Book Crazy: Interview with Tara Brown!

Hey guys! so a friend of mines recently interviewed Tara Brown! And even though I haven't read Tara's book they are now on my 'to read' list! There is also a giveaway to win THREE e-books Cursed, Bane and Hyde by Tara Brown on Book Dream Land's facebook page! You can enter here: http://www.facebook.com/BookDreamLand#!/BookDreamLand/app_228910107186452

Is there anything you'd love to tell us about yourself?

-I am relatively dull in the real world. I'd love to have some excitement to brag about, but really I have kids, coach soccer and write. Once in a blue moon I emerge from my writing coma and say hello to the world around me but then it's back I go. I'm mid thirties so I think I know far more than I do, but am humbled enough by my twenties to realize I'm still a child. Mid thirties is confusing. I have two daughters and one husband. Okay but Shhh, I am secretly married to Aleks in my mind and Marcus on special occasions. Oh and I come from a long line of psychics. Not sure how that's relevant. Probably should have ended that sentence with a BAM.

For the readers out there that haven't read your series could you tell us a quick bit about it?

-The Devil's Roses starts out about a girl who has suffered a great loss and can't move past it. She goes to a party and dies. While in the spirit world she sees a man who changes her life as he brings her back from the dead. She winds up in her first love triangle as death closes its icy grip around her. On her second round with death she is saved by The Devil's Roses and becomes a death dealer for them. The Devil's Roses themselves are a group of supernatural beings run by Lucifer. They keep humanity safe from the Dark Ones, supernaturals who see humans as sheep and blood bags. Basically everything you think you know about Dracula, Dr. Jekyll, Werewolves and Satan is questioned. I believe I have left no stone unturned, Witch has a lot to do with the first steps man took on the planet. Adam, Lillith and Eve have a small part this time around. The stories focus on the lives of a small group within the Devil's Roses and the battles they face while trying to stop the world from being taken over by the Dark Ones. The first book is all Aimee's POV and the rest are divided amongst the other characters.

How did you come up with the idea to write The Devil Rose Series?

- I don't know. I saw Aimee first. She started telling me her story and we went from there. Everything grew from a girl whose sadness had eaten her up. She was drowning in a pool of despair and suddenly she was charmed by Aleks, as we all are, and killing innocent girls in the woods. It was sudden but fun and Aimee is my hero. She's a whiney brat in Witch but her time to shine is going to be in Death.

Is there plans for a 4th book soon? If so when?

- Funny you ask, Witch, book four is out this week. Death, Book five is out this fall!! It will be the last in the series. But not the last we hear from the Devil's Roses. Dum Dum Dum

What has been your favorite thing about the Devil Rose series?

- It has to be the diversity. Book one feels so young and YA and then as Aimee grows and ages the books age with her. The new characters are different and fun. Marcus is hot and evil. Hanna is a beast. Ari is a hot mess. Aimee is still such a nerd at heart. Shane is the ultimate self sacrificing hero. Aleks is so tortured and delish. Lorri is a bitch, there is no other way to say it. Lucas is gruff and rugged, like a wolf man should be. They are all so fun to be with everyday. I will admit I cheat on them. I am pubbing three more series in the next six months.

Do you have a Favorite Quote from the series?

One quote? With only a few words? Uhm no. I'm an Aquarius. We have a favorite for like an hour.

To this day one of my favorite parts of the books is the scene with Blake and Aimee on their way to lunch-

He smacked me in the arm frowning, “Dude did you see the Facebook posts coming off my mom lately?” I smiled at him calling me dude. I shook my head as he took off on a tangent.
“Clearly people don’t get the whole, it's for connecting or reconnecting with people, it's not twitter. My mom has what she ate for lunch yesterday, she has that she went to her yoga class, she has that she bought a new bra and for her friends to check that store out. WTF dude, like what the hell. I told her that from now on I’m posting everything I do in a day.”
His face was red as he ranted, I loved his rants.
“I told her tomorrow my Facebook is going to read, 'Blake McGinnis had a great shit today, came out with very little pushing. I just want to thank Kellogg’s for upping the fiber count in the cereal.”
I started to laugh again as we walked to the nerd table, where the other nerds raised eyebrows at me laughing.
“I think then about three hours later I will put, 'Blake McGinnis just held his cat Chuck down and sniffed his neck fur.”
I couldn’t even stop myself if I wanted. The laughing started to get quite painful.
His arms flailed about now, “Then I think at around seven I will post,‘Blake McGinnis is questioning his humanity and had a bad thought about his neighbors.’ Then at least my mom will have something to think about. Jesus I get tired of reading this crap.”'

I really love Aleks and his dry sense of humor-

“Vikings don't have faults, they have clubs.”

And of course Alise, because she is a complete idiot-

“Aimee if you don’t try to be normal again, well your nerdy normal anyway, they’re going to lock you away for depression. It's going to be in one of those places where the girls don’t shower and all become lesbians.”

Alright are you Team Aleksander or Shane?!?

Okay you're asking me to pick a fav child...ALEKS!!!! omg did I just say that out loud. I mean...no I dont have a fav

Who is your Favorite Character in the series?

Marcus, I want my hair pulled plus he's funny and naughty and too old to care what anyone thinks or does or says. He's awesome.

Who designed your cover?

Jaycee DeLorenzo at Sweet N Spicy Designs, she is so awesome!! http://jayceedelorenzo.com/sweetnspicy/

Are you currently writing anything different? can you tell us anything about it?
-
I am writing a series about Anastasia Romanov being a born vampire hunter who was saved during the attacks and held with magic like Snow White in a glass coffin. She wakes freaking out as she is in a casket and there is a dead man on the floor of the cellar where she has rested for nearly one hundred years. When she starts to realize what's happened she discovers she hasn't aged from 17 and has very little memory of before. The first book is going to be really weird but awesome. The Devil's Roses have a large part in this book.

