Hello everyone, please welcome Andrea R. Cooper to Sensuous Promos
today as she shares with us a little bit about her and her work.
Andrea, thank you for joining us today. I know the readers are
eager to get to know you, so let’s get started.
1.
Can you tell
us a little bit about where you are from?
Thank you
for having me. I’m from Houston, Texas. In addition, I am a third-generation
Texan and a second-generation Houstonian. It is not the weather that keeps me
here (Hot & Humid 360 days a year), but family and the yummy TexMex food. I
am a wife and a mom to three kids: two boys and a girl.
2.
At what
point did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I
started writing poetry at fourteen years old, I kicked around the idea of
writer. However, it was not until I completed writing my first novel that I sometimes
acknowledged that I was a writer. Even still, it was not until I published my
first novel that I said, “yes, I am a writer.”
3. What
inspired you to write your first book?
Ironically, I
read a Viking historical romance. I cannot remember the name or author. But she
had the Viking (with no logical reason I could see) give up his beliefs and
‘get saved’ taking on the heroine’s religion. I got so frustrated with the book
that I tossed it across the room and thought I could do better.
So
I started writing a story that I would want to read. And that is how I write
even now, stories I would like reading.
4. Do you have
a specific writing style? In other words, are you a
plotter or a pantser?
I am a
pantser. I have a general idea of how the story will end. I know roughly where
to go, but have no map. And sometimes the ending changes. I love it. I discover
things the same time as the characters.
5. What are you
currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?
I am working
on Son of Dragons, Book 2 of The
Garnet Dagger trilogy. This novel, though it does have Celeste and Brock,
focuses on Brock’s Elvin sister, Mirhana and her love interest, Landon. This
trilogy is blend of Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Genres.
Here is a
rough draft of a scene between Mirhana and Landon shortly after they kiss for
the first time and she is shirtless.
She pushed him away hoping he
would undress, but with his body heat gone, she forced herself to think. “No.”
His hands stopped removing his
pants. If he kissed her again, she would crave him inside of her and not care
about anything else.
“This—” She gathered up her tunic
and covered herself with it. “This isn’t like me. I’m not intimate with
complete strangers.” Her lips throbbed from his kiss and the tickle of his
stubble. Without even touching herself, she knew her folds were slick, wet and
yearning him inside her.
“We didn’t seem strangers a
moment ago. Let me taste your mouth again, or the other breast?” He took a step
toward her and she saw the lust in his dark eyes.
She yanked on her tunic on before
he could reach her, then tucked it into her trousers. “The others will wonder
where we are.” Without a glance back at him, she took off back to the path and
heard his chuckle.
What was wrong with her? She
hardly knew him. Sure, in hundreds of years, she had been with humans before.
But not like this. Not filled with a desire so strong it eluded reasoning.
Besides, none of those other relationships had lasted long. Still, it took all
her willpower to walk away from him. Even now, she yearned to wrap her legs
around him and have him take her against the tree.
6.
Do you recall
how your interest in writing originated?
I have
always been a storyteller. I remember being in Elementary school and the
neighborhood kids coming up to me asking what we were going to play. I created
the plot and characters. Once we played ‘Space Vampires’ (yes I know it sounds
silly now, but to a second grader it was revolutionary) and so that the kids did
not bite each other, I told them their fangs were their first two fingers.
When I grew up, I could no longer ‘play’
out my characters. Since I had written poetry when I was fourteen until my
early twenties, I tried a couple of times to write a novel, but life got in the
way. After not writing much for years, my Muse got tired of waiting and
handcuffed me to her until I wrote my first completed novel in my early
thirties and I have not stopped since.
7.
What was the
hardest part of writing your book(s)?
Letting them
go out into the world. Even now, I see things I want to change and edits I want
to make on my two published novels. I have to work on the next. Hopefully,
making each one better than the last.
8. Where can
our readers find you on the world wide web?
Everywhere, but here are a few links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AndreaRCooper
Author
Website:
www.AndreaRCooper.com
What happened that ignited the writing flame in her fingers? Divorced, and disillusioned by love songs and stories. They exaggerate. She thought. Love and Romance are not like that in the real world. Then she met her husband and realized, yes love and romance are exactly like the songs and stories say. She is now a happy wife, and a mom to three kids (two boys and a girl).
Andrea writes paranormal and historical romance. When not writing or reading, one may find Andrea dancing in Zumba.
She believes in the power of change and counting each moment as a blessing. But most importantly, she believes in love.
BOOK SPOTLIGHTS:
Viking Fire
In 856 CE, Ireland is a land of myth, magic, and blood. Viking
raiders have fought the Irish for over half a century. Rival Irish clans
promise only betrayal and carnage.
Kaireen, daughter of Laird Liannon,
is suddenly forced into an arranged marriage with her sworn enemy, a Viking.
She refuses to submit. With no mention of love, only land and the protection of
her clan, she endeavors to get her betrothed banished from her country. Will
love find its way around her stubborn heart?
