Category: LSFW Create Something Magical Speaker Interview

I’m so excited to be returning to one of my favorite events this March: the Liberty States Fiction Writers Create Something Magical Conference in New Jersey.  It’s a wonderful event that I enjoy each year and highly recommend attending.  I am honored this year to be hosting an interview each week with the attending speakers!  It begins today and will continue each week leading up to the conference. I hope you enjoy! ~Jillian

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Virginia Kantra:

1. What made you want to become a writer? How early in life did you start writing?

I’ve been making up stories all my life. I wrote fairytales for my younger cousins to bribe them to go to bed and plays that I performed with my sister on our neighbors’ porch. The idea that I could get paid to write always thrilled me. But it wasn’t until my youngest child started kindergarten that I began to write seriously for a particular market.

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Not to accept too much advice. There’s no “right” and “wrong” in writing fiction; there’s only “works” and “does not work,” and each writer has to discover what works for her.

3. Who is on your bookshelf?

Oh, wow. So many books. My reading – and my writing – has spanned a lot of genres. Right now, in contemporary romance and women’s fiction, my go-to authors are Robyn Carr, Jennifer Crusie, Kristan Higgins, JoAnn Ross. I started reading Jojo Moyes last year. Love her. And Laura Florand’s really good.

4. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?

Well, the RITA Awards stick out. Bounding onstage to wrest my gold statuette from Toni Blake was a big moment.

But I think over the course of a career you recognize it’s the little moments that matter most. When a writer you’ve idolized forever says something that makes you realize she’s actually read your work. When a reader tells you that your story helped her get through her kid being bullied in school or her mother’s illness. There’s no substitute for that.

5. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.

I’m delighted that Bookpage recently named Carolina Dreaming as one of their Top Ten Romances of 2016, and I do plan at least one more book in the Dare Island series. But I’m taking some time now to write a new project—my “sisters” books. They have a lot of the same elements I love: strong family ties, small North Carolina community, romance. But the focus is more mother/daughter, sister/sister, women’s journey stuff. I’m very excited.

6. Tell us a little about your workshop at the Create Something Magical Conference.

I’m doing a master class on emotion. Because it’s our emotional identification with a story that hooks us. The heart of emotional writing isn’t about adjectives and introspection. It’s the author’s ability to make us care about her characters and what happens to them that keeps us reading. So I’m talking about creating compelling characters through the use of deep point of view, choosing scenes and situations that develop conflict and raise the emotional stakes, and evoking reactions through the use of significant, specific detail.

As writers, we need to make ourselves vulnerable. We need to be emotionally honest.

Photo (attached)

Bio

New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra is the author of more than twenty-five books of contemporary romance, paranormal romance, and romantic suspense. Her stories have earned numerous awards including Romance Writers of America’s RITA Award, eight RITA nominations, and two National Readers’ Choice Awards. Carolina Dreaming was recently named by Bookpage as one of the Top Ten Romances of 2016.

Virginia lives in North Carolina with her husband, Italian Guy. She is a firm believer in the strength of family, the importance of storytelling, and the power of love. Her favorite thing to make for dinner? Reservations.

Website

Website http://www.virginiakantra.com/

Newsletter http://eepurl.com/vMykD

Social Media links

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaKantraBooks

Twitter @VirginiaKantra

I’m so excited to be returning to one of my favorite events this March: the Liberty States Fiction Writers Create Something Magical Conference in New Jersey.  It’s a wonderful event that I enjoy each year and highly recommend attending.  I am honored this year to be hosting an interview each week with the attending speakers!  It begins today and will continue each week leading up to the conference. I hope you enjoy! ~Jillian

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Lyla Bellatas:

1. What made you want to become a writer? How early in life did you start writing?

I’m an avid reader. Love to get lost in a book. In fact, it’s a coping tool. Early on I found when I didn’t have a book handy I’d just go into my head and create my own story. Yeah, I was one of those kids who could hang out by themselves for long periods of time.

