Danielle’s got three months to make her Grandmother’s rundown Craftsman house livable. Her game plan is to get in, get grubby, and get back home to L.A. She needs a carpenter, and her best friend’s younger brother is a good one. It’s hard to ignore the buffed body under Ryan’s paint-splattered sweatshirts, but her friend declares he’s off-limits so Danielle reluctantly agrees.
Ryan doesn’t have the cleanest record, anyway. His recently ex-ed girlfriend wants him back, and he has a reputation for brawling. He’s also had a crush on Danielle since he was a kid. Despite their nine-year age difference, he knows she’s worth pursuing.
Soon the paint under Danielle’s fingernails starts feeling more natural than the L.A. sunshine. She’ll have to navigate plumbing disasters, money problems, and one seriously cranky best friend to find something she hasn’t had before: a real home, and a man who loves her.
Ryan doesn’t have the cleanest record, anyway. His recently ex-ed girlfriend wants him back, and he has a reputation for brawling. He’s also had a crush on Danielle since he was a kid. Despite their nine-year age difference, he knows she’s worth pursuing.
Soon the paint under Danielle’s fingernails starts feeling more natural than the L.A. sunshine. She’ll have to navigate plumbing disasters, money problems, and one seriously cranky best friend to find something she hasn’t had before: a real home, and a man who loves her.
1. What does
your writing desk look like? What would we find on it right this minute?
I’m very proud of my current writing space.
Over the summer my husband orchestrated our long-awaited kitchen remodel,
creating a small island that’s just the right size for a laptop. He built a
glass brick wall to support it, and I look out our big kitchen window. Of
course, I can also see when the dishwasher needs to be loaded, but overall it’s
working great.
2. Do you have
any news you’d like to share with us?
Well, King Stud is ON SALE for $1.99 from 11/30 – 12/4. The regular price is
$5.99, so this is a screaming deal. Jump HERE for the
Amazon link. And, I have a story called Christmas
in LaLa Land appearing in the anthology Home for the Holidays. Any money earned from this anthology will
go to benefit the Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBTQ youth in NYC. Jump HERE for the
link on Amazon. Finally, I have an m/m romance novella The Secret of Obedience scheduled to release 11/27, however at the
time I’m answering these interview questions I don’t have the cover art or sales
links yet. L I’ll put them in the comments! Promise!
3. At what
point did you first consider yourself a writer?
About the time I read this question? Joking! I have some writer friends, and
sometimes we discuss what it means to be a REAL writer. Most of us – regardless
of how many books we’ve written or how many of them we’ve sold – feel like the
REAL writers are a couple steps up the food chain. King Stud is my fourth solo
publishing project, and my stories have been in at least seven anthologies, so
obviously I’m a writer, but am I a REAL writer? Maybe not yet…
4. Do you have
a specific writing style? In other words, are you a
plotter or a pantser?
My writing is very descriptive, sometimes to
a fault, and I like to have a solid handle on the plot before I start.
Nothing’s ever carved in stone. I mean, right now I’m running what could
possibly be the 8th editing pass over a project I started in 2011.
I’ll keep tweaking until I get something right.
5. How did you
come up with the titles to your book(s)?
King Stud took its name from a construction term. My husband’s a contractor
and when I was still brainstorming ideas for the project, I told him I needed
something construction-y that might also have naughty implications. So from
that standpoint, King Stud succeeds, I think. J Most of my titles come from a process of
brainstorming and list making and a little bit of luck.
6. Is there a
message in your book(s) that you want readers to grasp?
I wouldn’t say King Stud
has a message, exactly, but there is a definite theme. In one of the first few pages, Maeve says to Danielle,
“And you’re family, babe. There’s nothing more important than
family." Related to the importance of family is the idea that family is
who you choose it to be. So, again, nothing preachy, but those are my beliefs
and I wanted to express them in this story.
7. What are you
currently working on? Can you give us a sneak peek?
I’m working on a couple different things. I’m
co-writing an m/m vampire story that I’m just IN LOVE with, but it’s not quite
ready for sharing yet. Then I’ve got a couple of ongoing editing projects that
will hopefully end up in contracts or self-published next year. Because I’m so excited about the Home for the Holidays anthology, and it’s for such a great cause, I’ll share a little from it. This is in an early scene, from Aron’s point of view. He’s in the kitchen drinking coffee, waiting for his weekly flirtation with Damian, the AmazonFresh delivery guy… (this is mostly PG)
My mug was half-empty when the boxy,
green, AmazonFresh delivery truck pulled up behind the house. I held my breath.
What if he’d taken the day off?
The truck’s engine stopped with a heavy
cough.
My heartbeat hitched, skittered, and I
washed down a tangle of nerves with some coffee. The Man of the Hour swung out
of the driver’s seat, all dark, dark skin, glossy white smile, and a sweet fade
with mini-dreads on top. Damian Jones.
The whole package made me shiver.
A moment later he knocked, and I popped
up to open the back door.
“Gurl, you look like something the cat
upchucked and left for dead,” Damian said.
The gleam in his dark eyes lit a match
somewhere down south of my border. Awkward, because I’d dressed in little
bootie shorts and had to sit down fast to avoid giving him an anatomy lesson.
“Thanks, darling.”
Sitting didn’t disappoint me. I mean,
it’s not like I was hoping he’d notice my ass. At all.
Lying.
He carried in two large, green plastic
tubs loaded with enough stuff to make his biceps bulge. Setting them down by
our antique refrigerator, he gave the kitchen a quick scan. “You know where she
put the empties?”
“Maybe down in the basement?” A nice
person would get up and look. A nice person who didn’t have a hard-on busting
through his bootie shorts.
“All right, honey. I got another
armload out in the truck, and then I’ll go get ’em.”
He
called me honey!
8. Do you see writing as a career? Do you write full time? Or in addition
to another job?
Writing is one of my part-time jobs. I also
work as a nurse practitioner, and even if I started selling masses of books, I
wouldn’t leave that behind. I take writing VERY seriously, but I’ve been a
nurse for thirty years, and I still love it.
9. Do you have
a cover artist you’ve worked with that you’d like to give props to?
Jay Aheer did the cover for King Stud, and I think she
ROCKS!
10. Do you have
any advice to offer other writers?
BICHOK, baby! (Butt in chair, hands on keys.) It’s as easy – and as hard – as that. Write one word at a time, share what you’ve written with a few people you trust, don’t take their feedback personally, revise revise revise, put your work out there, then start the next book.
I write romance: m/f, m/m, and v/h, where the h is for human and the v is for vampire … or sometimes demon … I lean more towards funny than angst. When I’m not writing I take care of tiny premature babies or teenagers, depending on whether I’m at home or at work. My husband is a soul of patience, my dog’s cuteness is legendary, and we share the homestead with three ferrets. Who steal things. Because they’re brats.
I can be found on-line at all hours of the day and night at my website & blog (www.liv-rancourt.blogspot.com), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/liv.rancourt), or on Twitter (www.twitter.com/LivRancourt). For sneak peeks and previews and other assorted freebies, go HERE to sign up for my mailing list.
Come find me. We’ll have fun!
Please visit all the stops on this tour so you don't miss a single peek into this book or what the author has to say!
11/30
Sensuous Promos
11/30
Nicki Day
12/1
All Book Finds
12/1
Andrew Jericho
12/2
Get Cozy
12/2
The Book Pub
12/3
Nikki Noffsinger
12/3
Fantasy Pages
12/4
Nicole Morgan
12/4
Nics Book Nook
12/5
Kelsie Belle
12/5
Taylor Brooks
12/6
Darkest Cravings
12/6
Michelle Roth
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