Interview and giveaway – Virna DePaul

Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books!

We are finally at the last event of an exciting week!  This past week we have been participating in the Spring Blog Carnival and Giveaway.  If you want to enter, simply click HERE to go to the form.  Also this week, we have been featuring  Virna DePaul’s books.  She’s an author that I found out about by accident.  I was offered one of her books to read and review by The Romance Reviews and said yes.  I’ve now read 4 of her stories and have enjoyed them all.  This past week I’ve posted reviews of all four stories – each one unique in their own way.  Feel free to cruise back through the week to find out about some great reads!  Virna has been gracious enough to provide us with all the giveaways for this week.  This is a giveaway worth entering!

To tie things up this week, I asked Virna to join us in an interview.  This would allow her to talk briefly about things I didn’t cover in the other posts!  Without further ado – here’s the interview:

Barb –  Can you please explain briefly your transition from prosecutor to author!

Virna – My transition from prosecutor to writer was painfully slow. In other words, I was dissatisfied with law for a long time but it took me awhile to believe I could do something else. I wrote while working for three years, then finally took a leap of faith. I didn’t sell for close to a year after that, but the second I left law, I knew it was the right decision.

Barb –  In Chosen by Blood, what is your favorite scene and why?

Virna – The one where the team parachutes from a spy plane into North Korea.  I love it because it’s action-packed, but also delves into the emotion/nerves of the team, and is one of the earlier scenes that shows them coming to trust one another.

Barb –  Tell us about the sequel to Chosen by Blood and what else you are working on.

Virna – Chosen By Fate, Book 2 in the Para-Ops series, is about the team’s ghost, Wraith, and its human psychic Shaman, Caleb O’Flare.  Wraith and Caleb first meet in Book 1 and their strong reactions to one another are the product of complex back stories.  In their own ways, Wraith and Caleb have to deal with the tension between pain and pleasure, a dichotomy that is brought to the forefront when they set out on their next mission, investigating a series of crimes in the feline community.

I’m also working on a few things for my other publisher. I’m so excited to be writing paranormals for Berkley, but also contemporary romantic suspense for Harlequin.  My debut novel with Harlequin Romantic Suspense, Dangerous To Her, comes out in September 2011.  It’s about an undercover cop who poses as a bailiff in order to investigate a judge.  He ends up reuniting with his college love and discovers she’s harbored a secret for almost a decade.  I’ve also just sold another story to HRS about a woman who must accept the reopening of her mother’s murder investigation by the one man she hoped never to see again.  Finally, in April of 2012, I’ll be launching a new series with HQN.

Barb –  The only one of your collection that I haven’t read or reviewed this week is A Vampire’s Salvation.  Can you tell us a little bit about this story?

Virna – Jacob La Costa Rios is the head of the California governor’s security team; he’s also a vampire who wants the governor, a presidential hopeful, to support the peaceful integration of vampires into human society. Unfortunately, there are others who oppose Jake’s plan. Plus, Jake’s a little distracted by discovering his one true mate, the human female who can give him everything he’s always wanted: love, children, and continuing immortality.

Francesca Marie Stewart is the governor’s “go-green” political consultant. Although she’s been attracted to Jake from day one, her priority is her career and protecting her heart. But then Jake blatantly propositions her and Frankie, who hasn’t experienced sexual intimacy since she was seventeen-years-old, decides it’s time to take what she wants—within reason.

No matter—once Jake makes love to Frankie, he knows reason will be the farthest thing from her mind. Then he just has to eliminate the person threatening her, reveal the fact he’s a vampire, and convince her that trusting him will bring both of them eternal happiness.

Barb –  If you could ask your readers one question, what would it be?

Virna – What’s your favorite scene from one of my stories?

Barb –  I can list all your various contact points, but what is the best way for your readers to get hold of you to keep up to date with what’s going on?

Virna – I definitely try to keep my readers current through social media and through my website.  So if they join my mailing list at www.virnadepaul.com and “like” my Facebook fan page they’ll know about what’s coming next!

Thank you so much, Barb, for interviewing me and hosting me this entire week.  I’ve enjoyed meeting your readers and am so grateful for the way you’ve supported the launch of my debut novel!

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I’d like to thank Virna for being so generous with her books and her time!  I’ve enjoyed featuring Virna for that past week, and I hope that you will enjoy her books as much as I have.

So, as a special treat for those of you who have read to the end…..Virna said that she would love to hear about our favorite scenes…..I’ll giveaway a $10 gift card to someone who comments on this post with their favorite scene 🙂  My favorite scene is from Chosen by Blood is when Felicia and Lucy take down a fighter named Randolph.  Felicia is absolutely a kick-ass heroine!  So what’s your’s??  Just leave a comment!