I help myself fall asleep by playing a story in my head. Sometimes it is a replay of something that has happened but more often it’s a dream that I wish would happen, or a sparkle that’s caught my attention that I want to play with like a cat with a ball of string pushing it here and there to see what patterns emerge.

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Write.

Sit down and start writing.

I will play out a story in my head for a time before I begin writing which is not the best way to work. Things take shape much quicker when I start typing, plotting or writing things down. One thing I’ve learned since I began writing is that I need to plot. It’s tedious but effective.

3. Who is on your bookshelf?

I like dark, clever soulful stories with depth and humor. I like characters who have lived, who are scarred and who find their one true love. To that end I love Kresley Cole, Kristen Ashley, Lisa Kleypas, Cat Porter and Kim Jones to name a few.

4. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?

Being published. Seeing Deeper and Hotter on Amazon were red letter days for me. Opening my iPad and seeing my books on my shelf. Having people tell me they love my characters and asking about certain scenes are highlights of my career.

5. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.

My current work in progress is a romantic suspense series. All In is the first book in the series which revolve around former SEAls who use their money, brains, social status and experience to protect the defenseless. Each book will be a standalone, featuring a different couple.

I am also working on Rougher the next book in The Real Fling Series where my couples meet on vacation and what starts as a fling quickly becomes the real thing. Rougher is set in Greece. Each book is a standalone. Deeper and Hotter are available on Amazon.

6. Tell us a little about your workshop at the Create Something Magical Conference.

A BLOODY Good Time from Vampires to Mob Hits to Forensic Investigations, authors Sara Humphreys, Lyla Bellatas and Geoff Symon know a thing or two about the red stuff.

Come for fun, games and cookies as they get your heart pumping and your creative juices flowing.

Bloody good. Bloody fun. Bloody prizes. Bloody COOKIES!

Attendees will dress their naked confections in the bloodiest best paranormal, romantic suspense and forensic way they can. We will have themed party games to keep the crowd fizzy and to help distribute prizes.

BIO:

Beginning her career as an engineer, Lyla has defied convention and morphed too many times to count. She swiftly made the move to marketeer then drifted to digital design, printing CEO, and tarot enchantress, collecting stories along the way.

As with her career, Lyla’s passions have also led to many outlets. She’s a high performance race car driver and driving instructor, poker player without the face, loves to shoot pool and although she hates being away from home she does enjoy exploring new places. She was gifted her first tarot deck during a chance encounter in an elevator. Innately empathic and claircognizant, tarot unlocked the natural witch within. Lyla has taught tarot, pessomancy (reading stones) and reading junk oracles. She’s read tarot, stones and junk professionally for decades and still reads with or without a deck when the moon shines just right.

Swept off her feet by a handsome Greek she met at the race track Lyla finally found her happily ever after as a wife, mother to a spirited, beautiful daughter and writer. They live in the NYC suburbs, loving the fast paced brutal honesty, great restaurants, arts and energy that define NYC and never fail to light a new / full moon candle charmed now by three.

Lyla writes stories that are soulful, dark and erotic. Her couples fit together where they are broken. It’s their imperfections that unite them and create sexy friction, humor and love.

www.lylabellatas.com

https://www.facebook.com/lylabellatasAuthor/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14837519.Lyla_Bellatas

https://www.instagram.com/lyla_bellatas/

I’m so excited to be returning to one of my favorite events this March: the Liberty States Fiction Writers Create Something Magical Conference in New Jersey.  It’s a wonderful event that I enjoy each year and highly recommend attending.  I am honored this year to be hosting an interview each week with the attending speakers!  It begins today and will continue each week leading up to the conference. I hope you enjoy! ~Jillian

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Jennifer L. Armentrout:

1. What made you want to become a writer? How early in life did you start writing?
   As cliché as it sounds, I’ve wanted to become a write ever since I could remember. I wrote my very first book during algebra class in the 9^th Which is one I had to take remedial math in college, so….

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?
   Put your head down and write.

