Good morning. It’s Meet and Greet Monday!

With us today is Romance Author, Taryn Kincaid.

Welcome, Taryn!

Describe a typical day in the life of Taryn.
My life is one of such non-stop excitement, everyone I know is totes jelly. Of course, the only peeps I know reside on Facebook. But every second of every day, I am dodging bullets or some such thing. I barely have time to breathe or use the facilities. By the way, where is your rest room?

You’re from New York…what is your favorite place to visit regularly?
I frequently drive over the Brooklyn Bridge. (I could probably sell it to you.) The ride from Manhattan to Brooklyn is nothing special. Usually because I am late and they are doing construction. But I have to say the ride back from Brooklyn to Manhattan, especially on a sunny day, is stunning. Statue of Liberty to your left, East River to your right and towers of Manhattan looming above all. Some of the architecture is amazing. In the sun, everything glitters. No lie.

What is your favorite scent?
Coffee. And bacon.

What is your favorite part of summer?
All of it. It is the season that makes me the happiest. I love Daylight Savings Time. I get all sorts of gloomy when we have to turn the clocks back and it starts getting dark so early. And I know this is a horrible thing to admit, but sometimes I have to wish for a non-sunny weekend or no writing gets done. (I pretty much only write on weekends.)

Have you read any books that have made you cry?
Most of them. I am a total soft touch when it comes to that. I cry at cheesy commercials.

Have you ever thrown a book you’ve been reading against the wall because you couldn’t finish it?
That is not the smartest thing to do with a Kindle. Back in the day, I rarely didn’t finish a book I’d started. Ulysses is one that comes to mind. I’d try to soldier on to the end. Now, my time is too valuable. If I’m reading something that doesn’t grab me and entrance me and suck me in, I’m done. There are quite a few I DNF.

Who is your celebrity crush?
I just had a marathon viewing of Season 1 of Ray Donovan. So, at this moment, I’d have to say Liev Schrieber. Tasty!

If you were given an all-expense paid, five day/night trip to anywhere, where would you go?
How to choose? So many places I’d love to see. I recently got to scratch New Orleans off my bucket list. I’d been wanting to go there for years and years and years. So glad I had the chance and I’d go back in a hot flash. I’d love to see Bora Bora, Hawaii, Australia, the coast of Spain, Portugal. In the U.S., I guess my new bucket list cities are San Francisco, San Antonio, San Diego. (You sense a theme here? I guess I like it hot.)

What three words best describe you?
Judgmental. Funny.

What is your favorite movie from the 80s?
Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Do you have a bucket list? If so, how many items are on it? Have you been able to cross many items off the list?
Not really about things I want to do, so much as places I want to see. (See above.) I can pretty much live my life totally contented if I never jump out of a plane.

What was the worst summer job you had in your teens?
I worked for the Department of Motor Vehicles one summer. My job was to place a check mark in a lined notebook when people came in to make their appointment for their written driver’s license test. BOR-ING! No one there was under 50, or so it seemed to 16-year-old me. I would walk over to a nearby park for lunch and scribble. Wrote my 1^st novel — a rock and roll opus — that year.

Who are some of your favorite authors?
Currently, I’ll have to go with J.R.Ward. I love the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and even her Fallen Angel series. And Nalini Singh. Jennifer Ashley’s MacKenzie series. Oh, there are many who are must reads for me.

If you had the chance to meet one author – past or present – who would it be?
Well, I was very happy to meet the effervescent Kacey Hammell in May!

***Gasp, awwww. Thank you sweetie. I LOVED meeting you too.***

Who/What are you currently reading?
I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I am reading Game of Thrones. I’m about halfway through the first book.

Tell us about your “big break” in the publishing world. Was there any one person believe in your work first (besides yourself of course)? What did you do to celebrate your first contract?
Yeah, I’m still waiting for that.
When I belonged to RWA, and my local chapter, Hudson Valley RWA, my little group was very supportive. I don’t belong to RWA anymore and I kind of miss having the support group and the ready CP partners.
I’m not sure I have a contract celebration tradition, but I have a release day tradition: I always take the day off from the day job. The weird thing is, often the book releases early, a day or two before the “official” release date, so I miss it anyway!

No matter the story, where do you always draw inspiration from when you begin each story?
The characters.

