Interview with Author Terry Spear and Giveaway

Meet author Terry Spear, author of Jaguar Heart.

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal romance novels and medieval Highland historical romances. In 2008 Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry also creates award-winning teddy bears that have found homes all over the world. She lives in Crawford, Texas. For more information, please visit www.TerrySpear.com, follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear, and like her on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/terry.spear.

Places to find Terry:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter |

First off, can you tell us a bit about you?
I'm a multi-tasker extraordinaire. Somehow I had the idea that I would have all kinds of free time to attend three readers' conferences and one writers' conference this year after I retired early from my library position. But with four releases this year, four next year, writing the books, editing the books, promoting the books, and doing everything else that must be done…I've decided that I am now a multi-tasker extraordinaire. For two weeks this summer, I even was helping my daughter and son-in-law housebreak their brand new Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy while they were at work. Note to self: It's really, really, really hard to write, edit, promote, refill my tea mug, AND entertain and housebreak a puppy, all at the same time. I sort of slipped on my multi-tasker extraordinaire title there for a bit.

Did you always want to be a writer?
I've always been a writer. About twenty years ago, I wanted to be a published author. But I've been creating stories since I was a kid. My girlfriend remembers those days of me making up fun and spooky stories on Halloween night after dressing in long used ballroom gowns and trick-or-treating as fairy princesses—of course—then handing out candy later. I think everyone had nightmares when we tried to sleep that night.

What kind of writer are you? Panster or Plotter?
Total pantser. The characters evolve for me as the plot thickens. I never know what they're going to do until they're faced with the situation and then, aha! They do it. One of my favorite scenes in Jaguar Fever is when Wade and his brother return from hunting as jaguars in the jungle, and David slips and one of his feet lands in the toilet as he's coming through the bathroom window. I didn't plan it. It just…happened. His response was that the toilet had moved on him. Haven't you ever had that happen? Walk into something that you swore wasn't right there the last time you were paying attention?

Where do your ideas come from?
Places I've visited, news stories prompted three different stories, research, a book gives me an entirely different idea, a picture sometimes. Sometimes my editor has a fun idea and I'm off and running.

A la Twitter style, can you describe your book (or series) in 140 characters or less.
Hot sexy jaguar shifters looking for big kitty cat loving.

What are some of your favorite kinds of stories to read?
I love historical romance. I was browsing covers recently and if they have a hot man and a beautiful woman on the cover, doesn't matter the time or place, I'm intrigued.

Do you have a favorite book and if so what is it?
It might sound silly, but it's children's fairytales. They gave me my love of happily ever after. The prince rescuing the princess and the two being together forever more. Also, my first shapeshifter story, though based on a curse, and the shapeshifter was a polar bear. I loved Jack London's Call of the Wild and White Fang, which laid the groundwork for treating the werewolves as real wolves, and I loved the adventure in The Last of the Mohicans and Kidnapped. I was also a big reader of ghost stories and mythologies and fairytales across the world. All of these that I read in my formative years helped me to create the fantastical world I "see" today.

What are the scenes that are the hardest for you to write?
I don't have any particular scene that is hard to write, but sometimes I am trying to find the right scene for the opening or the end, or something that makes a scene more compelling. Then, it seems "harder," in that I have to work more at it. Some scenes just gel. The biggest challenge for me is to make each story different from all the others. This maybe only the second book in the jaguar series, but I'm working on the fourteenth book in the wolf series, and just finished the third book in the jaguar series. So that's seventeen books so far. It's fun coming up with unique meetings, resolutions, plots and love scenes, but it makes it harder also.

If you could have dinner with any three authors, who would you choose and why?
Sara Humphreys, Carolyn Brown, and Brooklyn Ann. They're just fun. But that doesn't include all the tons of authors I love, so I feel I'm cheating them all out of a dinner with us.

Last question, are you working on anything right now?
Absolutely and Always. Right now I'm working on A Hero of a Highland Wolf, and then I'm scheduled to write Mistletoe, Mayhem and the Highland Wolf by the end of the year. After that, I have another fun SEAL wolf story—bachelor auction this time. And the fourth in the jaguar series—what happens when a rough and tough jaguar enforcement agent gets saddled with two jaguar cubs while on a mission in the jungle? Totally fun. And serious. And romantic. Really.


If you were stranded with a hot jaguar shifter what would you want to happen?

She's being pursued by everyone, in more ways than one.

Even in an exotic world of humans, jaguars, and tantalizing creatures who shift between the two, Maya Anderson stands out from the crowd. Interest from human suitors is bad enough, but when male shifters give chase, the real trouble starts.

Who's the hunter and who's the prey?

Investigating the black marketing trade of exotic animals keeps Wade Patterson more than busy. When he and Maya both get entangled in a steamy jungle mission, it becomes impossible to tell who is being hunted or who the hunters are. Wade is desperate to survive this deadly game of cat and mouse. But it's Maya's piercing eyes that keep him awake at night.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |

Check out the Heart of the Jaguar series:

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Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 copy of Savage Hunger

To Enter: 

• Please answer the question: If you were stranded with a hot jaguar shifter what would you want to happen?
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