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What can you tell us about your new release, The Beauty's Beast?

The Beauty's Beast is a story about how two broken souls can find the missing part of themselves in each other. Gabe is an ex-Navy SEAL who carries the physical scars of war on his face. Living in LA, he doesn't often meet people who don't impulsively judge him or write him off because of his looks. He's built walls around himself, keeping people at arm's length and going to sex clubs to meet fast and frivolous women. It's a shock to him when he sees a new face in the crowd. A woman who doesn't care about his bravado or his huge cock, she sees him. Vanessa is a Hollywood starlet who just landed a role that promises to make her career. It's about a nymphomaniac who is sexy, powerful and in charge. There's only one problem, Vanessa has never had an orgasm in her entire life. Not even by herself. She ends up in the sex club to do some research for her role and runs into Gabe, a man who makes her body feel things she's never experienced before. A man who seems to be able to look into her soul. A man she needs in her life.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

I feel like being an author has been a dream of mine since I knew that it was a job. The thing about dreams is we sometimes tend to trade them in for other things. What inspired me to dust mine off and give it a shot was that I was approaching forty and didn't want to spend the rest of my life wondering how things could have been if I'd given this a fair shake. I gave myself (several) pep talks and took a huge gamble, leaving my stable career with a guaranteed pension in the military for the life of an Indie author. I'm happy to say it worked out and I've never regretted it for a day.

Which books would we be surprised to find on your shelves?

Since I write romance I don't think anyone would be too surprised to know that I also read it. Probably the thing that people would be surprised by is the numerous cook books I have on my shelf (and use).

What is a typical day like for you?

Right now, a typical day for me is to get up at 5am, drink coffee and put together my newsletter. Since it's summer, I've been taking advantage of the good weather and getting some serious renovations on my house. My kitchen is completely gutted to the studs right now and I'm working on putting it back together. Then in the afternoon and evening I spend time with my family and from about 8pm to 11pm I write.

BAM. You're a superhero. What's your superpower?

It would definitely be to control time. I never feel like I have enough hours in a day and my to-do list never seems to get finished. It would be awesome to be able to freeze time and get a bunch of stuff done, then unfreeze it and keep going. Also, I'm not always the most patient guy, so it would be nice to be able to zip part all the waiting parts!

What is the one movie you can quote the most?

That would have to be Anchorman. It still makes people laugh too. "They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time, it works every time."

What scene in The Beauty's Beast was your favorite to write?

There were a few and for different reasons. This book has some scenes that unfold inside of LA sex clubs. Since I've never been, I had to do some research before writing. That was fun and I enjoyed learning about that lifestyle. In every book there are scenes where you get insight into why characters are the way they are. What made them break. I love writing those scenes the most as it makes the characters the most real to me.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

I do, I firmly believe that at the end of our lives it is the things that we don't do which we regret. I always try to keep that in mind and live my life so I won't be buried with a heavy casket full of regrets.

Eddie Cleveland is the author of the new book The Beauty's Beast. 

Connect with Eddie:
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What can you tell us about your new release, Absinthe?

Absinthe is a forbidden romance between a principal and a 19-year-old student. It begins with innocent intentions, both of them meeting on a dating app, and then it spirals into something with major consequences, pointed fingers, years of resentment, and then a chance encounter years later.

What's the last book you read?

The last book I read was Vicious by LJ Shen. Loved it!

Who is your favorite couple from literature?

This is going to seem so cliche but it has to be Noah and Allie from The Notebook.

You're hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?

F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gillian Flynn, and Joyce Carol Oates.

What's a typical day like for you?

Checking email and social media in the morning, writing in the afternoon, and doing mom stuff in the evening. A million interruptions between all of those things.

What's the best advice you've ever received?

Before you write a single sentence, know your characters' goals, motivations, and conflicts.

What scene in Absinthe was your favorite to write?

I enjoyed them all, but I'd have to say my favorite was the scene where she went to his house for the first time. They both had to show so much restraint and fight an ungodly amount of tension, so it was fun to write!

