Ashes and Wine Blog Tour: interview and giveaway
Ashes and Wine
Author: Taryn Elliot
Author: Taryn Elliot
Format: ebook (258 KB); print length 115 pages
Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Ever After) (June 28, 2012)
Blurb: Before Tessa met Royal Andreas, her bookstore was on the verge of sinking. And before Tessa met Royal Andreas, she didn't mind being single. But Royal brings in business with monthly wine tastings featuring his family's signature vintages--and brings Tessa's heart to a standstill with intense gray eyes that look on her with nothing but cool indifference.
Yet one searing kiss between the stacks gives Tessa a glimpse of the passion smoldering beneath--and a secret pain further revealed when Royal fills in as the musician at a tasting event. Every note of Spanish guitar tells a story of family tragedy, loss, and ongoing suffering that's made Royal afraid to lean on anyone...even if he needs Tessa's sweet flavor more than the richest wine. Only her strength can save him when his world crumbles to ashes. But has Royal learned trust too late to claim Tessa as his own?
Purchase links: Amazon | Entangled Publishing
An interview with Taryn Elliot
1. How did Royal and Tessa's story come about?
Actually it was a NaNoWriMo piece. National Novel Writing Month for those that aren't crazy writers like myself. During the month of November you write a 50k novel. I'd only lost my mom 18mos before to colon cancer and hadn't really thought about doing any true cathartic writing. Since NaNo is all about writing by the seat of your pants, I didn't know I was going to end up writing about losing a parent. And because I'm a touch masochistic, I decided Royal needed to fall in love in the middle of all that emotional chaos. You know...the usual. LOL
2. How did you tap into such emotions and feelings for what Royal and his family is going through?
I'm very much like Royal in this story. Holding it together for the sake of the people that depend on me and not dealing with the death itself. I took my sense of responsibility angle for Royal, fed into the ragey parts of myself for his brother Simon, and Rafe is my zen master with charm that's hiding a whole lot of pain. Having 6 brothers to play with allows me to don quite a few caps. And their mother, Shelby? She was definitely fashioned after my own mother. The caretaker, the caregiver, the backbone of the family. All of that was poured into the story.
3. Can you share your journey to seeing this story published?
I'd just had my first book accepted from Ellora's Cave that summer and was riding the endorphin high of OMG, I sold! Add in the very emotional roller coaster of watching someone I love lose their fight to cancer and I was very focused on not wasting any more time SAYING I wanted to be a writer and just decided to freaking get off my ass and do it. I didn't want to be a one trick pony. (My first book was written with 2008's NaNo) And while I write pretty steamy, I wasn't quite sure if I was a perfect fit to the more erotic flavored publishing houses. Insert the new Entangled Publishing with their middle of the road offerings. They liked steam, but they were more of the mainstream romance sexy. So, I decided to follow my heart and take the plunge once more.
I got the 'call', aka email, at 3 in the damn morning right before New Year's when NO one was awake! My editor, nite owl that he is, also lives in Chicago so it was just 1am to him. And I had company for the holidays. I nearly fell off the futon and woke the house, but I managed to control myself. Barely. Adrien, that's my editor--Adrien-Luc Sanders, helped me find a way through the morass of emotions and find the right way to edit the story to give weight to the emotional value of Royal's father's death and still allow for a love story.
4. Will readers see more of Mercy and Alaric?
*BIG SMILE* I love that people fell for Mercy as hard as I did. I totally didn't intend on making her such an integral part of the book. I figured Blake would be the strong supporting character--that's Tessa's brother--but Mercy just takes over when she's in a scene. And Alaric was impulsively designed to be the exact opposite of her, but man...even in that small scene their energy crackles. I just got the all clear to work on it, so the long drawn out answer is--YES. LOL
5. Ashes and Wine has a beautiful cover. What was your reaction when you first saw it?
They are very careful with their covers over at Entangled. They want all those impulse buys for a book when people see an amazing cover WITH the buy links. The wait nearly killed me. So when I saw that cover just before release I nearly expired. My editor is also a designer and does a little double duty over at Entangled. He designed that with just a few ideas from me. The autumnal colors floored me and gosh...isn't it just the most beautiful cover?
6. What are you working on next?
I'm working on a super sexy holiday story at the moment. I've embraced my erotic romance side. Sometimes you just want to push those boundaries that can only be done in a story with a lot of sexual content. And then I'm onto Alaric and Mercy as well as the 2nd book in my Cross Brothers series which is the sequel to UNCROSS YOUR HEART which came out in March. (yep, I love those brother dynamics)
Publisher: Entangled Publishing (Ever After) (June 28, 2012)
Blurb: Before Tessa met Royal Andreas, her bookstore was on the verge of sinking. And before Tessa met Royal Andreas, she didn't mind being single. But Royal brings in business with monthly wine tastings featuring his family's signature vintages--and brings Tessa's heart to a standstill with intense gray eyes that look on her with nothing but cool indifference.
