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Slow Burn an Interview with Aviva Vaughn

February 2, 2019 by in category Jann says . . . tagged as , , ,

Aviva Vaughn is the author of BECKONED—slow burn women’s fiction inspired by food, travel, and Jane Austen. A lifelong bibliophile, she enjoys a wide variety of genres from historical fiction to science fiction to non-fiction, and loves reading, and writing, hot—scientifically accurate—sex.

As a young adult, Aviva rejected the romance genre. “My mother had at least sixty of those old-school romances with the Fabio-esque covers. I didn’t like the way they depicted women or sex,” she says. However, after becoming a mother herself, she recognized the potential power of fiction as a force for female empowerment.

Her series—BECKONED—features strong, educated, diverse characters, with heroines who speak their mind and heroes who respect them for doing so. She writes so that her daughter will have inspirational, multicultural book characters to identify with, and a depiction of what a healthy relationship looks like both in the power dynamics and in the sex itself.

Aviva is not afraid to try new things, which has made for an interesting—although not always straight forward—life. Her favorite “two truths and a lie” line is: I have ridden bareback in the Navajo nation, I have jumped out of an airplane over New Zealand, and I have gone spelunking in Costa Rica. The answer appears at the end of BECKONED, Part 4: From Barcelona with Love ;^)

For a list of her favorite books, visit AvivaVaughn.com/about

Jann: Let’s welcome Aviva Vaughn to A Slice of Orange blog today to chat about her series BECKONED.

Jann: When did you start writing? Why romance?

Aviva: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t write creatively. I’ve written songs, poetry, and fiction at least since I was thirteen, if not before. I’ve always been fascinated with books and words, and have been an avid reader my entire life. Although my writing covers a variety of genres, the first book I decided to publish was a romance, and the reason why was because it told me to. My slow-burn contemporary series, BECKONED, has been a very bossy master. It wouldn’t leave me alone … it beckoned to me. However, it makes sense that I would start with a romance, because my favorite stories are always the ones where the human relationships are the focus, and the challenges that come up are the all too real challenges of human interaction and miscommunication. I mean, I like plot too, but what makes stories pierce your heart is not plot, but the human relationships. What would Star Wars be without the angst of Darth the wayward father, or the war-torn love of Han and Leia? It’s the relationships that hold one captive, and the stories that focus on them are the ones that I return to again and again. Authors like Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, and Margaret Mitchell, who create characters that just seem to keep missing each other over and over, those are the stories I love, but I wanted to give them a modern twist.

I often describe BECKONED as “a modern story told in an old-fashioned way.” By “modern story” I mean that it’s set in contemporary time, and the characters are diverse, and the heroines are strong. By “old-fashioned” I mean that the language and scene setting are very descriptive and literary feeling. My tagline for BECKONED is “slow burn, second-chance romance inspired by food, travel, and Jane Austen.” If your readers would like to read my series starter for free, they can sign-up for it at SmartURL.it/BeckonedLondonFree

Jann: Your series BECKONED–how, when, or where did your idea for the series come to be? Do you have a goal for the series?

Avivia: BECKONED was birthed by a couple of ideas. The first was that as a multicultural reader—I’m of Asian, Polynesian, Hispanic, and European descent and I was born and raised in Los Angeles—I was never able to find a character that looked like me, not even one. I wanted to create characters that my own mixed child could relate to and look up to. So I fashioned Angela: an aspiring entrepreneur putting herself through MBA school who just happens to be of a mixed background. The second idea was kind of inspired by one of the parameters Stephenie Meyer uses in TWILIGHT; in her books, vampires’ personalities are fixed when they become vampires, so her hero, Edward, has the values of someone from the early 1900’s. I liked the tension that it created having her modern heroine fall in love with a old-fashioned guy. I also wanted to have a hero who was the complete opposite of my fiery, multicultural Angeleno, and so I looked to Denmark which is a very homogeneous society and is famous for its gender equality and it felt perfect. So I created my hero, Soren Lund, who is a humble, polite real estate heir that has lived a life of boring privilege until he meets fiery Angela—who melts his heart—and realizes he doesn’t want to live without her.

