Straight Chatting from the Library: Lily Santana

Lily Santana has stopped by The Library to chat about books as part of her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions. She's giving away today to one of you lucky commenters a gift basket with beach related stuff - salt water taffy, sand dollars, Carina Press discount coupon postcard, etc. (US Only)and one randomly commenter during the tour will win a $25.00 gift card to Amazon. You can check out her other stops here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/09/virtual-book-tour-unexpectedly-you-by.html.

Welcome to The Library, Lily. Books are my favorite thing to talk about. What is the favorite book you remember as a child?

This answer is going to be weird because the answer you’d expect is the typical Nancy Drew or Dr. Seuss, but actually, the first book that made a significant impact on my wanting to be a novelist and tell stories that have a cool twist in the end is Sidney Sheldon’s The Other Side of Midnight which I read when I was twelve.

Tell us about your current book in 10 words.

It’s about finding the courage to live and love again.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading Kat Latham’s Knowing the Score and Samantha King’s Waiting for Ty. I am also re-reading The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.

What books do you have on hold at the library?

I don’t have any books on hold at the moment. For the longest time I was waiting for Fishing Basics: The Complete Illustrated Guide by Gene Kugach. But I guess half of Portland, Oregon is as clueless about fishing as I am. This book was perennially checked out.

Nowadays, I do most of my pleasure reading via my Kindle and purchase like crazy in the wee hours of the night when most sane people are sleeping. Can you guess that Thanksgiving’s Midnight Madness sale is my favorite shopping event?

Technically, what’s on hold in my Kindle or what I call my current TBR list includes Susan Mallery’s Three Little Words, Sandra Brown’s Slow Heat in Heaven, Stefan Bachmann’s The Peculiar, Daco’s The Libra Affair, Linda Mercury’s Dracula’s Secret, and Cindi Madsen’s Falling for her Fiancé: An Accidentally In Love Novel.

One book at a time or multiples?

I do everything in multiples (face flushes red). Seriously, I am a notorious multi-tasker. I read several books at one time. My night stand is an embarrassing mess. I also cook the same way. I have all four burners going and probably the grill too. If writing doesn’t work out, I see a future for myself as an Iron Chef.

Everything? Ahem... moving on now. After all, this is a family friendly site! :::winks::: Favorite genre?

My favorite genre is contemporary romance – both straight up romance and romantic suspense/thrillers. If I were to pick a first love to read, it would be romantic thrillers. I am always on the lookout for new voices in romantic thrillers where the author can pull off a thrilling plot combined with a deeply romantic love story. It’s incredibly difficult which is why I haven’t tried my hand at writing it. One day, right? I think the difficulty lies in finding the right balance. Suspense and thrillers can be very plot intensive and less character driven, where really good romance is always character driven. That’s my humble opinion, of course, and there are always exceptions to the rule.

Do you loan your books?

Now I’m feeling like my answer can land me in the court of law :-). But yes, as a matter of fact, I do loan out my print books. I just lent my next door neighbor two of my favorite authors: Brenda Novak’s White Heat and Jessa Slade’s Marked Soul series.

LOL... loaning print is still okay, as far as I know. What would make you not finish a book?

This is really difficult because the market is so saturated today with lots of books from traditional, large, medium, and small press, and indie. It’s the Wild Wild West of publishing. It’s invigorating and exciting and exhausting simultaneously. Therefore, the quality can go from amazing to not so amazing in the blink of an eye.

I’ll share a pet peeve. What makes me stop reading is when the author takes me away from the current story by seeming to set up future books in a series too early in the book, before I’m invested in the main characters, by introducing me willy-nilly to the hero or heroine’s nine brothers and seven sisters. (Being facetious here. :-))

Keep books or give them away?

I tend to be a keeper and have an entire wall filled with books semi organized by genre. Sometimes, I do give away books, especially if they are not in the genre I read or I’ve read the book a hundred times and reading it again would put me squarely in the ‘get a life’ category.

Thanks so much for coming by!
MEET THE AUTHOR

Lily Santana is an author of contemporary romance. Her first book, Unexpectedly You, has been released by Carina Press.

Lily is a native of the Philippines but stewed for twenty-five years in the melting pot of New York City to which she credits her respectable ability to curse in multiple foreign languages. Fortunately, she also discovered the NYC Library where she spent countless hours daydreaming of one day becoming an author.

Like many of her readers, she began reading romance as a tween when she stumbled fortuitously upon her mother's stash of Harlequins and Mills & Boon. She loves sexy alpha heroes with a sense of humor and a little bit o’ grit.

Today Lily lives in the rainy Pacific Northwest with her two adorable puppies. When she's not writing, Lily spends her time splashing into puddles, shucking oysters, and learning to eat ice cream in the rain.

Learn more at www.LilySantana.com or email her at lily@lilysantana.com. Follow her on Twitter @lilyoftheword.

READ THE BLURB

To save his flailing real estate development project Mitch McKenna knows what he must do: persuade his nemesis and neighbor Emma LeFleur to go to bat for him and convince the town that he’s a sweetheart. Easy as pie, unless you consider he’s threatened to bulldoze her home with her in it.

Buy the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Carina Press.