Hello Diane and welcome back! You’ve been VERY busy lately! Happy to see so many new and intriguing characters have been published for us readers to enjoy.
Thank you so much for inviting me here! And I’m happiest when I’m busy. ;)
What was your muse’s inspiration for Faking It? (Visuals are always welcomed ;-) )
Oh, in my head Derek was a slightly more exotic Benedict Cumberbatch. Kind of like he looks in the new Star Trek movie, only with a different accent. ;)
For Stephanie, I pictured Megan Fox. Sexy and smoldering.
And smoldering HOT she is too...dang!
Poor Stephanie has been working temp jobs for a while and barely making end meet. What is the draw for readers to the unfortunate ones, who are in situations like hers?
I think we all like heroines and heroes who don’t get everything handed to them on a silver platter. We can relate to their daily struggles. Their hopes and dreams. There’s something about their struggle to succeed that draws us to them. Makes us love them, sometimes even before they love themselves.
Then you have her complete opposite in Derek who has closed himself off to emotion and living life through his work. How hard was it for him to realize life isn’t about work, it’s about living and enjoying life too?
My editor and I struggled over making this happen. We wanted him hard and unfeeling in the beginning, then slowly but surely getting out of his shell and learning life can be unpredictable and fun—and still be able to continue on. It was a lot of work for him to open up like he does. He didn’t have the most loving childhood, after all.
When we meet Stephanie she is bidding for a job to gain investors, her employer is definitely sketchy and using her faults against her. She is put in a very precarious position with Derek. What made her “bite her tongue” and go with what her employer was playing at?
I think shock more so than anything! She got taken completely off-guard—especially when Derek, who she hardly knows, immediately jumps on board. She doesn’t know what to think or say!
Derek seemed perfectly Okay with playing the role, and he even begins to enjoy her company and zest for life, as he so nicely put it. Every time he feels like he’s getting a crack in his walls he clamps down. It took him a long time to truly discover himself under the businessman façade. Did breaking out scare him that much and how did his reactions shape how he dealt with Stephanie?
Yes, very much! His whole life, his father did his best to shut down any softness in Derek. It was his way of protecting him, in a way, because he wanted Derek to be strong and hard and resolute. Derek’s father saw his own love for his deceased wife as a weakness. One he didn’t want his son to have—so he killed all the goodness in his life with an iron fist.
Derek did his best to live up to his father’s expectations, but then Stephanie came along and crashed into Derek’s carefully arranged world.
Derek made a HUGE slip up near the end which truly got on Stephanie’s bad side!!! And only once he saw her anger did he realize his mistake and tried to fix it by doing things right. That ended up being a family event…LOL What did her Brother end up asking as payment for the favor?
You’ll have to read Aaron’s book to find out. But first—I have to write it! ;)
Ack! So cruel...but what a tease you are! I'm loving it, makes me want to read it for sure.
I really loved the ending and how Stephanie did her part to win over Derek. Didn’t take long for him to see what he’d be missing out on. What was his deciding factor in accepting her offer?
Love. He loved her, and her showing up was really all he needed. But when she told him she was willing to accept his help? That really sealed the deal. Knowing she would work with him and not yell at him for helping her showed him just how much she cared about him. And it made him be able to trust his heart in her hands.
Onto other related topics:
What projects are you currently working on?
I’m finishing editing up Love Me, the second book in the Take a Chance series (Tommy’s story), and I just sent my agent a full length contemporary romance book. It’s a great, fun book that I’m really excited about!
When not writing or knitting what activities can we find you doing?
Catching up on my DVR’ed shows! My favorites are Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, New Girl, and Once Upon a Time.
I'm SOOO far behind on Once Upon a Time!!! I ned a DVR too! I've never even used hulu or anytihng to go back and catch up. Sad, eh?
Thoughts to share with aspiring writers?
Don’t ever, ever give up! Keep polishing those skills, writing those stories, and living the dream! Things can get tough in the writing world, but hang in there. It’s worth it.
Spoken like a true mentor!
Thanks so much for stopping in again Diane! I always love having authors come by and talk all things books and their characters!
Thanks for having me!!!!
About Diane
Diane Alberts is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing, Swoon Romance, and Decadent Publishing. She has, as of this date, four books with Entangled Publishing, one book with Swoon Romance, and five older books with Decadent Publishing. Her February release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list, and TRY ME hit #76 on Amazon. Her Swoon Romance novella, CAPTIVATED BY YOU, hit #31 on the Barnes and Noble bestseller list. Diane is represented by Louise Fury from the L. Perkins Agency.
No comments:
Post a Comment