Hi!
Thanks so much for coming today. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hi
Carrie Ann! Thanks so much for having me. It’s a real pleasure to be here!
Well, I’m Rosanna and I’m still a bit of a newbie at this author thing! It’s
been a whirlwind year. My first book was released in April, a second in May and
now my latest, Sweet Hell, is now available. I have a fourth book coming soon.
Between all this writing and promo (LOL), I am the mother of two sons and am
happily married. I live not far from Toronto, Canada, so I say “eh” a lot,
drink gallons of Tim Horton’s coffee (if you haven’t tried it, you must), and
think Sidney Crosby is a god!
Tell
us a bit about your book.
Sweet
Hell takes off where my first book, For the Love of a God, left off. Sweet Hell is the story of the Greek god of
wine, Dionysus. He is gorgeous, mostly idle and lives to pleasure women.
However, as we learned in the first book, he is a good friend and a fierce god
with powers. He is happily working his way through the world’s women when he
stumbles upon Josie Marino, an Italian/Canadian baker. Josie is everything he
is not: she has a good work ethic, love for family and doesn’t get much time to
spend on her looks. Upon seeing Josie for the first time, Dionysus has an
intense physical reaction to her…if only she weren’t so annoying! Sweet Hell is
the story of these unlikely lovers and how they discover their love…as well as
how they must descend to the underworld to preserve it.
Is
this part of a series?
Although
Sweet Hell continues from where For the Love of a God left off, they can be
read independently. Both books feature two different couples, so it’s not
really a series.
What
did you find the hardest part of writing it to be?
Balancing
writing time with promo time. Promo can take every waking hour one has. And I
love it too! For someone who spent many years being shy, it’s actually quite
liberating to be able to promote myself and my work. However, one must still
write! And if I don’t write for a while, I really regret it.
What
was your favorite part?
My
favorite part of Sweet Hell is near the beginning where Josie realizes Dionysus
is not just “a” Dionysus…he’s “the” Dionysus! He’s a Greek god! I love her
reactions and how she makes him prove his godliness to her. After all, Josie’s
a no-nonsense girl. She puts his powers to the test…in a way you might not
expect.
Rate
your story in terms of steaminess
My
scale would be:
1
wink= wishy-washy. Maybe you should be writing for a YA audience
2
winks= getting there. Those were some nice kisses…elaborate, please!
3
winks= ho ho! That’s the ticket! Touch me there!
4
winks= caliente! Descriptive sex involved…show some ID.
5
winks= Oh my! You wanna do what? Please don’t tell my mother about this book!
Sweet
Hell would likely come in at a 4 winks level. It’s hot, has several scenes of
descriptive sex, but I don’t get into long discussions of human anatomy. No one’s being stretched out on a rack in my
book…not that there’s anything wrong with that! Wink!
Who
is your favorite romance author?
Hmm…right
now I really love Syrie James. I haven’t read all her books yet, but I did read
Nocturne and it was beautiful and sad and poignant. I think if there’s a book I
wish I had written, that would be it.
What
is your favorite romance book or series?
Definitely
the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Diana’s a goddess in my eyes! Such
research, such knowledge and such a wonderful romance between her characters.
Although the series is not just about kissing and cuddling, there’s a good
amount in there too! And Jamie Fraser is so dishy with his tartans and long,
red hair! Yum!
Who
is your favorite romance character? If you could go on a date with that person,
what would you do? Details please! *wink*
Oh,
well, I think I gave myself away a second ago while gushing over Jamie Fraser
from Outlander. He would be the one! He’d whisk me off to his Highland castle,
lay me on his tartan before a roaring fireplace and…eat oatmeal with me! WHAT?? He’s Scottish! We’d eat oatmeal, okay?
LOL! (Well…maybe not the whole time…)
Boxers
or Briefs?
Boxers.
Fitted ones, preferably!
What
is next for you?
My
newest book The Selkie just got contracted and I’m so excited! I don’t have a
release date at the time I’m writing this but hope to soon. Look for it on the
Liquid Silver Books website. I had such a blast writing that book too. It’s
about a sexy, immortal Selkie man…mythical shapeshifters from Scotland who are
reputed for their love-making abilities!
What
were your first impressions of each other?
Dionysus:
Josie was a mess! A sexy one, though! Gods, she was covered in flour, wearing
old sweats and working so hard in her bakery, my immortal head spun. Luckily, I
could see under all that bakery sludge and noticed the fine ass under those
sweats!
Josie:
Dionysus! You never stop. (glares)
Dionysus:
(pulls her to him) You know you love it.
Josie:
(giggling) Okay, okay, I love it. Just don’t be so cocky in front of these nice
people. (she removes his hand) When I first saw Dionysus in my bakery, I pegged
him right away. A player. Always a new woman on his arm. No responsibilities in
life. And he was my most annoying customer…(she smiles over at him) Luckily, he
proved himself to be a lot more. He’s kind and protective and sexy (she bites
her bottom lip while gazing at him)…sorry, what was I saying?
What
are your favorite parts about each other?
Dionysus:
Oh, that’s easy! Her boobs! No, her ass. (looks her up and down, one eyebrow
cocked) Hang on, maybe her cat eyes…no, it’s gotta be that sexy, little belly.
(grins) Of course, if we’re talking about heading south….
Josie:
No heading south here, buster! (she grins over at him) It is hard to choose,
though. I could pick his rock-hard abs or his long, dark waves. Maybe his
knowing, brown eyes….nope, it’s gotta be his penis. It’s huge.
