Author Interview with Sandra S. Kerns

 I'm currently reading  and enjoying an ARC of Reconstructing Roman, and I asked the author, Sandra S. Kerns, if she would agree to an interview.

Preorder Links for Reconstructing Roman:

 

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1MXZFoP

Smashwords:  http://bit.ly/1FZKgVE

iBooks:  http://apple.co/1PO3UbG

 

 

Here's what she had to say.

 

Jen-Can you tell us a little about yourself?

 

Sandra-​I’m originally from central New York and a diehard Yankees fan. Nope, I won’t apologize for it. Now I make Colorado home with a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains from my back yard. When I’m not writing I enjoy traveling to warm places, reading, quilting, tatting, and playing with my dog since our boys grew up and left home.

 

Jen-What genre do you write and why?

 

Sandra-Everything I have out right now is romantic suspense. I have always loved figuring out the whodunits, so it was a natural slot for me. I also think it gives me a great backdrop for readers to get to know my characters as they deal with intense situations. I currently have a futuristic fantasy series in the works. I’m hoping for a 2016 release with that.

 

Jen- What is different about your writing style?

 

Sandra-I think what makes my writing style different is that my characters tell the story. I can’t tell you how the book ends (other than an HEA) because I don’t know until the characters decide how they want to wrap things up.

 

Jen- When did you start writing?

 

Sandra-There is the standard I’ve been writing forever, and in a way it is true, but not really. I started writing seriously in the early 90swhen we lived in Minnesota and it was too cold to go out much in the winter and too humid (and buggy) in the summer. You laugh, but I’m serious.

 

Jen- I know the list is long, can you tell our readers just how many books you have out?

 

​The Masters Men Series

Her Master Defender

Her Master Detective

Her Master of Hearts

Last Chance for Love - A Masters Men Christmas Novella

Her Master Diver

Her Master Match

 

The Colorado Skies Series

Dream Stalker

Rose of Steele

Callaghan's Conundrum

The Butterfly Connection

Eenie Meanie Minie No!

Harlan’s Haven

Butterfly Bride

 

The Colorado Dreams and Desires Series

A Daring Proposal

Gathering Clouds

Reconstructing Roman

 

Jen- Wow. That is a lot of books. What is a typical day or week like for you? How do you find time to write?

 

Sandra-A typical day has changed since I retired from my day job last year. Now it means waking up between 5:30 & 5:45AM to get the hubby going so he will leave for work sooner than later. While he’s putsing around I get my tea and go up to my office by 6. That time is usually spent checking email and doing some social media.

​After a break for exercise (15-30 minutes), breakfast, and a shower, I’m back in the chair by 8. Many days I have until 3 or 4 to write. There are other days when I have the required errands and appointments that come with everyone considering you retired so you have ALL this free time. I’m still working on getting people to realize I retired from ‘work’ to pursue my true career of writing. Still, I have more writing time than many authors I know, so I can’t complain.

 

Jen- What are you reading right now?

 

Sandra-Right now I’m reading two books because I promised reviews on them soon. The first is Jim Heskett’s: Both Ends Burning - the last book in his Whistleblower series. The second is by Allan J. Lewis: Get out of my Dreams - I believe it is his debut novel.

 

Jen- What are you working on next?

 

Sandra- I recently started the next book in the Masters Men series, Her Master Investigator (temporary title) and the futuristic fantasy series I mentioned earlier.

 

Jen- Are you traditionally published, self-published, or with a vanity press? Why?

 

Sandra-I’m self-published because I got tired of waiting over a year to hear back from editors who requested manuscripts. I had more than a dozen completed books and decided it was time to bite the bullet. Actually, my critique partner and I decided to do so at the same time. It was fun having someone to take the leap with rather all alone.

 

Jen- Do you use experiences from your own life in your writing or does it all come from your imagination?

