This Fragile Life - Meet Kate Hewitt & Giveaway

This Fragile Life: From Idea to Book 

By Kate Hewitt

Thank you so much for having me here! I’ve been writing romance for Harlequin Presents for seven years, but have wanted to branch out into women’s fiction for awhile now, so I’m thrilled that my first women’s fiction, This Fragile Life, is out with CarinaUK now.

I first had the idea for This Fragile Life—wait for it—nineteen years ago. I had newly moved to New York City, was fresh out of college and eager to pursue a career in playwriting. As I was crossing Ninth Avenue on my way to an unpaid and rather thankless internship at a playwriting guild, an idea popped into my head of two friends, Alex and Marsha, and how their relationship changed when Alex agreed to let Marsha, who had been struggling with infertility, adopt her baby. The idea was originally going to be a play called The Child Stealers, which is, of course, a bit pejorative—but even back then I was interested in the balance of power between women, especially when those women are good friends. I was also inspired by a play I’d recently seen, a feminist retelling of Beauty and the Beast by Louise Page, and, being young and full of myself, was eager to seem edgy and avant-garde.

Well. I wrote lots of notes and exactly one scene and then flitted to something else. I thought of the idea occasionally, and I think I might have wrote one more scene at some point, but it was firmly on the back burner until a year ago, when I was struggling to finish a different story for a prospective agent, and the idea dropped into my mind as if someone had hijacked my subconscious, except this time I had an added ‘what if…’ which I won’t share since I don’t want to spoil the story, but it made the entire idea sharpen into focus, and this time it would be a novel rather than a play—I gave up playwriting years ago.

I wrote the first third of the manuscript in three days.  The voices of Alex and Martha (changed from the original Marsha!) came to me so clearly, I felt as if I knew them and they were talking to me, telling me their stories, spilling their secrets, their hope and their pain. I love when that happens—and I’ll admit, it’s not as often as I’d like.

The working title of the story was Simple Gifts, which I changed to The Last Breath after a few days, and eventually ended up, a year and four sets of revisions later, as This Fragile Life. Only nineteen years in the making!

It’s amazing and incredibly wonderful to me that this story is now out there, available to readers. It makes me realize that no idea is wasted, and stories can sometimes takes years to percolate—but like good wine, that just makes them richer and more complex. Has anything in your life—a story, a relationship, an idea or a dream—taken a long time to come to fruition? 

Leave a comment and let me know your story, and I’ll draw a random name to 

win a copy of one of my Harlequin Presents, digital or paper.
Giveaway ends Saturday, August 24 at 6 pm EST.

And if you’d like to read This Fragile Life, you can find it at all these places:

Carina

Amazon 

Happy Reading,

Kate

Blurb for This Fragile Life:

You love your best friend. You trust her with your life. But could you give her the most precious gift of all? Alex’s life is a mess. She’s barely holding down a job, only just affording her apartment, and can’t remember when she was last in a relationship. An unexpected pregnancy is the last thing she needs. Martha’s life is on track. She’s got the highflying career, the gorgeous home and the loving husband. But one big thing is missing. Five rounds of IVF and still no baby. The solution seems simple. Alex knows that Martha can give her child everything that she can’t provide. But Martha’s world may not be as perfect as it seems, and letting go isn’t as easy as Alex expected it to be. Now they face a decision that could shatter their friendship forever.

Check out "Flavors of Summer Contest" On Kate's Facebook Page and enter to win a $300 gift card! 

Enter here:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-Hewitt/62076283485?id=62076283485&sk=app_219476854871313

OPERATION WEDDING CRASH - RELEASE DAY TASTY BOOK BLAST

 

Operation Wedding Crash

By: Sandra Sookoo

Blurb

Until death—or a secret—make them part.

Nora “Can’t Say No” Lenhart’s life is way past complicated. To add stress to everything, she’s just been appointed maid of honor for the upcoming wedding of the World’s Worst Boss and her ex is the best man. Looks like she’ll need to buy stock in an antacid company and try her best to ditch the green-eyed monster of wedding envy.

Camden Webber is an FBI agent with a massive chip on his shoulder—namely not being able to forget the woman whose usual inability to say no didn’t keep her from shooting down his proposal five years before. Though he has jaded views on weddings and marriage, Cam agrees to stand at his best friend’s side.

When Nora and Camden are thrown together at an engagement dinner, despite their tumultuous romantic history, they devise a plan to break up the ill-suited bride and groom. As the big day nears, emotions hit a breaking point, proving that wedding planning is more suited to a reality show and while happy endings are optional, they exist amidst the rubble, if the couple looks hard enough.

