TwoLips Reviews
Interview with KC Klein
KC Klein has lived most of her life with
her head in the clouds and her nose buried in a book. She did stop reading long
enough to make a home with a real life hero, her husband, for over sixteen
years. A mother of two children, she spends her time slaying dragons, saving
princesses, and championing the belief in the happily-ever-after. Her debut
novel, Dark Future, is afinalist in the 2012 Prism contest and has been
honored with a reviewer’s choice award.
Her other titles include a sci- fi, 2012 RONE award winning romance anthology, Hotter
on the Edge, and the first two books in her Texas Fever contemporary
romance series, Texas Wide Open, and Hustlin’ Texas. KC loves to hear from readers and can be
found desperately pounding away on her laptop in yoga pants and leopard
slippers or more conveniently at www.kckleinbooks.com.
TLR: How did you start writing erotica?
KCK: Why do people keep asking me that? I
think it’s the cover of Texas Wide Open. When you put her boots,
her hands, and the title together people tend to come to the wrong conclusion.
☺ Since I don’t write erotica that’s an easy question to answer—I haven’t. LOL!
I don’t expect to be writing erotica anytime soon. After four novels and two
novellas, I am finding the sex scenes quite a challenge.
TLR: Tell me about your writing process -
what really gets your creative juices flowing?
KCK: My creative writing process has changed over the years. When I first started to write I never thought about how I wrote. I just did. I wanted to be an author ever since I can remember. Creating stories in my head came natural to me. I thought everyone did that.
Now, that I have
to write on demand, sort of speak, things have changed. I learned that I have
to protect and nurture that creative well inside of me. After a long day of
writing the last thing I want to do is read a book. I know that sounds weird. I
have a huge love of reading, but by the end of the day I don’t want to see any
words on the page. I turned toward TV as a way to relax. At first it was fine,
but as the weeks turned into months I realized that I was losing my story. It
took me a while to figure out that I needed to read. I needed to stimulate my
imagination and “see” the stories in my head even if they aren’t mine.
Reading is what
every author needs to do.
TLR: Do you have any unique rituals that get
you in the mood to write?
KCK: I like to exercise in the morning. I
always, always need my coffee. I love fat-free French vanilla creamer. I wrote
my first two books longhand in spiral-bound notebooks. I now write on an
Alphasmart on the patio in my backyard.
TLR: Are you able to devote yourself to a
full time career as an author? If not, how do you balance your writing with
other aspects of your day to day life?
KCK: Balance? What balance? I’m writing this
interview on Thanksgiving day. ☺ (no worries, I am having family day tomorrow.
)
I can’t devote
myself to a full-time career as a writer. I work part-time, have small children,
and spend a lot of time volunteering. It’s hard, but this is how I’ve learned
to live my life.
I read an author
interview somewhere where she talks about how she’s written so many books and
has written two or three series. At first I was jealous. Wow, this woman has
got it down. Then I continued to read and found out she really never leaves her
house. It was literally something like she made a trip to the grocery store
once a week and that was it. All she does it write like all day.
I don’t want to live
my life like that. I work out five days a week. My health is important to me. I
have a great relationship with my extended family and friends, and most
importantly my husband and kids. I’ve made my choice, and if that means I only
write one book a year then I am okay with that.
TLR: Who are your literary
influences/inspirations?
KCK: I love Karen Marie Moning, Diana
Gabaldon, and Philippa Gregory. All of them are wonderful authors and something
to aspire to.
TLR: What’s the best advice you’ve been given
as an author? The worst?
KCK: As an author that you need to
read—inside your genre, outside your genre, it doesn’t matter. Just read.
The worst was to
stop reading romance because you may unintentionally plagiarize another
author’s work. The reality is we “steal” things from everything around us,
music, books, my husband’s bad jokes. Plagiarism is copying so many words or
ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work.
Reading a good
book and seeing how an author creates tension or handles a certain turning
point is just about making yourself a better writer.
TLR: Are there any genres that you’d like to
explore in the future?
KCK: Ummm….good
question. Yes. I’ve written in sci-fi romance which has always been my first
love. I would love to write a historical, and I have a great series idea for a
dystopian YA. Of course, at the heart of them all would be the romance. I am a
romance reader and writer to the core.
TLR: What’s the most memorable thing a
reviewer has said about your work?
KCK: I love when a reviewer says that my book was a surprise. That they didn’t expect the intensity, the humor, or the twist at the end. I love when they say their whole life was put on hold because they just had to finish. They had to find out what happens next.
I am a relatively
new author, and readers aren’t really sure what to expect when they pick up my
books. My books, even my contemporary romances, are gritty, intense, funny, and
fast paced.
TLR: What genre is your favorite to kick back
and relax to?
KCK: I like contemporary romance,
historicals, but I am also trying to delve into the classics. I always want to
improve and what better way than learning from the masters.
TLR: If you could choose anyone you wanted as
a partner for one steamy night - who would it be and why?
KCK: Umm…Hugh Jackman. There is just nothing
wrong with that man.
TLR: What’s your favorite part of a man’s
body? A woman’s?
KCK: His eyes. Her lips.
TLR: When meeting someone for the first time,
what’s the first thing that grabs you about them?
KCK: Their smile. I really am into teeth, occupational
hazard. I’m a dental hygienist by day and romance writer by night.
TLR: What’s turns you on? Off?
KCK: A sense of humor. An arrogant attitude.
TLR: What food is guaranteed to put you in
the mood for some steamy loving?
