Get Lost With Julie Kenner!

Folks, please help me welcome Julie Kenner

back to our little home on the web!

 ABOUT JULIE

 
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julie Kenner (aka J. Kenner and J.K. Beck) has published over forty novels, novellas and short stories in a variety of genres.  Praised by Publishers Weekly as an author with a “flair for dialogue and eccentric characterizations,” J.K.  is also a two-time RITA finalist, the winner of Romantic Times‘ Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Contemporary Paranormal of 2001, the winner of the Reviewers International Organization’s award for best romantic suspense of 2004 and best paranormal of 2005, and the winner of the National Readers’ Choice Award for best mainstream book of 2005. She writes a range of stories including sexy and quirky romances, young adult novels, chick lit suspense and paranormal mommy lit. Her foray into the latter, Carpe Demon: Adventures of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom by Julie Kenner, is in development as a feature film with 1492 Pictures. Her current book, Release Me by J. Kenner, is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and has sold to over a dozen territories/sub-rights. Julie lives in Central Texas, with her husband, two daughters, and several cats.

THE STORY BLURB

For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey and Bared to You comes an erotic, emotionally charged romance between a powerful man who’s never heard “no” and a fiery woman who says “yes” on her own terms.
 

He was the one man I couldn’t avoid. And the one man I couldn’t resist.

Damien Stark could have his way with any woman. He was sexy, confident, and commanding: Anything he wanted, he got. And what he wanted was me.

Our attraction was unmistakable, almost beyond control, but as much as I ached to be his, I feared the pressures of his demands. Submitting to Damien meant I had to bare the darkest truth about my past—and risk breaking us apart.

But Damien was haunted, too. And as our passion came to obsess us both, his secrets threatened to destroy him—and us—forever.

Release Me is an erotic romance intended for mature audiences.

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXCERPT OF RELEASE ME

 

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JULIE?????

Contact:  juliekenner@gmail.com

Website: http://www.juliekenner.com 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jkennerbooks 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/juliekenner
 

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/jkenner

Blog: http://www.juliekenner.com/blog

And now for the Q & A...

ALEXA: Who's your favorite villain?

JULIE: Oh, what a great question. I’m going to go with Hans Gruber from Die Hard. On the one hand, I just love Alan Rickman, but it’s more than that. I like that he’s smart, because if the villain isn’t clever there’s lessto admire about the hero.  So your hero can best a doofas; big deal.  But if your hero bests a villain who is brilliant—possibly even more brilliant than the hero?  Well, that not only says a lot about your hero, but it makes for some truly kickass drama.

ALEXA: Is there a Blooper in your story (it may have been changed before printing)?

JULIE: Nothing major. I’m just finishing up Claim Me right now, and I was halfway through before I realized I was writing a minor character with a name that I’d changed in Release Me before turning it in.  But that hardly counts as the poor guy didn’t even get enough screen time to qualify for his SAG card J

 

A fan ran across a blooper in one of my Demon Hunting Soccer Mom books after the book.  A character who was dead appeared in scene as was having coffee with Kate.  Obviously, I meant another character, whose name begins with the same letter.  But no one—not me, not my critique partners, not my editor, not the copyeditor, not the proofreader—caught the error.  Fortunately, it only appears in the trade paperback edition!  It was fixed before the mass market version came out and it’s not in the digital release!

 ALEXA: Be honest, when reading...do you put yourself in the heroines role?
JULIE: Hmmm.  I don’t know how many of the folks reading this interview have read Release Me, but let’s just say that, honestly, why wouldn’t I put myself in Nikki’s shoes? Ah, Damien …

 

ALEXA: What is your favorite tradition from your childhood that you would love to pass on or did pass on to your children?

JULIE: You know, I don’t really have any traditions from childhood.  I was an only child raised by a single mom, and I can’t remember any daily or holiday traditions, probably in part because I never seemed to spend the holidays in the same place, what with traveling to see my dad on alternating holidays.

About the closest we had to a tradition was eating nachos on Christmas Eve, but even that wasn’t as regular as a tradition should be.  And though I’ve tried it with my kids, only one of my girls actually likes nachos! (Oh, the horror!)

But we do have a fun meal and watch a movie on Christmas Eve.  And when they lose a tooth, I leave very elaborate note from toothfairies in training.  Mostly, we just have a lot of fun together as a family!

 

ALEXA: Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

JULIE: Sometimes.

I don’t tend to read reviews on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, because although I am so incredibly appreciative of readers who leave reviews (it really is important for helping make a book “discoverable,” so thank you to everyone who takes the time!), checking reviews and numbers and the like ultimately is like running on a hamster wheel—it doesn’t get you anywhere.  Much better to be writing that next book!

But when I have a situation like Release Me where a number of galleys were provided to allow for early reads, then yes, I did read the reviews because I used quotes from the early reviews to promote the book pre-release.

Which is the long way of saying: Sometimes I read them.  Do they influence my writing?  Not in the way I think you mean, as in, a review isn’t going to change the way I write a character or the way I have a plot planned out.  But if I run across several reviews all saying that they would love X’s story, then I will certainly consider doing X’s story if I hadn’t already planned to.  Or maybe let X star in a novella.  That kind of thing.

 ALEXA: What dreams have been realized as a result of your writing?
JULIE: I’m cheating a tiny bit on this answer because we would have done it even without the income from writing, but I was able to use the option money from a film deal to pay for the airfare, hotel, and other expenses associated with traveling to China to adopt my youngest daughter and then pay for her cleft palate repair surgery.  So I guess the dream of adopting a second child and starting her surgical treatment without ending up with credit card debt was realized!

ALEXA: What's your favorite kid joke?
JULIE: knock knock – who’s there?
banana – banana who?

knock knock – who’s there?

banana – banana who?

knock knock – who’s there?

banana – banana who?

knock knock – whose there?

orange – orange who?

Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

ALEXA: Which era would you least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? Most?

JULIE: The 1940s or 1950s.  I love the women’s clothes from back then.  Flared skirts, tight waists.  And hats! I love hats!

 ALEXA: Got a question you'd like to ask your fans?

JULIE: What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

ALEXA: Folks, Julie is offering a $15 gift card from Amazon, B&N or iTunes for one lucky commenter, so get busy answering! 

 

ALEXA: Well, Julie, I'm going to let you get back to work. Thanks for visiting with us today!

JULIE: Thanks so much for having me!!