Title: Second Nature
Series: Blood At First Sight
Author: Marie Lavender
Publisher: Solstice Shadows Publishing
Release Date: 9th December 2014
BLURB from Goodreads
She
never expected it…
Desiree Edwards has a problem. She’s been attacked, kidnapped and forced to get along with a vampire of all things. It’s something right out of the story books she reads, or her worst nightmare. But, sometimes he’s not the monster he appears to be. He seems so humanlike that she can’t help it when her emotions betray her, when her body betrays her. To make matters worse, she finds out more about herself than she ever wanted to know.
She was unlike any other…
Alec has a problem. The animal in him wants Desiree. But, so does the man. The more he learns about her, the harder it is to deny what he wants. But, he’s a freak, and she’s just a human. The two species don’t mix that way. Then an old enemy surfaces and Alec is forced to make a choice. His life or hers.
Can Alec’s soul be saved by this unique human? Or will it be far too late?
Desiree Edwards has a problem. She’s been attacked, kidnapped and forced to get along with a vampire of all things. It’s something right out of the story books she reads, or her worst nightmare. But, sometimes he’s not the monster he appears to be. He seems so humanlike that she can’t help it when her emotions betray her, when her body betrays her. To make matters worse, she finds out more about herself than she ever wanted to know.
She was unlike any other…
Alec has a problem. The animal in him wants Desiree. But, so does the man. The more he learns about her, the harder it is to deny what he wants. But, he’s a freak, and she’s just a human. The two species don’t mix that way. Then an old enemy surfaces and Alec is forced to make a choice. His life or hers.
Can Alec’s soul be saved by this unique human? Or will it be far too late?
PURCHASE LINKS
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
What is your name, where were you born
and where do you live now?
What is your name, where were you born
and where do you live now?
My name
is Marie Lavender. I was born in a small town in Indiana,
and I still live in the Midwest, though I hope to move to the Pacific coast
someday.
Did you always want to be a writer? If
not what did you want to be?
Yes, I
feel like I’ve always wanted that. I briefly entertained other ways to connect
with books: starting my own bookstore,
being an editor or launching my own publishing company. But, I pretty much knew
that writing was my calling.
When did you first consider yourself as
a "writer"?
Since I
can trace my writing roots back to the tender age of nine, I think it was
around then that I started saying I was a writer. To me, a writer was someone
who wrote something in hopes of someday publishing. Of course, that term has
totally evolved. Funny story, though. One of my uncles once asked what I wanted
to be when I grew up. I said, “I want to be a writer!” As a kid, I think I
didn’t clearly enunciate because he thought I was talking about horseback
riding. LOL. Yeah, in hindsight, I should have said “author”.
Did it take a long time to get your
first book published?
If you
consider that I started writing at nine years old, yes. My first self-published
book came out in 2010, five years after I graduated from college. That’s not a
bad timeline to me. My first traditionally published book, Upon Your Return, which took me eight years to finish writing, was
released in 2013. But, the timeline doesn’t really matter. It happened the way
it should have.
Do you work another job as well as your
writing work?
Yes, I
do. For now, I work as an appointment setter for an entertainment company.
What is the name of your latest book,
and if you had to summarise it in less than 20 words what would you say?
My
latest book is titled Second Nature,
a paranormal romance/urban fantasy and it is book one of the Blood at First
Sight Series. Here is my brief summary of the book:
Desiree
Edwards encounters an “Other” world when she is abducted and forced to get
along with sexy vampire, Alec Sullivan.
Who is your publisher? or do you self
publish?
A bit of
both, actually. I have self-published sixteen books, and released four books traditionally
through Solstice Publishing.
Do you have a "lucky charm" or
"lucky routine" you follow when waiting for your book to be accepted
by a publisher?
Not
really. I just hit the ‘submit’ button and pray that it worked, that the cyber
demons didn’t eat it before the publisher received it. Then I go about
attempting to distract myself for however long it takes to get a response back
from the publisher about whether they liked it or not.
How long does it usually take you to
write a book, from the original idea to finishing writing it?
