Lissa Reed’s Definitely, Maybe, Yours

I’m so excited to have Lissa Reed join me today. She stops by for an interview where she gives us a bit of a behind the scenes look into her first book and where it came from. You don’t want to miss it! Then you can read all about her debut novel Definitely, Maybe, Yours. Also an excerpt that makes you want to keep reading. At the very bottom, enter for a chance to win a gift card or a copy of the book.

Amanda C. Stone: Good morning Lissa! I’m so glad you could join us today. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.
Lissa Reed: Thank you for having me, hello! I’m a Southern gal and recovering Navy Brat living in Texas and trying not to die whenever the temperature ticks past the mid-90s. I work for a banking technology firm in the day and at night I write my books and fend off my two cats who would really just like me to keep them constantly in canned food, thank you very much. Definitely, Maybe, Yours is my very first novel and it’s a little love story about the one night stand that just never stopped, the night a baker with an altruistic streak met a broken-hearted loner who needed a little bit of loving kindness.
ACS: I cannot wait to read the book, it sounds fabulous. Why do you write?
LR: I feel compelled to! I mean honestly, even on days when I am not actively sitting down to write a big chunk, I’m mulling things over in my head, I’m making notes on my phone. I don’t think I can’t write – I mean to say, I don’t think I could ever not be writing. It’s what I do!
ACS: I’d say many writers have that same feeling. I hope you continue to have that urge! Which of your books was the most difficult to write?
LR: Well, this is my first one, and it was a doozy. I have, like I think many writers have, more than one half-finished draft of some other story on my computer! But this was the first one I finished, and I was on a tight-ish deadline and I have a full-time day job, so I couldn’t give in to the urge to close it all up and set it aside. I had to power through to the end. Worth it, I think! But a new experience.
ACS: Woah! I don’t think I could ever work on a super tight deadline like that. Hats off to you! Give us an insight into your main character. What does he do that is so special?
LR: Craig likes to help people, he’ll give you the shirt off his back, he’ll go face down your nasty sibling for you, if you look sad in a bar he’ll give you a cookie! He’s not entirely selfless, he’s human, but he’s got a lot to give and sees no real reason why he shouldn’t.

Alex doesn’t think he’s terribly special, but he’s sweet and loyal under his prickly exterior, and his sort of loyalty has been abused in the past. Craig sees that for what it is and honors it as the gift that it is.
ACS: Both sound like wonderful guys. I can’t wait to meet them when I read your story! How much research do you do for your books?
LR: Quite a bit! I’ve done hands-on baking for some of the treats Craig serves up, and researched others to make sure I wasn’t creating something impossible. I don’t live in Seattle, I am not a photographer, I am not English or black or a man, so there’s a lot of things to look up, a lot of things to ask people, a lot to learn. And it’s fun, a lot of the time, research. The times when you go, oh, I can’t look up one more thing, well, you have to. You have to do your best to get something right, I think.
ACS: If you ever do anymore baking for research, you’ll have to share the recipes of which ones worked. I’d love to try some of those treats! Who designs your covers?
LR: Interlude has a very special design team. My cover was designed by RJ Shepherd, who is tireless in her work and could not have handed me a better cover, honestly. I gasped when I opened it up! She found this photographer, LaToya Conward, and she is completely wonderful, she did beautiful work for my cover, including finding a fantastic model. I love the work they all did to bring this to life.
ACS: Agreed! It was a fantastic picture for the cover! Thank you again for stopping by. I loved having you!

Blurb:
Seattle-based baker Craig Oliver leads a life that is happily routine: baking cupcakes for an enormous family reunion, managing Sucre Coeur for its frequently absent owner, and closing out his day with a pint at the local pub. He has a kind heart, a knack for pastry, and a weakness for damaged people.

Habitual playboy Alex Scheff is looking to drown his sorrows, but instead discovers that he may have a weakness for Englishmen who carry cookies in their pockets. Can a seemingly incompatible pair find the recipe for love in a relationship they claim is casual?

Excerpt:
With a wink, Craig pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his left coat pocket and a carefully bagged almond and raspberry-lemon croissant, Katie’s all-time favorite baked good, out of the right. He passes them across the bar as if he’s James Bond—a very cheeky and cheery sort of 007. “You know I’ll always look out for you. Keep the change.”

Katie squeals and flops across the bar to squeeze him breathless, and her ponytail slaps him in the nose. She bounces off with her treat in hand and Craig shakes his head and pulls long black and red hairs from his face, as he does every time this happens. Katie really is his favorite bartender at The Order of the Garter, hell, his favorite bartender in Seattle and maybe even the world. Much too good to be working at a grotty little pub, fending off unsavory advances and spilled drinks four nights a week; that’s why Craig will bring her any bakery treat she wants, anytime she wants it, until she finally wises up and gets the hell out of this place.

Time for another sip of this excellent, excellent stout: Craig reaches forward. It’s a good Thursday.

Of course, that’s when it takes quite the sharp turn, leaving every Seattle-pub-Thursday Craig’s ever known in the dust.

“Well, aren’t you a hit with the ladies,” comes a surly drawl from his left, startling Craig just as he’s got his fingers around his glass. “Was that a croissant in your pocket, or were you actually happy to see her?”

“Both,” Craig replies, shifting around to lean on his elbow and survey the formerly silent pile of misery hunched over two stools down, the limp guy at the end of the bar Craig had spotted on his way in. He is not unconscious after all, much to Craig’s surprise; judging by the row of empty shot glasses upside down in front of him and the distinct aroma of tequila emanating a good four-foot radius from his person, he should be. Craig winces and turns away as the fumes burn his nose.

“Baked goods. That’s a new one. Never saw anyone use baking to hit on the ladies before.” Mr. Misery sways his head upright, pushes a wild flop of brown hair out of his eyes and swings around until he locates Craig. He blinks. “Does it work?”

Surprised by the color of the eyes meeting his—an unusual shade, gray, not blue-gray or blue, but the gray of a sky covered in early storm clouds—Craig answers without thinking. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t hit on girls. Katie’s my friend, not my type.”

About Lissa:
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her first interest in becoming a writer to the fourth grade, when her teacher gave her the gift of her first composition book. A former newspaper editor, Reed shifted her focus to romance and literary fiction early in her writing career. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and is currently working on her new novel, Certainly, Possibly, You—the sequel to Definitely, Maybe, Yours.
Connect with Lissa Reed at lissareed.com; on Tumblr at http://lissareedbooks.tumblr.com/; on Twitter @LissaReedBooks; on Goodreads at http://goodreads.com/LissaReedBooks and on Facebook at  https://www.facebook.com/authorlissareed

Buy Links:
Interlude Press: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/frontpage/products/definitely-maybe-yours-by-lissa-reed
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Nw89ne

Tour Stops:
11-Aug: Happily Ever Chapter, Jessie G. Books, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
12-Aug: Prism Book Alliance, MM Good Book Reviews, Mikky’s World of Books
13-Aug: Nephylim, Bayou Book Junkie
14-Aug: Amanda C. Stone, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Love Bytes
17-Aug: Divine Magazine, Hearts on Fire
18-Aug: Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy
19-Aug: Because Two Men Are Better Than One
20-Aug: Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies, Oh My, BFD Book Blog
21-Aug: Molly Lolly, Inked Rainbow Reads
24-Aug: My Fiction Nook, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Rainbow Gold Reviews

Giveaway:
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