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Friday, October 5, 2012
Blog Tour: "Blaze" by Joan Swan
Welcome to our stop on the Joan Swan Blaze Blog Tour.
Phoenix Rising Series
FEVER
Book 1
Dr. Alyssa Foster will admit to a bad
boy fetish…
But when she finds herself face to
face with a convicted murderer with a ripped body, a determination for freedom
and an eye on her as his get out of jail free card, Alyssa knows she’s in deep
trouble…. Not just because Teague Creek is a prisoner desperate for freedom,
but because his every touch makes her desperate for more.
A man with a life sentence has
nothing to lose…
Teague Creek has one shot at freedom,
but his plan to escape with a hostage develops a fatal flaw: Alyssa. On the run
from both the law and deadly undercover operatives who know of his strange
abilities, he needs to avoid trouble, but every heated kiss tells him the fire
between them could be just as devastating as the flames that changed him
forever.
Purchase
Links:
Kensington / Amazon / Amazon
Canada / Barnes &
Noble / B-A-M
Book Depository / Chapters / IndieBound / Powell’s
Book Depository / Chapters / IndieBound / Powell’s
BLAZE
Book 2
The hotter they come, the harder they
fall…
With a man like him, every mission
becomes personal…
Ever since FBI agent Keira O’Shay started tracking a young boy named Mateo, she’s felt a connection even her empathic abilities can’t explain. Sheneeds to save Mateo from the cult leader holding him hostage. Nothing can interfere with that—not even the reappearance of Luke Ransom, the hot-as-hell fire captain she’s regretted walking out on for three long years.
Ever since FBI agent Keira O’Shay started tracking a young boy named Mateo, she’s felt a connection even her empathic abilities can’t explain. Sheneeds to save Mateo from the cult leader holding him hostage. Nothing can interfere with that—not even the reappearance of Luke Ransom, the hot-as-hell fire captain she’s regretted walking out on for three long years.
Losing Keira left Luke
vulnerable—in every way. When they were together, the powers each possesses
were mysteriously enhanced. But it’s the sexy, surprising woman beneath the
tough exterior that Luke’s really missed. Even if she betrayed him utterly. And
even if agreeing to help her uncover a government conspiracy means watching his
life and his heart go up in flames again…
Purchase
Links:
We would like to Welcome Joan Swan to Book Lovin’ Mamas
today. We’re so excited to have you here!!!
Hello!! Thank you for having me!!
1. Tell us 5 things
about yourself that readers may not be able find out about you on the web.
·
I’m a McDonald’s groupie and have breakfast
there while I write nearly every morning. My only exception is when my husband
and I go out for our “breakfast date” once or twice a week.
·
I desperately want to be an excellent knitter,
but I seem to have to take out everything I start after about 5 rows.
·
My birthday is on the cusp of two
different signs, Cancer and Leo, and I swear I’m half of each.
·
I don’t eat vegetables. **Collective
gasp here** When I was a kid, I spent many, many hours sitting at the dinner
table “until I finished my vegetables”, and ended up getting sent to my room
because I wouldn’t relent and eat them. I still won’t eat them (because I don’t
like the taste of them).
·
My favorite color as a kid was yellow.
My mom said she never had to worry about me being happy.
2. What does a
typical writing day look for you?
Like chaos. A mix of writing,
blogging, IMing, tweeting, Facebooking, emailing, talking with my daughters,
running errands…all without any rhyme or reason. And that’s on a day without the day-job mixed
it!
3. Could you give us
a little sneak peek of how your research process happens with a new book or
series?
Ummm…J…*crickets*…that
depends.
If I’m writing on a subject I know
well or have previously written about and have done research on…I actually do
most of my research while I’m writing: books, internet, magazines, interviews
with experts, documentaries, movies, courses, seminars, lectures, etc.
If I’m writing on a subject I know
hardly at all or not at all, I generally do a major chunk of the research
before I start writing with the same resources as above and stop researching
when I feel the story bubbling out of me – that means I have enough information
to get started. Then I switch to the
research-on-the-fly method.
