In the Spotlight w/ Beth Kery!

Today we have a special guest with us. She's the author of Because You Are Mine and the spin-off series When I'm With You, Beth Kery!!!! We'll start this off with some Q & A and at the end of the post there's a giveaway for a copy of Because You Are Mine. :D Isn't that awesome?!?!? So let's get to it!

1) As a seasoned erotic romance writer, do you find the stigma of erotica or “mommy porn” hurtful to your career? Do you lose any sleep over it?

I can’t say I endorse or identify with the term ‘mommy porn’ and find it condescending to the millions of women who enjoy erotica and erotic romance. (Yes, I know some readers like the title, which is perfectly fine. I’m just speaking from my perspective as a writer and the dislike of the stereotype). Is my writing explicitly sexual, yes. It’s also extremely romantic. I don’t consider it to be pornography or stroke fiction at all. That doesn’t mean it isn’t exciting or titillating at times, but it’s a love story with the bedroom doors and the minds of the hero and heroine left wide open. As for the term ‘mommy’? I’m mentally shrugging. I have readers from every adult age group and walk of life. It’s a catchy phrase, and I realize the media has glommed onto it. As to whether or not I lose sleep over writing love stories that appeal to a woman’s sexual nature, the answer is an absolute ‘no.’ I may lose sleep about things occasionally, but not over that.

2) Which character of the When I’m With You do you relate to the most?

I relate to Elise, the heroine from When I’m With You. Not because I’m like her, necessarily, but because I know what it’s like to be trapped a bit by your past and how hard it is to escape old habits and expectations that have been taught to us from the cradle. I wrote a post recently called The Tortured Heroine and talked about Elise a lot. She’s not what most people would call a likely candidate for “tortured’ having come from one of the wealthiest families in Europe and being an heiress to a massive fortune. But I know that people can suffer in any walk of life. I had a lot of respect for Elise for wanting to make a life on her own terms. She’s a hard worker, and she doubts herself at times, but it’s her determination to hold her head up and be proud of her accomplishments and herself that makes up the true essence of her—previous wild child heiress or not. I respect her for that. She doesn’t choose the easy path, but the one that will force her to grow. I’ve been known to do that a time or two in my life.

 3) I love the covers for the When I’m With You and Because You Are Mine. Where did they come from?

Thank you, they are lovely, aren’t they? I owe them totally to the Berkley art department. I love how their elegance matches the sort of cosmopolitan sophistication of the series so well, but also hints at the sexiness of the books. Plus, ever since Wicked Burn, I kind of think of pearls as my characteristic book gem. Elegant, and yet also very sexy.

4) Did you encounter any challenges while writing When I’m With You?

Yes. I struggled with finding the core personalities of these two complicated characters. As often happens, as I write and toil, their characters magically emerge. I knew that both Lucien and Elise came from privilege and wealth, and that they weren’t necessarily ‘like’ me or many of my readers. The challenge was to make them believable and to evoke compassion for them, despite their secrets and their gilded background. It was worth the struggle, though, because by the time I’d finished, I truly felt that I’d plumbed the depths of these two wonderful, loving and complex people. Neither of them was a pat, predictable character. I didn’t want to shrink them down to fit a pre-formed stereotype.

5) Last year you wrote Because You Are Mine and release it as eight parts and then compiled the parts into a single volume. And you’re doing it again with When I’m With You. Why is that?

The serial concept was the publisher’s idea. There is currently a strong demand for ebooks in the market as people lead more mobile lives and grow used to and rely on myriad forms of technology—everything from readers to their phones to their tablets. The serial was very popular once, and I think that it’s returning for several reasons—the popularity of fan fiction and the episodic release of the story, the similarity to popular weekly television shows, and the ability for readers to share the experience via the Internet and social media. The serial book controls for the element of time, encouraging readers to consume the novel at the same pace, and making it more likely for them to share and communicate about the experience. This was how people read and shared books back in the day of Dickens and Stowe, reading it and then incorporating it into their social relationships as a topical, shared focus. It’s happening again today, but interestingly, through the medium of technology and social media.

As for if Berkley (the publisher) is releasing When I’m With You in a complete format, if you have that information, I don’t. :) They did so for Because You Are Mine because the ebook/serial was so successful. Of course, I pray that happens for When I’m With You, but I have no confirmation of that.

6) Do you have any plans to continue the Lucien-Elise-Ian-Francesca universe?

Yes, the Because You Are Mine series will continue, with Ian and Francesca moving back again into center stage in Because We Belong, a novel being released next November. Readers can also anticipate a fourth novel, as of yet untitled, that will be set in the Because you Are Mine world, this one based on characters readers will have become familiar with by the time it releases.

Lightening Round Questions

•        Favorite food? 

