Blog
06
Jun
2014

Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock’s Another Man’s Treasure

Posted in: Blog Tour

Happy Friday everyone! Like most other Fridays we’re throwing the rules (the very few that there are) out the window again. Today I have the immense super fangirl pleasure to have Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock on my blog today for an interview. But how does that change the rules you say? I’m so glad you asked. I won’t be interviewing them today. They are interviewing me! After the interview you can read all about their new release Another Man’s Treasure. At the very bottom is a giveaway for a free e-copy of the book and an Amazon gift card.

Hi! We’re Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock, authors of Another Man’s Treasure. We’re touring the web talking about our influences, our crazy ideas, this new book, and even giving you a sneak peek or two! And of course there’s a giveaway involved! Check out the bottom of this post to see how you can win.
Thanks so much to our host blogs for having us, and to everyone following the tour. Here’s today’s look at Another Man’s Treasure.
Today we’re incredibly excited to be here on Amanda’s blog, interviewing Amanda! This isn’t usually how blog interviews work, obviously, but Amanda was one of our beta readers and we totally wanted to put her in the hot seat and ask all the uncomfortable questions we were too afraid to ask when she was reading our book.

Lisa: I’ll start! Amanda, how much do you love us? * awkward silence* *crickets* I’ll rephrase that.
Amanda: WAIT! No fair. I was still getting my coffee. Heaven knows that I don’t function well without my morning caffeine! Ok, I’m really ready this time. And for the record I’ve read almost everything that both of y’all have written, both separately and together.
Lisa: Amanda, thanks so much for beta reading Another Man’s Treasure. We warned you at the start that it was dark. Was it what you were expecting?
Amanda: Since I’ve had some experience reading both of y’alls work before, and not just the happy stuff either, I knew I was in for some great darkness. When you explained that it was a non-romance, I at first was curious if you were going to have no chance of a happy ending at all. Like kill everyone off type of “no happy ending”. But as I read it I got more into the story I loved how Illia, Nick, and Patrick all worked together to create something that’s beautiful in it’s horribleness.
J.A.: What is the allure, for you, of reading “dark” stories? Is there something enjoyable/sexy about violence itself, or does the thrill come more from the tension violence provides and the choices it forces characters to make? Or something else entirely?
Amanda: It’s funny because when I read for pleasure I require a happy ever after in 98% of the books I read. There are times when I just need a story that is dark and violent and has sharp edges to it. But I’ve been very lucky so far in the books I’ve chosen for those times because all of them have had some kind of beauty in the dark relationships. I know that I’m entirely too naive in my thinking. However I truly believe that there is always something good that comes out of the bad. I’m always looking for that silver lining even if it’s so small you can barely see it.
Lisa: Is it difficult to be a beta reader? I mean, do you ever get worried that you’re really going to hate something, and then have to think of a way to say that without the author going mental? Oh god, is that what you did with us?
Amanda: I thoroughly enjoy being a beta reader. I feel my style is a little different than other beta readers, though I don’t actually know that for a fact. But shhh! We’re not going to burst my happy bubble there! Truly though, like when reading dark stories, I always look for something good in the story. I’ve never read anything that was SO BAD that there wasn’t anything redeemable about it. I like to comment on the parts I enjoy, where I laugh, or if there’s something that strikes my interest. If all I’m doing is giving the negatives for an author, then they won’t know when they got it right too. There’s only been one time that I had to try super hard to find good things about the story and it definitely wasn’t Another Man’s Treasure.
J.A.: Does being a beta change the way you read books that you’re not beta-ing? Like, can you just take a published book for what it is, or is your brain constantly interrupting to say things like, “I would have told the author to cut this scene”?
Amanda: It’s so hard to turn it off! So many times I want to mark when I’m reading “That was an amazing scene!” or “I think you meant to use XXX word here”. There are some authors that I have to work really hard to stay in the story because my red pen just itches to get used.
Lisa: You are also a speed reader. Because J.A. and I are the most disorganised people on the planet, we hadn’t lined up any beta readers at all. It was a lot like this blog tour actually. And, like this blog tour, you came riding in to rescue us. Thank you again! And back to the actual question — you read this incredibly quickly and your feedback was fantastic. Do you sit down with a specific set of criteria when you beta read, or do you just wing it?
Amanda: Oh wow. *blushes* Thanks y’all! That’s actually one of the reasons I beta read. I love being able to help authors take their words and show them how someone else thinks of them. When I started beta reading for authors I tried to have a turn around time of three days maximum. There’s only been one time that I haven’t been able to meet that goal. Even in that instance I still found some things that the other beta readers didn’t so it was still helpful to the author. Back to your actual question I beta read all of the books I get the same way. I do two reads since I tend to read for the story at first and forget I’m supposed to be looking for stuff. So I read once, mark whatever I see, then do a detailed look.
J.A.: Seriously, thank you for dealing with our disorganization and getting back to us so fast. Okay, this is a question I asked Lisa in an interview that I now want to ask everybody: If you were in the mob, what would your mobster nickname be?
Amanda: Ooooh! That could be all kinds of fun. I think I’d have a really cool name like “Big Momma” or “Lucky Amanda Lefty”.
Lisa: Final question! Corset piercings. Hot as all hell, or omigod, what were they thinking?
Amanda: Corset piercings are hot as hell! I’m not sure I’d ever be able to get one myself. However I am designing a full back tattoo so I couldn’t get both.
Thank you so much for interviewing me. Was so much fun!