4. When you’re not
writing, what are your hobbies/interests?
Because I have a day job and a
family, there isn’t much time for anything other than writing in my spare
time. But I knit, swim, love to go to
movies, garden, work on computer/print graphics…
5. Can you tell us a
little bit about how you came up with the Phoenix Rising series?
The
series developed out of the idea for book 1, FEVER. And FEVER, the story of an
unusually gifted prisoner who has been wrongly convicted and escapes by taking
the wrong woman hostage, came from my work with prisoners in my day job.
6. This new release,
Blaze, is the second book in the Phoenix Rising series. Was it easier or harder
to write than the first book in the series, Fever?
They
were both difficult in their own way.
FEVER was difficult because I had to
rewrite it a few times. I originally wrote FEVER as a straight romantic
suspense right at the time the RS market tanked. My critique partner suggested
I add a paranormal element as paranormal romance was very popular at that time. Of course, that required rewriting the
entire manuscript, but I liked where that idea took the story and the potential
it gave the concept as a series, so I did it. And it sold. But my editor felt
the second half of FEVER lost its momentum, so I ended up rewriting the second
half of the manuscript again.
BLAZE was the first second book I’d ever written. All my
other books had been first books, nothing had followed another story. So there
was the whole
overarcing plot idea to get my mind around. Not only did I have to think about
how to transition from the end of FEVER to the beginning of BLAZE, but I had to
think about transitioning from the end of BLAZE to the beginning of RUSH, book
3…without having written RUSH yet!
7. Do you ever base
your characters on people you know in real life?
No,
though I may use pieces of many people to add flair to one character.
8. Who is your
favorite character in the series so far?
Sigh…I
hate to admit it because it bolsters his already inflated ego so…but Mitch.
Mitch Foster is my heroine’s brother
and a secondary character throughout the series. He’s an attorney who fights for the unjustly
accused and frees innocents from the grips of the powerful and
manipulative. Mitch is a shadowy guy—in
a good way. He’s powerful because of
contacts he’s made through his career.
The people he’s helped—people of the military and political variety—are
eager to repay the favor whenever he needs something or finds himself in a
scrape.
Mitch’s drive to slay dragons—the
bigger, the uglier, the better—stems from some incident in his past that he
guards as his darkest secret. I have an
idea of what it is, but I can’t tell, or it would just ruin his book. Let’s just say it has turned him into a very
jaded man who trusts very few.
He has a cutting, sarcastic wit, a
deep love of all things baseball, and an unequalled cunning for outmaneuvering
the enemy. He’s a chameleon who can be
the slickest, high class attorney or the rebel
in camouflage, wielding an M14 like a pro.
Have I mentioned he’s handsome? Or built?
Or sexy?
Did I need to?
Oh, and another fun little tidbit
about Mitch is that my critique partner, Elisabeth Naughton, basically sculpted
him. She named him after a baseball star
she adores and of course gave him the baseball fetish. So, Mitch is really her
brainchild, my sculpted hunk. J
9. If you could be
any one of your characters, from any book you’re written, which one would you
be and why?
Mitch…I
think that’s self explanatory. J
10. Do you have
anything specific you want to say to your readers, maybe about what’s coming in
the future from you or anything else?
I’d like to thank them for all
their support in both reading my books and recommending them others and taking
the time to leave reviews.
I’d also like them to know that I
have a reviewer’s-only giveaway on my website and that I choose a winner every
month. I also have a special offer for a free book in the back of INTIMATE
ENEMIES if they feel inclined to leave a review for that novel. It need not be
good, only honest.
Fun quick questions:
11. Coffee or Hot Tea: Diet coke
12. Beach or
Mountains: Both, I like variety
13. Sunrise or Sunset: Sunset, I’m NOT a morning person.
14. Summer or Winter: Fall and Spring
15. Country Music or
Rock N' Roll: Both
Short:
Joan Swan is an award-winning author of sexy romantic
suspense and occasionally throws in a paranormal twist or two for some extra
spark. In her day job, Joan works as a
sonographer at UCSF Medical Center. She lives on the central coast of
California in beautiful wine country with her husband and two daughters.