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

"You have as many hours in the day as Beyonce." Not sure who said it, but it's true!

Winter Renshaw is the author of the new book Absinthe. 

Connect with Winter:
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What can you tell us about your new release, Maddy's Phoenix?

Maddy's Phoenix is the story of a struggling, 22-year-old truck stop waitress from the small town of Monte Rio, California, who miscarries for the second time, then finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind work. Determined to keep the baby and raise her as her own, Maddy takes her tip jar savings and patches together a plan to move to the San Francisco Bay Area. She wants to study to become a nurse so she can make a life for sweet little Judith, certainly better than the life her mother provided for her before she abandoned her when she was a teen. But Maddy knows she’ll need help if she’s to work and go to school. Her older waitress friend, Cheryl, volunteers to go with her, to take care of Judith.

Maddy's Phoenix is a happy story about how Maddy refuses to let a lifetime of adversity deny her the happiness she deserves. The lives of Maddy and baby Judith are suddenly turned upside down when she falls in love with Dr. Bryce Russell, one of her professors, who researches rare childhood diseases. MADDY’S PHOENIX delivers the happily ever after that readers seek!

What's the last book you read?

I just finished a book titled The Letter, by an author I’d never read, Kathryn Hughes. It’s a love story about a woman who works in a second-hand shop and comes across an old letter in the pocket of a man’s suit there. Her decision to find the man who wrote the love letter alters the course of her life forever.

What fictional literary world would you most like to visit?

I’d love to the visit the fictional world of Lord of the Rings. The movie was so delightfully beautiful and filled with scenery the likes of which I’ve never seen. I’d like to be dropped onto one of the winding paths alongside a gnome-sized house set next to a stream lined with super-green grass and abundant colorful flowers. When I think of the movie, I see lush hillsides and quaint towns. That would be such an adventure.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

What I love most about writing is creating a fictional world of characters. While all my characters are fictional, I do enjoy drawing on aspects of personalities of people whom I know or have met in real lie. Sometimes the names of my characters begin with the same letter as such a person, which helps me imbue that character with some similar personality traits. I enjoy using experiences that have actually happened to me or someone I’ve heard about, to design a world that is both believable as well as interesting for the reader.

If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would you choose and why?

The first person who comes to mind is James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano in the television series The Sopranos. I absolutely loved watching him create a character who was horrendous in the things he did as a mafioso and at the same time was a soft-hearted, sweet man whose family meant everything to him. And he made us like him! I know James Gandolfini and the producers spoke with real people in the mafia to inject the show with realism, and I’d really enjoy knowing more about the mafia, which I find intriguing and definitely out of my comfort zone.

How do you like to spend a rainy day?

If it’s not raining cats and dogs (and usually the rain in the San Francisco Bay Area is so light I don’t even own an umbrella), I enjoy riding my Friesian horse Maximus in the rain. He doesn’t mind being sprinkled with raindrops, and while sitting on his back I’m comfortably warm, because his average body temperature is 100 degrees. It’s especially fun walking through the forest, hearing the plop-plop of the raindrops on the leaves along with the clippitty-clop of his hooves on the path. It works wonders for reducing stress!

What scene in Maddy's Phoenix was your favorite to write?

I enjoyed writing the scene where Maddy discovers the baby in the dumpster behind the restaurant where she works. I could easily picture the back of that restaurant with the big green dumpster filled with discarded food and napkins, in the middle of which a tiny infant lies underneath a half-eaten corn cob on top of a large piece of lettuce. I could well imagine how surprised and horrified I’d be to make that discovery.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Yes, I do. Having been raised Catholic, I attended Catholic grammar and high schools and went to hundreds of masses where the priest would give a sermon each day. One sermon that stuck was the philosophy of, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I believe if we all would live by that motto, we’d have a kinder nation with fewer murders, rapes, burglaries, and drugs. And a world like that will never happen unless we each live our own individual lives as if that philosophy matters, all of us determined to make a difference in the lives of others.

Patricia Yager Delagrange is the author of the new book Maddy's Phoenix. 

Connect with Patricia:
Author Website

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