Writing From The Heart - An Interview with author Steph Campbell, Friend Is A Four Letter Word

Steph Campbell is an author I've adored ever since I read the amazing Grounding Quinn, way back when self-publishing and the indie world were very much a new phenomenon (June 2011, for those keeping score).  I'm delighted to have her here in the interview chair at Still seeking allies, as part of Have Book Will Read's Blog Tour for the release of her latest, Friend Is A Four Letter Word.

Welcome Steph, so great to have you here!  Let's plunge right in with the good old Spanish Inquisition!  (What you didn't expect that?  Well, nobody expects ... haha, sorry!)

Your books have a very palpable sense of place - especially Southern California (the Quinn and Silver Strand series)  and Louisiana (My Heart/Fate For Yours)  Is that something you strive for, and do you have thoughts on how that affects the reader's experience?

I think the biggest reason I choose to write my novels set in particular places boils down to the whole "write what you know" bit. I've lived in both Southern California and Southern Louisiana (and Georgia!) and there are certain aspects of those places that hold vivid memories for me. I want readers to feel that they're there with my characters and having a connection to the atmosphere helps. With the Lengths series specifically, Liz and I made a trip to Southern California and visited most all of the sites in the books to draw more inspiration. [Ed. note - That must have been quite the "research" trip, right?] I think/hope it helps draw readers in.I'm not sure how the readers experience is affected. I *hope* they enjoy it. :)

Were you a surfer growing up?  Surfing seems like kind of a cathartic, soul satisfying experience for lots of your characters.  Do you feel that the use of surfing conveys something emotional to your readers, is it consistently a metaphor for something?  Freedom? Struggle? Grounding? Escape?

 I dated a couple of guys that surfed when I was younger, and they took me out. I love the ocean, and the surf culture, but falling off of a board is about the extent of my surfing history.I think there's something so pure and freeing about the ocean and surfing. It's an entirely different world out there in the waves and it can definitely make you feel minuscule in the grand scheme of the world, and really put things in perspective. Surfing is more than a hobby to the characters I've written, it's almost a religion.

You've had two wonderful collaboration partners in Jolene B Perry and Liz Reinhardt, how did you decide to proceed with them, and is the experience different in each case, in terms of your process, or how it feels?

Jolene B Perry

I've been so lucky to work with both Jolene and Liz. I think the best part of co-writing is how much you learn from working so closely with someone, and each of you trusting each other with something so personal. The way that I work with Liz is completely different than the way I work with Jolene. The two books Jolene and I wrote together were both A) written completely out of order and B) involved zero plotting. We would each write whatever we felt like at whatever point in the story we felt like writing and then say "you're welcome!" (kidding. Sort of.) But Jo and I are total pantsers--we write completely from the hip and have total trust that each of us will do the right thing for the characters and story. I honestly can't think of a time when one of us said, "I don't think that'll work. I'm changing it."

Liz and I have published 7 books together (and written a handful of others that have yet to be published) [Ed. note - Wow!] and we have tried every method from the way I described with Jolene, to alternating chapters and POV to the way we've finally settled on which is: We call each other every morning and discuss where we're at in the story and spitball ideas back and forth about what we think should happen next and the characters motivations. Whoever gets to the manuscript first, wins! (kidding) but usually one of us will dive in and write until we don't know what to write (or our writing time for the day is up) and then leave a brief outline of what we *think* should happen next. If the other agrees (almost always) we pick up right where the other left off and continue on the same way. It works for us well! 

Steph and Liz

I think in the beginning when co-writing I would bite my nails a little wondering what the other would think of what I wrote, but now it's just a process that I've settled in to and I love the feedback and the tweaking. It's a huge learning experience and I've grown so much as a writer from co-writing. 

You've talked a little bit before about the decision to go indie, and I gather it was somewhat of a wrenching one, both in terms of making the decision, and with respect to the impact it had on your relationships with other authors.  The landscape has changed so much since you made that decision, what are your  thoughts on it now, and have any of those naysayers come around, or gone indie themselves?

