Interview with Lila DiPasqua & Giveaway!

AWAKENED BY A KISS by Lila DiPasqua

Three classic fairytales--"Sleeping Beauty," "Puss in Boots," and "Little Red Riding Hood"--cleverly retold with enough sensual twists to prove wickedly ever after does exist...

Once upon a wicked time...

Sleeping Beau: Five years ago, notorious rake Adrien d'Aspe, Marquis de Beaulain, was awakened by a sensuous kiss-and experienced a night of raw ecstasy that was branded into his memory. Years later, he spots his mysterious seductress-and this time, he has no intention of letting her go...

Little Red Writing: Nicolas de Savignac, Comte de Lambelle, has been assigned by the King to uncover the secret identity of the author writing scandalous stories about powerful courtiers. He never expected his investigation would lead to his grandmother's house, or to a ravishing woman who would stir his deepest hunger...

Bewitching in Boots: Elisabeth de Roussel, daughter of the King, is accustomed to getting what she wants-and she wants Tristan de Tiersonnier, Comte de Saint-Marcel, an ex-commander of the King's private Guard. A recent injury has forced Tristan to leave his distinguished position, but Elisabeth is determined to make him see he's every bit the man he once was-and more than man enough for her...

EXCERPT
MY REVIEW


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My Interview:

Hello everyone, please welcome author Lila DiPasqua to Lovin' Me Some Romance!

First, I'd like to congratulate you on your debut release with Berkley, AWAKENED BY A KISS! Yay! How does it feel to be a published author? Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication?

Thanks so much! I’m thrilled to be here! I can’t believe my debut novel hits the shelves in just over a week – Aug. 3rd! It’s a life-long dream come true. I’m just so excited to share this book with readers. My characters won’t exist solely in my computer anymore!

As for my road to publication, well, it took a bit of a detour for a while. I got married and had three kids in under four years. I just couldn’t write in those days. I was too busy pulling out toys from under the couch and looking for Barbie’s missing shoes. When my youngest started school, I finally got serious about pursuing publication. It took about six years before I landed an amazing agent and sold to Berkley.

After having read your collection of fairy tale novellas in ABAK, I was surprised to find that the stories didn't necessarily revolve structurally around the fairy tales themselves but rather they felt more to be an inspiration. What came first? The fairy tale or your own tale of these lusciously layered characters?

The fairy tales came first. The original stories of Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood were, for the most part, pretty dark and not very sexy. For example, in Sleeping Beauty, Disney left off the part after Sleeping Beauty marries Prince Charming. He goes away for a time and his mother decides that she not only wants Sleeping Beauty and her two children killed, but she wants to eat them for dinner. Prince Charming returns in time to save his family, and his mother jumps into the pot of boiling water herself. Yup, as I said, not exactly a sexy tale. :)

I took elements that people are familiar with in each fairy tale – for example, the curse placed on Sleeping Beauty at her christening, Sleeping Beauty being awakened by a kiss ---and I gave the tale my own steamy twist --- I made the hero Sleeping Beau. He had an incident occur at his christening similar to a curse. He didn’t prick his finger at fifteen, but at fifteen, he did use his prick…ahem…well, you’ll have to read the story. Years later, it was my heroine, Catherine, who sneaks into his room after a masquerade ball and awakens him with a sensuous kiss. Because in the original tale, Sleeping Beauty was a princess, I made Adrien the bastard son of the King (as close to being a prince as I could get.) Luckily, Louis XIV had had a number of illegitimate children in his lifetime. He legitimized them and they were treated like royalty.

I did the same thing to the other two fairy tales; I used the familiar elements of the stories, and gave them my own sensual spin.

I love how you provided a historical tidbit on Charles Perrault, the author of the fairy tales that your novellas are based on. The additional pages dedicated to the moral of each tale was just as lovely, however, I'm not the greatest at deciphering meanings from poems. Would you mind giving a quick introduction to each of your fairy tales in the collection as well as their morals?

Absolutely! It’s probably best summarized by the book blurb:

Sleeping Beau: Five years ago, notorious rake Adrien d'Aspe, Marquis de Beaulain, was awakened by a sensuous kiss-and experienced a night of raw ecstasy that was branded into his memory. Years later, he spots his mysterious seductress-and this time, he has no intention of letting her go...

Little Red Writing: Nicolas de Savignac, Comte de Lambelle, has been assigned by the King to uncover the secret identity of the author writing scandalous stories about powerful courtiers. He never expected his investigation would lead to his grandmother's house, or to a ravishing woman who would stir his deepest hunger...

Bewitching in Boots: Elisabeth de Roussel, daughter of the King, is accustomed to getting what she wants-and she wants Tristan de Tiersonnier, Comte de Saint-Marcel, an ex-commander of the King's private Guard. A recent injury has forced Tristan to leave his distinguished position, but Elisabeth is determined to make him see he's every bit the man he once was-and more than man enough for her...

As to the morals, I couldn’t resist adding them. Charles Perrault was the creator of The Tales of Mother Goose. He wrote down folklore that had been retold verbally for generations, and added morals to the stories. He wrote Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood etc.

His moral for Sleeping Beauty is basically: A love you have to wait for is just as passionate as a whirlwind relationship. That none of the passion is lost simply because you have to wait. Adrien and Catherine had to wait five long years for their love.