Buy here:  
Amazon

Author Info

Sandra is a writer of romantic fiction. Her portfolio includes historical, contemporary, sci-fi, and paranormal romances in full-length books as well as shorts and novellas. No matter if the heat level is spicy or sweet, she loves to blend genres and oftentimes will add humor to the mix.

When not immersed in creating new worlds and engaging characters, Sandra likes to read, bake, taste new teas, watch The Big Bang Theory, and Psych as well as Finding Bigfoot and travel. Her favorite place to spend vacation hours is Walt Disney World: it’s where dreams come true and the soul can play. When she’s not writing, she’s keeping things interesting at her Believing is Seeing blog or spending time with her husband, who patiently answers questions she has about men, sci-fi-related subjects, and the odd “what if”.

Sandra loves to hear from her readers. You can write to her at sandrasookoo@yahoo.com, visit her website at www.sandrasookoo.com, or look her up on Facebook and Twitter. 

Author Links

Website

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Goodreads

Blog

S.M Donaldson - Temptation Series - Book Blitz & Giveaway

Lying with Temptation Book Description:

Gabby Lewis is your all American girl, she’s athletic, smart, and gorgeous and doesn’t have a clue that she is. She’s always been a very loyal friend and popular by association, until the end of her high school senior year when her best friend and the guy she thinks she’s in love with betray her. The worse part of it is that her business and embarrassment become the talk of the entire small town she lives in. She takes an early admission to college along with her best guy friend Cade; she’s going to turn over a new leaf in life. Linc Addison is a star athlete and one of the most sought out quarter backs in the Southeastern United States. He’s the boy next door, who feels like his entire life he’s been used for his talents mainly by his father. The only person he’s ever really been able to count on is his cousin Russ. His high school girlfriend, cheated on him constantly, but wanted to keep him around so she could keep the correct social status. Now that he’s rid his life of her, he’s moved on to welcome the college life. The day Linc walked in his coed dorm room and saw Gabby unpacking he felt like he’d won the lottery and lost his ability to make complete sentences. She turned around to see one of the most gorgeous creatures she thinks God has ever put on this Earth. Can they break down each others walls, and find the peace they seek with each other; can they take on all of the temptations and obstacles that come their way? This is the first book in the Temptation Series…

Buy Lying with Temptation on Amazon

Acting on Temptation Book Description: Anna Lewis is just tired. She’s tired of being predictable. She’s tired of khaki skirts, sweater sets and pearls. She’s tired of her overbearing mother trying to push the Perfect boyfriend on her. She wants to stand up for herself do normal things kids her age do. She’s eighteen not thirty-eight. With her mother still on her case, an ex-boyfriend who’s an ass that won’t leave her alone, it’s not going to be easy. She was ready to move on with her life, leave the step-ford wife her mother was trying to turn her into behind. The only way she sees of doing that is going off to college. She’s always admired the strength that her sister Gabby radiates and wishes she could be more like her. After Gabby asks her to come to college with her and live in the house with her and her roommates how can she turn it down? Russ Addison has pretty much always been a football star. Going to college with that status could get him any girl he wants, with no strings attached. That is until he was introduced to her. He was in pure awe over the angel he met last year, Anna Lewis. He was both excited and scared about the possibility of living with her. Her sister and everyone else in the house had threatened him and his balls to stay clear of anything romantic with Anna. He would just have to stay away from her in the romantic sense and be her friend…Her best damn friend. Because he knows he’ll never be good enough to be anything more to her. After everyone is moved in and ready to start the fall semester, Russ starts to figure out that everything may not be what it seems with Anna. He also realizes that he can’t stay away from her no matter how much he tries. Anna knows she can’t seem to have enough time with Russ and she can’t help but wonder why he thinks so little of himself. Will they be able to stay away from each other or will they have to act on the temptation of each other.