 

Sandra-I think there’s always a little bit of your own life experiences in your writing though not necessarily exactly what happened. The majority of my writing is pure imagination. I will admit to using my writing as therapy sometimes. If I’m really annoyed or angry with someone when I sit down to write there’s usually someone killed in the first scene that comes up. Hey, at least I’m not really hurting anyone, but I am getting rid of the anger. It’s very cathartic.

 

Jen- What is your favorite curse word?

 

Sandra-Damn, probably. In reality I don’t curse a lot. In fact, if my youngest son (26) is around and I do he calls me on it, that’s because it’s just something we didn’t do much in our house.

Jen- What is your favorite word to use in writing?

 

Sandra-It changes with each book. My editor can always tell you what the “Word of the Book” is that I just finished. It’s become quite the joke with us.

 

Jen- Do you Plot or outline when writing?

 

Sandra-I’ve tried, but it doesn’t work. Once I have the whole story plotted I don’t care about it anymore. I know the ending so why bother writing it? See, as much as my readers buy the book to learn what happens, that’s why I write it.

 

Jen- Are you a cat or dog person?

 

Sandra-I’m a dog person, definitely dog although I don’t dislike cats as much as I used to since my editor has two and they’re pretty cool. Dogs are found in a number of my books where they play important roles - well, the characters think so anyway. Copernicus is the name of the one in Reconstructing Roman and he’s very important though he’s only a tiny thing.

 

Jen- I love Copernicus. He is so cute. If you had your choice of writing retreat would you choose, a. Villa in Italy, b. Cabin in the woods, c. English estate in Derbyshire (think Pemberly) d. Beach house in the Virgin Islands

 

Sandra-Can I do e) Beach house on Cocoa Beach, FL? That’s my favorite place. 

 

Jen- Tell us a funny story about you that we can’t find on your bio.

 

Sandra-I’m from NY, my husband is from Ohio, and we met in Mississippi at the pool at the apartments we both lived in. The joke in our house when he makes a really bad joke or something is - you should have let him go down the pool drain, mom.

Sandra is the author of three series, totaling more than 15 books. She writes contemporary romantic-suspense. The majority of her stories are located in Colorado because it possesses such a diverse selection of heroes and heroines. In less than a minute you can see a cowboy, an engineer, a lawyer, or a stay-at-home mom/dad. The combinations of characters keeps her very busy. You can also find her characters visiting New York or finding trouble in Florida. These two locations pop up because she grew up in central New York and enjoys vacations at Cocoa Beach.

When she’s not writing you might find her at a sewing machine. Learning to sew at age seven, she enjoyed making clothes for herself and family for years. Now she prefers making quilts for family and friends, though occasionally she will whip out a skirt or two.

Before writing full time she had various jobs. Her employment started as a substitute church secretary when she was in high school and ended as a faculty assistant (aka Copy Lady) in a high school in Colorado with stints as bank secretary, fabric store clerk, and temp secretary in between.

She lives in northern Colorado with her husband and Rudy, their rescue dog from Japan. Her sons are grown and move around the country, but still provide endless inspiration and support for her writing.

 

 

Author links:

 

Website: http://sandrakerns.com

Facebook: Sandra S Kerns Facebook

Twitter: @SandraSKerns

Blog: Ramblings & Reviews

LinkedIn:  Sandra on LinkedIn

Pinterest:  Sandra S. Kerns on Pinterest

Goodreads: Author Sandra S Kerns

Amazon: Sandra's Amazon Author Page

Smashwords: Sandra's Smashwords Author Page

 

 

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 You can find me and all my books and social media links on my website.

www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

 

 

 

Magnetic Desires Series Release

Misti Murphy brings you filthy mouthed men and the sassy girls who keep them in their place with the Magnetic Desires Series. What? Yes, a whole series drops today. Check her out on Amazon and pick up all three.

 

Compulsion-Stranded in the friend zone, Orion’s been in love with his best friend Clo since high school, unable to work out how to get her to see him as more. 

After catching her husband cheating, Clo turns to her best friend Orion for support, only to find he wants more than she’s willing to give.