Yet one searing kiss between the stacks gives Tessa a glimpse of the passion smoldering beneath--and a secret pain further revealed when Royal fills in as the musician at a tasting event. Every note of Spanish guitar tells a story of family tragedy, loss, and ongoing suffering that's made Royal afraid to lean on anyone...even if he needs Tessa's sweet flavor more than the richest wine. Only her strength can save him when his world crumbles to ashes. But has Royal learned trust too late to claim Tessa as his own?
Purchase links: Amazon | Entangled Publishing
An interview with Taryn Elliot
1. How did Royal and Tessa's story come about?
Actually it was a NaNoWriMo piece. National Novel Writing Month for those that aren't crazy writers like myself. During the month of November you write a 50k novel. I'd only lost my mom 18mos before to colon cancer and hadn't really thought about doing any true cathartic writing. Since NaNo is all about writing by the seat of your pants, I didn't know I was going to end up writing about losing a parent. And because I'm a touch masochistic, I decided Royal needed to fall in love in the middle of all that emotional chaos. You know...the usual. LOL
2. How did you tap into such emotions and feelings for what Royal and his family is going through?
I'm very much like Royal in this story. Holding it together for the sake of the people that depend on me and not dealing with the death itself. I took my sense of responsibility angle for Royal, fed into the ragey parts of myself for his brother Simon, and Rafe is my zen master with charm that's hiding a whole lot of pain. Having 6 brothers to play with allows me to don quite a few caps. And their mother, Shelby? She was definitely fashioned after my own mother. The caretaker, the caregiver, the backbone of the family. All of that was poured into the story.
3. Can you share your journey to seeing this story published?
I'd just had my first book accepted from Ellora's Cave that summer and was riding the endorphin high of OMG, I sold! Add in the very emotional roller coaster of watching someone I love lose their fight to cancer and I was very focused on not wasting any more time SAYING I wanted to be a writer and just decided to freaking get off my ass and do it. I didn't want to be a one trick pony. (My first book was written with 2008's NaNo) And while I write pretty steamy, I wasn't quite sure if I was a perfect fit to the more erotic flavored publishing houses. Insert the new Entangled Publishing with their middle of the road offerings. They liked steam, but they were more of the mainstream romance sexy. So, I decided to follow my heart and take the plunge once more.
I got the 'call', aka email, at 3 in the damn morning right before New Year's when NO one was awake! My editor, nite owl that he is, also lives in Chicago so it was just 1am to him. And I had company for the holidays. I nearly fell off the futon and woke the house, but I managed to control myself. Barely. Adrien, that's my editor--Adrien-Luc Sanders, helped me find a way through the morass of emotions and find the right way to edit the story to give weight to the emotional value of Royal's father's death and still allow for a love story.
4. Will readers see more of Mercy and Alaric?
*BIG SMILE* I love that people fell for Mercy as hard as I did. I totally didn't intend on making her such an integral part of the book. I figured Blake would be the strong supporting character--that's Tessa's brother--but Mercy just takes over when she's in a scene. And Alaric was impulsively designed to be the exact opposite of her, but man...even in that small scene their energy crackles. I just got the all clear to work on it, so the long drawn out answer is--YES. LOL
5. Ashes and Wine has a beautiful cover. What was your reaction when you first saw it?
They are very careful with their covers over at Entangled. They want all those impulse buys for a book when people see an amazing cover WITH the buy links. The wait nearly killed me. So when I saw that cover just before release I nearly expired. My editor is also a designer and does a little double duty over at Entangled. He designed that with just a few ideas from me. The autumnal colors floored me and gosh...isn't it just the most beautiful cover?
6. What are you working on next?
I'm working on a super sexy holiday story at the moment. I've embraced my erotic romance side. Sometimes you just want to push those boundaries that can only be done in a story with a lot of sexual content. And then I'm onto Alaric and Mercy as well as the 2nd book in my Cross Brothers series which is the sequel to UNCROSS YOUR HEART which came out in March. (yep, I love those brother dynamics)
I'm shamelessly addicted to the internet and adore hearing from readers.
Author links: Website | twitter | Facebook
Giveaway:
We are able to give away one ebook copy of Ashes and Wine by Taryn Elliot, courtesy of Entangled Publishing. Our contest is open internationally and ends at midnight on September 2nd.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
i really liked the interview. i have never read any of taryn's work before but the interview did give me a real good feel for her work! :)
ReplyDeleteparisfan_ca@yahoo.com
Thanks, Laurie!
DeleteThis sounds like a great read and I would so love to win this! Thanks for the chance
ReplyDeletejune111(at)att(dot)net