By Liz Everly
As a part of the today’s online Romance Festival, the Lady Smut bloggers are interviewing some of Harper Impulse’s authors. If’ you’ve not been to the festival yet, check out the Twitter feed on our side panel, @romance festival #romance14; the Facebook page here, and the blog here.
In the mean time, we’ve come up with five questions for each of our author guests, with ONE specific question geared to each writer.
Here’s a bit about Vonnie Davis, taken from her website.
Vonnie Davis is an award-winning, international author who writes contemporary, historical and paranormal romance, often with strong elements of suspense. She likens herself to a croissant: warm, crusty, wrinkled, a tad flaky—and best served with strong coffee. (We love her already!)
Here’s Vonnie and her answers to our questions:
Q: If you were a drink, what kind of drink would you be? And why?
A: Mimosas. Three-fourths champagne and one-fourth OJ. My son makes them for us when we go to visit for a few days. He’s a great cook and makes a huge breakfast so his wife can sleep in Sunday mornings.
Q: Who do you read who makes you laugh or cry? Or both?
A: Lisa Olech and Mackenzie Crowne make me laugh. Sarah Grimm makes me cry. AJ Nuest has been known to do both.
Q: This is stolen from the HarperImpulse author bio form—but please tell us about your worse date ever. Don’t spare us the gruesome details.
A:I’d been divorced for ten years when a bottle of wine and I decided to join an online dating service. Believe me when I say I was shocked when that hellacious hang-over wore off and I realized I’d plastered my info online for every nut to find. And find me, they did. One man seemed nice. He was the manager of a small stage theatre about two hours away. I checked out the theatre and saw his head shot, read his bio. So, over time, we began IMing each other. He asked if I’d like to come to a Sunday matinee. So we made plans for me to meet him there.
I walked in and told the two ticket ladies, I was to meet Charles. “Oh, you must be Vonnie.” They gave me the once over, all atwitter, and paged him. Out of the double doors, at the side, ambled this huge man. Now when I say huge, I mean his stomach hung below his knees and he walked with two canes. I smiled as I mumbled a complaint to God…You think this is funny, don’t you? I’ve been hoping for someone to accept my few extra pounds and what do you send me? Charles politely escorted me to our seats. Our “special” seats because two normal seats had been converted into one for him. I sat in mine first and he wiggled into his double seat. He was so wide, his one arm covered both of my breasts. I felt like I was being suffocated by a marshmallow. The play was a comedy, but with my chest constricted as it was, I couldn’t laugh. I could barely inhale.
After the play, he took me backstage to introduce me to the leading couple. We decided to go out for dinner. When I got in his car, the front seat was back extra far and I wondered how his short legs would reach the pedals. That’s when I glanced down and saw huge blocks of wood taped to both the gas and brake pedals. I think I’ll stop there. It was our first and last date.
Q: What brought you to Harper Impulse – what was happening when you “got the call” that they wanted your book?
A: My agent “shopped out” my Christmas novella, Santa Wore Leathers. I’d already gotten one contract offer and was pleased with the mid-sized publisher. My agent told me to wait a couple weeks to decide. A few days later, she called me with news that Harper Impulse had offered and I was ecstatic. What was I doing at the time? Writing, of course.
Q: Where do you dig deepest in your writing – what’s the theme in your book that you feel the most passionate about?
A: I’m passionate about women learning their inner strengths. If I can impart one thing in my stories, it’s that women are damn strong, even if we’ve suffered abuse. There is still that strength deep down inside. What am I digging deepest into my writing about? Deeper emotion. I can write humor, but I also want to write stories that make the reader reach for a tissue. Being a writer is a continual process of growth—at least for me.
Q: Your Firemen’s Wild Heat series releases in October. We know the appeal of these hot guys who place their lives on the line to rescue people. But what pulls you in as writer? Is it the danger? The passion? Why did you set your series in Florida?
A: I think a wise and optimistic writer designs a novella, hoping it will turn into a kick-off for a series. I was blessed that Charlotte, my editor, saw the potential for more stories, too, from the fire and marine rescue men I’d mentioned in the novella. And that she was agreeable to the future stories being full-length books. Why fire and marine rescue personnel? There’s such hero potential there, don’t you think? I mean what’s not to love about a man who will save both a human and a kitten, all in a day’s work? I love the combination of brute strength and gentleness and find it very sexy. Plus, most of my heroes are ex-military or ex-government agents, which adds an extra layer to their personalities. Why Florida? We’d spent a month at a condo along the Gulf of Mexico, in picturesque Indian Rocks Beach, just south of Clearwater. We drove the area a lot and walked the beaches. I fell in love with the area and use several actual places in the stories.
Check out more of Vonnie here: http://www.vonniedavis.com/.
The post Harper Impulse Author Profile: Vonnie Davis appeared first on Lady Smut.