3. Who is on your bookshelf?
   A lot of authors. I’m actually out of bookshelf space. I have a mix of YA authors, everyone from Wendy Higgins to Veronica Roth, Cassie Clare to Brigid Kemmerer and Sarah J. Maas. I have a lot of New Adult and Adult authors. Jamie McGuire, Jay Crownover, Cora Carmack, Larissa Ione, JR Ward., Lara Adrian, and so on, so forth.

4. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?
   It’s really hard to pick just one, but I guess the most memorable moment was getting my first contract. That was the start of all of this.

5. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.
   Currently working on my new HarperCollins adult novel called Moonlight Sins. I am having so much fun with the characters. The brothers are so bad and so, so much fun.

6. Tell us a little about your workshop at the Create Something Magical Conference.

          I will be discussing writing multiple books while working with multiple publishers with Laura Kaye and will also be doing a Q&A. 

About the author:

# 1 New York Times and # 1 International Bestselling author Jennifer lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen. Her book Obsidian has been optioned for a major motion picture and her Covenant Series has been optioned for TV. Jennifer has won numerous awards, including the 2013 Reviewers Choice Award for Wait for You, the 2015 Editor’s Pick for Fall With Me, and the 2014/2015 Moerser-Jugendbuch- Jury award for Obsidian. Her young adult romantic suspense novel DON’T LOOK BACK was a 2014 nominated Best in Young Adult Fiction by YALSA.

She also writes Adult and New Adult contemporary and paranormal romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter

I’m so excited to be returning to one of my favorite events this March: the Liberty States Fiction Writers Create Something Magical Conference in New Jersey.  It’s a wonderful event that I enjoy each year and highly recommend attending.  I am honored this year to be hosting an interview each week with the attending speakers!  It begins today and will continue each week leading up to the conference. I hope you enjoy! ~Jillian

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Kate McMurray:

1. What made you want to become a writer? How early in life did you start writing?

I don’t remember when exactly I decided to be a writer, but my mom still has a bunch of cassette recordings of me babbling stories as a toddler. Apparently, I had very inventive tea parties. I also read prolifically, so I can see that being inspiration for wanting to tell my own stories. I hid notebooks under my bed when I was a kid where I scrawled stories, too. I wrote my first novel at seventeen—I’m sure it’s wretched—and took creative writing classes all through high school and college. I finally wrote a novel I thought was worthy of publication in 2009, and that became my first published book.

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Assume all things are possible, and be true to your story. Be willing to take risks and don’t assume your story doesn’t have an audience, because it definitely does.

3. Who is on your bookshelf?

Heh, this list would be endless. My tiny apartment has 6 bookcases, so we’d be here all day. I can tell you, fiction-wise, I read mostly romance and mainstream/literary fiction. (Favorites: Toni Morrison, Lousie Erdrich, Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare, Kristan Higgins, among many, many others.) Nonfiction wise, I read a lot of history, and also about art and fashion.

4. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?

I have two that sort of show both sides of the industry. First, I was at work when I got The Call that my first book was going to be published. I wanted to dance around the office, but I was also trying to keep my writing and work life separate, so I had to just sit at my desk and pretend no one could see me grinning. Second, at about the midpoint of my first RT convention, I had a moment when I looked around and took it all in and thought, “I want the rest of my life to be this.” I was surrounded by people who love books as much as I do, in an environment that celebrates the kind of writing I want to do. That moment really cemented for me that I wanted to write as a career, not just a hobby.

5. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.

My most recent release was There Has to Be a Reason, which is kind of a coming-of-age tale about a student at a big university in New England who meets a fellow student who changes his life. I’m also currently writing a book about an Olympic athlete who is also a recovering alcoholic.

6. Tell us a little about your workshop at the Create Something Magical Conference.

I’m teaching a workshop on revision that is based on my experience as an editor. Basically, I’ll teach how to take a big-picture approach to the revision process, fixing big problems—weak openings, plots that need tightening, plot holes, character issues, etc. The focus is on story instead of grammar and mechanics.

