TAMMY FAULKNER—A LONE WOMAN IN A SEA OF TESTOSTERONE

My guest is romance author, Tammy Faulkner. For those who may not recognize the name—yet, she's part of the dynamic writing duo known as Lydia Dare. 

Tammy is here, today, to share her magically sinful fairy tale of a fae who's mission is to save the Duke of Robinsworth by improving his attitude, among other things. It's a sassy tale complete with mayhem and a wicked grandmother—not quite the same sort of wicked you would associate with fairy tales, but definitely shocking. Well, at least to the ton. *giggle* A woman, I mean Fae, after me own heart. And then there is Ronald...   

So how does an author, who has a houseful of rough and tumble males and has a touch-me-not attitude, manage to write such wonderful happily ever after stories? It's a mystery. *grin* I love mysteries and Tammy's latest story!

I am a lone woman in a sea of testosterone. That sounds like a book in the making, doesn't it? If you know me, you know that I am a mom of boys.  There’s not a girl in sight at my house, aside from the dogs and they don’t really count because they will often side with the boys over me, mainly because the boys drop more food than I do when they’re eating.  It’s a fact of life.  He who is the messiest eater is loved the most by the dogs.  Go figure.

I think this sea of manliness and me being adrift in it is one of the many reasons I write romance.  Don’t get me wrong—I love nothing quite as much as sitting on the bleachers during a football game and watching boys pound one another into submission.  Or rooting from the edges of a gymnastics competition for my youngest son as he flips and twirls and does amazing things with his body that I could never even dream of.  But in the midst of all this manliness is still… me.  And I’m a female.  I believe in the happily ever after. I believe in love and romance and that little quiver in your stomach when you see the person you love and you didn't expect him or her to be there.  (And I still have that little feeling even after twenty years with my husband.)

I got honored by my lovey dovey friend the other day with one of those “I’m thinking about you,” posts today on Facebook.  She’s famous for them, and I always give her a hard time when she posts them for her brother and sisters.  By “hard time” I mean that I interrupt their love fests with my own e-hacking and e-puking emoticons.  Her love posts are always something wonderful and glowing, like her own little bit of sunshine she’s spreading around the world.  My own sister would fall out on the floor, either laughing like crazy or with dead shock if I ever posted such a thing on her page.  With all my romance novels and all my own ways of sharing love with the masses, I am not a very affectionate person.  My family calls me the touch-me-not because I am sort of one of those “don’t slobber on me” people when someone tries to hug me. 

I am a little envious of the hug-givers—they seem like they are so welcoming and so full of sunshine.  Yet I can’t always make myself hug them back.  My blank stare turns into something akin to panic and then my hand shoots out to shake with them instead.  Then I feel bad.

I write romance novels because I believe in the happily-ever-after.  But you won’t often catch me being one of those lovey-dovey sorts of people.  I wish sometimes that I could do it.  But it’s just not me. 

However, I think I’m going to go try to post some love on my sister’s Facebook page and see how it goes. She’ll either be really touched by it and say awwwww.  Or she’ll fall out laughing.  I will admit that my friend’s lovey dovey post did make me feel kind of warm and fuzzy for a bit so maybe there’s something to it.  I’m going to test it out and see.

• How about you?  Do you practice random acts of kindness?  
• Do you share lovely little thoughts for your friends in public?  
• Or do you just go around hugging everybody?

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, INDIEBOUND

A LADY AND HER MAGIC Tammy Falkner

Rules Are Made to be Disobeyed...

Sophia Thorne is new to the Regency's glittering high society, which resembles her magical homeland only insofar as both places are filled with ridiculous rules. Which means no matter where she goes, she's bound for trouble...

And Scandals Are Meant to be Shocking...

The Duke of Robinsworth has flaunted and shocked society for years. In a moment of fateful mischief, Robinsworth encounters the enchanting and distinctly scandalous Sophia. Between her streak of magical mischief and his penchant for scandal, they're about to take rule-breaking to a whole new level...EXCERPT

Do click on the cover. It enlarges and I love the cover art!

