Guest Post with Author Ivy Sinclair and Giveaway

Author Ivy Sinclair is celebrating the recent release of her book, Bittersweet Junction and has stopped by to chat. Please give her a warm welcome.

Ivy Sinclair cut her romance teeth on classics like Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, An Affair to Remember, and Sabrina. She is a firm believer in true love, a happily ever after ending, and the medicinal use of chocolate to cure any ailment of the heart. Ivy's guilty pleasures include sushi, endless Starbucks lattes, and wine. Readers of Ivy's stories can expect smoldering sweet stories of romance that tug at the heartstrings.

Places to find Ivy:

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It's a fairly common view that if you are a writer, you are likely an avid reader as well. I'm no exception, but I didn't start out that way. I don't remember my mother reading me stories as a small child (although I'm sure she did). I liked being outside playing imaginary games with my imaginary friends. I didn't like being stuck in the house.

What I do remember is starting kindergarten and suddenly feeling very inadequate in my reading group. You see, there was a boy in my reading group who had his hand up every time the teacher asked a question. His knowledge extended well beyond the ABCs. It seemed he knew every word that the teacher asked us about and many more.

I was green with envy.

Reading for fun had never crossed my mind. But my competitive spirit kicked in and I decided that I needed to up my reading game- stat! I spent the entire next summer reading everything I could get my hands on. My favorite place to go was the library, and thankfully my grandmother obliged to help me with my new obsession.

By the time first grade rolled around, I was a lean, mean, reading machine. I was confident in my newfound reading abilities. This time, I was the one with my hand up every time the teacher asked the class a question. I saw the jealousy on my classmates' faces as word after word fell in my wake. I knew them all.

Or so I thought.

As so frequently happens when we start feeling smug and overconfident, fate intervened to put me back in my place. This time, a word appeared in front of me on the vocabulary list, and I had no idea what it was. Of course, the teacher called on me to read that particular word aloud.

I stammered and I stumbled. My ego deflated and I sunk down in my chair. The teacher corrected me and then moved on, but I remember feeling like I was back in kindergarten again.

The word in question?

FIG.

That's right. My confidence was shattered over that simple word.

Luckily, the habits that I established that summer between kindergarten and first grade were firmly entrenched by this point. I discovered that I loved to read. And after the “FIG” incident, I set out with a goal of learning new, exotic words (at least exotic to me) and cramming them all into my head. I was going through oodles of books in no time.

Some of my favorite stories from early elementary school included the Boxcar Children series, the Little House on the Prairie series, and the Babysitter Club series. I devoured them all.

I graduated to Stephen King by the time I hit fifth grade and uncovered a love of paranormal horror stories that has stayed with me twenty-five years later. I also discovered Barbara Cartland on the bookshelves at my grandmother's house. Horror and romance became my yin and yang, both as a reader and as a writer.

I've got two sons now who, although they like to read, find computer time and video games topping the list of their preferred extracurricular activities. Perhaps I just need to inspire their competitive streaks to get their attention, because I firmly believe that the worlds we create in our minds topple any pixeled image on a screen.

To encourage someone to read, sometimes you just have to find the right motivation.

Best friends once, lovers never, yet an attraction that can’t be ignored.

Five years ago, Julia Bell walked away from her life the moment her high school diploma was in her hand. She left her family and friends behind to start over and escape the chokehold of small town life in Benton Hill. But an urgent call from her little sister brings Julia back to her hometown wholly unprepared for what awaits her.

Ben Miller was always the nice guy. Just before high school graduation, he stepped out of that role hoping to capture the heart of the woman he loved. Instead, in quick succession he lost the girl, and the future he worked so hard to achieve.

Even though Julia and Ben are drawn to each other, echoes of the past block them at every turn. Secrets are exposed, and reality needs to be dealt with if they can ever hope to move past the bittersweet junction that ripped them apart.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble |

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 lucky person will win an eBook copy of Bittersweet Junction

To Enter: 

• Please leave a comment for Ivy.
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck! 

Special thanks to Ivy Sinclair for sponsoring this giveaway.

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