Ha! This is such a great question [Ed. note - See, I told you Steph was insightful, lol,]. I decided to go indie after a couple of years of querying, and it was a really hard decision to make, because at the time, the story was that if you self published, you could kiss ever writing under your real name again. Actually, the day after I uploaded my first book for sale on Amazon, I got an offer of representation from a huge agent that was on my "dream" list. So, yes, it did take me some time to find peace with my decision. A lot of that peace came from finding such an amazing community of indie authors and readers and, as you mentioned, the changing environment. People became more accepting of indie, and to be honest, I lost friends when I first indie pubbed. I had people tell me that I'd ruined my career. They claimed they would NEVER self publish--and several of those people have since come around and asked for advice as to how to get started--and have done quite well in the indie world since then. :) 

I think I've finally realized that there isn't one perfect way to publish for each person. Everyone has their own publishing journey. I'm still on mine. :)

Rocking the indie with the Wilders at RT

The emotional intensity and angst of your books sometimes overshadows the very funny dialog and banter that leavens them.  Do you have to pull back on the drama to interject that, or does it all flow somewhat organically?  

First of all, THANK YOU for saying that my books are funny! A very well known hybrid author once told Liz and I that we are "so funny in person, we should make our books funny, too!" And of course we said, "Wait, they ARE funny!"  

Liz once told me that after meeting me in person, she feels like my books are very voyeuristic. Like you catch such huge glimpses of me in each of them, but until you know me, you can't pick them out. I really do write from the heart, and try to be as authentic as possible. So, I guess all of the emotion, one-liners, etc... just come organically. 

Your characters have passions they pursue with intensity - cooking, photography. Do you have a subject that animates you like that?  Is it writing, or something else?

Again, this is one of those "write what you know," things. I took photography in high school and college and bake constantly in my spare time. There are things that I know nothing about that always seem to work their way into my books, though. Sailing, fencing, painting.... I've watched so many hours of random You Tube videos to come up with a single sentence some times. :) 

Thanks so much for joining us, Steph!  Wishing you the very best of success with Friend is a Four Letter Word and all the amazing projects you have going!  Whatever you do, wherever you go, you can always count on Still seeking allies for support, we love you that much!

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The Steph-iverse, a go to guide!

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Giveaway!

In connection with the launch of Friend Is A Four Letter Word, Steph and Have Book Will Read are sponsoring a giveaway for a lovely dandelion wish necklace and a $20 Amazon gift card - enter below!

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Unwanted Stars by Melissa Brown

I'm excited to be part of The Rocks Stars of Romance blog tour for Unwanted Stars, by beloved author Melissa Brown.  US (I like calling it that, mildly confusing though it may be, because it's a sweet acronym for the fated couple Auden and Campbell, whom we come to know and love in this book) is Book 4 in the Love Of My Life series, which began with Bouquet Toss, continued with Champagne Toast, and was furthered by last year's lovely Picturing Perfect.

Synopsis

It’s funny how the tiniest of things can change your life… An invitation, a simple kiss goodnight, a matchbook…

And Auden Kelly is so in need of a change.

She’s trading in her nine-to-five sales job for the adventure of a lifetime: a one year contract with a European tour company.
For one full year, Auden will get paid to see the world. What could be better? Her brother gives her a journal, instructing her to document all of her adventures as she travels from country to country. And that’s exactly what she does.

When an unexpected stranger enters her life, however, those sought after changes ripple through everything Auden had come to rely on: her expectations, her priorities, her view of the world and her place in it. And nothing for Auden will ever be the same.

Fred's Notes

So, they say when life hands you lemons, make lemonade. But there's not really a formula for when life hands you a big bowl of wtf, right? Especially when you're a pretty darn prickly 23 year old named Auden Kelly, who's restlessly launched herself on the adventure of a lifetime, guiding tours through Europe. And on top of that she's met this guy. Not just any old guy, either, but a handsome and accomplished one who, best of all, is absolutely smitten with her (smitten, I tell you!). But fate's got cards it doesn't want to show, until one day it does, and suddenly Auden's life feels like it's a house made out of those cards, tumbling around her in a dizzy snowstorm of aforesaid wtf.

I love this thoughtful and tender story of a (to be perfectly honest) kind of difficult girl, who struggles to come to terms with some tough revelations, good and bad, about who she is, and who she's going to choose to be. I love that the romance wasn't "the solution" to her problems, but rather another facet to her journey of self-awareness, maturity and understanding. I was so not expecting the big twist that hits around 60%, or for this to be a deep and sensitive treatment of issues of family and identity. And I really love how artful author Melissa Brown has become in this 4th book in the Love of My Life series of interconnected standalones. Without disclosing too much, it's so clever that key events happen at a make-up counter, a place where illusions meet with reality to either reveal or conceal a deeper truth about the layers that lie beneath our cosmetic enhancements and embellishments.