As half of the Lydia Dare writing team, Tammy Falkner has co-written ten books, including A Certain Wolfish Charm and In the Heat of the Bite. A huge fan of Regency England, her new series explores the theory that the fae can walk between the glittering world of the ton and their own land. Tammy lives on a farm in rural North Carolina with her husband and a house full of boys, a few dogs, and a cat or two.

For more information, please visit http://www.tammyfalkner.com and follow her on Twitter, @TFalkner.

Lydia Dare Has a Secret

Pssst, I know a secret about Lydia Dare...

Lydia Dare is a writing partnership consisting of Tammy Falkner and Jody Pearson. My guest is actually Jody with Tammy cheering her on. Jodie shares with us a secret she's been burning to tell and so without further ado, here's Jodie.

It’s Halloween! And the perfect time for a paranormal author to reveal a little secret.  Or at least the perfect time for me - the Jodie ½ of Lydia Dare - to do so. For the last few years, Tammy Falkner and I have been writing Paranormal Regencies under the name Lydia Dare. We have seven books on the shelves and three more slated for release next year. 

But we weren’t always a team.  And before we banded together to write these fun stories, we were both on our own individual publishing paths.  Mine was always headed straight for Regency England. 

Over the last year, I’ve felt myself pulled more in the direction of my first love. Oh, I still love our werewolves, vampyres and witches. In fact, I can’t envision a future without them.  But every now and then, I feel the urge to return to a Regency England without magic or the pull of full moons.

So I did. I created a new brand and a new name for myself – Ava Stone. And I’m loving it! Every last second. My Scandalous Series revolves around the family and friends of the Machiavellian-like Viscountess Staveley, and it has been so fun to create and explore this new world.

Whew! I’ve been keeping that secret for a long time. It feels good to have it out in the open now.  (I am not good with secrets. I dance on my tiptoes, dying to tell someone, anyone who will listen.) But now I feel like a kid with a shiny new toy at Christmas…

And speaking of Christmas… (It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, right?) Tomorrow, November 1^st, Ava Stone’s newest Regency will be available - a short story in A Summons From Yorkshire anthology that is part of a bigger collection Regency Christmas Summons.  

At my website, you can find all the information about this book and the rest of the Christmas collection.

• What is the longest you've kept a secret? Or are you still keeping it?

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A COUNTERFEIT CHRISTMAS SUMMONS

Lady Emma Whitton has decided its time to take her future in her own hands. She has been in love with Viscount Heathfield since she was in leading strings. Unfortunately, it's been almost that long since she's laid eyes on her brother's old friend and vice versa. Tired of waiting for him to remember her, Emma pens a holiday invitation (in her brother's hand) to Heathfield and waits as patiently as she is able for her one true love to arrive.
 Heath isn't quite certain what to make of the very strange summons he received, but his curiosity is most definitely piqued. He heads north to Danby Castle, only to find that his very orderly life is about to be turned upside down. Excerpt

BUY: Amazon, Smashwords

~*~*~*~

The author of several Regency Noir Romances, Ava Stone first fell in love with Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen and Regency England at the age of twelve. And in the years since, that love has never diminished. If she isn't writing Regency Era romance, she can be found reading it.

Her best-selling Scandalous Series is filled with witty humor and centers around the friends and family of the Machiavellian-like Lady Staveley, exploring deep themes but with a light touch. A single mother, Ava lives outside Raleigh NC, but she travels extensively, always looking for inspiration for new stories and characters in the various locales she visits.

Ava blogs regularly at LadyScribes.

