A 3-Book Launch (Like 3-Bean Salad, only better)

It’s Book Launch Day! And this launch is a special one, because we’re officially launching not one but three books written by our Firebird sister and contemporary writer-extraordinaire,  Talia Quinn.

First off, I’ve had the opportunity to read What’s Yours is Mine , and it was lovely. Full of heat, and humor, and just an absolute delight to read. Can you tell everyone a little bit about the story, and how Darcy and Will came to be?

Thanks so much, Lorenda! Here’s a description:

Darcy Jennings just bought a one bedroom condo, a gorgeous oceanside property in the hills north of Santa Barbara. It’s the first time in her life she’s had a permanent home, and it means everything to her. It’s especially sweet after what happened four years ago. That’s behind her now, and the rat who nearly ruined her career, one Will Dougherty, is history.

Will Dougherty just bought a one bedroom condo. He helped build the property with his green, clean designs, and he earmarked this unit as his own. It’s up the road from his newly divorced sister, and it means everything to him. He’s come a long way since the day four years ago when his underhanded coworker, one Darcy Jennings, got him fired. Thankfully, he’ll never have to see her again.

They couldn’t be more wrong, as Darcy discovers when she stumbles into her condo after a long business trip, crawls into bed, and discovers a man there. Will Dougherty. And he says it’s not her bed, it’s his.

Now Will and Darcy have to live together twenty-four hours a day until one of them admits defeat. If only they could keep their hands off each other…

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The seed for the idea comes from the snowbound / housebound / living-on-top-of-each-other trope, with its intimacy and built-in conflict that’s so much fun to play with. I needed them both to be stubborn people to make this work. A different kind of person would just say, “Okay, I give up, it’s yours,” and then where’s my story? I liked the idea of a driven career woman. Someone would would strategize and figure out a battle plan. And then it felt natural to pit her against a seemingly easygoing guy who takes the Zen approach and intends to wait her out, Gandhi style.

But once they showed up, they turned out to be far more complicated. Darcy’s yearning for a home of her own softened her, and it turned out Will had to work incredibly hard to maintain that Zen because he had an awful lot of unresolved emotions to work through. And that’s when it got interesting…

I remember you posting a description of this on our email loop. I’m pretty sure I begged you for a copy because I am a SUCKER for the “close encounters of the ‘stuck’ kind” trope. Elevators, single rooms, or even bunkers during wartime, I love watching two people who can’t stand each other mellow out over the course of a book and realize that not all tension is bad tension. And this one didn’t disappoint.

Draw Me In, Raven and Finn’s story, is a novella and a prequel to your Golden Heart winning novel, No Peeking. Both of these stories are part of your Greenpoint Artists series. For all of us not familiar with the Brooklyn area, can you fill us in on what makes this borough so special?

 

It’s almost accidental that I’ve set the series in Brooklyn. When I wrote No Peeking, I needed an inexpensive place for Alanna to rent an art studio and I thought of Greenpoint. Then it turned out that she had studiomates, and each of them have their own stories. And then I realized that, wait, there’s an interesting (and very romantic) story about how this particular warehouse became an art studio.

I do love Brooklyn, though. I’m crazy about its architectural mix: brownstones down by the East River, brownstones lining the green meadows of Prospect Park, stately turn-of-the-century apartment buildings along Eastern Parkway, the cobblestone streets of DUMBO between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.  I love the cultural richness: artists and musicians mingling (often uncomfortably) with ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jews in Williamsburg, the store awnings in Greenpoint written in Polish, the Jamaican flavor of Crown Heights, and the Russian restaurants in Brighton Beach.

Brooklyn is everything I love about New York, away from the madding crowd in Times Square. It’s culture and community and a sprinkling of funk. I know there’s a trend toward small town settings in contemporary romance, but I love the city setting. It’s what feels like home to me, and I think it’s rich with story and possibility.  

 

 I noticed that you’re giving Draw Me In away for free. What made you decide to do this?

I’m new on the scene, which means I have no built-in readership yet. So I figured, why not be like those companies that set out tables at Whole Foods with samples of their cookies? Take a taste, see if you like it. If you do, maybe you’ll come back for more. (It’s certainly worked on me more than once.)

Well, if Draw Me In is anything like What’s Yours is Mine, readers will love it. (In fact, I loaded both it and No Peeking onto my Kindle just this morning.)

Moving on….since we have three different couples “on stage” today, I thought we could play a little game. Similar in spirit to The Newlywed Game, I’m going to list a few things, and I need you to tell me which of your couples would enjoy them the most and why.

Taking a cross-country trip in an RV

Finn from Draw Me In would hightail it away from that RV if it showed up in front of his brownstone! His father and his crazy-making mother are tootling around the country in an RV, and the idea of being like them (or worse, running into them) would give him hives. Raven might drag him into it, though. “One quick jaunt up to Canada,” she’d say, “just to see how we like it.” She does like adventure.

Darcy from What’s Yours is Mine spent too much time on the go as a kid with her military father, and I doubt Will would push her to leave now that she’s finally got a real home of her own. So they’re a no-go.

I’m going with Miles and Alanna from No Peeking. Miles would balk (he’s got a workaholic streak, and who has time for road trips?), but Alanna would know he’d love it, so she’d push him to do it. Then she’d set off with zero preparation. No maps, no brochures, no plans. Which would drive him crazy, and he’d go off to the nearest wifi source and download Best Of lists from all the TripAdvisor type sites he could find. In the end, though, they’d have a fantastic time. A true bonding experience.

Opening a sporting goods store

In Draw Me In, Finn is actively setting up a storefront for Finn’s Fermentation Factory (think mango kimchi and tamarind pickles and other exotic fermented foodstuffs). I’m thinking one store’s probably enough for them. And by the end of No Peeking, Alanna and Miles are–no, I can’t say. Spoiler. But they’ve got their hands full, let’s just say. (And we will check back in with them and see how it’s going in subsequent books.)

So I’m going with Darcy and Will from What’s Yours is Mine. And it’s actually perfect for them. Will would design the space, and it would be awesome, filled with light and gorgeous fixtures and such a sense of belonging that you’d want to move in and live there forever. Darcy would research the perfect running shoe and the best way to display the fishing rods along the wall and have a complete blast doing it. (Hmm… getting a sequel idea here…)

Participating in a reality TV series

Ha! Darcy and Will already feel like they’re in one during the course of What’s Yours is Mine, with everyone in the complex watching what happens in their unit, sussing out who will win this battle for the condo. But I think Alanna from No Peeking is the only one who might feel comfortable under the camera’s scrutiny. Though Miles would hate it, so she’d back out.

(I think my own film/TV background is speaking here. The idea of being on a reality show squicks me out. I know too much about the mechanics.)

Going all out on Halloween/Christmas/other holiday decorating

I’m going with Darcy again, and Will would help her design the decorating scheme. She’s a type A personality. Anything she does has to be done thoroughly (and well). Though Raven and Alanna would be happy to contribute original artwork for the walls, and Finn would bring sausage and sauerkraut, and probably beer and kombucha. Party time!

Thanks, Talia, for allowing me the fun of picking your brain. (And for being a good sport when I sprung a gameshow setup into your blog.)

Well folks, we’re at the end of the blog post, so if you haven’t already left to go buy Talia’s books, we’d love to hear a little about you. Does the thought of being forced into close proximity with a member of the opposite sex make your heart start thumping with excitement or fear?