About Kate:

Kate McMurray has been writing stories since she could hold a pen. She picked up her first romance novel when she was thirteen and has loved the genre ever since. She started writing gay romance after reading a book and thinking there should be more love stories with gay characters. Her first published novel, In Hot Pursuit, came out in February 2010, and she’s been writing feverishly ever since. She likes stories that are brainy, funny, and of course sexy, with regular guy characters and urban sensibilities.

When she’s not writing, Kate works a nonfiction editor. She also reads a lot, plays the violin, knits and crochets, and drools over expensive handbags. She’s maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with two bossy cats.

She is active in Romance Writers of America, having served as president of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter, and she is currently president of RWA NYC, the New York City chapter.

You can email her at kate (at) katemcmurray.com.

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Heidi Cullinan:

1. What made you want to become a writer?

I always lived inside my head as a child, telling myself stories, absorbing those of people around me. I could look at a building and imagine the lives it could inhabit, could see a quiet stream and imagine the intrepid adventurers crossing it. I think story became an addiction I never wanted to break. I wrote for myself for a long time, but my life quietly arranged itself around a career in fiction while I wasn’t paying particular attention. Now it’s a habit and a paying gig, and really, how does it get better than that?

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Understand you’ll never be “good enough,” and if you’re very lucky your development will teach you to look at that phrase and fracture it daily for the deceitful distraction it is. Also, read and watch and practice writing. Absorb story in every way you can, priority given to reading of course, but any narrative-driven presentation will do. Let story get deep into your bones, so much of it you honestly can’t tell anymore what idea was yours and what grew out of the moss of digested story surrounding you.

3. If you could co-write a book with any author, dead or alive, who would it be?

Sir Terry Pratchett, though I’d be a hot mess of ridiculousness through most of it, simply wanting to sit and watch him work instead of helping.

4. Who is on your bookshelf?

My bookshelf is mostly virtual at this point, but pride of place in paperback goes to Terry Pratchett, Lois McMaster Bujold, Neil Gaiman, Judith Ivory, Jennifer Crusie, Tessa Dare, and Sarah Waters.

5. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?

The moment at my first Romantic Times convention when a reader sought me out to have me sign a book of mine she’d brought with her.  It was my first autograph, of my favorite book of mine I’ve written, and that reader has since become a close friend. I love that moment because it was so quiet and gentle and resonant, highlighting the kind of connection which brought me to publishing my work in the first place.

6. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.

My latest release is Clockwork Heart, an aberration from my usual contemporary work as an alternate history/steampunk romance. Tinkers. Soldiers. Spies. Pirates. A sweeping tour of continental Europe via the clouds. A little absinthe, a little theft, a little exhibitionism, some naughty use of clockwork prosthetics. Love, adventure, and a steaming good time. You can read more about it and find buy links here.

About the author:

Heidi grew up in love with story.  She fell asleep listening to Disney long-playing records and read her Little House On The Prairie books until they fell apart.  She ran through the woods inventing stories of witches and fairies and enchanted trees and spent hours beneath the lilac bush imagining the lives of the settlers who had inhabited the homestead log cabin and two-story late 1800s home on her family farm.  She created epic storylines for her Barbies until it wasn’t satisfying enough to do so any longer (age ten), and then she started writing them down.  Her first novel, The Life and Times of Michelle Matthews, was published when she was twelve in the school anthology and took up nearly half of it.

Though Heidi continued to write novels through high school (and still has the Rubbermaid tub full in her bedroom), she stopped in college, deciding it was time to grow up and do something meaningful with her life. When the specifics of that didn’t pan out, Heidi ended up in grad school to become a teacher, and through one of the courses rediscovered her love of romance novels. She began to write again on the side, continued to do so while she taught seventh grade language arts and reading, and when she quit teaching to have her daughter, she took up writing with more seriousness, both as a stress relief and as a potential means of bringing in money.

Many million pages later, Heidi has learned a lot about writing, more than she ever wanted to know about publishing, and most importantly, finally figured out that writing IS the meaningful something she wants to do with her life. A passionate advocate for LGBT rights, Heidi volunteered for One Iowa during the fight for marriage equality and donates with her husband as a monthly partner to the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal. She encourages you to support your own local and national LGBT rights groups, too.