Buy Acting on Temptation on Amazon

Excerpt:

It is also intended for mature audiences 17+

I’ve got to get up and go take a freakin cold shower so I can go to sleep…I can hear her breathing . It’s taking everything I have in me not to crawl over there. I get in the shower and I smell her soap, her shampoo, jeez this girl…I think I’m going to have to move out just so I can date her. After a LONG COLD shower I walk back and climb into bed. The next morning I wake up to a blood curdling scream. I look over and I don’t see Gabby in the bed. I run out in my boxers about that time Cade is coming out of her bedroom in his boxers. Gabby is in the bathroom screaming, we can hear stuff being thrown around in there, I’m scared someone has came in and is hurting her in there. Cade and I try to open the door but it’s locked… Cade yell’s at her, “Gabby what’s wrong open the damn door!” She still screaming, I look at Cade and he looks at me we both throw our shoulders into the door breaking the frame so we can get in. We both stop suddenly as we bust in. Cade looks at Gabby, “Crap Really Gabby! A damn mouse you had me and Linc break the door for a freaking mouse!” I was about to be pissed too until I saw her up on the vanity in nothing but a towel. She’s mad, “Cade get it out of here, you know I hate those things.” Cade rubs his head, “I should leave you in here with it Gabby, why didn’t you just run out of the bathroom?” “Well because it was blocking the door.”

S.M. Donaldson is a wife and mother based on the Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle. She’s funny, sarcastic and has been known to have a potty mouth. She’s worked in many different fields in her life but, she has always dreamed of writing short stories and books. She recently penned her first series of novels Sam’s Choice and Sam’s Fight for Freedom. She is currently working on The Temptation Series.

To learn more about S.M. Donaldson visit her at:

Website

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Stained by Elizabeth Marx - Excerpt

“Is that why you were living in the same city as me and you never came to see me?” I asked a little bit more accusatorially than I meant to. “Why didn’t Mandy call me or come to see me?”   His jaw seemed to harden as he looked over the top of his sunglasses. “Do you want to know about me or Mandy?”   I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”   “Maybe I was just admiring you from afar as I always have.” Revell merged onto the highway in the direction of Crossroads.   I snorted. “What’s Mandy’s excuse?”   Revell took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed the back of his neck. “She took Daddy’s death hard and she’s been busy with school there.”   “So for some reason, which you won’t explain to me, one of few people I consider a true and loyal friend came to live in my home town and she didn’t even want to see me?”   Revell sighed. “Since you didn’t come here when Daddy died, maybe she thought your friendship was over.”   “Is that what you thought? That our friendship was over?”   “We weren’t friends, Scarlett, don’t fool yourself into believing that!”   “Then I’d like to know what we were?” I countered angrily.   He wouldn’t look at me, and his voice was rough and tense when he spoke. “You knew I’ve wanted you in every way a man can want a woman since you were fifteen.”   “Friendship is better than nothing, especially when what you wanted to happen between us was completely inappropriate.” “It was only wrong if it was one sided or if I’d acted on it when you were under age.”   “The summer I was fifteen and Mamaw found us in the deer stand you came pretty close to you going to jail.”   “The age of consent in Alabama is bit lower than it is up North.”   “You were twenty, it was a crush on an older man on my part. What was it on your part?”   Revell paused, turned, and looked me up and down. “It was I’m going to rot in hell because I want a minor or I’m going to die a slow death because I don’t believe I can live without her.”   I grumbled in disbelief, “And yet here you are perfectly healthy and happy.”   “You were the one who just said that I don’t smile the way I used to.”   I moved away from his ire closer to the door. “Are you blaming me?”   “I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just trying to tell you how I feel because you wouldn’t let me tell you back then, and you never came back to let me explain how it was.” Revell sighed. “Why didn’t you come when I wrote you?” “I couldn’t.”   “Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”   “Couldn’t, Revell, couldn’t.”

Pre-order Stained on SMASHWORDS.   

Add Stained to your GOODREADS want to read list!   

About the Author: Windy City writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.  
 
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THE PERFECT 10 - 10 BOOKS BY 10 BESTSELLERS FOR ONLY $.99

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LAST CHANCE TO RUN, by New York Times bestseller Dianna Love

To an undercover agent, she’s a Person of Interest.  He’s interested. Escaping the compound of a deadly international felon—with a fortune in rare, stolen coins hidden on her body—elite athlete Angel Farentino has to make the most important run of her life. Literally. One step ahead of lethal men and dogs on her trail, she runs into the arms of a dark stranger willing to help her if she’d let him.  Between figuring out who’s sabotaging his undercover work for the DEA and trying to save his baby sister from herself, the last thing Zane Jackson needs is to get entangled with a woman who’s treading on the wrong side of the law.  But when the long-legged distraction races into the middle of his operation and stows away on his plane, a primal need to protect forces Zane to risk everything, starting with his heart.

