Hotter than Texas by Tina Leonard -- Interview and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Tina will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops in the tour.

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I began writing contemporary romance when an agent suggested I try them—I’d started out in historicals. I love writing paranormal and romantic suspense, too. That agent’s advice turned out to be very good!

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.

Sugar Cassavechia is strong—she’s had to be! She doesn’t put up with any crap from her new landlord who’s rented her a house, which is fondly known in Pecan Creek as the Sex Shack, among other nicknames. This isn’t the dream home she and her mother, Maggie, and sister, Lucy, hoped they’d find at the end of their journey from Florida to Texas. Each room is decorated like a sex-fueled Hollywood movie set—with themes like the Best Little Whorehouse room. Sugar’s pretty sure her new landlord should have been more forthcoming about the house he was leasing to them and she’s ready to hit the road to find better digs for her family, until Jake talks her into staying. Small-town Pecan Creek is a town that thrives on sex—secretly!

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

I like to write—a lot! I write as many books as I can a year—I’m sort of a use-it-or-lose-it kind of woman!

Are you a plotter or pantser?

I’m a hybrid—I love to have an outline, but I want to let the characters do the moving and shaking! Sometimes the outline bails me out when I’ve gotten to a sticky place. I write the synopsis and then never look at it again—only if I get to a place where my characters aren’t talking to me!

Look to your right – what’s sitting there? My dad is on my right—my husband is on my left, and the Golden retriever is at our feet, as usual!

Anything new coming up from you? What?

In June look for Last of the Red-Hot Cowboys, the first of the Hell’s Outlaws series, available from Random House Loveswept!

Do you have a question for our readers?

Which kind of books do you like best—ebooks or print?

Special feature: Tina shared with us some things you'd never guess about her: You’d never guess . . . that I love to grow veggies organically!
You’d never guess . . . that I knew my husband in the first grade!
You’d never guess . . . that I once allowed the girls on my floor where I was an RA to bring two famous rock bands back to the floor—after curfew! The university was not happy! I never got to meet the guys or even see them, alas.
You’d never guess . . . I dream of owning my own line of soups!
You’d never guess . . . my happiest time is when I’m at the beach with family!

Perfection takes time, but desire waits for no man. Or woman…

Pecan Creek, Book 1

With more than one skeleton rattling in her closet, Sugar Cassavechia hopes “The Most Honest Town in Texas” will be the perfect place to start an online business. As soon as her mother remembers the family recipe that’ll get hotterthanhellnuts.com off the ground.

In the meantime, no way is Sugar letting their new landlord get away with renting them a run-down house that’s decorated like a rich widow’s orgasm. Even if he’s the biggest hunk of hot she’s ever laid eyes on.

Jake Bentley would love to do nothing but sit back and be amused as the Cassavechia women unwittingly stir up trouble in his uptight town. But something about them thaws out his frozen rescue complex. Especially Sugar’s long, chestnut hair and sassy mouth.

Right about the time Sugar figures one steamy night in Jake’s bed won’t hurt, another skeleton joins the party in the form of a dead body in the “Belle Watling” room. And Sugar must decide if her family’s reputation—and her own heart—are safe with Jake.

Product Warnings

No sex in this book. Nope. None. Nada. Honest. Now, if you believe that, the author has an iceberg in Texas to sell you. Better hurry before there’s none left to cool the fevered dreams generated by this book.

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling and award-winning author Tina Leonard has sold over 2.6 million copies of her titles. She has made the USA Today Bestseller, Waldenbooks, Bookscan, and Ingrambook lists, and has written and contracted seventy-one books and special projects. Her work has been published by Harlequin, Samhain Publishing, Robinson Scarlet, and most recently Random House Loveswept contracted for a single title trilogy project, Hell’s Outlaws. Leonard was chosen to be among the first authors published for Robinson’s Scarlet line, writing four single title novels for that imprint. Not long after, she sold on proposal to Harlequin American, where she has since written several popular series, most notably the Cowboys By The Dozen, Morgan Men, and Callahan Cowboys series. Her newest single title project, HOTTER THAN TEXAS, was published in March 2013. Leonard is known for her fun sense of humor, endearing communities, snappy dialogue, and memorable characters.

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