‘Definitely, Maybe, Yours’ by Lissa Reed #LGBT #BlogTour #Giveaway

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Lissa Reed, author of Definitely, Maybe, Yours.

Hi Lissa, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hello, hello! Thank you for having me here today. Where to begin? By day I’m a banking software support analyst—basically a walking, talking encyclopedia! By night I’m a cat-owning cooking enthusiast with a major penchant for meddling in the lives of fictional characters. I haven’t always been a writer, but I’ve always wanted to be, so I’m glad this has all worked out so well.

Definitely, Maybe, Yours is my very first book, and it is, of course, a love story! But it is the story of Craig, who bakes and writes and lives a very quiet life that ends up being turned a little upside-down when Alex appears in it, heartbroken and suspicious of everyone including himself.

1) How do you feel about e-books vs print books?

I like both! It took me a while to come around to eBooks, because I do love the act of buying and holding print books so very much. But there is a big practicality in eBooks, in being able to carry dozens of books in my purse at all times without getting back strain, or to be able to read a book with a questionable cover in public and not get bothered about it because with an eBook no one can see the cover! So I choose both, I have a Kindle and I still buy paperbacks and hardbacks.

2) What process did you go through to get your first book published?

I was approached to publish by Interlude Press, who were very kind about listening to my ideas for possible books. They really liked the idea of Definitely, so I sat down and began working on it immediately—I even worked through a vacation!

3) How do you find or make time to write?

I write all the time thanks to having a smartphone and Google Docs. That is to say, the actual bulk of my writing is done at nights and on weekends, but because of the miracle of the modern world that is technology, if I get seized by an idea when I am not at home (and this happens fairly often), I can pop open Google Docs and get it all written down and saved away so that when I get home I can pick up where I left off.

4) Name one person who you feel supported you outside of your family members?

Just one? Okay, my friend Jessica, to whom Definitely is dedicated. I got the news about my acceptance with Interlude the day Jess graduated from summa cum laude from college after years of working to raise her two children and go to school, and she insisted that we celebrate both on the same day even though I rather felt hers was the larger accomplishment! And then later in the year she got terribly, terribly ill and spent two months in the hospital, and when I would visit her she would still ask me how the book was going. She’s a rock, and her support has been invaluable.

5) Tell us about a book you’re reading now.

I am re-reading Petropolis by Anya Ulinich. It is a funny, but also dark story about coming-of-age and being an outsider—in post-Soviet Russia! The lead character is a girl named Sasha who just sort of exists in this backwards mining town named Asbestos 2, which she desperately wants to escape. But once she gets out, she lands herself in one crazy situation after another, and I like how she keeps pushing on despite the absurdity that seems to want to stop her in her tracks.

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Goodreads Link: Goodreads.com/LissaReedBooks

Publisher: Interlude Press

Cover Artist:
Cover photography by LaToya Conward
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs

Seattle-based baker Craig Oliver leads a life that is happily routine: baking cupcakes for an enormous family reunion, managing Sucre Coeur for its frequently absent owner, and closing out his day with a pint at the local pub. He has a kind heart, a knack for pastry, and a weakness for damaged people.

Habitual playboy Alex Scheff is looking to drown his sorrows, but instead discovers that he may have a weakness for Englishmen who carry cookies in their pockets. Can a seemingly incompatible pair find the recipe for love in a relationship they claim is casual?

Pages or Words: 296 pages

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Excerpt:
With a wink, Craig pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his left coat pocket and a carefully bagged almond and raspberry-lemon croissant, Katie’s all-time favorite baked good, out of the right. He passes them across the bar as if he’s James Bond—a very cheeky and cheery sort of 007. “You know I’ll always look out for you. Keep the change.”

Katie squeals and flops across the bar to squeeze him breathless, and her ponytail slaps him in the nose. She bounces off with her treat in hand and Craig shakes his head and pulls long black and red hairs from his face, as he does every time this happens. Katie really is his favorite bartender at The Order of the Garter, hell, his favorite bartender in Seattle and maybe even the world. Much too good to be working at a grotty little pub, fending off unsavory advances and spilled drinks four nights a week; that’s why Craig will bring her any bakery treat she wants, anytime she wants it, until she finally wises up and gets the hell out of this place.

Time for another sip of this excellent, excellent stout: Craig reaches forward. It’s a good Thursday.

Of course, that’s when it takes quite the sharp turn, leaving every Seattle-pub-Thursday Craig’s ever known in the dust.

“Well, aren’t you a hit with the ladies,” comes a surly drawl from his left, startling Craig just as he’s got his fingers around his glass. “Was that a croissant in your pocket, or were you actually happy to see her?”

“Both,” Craig replies, shifting around to lean on his elbow and survey the formerly silent pile of

misery hunched over two stools down, the limp guy at the end of the bar Craig had spotted on his way in. He is not unconscious after all, much to Craig’s surprise; judging by the row of empty shot glasses upside down in front of him and the distinct aroma of tequila emanating a good four-foot radius from his person, he should be. Craig winces and turns away as the fumes burn his nose.

“Baked goods. That’s a new one. Never saw anyone use baking to hit on the ladies before.” Mr. Misery sways his head upright, pushes a wild flop of brown hair out of his eyes and swings around until he locates Craig. He blinks. “Does it work?”

Surprised by the color of the eyes meeting his—an unusual shade, gray, not blue-gray or blue, but the gray of a sky covered in early storm clouds—Craig answers without thinking. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t hit on girls. Katie’s my friend, not my type.”

Sales Links:

Interlude Press: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/frontpage/products/definitely-maybe-yours-by-lissa-reed

Smashwords: (For some reason, this isn’t showing. It should. I’ll check it out and send you the link)

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Nw89ne

Our books are also available for order from the Apple iBookstore, Book Depository and Indiebound.

Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her first interest in becoming a writer to the fourth grade, when her teacher gave her the gift of her first composition book. A former newspaper editor, Reed shifted her focus to romance and literary fiction early in her writing career. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and is currently working on her new novel, Certainly, Possibly, You—the sequel to Definitely, Maybe, Yours.