THE LAIRD by USA Today bestseller Sandy Blair

Cursed on his death bed centuries ago, the laird of Castle Blackstone, Duncan MacDougall, wanders the echoing halls of his island-bound home as a ghost. Knowing only one woman has the power to set him free, he follows his castle’s newest mistress with great interest as she tours her inheritance for the first time. Could this plain, odd woman from across the sea be the one? Raised in the New York foster care system, street-wise catering director Beth Pudding isn’t easily frightened. But then she isn’t alone in her new home. A handsome specter with piercing blue eyes is following her every move as she evaluates the wisdom of keeping her inheritance, a decrepit island-bound castle. Who is he? And what does he want?

DEADLY PURSUIT by USA Today bestseller Misty Evans

Her sting operation put a ruthless criminal in prison.

One year ago, rookie FBI agent Celina Davenport pulled off the ultimate undercover operation…she seduced Emilio Londano – the dangerous leader of the San Diego Mafia – and destroyed his illegal empire.

Now he’s escaped and looking for revenge.

When Londano escapes a maximum security prison and begins picking off Celina’s friends and coworkers, everyone she knows becomes a target. Including DEA agent Cooper Harris, the man who once broke her heart and is now assigned to be her bodyguard.

How far will they go to stop him?

Cooper must risk his career – and his heart – to keep Celina alive. But will their past, with its forbidden passions and impulsive choices, put them directly in the killer’s crosshairs?

DOG COLLAR CRIME by USA Today bestseller Adrienne Giordano

Out of work and down on her luck, Lucie Rizzo is forced to move home to her nutty, mob-infested family. A move that also brings her back into the tempting arms of Frankie Falcone, the ex that never fails to make her heart sit up and beg.

When Lucie parlays her temporary dog-walking gig into a career making fancy dog accessories, she is thrown into an investigation that’s more Goodfellas than good doggie. One that could shatter her new life and her second chance at love.

INVISIBLE MAGIC by Amazon bestseller Mary Buckham

To save the innocent, Alex must call upon her untested abilities, but at what cost?

Hidden from a world unaware of magic, a recently and only partially trained group of operatives known as the Invisible Recruits are the only ones willing to stand between mankind and those powerful preternatural factions seeking to change the balance of power and gain world domination.

Alex Noziak, part witch/part shaman, anticipates facing dangerous preternaturals out for blood . . not fashion week. But when the rookie agent is sent undercover to find out who, or what, is behind a series of world-wide thefts of top-secret intelligence, Alex tangles with the Seekers.

Seekers hunt gifted human individuals like Alex and her squad whose rare powers can keep the balance between human and nonhuman squarely on the side of the humans. Her simple assignment turns into a battle of survival for everyone involved when she crosses Bran, a mysterious warlock, who might be her only ally or worst enemy.

THE MERZETTI EFFECT by Amazon bestseller Norah Wilson

Dr. Delano Bowen has searched over a century for a cure for his vampirism, as well as a vaccine to protect the vulnerable. At last, he thinks he’s found it in Ainsley Crawford, a descendent of the Merzettis, a family hunted to virtual extinction by vampires who feared the anti-vampirism properties in their blood. Ainsley has no idea of the genetic gift she carries, and Delano wants to keep it that way. With the lives of innocents at stake, he cannot gamble on her cooperation. But when his arch enemy sets out to destroy him and the fruits of his research, Ainsley is in grave peril. Delano must draw her closer to protect her. When attraction flares, hot and urgent, Ainsley sees no reason to resist it, but Delano knows she could literally be the death of him.

OUT OF FOCUS by Amazon bestseller Nancy Naigle

Kasey Phillips thinks her biggest problem is deciding whether to photograph Cody Tuggle’s honky-tonkin’ tour, until an accident on Route 58 claims the life of her husband. 

In a desperate race against time as a hurricane threatens the eastern seaboard, they search for her three-year-old son who is missing from the wreckage.

A community and friends rally to help, but someone knows more than they are telling.

A CHARMING CRIME by Amazon bestseller Tonya Kappes

***2013 eFestival of Words Fantasy Novel Finalist***

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June Heal has nothing to lose when she relocates her homeopathic cure shop, A Dose of Darla, from the flea market booth in her home town, to a quaint shop in the cozy but unusual little town of Whispering Falls, Kentucky. Or so it seems.

Cures and trouble...

Whispering Falls has a lot of secrets. From talking snow globes to whispering animals not to mention a few sprinkles of fairy dust, June realizes Whispering Falls is more magical than she thought. . .literally.

Magic stirs...

