Friday, April 7, 2017

Interview with romance author Gina Conkle

Romance author Gina Conkle helps me wrap up the week by talking about her new release, Waiting for a Girl Like You.

During her virtual book tour, Gina will be awarding an Amazon Kindle Fire 7” to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:
Gina Conkle writes Viking and Georgian Romance with a new dip into hot contemporary romance. She grew up in southern California and despite all that sunshine, Gina loves books over beaches and stone castles over sand castles. Now she lives in Michigan with her favorite alpha male, Brian, and their two sons where she’s known to occasionally garden and cook.

Welcome, Gina. Please share a little bit about your current release.
(Two stories in one book)

Proper Care and Feeding of a Broken Heart
Bookstore clerk Abbie is off-the-charts nervous her first night moonlighting in a sex-for-hire job. If she only kept her mouth shut…but nothing goes as expected, including the intense blue-eyed surfer who walks through her door. Mark wants to work out a few kinks —and leave the lifestyle for good. Past mistakes still haunt him, but sweet Abbie turns Mark’s plans upside down, and two broken hearts discover honesty is the hottest aphrodisiac.

Anything but Safe
Former trophy wife Jennifer wants to thrive again, but when her new life hits a speedbump, her unlikely hero is rough working man AJ. The woman he rescued is out of his league, but the two together are magic. Jennifer smooths his hard edges, and when she’s with AJ, her true, quirky colors show. A surprise threatens to derail the two who quickly learn…love is anything but safe.

What inspired you to write this book?
The seed for Waiting for a Girl Like You came from a conversation with a woman I knew years ago. She shared her true-life tale of moonlighting in a crazy brothel that catered to all kinds of kink. This was pre-50 shades. The character, Abbie, is nothing like my friend. You could say I took a little of her real-life stories and ran with them. The result was the first novella, Proper Care and Feeding of a Broken Heart.

The second novella in the book is Anything but Safe. I started writing it on a plane and finished it three weeks later. I tabled it and brought it out, thinking it would work nicely for my “2 hot novellas in 1 book” idea.


Excerpt from Anything but Safe:
Hot sun beat down on the rest of the world. It was August. Standing under the pepper tree, AJ was a tall, cool drink of water. Stained coveralls didn’t put her off nor did his tattoo and the rough cadence of his speech. Under the gruff exterior was a real man with a good heart. He visually devoured her every time they’d crossed paths around town, and last night was no exception. But, could she be content with a sex only fling?
           
“Well, that’s a relief.” Faint sarcasm edged his last word.

“What is?”

His steady gaze never wavered. “I thought you might be going in a different direction.”

She cocked her head. “Did you think I was about to give you the ‘let’s be friends’ talk?”
           
“I thought you were about to give me the ‘let’s hook up for sex only’ talk.”

“Oh AJ,” she said around hiccups of laughter. Her cheeks burned. She shook her head, a little dazed. “I…I don’t know what to say to that.”

“It’s not the first time a woman like you propositioned me.”

Eyes rounding, she laughed at the absurdity. “I’m not propositioning you.”

“Good because my answer would be no.”

She’d come for lunch and conversation of the talking variety. A kiss or two was more than welcome, but they needed to slow down, let things simmer. AJ’s forbidding frown told her some of Hidden Valley’s well-shod women had dallied with him, and he was having no more of it. The town was an eclectic mix of gated communities, small farm-to-table co-ops and wineries. A lot of working class people had lived here long before it was hip.
           
Hurt bloomed in her chest at the idea of any woman taking advantage of AJ’s goodness. Or his body. His past was likely more colorful than hers, but his flat out refusal to hook up intrigued her. He’d messed around in the past. What made him change his mind?

What exciting story are you working on next?
Secrets in Amber, a Viking romance set in 932. It will publish in 2018.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
In 2012, I started to take my writing seriously. That’s the year I signed with my agent and the first series sold.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like?
I write full-time. I’m usually in my writing chair by 8:00 or 8:30. If email is light, I’ll attend that for a time and then work on whatever is my current project. I’ll work for 3-4 hours and take a break. I’m now adding exercise into that break and then lunch. I’ll get back to work usually around 1:00 where I’ll work until 3:00 when I have to pick up my son from school.

I try to save blog posts and marketing things for the evening. When I’m deep in a story, my regular hours go haywire. I’ve been known to work and say at 9:00 PM, “One more hour.” Before I know it, my eyes are blurry and it’s 2:00 AM.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My “experience” writing! Last summer I wrote a blog series “How to Eat Like a Viking” complete with growing veggies and recreating Viking meals. This summer I’m doing “How to Eat Like a Georgian” but this time will have video.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Doctor. Vet. Teacher. Author.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I have a free Viking romance short story on InstaFreebie for readers curious about my Viking romance: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/bHwSS To Steal a Viking Bride is book 2.5 in the Norse series (Norse Jewel is book 1 and To Find a Viking Bride is book 2).

A free Georgian romance short story is coming soon.

Links:

Buy links for Waiting for a Girl Like You: the book will be on sale for $0.99.

FREE BOOK! Listening to Her, free on Instafreebie: https://www.instafreebie.com/free/pVnGx

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!
Thanks for hosting me, Lisa!


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3 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thanks for hosting!

Gina Conkle said...

Thanks for hosting me Lisa!

Victoria Alexander said...

Thanks for sharing, have a great weekend!