ASKING TAWNY

SEX, LIES AND VALENTINES

Harlequin Blaze

ISBN-10: 0373796706

Con artist Gabriel Black just got busted. By a babe. Drool-worthy (and clearly sneaky) FBI agent Danita Cruz is forcing Gabriel to choose between hard time and scamming his own family for an undercover sting. Now he has to present Danita to his family as his girlfriend.

And it’s the perfect opportunity to get wickedly even with her….

But Danita has some tricks of her own, and Gabriel’s control begins slipping away as raw sexual energy takes over. Their sham relationship starts feeling a lot like…well, the real deal. The Big Question is, will overwhelming desire be enough to make a liar go legit?

Lie with me…

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SEX, LIES AND MIDNIGHT

Harlequin Blaze

Available January, 2012

ISBN-10: 0373796641

He’s lying. She’s lying. And before long, they’re lying.

Together. In bed…

Born into a con artist family, Maya Black abandoned the grifting life to live on the straight and narrow (and somewhat dull) years ago. But when her family is threatened—and the swindlers are on the verge of becoming the swindled— Maya swings into action. All she needs is a stand-in boyfriend, and the charming, tasty-as-sin Simon Barton will do quite nicely, thanks.

But Simon has a little lie of his own. He’s FBI, and Maya is his inside track to her less-savory relations. It’s a mutual using, which quickly turns into a scorching mutual attraction. In fact, their naughty little sexcapades are the only thing they aren’t faking!

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SEX, LIES AND MISLETOE

Harlequin Blaze

Available December, 2011

ISBN: 0373796609

Undercover DEA agent Caleb Black is home for the holidays—possibly to bust his own father. But maybe Caleb's con-man dad isn't the one running drugs through the small town of Black Oak. Maybe it's the green-eyed goddess who runs the New Age shop and has Caleb under her sultry spell.

Pandora Easton saved the family store with two words: sex sells. And her delectable aphrodisiacs really work, as she's proven with notorious bad boy Caleb again and again and again.

Little does she guess that, in the end, her most potent potion will be the truth….

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BLOWING KISSES TO TAWNY

Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy stories for Harlequin Blaze since her first book hit the shelves in 2007.When not obsessing over deadlines, she’s shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking or hanging out on Facebook and Twitter. Come by and visit her on the web. 

Tawny launched her Undercover Ops series with SEX, LIES AND MISTLETOE in December, followed by SEX, LIES & MIDNIGHT in January, and SEX, LIES & VALENTINES is on shelves this month. Join the Reader Love-Fest and be sure to follow Tawny on her Holiday Survival Tour as she celebrates these three books with contests, giveaways and lots of fun.

 

IT’S THE READER’S TURN FOR A QUESTION

A BIG THANKS to all the readers who submitted a question. Today’s winner of the three book set is Debbie (chosen by assigning each question a number and using Random.Org to generate a number).

GILLIAN: I know you are a participant on the Healthy Writer's blog. How do you keep moving when you need to be in the chair writing? 
TAWNY: I love Healthy Writer. There is always something new I learn there.  Actually, for me the balance of moving and writing works really well, and has ever since I figured out that I could just ignore ‘the rules’.  I struggled with exercise when I had to do it in the morning, because I hate mornings and would get physically ill exercising on an empty or almost empty stomach.  And afternoons were often hijacked by my kids’ commitments.  But once I embraced exercising in the evening – usually around 8pm, it all clicked.  The late evening workouts fuel my writing sessions, which tend to start around 10pm.  I do have to remind myself to get up every hour or so and move, though.  That’s still a challenge. 

JANE: I love the premise of basing a series on a family of con artists. How did you come up with the idea?

TAWNY:   Hi Jane J  I loved the premise, too.  The idea started with the 2^nd book, actually.  I wanted a heroine who’d distanced herself from her family, and a family that justified her pulling a fast one on them.  Since I have a soft spot for bad boys, and loved the idea of a ‘bad family’ (but not crossing the line bad, you know?) con men came to mind.  It sort of evolved from there J  I started with just the one story idea, but once I’d come up with Tobias, the family patriarch, there simply had to be more siblings.  He required it! 

DEBBIE: How did the idea of this current series come to you? All at once? One first, and then the others from that?

TAWNY:  Hi Debbie J As I mentioned to Jane, it started with just Maya’s story.  I knew she’d be in some uptight job, and had originally thought the hero would be investigating her father for insurance fraud.  But once I started mulling and getting to know Tobias, the father, that seemed much too tame.  I loved the idea of doing a series based on reformed criminals, but it was a little too out there, so at my editor’s suggestion, I shifted the focus to the FBI.  I’d really like to create an ongoing series based on these stories, where Hunter, that hottie FBI agent, leads his own It Takes A Thief task force. 

LISA: Most of them have been writing for so long, there’s always a great story about their first publication. How did you react when you found out your first story would be published?

TAWNY:  Oooh, I love call stories *g*  Here’s mine.  In April, 2006 I attended the Desert Dreams conference, where I had a chance to talk to the editor who had my partial under consideration. She wanted the full asap, and I’d told her I’d have it to here before the end of the month.  I also mentioned that I probably wouldn’t be attending conference that year unless I sold a book.  I did send her the full manuscript within a week of the conference, but didn’t figure I’d hear for quite a few months.  4 weeks later – on Memorial Day, the phone rang just before 9am.  Because it was a holiday, my husband was there and answered because I was fast asleep *g* He shook me awake with the demand that I hurry and get up so I could take this call from Harlequin.  The first think the editor said to me was ‘Pack your bags, you’re going to conference.”  It was surreal.  In part because I was barely awake.  I know I made notes and had an semi-intelligent conversation with her, but to this day I can’t remember it.  Then when I went to scream my news to the world, well, the world was on holiday and I couldn’t reach anyone by phone.  And posting news like that before telling the besties is a really bad idea *g* so I had to wait.  Between that wait to reach anyone and the mostly-asleep Call, I ended up paranoid by the end of the day that I’d imagined the whole thing.  I wouldn’t announce it until I called the editor the next day to make sure it was real. 

