Friday, January 13, 2012

ROCCO'S HOTSEAT BLOGAVERSARY GUEST...ADRIENNE GIORDANO!

MEOW!
In my hotseat today…author Adrienne Giordano!
Adrienne Giordano writes romantic suspense and women's fiction.  She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a co-founder of Romance University blog. For more information on Adrienne's Private Protectors series please visit http://www.adriennegiordano.com/. Adrienne can also be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AdrienneGiordanoAuthor and Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdriennGiordano.
And now, in my HOTSEAT!  ADRIENNE!
R: Hello, Adrienne and welcome.
A:  Thank you, Rocco. A pleasure, to be sure. Before we begin, let me send my Wheaten Terrorist away. He has issues with cats. Very territorial.
R: Tell us a bit about your latest release, and how you got the idea for it?
A: Risking Trust is a romantic suspense about Roxann Thorgesson, a control-freak who, after the death of her father, takes over as publisher of Chicago's second-largest newspaper. To add to her stress, I threw Michael Taylor, her ex-boyfriend and CEO of his own security company, at her. Michael's estranged wife has been murdered, and he offers Roxann an exclusive to his headline-making murder accusation. In return, he wants help uncovering the true killer. As the book cover says "when their investigation leads to a city hall conspiracy, both their lives and their newly reignited flame could be permanently extinguished…"
How I came up with the idea? I have a newspaper background and wondered what it would be like for a woman to take her father's place at the helm of a major newspaper and immediately have to sacrifice her emotional stability to nab a blockbuster story.  I thought it would be fun to explore the different levels of stress she would encounter. When it comes to my characters, I like to push their buttons! J
R: What sort of research, if any, do you do for your novels? 
A: It depends. For Risking Trust, I knew a lot about the newspaper industry already. I also harassed my husband (he still works in the industry) and all his friends for information. For the book I just finished, I needed to hire a researcher because there was one element (and I'm not going to say what that element is.J) I couldn't find information on. The researcher was able to help me.
I also read non-fiction about whatever topic I'm planning for my book.  I find non-fiction books help me develop personality traits for characters. Most of my heroes have military backgrounds so I'm constantly reading articles and biographies based on life in the military. 

R: What’s a must have for you when you are writing? What aids the creative process?
A: I wish there was a magic bullet (I so wish!), but I really just need quiet. Anything else distracts me.  I generally write in sprints and try not to edit until I've worn myself out. For me, stopping to edit what I've just written interrupts the flow and I lose my momentum. If I'm stuck on a scene, I'll grab my IPod and go for a long walk. There's something about the fresh air that always gets my creative juices flowing.
R: Who are some of your must read authors?
A: When I'm looking for romantic suspense, I look for a Suzanne Brockmann book. If I want a thriller, Harlan Coben is my go-to guy. I'm also a Lisa Gardner fan. On the lighter side, I enjoy Kristan Higgins' books. She always makes me laugh.
R: Now, Just for fun:
Your Favorite:
TV Show – Right now it's Revenge. Cannot get enough of it.  I'm waiting for that weasel of a so-called best friend to go down!
Movie – As Good As It Gets. I also love Pride and Prejudice and the Godfather. My taste varies. J
Book – Ooh, tough one. I have plenty of books in different genres that I'll read again and again, but I honestly don't think I have one favorite. If I'm in the mood for a thriller, I'll revisit No Second Chance by Harlan Coben. Crazy tension in that book! For romantic suspense, I'd go with Flashpoint by Suzanne Brockmann. For contemporary, I love Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie.
Drink – Diet Coke
Food – Anything Italian.
Detectives or Demons?  Detectives
Beach or Mountain?  Beach!
Cat or Dog? Dog.  (R: A-HEM!  Well….okay.)
Day or Night? Day.
 R: What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to know about you?
A:  That I once almost ran over my instructor in a motorcycle safety class. Worse, the guy was on crutches. Yeesh.  I didn't do so well in that class!
R: What is the craziest thing you've ever done?  
A: Haven't done it yet. Although, I recently walked across a rope bridge that spanned a gator pit. (See photo above)
R: What do you hope readers will most take away from your writing?
A:  I always hope readers will connect with the characters and enjoy the journey. My characters tend to be damaged (some more than others!), but I try to make those characters relatable. If the reader likes my characters, then that's about the best thing I can ask for.   
Thank you for participating, Adrienne!
Folks – pick up your copy of Risking Trust, THEN CHECK OUT ADRIENNE’S  BOOKS!
IMMEDIATELY!

Adrienne's books available at:

Now…one lucky reader will win a copy of RISKING TRUST!  Leave your name and a comment in the comments section of this blog. You all know the drill:  to gain extra entries, tweet about this contest, mention it on Facebook, friend myself and the Human on Facebook!  Put down all you’ve done in your comment, as well as an email address where we can contact you if you’re the lucky winner!  Contest closes midnight, January 17th – winner announced January 18th!

And now, the two lucky winners of Camilla Chafer's giveaway are:
Chrisbails
FillionFanatic
Watch your emails, guys, for a notice from Camilla!

And now for a special announcement....MaryJanice Davidson will be giving y'all an advance peek WITH SPOILERS of her new novel, UNDEAD AND UNSTABLE! MY BLOG IS THE ONLY PLACE YOU CAN READ THIS!  So I'm excited!  MEOW!

MJ's post will appear January 25th. Here's the rest of Blogaversary so far:

January 18:  Traci Hohenstein post/giveaway
January 24:  Official one year anniversary - Day of tribute - posts from lots of surprise guests!
January 25:  MaryJanice Davidson guest post/giveaway
January 30:  Rocco store giveaway
January 31:  Ashlyn Chase guest post/giveaway
Feb. 6:  Jeff Cohen guest post/giveaway

Keep following the blogaversary- you never know what questions I will ask on January 30th!
Next: Guest post from Traci Hohenstein!

ROCCO
SCI FI BLOGGING CAT

6 comments:

  1. Hi, Great interview! The rope bridge across the gator pit sounds a little daring. lol Your book sounds great! christina_92 at yahoo.com facebook Christina Ray Vanderford

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  2. Thank you, Christy. It was great fun! Thanks for stopping by.

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  3. Adrienne,
    Nice interview and Risking Trust sounds like a great read :o)
    The picture of the rope bridge made me dizzy :P
    Wishing you much success in the future.

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  4. Rocco, what have you done? Now my human is staying even longer online as I now have a blog page myself. She befriended you and your human, spread your blog through fb, and what for? Another book she will read for hours on end... Well at least I will spend that time with her curled up between her legs and snoring my head off, or softly meowing in her ear as I am always HUNGRY!!! Fluser2010@hotmail.com is my email and Manuela Harris is my human. She loves books and cats but mostly ME! Love to hear from you and she says she likes to read all those interesting news on your blog. Yours meowly Fluser

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  5. Great interview and will forgive you for being a dog lover. This book sounds great. You are a new author for me and would love to win and read this book. Thanks for the chance to win.
    christinebails@yahoo.com

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  6. The rope bridge actually wasn't so bad. It wobbled a bit, but we were tethered by another line. If we fell off we wouldn't go too far!

    Fluser, thanks for stopping in. I won't tell my Wheatie you were here. :)

    Hi, Christine. Thank you for popping by. I am a dog lover, but don't mind cats. My allergies are the ones who don't like the cats. :)

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