Those twin inspirations, along with my love for food and travel, are what inspired the series. As far as my goal for the series, I want women to feel inspired and empowered by BECKONED. Many readers have said that they look up to Angela and I think that’s wonderful. I happen to know many women like Angela, so she’s not aspirational, she’s inspirational.

Jann: Beckoned Part 6 – Adrift in New Zealand makes its debut on May16th. What can you share with us about this new book?

Avivia: Hhhhmmmm … all I can say is that books 1-4 are kind of like “The Bachelor,” where there is a love triangle, and the man who doesn’t get the girl becomes the focus of Books 5 and 6. Readers have loved that I’ve been tying up the loose end of the guy who “lost”. Part 6 will be a very satisfying conclusion to this part of BECKONED.

Jann: What’s the best writing advice you ever received?

Avivia: The best writing advice I’ve received can be summed up in four points

  1. Keep a writing calendar (I like the tiny business card size ones), and highlight every day you write and note the number of words. It motivates me to keep going! (Jerry Seinfeld does something similar for writing jokes.)
  2. Find your most productive time of day (for me that’s morning) and type without any sort of self editing (vomit onto the page).
  3. STOP writing before the end of the scene so that you have a place to pick up the next day (I heard this is what Hemingway did).
  4. Once you are done writing for the day, give your new words a quick edit for typos, etc. (I can’t remember who told me this, but it’s a good tip! Helps make later editing easier.)

My tip: I carry a Bluetooth keyboard so that I can “write on my phone.” This lets me write everywhere. I’ve had this $20 keyboard for four years and it’s still as responsive as ever and it weighs nothing. https://amzn.to/2TpmMli

Avivia: I’m working on a collection of steamy slow-burn stories as a way to introduce different couples to my readers and get their feedback on whom I should turn into my next full-length book. I’ll also have some previously unwritten scenes for Angela and Soren to introduce new readers to BECKONED. This collection might come out as early as March 2019, so stay tuned!

Jann: What’s the funniest (or sweetest or best or nicest) thing a fan ever said to you?

Avivia: I don’t think I can pick just one! Some of my favorite quotesfrom reviews are:

  • “I found myself stealing away to read this book”
  • “This book gives a new meaning to the word sizzling!”
  • “Read this is one sitting and left me wanting more”
  • “The series has been fascinating and captivating”
  • “Singed my eyebrows and melted my kindle”
  • “You can’t deny the connections of writing styles between Aviva Vaughn and Jane Austen”

Jann: Do you have a website, blog, twitter where fans might read more about you and your books?

Avivia: Choose your favorite way to follow me! I love interacting with readers. If you are in the Southern California area, I have a bunch of readings and signings coming up.

Jann: Thank you Avivia for chatting with us here on A Slice of Orange.


Aviva’s BECKONED Series


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BOOK REVIEW: The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club by Holly Tierney-Bedord

June 27, 2018 by in category Book Reviews by Veronica Jorge tagged as , , , , , , , , ,

Mmmrrh … pull up a chair and settle in to make jewelry as you chat and bond, lick wounds and discover new doors, break up and fall in  love … and unravel a mystery with the women of The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club by Holly Tierney-Bedord.

From the Amazon Description: 

It’s been five years since the idyllic oceanside town of Port Elspeth was rocked by tragedy. Shortly after their high school graduation, Evangeline Maddingly, daughter of one of the town’s wealthiest old-money families, and Oliver Prescott, son of one of the town’s wealthiest new-money families, were found dead in an isolated cabin in the woods outside of town. The circumstances surrounding their untimely deaths are murky at best, thanks in large part to a coroner with connections to the town’s founding families and a sweeping effort from those in power to shut down any negative publicity that could harm the reputation of their pristine community.

~Five years later~

A small group of strangers gather to create jewelry for one of Port Elspeth’s many fundraisers. Before long, friendships are forming and old secrets are being revealed. Along with solving the mystery of how to make a perfect pair of chandelier earrings or cabochon necklace, these unlikely friends find themselves at the heart of solving the murders that took place half a decade earlier. 

