Interview: Ashlyn Chase + Strange Neighbors giveaway *CLOSED*

Today I have the honour to welcome Ashlyn Chase, the author of Strange Neighbours.

At the end of the interview there is a contest of her book, so do not miss that.

Welcome :)

Tell me something about yourself, so we get a better understanding about the woman behind the author.

That’s always such a hard question. I just tell people I’m an Almond Joy Bar. A little nutty, a little flaky, but basically sweet. I simply want to give my readers a scrumptious, satisfying experience.

Before becoming a published author, I worked as a nurse for twenty years. I had always been creative, but jobs in the arts are few and far between, so I did what I had to do to pay the bills. At last I found my chance to do what I really wanted, and since then, life has never been so sweet.

Your newest book is called Strange Neighbours; can you tell me what it is about?

I’m in love with this new series. It’s about an apartment building full of paranormal misfits in Boston’s Back Bay. As you might expect, it’s another one of my romantic comedies. The building is a typical nineteenth century brownstone mansion, converted to six apartments, plus a top floor penthouse.

Our series includes some really fun characters. A were-raven with a morbid sense of humor, an Alpha were-wolf who was kicked out of his pack for being too nice and now drums up business for his security-system business by moonlighting as a thief, two witches with an owl familiar who work as phone-sex actresses, a sarcastic ghost, and an “unofficial” resident in the basement—a vampire who fancies himself the neighborhood watch-dog and vigilante crime-fighter. The new landlord, occupying the penthouse, is a professional baseball pitcher with a secret of his own. But being only half-shapeshifter, he doesn’t have the greatest control over his shifts. He hired his busybody aunt and unemployed uncle to manage and maintain the building.

As they say, birds of a feather flock together, and with the exception of the latest tenant, a very human nurse on her own for the first time, all the hooting, howling, and hollering that goes on drives the busybody building manager a little nuts.

Book one is about the romance between the nurse and the landlord. As soon as she moves out of Apt 1B, her best friend, a lawyer, moves in. Our human lawyer hooks up with the werewolf thief in book two. Book three involves a witch-war over the vampire. Our witches are cousins from opposite sides of the Mason-Dixon Line, and for a while it’s a bit like the civil war all over again.

If you could share a flat with any of the tenants in Strange Neighbors, then who would it be?

What a great question! I love it. Well, I’m sure I’d avoid sharing 3A with the ghost. He likes to play pranks on people! The witches are already sharing a one bedroom apartment across the hall. The Vampire hides in a secret compartment behind a false wall in the cobwebby basement. Yuck. Not for me. The werewolf has a nice place. Loads of books on shelves lining his living room walls. Plus he strong in case I can’t open a jar. Yeah, I’d probably room with Konrad. 

(B: Konrad does sound interesting, I think I'd choose him too. I love books...and werewolves ;)

I must ask, any special interest in baseball, or was that just for fun?

Just for fun. Actually, I’m a football fan, and Tom Brady inspired the series. I had heard that he owned a condo building in Boston and lived in one of the units. Well, I had to change the details enough so that it wouldn’t look like I was actually writing a romantic comedy about him. His wife Giselle probably wouldn’t appreciate that! So I created Jason Falco, star lefty pitcher for the Boston Bullets and apartment building owner. He lives in the penthouse, of course.

Is there any genre you still want to try?

I don’t know. If there’s no romance, there’s no story in my opinion. I tried writing Young Adult once, but without the sex, it was just boring! (Laughs)

I see that you have written a lot of other books. Could you tell me about those?

My other books are erotic romances. Most are flat-out comedy and many are also paranormal. So if you like the hot love scenes between Jason and Merry in Strange Neighbors, you’ll enjoy all of my crazy books. http://www.ashlynchase.com/eroticbooks.html  

Who is your favorite hero or heroine from your books? What makes them so special?

That’s another really hard question. I still love Jake, the undercover cop in Quivering Thighs. And Shane (Crusher) Derby in Demolishing Mr. Perfect. Of course Adrian in Vampire Vintage was fun and drool-worthy. Randy has a special place in my heart in Being Randy as well as Dennis in Oh My God. Most of my heroes are incredibly charming. Usually they have good senses of humor and will put up with anything the heroine throws at them without losing their tempers. They can be rocked off balance though, and it’s fun to see that happen.

Which book of those you have written is your favorite, and what makes it so?

That’s like asking me to choose my favorite kid! (Laughs) I guess I can admit Oh My God might be the most important since it was my first erotic comedy, and that’s when I discovered my voice. I’m also very fond of the book I wrote with Dalton Diaz called Love Cuffs.

Are you working on something new and exciting right now?

Yes. I’m halfway through the third book in the Strange Neighbors series. This time it’s the vampire’s story. He moves into Apt 1B, known as ‘the love shack’ because anyone who moves in there finds the love of their lives before the last box is unpacked. (grins)

(B: Ooooo, I like the sound of that.)

What kinds of books do you read? Any fav authors?

I love reading the few authors that write in my subgenre of paranormal romantic comedy—Mary Janice Davidson, Gerry Bartlett, Katie McAlister…

Any advice for wannabe writers?

Never. Give. Up. It might not be the first book that gets published, or the second. It might be the fifth or the tenth, but keep on writing and submitting. It can’t happen if you quit.

Thank you so much for visiting today Ashlyn. It has been fun :)

And now for the Contest thanks to Sourcebooks.

Rules:

1. Ends June 14th (2 winners)

2. You need to Ask a question, or comment on the books.

3. Open to US and Canada

4. Please leave me a way to contact you if your email is not in your profile.

To the rest, be free to ask questions even if you are not entering :=) The more the merrier.

STRANGE NEIGHBORS BY ASHLYN CHASE—IN STORES JUNE 2010

He’s looking for peace, quiet, and a little romance…
There’s never a dull moment when hunky all-star pitcher and shapeshifter Jason Falco invests in an old Boston brownstone apartment building full of supernatural creatures. But when Merry MacKenzie moves into the ground floor apartment, the playboy pitcher decides he might just be done playing the field…

A girl just wants to have fun…
Sexy Jason seems like the perfect fling, but newly independent nurse Merry’s not sure she’s ready to trust him with her heart…especially when the tabloids start trumpeting his playboy lifestyle.
Then pandemonium breaks loose and Merry and Jason will never get it together without a little help from the vampire who lives in the basement and the werewolf from upstairs…

About the Author
A multi-published, award-winning author, Ashlyn Chase specializes in characters who reinvent themselves, having reinvented herself numerous times. Among her many day jobs, she has worked as a psychiatric nurse, run blood drives for the Red Cross, and now uses her degree in behavioral sciences to avoid writing exhaustive character sketches.  She lives with her true-life hero husband in beautiful New Hampshire.  For more information, please visit http://ashlynchase.com/.