Welcome romance writer, Michele Zurlo...




1.    What do you wish men understood about women?
Michele: That women are more intelligent and capable than them. We are the better gender. Once they accept this, we can take over and rule as we were meant to. Seriously, though, I think most men understand women as well as anybody understands another person. Men and women stereotype each other, and that’s always problematic. Expect the best from someone, and that’s what they’ll give you.

2.    Do you only work on one book at a time?
Michele: It depends on the time of the year. From May-August, I can work on multiple books. From August-April, half of my brainpower is devoted to my day job (teaching middle school English.)

When I work on multiple books, opposite things tend to happen. If one heroine likes something, the heroine in the opposite novel will hate it. With Kiss Me Goodnight, I started it in December 2012, so I didn’t work on anything else. It took me several months to write because I had to take breaks to work on edits for Mina’s Heart and Re/Paired. Kiss Me Goodnight ended up being very different from both of those novels—mainstream and new adult. In addition, Lacey ended up being an atypical heroine. Both Katrina (Re/Paired) and Mina (Mina’s Heart) are very sweet, submissive women, while Lacey doesn’t have a problem taking charge whenever she feels the need.

3.    Who is your favorite fictional couple?
Buffy and Angel. It doesn’t get better than a vampire slayer falling for a vampire with a soul and then having to kill him to save the world. That pairing was pure genius.

4.    Favorite TV show?
Michele: Doctor Who.
Favorite Doctor: David Tennant (funny and arrogant.) Favorite Companion: Tie between Donna Noble (Catherine Tate is a comedic genius) and River Song (Alex Kingston and I have the same hair, and she’s just about the best character ever created.) If you haven’t seen the show, I highly recommend it. This show is almost as good as Buffy was.

5.    Do you set daily writing goals? Word count? Number of chapters? Do you get a chance to write every day?
Michele: I don’t get a chance to write every day, and I don’t stress about meeting a word count. I tend to write as an idea strikes me. If nothing happens for a few weeks, then I turn my energies toward enjoying my family. Inspiration eventually happens. Writing isn’t my primary job, so I do prioritize my day job over writing. It pays the bills. More than that, forcing the muse never leads anywhere good.

6.    Who was the last person you hugged?
Michele: Twin #1 just hugged me because she wanted me to put her down as my answer.

7.    What are you working on now?
Michele: I’m working on the revisions to Kiss Me by Moonlight, the follow up to Kiss Me Goodnight. After that, I will go back to revising Letting Go. I should get the rights to it back next year, and I plan to re-release it in the original version, which was written in first person. My writing skill and style have grown in the past five years, so there are a lot of revisions to be made. It’s almost like I’m rewriting the story.



KISS ME GOODNIGHT
by Michele Zurlo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

I’m Lacey Hallem, and I have a few secrets. These aren’t them: I wash my hands a lot and lie when I’m stressed. Also, I have horrible taste in men. That’s how I knew Dylan was trouble the first time I saw him…

Life can be challenging for Lacey, especially when things don’t come in sets of six, but she’s smart and funny and able to keep her demons at bay—most of the time. She might have sensed trouble when she set eyes on Dylan, a delectable musician in a vintage T-shirt, but that doesn’t stop her from thinking about him, or spending more and more time in his company.

Enter Thomas. Wealthy, handsome, and completely adoring of Lacey (flaws and all), he’s everything a man should be. So why can’t she convince her heart to fall in love?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPTS (Please choose only ONE to use with your post):

Excerpt#2 (Lacey meets Dylan for the first time)

Within minutes, Mr. Hotness appeared on the other side of my table, blocking my view of the road. I was struck by his teal eyes. I hadn’t expected them. The color seemed too bold to be true on the surface, but when I looked more closely, I saw flecks of blue and green. His midnight hair, longish, falling over his forehead and curling at the ends, made their color stand out even more.

He smiled—a friendly one, not a wanna-fuck one. “Are these seats taken?”

I wouldn’t have minded seeing the wanna-fuck one, though he was clearly with his son, and blatant flirting, even if he was divorced, would be crass. I didn’t see a Mrs. Hotness or a ring anywhere, but men this yummy didn’t stay single for long. And again, the fact that I found him attractive spoke volumes. I might be seeing his face tonight in place of Davey’s. Sorry, Davey. Oh—maybe Mr. Hotness and Davey together, both of them focused completely on me. That fantasy bore further exploration.

I shook my head. The thought of those lips wrapped around pink parts of me banged around in there, but eventually clattered away. I did not give him an inviting smile, though I was tempted. He oozed sexy badness, and whoever says they don’t have a weakness for that has a serious case of the pants-on-fire syndrome.


AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I’m Michele Zurlo, author of over 20 romance novels. During the day, I teach English, and in the evenings, romantic tales flow from my fingertips.

I’m not half as interesting as my characters. My childhood dreams tended to stretch no further than the next book in my to-be-read pile, and I aspired to be a librarian so I could read all day. I’m pretty impulsive when it comes to big decisions, especially when it’s something I’ve never done before. Writing is just one in a long line of impulsive decisions that turned out to showcase my great instincts. Find out more at www.michelezurloauthor.com or @MZurloAuthor.


  

Michele will be awarding an autographed paperback of Kiss Me Goodnight and $20 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn Rafflecopter winner (US only).


Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here:  
Comments??

9 comments

  1. Hi Rachel--Thanks for having me on your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very few stories about strong women. This sounds unique.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane, I love strong female heroines. They inspire me, and I hope my readers!

      Delete
  3. So you teach middle school English by day? Do you students know what your alternate job is? Oh, and I have to agree with you about your favorite fictional couple. Buffy and Angel were so good together. Of course, Veronica and Logan were good too...on occasion!

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Karen,
      My students know I'm a writer, and they're aware of my titles under my real name, but they don't know exactly what I do!

      Delete
  4. I can't imagine working on multiple books. That must be very difficult.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rita,
      My head jumps from topic to topic, so it works for me. Once I get close to the end of a novel, I'll concentrate all my efforts on it.

      Delete
  5. In grade 5 at band camp I had my first kiss with a boy named Ally and to this day I have very fond memories of that kiss

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stacey, I wish I had fond band camp memories, but I dropped out and never went. What a wonderful recollection!

      Delete