I don't mean to make this sound too heavy - it's banterific and sometimes breezy, filled with delightful snapshots of Auden's Europe, and with  warm and winsome vignettes of real feeling family affection and irritation.  I urge you to indulge in the rather complicated pleasure of getting to know Miss Auden Kelly, the most complex of her clan, without further ado!

Enter to win a $50 gift card from awesome tour hosts The Rock Stars of Romance!

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Find your copy of Unwanted Stars at Amazon and Barnes & Noble and add to your Goodreads tbr now!

Cover Reveal

Marrying Ember by Andrea Randall

Book #3.5 in The November Blue Series

Releases Valentine's Day ~ February 14th

To celebrate the blessed event, we'll be having a fantastic

and romantic release day party.

Book #3.5 - Marrying Ember

It started like it always does. For musicians, anyway. The moment Bo Cavanaugh heard November Harris sing, it all clicked into place.

That was a year and a half ago. Between then and now there's been unthinkable tragedy, ruthless heartache, and lifetimes of passion.

It was never a question in Bo's mind that he would marry Ember someday. The question he faces, though, is can he do it before the weight of a family's history pulls Ember away from him forever?

In this novella in the November Blue series, follow Bo as he sets out on the only quest he was ever meant to accept: Marrying Ember.

Book #1 - Ten Days of Perfect

Scars from her first love and the reckless lifestyle of her parents force Ember Harris to chart a new course. She favors practicality over spontaneity and rules over a broken heart.

An encounter with a musician at a local pub forces Ember into making a decision to let go or hold on for dear life as passions are unlocked and deceptions revealed.

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Book #2 - Reckless Abandon

November Harris is lost. After a failed romance with musician Bo Cavanaugh, Ember is left struggling to regain her true self. The problem is, Bo won’t go away and Ember's stance is firm—she doesn't want him back. Adrian Turner, Ember's ex-boyfriend-turned confidant, is patient with her heartbreak, but he can't hold back his own feelings forever.As she sorts through her past, in an effort to plan a solid future, Ember will find that sometimes even the best laid plans bow to the soul's desire for reckless abandon.

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Book #3 - Sweet Forty-Two

Regan Kane arrived in San Diego with nothing but a violin, his car and what feels like a lifetime of grief. Although he’s surrounded by friends and music, one delivery from the post office reminds him that the past is always just around the corner. When he befriends a local bartender, Regan wonders if he's finally ready to let go.

Georgia Hall has spent most of her life in the shadows of her mother’s mental illness. Pushing away those around her ensures they won’t get hurt when she succumbs to the same fate.

All of that unravels when she meets Regan. As her life spins out of control and the line between reality and fairytale blurs, she has to make a choice to trust or fall.

Regan and Georgia are searching for healing among the wreckage. Will doing so together make moving on all the more sweet?

Or will the secrets and darkness of the past drive them apart?

Andrea is a 2005 graduate of Cornell University and does not currently use her degree in Development Sociology. She does, however, use her people skills and love for writing every day. She and her partner, Charles Sheehan-Miles, live and write together in Massachusetts.

Website, Facebook, Goodreads, Amazon, Twitter

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Come To Me Quietly by A.L. Jackson

From the acclaimed bestselling author of Lost to You and When We Collide comes a new adult novel of one woman’s obsession: a man who’s as passionate as he is elusive—and as tempting as he is trouble.…

Title: Come To Me Quietly (The Closer to You Series, Book 1) Author: A.L. Jackson Release Date: January 7, 2014 Genre: New Adult Romance Blog Tour hosted by: Shh Moms Reading, Literary Mania Reviews, and Brandee’s Book Endings

Synopsis

Aleena Moore is haunted by Jared Holt. It’s been six years since she’s seen her brother’s best friend, the self-destructive bad boy she secretly loved in high school. As the years pass, she knows it’s time to move on. Time to decide between a practical nursing degree and her true dream as an artist. Time to get over Jared and give another guy a chance…

Just when she opens her heart to her friend Gabe, Aly returns home to find Jared sleeping on her couch. The teenage boy she loved has grown into a man she can’t resist. Covered in tattoos and lost in rage, he’s begging to be saved from his demons—the memories of the day he destroyed his family. As the two reconnect, their passion is hot enough to torch Aly’s judgment. But can she risk her future for a man who lives on the edge of destruction?

