Blog Tour with Liz Gavin!

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming author Liz Gavin!  She is promoting her book, Upside Down.  Please take the time to read all the great things Liz has to say along with excerpts from the book!

UPSIDE DOWN TOUR

Thank you AWESOME READER for visiting today and AMAZING HOST for having me here!!

Did you miss the other posts? Please, go to 4WillsPublishing site to check the tour lineup there and hurry up back here! We won’t go anywhere!!

WHY DID I BECOME AN INDIE AUTHOR?

I’ve got asked this question a lot and I found out there’s no easy answer. On one hand, there were many stories inside my head fighting to get out and onto the paper (or an eReader screen), and this was clearly a reason. But on the other hand, there was also a sense of challenge. I had never written anything before August of 2013 when I decided to try my hand at it. I didn’t know if I’d be any good at writing. Granted, I had been an avid reader ever since I learned how to read but that didn’t mean I could write.

I still remember fondly the first time I sat down in front of my computer to write my novel. I also remember I would create whole scenes and clever dialogs in my head while driving to my regular job. I would sit through boring meetings while my characters played out scenes in front of my eyes, which can be quite embarrassing when you write erotica!!! Then, I would get home and spend hours translating all those awesome ideas into words and sentences. I was living my dream. After a week of hard work, I had written around twenty pages…WHAT?! Only twenty pages?

Yep! That was when I realized writing was a much harder job then I had imagined. Other people don’t know that. Writers do!

After that frustrated weekend, I decided to start small. Literally. I put the novel idea aside and started writing short-stories. I learned to create covers and I uploaded them to eBook stores. Then, I waited for the readers to come. And they did! I was surprised at the reviews I started getting. I asked my best friend to post the first one, like so many authors I’ve met have told me they did too, but the other reviews I’ve received so far have come from people I don’t know. Readers who have enjoyed my stories (most of them, anyway) and wrote the most amazing things about them. I was touched and convinced I was doing something right. So I kept writing and learning and I hope to do so for a very long time.

Are you curious to know if I made the right decision? Hahaha Here’s a brief scene from UPSIDE DOWN. What do you think?

* * *

I looked around admiring the lush forest surrounding the road and forced myself to return to the present. There was no point in revisiting the past. I hadn’t found the answers I was looking for in the other gazillion times I had relived those painful years in my head. I wasn’t likely to find them while speeding up a sports car on a summer morning through such a beautiful landscape. I should enjoy the ride and let those hurtful memories stay where they belonged – buried in the distant past. Since I had outgrown the hurt, I should be able to forget its source and forgive my parents. So, I told myself that, during that visit, things would be different. I would be more affectionate towards them. I would try to listen to them instead of quarreling. We would spend some quality time together – family time.

That was a great plan. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to square it with my parents first.

I got to their house around noon and was greeted at the door by an aging but still very handsome man. His face lit up and he opened up his arms for me. “Hey, freckles, long time no see! I missed you!”

I threw myself into his embrace, hugging him tight, “Oh, Bob, it’s so good to see you,” my voice was muffled by his wide chest because that was about as high as my head would reach. Bob Hewson was an extremely tall man.

“It’s good to have you around again, little rascal,” he kissed the top of my head and I dried a stubborn tear in the impeccable white shirt of his uniform before pulling away. “Come, come, now. What is this nonsense? Why are you crying?”

“Silly me!” I sniffed and grinned at him, at the same time. “I’m happy to see an old friend, all right? You’re not going to hold it against me, are you?”

“Never, freckles. You know all your secrets are safe with me.”

There was so much truth in his playful words, and so much love in his blue eyes, that I almost choked and sobbed my heart out. Instead, I sighed and feigned boredom,“Little girl’s secrets aren’t all that interesting, old man.”

“Yeah, right! Poor old Mrs. Pinkman wouldn’t agree with that! You used to drive her mad with your acting-up or when you went hiding from her for hours,” he chuckled.

“Oh, those were good times, huh?” we both laughed and I squeezed his hand in a gesture of appreciation.

“Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan are in the upstairs library. I’ll tell Peter to take your bags upstairs to your room. Is there anything else you need, my dear?”