Heidi enjoys reading, watching movies and TV with her family, and listening all kinds of music.  She has a husband, a daughter, and too many cats. Heidi is an active social networker, and of course has good old-fashioned email(link sends e-mail).

Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Tumblr  |  Pinterest

Today the Liberty States Create Something Magical Conference Speaker Interview Series continues with author Karen Stivali:

1. What made you want to become a writer?

I’ve always loved to write and have been making up stories in my head since I was a little kid. There hasn’t been a single period of time since I first learned to form letters that I haven’t been writing something—letters (I had over twenty pen pals at one point back in the days of paper mail), plot summaries (I worked for a film agent for a while as a reader), case histories (in my social work days), blog posts and editorials (about everything from restaurant reviews to reality TV character/editing analysis)—not to mention thousands of emails. When I finally decided to be serious about writing one of the novels I’d had in my head for nearly a decade, there was no turning back.

2. Is there one piece of advice you would give an aspiring writer?

Once you get an idea in your head and you know “this is the book I need to write” don’t give up until it’s done. There will be a million times when you might say to yourself “but if I change this it might be better” or “I can’t do this”—but you can. Getting to The End on your first novel is one of the hardest things to do and one of the best feelings ever, because then you’ve done it. You’ve written a book. Not a few chapters. Not some ideas for a book. The whole damned book. And once you have that finished draft, you can mold and shape it into whatever you want it to be. Don’t worry about making it perfect while you’re writing that first draft. A draft is like an unfrosted cake. Once it’s baked you can frost and fill and decorate it however you want. Before that, it’s just batter. Batter that has the potential to be the most amazing cake in the world. When it’s done.

3. If you could co-write a book with any author, dead or alive, who would it be?

I’ve co-written before and would gladly do it again or try it for the first time with several authors I know, so I’m not going to name anyone alive because I’ll hold out hope that some of those might happen in reality. If I could choose one author from the past who I’d love to co-write with? I’d have to say Madeleine L’Engle. She was one of my absolute favorite authors when I was growing up. I loved her books and read them over and over. When I was around ten year old we were taking a family trip to New York City (I lived in Ohio at the time) and I read in the New York Times magazine that she was due to speak at the New York Public Library while we were going to be in the city. I begged my parents to take me, and they did. But the date had changed and when we showed up at the library we were told she wasn’t coming until the following week. I was crushed and the librarian took pity on me and said that if I wrote Ms. L’Engle a note she’d be sure to give it to her when she came. I did. And even back then I was cynical enough to think that she’d never get my message. Imagine my surprise when a few weeks later a letter showed up in the mail. One whole side of the envelope had a starry-sky looking print on it and a name etched into the design—Madeleine L’Engle. She’d written me back telling me she was so sorry we’d missed one another, that she hoped I’d keep writing and that perhaps one day our paths would cross. It was the coolest thing that had ever happened in my life. It still is. And I still have the letter.

4. Who is on your bookshelf?

After contracting my eighteenth book I finally convinced my husband that the little kitchen desk wasn’t really cutting it for holding all my writing-related stuff, so I recently got my own home office. It’s still in the process of being turned into a real office so there’s currently a weird hodge-podge of makeshift furniture and what is actually on my bookshelf at the moment is my cat, BadKitteh. Pretty sure he thinks this room is his office, not mine. But once I unpack my things onto the bookcases there will be two filled with classics ranging from Russian literature to complete poetry collections, one filled with favorite books from my childhood (I saved my original copies of all the Judy Blume and Paul Zindel books I read growing up and acquired a signed copy of The Phantom Tollbooth at last year’s BEA), and one full of current favorites, most of which are written by authors I’ve gotten to know over the past few years and many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with—Tiffany Reisz, Andrew Shaffer and Karen Booth, to name just a few.

