Tag: Louisa Bacio

Interview with Author Louisa Bacio

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | Author Interviews> Author Q&A> blog tours

My special guest today is Louisa Bacio, the author of A Date with Death. (This is a not as gruesome as it sounds! In fact, the date both does, and doesn’t, happen. To learn more, read my review. But if you like your love stories hot, sweet and bittersweet, go on A Date with Death)

Louisa was gracious enough to answer a few of my usual pointed questions. Here are her answers…

Louisa: First, Marlene, thanks so much for hosting me, and for the targeted and specific questions! I can really see the time that you put into them.

Marlene: Thanks, Louisa! Now, can you please tell the readers a bit about yourself?

Louisa: First, I love to tell stories, whether they are nonfiction that I share, or ones that I create. I also wear many hats as a wife, mother, professor, editor, freelance writer. I believe in putting everything that you have into a project with passion. And, I love animals and to cook.

Marlene: Describe a typical day of writing? Are you a planner or pantser?

Louisa: It all depends upon what I have to do that day. Today, I went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch for my 5-year-old daughter, then had to prep class, and I taught from 7 to 10 p.m. The writing time will probably come about midnight. But it’s an absolute passion. While walking to class, I was wondering about what would happen if one of my vampire characters cut his long hair. Would it grow back over night? And why? I think it’s a scene for a 2013 novella … so even when I’m not writing, I’m still creating. I’m a pantser who knows specific scenes, such as the one mention.

Marlene: What can we expect of A Date with Death?

Louisa: A good, sexy story with heart. My editor at Decadent Publishing Kate Richards really pushed me to hone my craft. My background is in journalism, so fiction uses a different skill set.

Marlene: This is your first book in the 1Night Stand series. How was it different fitting the entire HEA into a one-night encounter?

Louisa: I enjoy writing short fiction. The 1Night Stand stories average 10,000 words or so. I’ve done flash fiction, and 2,500 word stories. The key to turning one night into a HEA is the dynamics between the characters. Even though Maise and Reese in A Date with Death don’t know each other, something unites them.

I teach a class on writing a short story based on a call for submissions. One former student, V.S. Morgan wrote the majority of her m/m 1Night Stand The Gift within my January class. In her story, the characters have a history together, and then their brought back together during this night. Another friend Sabrina Sol will release her first book Reunited in November. By that title, you should be able to guess the connection, right? Those elements help make it more believable.

Marlene: Most of your books are erotic romance, whether paranormal or contemporary. What drew you to writing on the erotic edges of romance?

Louisa: Hmmm, good question, and one I probably haven’t been asked directly before. Maybe it’s because it’s what I enjoy reading. I’ve always considered myself a very sexual person, and I like showing the reality of that relationship. Life isn’t I Love Lucy twin beds. What we hope for is the lifelong passion.

Marlene: What is your favorite thing about the writing experience and why?

Louisa: There really is so much. It’s that process of creating something from nothing. Of connecting with readers, and making them feel the way books have done for me. In some aspects, it’s having a character seem real to me, and “talk” in my head. At the same time, that’s maddening.

Marlene: Where is your favorite place to write?

Louisa: Absolute favorite has to be bed, where it’s soft and comfy and my butt doesn’t fall asleep as easily! Seriously, I also love those moments when I get immediate inspiration. I’m a member of OCC/RWA, my local chapter, and there’s nothing like a great guest speaker with a prompt that makes you come away with a new scene.

Marlene: What projects do you have planned for the future? What is next on your schedule?

Louisa: Earlier this week, I turned in The Wolfe Pack, book 4 in my The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf series. Next, I plan to focus on another 1Night Stand, A Dance with Death. (Notice the trend?) I already have the story and characters plotted out. I also have a new paranormal romance series that I’m starting to pitch to publishers so keep your fingers crossed for me. It’s really good!

Marlene: Now can you tell us 3 reasons why people should read your books?

Louisa: Passionate. Sexy. Caring. I love to read, and I writing stories that I enjoy, so hopefully that comes through.

Marlene: Morning person or night owl?

Louisa: Have you seen my Twitter feed? Definitely a night owl. The problem is with two school-age kids, I also have to get them up early for school.

Louisa, thank you so much for answering all my pesky questions! And I’m very happy to know that you’ll be writing another 1Night Stand with Death, because that first “Date” went very, very well!

Review: A Date With Death by Louisa Bacio

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Format read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook
Genre: paranormal romance, erotic romance
Series: 1Night Stand
Length: 36 pages
Publisher: Decadent Publishing
Date Released: August 21, 2012
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Death sucks. It’s boring, and there’s no chance of getting laid. Stuck in the waiting room of Heaven, Maise fantasizes about all the pleasures of the flesh she didn’t get to experience. When Maise discovers a business card for the dating service, 1Night Stand, she wonders if there’s still a chance.