TAMMY: My question is for Maya - What was the best part and worst part of growing up with two brothers and no sisters?

MAYA:  The best?  Before I left home, I’d have said that the best was that they made wonderful bodyguards.  That was the worst, too.  They are both overprotective, macho know-it-alls who thought they can boss me around because I was the youngest.  But they’d taught me at a young age how to take care of myself, so I just used their own techniques back on them.  You know, to make sure they knew better than to mess with me.  But now, finally having them back in my life after 8 years, I’d say the best is just being with people who know you inside and out, and who love you.  The worst, believe it or not, is that they are still trying to boss me around.  Can you believe it?!

DEBBIE: Tawny, you've had quite a streak of books come out in the past couple years, with the "Sex, Lies & ..." series coming out in 3 consecutive months. How do you keep the fun of writing up and still maintain energy reserves?

TAWNY:   I have energy reserves?  Do you know how I can get to them?  *g* I have been blessed with a wonderful streak and, fingers crossed, hope it keeps up.  I love writing, and especially love writing for Blaze.  So that’s a big part of what keeps me going and makes it all fun.  Also, I see it as a career, which means that the writing, the promotion, the nitty gritty of it are all aspects of the job.  And if I’m going to succeed, I have to do the job.  But I have had to cut back in areas in order to juggle it all.  I don’t do as many RWA chapter meetings anymore, and my social life has taken a definite hit.  I’m not sure what 8 hours of consecutive sleep would feel like, and my daughters’ mental image of my is with my hands on a keyboard.  I try to stay aware of that and bring in balance.  I exercise at least 5 days a week, I eat really healthy and drink copious amounts of iced tea. 

DEBBIE: I noticed you have a playlist for the Mistletoe book in this series on your website--did that help you write the whole series or was it just for that book? Do you tend to make playlists for each book? Do they come to you as you're writing or do they help you develop your characters beforehand?

TAWNY:   I create the playlist as I’m working on the partial of a book.  As I develop the characters, get a feel for the tone and energy of the story, I add songs to the list until it feels about right.  Then I listen to it each time I sit down to write.  For the Sex & Lies series, I created a base playlist, but each book had a couple of other songs unique to that story.  Not much, just one or two, because writing these three back to back and revising one as I was working on the next, it made it feel more like writing one very long book instead of 3 shorter ones.    
 
ANGI: Can you remember your first Valentine’s Day card or beau?
TAWNY:  Oh wow.  Hmm, actually I can’t.  I can remember the first Valentine’s gift my now-husband gave me, though.  The card was one of those oversized ones, vivid red with a big heart on it.  But it wasn’t nearly as big as the mylar heart balloon that came with it. He also gave me 2 dozen red roses and irises.  I still have the deflated balloon somewhere J 

DEBBIE: How is it working with hot, smart guys every day?

TAWNY:   You know, there are better jobs out there I’m sure, but I can’t think of a single one *g*  And the best part of working with (on, for) these hot, smart guys?  They do what I tell them!!! 

GILLIAN: Tawny, I know you love to remodel. What's been your favorite project? What's your dream project? 

TAWNY: My favorite project was the kitchen remodel we did in our last house.  It was a labor of love, and a great learning experience.  I’d never laid tile until that project :-D   I’m dying to have a go at our new kitchen, but know it’s going to cost a bundle so I keep holding off.  And every time I have to walk all the way around the long peninsula counter to get a plate from the cabinets on the other side, I think redoing this kitchen would be my dream project *g*    But, really, the landscaping is on my mind right now.  Probably because it’s winter, but I can’t wait to tear up the existing landscape (think boring, blah, bland) and create an oasis of color and serenity.  Then, of course, I want to redo the kitchen LOL

ANGI’S GOTTA ASK:  Getting us ready for Book #3 in the Undercover Operatives Series: Sex, Lies, and Valentines…  What is your favorite of all time Valentine present?

TAWNY’S GOTTA ANSWER:  I do love Valentine’s Day!  The romance, the sweetness, the sometimes over-the-top fun of it.  My husband is a sweetie who always remembers and brings me a box of Sees, flowers and a card.  But I think I’d have to say my all-time absolute favorite Valentine’s gift is a necklace my daughters gave me.  It’s two amethyst hearts, one for each of them, and I love it. 
FIND TAWNY:   EMAIL     Website     Facebook      Twitter      Blaze Authors Blog      Romance Bandits     Healthy Writer      Previous GLIAS guest appearances 

Tawny will be giving away a copy of SEX, LIES & Valentines to a blog commenter.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

UP NEXT:  WILD THING in A Blazing Bedtime Story, June 2012

THE PANTY THIEF CAPER, December 2012

READERS DON’T FORGET to follow us on Facebook & Twitter (#GetLostStories) for a daily update on who’s visiting GLIAS and what they might be giving away! Join us next week for the debut of our own HEATHER SNOW and SWEET ENEMY. Tomorrow, Simone’s up with Cindy Kirk and Donnell’s back on Friday with Barbara White Daille. AND WHAT’S COMING from 7 romance writers for Valentine’s Day? Check back for lots of goodies.  ~Angi

TODAY'S FAN QUESTION FROM TAWNY: What is your idea of the Perfect Valentine’s Date?