Patricia Rice {#Author Interview + #Giveaway}

Today we have romance author Patricia Rice with us here at The Book Faery Reviews. She’s promoting her 49th novel, The Lure of Song and Magic which is a continuation of her Magic series. If you read all the way through to the end, you’ll find out details on how to win a copy for yourself from me.

So let’s get to the interview as I’m sure you’ll find her as much of a delight as I did.

The Book Faery Reviews: Hi Pat! Thank you for stopping by The Book Faery Reviews!

Now let’s pretend we’re in a NC coffee shop and someone out of the blue interrupts my coffee break with you (of course inside my head I’m jealous someone’s taking up my time with you…haha) asks you what you did for a living. After you mention you are an author who’ve they’ve never heard of, he asks what you write about and what you recently wrote about. How would you describe The Lure of Song and Magic to someone who’s never heard of your magic series or any of your previous novels?

Patricia Rice: Thank you so much for inviting me to visit! You have a very impressive website.

Lifting my “I’m not cynical, I’m just experienced” coffee mug and admiring the ambiance…  If that’s a “he” who is rudely interrupting us, I’ll simply tell him I write romance, and he’ll wander off and not bother us again unless he’s selling something!  But for someone genuinely interested in the romance genre—I’d tell them The Lure of Song and Magic is a contemporary romance with a hint of mystical magic from a siren’s seductive, and sometimes destructive, song.

TBFR: Without giving away too much, what was your favorite scene from the book?

PR: For angry gut punch—an early scene where Oz knocks aside all Pippa’s defenses, and she comes up fighting and nearly takes him out. For humor, when Pippa sets loose all the town’s wannabe TV stars, catching Oz in the midst of a three-ring circus of dancing grannies, lassoes, and singing cowboys.

TBFR: Last year I read Merely Magic and enjoyed it. Felt there was a nice even balance between the magic, romance, and history. Not too much of one element over the other. I hope to get a copy of book 2 and 3 of the historical Magic series to read more about the Malcolms and the Ives. The Lure of Song and Magic is the contemporary continuation of the series. Which era did you prefer writing in for the Malcolms and Ives? The historical or the contemporary? The concentrated details within the story are obviously going to be very different, but I wonder if it is harder to write within a time you didn’t exist in and experience or is it easier to pretend you were there in the past while you wrote? I will say that when I read Merely Magic, I felt as if I was actually there in that time with those people and the families in the woods. It was fabulous. I’d probably have to be in character for some time to be able to write something from the past so others could feel the realism of the time.

PR:  Thank you! That’s the finest compliment an author can receive. I’ve been writing historicals for years, and there’s just something very familiar to Georgian England so that I feel right at home. Of course, I’m not, and I had to do considerable research on many details. But the same can be said of contemporary California. While I’m familiar with the area I’m writing about, the details had to be researched and portrayed in such a way that a reader anywhere can understand the world I’ve created. That goes doubly so when dealing with the supernatural—the world has to be rock solid so the reader can believe the impossible.

The beauty of writing, though, is that an author can write and revise scenes long after the first draft is complete. That’s when those truly delicious tidbits materialize.

TBFR: I read you were a former CPA. Actually, my day job has me in the marketing department of an old non-profit organization for CPAs and I have to say that I’m surprised with all that creativity. Doesn’t exactly fit the CPA “profile” and I’m sure I’m not the first to say so. What made you change careers that are practically opposites? You sound like you’ve learned how to tap both sides of the brain well at the same time. What’s your secret?

PR: I’ve always been able to work from both sides of my brain. Had I been rich enough, I would have also earned a degree in psychology because I’m fascinated with how the brain works. (I test highest in aptitude for science!) I’ve always written stories and always kept accounting records—tracking where my meager pennies went in grade school. As time went on, it was far easier to find bookkeeping jobs than make money at writing. But I sold my first book the same week I started my first accounting job. Hard work is the only “secret” I know.

