Tuesday, December 16, 2014

1-2-3 Author Q&A with Vicki Ballante, Author of The Love Commission

I’m happy to have Vicki Ballante here today to play 1-2-3 Author Q&A.  She has a new fantasy romance release, The Love Commission, to tell us about, too.  And… there’s a giveaway!  So take it away, Vicki!

 

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Writing

 

Your new release is part of Decadent Publishing’s Ubuntu line.  Not only is this an “Escape to Africa”, but a fantasy romance as well!  Was this your first time experience writing a fantasy? What was your favorite fantasy element in The Love Commission to create and write?

 

I’ve written a fantasy book for children before but that never saw the light of day. This is my first fantasy romance, and it was an absolute ball to write. I loved writing about the fairy gold and silver dust. It had so many possibilities for magic.

 

 

The Writer

 

Guilty pleasure song: the one you’re embarrassed to love.

 

At the moment I’m crazy about “Steal My Girlfriend” by One Direction. My teenage kids say they’re awful and well, they’re a young-people’s band, so really, I shouldn’t be crazy about their music, should I?

 

 

The Book

 

What did you find hardest about writing this story?

 

I think I found it hard to remember that Gelsey was a fairy before she became a human so her outlook on everything in life would be from a fairy’s point of view. The sex scenes were hard from this aspect, but in actual fact, it gave me fodder to write and spice it up. So in a way, the hardest aspect actually fueled my writing.

 

 

Blurb:

 

Gelsey is a savannah sprite—a fairy in Africa who works to preserve the earth. She’s a pro at eco-balance, but when the fairy queen gives her a commission to become a human to learn the meaning of love, she’s miserable. She has to give it her best as it’s the only way to get her dream job—to save the African Wild Cat.

 

After a short time in her new life, Gelsey is swept into the world of Evan’s love. Now, she must make an impossible choice—give up her life with the man who owns her heart or lose her fairyhood forever.

 

Excerpt:

 

Gelsey thought her head would spin out of control. The strange warm sensations in her tummy made her loathe to eat despite the hunger pangs. Is this what the human love emotion felt like? Something about this man—the way he spoke to her, the way he looked at her, as if she was so important, as if he cared how she felt, stirred the strange feelings. Even her fairy friends hadn’t connected with a spot deep inside of her. She wished she could tell him of the turmoil in her soul, of the world she had left behind, and of how she missed her home and her friends. Maybe he would care. Maybe he would help her and let her leave early. He would tell her all about human love, so she didn’t have to be trapped a whole year.

“Um, tell me about love,” she said once they were seated opposite each other at the fish restaurant. She could somehow stomach eating seafood but, being an earth fairy, couldn’t bear to eat the animals she’d spent so many years helping out. According to Ziana, she would be human and forget most of her life as a fairy. The thought of losing all touch with her past had prompted a deep fear in her, and she’d determined never to forget. Thankfully, somehow, she could remember almost everything.

She’d skipped lunch, and the smell of seafood cramped her already empty stomach. Evan had sent her whole day in a crazy direction. She’d been quite happy to spend the rest of her year working in the florist, making pretty arrangements, meeting people, and asking them questions. She wasn’t ready for this marriage thing and had no idea what it entailed.

Evan stared at her. “Love?”

“Yes, tell me how it felt when you fell in love. It seems it happens more than once in a man’s life.”

His eyes twinkled. “This is my first time.”

He looked right into her, his gaze giving off some magic as though he’d been the one to sprinkle fairy dust. He’d almost bewitched her. If she hadn’t been a fairy, she would be falling into this love thing right this second.

“Why do you ask?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t expect you to answer in such a way.”

“You cut to the chase, don’t you?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re a very innocent person. It’s as if you’ve been sheltered from so much.”

“I’ve lived for the earth and the environment. Love hasn’t featured in my life.”

He took hold of her hand and squeezed it. “I’d like to show you what it’s like.”

 

Buy Links:

 

Decadent Publishing

 

Amazon

 

iTunes

 

Kobo

 

Smashwords

 

Barnes and Noble

 

 

Author Bio:

 

Vicki writes erotic and fantasy romance. She loves taking her characters into an alternate world where strange and sexy things happen. She lives with her patient husband and three noisy kids in South Africa. In between being a busy stay-at-home Mom who hates housework and spends half her life cooking everything from scratch, she runs several blogs, writes under another name, and buries herself in the delightful world of her characters.

 

Author Links:

 

Blog: http://www.vballante.blogspot.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vicki-Ballante-Sugar-and-Spice/517893148283488

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VickiBallante

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/vballante/

 

 

I’m giving away a $5 Amazon Gift Card and 2 x At Second Glance Kindle Books (my other novel)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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