5. Can you tell us about one of the most memorable moments in your writing career thus far?

The most memorable moments in my writing career all involve encounters with readers. Whether it’s an email telling me that they related to a character or that the story came into their lives at just the right time…or someone finding me at a conference and bringing one of my books with them because they were excited to meet me in person…or even someone friending me on social media because they read one of my books and wanted to get to know me—all of those things are mind-blowing to me. I don’t think I’ll ever get to a point where it seems commonplace to me. Every single time it happens is memorable in its own way and they all mean so much to me.

6. Tell us about your newest release/current work in progress.

My newest release is MOMENT OF SILENCE, which came out in late December 2015. It’s the fourth book in my LGBTQ (male/male) romance series Moments In Time, but it can be read as a standalone. Jason and Quinn were both secondary characters in the earlier books in the series, but they don’t meet until they start working together in Moment Of Silence.  I don’t play favorites with my books or my characters, but I have to say I have a soft spot for this story. I grew up in a half Jewish/half Catholic household and this novel is the story of a nice Jewish boy who falls in love with a man who’s about to take his final vows as a Catholic priest. It’s set in NYC, which is also very close to my heart as I lived there for many years. Here’s the blurb:

Growing up, Jason Stern led a charmed life complete with devoted sisters, a father who was one of Brooklyn’s most respected rabbis, and a mother who made the world’s best babka. He headed to NYU ready for anything—except falling for the wrong guy, coming out, and getting disowned by his once-loving family. In spite of that, Jason managed to graduate with honors. He’s got friends who treat him like family, and he’s proudly running the largest LGBTQ teen shelter in Manhattan. Life is good, but he’s still falling for the wrong men.

When charming, sexy Quinn Fitzpatrick begins work at the shelter, Jason falls hard and fast. Quinn is tall, blond, funny—damn near perfect. Only if Quinn’s gay, even he doesn’t seem to know it. If he does, he’s not telling anyone. And he’s about one ceremony away from becoming a Catholic priest.

Long hours of work turn to long nights of talking and laughter, and Jason dares to hope this time he’s falling for the right guy. But Quinn’s got a past to deal with and major decisions to make about his future. When Quinn leaves for a silent retreat, Jason knows the silence may change everything.

My current work in progress is the next book in the series (MOMENT OF FATE, which can also be read as a standalone). It’s due out sometime mid-2016 and you can get a steamy sneak peek at a chapter from it at the end of Moment Of Silence. This book is also set in NYC but has a very different vibe. Bryan is a musician in a fairly well known rock band and is finally finishing up his photography degree from NYU (which got put on hold when the band had its first taste of success) and Oliver is new to NYC and newly out after several years of planning to have a marriage of convenience with his lifelong female BFF. They’re instantly attracted to one another, but Bryan’s on a self-imposed sex hiatus and Oliver just wants to sew his wild oats—or at least that’s what he thinks he wants—so they convince themselves they’re just friends.  (Spoiler alert: they’re not ‘just friends’ for long.)

I also have two male/female contemporary romances releasing: the re-release of my award winning novella ALWAYS YOU (now with Tule Publishing and due out as part of a Valentine’s debut of their erotic romance line EROS) and FOUR DAYS TO FOREVER (a contemporary NA releasing in late March from Bloomsbury Spark).

Author bio:

Karen Stivali is a prolific writer, compulsive baker and chocoholic with a penchant for books, movies, and fictional British men. She’s also the multiple award-winning author of contemporary and erotic romances. She writes novels about love…like real life, only hotter.

Karen’s lifelong fascination with people has led her to careers ranging from hand-drawn animator, to party planner, to marriage and family counselor, but writing has always been her passion. Karen enjoys nothing more than following her characters on their journey toward love. Whether the couples are m/f or m/m, it’s guaranteed that Karen’s novels are filled with food, friendship, love, and smoking hot sex—all the best things in life.

When Karen isn’t writing (and often when she is), she can be found on Twitter attempting witty banter and detailing the antics of her fruit-loving cat, BadKitteh. She loves to hear from readers (and other writers), so don’t hesitate to contact/follow/like her at:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/karenstivali/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenStivaliAuthor/

Website: http://karenstivali.com/

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/karenstivali/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/KarenStivali/

E-mail: karenstivali@gmail.com/