Give a warm welcome to Alicia Sparks, here to tell us all about her book…
1. Will you tell us a little about yourself? Please include a picture if you wish.
I’m a Southern girl who loves all things paranormal and filled with intrigue. I love to read and am a hockey fanatic, which is somewhat of a weird thing for a Southern chick. We don’t really have hockey around here. I love my pit bulls (both rescues) and my guys (four sons and a husband).
2. Why did you start to write? Have you always longed to write a book or was there a trigger?
I think I’ve always been a writer. I can’t really say I had a trigger aside from the fact that I’ve always been a story teller.
3. What sort of books do you write? Why did you choose that particular genre? I write hot, steamy paranormal romance as well as contemporary romance. I have several hockey romances and all kinds of paranormal, from shapeshifters to vampires and even zombies!!!
4. How autobiographical are your stories? There’s a bit of myself and my life in each book. My characters say and do things that I’ve said and done and that I’ve heard my friends and family say and do. My husband always jokes that he sees a lot of our “private conversations” in my books.
5. Have you a favourite setting for your stories? Why? I love New Orleans! It’s my favourite place in the world, and I love to use it as a backdrop for my stories.
6. Do you ever fall for your characters? Every single time. If I don’t fall for them, I can’t expect my readers to. Of course I have favourites, but I do love each of them. I tend to have a favourite in each series, Nick from my hockey series, Kenyon from my Primitive series. However, Damon from a book I wrote years ago will always be my first love when it comes to my books. I hope to rewrite his story one day.
7. Do your characters ever surprise you? They always surprise me and never do what I expect or tell them to!
8. How do you get yourself in the mood for writing? I listen to lots of music. I tend to have a soundtrack for each book or each series. I drive an hour to and from work three days a week, so I have a lot of thinking time.
9. What is the strangest place you have written in? I’ve written on napkins in restaurants, but I also wrote notes here and there while driving down Interstate 49 on my way to my college classes. By that, I mean I was driving and writing at the same time.
10. Have you ever experienced ‘writer’s block’ and how did you cope with it? Oh my gosh! All the time! I have it right now! I don’t know how to cope, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.
11. Describe your perfect first date. I like intimate settings and am not much for fancy things. My town has the perfect place to walk after a nice, quiet dinner. I’d prefer that or a loud, rowdy hockey game over a fancy meal and a big party.
12. If you could live anywhere in the world where would you choose and why? That’s a hard one because I haven’t been everywhere! My heart is in New Orleans, but the weather is awful because of the sweltering heat. I have romantic notions about Ireland, but I’m not sure if I could handle such a radical change in temperatures. I didn’t exactly answer the question, I know, but I do hope to someday have a little townhouse in New Orleans and overlook the French Quarter as I write.
Quickies….
1. Chocolate or ice-cream? Chocolate!
2. Favourite tipple. Bud Light in a bottle. I’m a simple girl.
3. Seaside or forest? Forest
4. Rain or sun? Rain
5. Christmas or birthday? Halloween!!!
6. Elegant or comfortable clothes? Comfy for sure!
7. TV or cinema? Netflix
8. Laptop or notebook for writing? laptop
9. Nail colour? None. I rarely do my nails
10. Dom, sub or switch? Sub
11. Bondage or spanking? Both
12. Leather or lace? Leather
Facebook: thealiciasparks
My current book is Primitive Craving, my third in my Primitive Series about a family of shapeshifters in Lafayette in the Atchafalaya Basin. The first two books, Primitive Fix and Primitive Need, introduce you to the Maddux family brothers. In this book, you meet their long lost sister, Willow.
http://amzn.to/1PuyRAt
Blurb: Ten years ago when Willow Maddux lost her soul mate, she lost her reason to stay loyal to the Maddux clan, a family of shape shifting tigers who live in a strong hold in the Atchafalaya Basin. However, she broke their sacred code when she dressed in tiger body paint and transformed in front of a live audience. Now she has to face the wrath of the Maddux Tribunal and the man who has sworn to bring her in—Timbre Canis.
Timbre knows a lot about broken codes. At the young age of eighteen, he joined the military and became part of a secret experiment, one that changed him from human to something more. When the wolf took over his body, he broke an unspoken law, one that changed the dynamic of his connection to his brothers. The only way to absolution is to track down renegade shifters and bring them in. But Willow is unlike anyone he’s ever met, and he’s afraid once he touches her, he’ll never be able to let her go. She awakens a Primitive Craving he’s never felt before.