That
really depends on the book. I would say that my historical romance series, the
Heiresses in Love Series, has taken longer than any other book project, mostly
because of the difficult research involved in it. Upon Your Return took around eight or nine years, while Upon Your Honor, the sequel, was
finished in a year. I am currently finishing up work on Upon Your Love, the final book, and I would probably give that a
year as well. Phew! My novellas don’t take as much time, maybe a month to a few
months to write and polish. The ideas for UYH and UYL actually came just after
I received the contract for Upon Your
Return in 2012. Suddenly, there were sequels in the works and though I did toil
on them here and there, I didn’t really put a lot of focus into one until the
previous book was published.
What can we expect from you in the future?
ie More books of the same genre? Books of a different genre?
I try
not to pin myself down, but I usually focus on romance in one way or another. I
do, however, try different subgenres. I have written contemporary romance,
historical romance, paranormal romance/fantasy, romantic suspense, literary
fiction, mystery/thriller and poetry.
I have a
manuscript I am polishing right now called A
Little Magick, which is the sequel to Magick
& Moonlight. It is just about ready to be published. ALM is a children’s
fantasy, something completely different from what I often write, and writing it
was a fun way to dip into the genre. Beyond finishing up the writing on UYL, as
aforementioned, I plan to finish the sequels in the Blood at First Sight
Series. I also have plans to launch a new series about a coven of witches set around
the time of the Salem witch trials. That will be titled the Witches of
Moonhaven Series, and it will be a set of six books in the historical
romance/fantasy genre.
What made you decide to write that genre
of book?
I love
romance - reading about it, watching shows or films about it. I always have. I
love “love” so that kind of translates into writing romance novels. I think
it’s so awesome that the genre is evolving and we now have time travel romances
and sci-fi romance, and really anything you can think of with romance thrown
in. It opens up the genre so much, and allows writers to write about whatever
they want instead of being boxed into a typical mold.
Do you have a favourite out of the books
you have written? If so why is it your favourite?
Right
now, the Heiresses in Love Series is my favorite. Though I will allow that the
reason may be because I’ve been focused on that writing series for the most
part, I totally love the characters, and hell, it makes me want to read my own
books. That’s not a bad thing, right? LOL.
Do you have a favourite character from
your books? and why are they your favourite?
Fara
Bellamont is my favorite. The young Fara, the mature Fara – it doesn’t matter;
she’s awesome. Fara is a redheaded spitfire, as one reader termed her, and she
will do everything she must to find love and have her own adventures. All this
during the Victorian era. Go figure. She is a compelling character, and I’m so
proud of that little “firecracker” for coming into her own. Yes, that’s another
term from a reader. I love my fans!
If you had to choose to be one of your
characters in your book/books which would you be? and why?
Oh,
goodness. You’ll probably assume I’m going to pick Fara, but not for this one.
I think I’d choose Desiree Edwards. I can relate to her interest in writing,
and – do I really have to say it? – she gets thrust into her own adventure with
a hot, hot, hot, um, vampire. Sigh. I love paranormal romance. If I could give
my fiancé fangs, I would. LOL.
Do you have a certain routine you have
for writing? ie You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?
No, it
just comes to me wherever I am, which can be inconvenient if I’m in public.
Good thing I decided to carry a journal with me so that I am prepared no matter
what. Sometimes I listen to music while writing; it really depends on the
story. At other times, I need absolute quiet. I can type on the fly on my PC,
but I also use my Luddite fallback by flopping down on my bed and then I start
writing in one of the cheap, one-subject notebooks I have on hand. And don’t
get me started on colored gel pens and decorative journals. Love those.
Do you have anybody read your books and
give you reviews before you officially release them?ie. Your partner, children,
friends, reviewers you know?
No, I
never thought of doing that. I guess a beta reader is similar to that, huh? I
definitely use critique partners and beta readers, and having that kind of
feedback is paramount when polishing your own work.
Do you gift books to readers to do
reviews?
Sure, I
do. If a reader is willing to do an honest review, I do that sometimes. Mostly
my freebies come through official book giveaways.
Do you read all the reviews of your
book/books?
I
confess that I do just for fun, but I try not to let the occasional lower score
get me down. The reason I got into this was for the love of writing, and one
person’s opinion is not going to keep me from pursuing my dream. I do love my
readers though; I wouldn’t be anywhere without them.
Would you ever ask a reviewer to change
their review if it was not all positive about your book/books?
