Monday, October 14, 2013

Interview with Debra St. John

Morning all, feel free to grab a cup of coffee and join me as I interview fellow author Debra St. John.

Welcome Debra. Tell me three words that describe yourself starting with A, B, and C.

Allergic (What can I say? 'Tis the season around here. If I don't take two (and sometimes three) types of allergy medicine each day I sneeze my head off. Ugh.)
Busy (Who isn't these days? There always seems to be one more thing to do.)
Creative (All writers have to be, I guess, but I also like to scrapbook, garden, and cook; which all involve being creative in some way.)

What are your three favorite things?

Spending time with my hubby. (Doesn't matter what we're doing as long as we're together.)
Sitting on the porch in summer with a really good book. (Add a light breeze and a tall glass of water with a slice of lemon and life doesn't get any more perfect.)
Going on vacation. (We recently booked another cruise for Spring Break 2014. And although it's too soon to be counting the days, we're pretty excited!)

I'm jealous. A cruise sounds awesome. Music is a big influence on my writing. I have certain songs that inspire individual chapters, and even whole books. What helps to inspire you?

Music is definitely a big inspiration for me as well. I've used songs in many ways for inspiration. For example, my heroine in This Can't Be Love has a butterfly tattoo on her lower back because of a line in a Brad Paisley song. My hero in An Unexpected Blessing puts mustard on his fries because of a line in an Eric Church song. My story A Christmas to Remember was inspired by the song of the same title sung by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. And  my free read Mistletoe and Folly was inspired by a Toby Keith song. I also have an idea for a time travel spinning around in my head based on another of his songs. (Can you tell I like country music?!) In addition, a lot of my characters have 'theme songs': songs that remind me of them and/or their stories whenever I hear them.

Was there any particular inspiration for your characters or story?

I love vampires. I always have. They are some of my favorite heroes (and heroines). It was only a matter of time until I used the theme in a story of my own. And I love libraries. (With all those books they're like a little glimpse of heaven right here on Earth.) So my hero and heroine are both librarians.

As the holidays near, are there certain traditions your household celebrates?

All of the holidays approaching (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas) seem to take their turn as my favorite as they each come in turn. One tradition we practice for all three is decorating the house, both inside and out. I love digging into the first box of decs for the season. Halloween ones are cozy and cute (pumpkins and ghosties) rather than macabre around our house. Even Thanksgiving has turkeys and pilgrims to display. But we get really serious for Christmas. We have boxes and boxes and boxes of decs. We do two trees; a real one downstairs and an artificial one upstairs. The latter holds ornaments we've gathered over the years on special occasions and vacations, so setting up the tree is like a little trip down memory lane. Lights go up on the bushes in the front and on the trees in the back. And every available surface (and some floor space) holds some type of  Yuletide decoration. Of course there are definite rules to go along with the decorating. Each holiday must wait its turn. No Halloween decorations until October 1, no Thanksgiving decorations until November 1, and absolutely no Christmas decorations or music until the day after Thanksgiving.

That sounds wonderful. I'm going to Debra's house for Christmas, anyone want to join me?!

How about a bio?

Debra St. John has been reading and writing romance since high school. She always dreamed about publishing a romance novel some day. Her dream came true when she started writing sultry contemporary romance with sexy heroes and spunky heroines for The Wild Rose Press. Although she's a country gal at heart, she lives in a suburb of Chicago with her husband, who is her real life hero.
 She is the author of The Corral Series, which includes her debut release, This Time for Always, a Champagne Rose and Rosebud bestseller at The Wild Rose Press. The second book in the series, This Can't Be Love, was Love Romance Cafe's Best of 2010 Contemporary winner. This Feels Like Home will complete the series when it releases in January.
 Her holiday stories include A Christmas to Remember, An Unexpected Blessing (Thanksgiving), and her latest release, The Vampire and the Vixen for Halloween.
Wild Wedding Weekend completes her bookshelf.

You can visit Debra at her website: http://www.debrastjohnromance.com


And for a little eye candy, the cover for The Vampire and the Vixen.



 Blurb

Kelsey Adams is determined to get ahead without the influence of a famous father or by getting special favors from her boss. So it was a big mistake to kiss Rafe Alexander on the balcony at a library fundraiser.

Rafe is mysterious, charming, and sexy. And he's Kelsey's new boss. He wants people to accept him for what he is. Which could be difficult because Kelsey has more than a sneaking suspicion he's a vampire.

Can she look beyond that and trust him with her heart to have the future she wants? And will he still be there when the sun comes up?

The Vampire and the Vixen is available from The Wild Rose Press and for Kindle and Nook.


Thank you Debra for your time, I really enjoyed it. 

Readers, be sure and pick this book up. I've read it and I have to say it's great. I caught myself laughing out loud a time or two. Look for my review on Wednesday.






9 comments:

  1. Hi Angela,

    So sorry I'm getting a late start today. Thanks so much for having me. And I'm glad you enjoyed the book...I laughed out loud several times while I was writing it too!

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  2. Hi Debra, country music inspires a lot of my writing as well. For me, it helps give my characters the right "feel." Can't wait to read the book!

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  3. Whatever you do, Debra, it sure works. Your books are great! I can't wait to read this newest one.

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  4. Jennifer...country music definitely has a feel...it's so emotional in so many ways. Thanks for visiting!

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  5. Ana...you are so sweet to me! Thanks for stopping by...

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  6. Love your answers, Debra. Makes me think I ought to start listening to the words of songs more!

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  7. Hi Paula, Thanks for popping over. What can I say? I'm definitely a lyric girl!

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  8. Great interview Debra! What a gorgeous cover. Good luck with your book!

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  9. Thanks, Jennifer! TWRP does an amazing job with covers.

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