I am also writing a series called The Born Trilogy about a girl who was nine when the world as we knew it ended. She is now 19 and has spent almost everyday alone with her huge timber wolf Leo. She ends up with a young girl at the doorstep of her secret mountain cabin where she has been hiding all along. The girl is in trouble. As she opens the door to the young girl she has one of those bad feelings that if she opens the door everything will change. Fast forward two weeks and she is running through the mountains, trying to save the young girl from the breeder farms. She remembers the feeling at the front door. She should never have ever opened it.

My last series I have started is about a débutante in the 1960's who is taken with a man she meets at a party. She cannot understand the depth of the feelings she has for him after such a short amount of time. He haunts her dreams, both night and day. They start a secret relationship and plan to run away together after discovering her father's plan for her hand in marriage. But her new love has a plan too!! I have a short story entered in a contest which is a snippet of this novel. http://figment.com/books/408026-A-New-Dawn go read it and let me know what you think.

What would you say is your favorite thing about being an author?

-Fans, they make it the best experience. I actually had a fan write me and tell me they hadn't read in over a decade and they picked up my book and shazzam they're reading all the time. Love it!!! I love fans so much. I write and think OMG I can't wait for them to read this part. Or OMFG they're going to kill me. When a certain someone died in the third book I knew I was going to be on a hit list lol.

When did you start writing?

-First Grade. We had to write in a diary that said, 'what I did this weekend'. Anyway my mom got a few phone calls home. My interpretation of what occurred and what actually occurred were slightly different. Hey I figured she was reading twenty-five, why not make it interesting. You know the other kids were drooling on the page and writing about their cats.

Are your characters normally based on anyone in your life? Past experiences?

-Only the bad people LOL

What has been your toughest criticism given to you as an author? Best compliment?

-Ouuuu. Okay remember in Bane when it starts to get really dark and we discover Lucifer is not only a good guy but also a girl? Well I have a religious lady who gave Cursed a great review and then read Bane and suddenly she hates me. She suddenly wasn't a fan of my writing ever but gave cursed a great review and 4 out 5 stars. She writes a scathing review about how awful I am and even brings in the word Satanic. If you knew me you would laugh. I am wayyyyyy to lazy to be into Satanism. Or any ism for that matter. Anyway then she goes out of her way to post the review at other sites LOL. Not the good review of Cursed, just the hateful mean one of Bane. It was funny. My rating on Amazon for Bane is like a 2 stars. She is one of the 1 star reviews. Go check it out. Its a good one.
Best compliment I can't choose. I get amazing compliments daily and love them all. My head swells with pride, its huge now. Barely fits in my toque. Sorry I'm Canadian, it's a winter hat. I did see one from an anonymous person on Barnes and Noble that said something like 'I live in fear of the day she has a publishing house and an editor because we will be paying a lot more for her books' it was awesome to read that.

Is there any particular author/book that helped influence you into being an author?
-Anne Rice, Stephen King, Dean Koonz and Jane Austen. My favs

Why/how did you chose to write paranormal books?

-I did write a romance novel once, it was good too. My daughter who is 9 now deleted it when she was three. She set the computer back to default and I couldn't find it. Anyway every time I tried to write a romance again I always ended up with witches and ghosts. I was such a noob I didn't even know paranormal was a genre. I just thought they were all romance. It turns out I'm more of an urban author than romance. I guess because of the dark roots of my psychic family and the fact I totally believe Harry Potter is real I ended up in this genre. I believe in magic. Did I answer that question or just ramble?

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in writing?

-Working from home has its moments. As I type this my daughter and husband are fighting about laundry. I am pubbing a book tomorrow and am crazy busy and they're fighting about laundry.

Do you have any advice for aspiring writer/authors?

-Just do it. Oh and edit. Sweet god editing is a heinous job. I still don't have an editor. But edit minion is pretty much the s%$t. It will help you realize where your bad habits are. Mine are adverbs. Hand slap!! Oh and don't try to write the next life changing Pulitzer prize winner. Entertain the masses and you'll succeed.

Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans/readers?

-I love you, wait let me shout it, I LOVE YOU!!!! Please go and Like the books on Amazon and give a review, even if you didn't like certain things LOL. That's how we learn. Plus the more likes you get, the more exposure you get and there is no limit for how far exposure can take you!!! Thank you for the loyalty and the time it takes to read my books. May the drought end because it's flaming hot and humid this summer and it's hard to focus on writing.

Quickfire Round!
Favorite Food: Mexican, real Mexican
Favorite Country: Italy
Favorite Color: Purple
Favorite Animal: Cat and Wolf tie, tie breaker unicorn
Favorite Book: Persuasion by Jane Austen
Favorite Movie: Lord of the Rings Tril or All Harry Potters
Favorite Drink: Red Wine, I may have enough in my blood now to get drunk off my blood
Favorite Restaurant: The Hot House Bistro in Kamloops British Columbia, Canada. Go there at some point in your life. Holy eff it's good. Life changing.
Author bio:

Tara brown is a Canadian Author who writes The Devil's Roses Series. She is known for amazing cooking skills and a run on sentence or two, even while speaking. She was published at an early age in poetry and began to write novels in her early twenties. When her first novel, a romantic comedy, was deleted by her three year old she decided to branch out into paranormal romance. She writes daily, always enjoying a beagle named Buster Brown and a pug name Rosie at her feet.