Dionysus:
Josie! You shock me…good girl. I like that.
What’s
next for you?
Dionysus:
Babies, and lots of them. When we escaped from Hades, I promised Josie I’d give
her the family she always wanted. I can’t wait to be a dad. And I told her I’d
enjoy giving her every last one.
Josie:
(blushes and smiles) Yup.
***Giveaway Info***
Rosanna is giving away a copy of Sweet Hell to a person who comments. Be sure to leave your email to be entered.
BLURB/EXCERPT FOR SWEET HELL
Dionysus,
Greek god of wine and theater, is the world’s original playboy. But lately, he
has been restless, moody, and he knows something is wrong. His carefree and
bacchanal lifestyle is starting to feel like one long string of meaningless,
sexual escapades. Even worse, he is suddenly aroused by the idea of marriage.
And to top it all off, Josie Marino, the mouthy, disheveled, and eternally
annoying woman who serves him coffee at the local bakery, sets him on fire.
Josie,
a Toronto baker of Italian heritage, is not looking for love or lust.
Especially not with Dionysus Iros, the most aggravating, demanding customer
she'd ever had to serve. With his rippling muscles and sexy, knowing eyes, he's
obviously trouble with a capital T. Unfortunately, he's also the star of her
every X-rated dream. She’s known players like Dionysus before, and one of them
almost got the better of her. Josie determines she will not fall for his
considerable physical charms, come hell or high water.
But
Dionysus turns strangely protective when a sinister character arrives at
Josie's bakery, and they can no longer deny their unwanted feelings for one
another. They are forced to embark on a bizarre, sexually-charged journey to
hell itself, which threatens to either change them for the better, or destroy
them.
Excerpt:
There
were usually two men Josie Marino had contact with at the ungodly hour of five
in the morning. Not good contact. Certainly not sweaty, chest-heaving, “take
me, take me” contact. And definitely not contact with Petter, the Norwegian
male model who lived next door.
Nah.
That would have been too perfect, wouldn’t it?
Instead,
most mornings, Josie had to settle for haggling with her two least favorite men
on the planet. Nelson Tate, the deliveryman from her most important supplier.
And Dionysus Iros. Worst. Customer. Ever.
Because
of the business, she just had to put up with Nelson. He’d been delivering dry
goods to her family bakery for years. Had known her parents, schmoozed with her
brothers, and basically enjoyed making life hell for her. Not that he was a
vicious sort. He was just far too handsy for her liking.
In
the case of Dionysus, he was just an early bird and a womanizer. And couldn’t
function without the coffee she brewed first thing in the morning. Invariably,
he was already waiting for her when she got to the bakery each day.
Oh,
joy of joys.
Not
that he was a horrible person either. He just intimidated her with his
unearthly good looks. Men like him, not that most men came close to looking
like him, rattled her. They were best kept at a distance.
Dionysus
was so bloody perfect; Josie wanted to shake him to see if she could muss his
seemingly unmussable hair. Most days, though, she just contented herself with a
lot of grumbling in his presence. He unnerved her, with his sexy brown eyes and
long, dark waves of hair any woman would die for. To say nothing of his body…
No, it was best not to say anything about that smoking body at all. She
couldn’t help hating him, just a little. No man should look so divine at dawn,
when she felt about as put together as a cavewoman.
To
makes things worse, the man acted as if he were a Greek god. His parents, in a
tragic case of bad judgment, had even named him after one. It was no wonder he
was so obnoxious.
On
this morning, too, he was waiting at the door when she got there. Looking as if
he’d just tumbled off the cover of GQ, and the birds weren’t even up yet. At
least today he didn’t have a sleepy bimbo on his arm, like he often did.
“Mr.
Iros,” Josie drawled, yawning, as she unlatched the bakery door. “You’re losing
your touch. I haven’t seen you with a woman in, what, forty-eight hours?” She
pushed ahead of him into the bakery, catching the scent of wine on him.
God,
how much did the man drink? She was sure he dabbed a little bit of the stuff
behind his ears, and splashed it on his face instead of aftershave.
On
any other man, the strange cologne would have been a red flag. An indication he
drank more than coffee in the morning. But on this man, it just smelled
delicious. As if the scent were his pheromone, oozing out of every pore,
inviting her to mate with him. In very dirty ways.
He
chuckled, low and deep, and sauntered in after her as if he owned the place.
Within seconds, he was seated at his usual spot at Josie’s counter. “Just be a
good girl and fetch my coffee.” He lowered his shades and peered at her through
sensuous dark eyes that should have been bloodshot at that time of the morning,
but weren’t. “And don’t forget. Make it a tall, half-skinny, half-one percent,
extra hot, two shots decaf, two shots regular latte with whip. And exactly…”
“I
know, I know,” she interrupted. “One hundred fifty degrees. Has it ever been
anything less, Your Highness?” She pasted on her sweetest of smiles and turned
to prepare the elixir of the gods. She heard him huff as he flipped open the
day’s newspaper.
“No
need to call me that, Josie. ‘My Lord’ or ‘He From Whom All Good Things Come’
will do just fine.”
She
reached for the one percent milk, and contemplated tossing in some heavy,
artery-clogging cream just to soften up some of his sculpted muscles. A man
with that kind of body had to be on some sort of special diet. With that brawny
physique he must spend hours a day at the gym and ingest copious amounts of
protein powders.
She
snuck a peek at the bulges rippling under his sleeves, turning her head sharply
when he grinned.
It
was one thing to look like God’s gift to women. It was another thing to act
like it.