Bram, the Viking, finds himself
without future or inheritance as a younger son in his family. A marriage to the
Laird’s daughter would grant him land if he swears fidelity and if his men will
fight along with the Liannons against any foe—Irish or Viking. However, the
Laird’s feisty daughter only holds animosity for him and his kind. Is marriage
worth the battle scars of such a relentless opponent?
With the blame for a rival laird’s
death treacherously set against the Liannons, Kaireen and Bram must find a way
to lay aside their differences as an unforeseen darkness sends death snapping
at their heels.
Viking Fire Excerpt
Chapter One Ireland 856 CE (condensed)
“I
renounce Father for this.” Kaireen threw the elderberry gown.
“Shame
on you and your children for speaking such.” Her handmaid, Elva, gathered the
damask and then dusted off the rushes. “It’s a wonder one of the clim has not
scolded you from your hearth for such talk.”
“No,
curse Father for a fool.” She plopped on her bed and a goose feather floated
away. With a huff, she leaned against the oak headboard. Red curtains puffed
like a robin’s chest around oak poles supporting her wooden canopy.
Her
bare feet brushed against the stone floor.
“You
know your da arranged a marriage within a season.” Elva smirked.
Kaireen
shook her head. “To another land holder,” and waved a hand in disgust, “not
t-this heathen. Twice they raided our land in the last month alone. Now father
wants me as wife to one of them?” She clenched her fists. “No, I will not marry
this Viking.”
Elva
smiled, reminding Kaireen of the rumors of her handmaid’s uncanny foresight.
Whispers
of Elva making strange things happen and often blamed as the cause of
Kaireen’s
stubborn refusal to behave as a laird’s daughter should.
“You’ve
not seen him yet.” Elva wiggled her brows.
“So?”
Kaireen shrugged. “I would like to never see him.”
“Well
then, would you not like to know if you have a handsome husband or not?” She
waited for her response, but Kaireen scowled. Elva chuckled. “I would rather
get a good look at him now than the morning after.”
Kaireen’s
ears heated. “I am not marrying.” She shook her head for emphasis. “So there
will be no morning, nor night, nor wedding.”
“If
he is handsome, I may fight you for him.” Elva smiled, deepening the wrinkles
around her eyes.
“Welcome
to him either way.” Kaireen laughed.
The Garnet Dagger
Everyone
knows what happens when a vampire bites a human…but what if the victim is
Elvin?
Forbidden to cross the Elvin barrier into human lands, Brock
cannot sate his curiosity. Cursed by a vampyre bite that forces him to feed on
the life-essence of others, he is unable to touch another without taking their
life. Chained by prophesy, he must find a witch, pierce her heart, and draw her
blood for his cure.
Celeste must escape the monks who have held her
prisoner for years. Her magic has been kept dormant by her captors. An ancient
powerful Warloc craves her powers. If he succeeds in devouring her magic, she
and his world will die.
When Brock falls in love with Celeste before
realizing her demise is his cure, will love triumph over his desire to be
healed? Will he risk everything to save her from a Warloc, an oath breaker, who
also wants her dead?
The Garnet Dagger Excerpt: Chapter One (condensed)
I’ve known
death. For over half a millennia, I escorted many to death at the end of my
sword. In the eyes of the dying, I watched it shroud them. Foolishly, I thought
many more eras would pass before death came for me. It came so swiftly that I
could not run; I could not escape. At a village, dressed in human clothes, I
took in everything.
I delayed my
return to my people as I watched human jugglers bounce torches and knifes. It
was autumn equinox and the festivities would continue well into the night.
Children laughed as they chased each other. A trail of leaves from their
costumes twirled after them. It was dark when I reached the forest.
I hiked slower than my normal speed, so as
not to startle whatever human called out. My leather boots crunched upon dried,
diseased leaves and bark. Horrified, I glanced up. Branches twisted around each other to suffocating. Lifeless
limbs cracked in the wind. Flesh of the trees sloughed off in layers, exposing
its bones. Gashes hollowed out chunks of warmth. Fragments of leaves clung to
finger tips, marking sepulchers of the dying trees. Trees mourned with wails
like splitting wood, and I brought my hands over my ears. I must flee before I
became infected, they told me. Flee before the stain of this defilement creeps
into you, they warned. Trees spoke to my kind, always had. Yet these trees were
in such agony of death that I could not breathe. Felt as though my lungs had
folded in on themselves, like a moth unable to break loose from its cocoon.
Viking Fire
iTunes: http://goo.gl/fQuKBd
5 comments:
Thank you for having me. Happy Holidays :)
Have your books on my list to read. They both sound amazing.
I would have thrown the novel across the room too.
I also have a hard time letting the books go out in the world. Maybe because I want people to like them and want them to be happy!
Can't wait to read your books!
I know just what you mean, Andrea! Congrats on your books! I tweeted.
Post a Comment