Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Chatting with Authors featuring Christi Barth and Giveaway of A Fine Romance


Today Im thrilled to welcome Christi Barth author of the Aisle Bound series to the blog. Today we are having a little chat about her second book A Fine Romance.


Hi Christi! Welcome to the blog. What inspired you to write A Fine Romance? 

When I lived in Chicago and saw the vibrant downtown neighborhoods open with every sort of retail day and night, I got the idea for a romance store. At the time, I was a wedding planner, and thought it would be terrific to have a place people could duck into to grab a picnic basket full of treats, a card, and a heart shaped blanket to turn a ho-hum Wednesday into a special date night. I even came up with a name for it: A Fine Romance. Creating the store in my book required a lot less start-up capital than creating it for real. So when I decided to turn Planning for Love into a four book series, I knew I had to find a way to work the store into it.

Oh my gosh, a romance store? I would totally shop there! I can imagine all the fun romance movies and songs you could play to set the tone. So.....if you could pick a song to encapsulate the mood of your book what would it be and why?

Wow - this one almost stumped me. Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man. If I tell you why, that would be a spoiler. Let's just say that the heroine has to make a really, really big choice in order to get her hero.


Does your book have romantic/love/sex scenes?

Oh, yes. In fact, my father complained that A Fine Romance is much sexier than book one. I took it as a compliment. If so what was the hardest aspect in writing them? And the most fun? I guess as a romance author I shouldn't admit this, but love scenes are brutal to craft. You can only say he stroked such and such body part so many times, so many ways. The actual writing becomes very clinical and leaches all the sexiness out of it for me. I can grit my teeth through makeout scenes, but when it comes to full blown sex, my requirements are a single white Russian (nope, no other drink will do) and Pink Martini on the cd player.

~Haha, that is awesome, I always wonder how authors get themselves pumped for writing the steamy scenes. 

What do you want readers to walk away with after reading your book? 

A smile. I want to have given them an escape. No matter what is going on in their lives, when they pick up one of my books, they can count on some sassy banter, smokin' sex scenes, and a guaranteed happy ending.

Whats on the horizon for Christi? 

 I just began writing A Matchless Romance, book 4 in the Aisle Bound series. The heroine’s a matchmaker who is convinced she knows everything about men because she was raised in a brothel. The hero is a video game designer who channels all his sexual energy into training for triathlons. That is, he used to…. But the next thing readers should watch for is in July. I’m releasing a funny, sassy beach-fling caper called Love at High Tide. Then book 3 in the Aisle Bound series, Friends to Lovers, releases in October, with book 4 following in early 2014.

Sounds like you're a busy lady! Wishing you all the best writing the series and thanks again for stopping by today.


Christi Barth earned a Masters degree in vocal performance and embarked upon a career on the stage. A love of romance then drew her to wedding planning. Ultimately she succumbed to her lifelong love of books and now writes contemporary romance. Christi is President of the Maryland Romance Writers and lives in Maryland with her husband.

GIVEAWAY

Today I have one eBook copy of A Fine Romance to giveaway. Please just fill in the copter and a winner will be chosen April 3, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway



They say you form your first impression of someone within thirty seconds of meeting them. Or, in Mira Parrish's case, within thirty minutes of not meeting them, when said person is supposed to pick you up from the airport and never shows. This is not a perfect start to her new life. Her
friend Ivy is depending on her to run a new romance store, and Mira can't afford to let her down. 

Sam Lyons should probably apologize. But every time he sees Mira--which is often, since his family owns the bakery next to her shop--he can't resist antagonizing her. There's something about the sexy, straight-laced woman that drives him crazy. He can't get involved, though. He has too much baggage to be any good in a serious relationship. 

Despite his teasing attitude, Mira finds Sam too sweet to resist. (His hot body may be a factor.) But if there's going to be anything permanent between them, they'll need to let go of their pasts and look to the future.

Thanks again Christi. Find out more about this author at:

Goodreads~Author Blog
Photobucket

8 comments:

  1. I would think writing sex scenes would be huge challenge, mostly to keep them from sounding exactly like what she said - clinical. Or instructional even. A drink would likely help with that a bit:) Also, I would definitely shop at a romance story - how fun!

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    1. I couldnt imagine trying to write a sex scene I would be like lol every time I tried to use a naughty word for private parts.....

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  • Felicia the Geeky BloggerMarch 27, 2013 at 12:45 PM

    I think Sex scenes are the reason I decided to give up my teenage dreams of writing romances LOL (that and I can't sit still long enough)!

    My favorite type of romance is probably ones where I can put myself in the leading ladies shoes. The genre is not specific because it is honestly something that I require across all the genres of romance :)

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    1. Me too Felicia, I love it when I can impose myself on the lead role...:)

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