[Book Tour] The Best Man by Ana Blaze - Author Interview

Title: The Best Man

Author: Ana Blaze

Publisher: Entranced Publishing

Publishing Date: April 26, 2013

Genre: Contemporary Romance Novella

Blurb:

Beth Chase is too busy planning perfect weddings to worry about the lack of action in her own love life. But if she was looking for a man, she wouldn’t be looking at Colin Pratt. Her boss swears that Best Man Colin is a quiet scholar and science fiction writer who couldn’t possibly cause a fuss at his own brother’s wedding. He’s clearly never met the man in question. Snarky, sexy and more than a little inebriated, Colin is the final obstacle between Beth and the last perfect wedding she needs to make partner. Of course, when she helps him into a taxi at the end of the night she has no idea that he’s only just begun to poke holes in her professional exterior. Colin might have the skills to seduce a romance professional, but can he convince her that he’s the best man to share her happy ever after?

About the Author

Ana lives just outside Washington DC with her very supportive husband and three rather demanding cats. She loves the ocean, Indian food, IKEA, and cooking. Ana admits to watching too much television and she swears that someday she’s going to learn how to play the guitar resting on the bookshelf in her office.

Website: www.anablaze.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/AnaBlazeLove

Twitter: @ana_blaze 

The Best Man

© Ana Blaze

Colin followed her, snatched her hand and spun her around so her back was pressed against the wall near her bedroom door. He kissed her again, one of his magic kisses that left her weak in the knees and nearly distracted from the matter at hand.

 “You can’t just get all sexy every time I disagree with you.”

His teeth teased her earlobe. “Quite right,” he murmured.

 “I’m trying to have a serious conversation here.”

“We’re amazing together. Tell me you don’t feel it too?”

“Of course I feel something, but it can’t be love.”

“Why not?”

“It takes more than a couple days to know if you’re compatible enough to share your life with someone.”

Colin touched her temple. “You’re talking about something that comes from here instead of the thing that comes from here.” He placed his hand over her heart. 

“Yeah, well I’m pretty sure the body part you’re thinking with is a bit lower.”

Shaking his head, he pulled her hand up and placed it on his chest. “You’re under my skin, Beth. There isn’t a part of me that doesn’t want you.” He brushed her hair off her forehead.

“You took a pretty hard hit to the head the other day.”

“It started before that. You floored me the moment we met.”

“You’re claiming love at first sight?”

“Is it so hard to believe?’ Colin skimmed her bottom lip with his thumb. “You have a stack of videos in the other room that tell me you want to believe in happily ever after. Take the chance.”

“Those are fantasies, pretty stories about pretty people. I like them, but I don’t think they’re real.”

His hands kept moving; they slid up her neck, down her arms. They tugged her shirt out of her skirt and caressed the small of her back. “Want to know what I think? I think you liked me from the start. I think you felt this connection too, right away.  You tried to act all proper but you couldn’t wait to get your hands on me.”

She laughed. “I thought you were a pain in the ass.”

“You mean you couldn’t stop looking at my arse, saucy girl.”

BUY LINKS:

http://www.entrancedpublishing.com/imprints/kissed/the-best-man/

Extra stuff Mr. Right, a free novella by Ana Blaze, is available now at Smashwords.

Find out more here: http://www.entrancedpublishing.com/readers-club-4/entranced-extras/

Hi. Thanks for having me over. I love this blog. It’s such a great place to find wonderful new books and meet writers.

It's great to have you, Ana! Let's get started.

What was the first romance novel you read that made an impression on you?

This is a funny question. Or maybe it’s just my answer that will be funny. I’ve been thinking about it for a couple days, trying to remember those early reads, but the names are gone. I can tell you that I started reading them when I was a little too young…middle school. It wasn’t too unusual amongst my friends; we all read a lot and got tired with or simply ran out of books geared towards a younger audience. Now there are all these incredible YA books and series. But when I was middle school there was this big empty spot between Judy Blume and Johanna Lindsey, Anne Rice, Stephen King.  So when we ran out of Blume we just headed to the adult side of the library.

Not that the librarians were eager to let us borrow the naughty books.

I do remember that we mostly got our hands on historicals and that we passed them around. It was an especially fun day when all the girls at our lunch table had finished the book and we could talk about it. One book, whose name I desperately wish I could remember but cannot, had a sexy scene involving the creative use of a handkerchief  that had us all in giggles for days. For better or worse, we all found them very educational.

Honestly, I suppose parents would worry that we’d be more likely to act on our hormones because of our reading habits, but I think the charming rogues in those books set the bar way too high. Middle school boys couldn’t compete.

So, it was definitely historicals at first. I devoured Amanda Quick’s books. But, I think the first one that really hit me was Forever and the Night, a vampire romance by Linda Lael Miller.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425140601/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

It doesn’t appear to be in print or available as a kindle read anymore and that’s a shame. I think it was the first one I read that really blended genres. There was this contemporary girl being romanced by a classic historical romance hero…and there was magic in their world. Perfect.

What is your writing process? Do you outline, fly by the seat of your pants or a combination of both?

I’d say my writing process is still developing. But generally it all starts with a bit of dialogue. An idea will hit, a situation or a pair of characters and then I hear them talking—just a little—and it builds out from there. So sometimes I jot down the basics for a few conversations that will take place over the course of the story and then figure out what has to happen to get the characters from one conversation to the next. Occasionally that becomes a legitimate outline, but normally I’m more of a pantser.

Is there a genre of book you would like to write but haven't yet?

I read a lot of Urban Fantasy and would love to write a series myself but I’m waiting to really fall in love with an idea. It’s tricky, that combination of storytelling and world building. I think the best ones have an end point in mind and works towards it. Characters can take detours, but they need a path, even if the path is seventeen books long.

Also, it’s not really a genre, but I’d love to try my hand at writing a screenplay or a graphic novel. I just love writing dialogue.

When you have writer's block how do you break free?

I write whatever I want to. I mean whatever, even if it has no hope of ever being seen by anyone. If the only words that are coming to me are in the form of a poem I imagine one of my favorite fictional characters might write…I put it on the screen. I’m not the most disciplined writer, but I find that once I start writing again I have a much better chance of successfully returning to the project that I most want to complete.

That said, I recently read this piece of advice from Earnest Hemingway and it might just change my life.

The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day when you are writing a novel you will never be stuck. That is the most valuable thing I can tell you so try to remember it.

It makes sense, right? As writers, we naturally try to get out every bit of story in our heads; but if we stopped before we ran out maybe we wouldn’t even get writer’s block. I’m going to give it a try.

To read more writing advice from Earnest Hemingway, check out this site. http://www.openculture.com/2013/02/seven_tips_from_ernest_hemingway_on_how_to_write_fiction.html

Flirting Quickies:

White wine or red?

Wow. Tough. White. (and red.)

Coffee or tea?

Lately, I’ve been leaning towards tea.

Vanilla or chocolate?

Vanilla.

Sweet or salty?

Salty.

Sleep in or get up early?

Sleep in!

Laptop or desktop?

Laptop.

Beach or mountains?

Beach

Thanks so much for stopping by, Ana. Can't wait to read your book!

One lucky reader will win The Best Man ebook and a goodie pack to share with the best man or woman in their life. The pack contains candles, Godiva chocolate, Tuscan lavender soap, Sensual Massage Oil from The Body Shop and two lip treatments from The Body Shop. It will come packaged in a pretty photo box. 

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