While Orion shows her that not all men are pricks, and not all roses have thorns, Clo must find a way to let go of the past and open herself up to a second chance at love.

 

 

Addiction-Birdie Lance isn’t a victim. She’s an idiot who let a boy get too close. At least that’s how she sees it. It's easy to not make the same mistake again — she doesn’t let anyone in anymore.

After the accident, Dr Drake Barclay threw himself into his obstetrics practice, and uses boxing to keep the demons at bay. A recovering addict, he is barely existing, until he meets the bombshell who pushes all his buttons.

Two people coping with the traumatic scars of their past find an irresistible bond that may just heal them both.

 

 

Immersion-Leo Barclay plans on having a fling, okay lots of flings. He does not plan on falling down on his knees in front of the first girl he sees and proposing to her. So how the hell does he find himself in that exact position?

Lola Albricht is looking for money, a holiday fling with a pay-out. When Leo offers her marriage, she decides he’ll be an easy target. Only he’s stealing her heart in the process. How is she supposed to pay off her boss if she can’t cash out and walk away?

 

Here's a sexy excerpt from Compulsion.

"Then I’ll take tonight." Sliding a hand under her shirt to pull her flush against me, I reached behind her and unlocked the door. Her skin was smooth satin under my fingertips. Not willing to give her another chance to change her mind, I owned her mouth, tangling our tongues together and tasting the salty tang of the tequila we'd shared earlier. A soft gasp wisped between us, then her hands were tangled in my hair, her body pressing into mine. Turning the door handle, I sent us crashing into the house, only our tight embrace and the wall keeping us from stumbling to the floor. The way she clung to me made me smile. She might say she didn't trust men; that she couldn't trust her heart to anyone, but it wasn't true. Not when she was with me.

 Settling both hands on the small of her back, the dip of her spine under my fingers, I continued my exploration of her mouth. Despite her tentative, fluttering movements, I could sense the wildness in her, the desperation I would pull from her.

Waltzing my lips along her jaw, I left a trail down her throat to her collarbone. When I sucked the fragile skin into my mouth, clamping my teeth around it, she shuddered and let out a low moan. The bitterness of her perfume danced on my tongue, but it was the dark flushing of her skin that had me grinning. It was the first of many times I would mark her as mine, even if it were the only one she would physically see. For days to come, when she looked in the mirror and saw my mark on her skin she'd be pulled back to this night and her body would ache for me.

Desperate hands tugged at my shirt, and I whipped it over my head, discarding it while she struggled with my belt. Catching her hands in one of mine, I undid the buckle and pulled it free, undoing the snaps on my jeans. "In a hurry, babe?"

"Did you forget, I've seen your package? What girl wouldn't be in a hurry to find out if it's as good as it looks."

"You've seen my…" I raised an eyebrow as I searched my mind for that particular memory. "…package?"

She nodded, her lip slightly curved. "I always wondered…"

"What did you wonder?" I gripped her chin and skirted my lips over hers.

"Even flaccid, it looked…too big. How do you fuck a girl with a weapon like that?" 

 

You can find Misti Murphy online below.

Website http://mistimurphy.weebly.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/mistileemurphy/timeline

Twitter https://twitter.com/mistileemurphy

Thank you for stopping by and make sure to go give Misti Murphy some love.

Signup to join my Dream Team to receive sneak peeks and access to my sweet and spicy tips.

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Find me and all my social links online.


www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

What's on the menu? Sweet and spicy romance.

Food Network and The Travel Channel are always on the TV in my house. Unless the SF Giants are playing, but I digress.

Chopped. Cutthroat Kitchen. Next Food Network Star. Anthony Bourdain. DDD. When I'm tired of the same old dinner recipes, those shows provide great ideas. Instead of making a regular burger at home, I make a Juicy Lucy with fresh jalapenos and pepper jack cheese. Instead of heading out for pizza, we take a drive and get our grub on at a local BBQ restaurant.