This book sweeps you away with shades of The Jane Austen Book Club and piques your interest in ways reminiscent of The Bletchley Circle. As the women meet, ostensibly to make jewelry, they learn about their own lives and loves and make decisions that change everything. And one of those decisions is to solve an unsolved murder in the community.

The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club follows the lives of six women – one teenager, one woman in her twenties, two women in their thirties, one woman in her fifties, and one woman in her seventies. We become immersed in their relationships with lovers and family members in all their glory and ignominy. This comfortably intimate novel makes you feel as if you are a part of the club as you piece together dangly earrings, smile at a new friend you feel like you’ve known forever, cringe at flashes of boorishness, and feel chills slide down your neck as you realize a killer is on the loose from a murder that no one ever tried to solve. After all, to delve into the crime, in a place such as Port Elspeth, involving such renowned families, just would have been too, too gauche. But Cadence, the founder of the club, is new to town. And all the other club members have quirks in their lives that allow these craft club meetings to turn into stealthy investigations.

What begins as a compelling voyage into the lives of six very different women escalates into an edge-of-your seat hunt for a killer! Because whether it is fashioning bracelets or making justice happen, these women get the job done. In The Port Elspeth Jewelry Making Club, jewelry, and life, is what you make of it, with your own talent and instinct, but more importantly, with the love and support of others.

Holly Tierney-Bedord, a gifted story-teller, has given us yet another gem!

 

 

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Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh…Some Irish-themed Romance

February 27, 2018 by in category Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh . . . by Geralyn Corcillo tagged as , , , , , , , , , ,

Things that make me go mmmrrh ... | Geralyn Corcillo | A Slice of OrangeAs St. Patrick’s Day draws near, do you long for some Irish-themed romance? I’ve got a few recommendations for you.

Check out Gail Ward Olmsted’s Driving on the Left, a novel about a mother and daughter, Jackie and Becca,  who take a coach tour around Ireland.  This book weaves together the stories of the mother-daughter bond and friction, the daughter’s romance with an Irish hottie, and the mother’s continuing romance with her husband. And what a deliciously relaxing read! Off to beautiful Ireland, for one thing. But oh, the brilliance of the two characters, Jackie and Becca. Becca, especially – Olmsted NAILS the dramatic ups and downs of a  twenty-one year old in love. Becca’s passion for her new-found love, her fierce desire for independence, her warm and gooey love for her parents, her bursts of immaturity – JUST SO PERFECT. And Jackie! What a bubble bath of a character to sink into! I just really really wanted to see how it all worked out and I wasn’t disappointed. This book is SUCH a treat.

If you long to relax in front of the television watching a charming, romantic film about Ireland, consider The Nephew (1998). American teenager Chad (Hill Harper) brings his mother’s ashes to her hometown in Ireland.  There, Chad finds love and uncovers years of secrets, betrayals, and feuding. Does this kid from America have what it takes to heal the scars of the past? I have just adored Hill Harper ever since I saw this movie 20 years ago, and I am so excited to be watching Hill Harper every Monday night now as the Chief of Surgery on The Good Doctor. Check out this trailer for The Nephew.

What Irish-themed stories can you recommend?

Things That Make Me Go Mmmrrh ... It's a Wonderful Life |Geralyn Corcillo | A Slice of Orange

 

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Surviving Danger by Kat Martin

January 30, 2018 by in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley, Guest Posts, Spotlight tagged as , , , , , , , ,

Surviving Danger | Kat Martin | A Slice of Orange

Surviving Danger

As a writer, I’m always looking for new story ideas.  I often find that past experiences can be a great help.  Have you ever survived a dangerous situation?  How did you do it?

When I was first learning to snow ski, I got caught after dark on top of Stowe Mountain in Vermont.  It’s a huge ski area.  It was my first day on skis and, somehow I got separated from my friends.  I wound up on a black diamond run and of course I started falling—throwing myself down in the snow was the only way I knew how to stop!