Orange chicken…or a really good, classic spaghetti Bolognese…or—okay, that’s enough. :) 

•        Favorite drink? (alcoholic or etc.) 

Diet Pepsi with lime, Fresca, or a very full-bodied, peppery red wine.

•        Favorite guilty pleasure? 

Reeses holiday candies, like the Reeses peanut butter eggs or heart-shaped peanut butter chocolate treats, garlic hummus (guilty because it makes me wreak) and…Harry Potter books/movies (because…hey, aren’t I too old for this?)

•        Favorite kind of music?

Hard rock with heart, classic rock, the blues (I’m a true Chicago girl), jazz, certain orchestral pieces. The Brandenburg symphonies (Bach) send me into an emotional trance. I’ll stop whatever I’m doing when I hear Bach’s Brandenburg concerto number 2. They were right to send it into space on Hubble as a representation of human music. Sublime.

•         Favorite fictional boyfriend?

Classic: Cash Boudreaux from Sandra Brown’s Slow Heat in Heaven. I’m a big fan of Sandra’s classic romances, and Cash just dripped testosterone in this book. It had a big impact on me and my writing. My own heroes: Christian Lasher from Gateway to Heaven is a favorite, although…most of them are.

•         Celeb you’d like to meet? (male, female, or both)

I always wished I could have met Marilyn Monroe. I’m so fascinated by the enigma of her. Chris Cornell from Soundgarden.

•         Did you ever have a fan girl moment? (Y/N)

No, but I wanted to have one last year at the Romantic Times convention in Chicago. I’m a huge Anne Rice fan, especially of the Mayfair Witches. I really, really wanted to meet her last year at the convention, where we both were signing. But thanks to a killer, high-fever flu, I barely was able to sign for my own readers, let alone stand in her serpentine, mile-long line. :)

•         Yoga or jogging?

Yoga and walking for me. My knees have a bit of a problem with jogging nowadays.

•         Ice cream or gelato? 

Well, if I’m in Italy, gelato hands down. In fact, if it’s good gelato, always gelato. Nothing beats it for fresh, creamy perfection.

•         Cats or dogs?

I love animals in general, but if forced to choose, I’d probably say I’m more of a dog person.

Thank you so much for the interview! It was fun. -Beth Kery

Yay!! Give a round of applause for Beth Kery. As a special bonus, here's sneak peek at the cover of the next Ian and Francesca novel, Because We Belong.

And remember peeps, parts 7 of When I'm With You comes out on the 16th of April and the final part comes out on April 23rd. And if you haven't read any of Beth Kery's books, you should start with these two:

Because You Are Mine (Ian & Francesca Novel #1)

Francesca Arno has been commissioned to create a grand centerpiece painting for the lobby of Ian Noble’s new skyscraper. It’s at a cocktail party in her honor that she first meets him—and the attraction is immediate for Francesca. It’s also bewildering. She’s not used to such a wholesale sexual response to a stranger. Enigmatic, darkly intense, with a commanding presence, Ian completely unnerves her. And she likes it.
For Ian, she’s the kind of woman he can’t resist—one that comes all too rarely: a true innocent. But he can sense in her a desire to open up, to experiment, to give herself to the fantasies of a man in control. The first kiss, the first caress, the first challenge for a woman who craves what she’s never had—a man who gets what he wants.

When I'm With You (Lucien & Elise Part #1)

Restaurateur and self-exiled heir Lucien Lenault’s first look at the breathtaking young chef trainee for his trendy Chicago restaurant is a shock. She’s Elise Martin, daughter of a wealthy French fashion designer. 

She’s also the holder of a secret that could explode his carefully laid plans.
Notorious for her flagrant exhibitionism, and for flouting the respectable façade of her aristocratic background, the coquin’s wild streak shocked most people. Not Lucien. He was tempted by it. It was a deliriously punishable offense as far as Lucien was concerned. But taking on Elise is more than a game. She’s a catastrophe waiting to happen, an inferno that’s burned many a lover. Lucien isn’t most men, however, and he won’t allow her to manipulate him. In order to control the defiant beauty—in order to see her submit—he’s going to have to willingly walk in the flames…

****Giveaway Rules****

The rules of my blog clearly states that I do not do international contests, but Beth Kery has convinced me to bend the rules this once. This giveaway is open to everyone and starts on April 16th and end on May 16th. If you are picked as winner you get a paperback copy of Because You Are Mine.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author: Beth Kery!

Beth Kery is the USA Today and New York Times best selling author of Because You Are Mine and Exposed to You. She holds a doctorate in the behavioral sciences and loves observing people in all their wonderful complexity. She writes both erotic romance and contemporary romance. Learn more about Beth and her books at www.BethKery.comor join her on facebook.com/beth.kery or twitter.com/bethkery.