“I’ll say hello to mom and dad in a while. First, I’d love to see Mary, Joanne and Mrs. Pinkman, I mean, Iris,” I smiled at my slip of the tongue. I hadn’t called the dear old cook ‘Mrs. Pinkman’ since I was a teenager. “Are they all here today?”

He stared at me in silence for a few seconds, his eyes got misty and I saw the lump moving in his throat when he cleared it in order to speak, “Oh, my goodness! You don’t know, do you, freckles? My dear Iris passed away three months ago. I was going to call you, then. But, your mother noticed how distraught I was and I think she wanted to spare me the pain. She told me she’d call you herself. When you didn’t come for the funeral, I figured you were out of the country or something.”

My mind went blank and I thought my heart would explode inside my chest. I had to sit down. There were two chairs under the huge mirror in the entrance hall. I sat on one and Bob sat on the other, beside me, holding my hand between his big ones.

Thousands of flashbacks popped up in my head in fast succession. The small, dark-haired Iris Pinkman stamping her foot and waving her hands in the air when she finally found me inside a kitchen cupboard, after having looked for me around the house for more than an hour. The same generous woman trying to convince me to eat the healthy dinner she had cooked instead of a whole chocolate bar. I couldn’t believe she was gone!

“Bob, I’m so sorry. I swear I didn’t know about it. I didn’t even know she was sick.”

* * *

See you again tomorrow but remember to leave your comments below before you go!

______________

 

Author Bio

When Liz Gavin was in Second Grade – just a couple of years ago, really – her teacher told her mother the little girl should start a diary because she needed an outlet for her active and vivid imagination. She was a talkative child who would disrupt the class by engaging her colleagues in endless conversations. She loved telling them the stories her grandfather used to tell her.

Apparently, the teacher wasn’t a big fan of those stories, and Liz’s mother bought her a diary. She happily wrote on it for a couple of months. Unable to see the appeal of writing for her own enjoyment only, she gave up on it. She missed the audience her friends provided her in class. She went back to disturbing her dear teacher’s class.

Since then, she has become a hungry reader. She will read anything and everything she can get her hands on – from the classics to erotica. That’s how she has become a writer of erotica and romance, as well.

As a young adult, she participated in a student exchange program and lived in New Orleans for six months. She fell in love with the city and its wonderful inhabitants. NOLA will always hold a special spot in Liz Gavin’s heart. Nowadays, living in Brazil, Liz’s creativity has improved many times because it’s such a vibrant, gorgeous and sexy country.

Welcome to her world of hot Alpha males and naughty, independent women. Add a touch of the paranormal in the presence of some wicked souls and you’ll get the picture.

Contact Information

My blog = http://elessarpublishing.blogspot.com/ https://lizgavin.wordpress.com

Twitter handle = @LizGavin_author

Facebook = http://www.facebook.com/liz.gavin.54

Email = lizgavin@elessarbooks.com

____________

 

Book Blurb

 

Carol Anne Sullivan is a tough New York stock broker. She’s suffered enough in order to learn a hard lesson – never let love spoil her relationships. Her boyfriends know that rule from the start. She’s domineering and assertive but also faithful and fair while the relationship lasts.

Mark Aikens is Carol’s boyfriend. He’s been in love with her for a while but his submissive side hasn’t allowed him to rebel against her golden rule and to tell her how he feels. Fear of losing her forever might spur him into action.

Cindy O’Rourke has admired Carol from afar. So, she jumps at the opportunity to work for her idol. Little does she know, things will never be the same for her after that job interview

Carol has been going through a rough patch: world economical crisis, dysfunctional parents, demanding clients, faulty equipment. Without much time for herself, her love life is suffering. So what is the big deal if she fantasizes about a new employee when her boyfriend, Mark, can’t give her what she needs? The big deal is – the new receptionist, Cindy, is a woman who threatens to turn her world upside down

This is the steamy tale of an unconventional love triangle which should be read with an open mind and an open heart. Sometimes, love comes to our lives in unexpected ways but with such overwhelming power that the best course of action might be to surrender to it.

Book link on Amazon US = http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IFMMJY0

Book link on Amazon UK = http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IFMMJY0

____________

4WillsPublishing Links:
Rafflecopter Giveaway: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4af5be7f16/

Goodreads Event page: https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/959404-upside-down-blog-tour

“This tour sponsored by 4WillsPublishing.wordpress.com.”