No, no,
and hell no. That is completely unprofessional. That is like going to your
teacher in school, and saying, “Yeah, this isn’t working for me. Could you
switch that to an A+?” Not going to happen, and it makes you look stupid. If an
author was doing that, I would ask them to reconsider. No matter what, you
should keep your dignity. Reviews are reviews, good or bad. And who knows?
Maybe that somewhat negative review can still spark someone’s interest in
looking a little further into your work.
If I am
buying a book, I take many things into account: the cover, the blurb and then I
see what most people are saying about it. Most of the time though, I don’t
worry so much about reviews when buying a book. Any other product? Probably.
But books are a literary gift to the world. I just love words, and I love
reading. Life is too short to be so petty anyway.
Do you choose a title first, or write
the book then choose the title?
It
usually depends on the book. I would say that most of the time, the book comes
first and title comes out of the process of writing it. Upon Your Return came out of a piece of dialogue in one of the
scenes I wrote, and the titles for the other books came when I got the basic
plot ideas for the sequels. I hadn’t done any heavy writing at that point. Now
and then, though, I do get a title in my head, and the plot naturally flows of
that. Magick & Moonlight was that
way. I also have an idea for a story called Mystery
Falls; with that one, the title came first, the plot later. Also, sometimes
I think I know the title, but then it changes later on. Like I said, it depends
on which book I’m working on.
Which format of book do you prefer,
ebook,hardback, or paperback?
I think
I still prefer paperback over anything else. Ebooks are convenient if you have
a reader, but if you don’t, you’re stuck trying to read them on the computer or
on your phone. Hardbacks are nice collector’s items, but they are pretty bulky
to carry around.
What is your favourite book and Why?
Have you read it more than once?
Dark Lover by J.R. Ward. It is paranormal romance at its
finest, and the male main character, Wrath, is my favorite book boyfriend. And
yes, I have read it many, many times.
Do you think books transfer to movies
well? Which is your favourite/worst book to movie transfer?
Most of
the time, I believe they don’t transfer well. The creators of the movie have to
cut out a lot just to adhere to time limits. For example, I once read Michael
Chrichton’s Jurassic Park, and in
some ways I believe the book is better. There are ton of action scenes that
weren’t even included in the movie, but if they had bothered to put them in,
the film would have been three or four hours long. I did enjoy the movie, but
after reading the book, it sort of ruined the idea for me. I understand why certain
scenes get cut, but sometimes I wonder about quality too. Often we are forced
to rely on a director’s perspective of something, and who’s to say the author
ever intended that in the first place?
Do I
want one of my books turned into a movie? Yeah, who doesn’t? But, I wonder how
much we’re sacrificing when a book goes straight to a movie. I never read the
Harry Potter books, but I liked the movies. I learned a long time ago that
sometimes it’s best to do one or the other – either read the book or watch the
movie. If you do both, in most cases, you’re going to get disappointed. Whereas
if you focus, you will only be judging it based on one medium.
Did you read a lot at school and write
lots of stories or is being a writer something newer in your life?
Yes, I
used to read a lot when I was a kid. I remember sneaking with a book light to
read late at night when I was “supposed to be in bed”. I also wrote lots of
stories during my childhood. I look back on them now, and I find it amusing
because they were quite immature. There is one book project we had to do for
class in the third grade, and mine was titled The Mystery of the Golden Chair. I still have it, and I’ll probably
never show it to anyone. But, it reminds me that I’ve grown a lot since
then.
Did you have a favourite author as a
child?
I read
the Bobbsey Twins and the Boxcar Children back then, and I was kind of obsessed
with those Choose Your Own Adventure books. Eventually, I got into reading The
Babysitter’s Club Series and I remember reading two specific books from middle
school: Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis
Klause and Say Goodnight, Gracie by
Julie Reece Deaver, book very good books for different reasons.
Are there any New Authors you are
interested in for us to watch out for? and Why should we watch out for them?
Yes. I
recommend that you check out Mika Jolie and Linda Lee Williams. They are very
talented writers.
Do you or would you ever use a pen name?
Yes, of
course. I have one right now – Marie Lavender. I have also used Erica
Sutherhome and Kathryn Layne.
Where can readers follow you?
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MarieAnnLavender
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6938764.Marie_Lavender
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/marielavender1
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