By the time I got half way down the mountain, the ski lifts had all stopped running and it was dark and freezing cold.  I tried taking off my skis and walking, but the snow was deep, and it was even harder than trying to ski.  I knew I was in big trouble.

Maybe the reason I started writing Romantic Suspense had something to do with that day.  Just when I was ready to give up and just wait for whatever was going to happen to happen, a guy came skiing down the hill out of nowhere.

Instead of skiing on by, he swished to a stop right next to me.   He must have realized I was in trouble and if I didn’t get down the mountain, I could die in the subzero weather that night.  The guy—my hero—helped me get up and start “skiing” back down the mountain.  He showed me how to snow plow, helped me turn and never left me, no matter how many times I fell.

It took hours to get off that mountain.  We wound up in an empty parking lot, where I his car was parked, and he drove me back to the main lodge where my friends were waiting.  I never saw him again, but I’ve never forgotten him.  There is a chance he might have saved my life that night.

So, I guess there really are heroes out there in the real world.  At least I believe that.  Beau Reese, the hero in BEYOND DANGER, is that kind of guy.

Mega-rich, black-haired, and blue-eyed, Beau was a highly successful race car driver before he left the circuit, sort of a Texas Paul Newman.  Beau loves fast cars and fast women, but under it all he’s a one-woman man and Cassidy Jones is just the right woman for him.

Unfortunately, Beau is wanted for murder.

The good news is, Cassidy is a detective.  She’s convinced of Beau’s innocence and determined to prove it.

I hope you’ll watch for BEYOND DANGER, and in June, you’ll look for BEYOND CONTROL, Josh Cain’s story.  If you haven’t read BEYOND REASON, I hope you’ll give it a try.

Till next time, all best and happy reading, Kat


THE LAST MILE

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THE LAST MILE

THE LAST GOODNIGHT

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THE LAST GOODNIGHT

THE PERFECT MURDER

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THE PERFECT MURDER

COME MIDNIGHT

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COME MIDNIGHT

THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL

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THE ULTIMATE BETRAYAL

PIVOT

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PIVOT

SHADOWS AT DAWN

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SHADOWS AT DAWN

BEYOND DANGER

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BEYOND DANGER

THE DECEPTION

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THE DECEPTION

THE CONSPIRACY

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THE CONSPIRACY

BEYOND REASON

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BEYOND REASON

WAIT UNTIL DARK

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WAIT UNTIL DARK

BEYOND CONTROL

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BEYOND CONTROL
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Hop aboard The Magic Christmas Train — nominate my book & get a Free copy from Amazon if it’s selected for publication by Jina Bacarr

September 11, 2017 by in category Jina’s Book Chat tagged as , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Magic Christmas Train from Jina Bacarr on Vimeo.

Ever since I could hold a microphone, I haven’t stopped telling stories. I used to record fairy tales on an old tape recorder when I was a kid . . . then later I went on to radio doing live commercials, news, voiceovers, interviews, talk radio, etc.

I love to tell stories and add pictures and music.

Which is why I couldn’t resist putting together this 2:00 video about my Kindle Scout book “The Magic Christmas Tree.” Imagine if you could go back to a special Christmas, see family and friends you miss, and change the course of your life . . . and save the man you love from being killed overseas during World War 2.

If you ever wanted to go home again . . . this is the story for you!

A hot, sexy hero, a spunky heroine who tries to save him, and the magic of a small town Christmas . . . and plenty of good food!

So hop aboard the Magic Christmas Train and meet the Arden Family doing their best to support the troops during that Christmas of 1943.

I’d really appreciate your nomination . . . part of the process is getting your book “Hot” and it’s not easy! So any help is much appreciated. Thank you!

You can check out The Magic Christmas Train HERE =

Jina

 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/JinaBacarr.author

Twitter: http://twitter.com/JinaBacarr

Once Upon a Story blog: http://jinabacarr.wordpress.com

Videos: https://vimeo.com/user216350

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

 

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