Fred's Review

"Thunder rumbles, in the distance, a quiet intensity."  These opening lines from Painting by Chagall by The Weepies somehow capture for me the slow-building and immensely powerful development leading to the delicious denouement of this emotional and sensitive second chance romance. The story of the tortured bad boy and the sensitive good girl who loves him are not an unknown trope in our beloved genre- just as the I,IV and V chords of the classic blues are a familiar framework for musical expression.  But in the hands of a master, those elements are recreated and reignited, in a way that moves and reminds us of the crazy depths, delusions and demands of the heart.  When A.L. Jackson works her mojo, it's like music, only instead of words and sound, she uses emotions. Well, technically she does use words, okay. But in a tender and subtle way that leads to that lovely throat-constricting, tear-duct squeezing state of catharsis that her readers have to come to know and crave. Amy crafts that catharsis with her characters and poetic language, true, but also with the help of two artistic elements that never cease to create that old feeling in me. First, secrets which even though kept with the best of intentions, become black holes of emotion, threatening to draw everything into their destructive power; and second, the slow revelation of "the event," that thing that happened to Jared way back when, which now similarly exerts such a distorting gravitational pull on those who survived it.  The tension between the desire to know what happened, and the desire to look away, in sadness and shock, is almost unbearable at times.   

A.L. Jackson is at the height of her not inconsiderable powers in this dark but redemptive adult contemp. I really can't recommend it highly enough!

Painting by Chagall, The Weepies

About author A.L. Jackson

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including Pulled, When We Collide, and If Forever Comes.

She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.

Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children.

Links a'poppin! Get 'em while they're hoppin'!

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Come To Me Quietly Book Trailer

Release Day - Friend is a Four Letter Word by Steph Campbell (Grounding Quinn Series #3)

This is the third book in the Grounding Quinn series (comprised of the awesome and totally not to be missed "Grounding Quinn," and its sequel, "Beautiful Things Never Last.") It is a standalone, spinoff companion novel to its sister books, and doesn't require you to have read them to fully access the story of FFLW (although in this humble blogger's opinion, you'd be crazy not to read those two beautiful books!)  

Head on over to Have Book Will Read for an EXCLUSIVE excerpt!

BLURB

Shayna Gillan is on a mission: start fresh in a new state without the small town gossip that has haunted her since her bad girl days of high school.

Carter MacPherson has long been the most together member of his crazy family--until now. With a secret threatening to crumble everything he's worked for, he wishes he could forget the recent past, too.

The last thing either Shayna or Carter are looking for is a relationship. It's best for everyone that they be left alone while they sort out their issues.  At least that's what they tell themselves - the truth is that maybe they're just too scared, skittish and full of self-doubt.

So, yeah, friends, right, that is absolutely, utterly all they can ever be.  Period.

But the best laid plans of mice and men ... don't allow for feelings, failings and friendship's limits. Once Shayna and Carter cross the Rubicon, leaving their ambiguous friendship behind, the die is cast ... and there can be no turning back.

The only question left is--whose past will catch up to them first?

Fred's Notes

I don't think it's any big secret that Grounding Quinn (and it's sequel, the lovely and poignantly titled "Beautiful Things Never Last") is one of my all-time, best book ever favorites.  It's such a delicate and subtle book that I feel kind of dumb being so cheerleady about it - it's like breaking out the pom-poms for an Emily Dickinson poem or something.  But it's hard to restrain my book-thusiasm about Quinn, and about Steph's gorgeous, spare but evocative style.  It's not just her characters, it's the subtle way she creates them.  It's not just her style, it's the emotional veracity and psychological depth of what she perceives and describes.  So, it's also probably no secret that I'm delighted, enthused and excited (I'm rah rah, who are you?) to return to Quinn-land, and understand more of what's happened, what is happening, and what might happen, between Quinn's brother Carter and her brittle bestie Shayna.  I'm going to save my major encomiums for my review, but let me simply say that fans of Steph's insightful, poetic and poignant world, will find pleasure and rich enjoyment here.  I urge you strongly to get your copy, either at Amazon, or by entering the Rafflecopter below, so graciously hosted by Kelly Moorhouse of Have Book Will Read! 

AUTHOR BIO

Steph Campbell grew up in Southern California, but now calls the Northeast home. She has one husband, four children and a serious nail polish obsession. She's repped by Kevan Lyon at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency.

Steph's works include Delicate, Grounding Quinn and Beautiful Things Never Last; My Heart for Yours and My Fate for Yours (with Jolene Perry); A Toast to the Good Times (with Liz Reinhardt) and the bestselling new adult LENGTHS series with Liz Reinhardt.