Jodie Pearson:

writing as Lydia Dare

Never Been Bit ~ September 2011

The Wolf Who Loved Me ~ April 2012 

www.lydiadare.com 

writing as Ava Stone

Scandalous Series

Regency Christmas Summons ~ November 2011

http://www.avastoneauthor.com/

THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP—Lydia Dare

My guests today are Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson and known as Lydia Dare. As a team they write historical paranormal romance. I had the chance to read the latest book for review and it was actually the first of their books I had read. I loved their story. Part of what drew me, aside from a well put together story and sexy hero, was the strong ties between the heroine, Rhiannon, and her sister witches—none of which are actually related. I personally have friends that feel more like family than unrelated friends and so I could relate to this story. It is an engaging page turner. 


You can read my review here.

There are two of us who make up the writing team of Lydia Dare. And we’ve had the pleasure of writing some truly wonderful heroes over the last couple of years. Gentlemen we’ve fallen in love with right alongside our readers. Sometimes we even make ourselves swoon – over different heroes, of course. We agree on very little in real life and our choice in men is no different. 

We’ve spent the best time with the wolfish Brothers Westfield, a tragic lone werewolf, and a trio of vampyres who are more chivalrous than their human counterparts. And while we love each of these gentlemen from their wolfish tails to their vampyric charm – there is something magical about the women who have captured their hearts. And not just because they’re witches. But because of who they are.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

When we first created the Còig, an ancient coven of Scottish witches whose powers and membership pass from mother to oldest daughter, we knew we were creating more than just five friends. We were creating “sisters” in a sense who were devoted to and would do anything for each other. In a lot of ways, these lasses are closer to each other than they are some members of their own families.

We've written a lot about the members of this revered coven:

Elspeth – the healer (Tall, Dark & Wolfish)

Caitrin – the seer  (The Taming of the Wolf)

Blaire – the warrior (It Happened One Bite)

Rhiannon – the controller of weather (In the Heat of the Bite)

Sorcha – the plant manipulator (Never Been Bit, to be released September 6^th)

These five ladies were first introduced in our 2^nd book, and since then they’ve dealt with werewolves, vampypres and each other. But through all their ups and downs, their loyalty and bond has held them together and made them stronger than ever.

Our witches are far from perfect. Some are hardheaded. Some are a little spoiled. Some have tempers. We could go on and one. But despite each lass’ flaws, her coven sisters love her like nothing else.

We've both been lucky enough to have had some very good friends over the years, friends we would do anything for and vice versa. And it is those ladies and those friendships that inspired us to create the Còig in the first place.

• We’d love to hear all about your best friends, the friends who've stood by you through thick and thin, who've been there when others weren’t, and who you love like they were your own family.

In honor of our Scottish witches, we are giving away a set of the first four books that features the coven  - TALL, DARK and WOLFISH; THE TAMING OF THE WOLF; IT HAPPENED ONE BITE; and IN THE HEAT OF THE BITE to (2) lucky US or Canadian commenters who tell us what makes their best friend so special.

In The Heat Of The Bite

Chivalry is far from undead...

Matthew Halkett, Earl of Blodswell, is one of the few men in the ton who can claim to be a knight in shining armor- because that's precisely what he was before being turned into a vampyre. When he spies a damsel in distress in the midst of a storm in Hyde Park, his natural instinct is to rush to her aid...

But not every woman needs to be rescued...

Weather-controlling witch Rhiannon Sinclair isn't caught in a storm-she's the cause of it. She's mortified to have been caught making trouble by the imposing earl, but she doesn't need any man-never has, and is sure she never will...

But when Rhiannon encounters Matthew again, her powers go awry and his supernatural abilities run amok. Between the two of them, the ton is thrown into an uproar. There's never been a more tempestuous scandal... Excerpt on Amazon

BUY: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Powells, Indibound

As Lydia Dare, like most of us, work outside the home, they will be stopping by as they can today.

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.

A Day In The Life Of A Writing Team--Lydia Dare

My guests today is a dynamic duo, Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson, otherwise known as Lydia Dare. They write paranormal historical romance. A CERTAIN WOLFISH CHARM is part of a trilogy and is available now at your favorite bookstore.