Longer:
I was never a star English student or a Literature buff, but
I’ve always had a creative soul and an active imagination. Writing was a
natural culmination of those two talents.
Sexy romantic suspense is my genre of choice, and, occasionally,
I like to dabble in the lighter side of paranormal as well. I write the Phoenix Rising Series, FEVER, BLAZE, and two more books coming in 2013, for Kensington and the
Covert Affairs Series, INTIMATE ENEMIES,
independently.
A triple RWA Golden Heart finalist, I am a lover of craft
and closet-hoarder of writing craft how-to books. I’m a recovering OCD
perfectionist…bet you can just imagine how well that’s going.
In my day job, I work as a sonographer at UCSF Medical
Center, rated one of the top ten best medical centers in the nation – a
location with an intensity that makes me slightly—okay majorly—insane. This
seems to work well with my inner writer. Access to abundant character
material—and I’m not only talking
about my patients—is a fringe benefit.
I’m married to my own personal hero, a veteran firefighter,
we have two beautiful daughters and are blessed to live in the heart of wine
country on the gorgeous Central Coast of California.
To keep up with my latest news & releases please visit me online:
Joan has offer up a paperback copy of Blaze to one lucky winner. To enter just fill out the rafflecopter below. This giveaway is for US/Canada Only!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Joan Swan's BLAZE
Blog Tour Schedule
Tour runs from September
17 - October 6
PLEASE
ADD THISTO YOUR POST FOR JOAN OR LINK TO BLOG TOUR BUTTON
October 1 - Close
Encounters With The Night Kind - http://closeencounterswiththenightkind.blogspot.com/
October 2 - Book
Monster Reviews / Literal Addiction -
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23 comments:
Wow - thanks for the inside info on Mitch :) He captured my heart in the first book and that continued on in the second. I cannot wait for his book. Loved Blaze and how we got a better understanding of what happened in the warehouse. Looking forward to Rush..
Hi Joan - I have to tell you that you're not hiding your MacDonalds love form us on the web :).
It's so good to hear that Mitch will be seen throughout the series. Like Cindy I really enjoyed his bits in FEVER.
Thank you!
vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com
I love Mitch. It's great to know we will be seeing him again. Blaze sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it.
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
This looks like my kind of read. Thanks for the giveaway.
Nice interview. I swear I've had my eye on these two books lately. I'm going to have to just buy them now. :) Good luck with your tour.
Congrats on the release! Cant wait to read it.
I have been following this tour all over the blog sites and I really am excited about your latest release. This is an incredible series and you desire the best in success. sdylion(at)gmail(dot)com
Book looks great. Thanks.
magic5905 at embarqmail dot com
Love the character interviews!
modularmates(at)comcast(dot)net
Thanks Cindy! So glad you've enjoyed the series so far!
LOLOL, Victoria!! I guess I'm not, huh? :)
Hi Joanne, yes, Mitch is one of those irresistible ones.
Thanks Marlene!
Hey Melissa, hope you love them!
Hi Donna! Thanks!
Thanks for following the tour Syn!!
Thanks Joy!
I'm looking forward to starting this book. Thanks for the giveaway :)
kitcat76@hotmail.com
I can't wait to read Blaze! I loved Fever! Those covers are also drool worthy. :-p
Lookin' forward to this one after Fever!
sallans d at yahoo dot com
I loved Fever and can't wait to read Blaze. Mitch does add a different dynamic to everything that goes on, but I really can't wait to learn more about Luke. Thanks for the giveaway.
blaze looks like a really good read. i haven't read any of joan's as work but with me not working i will have to wait to get this book
parisfan_ca2yahoo.com
Oh, Mitch. ;)
I love him, but from the excerpts that I have read with Luke, I am definitely warming up to him! Hehe.