Interview with Author Tiffany Snow and Giveaway

Welcome author Tiffany Snow to RFTC. Tiffany is here promoting her newest release, Turn On a Dime and has stopped by to answer some questions. Please give her a warm welcome.

Tiffany is an IT Manager by day and an author at night and any other time she can find to write. Two daughters, a husband and a dog that’s only still alive after chewing so much furniture because he’s so cute keep her very busy.

Tiffany graduated from the University of Missouri – Columbia in 1995 with degrees in History and Social Studies Education and married in December of 1997. While wanting to go to law school, the expense was just too great so she decided to go into the IT field. A self-taught network specialist, she was very fortunate to have been mentored by another amazing woman in the IT field and achieved her Microsoft Certified System Engineer certification in 1999. Tiffany worked as a Technical Instructor for a while before staying home for a year with her newborn daughter. Tiffany went back to work in 2001 as an IT Consultant and stayed at the same business for ten years before recently leaving for an IT Manager position.

Reading and entertaining are two of her favorite hobbies and Tiffany reads all different types of books – History, Science-Fiction, Political Thrillers and Romance are her favorite genres. Murder-mystery dinners are one of her favorite parties to throw where she can polish her skills in the kitchen while having fun with friends.

Tiffany and her family make their home in Kansas City, Missouri, not far from where she was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri.

Places to find Tiffany:

| Site | Blog | Facebook | Twitter |

First off, can you tell us a bit about you?
Hmm. Well, I’m shy when first meeting new people, but a complete extrovert with friends and need social interaction (none of that author-hermit stuff for me). I’m forced to be an extrovert when I’m with my husband at events related to his work because he’s well-known. I enjoy a cocktail (or two) at the end of the workday and am known for sneaking an adult beverage into the movie theater (because Ryan Gosling goes great with a margarita, and a martini helps ease the pain of enduring something like the third Matrix movie). My current iPod playlist will always have at least one Bon Jovi tune, probably more, and the best cookies ever are those ones you get on the plane that you dip into coffee (I found you can buy them in bulk on Amazon. Score!).

Did you always want to be a writer?
Nope. I went to school to be a lawyer, getting a History degree and a Social Studies Education degree. Then I decided I really didn’t want to pay for law school and “touching the future” seemed unhygienic, so I went into the Information Technology field. I programmed in Visual Basic for a couple of years, then moved into systems and networking. I was a Systems Engineer for about a dozen years when I started my first novel – NO TURNING BACK. I was as surprised as the next person when I not only finished it, but it found an audience. And much like the title, once I started writing, I couldn’t go back. I love it.

What kind of writer are you? Panster or Plotter?
Definitely a pantser. I know ahead of time what emotions I want my characters to experience and I work the plot to that outcome, not the other way around.

Where do your ideas come from?
Emotions, really. I love getting tied up in characters and their lives. I read because I want to be entertained and experience the wonderful emotion of falling in love, of meeting your soul mate, enduring the pain of heartbreak and the joy of reconciliation. I write so I hope my readers can experience those same things in my books.

A la Twitter style, can you describe your book (or series) in 140 characters or less.
Two men turn a girl’s world upside down. Brothers who’d die for each other face the ultimate test of loyalty: their love for the same woman.

What are some of your favorite kinds of stories to read?
I don’t read my genre, Romantic Suspense, but usually favor urban fantasy, paranormal, or Regency romances. I also like legal and political thrillers, and the occasional sci-fi.

Do you have a favorite book and if so what is it?
The books I’ve read and reread are Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, both by Jane Austen of course. I adore A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss, the author who first made me fall in love with modern day romances (and my heroine’s namesake). The most recent favorite of mine would have to be Dead Until Dark, the first in the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Charlaine Harris made me fall in love with first-person point-of-view and the first four books in her series are ones I’ve read over and over.

What are the scenes that are the hardest for you to write?
Action and sex scenes are by far the hardest (Ha! Pun!). Action scenes because you have to describe things in such a way that the reader’s not confused and can picture it, without getting too bogged down in details that slow down the scene. Sex scenes because each one is different – what emotions are going on? What are they feeling and how best is that expressed? Word choice affects the mood and tenor of sex scenes and I’ve spent an entire ten hours in one sitting working to just get a particular sex scene perfect.

If you could have dinner with any three authors, who would you choose and why?
J.K. Rowling, of course, and do I need to explain why for that one? Lol Book 7 of the Harry Potter series is a masterpiece, imo. Nora Roberts, just to see how she manages to be so prolific without being repetitive. And Janet Evanovich to discuss love triangles. ;-)

Last question, are you working on anything right now?
I’m writing the fifth and final book in The Kathleen Turner Series, POINT OF NO RETURN. It will be released in May of 2014.


If YOU could have dinner with a character from a favorite book, who would it be?