Blurb:
Ilia Porter is Chechen mob boss Mikhail Kadyrov’s greatest treasure. After leaving home at eighteen to escape his verbally abusive father, beautiful, selfish Ilia has lived with Mikhail, proud of his ability to bring such a powerful man to his knees to worship. But when Ilia’s father, a police captain, kills Mikhail in a raid, Ilia’s world falls apart.

Entering to pick up the pieces is Mikhail’s younger brother, Nick—impulsive, power-hungry, and dangerous. When Nick tells Ilia he’s taking everything that belonged to Mikhail—including Ilia—Ilia is too lost in grief to fight. Nick takes Ilia prisoner in the apartment Ilia once shared with Mikhail and grooms him for a very important mission: to kill Ilia’s father and avenge Mikhail’s death.

Ilia wants no part in the plot, but being Nick’s ally is preferable to being Nick’s victim, so he begins to warp himself into the monster Nick wants him to be. Hope arrives when Nick takes another captive: Patrick, a shy massage therapist who’s stronger than he seems. Patrick and Ilia must join forces to escape Nick—and to keep each other whole as Nick does everything in his power to break them.

About Lisa and J.A.:
Lisa Henry lives in tropical North Queensland, Australia. She doesn’t know why, because she hates the heat, but suspects she’s too lazy to move. She spends half her time slaving away as a government minion, and the other half plotting her escape.

She attended university at sixteen, not because she was a child prodigy or anything, but because of a mix-up between international school systems early in life. She studied History and English, neither of them very thoroughly.

She shares her house with too many cats, a dog, a green tree frog that swims in the toilet, and as many possums as can break in every night. This is not how she imagined life as a grown-up.

You can visit Lisa at her website, at Goodreads, or on Facebook or Twitter.

J.A. Rock has worked as a dog groomer, knife seller, haunted house zombie, standardized patient, cashier, census taker, state fair quilt hanger, and, for one less-than-magical evening, a server—and would much rather be writing about those jobs than doing them. J.A. lives mostly in West Virginia, and always with a beloved dog, Professor Anne.
Website: www.jarockauthor.com
Blog: http://jarockauthor.blogspot.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jarockauthor
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ja.rock.39

Buy Links:
Smashwords e-book: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/441597
Amazon e-book: http://www.amazon.com/Another-Mans-Treasure-J-A-Rock-ebook/dp/B00KOZYCY6/
CreateSpace Print: https://www.createspace.com/4800503
Amazon Print: http://www.amazon.com/Another-Mans-Treasure-Lisa-Henry/dp/1499511507/

Giveaway:
Thanks for following our tour! To celebrate our release, we’re giving away an ebook of Another Man’s Treasure, and a $20 gift voucher from Amazon. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post with a way for us to contact you, be it your email, your twitter, or a link to your Facebook or Goodreads account. Please put your email in the body of the comment, not just in email section of the comment form, because we won’t be able to see it otherwise! On June 10, we’ll draw a winner from all eligible comments! Be sure to follow the whole tour, because the more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win this awesome prize!

5 Comments

  1. Lisa says:

    Enjoyed the interview! Interesting to find out how the process of being a beta reader works. Thanks for the giveaway!

    lkbherring64(at)gmail(dot)com

  2. Jessica says:

    Really liked this book even though it was a hard read emotionally. I cried a lot. Can’t wait for more related to this story cause there has to me more. 🙂

  3. J.A. Rock says:

    Thanks for letting us interview you, Amanda, and again for beta-ing! I enjoyed your answers. And thanks for stopping by, Lisa. You’re in the drawing. 🙂

  4. H.B. says:

    Great interview. You guys are so amusing.

    humhumbum AT yahoo DOT com

  5. BlackAsphodel says:

    Those mobster names are cool. I wouldn’t be able to come up with one for myself.

    blackasphodel(at)yahoo(dot)com

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