Welcome Guest Author Lucianne Rivers – Giveaway today.

* One commentor will be randomly drawn to win a pdf copy of The Kiss Test. To enter you must leave an email address for contact regarding your prize. Thanks and good luck!,


Brynna


 Where do you hail from and what do you love most about your hometown?


I was born in Cork, Ireland, but raised in Limerick City on the mouth of the Shannon River. Limerick was a Viking settlement. It’s a rough town. My theory is that we started out as warriors and never evolved. There’s a huge drug culture and drug-gang sub-culture there. Tough atmosphere to adapt to, but when you go to a rough school, you learn to adapt pretty quick. Luckily I had good friends who weren’t involved in any crime. If anyone from home reads this I could be in trouble…

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? How has that childhood dream affected your career?

I wanted to be an actress from the age of nine. I had a natural ability to appear truthful (guess I’m a good liar), but when the teenage years hit, I sort of forgot how to act and had to relearn in university. I’m a pretty amazing actress even though I do say so myself, but it’s all about who you are underneath, and your ability to face your own stuff. You can’t act well and be carrying around a load of old baggage. I’ve had an agent since I was fourteen, and here too in the United States. I had a baby twenty months ago and that took me out of commission for a while. Not too many demands for pregnant actresses here in New Mexico. Also, my body has changed so much from even six months before due to a new passion for working out, I realize that how I looked prior was not very cast-able. Nobody ever knew what parts to send me up for. I guess I kind of like that I can’t be pinned down. Unless it’s by a two hundred pound guy in my Jiu Jitsu class. Ow.


Tell us about your latest book.  Do you have anything new in the works and can you tell us a bit about it?
I’m working on a series for Entangled Publishing entitled, HOLD ME, THRILL ME, KISS ME KILL ME and currently finishing edits for KISS ME KILL ME based on a true story about a team of Navy SEALs who were ambushed in Afghanistan in 2000. The main character, Robert, is the sole survivor and falls in love, much to his own amazement, with a girl almost twenty years younger than him. She basically melts his heart and gives him hope again.


Have you ever used contemporary events or stories “ripped from the headlines” in your work?
Yes, see above! KISS ME KILL ME is a retelling of Operation Red Wing. There really was a sole survivor, a Navy SEAL who then wrote a book about his experience.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging about writing?
Don’t ever try to write while on anti-depressants. They seriously affect your ability to create. Although, kudos to those who can.


What advice would you give to writers just starting out?
There’s a lot more to the craft of writing than you’d realize just from reading books. Get some training, it won’t take long until you’ve understood the “rules.”


Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?
Yes, I was on the aforementioned anti-depressants for a month or so. I had to take myself off them. Even though they were great in a crisis, the ongoing side effects were unacceptable to me. Not being able to write was one of them.


Who is your favorite author and why? What books have most influenced your life?
I grew up reading Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte. My favorite book by the latter is SHIRLEY, which, weirdly, has never been televised or turned into a movie. I prefer it to JANE EYRE because the heroine is stuck in this tiny rural village, without the opportunity to grow or change. She definitely cannot alter the circumstances of her own life. Falling for an older man is all she has, but because he’s a man (this is set in the 1800s) of his time, he can ignore how he feels about her and go about his business just long enough the break her heart. Of course, it’s fiction, so he realizes his mistake in the end, and thankfully Caroline, the heroine, has learned a thing or two by then. This was influential because I’ve often felt like that girl, waiting for my love to realize how much he wants me too. Pathetic? Probably. But that’s the story of my life 😉


How did you deal with rejection letters?
They were mostly rejection emails. I realized I wasn’t as great as I thought, and got some training. I learn quickly, so it was really only a matter of months before I figured out what I was doing wrong.


What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?
Online writing classes with Savvyauthors.com


Where do you as an author draw the line on gory descriptions and/or erotic content?
I really don’t. There’s not much that disgusts me sex-wise. Hmmm, maybe I should qualify that by saying I like Ellora’s Cave’s guidelines for what NOT to include in an erotic romance. I’d never realized “stuffing” was something anyone would even dream of doing, yet alone find pleasurable. Yikes.


What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
I have yet to do something truly weird. The other day I finally learned to shoot a gun. But that’s not weird. 

THE KISS TEST



Blurb: Newly divorced Dolores Coffey is determined to prove her ex-husband wrong; she is not a prude! Ready to work on her bedroom skills, Dolores checks into the Massey Institute for Research in Sexuality and Reproduction, presided over by Dr. Charles Massey. Charles keeps a close watch on Dolores and when she fails The Kiss Test, he makes the prim little Ms. Coffey his first priority for treatment. A series of “accidents” makes Dolores think that someone is trying to take Massey out of the picture. Will either of them live long enough for her to pass The Kiss Test? 



Buy link: http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/books/kisstest.htm
Excerpt link: http://www.cobblestone-press.com/catalog/excerpt/kisstest.htm


About the Author:
Lucianne writes sensual romance for Entangled Publishing and Cobblestone Press. Born and raised in Ireland, she currently lives in New Mexico with her young daughter. Formerly a stage and television actress, she now manages a non-profit and is NM State Champion in her weight class for Olympic-style weightlifting. Long story.


www.luciannerivers.com
twitter: @luciannerivers
facebook: www.facebook.com/luciannerivers
blog: www.viceandvalkyries.blogspot.com


Thanks for having me, Brynna!