June discovers she was born into a family of psychics, and her homeopathic cures truly are magical. Unfortunately, they are not magical enough to save her from being the number one murder suspect when a member of the community that she had just had a disagreement with shows up face down in the lake with June’s lucky charm in the victim’s grasp.

And troubles double...

Add to that an attraction to her high school best friend, Sheriff Oscar Park and Mr. Prince Charming, her cat, is stealing charms from Belle’s Baubles, June is forced to clear her name in more ways than murder. After all, they don’t have cauldrons in jail.

A Charming Crime is book one of the bestselling Magical Cures Mystery series. Come walk around Whispering Falls for a fun, fantasy mystery with magic and romance. You won't want to leave.

DEADLY RELATIONS by Amazon bestseller Alexa Grace

Detective Jennifer Brennan, still haunted by her abduction five years before, devotes her life to serve and protect others.  So when three young women go missing and are found murdered on her watch, she vows to find the killer — or die trying. 

A personal relationship with her partner, Detective Blake Stone, would be career suicide. But the connection Jennifer has with him is nothing short of electric.  Working with Blake daily and denying her attraction is hard.  But when he moves in to protect her, resisting him becomes pure torture.

As they fight temptation, two detectives race against time to find the killer before he strikes again.  It is the most important case of their careers.  It could be their last.

Bonus Young Adult book: TIME TRAP by Amazon bestseller Micah Caida

Her memory is blank. Her future's in question. Her power is dangerous.

Waking up in an unknown world, Rayen learns only that she’s seventeen and is hunted by a sentient beast.  Terrified that she may never learn who she really is or find her way back to her home, she’s captured in a land that is at times familiar even if the people and the structures seem alien.  When local law enforcement delivers her to a private school, she’s labeled as a Native American runaway, and Rayen discovers a secret with deadly repercussions.  Forced into an unlikely alliance with a computer savvy street punk and a gifted oddball girl to save their world - and the future – Rayen finds the key to an identity that no girl would want and a strange seventeen-year-old boy who is as deadly as he is attractive.

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TWENTY FIVE BY RACHEL HAMM & GIVEAWAY

Abigail Bronsen is sure her life is going nowhere when she turns twenty-five and realizes she hasn't done anything on a list of goals she made for herself as a teenager. Ben Harris is looking to find "the one" after his last girlfriend cheated on him. When they crash into each other, it appears they've both found exactly what they wanted. A year of firsts follows: first date, first kiss, first “I love you’s.” The first fight is inevitable, but neither of them saw a breakup coming. When Abigail is offered a job overseas, they’ll discover that no relationship is perfect and even true love sometimes finds itself separated by time and distance.

Twenty Five will be FREE for Kindle from August 29-31.  

Be sure to take advantage and download it!!!

Q&A With the Author:

When did you know you wanted to become an author?

I've written a lot throughout my life.  In middle school and high school, I wrote cheesy short stories and poems full of teenage angst and despair.  I kept journals after journals full of more angst and despair.  In the back of my mind, I always imagined writing a novel, but in the same way I imagined winning the Best Actress Academy Award - it would be the coolest thing in the world, but the likelihood of it happening was a billion to one.  

I was twenty-four years old, living with my parents, stuck in a crappy job, and I just decided to go for it.  I wrote and wrote and wrote, not really caring if anyone ever read it or if it was any good, I just needed to get the words on the page.  When I finished it, that's when I knew.  And suddenly, it didn't seem like such a long shot.

Where did you come up with the premise for Twenty-Five?

There's a part in the book where Abby, the main character, is telling Ben, the other main character, about Jane Austen and how much Austen's writing means to her.  She says, "She wrote the love stories she never got to experience."  That's what Twenty-Five is for me.  The love story I've always wanted.  I didn't have to come up with the premise, it was what I wanted the most in the world and so I put it into words, pages, and chapters.

Describe your book in three words.

This is the hardest question!   Sweet, simple, enchanting

What can your readers expect next from you?

I'm working on two books right now.  The first is a fantasy about a community of merpeople who do not have the ability to love.  It's called The Maidening Ceremony and I'm hoping it will be ready for purchase by the beginning of the year.  The second I've recently started writing, but I'm very excited about it.  The working title is Lark, and the premise centers around the idea that everyone is born with a "life mate," or the person they are intended for.  But what happens when you can't find that person?  I hope to have the first draft finished before November so I can begin working on something new for NANOWRIMO.  Several readers have asked about a sequel to Twenty-Five, and I'm not ruling it out, but at this point I don't have another interesting story to tell about the characters and I don't want to write a sequel unless it really adds to their story.