Little Red Riding Hood – That moral is fun! It’s a warning to young girls/women to be careful and not taken in by a smooth-talking man. Perrault likens such a man to a wolf. Little Red Riding Hood is, after all, a tale of seduction. My hero, Nicolas has earned the nickname, le loup “the wolf” because of his cunning. His mission for the King is to catch the mysterious writer Gilbert Leduc. He knows Leduc is one of the sisters staying at his grandmother’s house and he’s willing to seduce Anne in order to learn the identity of the writer. Nicolas is definitely a wolf in sheep’s clothing, bent on taking down Leduc…that is until he’s torn between love and duty.

Puss in Boots – In this moral Perrault suggests that one should study a man who’s won the heart of a princess. Anyone who earns himself such a notable wife and vastly improves his lot in life is someone worth emulating. Tristan, the ex-commander of the King’s private Guard, most definitely has the heart of the favorite daughter of the King. Too bad it’s the last thing he wants. He simply needs some amorous persuasion to show him how lucky his is.

The novella. Notorious for being difficult reads for lovers of full length novels. How is the novella appealing to you as reader verses as an author? How does the writing process differ, if at all, from a full length novel?

I love reading novellas as much as I love writing them. As a reader, I have many anthologies I adore. Sometimes I’m just in the mood for something shorter. Novellas do the trick. They’re blasts of pure entertainment! With a novella, you can still get a story and characters with depth. Those are exactly the kind of novellas I like to read and the very sort of novellas I set out to write in AWAKENED BY A KISS. In a novella, you still have to create likeable characters that are well-rounded, build their world and escalate the conflict around them until the climax of the story.

You just have to accomplish all that with fewer words.

I read in your wonderful interview at Smexy Books, that your husband was not only a big inspiration for your heroes, but he assisted you on the male perspective. How do you approach the male POV? While this may be an obvious answer, is it completely different from the female? Which one is more challenging?

I do sometimes use aspects of my husband and weave them into my heroes. It’s true! My husband enjoys reading my work and in reference to the male POV, he’s told me that I think just like a man. I take that as a compliment. I love writing in the male POV. Because women think differently then men, it’s definitely different writing in the female POV. I don’t find one POV more challenging than another. If you really know your characters, then you know how they think and feel.

Your tales are happily on the super steamy side. As a reader, I love experiencing character growth in my heroes and heroines during sensual scenes and I reveled in the fact that your stories provided this beautifully. It all read as very natural and flowing when in fact, this area can be quite difficult for writers. Would you say that these are your favorite scenes to write or are they the most stressful?

Thank you for the lovely compliment. In answer to your question I’d say, both! I really do enjoy writing the steamier scenes, but they usually take me a little longer than the other scenes. I think they’re really important, and so I take my time with them.

Related to the above question, with erotic tales such as yours, the balance of sex and plot is vital. I've read too many erotic books to count that tip the scales too heavily towards the erotic and too little on the plot. How do you maintain this balance as a writer? With such a limited page count, does it then become even more of a challenge?

When you only have 30,000 words to tell a story, every scene has to advance the story. Including the sex scenes. I think that’s how you maintain a balance – by using the love scenes to advance the plot. I use my love scenes not only to demonstrate how the hero and heroine feel about each other at that particular junction of the story, but to heighten the conflict as well. My sex scenes are layered and if you skip them in my books, you’re going to miss stuff. I guarantee that in my love scenes, more than just sex is happening between the hero and heroine. I never write a sex scene just for the sake of having a hot scene.

I absolutely loved the French setting of your collection. While I certainly love my England based historical romances, your setting provided a wonderfully refreshing atmosphere. The glossary, by the way, was a very helpful addition. Why France?

Because 17th century France was when and where Charles Perrault lived! I wanted to bring the reader to the very place and time when the genre of fairy tale was born. Anyone who loves Regency England will adore this setting. It has all of the same elements we love in Regencies! Handsome lords and lovely ladies, ballrooms, masquerade balls and well, plenty of scandalous behavior – especially when the King of France was a lusty man with a court that was as salacious as their monarch.

Of the three tales in your AWAKENED BY A KISS collection, do you have a favorite? If so, why? Also, which of the three fairy tales is your favorite and why?

I’m afraid I don’t have a favorite story. It’s like trying to pick which of your children you love more. I love each story equally and for different reasons.

Finally, what's next for Lila DiPasqua?

In three short months, THE PRINCESS IN HIS BED hits the shelves! Another collection of Fiery Tales! Three classic fairy tales, The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Princess and the Pea are scandalously retold and renamed, The Lovely Duckling, The Marquis’ New Clothes, and The Princess and the Diamonds.

I did a lot of research for this book. My lovely heroine in The Lovely Duckling is a burn victim. My sinfully seductive hero in The Marquis’ New Clothes is a 17th c. engineer and expert in science. And my yummy hero in The Princess and the Diamonds is intent on helping the King enforce his ban on an illegal card game. The game tales on high stakes when the King’s own daughter has sneaked in to play!

Plus, I made a new sale to Berkley. A full-length Fiery Tales will be released 2011! Tentative date, October. Based on one classic fairy tale, it’s going to be steamy and romantic and…well, I can’t wait for this book!



Giveaway Details:

The super awesome Lila DiPasqua is offering 2 SIGNED copies of AWAKENED BY A KISS to two randomly drawn winners! Here's how to enter:

*Comment with an answer to Lila's Question: Who is your favorite fairy tale hero?*

**Leave a Valid Email Address**

***Contest Open to USA and Canada Only***

****Must be 18 or Older to Enter****

*****Contest Closes Thursday, July 29th at Midnight U.S. Pacific Standard Time and Winners will be Chosen Randomly and Announced Friday, July 30th*****