What is your one pet peeve about the writing business?
Promotion.

What do you think is your greatest strength as a writer?
Metaphors and similes.

What do you think is your greatest weakness as a writer?
Metaphors and similes.

Taryn’s blog post:
So…I was an English major as an undergrad. Read lots of “literature.” Read no romance. Until one summer I was in Jamaica and my beach friend left open one of those old school historicals, the sort that really was a “bodice ripper,” even though that phrase now makes us all cringe. The book had the word “Savage” in the title and it was open to a place in the middle and she was off romping in the waves. I picked it up and began to read and read and read. From the middle to the end. Totally hooked, from that moment forward. I think I may have stolen it from her to go back to the beginning. So my first romances were historicals. Regencies, my delight. Tried my hand at one of those. It ended up over 700 pages long, with a kiss that went on for 25 pages. Lots of head hopping. I hope I know better now. But the bare bones of that story became HEALING HEARTS, my Regency novella (and first contracted book) for Carina Press. And then…somewhere along the line, I discovered paranormals. Whole new worlds opened up for me. Worlds I could even create myself! And my SLEEPY HOLLOW series was born.

The latest release is IN FROM THE COLD. It’s short. It’s HOT. It’s a 1Night Stand for Decadent Publishing. And it’s tons of fun.

BLURB:

Spook Raines is a burnt-out spy who doesn’t know he’s a fire demon with a twin in Sleepy Hollow.

Geneviève Mortimer is a will o’ the wisp who hunts demons to ease the pain of her troubled past.

When Madame Eve brings them together for a torrid 1Night Stand, will they be able to come in from the cold at last?

EXCERPT:
Geneviève Mortimer crept down the quiet hotel hallway, careful to bank her glow…at least for the moment. She’d sensed the presence of a demon on the floor, but something seemed off about the male’s aura. A weird lack of evil, like an impenetrable force field surrounded his consciousness, his psyche. As if he thought he were…human.

Had he been brainwashed? Drugged? Raised by gypsies? By wolves? Wait. No. Scratch that last one. She didn’t get the were vibe at all with this one.

No matter, as a will o’the wisp and a POLO, Protector of the Legion of Shadows, tasked with watching over humankind and keeping the unwary safe from visitors from the demon realms to the human plane, she lured the black-souled to their demise. Going all shine-a-light and sparkly until the evil ones fell under her spell and followed her anywhere. She needed to find this guy. Pounce first, beam a little hypnotic wattage, ask questions later. Take him out before he did any harm. To humans, or innocents like her parents.
She sniffed. Getting warmer. Closer to the demon’s room. What would she find behind his door?

Ignoring the do not disturb sign, she jiggled the handle. Locked. But the absence of a key card wouldn’t be a problem for her, not with her brand of talent and the magick lock picks in her pocket. She got the door open in seconds and slinked into the room, masking her radiance, keeping to the shadows.

Holy shit. The scent of male arousal filled the air. Delicious, decadent, sublime. Total man candy, like nothing she’d ever smelled before. Calling to her sweet tooth. Her horny core. So intense, an ache blossomed between her legs. She closed her eyes and inhaled. Whoa. She could orgasm from the erotic scent of the guy alone. Was the dude going through breedspawn? Were all the rumors she’d heard of the full-on crazy, demon male mating phase more than myth? She’d sure never encountered anything as powerfully sexy as this.

Cripes. This sort of thing never happened to her. I’m a demon hunter, damn it. She remained professional always, despite her ditzy, scatterbrained reputation. Did her job. And did it well. She’d fooled even her closest friends, those who didn’t know about her role as a POLOS and didn’t guess the half of it. Those who thought she slut-flitted around the world searching for mischief, adventure and, most of all, pleasure, like some sort of fickle, commitment-shy, well, yeah sure, okay, will o’the wisp.

Amazon US | Amazon Canada

Find Taryn at:

Website: http://tarynkincaid.com

Blog: http://dreamvoyagers.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tarynkincaid1

                 http://www.facebook.com/TarynKincaidAuthorPage

Twitter: @tarynkincaid   https://twitter.com/TarynKincaid

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4414704.Taryn_Kincaid

 Email: taryn@tarynkincaid.com

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