Excerpt:
Willow had no intention of picking up some random guy in the hotel bar, but the dude was clearly asking for it. The day had been spent passing out flyers and meeting and greeting the locals in a town she now knew was called Benedict, Kansas. As far as she was concerned, it was the middle of nowhere still, but it held a picturesque quality that called to her soul. She had sent a text to Pops around five in the afternoon, telling him she had decided to stay the night at a local hotel. Sleeping in a travel trailer didn’t hold much appeal, while an evening of soaking in a Jacuzzi-style bathtub did. He had been right about that, and she had settled into the one hotel in town a little over an hour ago and had enjoyed a thirty minute soak before deciding to venture out to the bar next door.
Of course, the current distraction that happened to be walking her way made the night’s stay worthwhile. A one night stand was not her usual style, and it was not the reason she had gone to the bar in the first place. She hadn’t gotten the guy out of her mind, the one from the diner, but she never imagined he’d be coming into her line of sight any time before tomorrow night. That magnetic pull tugged at her chest again and then spread lower, and she turned to face him, to really drink him in and study the lines and angles of his face, the way the hair on his chest peeked out at the top of his white T-shirt, the way the same T-shirt hugged against his pecs and abs.
Heat raced through her veins, and she tried to steady her breathing as she threw back another shot. Alcohol had always had very little effect on her, and tonight was no different. She drank for the taste and for the fact that it helped her sleep more soundly than a night without it, but the truth was, if she had ever been drunk it had been so long ago she couldn’t even remember it. She’d lived a lot in twenty-five years, most of it out west, far away from the place most of her family called home, the place where she’d grown up and refused to return.
No strings attached, was her mode of operation when it came to men, and this guy was a drifter if anything. Took one to know one, and he certainly had the “just passing by” vibe written all over him. The collar of his leather jacket was cocked up around his ears, and his hair was messy again, making him look like he’d just rolled out of bed, or was ready to roll back into bed. The stubble on his jaw was still there, and it only served to emphasize his thick, pouty lips. Faded jeans made their way down to dark leather boots, the kind you wore when you planned to ride a Harley or kick someone’s ass. No rings. No jewelry at all, not even a random chain around his neck, which would have probably announced him as a douchebag. Instead, he was raw leather and man, a combination that, unlike the alcohol, had the ability to make her forget how a girl like her was supposed to behave and make her want to dance on top of the bar and wrap her legs around his shoulders. Yeah, a man like that was definitely her kind of poison.
She ordered another whiskey and coke, determined to nurse this one instead of sucking it down. Then she shot another glance in his direction. Her breath lodged in her throat when she realized he was no longer sitting there but was making his way toward her, a predatory look on his face, each step filled with the kind of determination and swagger that couldn’t be manufactured. It was something the man was born with, and it was enough to make any mortal woman swoon.
But Willow didn’t swoon. Not usually. However, his animalistic gaze cutting straight into her was enough to make her temporarily lose her train of thought.
One night stand. Oh yeah, that’s what she had been contemplating in the middle of the thousand other thoughts that had been running through her mind. A shiver ran down her back as a low, deep growl washed over her. It was the kind of sound she had heard many times in her life but never during her travels. She didn’t know of anyone else who had the kind of gifts the men in her family possessed, and she was sure this was nothing more than her mind playing tricks on her, fueled by the drink and the exhaustion.
“Buy you a drink?” His voice was a smooth, deep, raspy kind of thing, sounding like a musical instrument of the devil.
“Already got one.” She raised her glass, thankful to have something to do with her lips. If she gave into her first temptation, she would lean forward and lock onto the Adam’s apple vibrating at his throat.
“Pretty lady can always use another.” His grin was obviously crafted by the same Satan who had given him the voice. She could only imagine what the rest of him was like.
“Are you the kind of guy who has a line for every occasion?”
He grinned again, white teeth flashing against thick, red lips. Built for sin. Good God. She might need another drink before this was over.
“Not usually. But considering I’ve been watching you for half an hour or so, I’ve had time to mull things over.”
“So you’re a stalker then?” she teased, liking the way his green eyes darkened a little when he smiled.
“Something like that. So are you here alone? Because if you are, you might want to be careful. You never know what kind of creatures may be on the prowl.” He gave her a wink, his words coming out like a low growl, somewhat softened by his grin.
“I think I can take care of myself. Of course, guys aren’t the only ones who can hunt, you know?”
“I suppose not. But I’m not used to the kind of woman who takes the lead.”
“Then you’ve never met anyone quite like me. Your room or mine, cowboy?”