In Lydia dare’s debut trilogy, Regency England has gone to the wolves!


I was a bit curious about a day in the life of Lydia Dare. You know me, I want to know something, I ask. It's particularly fascinating to see how two separate writers can work together as a team and make a story work. The challenges they face.

• The day in the life on Lydia Dare – both of us. We need to stress that last bit, as our lives are so very different from each other, that we both face different challenges in juggling our everyday lives as well as our writing.

Jodie:

I work from nine to five as a meeting planner and a travel manager for a top-notch IT consulting firm. My days are filled from the moment I get to work to the moment I leave. Some days I don’t even have time for lunch.

When I do get home, I am a single mother, recently divorced. So I spend my evenings helping my son with his homework, making dinner (in all honesty – ordering pizza), cleaning up, doing laundry, feeding the animals, and dealing with my ex way more than I’d like. Whew! I’m tired now, just looking at that list.

I am the president of my local RWA Chapter, and while that is rewarding and I do love it – there is definitely work involved with that role as well. I am also part of a very active online critique group and try to read as many chapters as I can get to.

And when I’m not doing one or all of those things…

Then I get to be Lydia Dare. Tammy and I trade off pages every day. So when she has the pages, I get a little breather (which is generally needed badly). But when I have the pages, I have to forget everything else going on with my life and immerse myself in the Regency England Tammy and I have created, filled with werewolves, witches, and vampyres. I get to escape from everyday life and let my mind dream up adventures and love matches for our characters to experience.

I love the time I’m able to be Lydia Dare.

Tammy:

My day starts around 7 am, when my fifteen-year-old yells at me from the bottom of the stairs that it’s time for school. Then I get to play bus driver and get both kids out the door and into the car. Then it’s off to school for them. And home for me. I have been self-employed for about six years, so I work from home 100% of the time. I adore what I do, the company I do contract work for and I love being able to set my own schedule.

I just happen to be the quintessential sports mom. I don’t think there’s anything better than sitting in the stands and rooting on my boys in all their activities. It’s one of the only things I do in the spare time I have, aside from write.

Of course, I have been married for seventeen years, so I try to put some time with my husband in there, too. But that’s a given.

On a really good day, Jodie sends me pages and I get to see where our story is going for the day. Neither Jodie nor I plot, so we never know what’s going to happen. Shipping your story off to someone else with little or no directional input is kind of like sending the kids to Grandma’s. You have no idea what they’ll do there, but it’s fun to see it on the pages when I get them. Then I get to move on with something new.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this partnership and love the work we’ve been doing. We hope the readers like the books as much as we’ve enjoyed writing them!

Cover Blurb: The rules of Society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month.

He gets crankier and crankier as the moon gets full…

The rules of society can be beastly—especially when you’re a werewolf and it’s that irritating time of the month. Simon Westfield, the Duke of Blackmoor, is rich, powerful, and sinfully handsome, and has spent his entire life creating scandal and mayhem. It doesn’t help his wolfish temper at all that Miss Lily Rutledge seems not the least bit afraid of him, and in fact, may be as untamable as he is…

A woman whose charm is stronger that the moon…

When Lily’s beloved nephew’s behavior becomes inexplicably wild, she turns to Simon, the boy’s cousin and guardian, for help. But Simon’s idea of assistance is far different than hers, and Lily finds herself ensconced in his house and engaged to the Rogue.

They both may have bitten off more than they can chew when each begins to discover the other’s darkest secrets…

Read an Excerpt (click on Excerpt Tab in the box below the book)

Awarding 2 copies of A Certain Wolfish Charm. 2 winners, US and Canada only

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina.

They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in Spring 2010!

• For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/.


• You can find Lydia Dare on Facebook or Twitter
  


• You can buy it online: Amazon or Barnes & Noble