TBFR: There are some people that are in the closet when it comes to reading and writing romance novels. Myself, I’m a huge fan and definitely loud about it (just ask the people who interviewed me! haha). My friend who shares the love is quite the opposite when it comes to public display. She won’t let people see a romance cover if she’s reading one and she’d definitely never mention it if she was asked what her current read was. Makes me cringe when she tears the beautiful covers off if she’s commuting with her book and told her that she should just get an eReader if she didn’t want people to see what she was really reading. She thinks people look at reading romance novels as silly reading and it’s nothing but porn for women. (Personally, I get more out of them than a cheap tease but that’s just me. I can usually find SOMETHING else beyond just steamy scenes even though they’re definitely fun to read.) Do you think the rise in eReader sales will increase the sale of romance novels in e-format for that same reason my friend had? And when you decided you wanted to write romance novels, were you open and loud about it or where you in the closet and trying to keep it quiet until you knew you were loved by many fans?

PR: I respect every reader’s choice of reading material and how they choose to talk about it. I think it’s much more fun to openly and honestly discuss the books I’m reading. That’s how I learn about new authors. I had to tell my Southern Baptist deacon bosses what I wrote because I didn’t want them caught off guard. After that, everyone was curious and I’ve probably introduced a lot of new readers to the genre. But readers who don’t wish to tell everyone that they’re sentimental or enjoy reading about people falling in love or who maybe think they ought to be reading more intellectual material are entitled to their fears or beliefs. I don’t know how many people in this day and age of profanity and violence on TV still believe love is something to hide, but e-readers are perfect for those who do. And just to be clear—I think violence is way beyond more harmful than sex. We don’t hear about people dying from making love, do we?

TBFR: As a published author, are you involved in any of the marketing and promotions of your books? And if so, what method of marketing and promoting would you say to be the most effective in helping you sell your books?

PR: I may have many interests and abilities, but marketing is not one of them. I keep wishing for a marketing godmother to wave her magic wand. Instead, I let my publisher’s more experienced publicist do her thing, and I hire people to do bookmarks and websites and all those things. That still leaves me to write the blogs and do the social media, but I treat those like the old book tours, a way to talk with my readers. So, please, stop by and talk books because I’m truly lousy at promoting them! As for what works best—word of mouth, always.

TBFR: Other than the marketing and promoting of books, any advice when it comes to the writing process that you wish you had known when you first started writing?

PR: I wish I’d known that writing wasn’t a job where if I worked hard enough, I’d be promoted. Or a cozy little career where I could sit in my room and scribble all day. There are days when I think running a restaurant might be easier, except I can wear slippers while I work.

TBFR: Growing up in your tween-teen years, who was your favorite author and/or book series?

PR: I read as eclectically then as now. I loved the Betty Cavanna teen romances, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury…

TBFR: Good authors that I too read growing up! And last but not least, what’s one question you’ve been dying to answer but have never been asked before?

PR: Where do you get those fabulous slippers? Thank you, I knit them myself.

I’d rather ask readers…Do you use Facebook to follow authors? I recently crashed mine and had to start all over (http://www.facebook.com/OfficialPatriciaRice) and I’m wondering if it’s worth the effort.

TBFR: Well, thank you again for visiting us here at The Book Faery Reviews. Hope to have you back again in the future. Happy writing to you!

PR: It’s been a pleasure and hope to visit again soon!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…With five million books in print and New York Times and USA Today’s bestseller lists under her belt, Patricia Rice’s emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances have won RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards and have been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories. A former CPA, Patricia Rice currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information, please visit http://www.patriciarice.com/ or follow her on Twitter, @Patricia_Rice.

 

THE LURE OF SONG AND MAGIC BY PATRICIA RICE
IN STORES JANUARY 2012 

Her voice was a curse… 

When Dylan “Oz” Oswin’s son is kidnapped, the high-powered producer will do anything to get him back. Desperately following an anonymous tip, he seeks help from a former child singing sensation called Syrene, only to find she’s vowed never to sing again. Immune to her voice but not her charm, Oz is convinced she holds the key to his son’s disappearance—and he’ll stop at nothing to make her break her vow.

Only he can make her sing…
She knows the devastation her talent can bring. There’s more than a child’s life at stake, but Syrene cannot unleash her dangerous siren’s voice upon the world, even for a man who is impossible to deny…

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca (January 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402255748
• ISBN-13: 978-1402255748

BUY THE BOOK… Amazon | Barnes & Noble

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…Thanks to Sourcebooks, we’re giving away TWO copies of The Lure of Song and Magic by Patricia Rice to a randomly selected commenter of this post. This giveaway will run now through 11:59pm Friday, February 3rd and is open to those with US/Canadian mailing addresses (no PO Boxes).