Reece normally wouldn’t consider being set up, but after his brother buys him a certificate, he feels obligated. A romantic night on the Southern California coast, with the full-of-life Maise leaves him wanting more.

Will a 1Night Stand be enough to overcome death?

The trick, and sometimes it is a trick, with the 1Night Stand titles is to get the couple from meeting to happily-ever-after in the course (and definitely intercourse!) of one single night.

This doesn’t mean the couple can’t have met before, and it doesn’t mean that the HEA can’t be a work in progress at the end (the best 1Night Stand stories often use one or the other) but the story takes place in one night. And the author doesn’t have a lot of pages to work with.

Louisa Bacio uses one amazingly unconventional start for a 1Night Stand.

First, throw any preconception out the window. This is a paranormal, just barely. But there are no vampires, werewolves or any other creatures of the night involved, in spite of the suggestions sparked by that title.

The story opens with the heroine, Maise, finding one of Madame Eve’s brochures for her 1Night Stand service. What’s unusual is that Maise finds it while she is waiting for her number to be called in Limbo. Literally, Limbo, as in the waiting room for death. The last thing Maise remembers is the oncoming car, the one that killed her.

Cell phone service apparently reaches to this other-worldly waiting room, but only if Maise punches Madame Eve’s number before her own number gets called. Ironic, isn’t it?

Maise figures that she might as well take one last shot at living, especially since she’s already dead. What she can’t figure out is how Madame Eve manages to rescue her from Limbo, even temporarily, or what the absolutely gorgeous and definitely very much among the living man, Reese, could possibly need a 1Night Stand for. It’s all too obvious to Maise that Reese shouldn’t need a computer dating service.

But Reese’s life has gone into a grief-stricken tailspin for reasons that he isn’t willing to reveal to Maise, and a night of passion with a beautiful woman is exactly what he needs. He wants to feel and not to think. Not to think about the brother he just lost, the one who gave him this night as a present, just before he died.

But Maise and Reese have a connection, and not just the instant-lust that they feel for each other the moment they meet. It’s that real-world connection that will be the saving of them both…if they are willing to believe in what they experience in just one night.

Escape Rating B+: The author did an amazing job with this short erotic romance. She did a deft job of mixing the bittersweet sadness that begins the story for both Reese and Maise with the hot encounter of their one night that leads to the sweet ending.

I find Madame Eve’s powers occasionally beyond belief, but the story works beautifully. My only regret is that it wasn’t longer. I’d love to know how things worked out for Maise and Reece.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

The Sunday Post AKA What’s On My (Mostly Virtual) Nightstand 10-14-12

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | The Sunday Post> Virtual Nightstand

Yesterday morning we had to do something we call “All Star Cat Wrestling.” Everybody went to the vet for their annual checkup. When there’s a human involved instead of two cats, the human usually wishes for a full suit of armor. Or dragonhide gloves.

And we’re going to have to do it again in a couple of weeks. Everybody needs their teeth cleaned. Joy! Not.

But about last week on the blog…

B+ Review: Skies of Steel (The Ether Chronicles #3) by Zoe Archer
B+ Review: Forge (Thrall Web #1) by T.K. Anthony + Interview
B+ Review: Blue Nebula (Blue Universe #2) by Diane Dooley + Interview and Giveaway!
B+ Review: Run the Risk (Love Undercover #1) by Lori Foster + Q&A and Giveaway!
B+ Review: The Second Seduction of a Lady by Miranda Neville

I must have been having a B+ week in general without realizing it. Hmmm, I wonder what that means?

This week there will be a lot of wickedness, one way or another. Which only seems fitting, since we’re closing in on Halloween!

On Monday, Ebook Review Central will be back. This week will feature the Dreamspinner Press titles from the end of summer. One last look at August, 2012, to take a look at the hits from Dreamspinner’s always long list. So far, I’ve got Tigers leading the pack. We’ll see if that holds up.

Tuesday, my first tour for Kismet Book Company is Of Blood and Bone by Courtney Cole. This first book in her new series, The Minaldi Legacy, is about dark secrets, love, death and monsters.

Thursday my book is also about love and death, but on a much lighter note (and doesn’t that sound contradictory?) But it’s a 1Night Stand title, so it’s meant to be lighter. Louisa Bacio will be here to talk about her 1Night Stand entry, A Date with Death. It’s surprisingly sweet, in spite of that rather foreboding title, as my review will tell!

On Friday I have another 1Night Stand author, Shiela Stewart, with her entry in the series, The Naughty Angel. And her angel is planning to be naughty in more ways than just the obvious. Tune in Friday to find out!

Speaking of wicked (well I was, sort of) on Saturday Reading Reality will be participating in the Wicked Romances Blog Hop. Be sure to stop by and enter the hop, AND hop on to all the participating blogs.

Doesn’t that sound simply…wicked?