KCK: That would be wine, but you have to act
fast because following the steamy feeling is the sleepy feeling. My husband has
learned to be quick on his feet. Things can go from hot to night-night fast. ☺
TLR: What are a few of your guilty pleasures?
KCK: I love wine. I love chocolate. I love,
love salty chocolate. Oh yeah, did I mention wine?
TLR: If you could have one superhero power,
what would it be and why?
KCK: To never have to sleep. Is there a
superhero who has that power? Insomniac-man? NoDoz-woman? (Leanna/TLR: I
think I’d love to be her side-kick - never enough hours in the day!)
TLR: Can you give us any hints as to what’s
on the horizon for you?
KCK: Hints? I’ll tell you anything you want
to know. LOL! Next, is the third installment of the Texas Fever series. This
will be Cash’s and Lauren’s story. I would love, LOVE to write the sequel to Dark
Future. No one would read it (no one read the first. Oops, I take that
back Two Lips did a review on Dark Future, so one person read it. ☺), but I
still want to write it. (Leanna/TLR: I have this book on my TBR pile and I’m
excited to read it, but I can tell you that there are quite a few 4 and 5 star
reviews on Amazon!)
TLR: Where is the best place to keep up to
date on your upcoming releases and works in progress?
KCK: My poor neglected website at kckleinbooks.com, but if you really want to keep up to date please sign up for my newsletter. I talk about all my upcoming releases, sales, and I want to start giving away free gifts. So just go to my website and click on the sign-up button on the side. (Leanna/TLR: If you’re on Facebook - you can like KC’s author page here: https://www.facebook.com/kckleinbooks)
I also do a
quarterly giveaway on my Facebook page for anyone who likes my page or signs up
for my newsletter.
To celebrate my
latest release, Hustlin’ Texas, I am giving an e-book away. To
enter just Facebook, tweet, or Pintrest the blog post and then come back and
comment that you shared. Thanks again and happy reading!
KC Klein
Here are what
some people are saying about KC Klein:
Hustlin’ Texas:
“Sassy, sexy,
fun, but sweet at heart, KC Klein knows how to spin a tall Texas yarn.”—Lori
Wilde
“A sexy read. KC
Klein’s hero is as hot
as a Texan summer’s day. KC is an author to watch..” —Rachel Gibson
Only one person
in Oak Groves is happy to see bad girl Nikki Logan back in town…
Oak Groves’ most beloved
bachelor, Jett Avery, lives by a simple set of rules. Getting involved with a
complicated woman isn’t one of them. He learned that the hard way two years ago when he
spent one of the most incredible nights of his life with Nikki Logan. But then
she hightailed it out of town, never to be seen again—until now. It might be
time to break one of those rules…
Picking up the
pieces of her life, Nikki is back in Oak Groves, face to face with the one man
she’s done her best
to forget. But she has her reasons for being here—and they don’t include winding up in bed with Jett.
Especially since he’ll never forgive her once he finds out the truth about why she’s back…
Blurb for TEXAS WIDE OPEN:
“A tortured hero,
a love that defies distance and time…this is a book you won’t soon forget.” –Cat Johnson
Katie Harris
loved growing up on a ranch. She had her horse, the beautiful Texas prairie,
and Cole Logan, the cowboy next door. But there are a lot of secrets hidden
under a Texas sky…
Katie always knew
she’d marry Cole one
day—until he broke her dreams and her heart. But now that Katie’s father is sick, she’s back home, older, wiser and nowhere
near the love-sick fool she once was.
Cole knows Katie
doesn’t want anything
to do with him. But after so many years, he can’t pretend she’s no more than a neighbor. Holding his
ground was hard enough when she was seventeen. Now that she’s her own woman, Cole’s heart doesn’t stand a chance…
“Passionate,
gritty and fast paced…with a hot blooded, honorable hero to make every woman's
knees go weak.”—Diane Whiteside
Blurb for DARK FUTURE:
A woman caught between two futures...
Awakened in the middle of the night by a future version of herself, Kris Davenport is given a mission: go travel in time to save the world--and his life. Of course, her future self doesn't tell her who he is just sends her into the darkness and straight into an alien invasion.
...must choose between the man who has her heart...
He turns out to be ConRad Smith, the callous, untrusting military commander of Earth's army and the world's last defense. There's only one way for Smith to know for sure if this strange woman is an alien spy--slice her throat. Except, he didn't anticipate the desire he would feel as he interrogates the hot-tempered, warm-blooded woman.
...or the fate that saves the world.
As Kris and ConRad struggle to trust each other in a world on the brink of destruction, they each will have to face the ultimate choice of whether to fight or die... survive or forgive.
Awakened in the middle of the night by a future version of herself, Kris Davenport is given a mission: go travel in time to save the world--and his life. Of course, her future self doesn't tell her who he is just sends her into the darkness and straight into an alien invasion.
...must choose between the man who has her heart...
He turns out to be ConRad Smith, the callous, untrusting military commander of Earth's army and the world's last defense. There's only one way for Smith to know for sure if this strange woman is an alien spy--slice her throat. Except, he didn't anticipate the desire he would feel as he interrogates the hot-tempered, warm-blooded woman.
...or the fate that saves the world.
As Kris and ConRad struggle to trust each other in a world on the brink of destruction, they each will have to face the ultimate choice of whether to fight or die... survive or forgive.
Buy links for Hustlin’ Texas:
Buy Links for TEXAS WIDE OPEN:
