Author Interview - Sabrina Garie
/I have fellow SFR Brigade author Sabrina Garie over today to talk about her new release, Thirteen Nights. She's the second author I've interviewed, so this is quite exciting. I'm hoping to do these interviews more regularly since it's always fun to learn about other erotic romances and how they came to be.
As Sabrina's book just came out, she's a very busy lady. So let's get right to it:
1. Thirteen Nights came out on December 6. You must be excited. But this isn't your first published work--can you tell us about the other two?
I am very excited about Thirteen Nights. I had so much fun writing this book. Its fantasy and I loved the world building. My other books include Fires of Justice, which is a paranormal romance, between a fire witch and a fire shifter. I combined elements of western lore (witches, and shifters and gods, oh my) with eastern lore (elemental magic, chakras, and energy). The results were a lot of fun. My third book is Next Move, a contemporary second chance romance between a tough as nails single mother and CEO and her daughter’s soccer coach. That is about real people with real problems, who overcome their own issues to find love again. All books are published Ellora’s Cave. You can also find them on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
2. How did you get your start as an author? Why did you choose to write erotic romance?
I have been trying to write for a long time, always starting new projects. A children’s book here, a play there, a poem way over yonder. Only when I sat down to write romance did I actually stay down and finish a book, and then another. I pitched Fires of Justice to an Ellora’s Cave editor on a Passionate Ink pitch opportunity, and was asked to submit. The first version was not accepted but the second was. The rest as they say is history. For those not familiar, Passionate Ink is the Romance Writers of America chapter for erotic romance.
Why erotic romance? The easy answer is that’s how I like to read romance. I am often disappointed when I get the fade to black in romance novels. More importantly, I prefer sex scenes to be explicit because how people make love is an important part of their relationship dynamic. To me, to fully understand a couple’s love story, it’s important to see that part of it. Despite all the hype, sex is not always easy, and having a safe place to explore it is one of the real values of erotic romance. And finally, for some reasons, when I plot stories, it tends to be around sex scenes because they serve as clear milestones of a relationship.
3. Let's chat more about your book. How do Annie and Tai end up together (for thirteen nights)?
Thirteen Nights is a yearly ritual that pairs up Amazons and their male counterparts, known as Gargareans (I got that from history books, I did not make it up) for conception, since neither group marries. Both groups are committed to a warrior’s life. I modernized the myth and hid the ritual in a speed dating event. Tai and Annie end up as partners for Thirteen Nights because Tai, who’s a coding whiz, hacks the speed dating database to make sure they do end up together. Although they choose each other during the speed dating event, the pairs are really matched by genetics and Tai, who is a half human, does not have the right genes. Annie is of the royal amazon genetic line.
4. I have to admit, I'm a bit shallow when it comes to male leads. Can you tell us more about Tai? How would his driver's license read...and what other attributes might catch a gal's eye?
I love Tai. He’s 6 foot 2, leanly muscled (all that warrior work out stuff), with tattooing that runns from his left shoulder to his wrist, detailing all of his battle victories. He’s got black hair that lands at his shoulders, a little wild. And his eyes are deep brown. Annie describes them as tender and soulful, pledging warmth and humor. He is single-minded, determined, quiet but absolutely lethal. When he makes up his mind, he lets nothing—absolutely nothing—stand in his way.
5. Fantasy and world-building go hand-in-hand. Tell me more about the world of your new Divine Temptation series. How did you manage to get Amazons and Greek Gods in one (very yummy) book?
The world assumes all the pantheons and their gods and goddesses still exist and live hidden among us. Their powers are waning, stripped away by modern life. To survive, the pantheons shun the mortal world. The Amazons, which are genetically enhanced humans, serve as the guardians of the Greek pantheon gods. When they are not battling for the gods, they have to find ways to earn money to survive on Earth. Annie is a bounty hunter in the human world, Tai is cyber security expert for the FBI.
6. Alright, I'm hooked. Where should I go to buy your book?
Right now, it’s available from the following online sites (links are clickable): Ellora’s Cave, Amazon, Kobo, and Goodreads
It was a pleasure having Sabrina over. Scroll down for more information about the book and author, and please leave a comment if you have a spare moment.
Thirteen Nights
Annie’s always been different. An empathic Amazon, she hides her emotional anomaly beneath her legendary fighting skills. To avoid passing on her genetic disorder, she’s always avoided the Thirteen Nights Ritual—the annual breeding rite among the warrior races of the Greek Pantheon. Only months away from 30, she is now duty-bound to participate. When she meets Tai, a half-human warrior who revs her up beyond legal limits and nurtures the gentleness she’s had to keep secret, thirteen nights of pleasure don’t seem nearly enough.
As a half human, Tai has survived by being faster, more lethal, and a whole lot smarter than his brethren. While the male warriors accept him for his achievements, the Amazons have never given him a second look. Until he meets Annie, whose smile is warm and real and whose body shudders with desire—for him. Determined to have her, he hacks into the Thirteen Nights database and rearranges the pairings to make Annie his breeding partner. Together, their strength and tenderness combust into pure love.
But Tai’s actions are forbidden under Amazon law, subject to a death. To stay together and alive, they must take on the Greek Pantheon and win.
About the Author
Sabrina Garie is on a journey to create the most kick-ass heroine romance fiction has ever known and the hero who can take her. A believer that big, audacious goals spice up life, she relies on coffee, red wine and laughter to make those goals (and her characters) come alive. When not at the computer, she wrangles vegetables and extra helpings of homework into her fashion-loving progeny, kowtows to a fat cat and reads, a lot. Since it is more fun to travel in packs, come along for the ride.
Blog/Website: www.sabrinagarie.com
Facebook: facebook.com/sabrinagarieauthor
Twitter: @sabrinagarie
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/Sabrina_Garie
