.
She shares an apartment overlooking a river and palm trees in Japan with her husband, winter white hamsters and an ever-widening pile of books. When she's not writing, she can be found digging through old Asian historical texts or planning another trip.

A bilingual expat writer who loves to read, eat, travel and enjoy life.

What are the one record, book, and food, you'd take to a desert island?

Ohh...tough one.

Record: The Complete Beethoven Symphonies

Book:  Can I just cheat and take my fully loaded Kindle? No? All right. I'll

take IN CONQUEST BORN by C.S. Friedman

Food:  Fresh strawberries

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

A plastic surgeon.

Which book do you wish you'd written?

LOVING EVANGELINE by Linda Howard

What makes you happy?

A lovely sunny morning spent with my husband and new baby boy. :)

What makes you angry?

Cruelty toward those who are weaker and more vulnerable than we are.

Name five people how you'd like to invite to a dinner party?

Provided that we can invite the dead, living, fictional and real:  Sherlock

Holmes, Julius Caesar, Oscar Wilde, Qin Shi Huang (the Emperor of Qin

Dynasty), Hwang Jin Yi (a famous kisen from Joseon Dynasty)

What's the scariest thing you've ever done?

Give birth. It was scarier than swimming with sharks and getting bitten.

What inspired you to start writing?

I've always dabbled, though I didn't get serious until about seven years ago

or so.  I have no idea why I started or how I got started except that I

enjoyed sketching little scenes.

Where would you most like to live?

Right now, I'm happy where I am (Japan).  But I'd love to spend a few years

in France and Singapore.

What is your favorite curse word?

D**** it!

Who is your favorite man-candy?

For now, it's Hugh Jackman.

Sum up your latest release in no more than twelve words!

Preschool teacher finds love with a prince while rescuing a fairytale

princess.

Happy Monday! Comment to win a copy of A Happily Ever After of Her Own by Nadia. You have until Midnight, Sunday, October, 23rd 2011 to enter. Good Luck!

THEA: Hi Lynette, thanks for having me on your blog today!

LYNETTE: Umm, totally my honor. Let's begin . . .

I'm a harried wife and mother, a tireless procrastinator, an inveterate punster, and an occasionally half-decent romance writer.

What are the one record, book, and food, you'd take to a desert island?
Gosh, can't I take my iTouch with its 800 songs and many books? That would be so much simpler. Plus, I'd volunteer not to bring a food. No? Hmmm, that's so difficult.

For record, I hope you mean a whole album and not just a single song. In which case, I think I'm going with Barenaked Ladies' All Their Greatest Hits through 2001. We had that get stuck in the CD player in my minivan once and we NEVER got sick of it. For book, I almost think I'd want to bring something super long that I've never read before. Maybe I could actually get through War and Peace or Moby Dick if I were stranded on a deserted island, you know? For food, I'd take hot sauce. Seriously, if I had to live for months on end without spicey food, I'd die :).


What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A writer and a teacher. I ended up doing both, although not necessarily in the way I planned as a kid. I always figured as a kid I'd teach high school, but then I discovered high school kids aren't always that happy to be there, and decided I'd rather teach adults. I went to grad school and was working on my PhD in Classics to become a college professor, then got derailed by combination of getting married and a bad economy that forced me back to work full-time. Fortunately, I "fell into" a job in a training department and that gave me the opportunity to develop technical writing and instructional design skills, which I now use in the job I've had in the software industry for the past 16 years. But the fiction writing bug I had from age 7 never really went away, and I'm so thrilled that I can now do that as well, even if it's not yet my main source of income.

Which book do you wish you'd written?
Oh, I don't wish I'd written any particular book, but I'd love to write a book as good and enduring as ALICE IN WONDERLAND (which I'd have to call my favorite book of all time).

What makes you happy?
Writing, when it's going well.

What makes you angry?
Writing, when it's going badly ;).

Name five people who you'd like to invite to a dinner party?
Do they have to be alive or can they be people who are dead? If I can invite dead people, my list would be:

Sappho (Greek poet--because I want her to fill in all the lacunae in her poetry, darn it!)
Livia (Augustus's wife for 52 years, who I think must have been a FASCINATING person)
Catullus (a Roman poet I'm convinced would be the life of any party)
Charles Dogdson (aka Lewis Carroll)
Mark Twain

If they have to be alive, then I'm going with:
Sandra Day O'Connor
Margaret Atwood
Barack Obama
Michael Hiltzik (he writes op-eds for the LA Times that I really enjoy)
Hugh Laurie

What's the scariest thing you've ever done?
Raise children. As one of Ann Tyler's characters observes in the The Accidental Tourist, it's like being a firefighter: long stretches of boredom punctuated by short intervals of extreme terror.

What inspired you to start writing?
I started writing when I was 7yo (a story involving a fairy and a pumpkin, as I recall), but my mother says I used to tell stories out loud in the car when I was only 4yo. So it's hard to say any specific thing got me "started." I did, however, give up writing fiction for a long period of time, then suddenly got the "bug" again when I delved back into romance novels in 2005 after having read mostly other genres for about 10 years.

Where would you most like to live?
Probably in Mexico. In fact, we're planning a trip this spring to check out a city in central Mexico called San Miguel de Allende as a possible retirement venue.

What is your favorite curse word?
Haha, definitely the f-word. It has by far the most punch.

Who is your favorite man candy?
Currently, I have a thing for Coby Bell, who plays Jesse on BURN NOTICE. Yum.

Sum up your latest release in no more than twelve words!
Three heroes, three heroines, one brothel, and a whole lot of heat. (Just made it!)

Interested in receiving a copy? I know you are! Jackie is offering up on copy of Behind the Red Door to a lucky commentor. You have until midnight Sunday EST to enter. And make sure you look out for Jackie's upcoming April release Grace Under Fire!


I have always loved books, romance and wished that everyone (most especially me) would find their happily ever after. Add in my love of London, England set in a period when ladies strived to be genteel and dresses could barely fit through doors, and it was obvious I could write nothing but historical romances.


As the mother of one too bright and mischievous young boy, I pull full-time duty on all fronts. When I'm not working at my techy-type job, mothering, writing or reading, I'm probably sleeping and dreaming of a time when I'll have time for my favorite hobbies: knitting, crocheting and sewing.

Describe yourself in one sentence?

I’m creative to my very soul.

What are the one record, book, and food, you'd take to a desert island?
My Love by Paul McCartney and Wings, A Whole New Light by Sandra Brown and mangoes.

What did you want to be when you were growing up?
I wanted to be a published author.

Which book do you wish you'd written?
Sarah’s Child by Linda Howard

What makes you happy?
My son, my family and friends and reading and writing.

What makes you angry?
People who can never see that the glass is half full.

Name five people how you'd like to invite to a dinner party?
President Obama
Oprah Winfrey
Norman Rockwell
Stevie Wonder
Norm Abram from New Yankee Workshop

What's the scariest thing you've ever done?
Sent my manuscript off to be critiqued.

What inspired you to start writing?
My love of reading and my desire to change stories to suit myself.

Where would you most like to live?
In a state with all four seasons on the east coast, on a level two acre plot of land with a wrap-around porch.

What is your favorite curse word?
Ass.

Who is your favorite man candy?
The guy on the cover of Lauren Dane’s Insatiable.


Sum up your latest release in no more than twelve words!
Pride and Prejudice meets The Taming of the Shrew with more heat.




Everyone leave a comment to thank Beverley for an awesome interview and to win a copy of her latest release A Taste of Desire. You have until midnight Sunday EST to enter. Good luck!