There's one thing that all those food shows and competitions have in common: The food must be delicious. You can have the highest degree from the best culinary academy, can talk the biggest game about your skills in gastronomy, brag about being the head chef at a five star restaurant, but your food must back it up.

So today I will back up my sweet and spicy with an excerpt from one of my books below.

Sweet Dreams:

Tonight, I finish cleaning up early and turn off the sign. Selecting one of my playlists and making sure the volume isn’t too loud, I carry the twinkle lights I bought earlier out to the back patio to hang them.

This will be good.

I know once the patio is set up the customers will love it, especially on sunny days and warm nights.

“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star plays softly as I sing along, standing on a chair outside, stringing up the lights. I’m doing a pretty good job and am impressed by my work so far, when I hear someone call, “Jen?” from inside the café.

I yell, “Back here!” not worrying who it might be as they obviously know my name. Having trouble with this one string of lights, I stand up on the tabletop next to me to try and get it to wrap correctly around the clothesline I hung a few months ago.

“Back where?” The voice asks.

As I’m about to get the string just right, I see a ginormous green stick bug staring at me from the wall I’m leaning against. I freeze, not wanting to make any sudden moves that could cause it to jump and attack me.

The voice again calls, “Are you all right? Where are you?”

I’m paralyzed with fear, exactly like in my nightmares. I want to scream, but nothing will come out.

Calm down, calm down…

Finally finding my voice, I keep both eyes on the green goblin staring back at me, and squeak out, “I’m in the back.”

My heart pounds and I don’t know what to do. The door to the kitchen opens and shoes tap the floor coming toward me. The green goblin decides to make his move and starts to crawl closer to me.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!!!”

Someone crashes through the door. Turning to see who it is in my bug induced fear, I find Jake looking up at me with a relieved look on his face.

“Jake, what are you doing here?” I ask, panting.

He eyes me up and down. “This isn’t smart, someone could rob the place while you’re back here.”

With a wobble in my voice, I turn back to the wall and watch the ugly thing inch closer to me. “Rob me of what, paper cups? I already closed the register.”

Please don’t jump on me, please don’t jump on me.

He huffs and asks, “Do you want help? Why did you scream?”

I snap back. “Because the green goblin is going to get me, and no I don’t need any help!” I take a step down to the chair below, with my eyes on my enemy on the wall, lose my footing and start to fall.

In the time it takes for me to reach the ground, I catch Jake’s eye and see him realize I’m falling and position himself to try and catch me. It all happens in slow motion and in that time I imagine falling into Jake’s open arms and him romantically cradling me against his chest.

That is not what happens.

Nope. Of course not.

I let out a yelp as the chair goes out from under me, praying I don’t hit my head on the wall as I come down. Jake tries to catch me but fails and I end up landing on him, taking him down with me. We’re in an awkward heap on the cement floor, me on top, and he grunts as my full weight hits him and knocks the wind out of him.

Straining to speak he says, “Well, that didn’t work.”

I’m embarrassed, but also disappointed he didn’t come to my rescue like in the movies. “Thanks for catching me,” I say sarcastically. “Help me up please?”

Jake scoffs. “I can’t. You are crushing me!”

“Oh, fine, I was hoping you were a gentleman.” I start to get up and accidently knee him in the stomach. “Sorry.” I get my feet under me and offer him a hand to help him up.

Jake gets up slowly, takes a deep breath and says, “No problem.”

Embarrassed, I move to pick up the chair, feel my ankle give way and hiss. “Son of a Biscuit.” Holding onto the edge of the table, I rub my ankle while I stand on one foot.

“Serves you right, that was dangerous in so many ways!” He’s scolding me again.

The nerve!

“Nope, no gentleman here!” I say, glaring at him.

Wow, so not the poor baby I was looking for.

Slowly, I start to limp back into the café and I hear Jake say from behind me, “Oh for crying out loud.”

He sweeps me up and my arm automatically goes around his neck as he carries me into the café toward the counter.