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Cover Reveal: Past Imperfect by Alison G. Bailey (Perfect Series # 2)

Today is the cover reveal for Past Imperfect, the second book in Alison Bailey's "Pefect" series.  It really captures the intensity and luminous darkness of this amazing series, right?  (And on a less literary note - to me, nothing says "sexy" like those awesome dorsal dimples our girl Mabry is sporting, right?)

Up for some details?  Here they come!

Series: Perfect #2

Release Date: February 20, 2014

Cover Designer: Robin Harper, Wicked by Design; photography by Abigail Marie, NON`PA*REIL photography

And today's awesome tour is hosted by: Wordsmith Publicity

In Present Perfect (first in the series), Brad Johnson was sexy, cocky, rich and a complete Smurff**ker. He could afford anything he wanted and could charm any girl he set his eyes on. Everything was laid out in front of him, all for the taking except the one thing he craved and needed. A tragic event forces him to reevaluate his life. When he tries to change, will the people in his life let him move on from his past or will they constantly hold him to the life altering mistakes he’s made?

Mabry Darnell is intelligent, ambitious, beautiful, and sassy. Secrets from her past haunt the present causing her to question her actions in order to shield her heart and protect her life.

From the moment Brad and Mabry met, their connection was strong, intense, and electrifying. Both knew they had found the one person who could satisfy what the other ached for. When their pasts collide with their present, will it prevent them from having a future together or will love be strong enough to conquer their demons?

And here's the book that started it all! Intense, sensitive and angst-errific, check it out!

Present Perfect (Perfect #1)

 

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble

 About the author

Alison was born and raised in Charleston, SC. As a child she used her imagination to write additional scenes to TV shows and movies that she watched. She attended Winthrop University and graduating with a BA in Theater. While at Winthrop she began writing one act plays which she later produced. Throughout the years she continued writing and producing several one act plays, but then life got in the way and she hung up her pen for a while. On the advice of a friend, she started writing again. In January 2013, Alison sat down at her computer and began writing her first novel, Present Perfect.

Alison lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her husband, Jef, and their two furry children (dogs). She’s addicted to Diet Pepsi and anything with sugar.

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  GoodReads

Undertow by Amber Lynn Natusch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this atmospheric and emotional contemporary romance.  I gather it's a departure for author Amber, who earned her stripes with her PNR/Urban Fantasy Caged series, which I'm def adding to my tbr.  But you'd never know this is her first foray into contemp, based on the sure-footed plotting, captivating characters, and thoughtful themes amply displayed in Undertow.

MC Aesa (pronounced "Ice-ah," but don't call her Ice, unless you want your ice kicked!) is complicated and dimensional, and although she's a prickly one, I found her broken, overcompensating and strong-willed self irresistible. She's returned to the small Alaskan fishing village she stormed away from 9 years ago on the heels of her mother's suicide, to confront and reconcile with her past, and above all with her father.  She's an ER doctor now, about to start her residency, and it's made her sensitive to the fragility of life and relationships.  But her dad, the sailor who all too rarely came home from the sea, isn't making it easy on her.  And when he suggests she ship out with him and his crew for a short crabbing trip before she begins her residency, it becomes quite a test of whether blood is, in fact, thicker than the cold water of the Bering Sea she both loves and hates.

The first couple of chapters introduce the above situation, the characters (including swoony deckhand Decker - I love Amber's names, btw, they're real, but suggestive in a Dickensian kind of way), and the past that Aesa is struggling to overcome.  I also love the way Amber uses the imagery of the home Aesa left behind to reflect the interior landscape of Aesa and her father's relationship, without being heavy handed or too direct.  Once that bit of exposition is over, however, hang on to your Dramamine, because as soon as the Norwegian Queen sets sail, plot developments and events start raining down faster than hail in an Alaskan squall.  And they don't let up until the reader, like Aesa, is left shaking on the shore, wondering what the hell happened, and how we're going to be able to move on in one emotional piece.

There's romance (satisfying and mature), for sure, and conflict and drama - but there's also a deeper story, one of healing and wholeness, of family and secrets, and of the way the past isn't always quite what we thought it was. No review would be complete without mentioning the vivid creation of Aesa's world - I was in the Merchant Marine (summers during undergrad), and Amber aptly recreates the claustrophobic and bone-wearying atmosphere of a hard-working small-crew ship, and the semi-macho culture surrounding it. The bars, the brawls, the bravado, it's all there.

So high kudos to author Amber for creating a gripping, compelling and characterful read, with a fresh and real feeling setting and vibe.  I hope she continues to work her sweet and substantial skills in this genre, as well as in her primary realm of Urban Fantasy.


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