Houston Author Event Interview & Giveaways: Day 1 Spotlight on Tara Sivec

I was given the incredible opportunity to sit down and have some one-on-one face time with the attending authors at the recent Houston event. It was a blast! I got to pick their brains for five minutes each. Thanks to all of you who submitted questions, I was armed and prepared. ~Nadine 

We’ll be featuring a different author and their interview here for the next several days. Make sure you scroll to the bottom and enter the AMAZING Rafflecopter for your chance to win a SIGNED paperback from each attending author and keep scrolling for another chance to win various swag from the event.

Today’s spotlight is TARA SIVEC! You asked the questions, she answered them. Enjoy!

Were you funny as a child?

I think I was. Like in my mind I was hilarious, but I was probably just annoying. Yeah, I think I was pretty hilarious.

Is Gavin a REAL kid?

Yes, he’s my son. He’s seven now. He was four when I started writing Seduction and Snacks. So he was the basis at 100% for Gavin. And my daughter a little bit because she has her own little sneak attack humor of things that come into play. That one whole scene where Gavin has the KY Jelly and he’s like ooooh it tingles, it’s warm, that was actually my daughter that did that.

 

How do you come up with such hilarious characters in your Chocolate Lovers series?

A lot of it is based on real life. Things that have happened in real life. Mostly my brain is a real scary place to live. Like the stuff that is not true, you don’t ever want to be in my brain, weird things are happening in there.

How do you get any work done when you write these hilarious books?

*laughs* See, I don’t think I’m funny. My editor gets so mad at me because I’ll send her a chapter note saying this is the stupidest thing, it’s not funny at all, I hate it, she’s like you are a moron. I don’t think anything I write is funny. I always second guess what I’m doing.

What inspired you to start writing?

Boredom with my job that I was doing at the time. I just wasn’t happy with it. Things were changing and I was miserable day in and day out. In my mind I’m figuring if I’m going to work this many hours away from my family, I want to be doing something that I love. And so at my full-time job I just started writing at my cubicle in a corner where no one could see me. I wrote Seduction and Snacks and Futures and Frosting 100% when I had a full-time job. All day during work, that’s what I did, all day. Come back later, I’m busy. No, I can’t go to that meeting I have a lot of work to do. I have a lot of editing, err I mean work.

From start to finish, how long did it take you to complete your first book?

It didn’t take me long to complete it, probably a couple of months. But, the tweaking and the editing and adding things and changing things probably at least a few years.

That's all I had time for folks before the chimes dinged signaling my time with Tara was up. Yes, I said chimes! :) Make sure you pick up Tara Sivec's new release, Passion and Ponies, it's out now and will have you in fits of laughter.

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Review: Playing With Fire (Guarded Hearts book 1) by Ashley Piscitelli

Madison Stevens has had a shitty life.  Her mother died at the age four and her father has always blamed her for it. She went through the foster system and is now attending college. Her boyfriend Chris is not willing to share Madison with anyone, not even her friends.

Her first day at college she meets Carter James, who makes her want everything she never thought she could have. She knows that she should ignore her feelings for Carter, but it's not as easy as it sounds.

As Carter and Madison begin to fall in love, they face many obstacles. Their biggest one is Chris who is not going to let her go easily.

I felt so bad for Madison, she was blamed for the death of her mother by the one person who should have taken care of her, her father.  Then she begins dating Chris and he treats her like a dog that he can abuse and control.  She knows that she needs to get away from him but feels like no one else would want her.  When she runs into Carter, literally, the connection between them is instant.  Carter knows that Chris is bad for Madison but he needs to convince her to leave him, so that he can show her how she should be treated.

As someone who has been in a violent relationship in the past, I connected with Madison.  She needed to be shown that not every man will treat her like the other ones in her life have in the past.  Once she began to blossom within the relationship with Carter, I was so happy and wanted them to be able to have a good life and relationship.

Carter was exactly who Madison needed.  He was the person who could heal her emotionally, mentally and physically.  I love Carter.  He reminds me of my savior, my husband.  He was patient with Madison when she needed it the most.  He was gentle, sweet, protective, and overall the guy she needed and deserved.

Chris, OMG I wanted to find my baseball bat and beat the living shit out of him and say how does that feel you asshole!  He just continues to make Madison’s life a living hell.  He doesn’t want to let her go and doesn’t want anyone else to have her if he can’t either.  Chris’ character was very close to real life for a lot of people, and the level he rises too is a reality check that no matter how rich or poor someone is you can never judge them based on that alone.

Now I loved this book.  I cried and smiled and jumped for joy and screamed oh hell no!  If you hate cliffhangers you may want to wait until the second book comes out because this baby has one hell of a cliffhanger!  I actually screamed out NOOOOOOOOOOOO damn it you can’t end it like this!  (And yes my husband came running thinking either I was in labor or done lost my mind.)  I was so involved in this book that I need more now!  I need to see how this plays out.  I really hope that Ms. Piscitelli hurries up and writes book two because for those who have read this book we are biting our nails to see if Carter and Madison will get their HEA.