All I can think as I look up at his profile is how good he smells and how strong his arms are around me. Feeling no pain, I gaze up at him as he slowly sets me down on the counter. I let go a beat too late and he looks me in the eye, clears his throat and then looks down at my foot. My chest heaves and my face must be the color of a ripe tomato.

Could I be more obvious?

Sweet buttercups, he smells good.

He stands in between my legs as they dangle from the counter while he examines my foot and I can’t help but notice what a perfect height he is to…Stop!

I shake my head to clear those thoughts from continuing down that path and say, “Well, maybe there’s hope after all.”

With a little smirk he says, “Maybe."

 

 

Sweet Dreams is available on Amazon and Free with Kindle Unlimited.

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 Thank you for reading.

www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

Character Interview with Jordan from Sea Breeze

On May 27th, I published a romance entitled Sea Breeze. Jordan, my FMC, just stopped by for a quick chat. 

Jennifer: “Jordan, thank you for joining me today and congratulations on the new release of Sea Breeze. Tell me, what made you decide to take a cruise?”

Jordan: “That’s harder to answer than you’d think. I’ve lived in Vegas my entire life. This was the first opportunity I’ve had to leave. When my coworker, Kim, told me her “boyfriend” wasn’t going with her, I offered to buy the ticket. I needed it. Desperately.”

Jennifer: “Wow, so you’ve never left the city of Las Vegas. I can understand how that could be suffocating. I could use a vacation myself.” Where did you go? What did you see?”

Jordan: “Right.”

She squirms in her seat indicating I may have hit a nerve.

Jennifer: “Where did you go? What did you see?”

Jordan: “The plane ride was long, but once I arrived in Miami and glimpsed the ocean, my sore back was quickly forgotten. Fourteen days in the Caribbean. This ship was the size of a small city. I live in Vegas, so I’m used to large casinos and all that, but I never imaged something that big would be able to float on the water. And so much to do on board. San Juan, Puerto Rico is vibrant. So much to see and not nearly enough time. The food— my goodness. I tried so many different dishes in Puerto Rico. And the music was… intoxicating. Ocho Ríos, Jamaica was the closest thing to paradise I had ever imagined. Natural springs. Waterfalls. Rivers. Beaches. We spent most of our time in the water.”

Jennifer: “You and Kim?”

Jordan blushes.

Jordan: “No. Actually I didn’t really see Kim for most of the trip. She spent the majority of her time catching up with old friends. They had planned the vacation as a reunion of sorts. Her friends were nice, but I felt like a third wheel around them.”

Jennifer: “So who was with you in Jamaica?”

Jordan: “Eric. He’s a bartender on the ship which, initially, had me running in the opposite direction. I know what bartenders are like. But we hit it off.  He was… unexpected.”

Jennifer: “And?”

Jordan: “I wasn’t looking to meet anyone on this cruise. I took the trip for other reasons, but he’s interesting, sexy, and adventurous which really appeals to me. Eric really helped me open my eyes to the world and all its possibilities.”

Jennifer: “What would you like to say to our audience?”

Jordan: “Life is short. There’s a whole world out there to see. Don’t miss it.”

 

Thank you for stopping by.

Here's the blurb for Sea Breeze, a contemporary romance novella:

Jordan has never been in love, or been anywhere. Trapped in Vegas, she schleps drinks and dodges losers, while suffering under a burden only she can shoulder. Her life is an endless stretch of blah with no escape.

Until now.

Instead of looking back, she’s sailing forward.

Eric has left his family and friends in San Francisco to travel the world, tending bar on a cruise ship to fund his adventures. He can charm any coed who comes aboard, but Jordan sees right through him.

On the blue cobblestone streets of San Juan, everything changes. Food. Music. Exotic locations. Possibilities. Setting out to discover the world, will Jordan discover herself?

Sometimes, adventure can set you free…

If your interested in reading more, Sea Breeze is now available on Amazon and is free with Kindle Unlimited.

You can find me, my social links, and all my books on my website at www.jennifersenhajiauthor.com

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