Thank you, Rachel, for taking the time to stop by Book Mama Blog!  I can't wait to read Twenty Five!

Rachel was born in Buffalo, NY, but raised in Burlington, NC.  Thanks to her northern parents and being raised in the south, she likes to say she got the best of both worlds: (soda) pop and terrible sports teams (go Bills!), grits and southern hospitality.  For her, little things in life are the ones to be the most passionate about.  Sunkist.  Getting pedicures.  Her dvd collection.  A really great pen.  Twenty-Five is her proudest accomplishment.  Rachel now lives in Raleigh, NC, but someday hopes to make it to London. 

Rachel has kindly offered to give one lucky winner a paperback 

copy of Twenty Five!  

Giveaway is open to U.S residents only.  

You must be a member of Book Mama blog in order to be eligible to win any giveaway we offer.

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Divided by Livia Jamerlan - Cover and Q&A

Alani LaBelle has it all, great job, amazing friends, and a loving fiancé. Traveling to Las Vegas with her girlfriends for her bachelorette party was supposed to be a fun girl’s weekend. She never expected on her last night in Las Vegas her path would cross with Ryan Kraft. A complete gentleman who is also sweet, kind and extremely sexy. The sexual chemistry she feels for him is undeniable. Though it is only a few hours they share she feels a connection with him. Thinking it may be cold feet she brushes it off and tries to focus on her loving fiancé Marco.

Days before her wedding days she calls it off as her world gets ripped apart. 

Needing to escape her reality she travel to Grand Forks North Dakota the place Ryan is from. She tries to convince herself and her friends that she isn't going there for him, but she is relived when their paths cross again.

A friendship between Ryan and Alani grows rapidly. Innocent at first but always pushing for more. As she is ready to come home, their friendship take a turn when Ryan asks her to stay with him. As they journey together in a new relationship Alani has to adapt to life in a new city, new job, as well as dealing with Ryan's ex-girlfriend Stephanie who is waiting for the perfect moment to get Ryan back.

Will Alani's love for Ryan be enough for her to stay with him through turmoil? Will Ryan have room in his heart for her love? Will he have time for their relationship with what life throws at him?

When did you know you wanted to become an author?

To be honest, I can’t really answer that. Never in a million years did I ever think I would write a book. I kept journals throughout my life, but just as a way to vent and get my feelings across, or as a way to reflect on my day. A little over three years ago, I began to read any book that was suggested to me as a good romance novel.  After a couple of recommendations, I began to read four to five books a week.  An idea for a book popped into my head, which was different than “Divided”.  I shared it with a friend and she suggested that I put it down on paper. At first, it was supposed to be for fun and a way to relax, but when the idea of “Divided” began to develop, I could not stop writing.  This is when I knew I wanted to become an author.

Where did you come up with the premise for your book?
I was stuck in traffic in New York City, when the story came to me. I, like Alani in the book, went to Las Vegas for my bachelorette party. I met a variety of different people and listened to their love stories. Each one more fascinating then the other from there I could no longer control it, the story formed, the characters came to me, and I began to write.

Describe your book in three words.

Struggle from within.

Three reasons people should read your book?

One, I poured my heart into this book, living and breathing for my characters until I was able to finish their story. Two, I feel that this book is different from others.  It may seem like a love triangle at first but there are twists that I think will have readers turning page after page.  Three, the storyline is inspired by people in my life and the events in the book are relatable to anyone who is reading it. I hope that everyone will go on the same roller coaster ride I did while writing it.

What can your readers expect next from you?
Before I started to write “Divided”, I was working on a book that I was never able to finish. It’s been a bit of a challenge with working on the edits for “Divided”.  Now that “Divided” is done, I am focusing on completing my other book, which I hope to release by early 2014. 

Livia Jamerlan is a hopeless romantic she is always looking for her next love story to pop in her head. Though Livia kept a journal throughout her early life, she never thought about pursuing a career in writing, she always used it for a form of therapy, pouring her heart out into words. It wasn’t until a story developed in her head that she decided that maybe she could write a book. At first it was just an escape from reality but now she use it as a power to put all her feelings, hopes, and fears on paper. Deciding it was time to tell her story she began to write, with each passing day the story grew, characters we formed, and what seemed like a hobby at first has now become a passion for Livia. 

When Livia is not writing she is spending time with her husband and their two dogs, she might also be curled up with a new book, or she is out traveling the country to support indie authors at their book signings.