Blane Kirk is a Navy SEAL turned high-powered attorney with old money and an even older pedigree. Yes, he plays the field, changing women as often as he changes his ties, but they’re not complaining. He has only two rules – 1) Don’t date employees and 2) Don’t get emotionally involved. Those rules have served him well. He sees no reason to change his ways, until his Runner, an employee in his law firm named Kathleen Turner, does an unexpected face plant in his lap.

Kathleen’s too young, too innocent, and suddenly much too vulnerable when her friend is murdered and Blane knows she could be next. Keeping her alive means keeping her close, but can Blane keep her safe...from him? Kathleen’s like no woman he’s ever met, and protecting her could be the one thing he never expected that would make his life turn on a dime.

TURN ON A DIME – BLANE’S TURN is a companion novel to NO TURNING BACK, Book One in The Kathleen Turner Series.

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle |

It was a matter of minutes before Blane was pulling into Kathleen’s parking lot. He’d used the Jag’s speed to his advantage, the streets deserted at this time of night. He grabbed his gun from the glove box, checking the clip to make sure it was loaded, then shoved it the back of his pants. Its comforting weight against the small of his back eased Blane’s peace of mind. He hated having to go unarmed.

He knocked on Kathleen’s door, waiting impatiently for her to answer. His skin was practically twitching at the idea that she wasn’t safe. It was with relief that he saw the door open and she stood there, unhurt.

Kathleen didn’t say anything, just stepped back so Blane could enter. He could tell at once she was in shock. Her face was stark white, her eyes barely seeming to focus on anything.

Blane took her arm and led her to the battered couch, sitting next to her and taking her hands in his. They were freezing and fine tremors shook her, though she seemed wholly unaware of it.

“Your hands are like ice, Kathleen,” Blane said. “Tell me what happened.” He gently rubbed her hands, trying to ground her before she recounted her tale. Blane had lost count of the times he’d done this with family members and friends of victims of a violent crime. Their reactions were almost always the same. Shock, horror, fear, grief.

She looked up, her eyes wide. Haltingly, she spoke.

“I was asleep. Something woke me. I heard arguing. I thought it was Sheila and her boyfriend, Mark. Then it stopped.

“I couldn’t go back to sleep. I was worried about her. So I got up and went over to her place.”

Tears started slipping down her cheeks, tracks that spilled from eyes made even more brilliant blue from the saline. She wasn’t sobbing or making any noise at all as she told him what happened. She just cried. It was like a punch to Blane’s gut, and he was forcefully reminded of the supposed power of a woman’s tears over the opposite gender. He’d always thought himself immune.

Guess not.

“The door was open, so I went in,” she continued. “And she was in her bed. And blood was everywhere—” She couldn’t continue. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to take her in his arms while she cried on his shoulder, her small form shaking with the force of her grief.

Blane held her closer than appropriate, but couldn’t seem to help himself, running his hands up and down her back and cursing himself six ways from Sunday for enjoying holding her a little too much for a situation such as this. He justified it by reminding himself that she was alone. She needed him.

He liked that. A lot.

When her sobs had died down, he asked, “You went into the apartment by yourself?”

She nodded, her body still clinging to his.

“Did you see anyone?”

“No.”

Blane’s eyes slipped shut in dismay and the next question was said more curtly than he intended. “So the person who did this could have still been there when you walked in?”

Kathleen didn’t answer, but a violent shiver ran through her and Blane instinctively tightened his hold.

Had this been some random thing? Was it a matter of luck, of the capricious whim of fate that the killer had chosen the door on his right rather than the one on his left? Had Blane nearly lost Kathleen tonight, before she’d ever been his to lose?

The thought had him pulling back. The need to make sure she was safe, that no one lurked nearby waiting to hurt her, was riding him hard.

“I’m going to check things out,” he said, unable to resist the compulsion to act.

“No,” she said, grabbing a fistful of his jacket. “They might still be out there!” Her eyes were wide with panic.

Ouch. It might take a while for his ego to cope with that direct hit.

“It’s all right,” Blane said, removing his Glock. Her eyes widened at the sight of the weapon.

“Why do you have a gun?” she asked.

Her naiveté was kind of sweet, refreshing. Blane had seen too much of the world to have any illusions left as to the people he sometimes defended. “Have you met our clients? Don’t worry. I know how to use it.”

The obvious doubt on her face was another blow to his pride. What, did she think he was some pansy-ass that needed protecting rather than being the one who provided the protection? He was definitely losing his edge.

“But… how?” she asked.

He was starting to get seriously offended. “Military,” he replied curtly. Enough of this conversation. They were wasting time. He stood. “Stay here,” he ordered.

Check out the Kathleen Turner Series:

Click for info.

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 lucky person will win an eBook copy of No Turning Back + Turn On a Dime

To Enter: 

• Please answer the question: If YOU could have dinner with a character from a favorite book, who would it be?
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck! 

Special thanks to Tiffany Snow and Author's Tap for sponsoring this giveaway.

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