Keep: An interview with Karyn Lawrence + #giveaway

Billionaire CEO Shawn Dunn has plenty of sex, power, and money. A woman turning down his advances? Unfathomable. Yet that’s what she does, again and again.

Kara Hayward is supposed to be off limits. Her sister is hiding from the dangerous assassin she escaped from, and it’s best for everyone if Shawn keeps his distance. Certainly as far as Kara is concerned. Shawn’s only after one thing and then he’ll walk away, just like her ex-husband.

But Shawn has larger desires and he’s used to getting what he wants. He doesn’t care if being together is dangerous. He doesn’t believe that threat to him, or his empire, is real. Right up to the night he has everything taken away.

An excerpt from Keep

This man moved with an elegance that was off-putting, as if everything was calculated, and then the gun disappeared into his suit coat.

“Does that make you feel safer?” he asked.

“No. It doesn’t.”

He gave her a pleasant smile. “Why do you think that is?”

Maybe she could stall him. Maybe the police weren’t far behind and any moment they’d burst through the door.

“I’m not naïve,” she said, for her benefit more than his. “Plus I know what kind of man you are.”

“Really?” He looked, for lack of a better word, delighted. “What kind of man am I?”

“You’ll do anything to get what you want.”

“How do you know that?” His tone mocked her.

“I used to be married to a man like you.”

He gave her a look, his pure eyes shinning, one that said he highly doubted Paul was anything like him. That he was so, so much worse than her ex-husband.

“We’re going to have fun together, you and me.”

A chill ran down her spine.

An interview with Karyn Lawrence


How long have you been writing romance, and what inspired you to get into this genre?

I haven’t been writing romance novels for very long – I started in early 2013. However, I wrote screenplays for fifteen years, and those always had an element of romance, either romantic thrillers or romantic comedies.

What gave you the idea for your latest book?

I threw in a tag at the end of my debut novel, Stay, where the hero’s brother meets the heroine’s sister, and sparks fly. It was just meant to be a cute closing scene, but hot damn… those two had crazy chemistry together. I couldn’t leave them hanging!

Who are some of your favorite writers or other literary inspirations?

Anne Stuart (especially her Ice series) is an auto-buy for me. I love Cristin Harber and Julie James as well.

Describe your typical writing routine. Where do you usually write? How many words/pages per day? Do you keep set hours? What does your workspace look like?

I write on my lunch break in my office during the workday and usually get 400-500 words if I’m not interrupted. My office is usually a mess with newspapers stacked everywhere, crazy calendars and dry-erase boards – which are all day-job related since I work in the newspaper business. I do always have a stack of my paperbacks on my side desk, though. At night I write in bed on my laptop. I typically start at 9 PM and write until 11 PM, averaging 1,000 words.

Do you have any favorite foods or beverages that help keep your creativity flowing?

I have Diet Coke in my veins. I drink way, way too much of it. I told my coworkers if they ever saw me drinking something else, that person was an imposter.

Do you have any writing superstitions or rituals when starting (or ending) a new book?

I won’t start a new book until I have all of the major scenes outlined in my head, plus a general concept for the ending. (Because endings are hard!!)

What do you think makes for a good erotic/romance story?

I love when the hero and heroine don’t like each other at the beginning, or have a major obstacle in their way. You can’t have sparks without friction. And for me, the hottest love scenes are always when I care about the characters and believe they are real. If there’s no plot and the characters are one-dimensional, that’s just porn.

What’s your favorite euphemism for genitalia?

I don’t know if I have a favorite. I can tell you that I strongly dislike the medically correct terms and prefer mainstream slang. There’s a big turn-off factor for me when the word cervix or uterus is used in a love scene. I try to avoid using the words at all because what I like might turn off another reader. Every draft I wrote of Stay and Keep had the word “cock” in there at least once, and my mother-in-law (yes, you read that right) recommended I remove it because she hates that word enough to stop reading.

What else have you written, and where can people learn more about you and your work?

I’ve published Stay (which will be on sale for 99¢ Dec. 17-21) and plan to publish the third book in this series in April 2015. My website is karynlawrence.com. Thanks so much for having me!

About the author

Karyn Lawrence is an author, graphic designer, and screenwriter. She published a nonfiction book about color guard after an editor discovered her blog, way back in the infancy of the Internet and long before blogging was really a thing.

She has been a screenwriter for more than fifteen years, with rather mild success, and grew tired of her stories only reaching a handful of readers. The decision was made to try fiction in early 2013 and once she figured out how to write internal dialogue again, the prose came fast and furious. She most enjoys writing smexy (smart-sexy) books featuring a lovable SOB hero and a tough-as-nails heroine.

Karyn is a Chicago native who lives in Kentucky with her epic husband and two adorable sons.

Connect with her on Facebook, Twitter or her website, karynlawrence.com.

Giveaway

Karyn will be awarding a $25 gift card to Amazon, a signed paperback copy of both Keep and the first book in the stand-alone series, Stay; bookmarks from Stay and a can kozie with the logo from the fictional beer company that the hero owns in Keep (Swag and print book are US only) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning! All tour dates can be found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway