The time we were in the Book Boyfriend Den

Posted May 9, 2014 by Stacee in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Interviews | 9 Comments

As I said in my review for Breakable, Christina [AKA my Pretty Prancy PA] invited me to be part of her blog tour stop for Tammara Webber. We set up a date to meet Tammara and her super swoony creation, Lucas in The Book Hookup secret lair the Book Boyfriend Den for some drinks and an interview.

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Let’s go join Christina  for the conversation, shall we?

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*peeks in doorway*

Christina runs around doing last minute straightening up; she tends to do a lot of cleaning when she has nervous energy. In walks Stacee and Christina immediately jumps on her back. (This is a bit of an inside joke.)

“Holy hell, Stacee, can you even freaking believe that we’re about to meet Tammara Webber and Lucas “Lickable” Maxfield!?!?”

Bri is going to be so jealous.”

“Ridiculously jealous. I’d be jealous if I weren’t here today. Too bad she’s already called dibs. *cough* You think there’s a chance he might show up naked? *cough*”

“There’s going to be alcohol, so I’d say anything is possible.  Maybe if we’re persuasive?”

“Objectives for today: Liquor up Lucas enough so we can see him get naked. Got it. I hope Jacqueline doesn’t get upset. Wait! Was that a car door? Don’t let me make a fool of myself!”

“Just keep your eyes on the prize…which is absolutely getting Lucas naked.”

Then, the door is opening and Lucas is standing there in all his tall, muscular, tattooed and pierced glory. Of course, he holds the door open for Tammara and it takes considerable effort for Christina and Stacee not to swoon immediately. But the fangirl in us is strong, and we get right to work and welcome our guests.

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Christina: So, before we get started, anyone need a drink? We have a stocked bar. I hope you guys won’t be offended that I’m sticking to water today. Even without liquor, I lack a good filter, so with it, I become rather chatty and flirtatious. Needless to say, if I were to mix in alcohol and this conversation *looks pointedly at Lucas*, shameless attempts at throwing myself at him shenanigans would be inevitable.

TW: Awesome! Margarita – rocks with salt, please.

LM: I’ll take a Guinness. Thanks.

Me: Sure, I guess I’ll drink, but don’t hold me accountable for any of my actions. I’ll take an amaretto sour, please.

Now, like the good girls that we are, we’ll get to the business side of the questions before we get to the more entertaining ones.

First, we’ll start out with an easy one for Tammara. What is the one thing about publishing that you wish someone would have told you?

TW: I wish I’d been a bit more prepared for the public spotlight part of it. I’m NOT a big deal, but when I walk out my door, I’m hyper aware of the fact that someone could know who I am, wherever I go. As something of an introvert, that awareness can be unnerving. When I first published Between the Lines, my boss’s boss said he was worried that I would, “Get famous and quit.” I laughed my ass off, because that was the silliest thing I’d ever heard. I felt pretty sheepish when I resigned a few months later. I gave five weeks notice instead of two because I felt so guilty for leaving.

Now, mostly because we’re nosy-rosies, we want the inside scoop on Easy and Breakable. Can you tell us how much of yourself, if any, was in these books? Was Lucas easy to talk to—was he an open book, constant chatterbox or did he make you have to work to get him to talk about his life? More so, was his side of the story something you always knew you were going to write or rather an idea that wouldn’t leave you alone after Easy was published?

TW: I’m all about reaching into my heart and soul and exploiting any emotional trauma I’ve endured in order to understand and/or craft my characters, but I don’t write autobiographical characters. I never intended to write a story that touched on sexual assault. At all, ever. I was raped by a friend/ classmate in college. I didn’t report it, and I told no one for 12 years. Jacqueline’s story was quite different from mine, but even still, I was terrified to publish it because it was more like putting myself out there than anything I’d written before.

Lucas didn’t speak to me when I wrote Easy. I only heard from Jacqueline. My prior novels were narrated in alternating-POVs, but he wasn’t like my other guys, who wanted their stories told. It was about a year after I published Easy before I woke up with bits of Landon’s story in my head, and I knew Lucas was finally ready to talk. He was definitely not a chatterbox, but I’m not a pushy person, even to my characters. I gave him time and room, and he handed it over, slowly. Now that I know all of it, I understand why he was so guarded.

Without going into much (spoilery) detail, Tammara, can you tell us what was the easiest and hardest thing about Lucas’ story to write? Lucas, on the flip side, was there anything about your story that you were nervous about her sharing or was it a little freeing to finally have it out in the open and not weighing you down anymore?

TW: The technical aspects were definitely the most difficult part of writing this novel – getting the viewpoints to line up – Landon’s to Lucas’s, and Easy’s to Breakable’s. There were parts of Landon’s past that flowed more easily. I had a rougher time writing Easy scenes from Lucas’s POV than anything else. It may seem like that would be the least challenging thing a writer could do, but in my experience – it wasn’t.

LM: I wasn’t nervous about sharing, or I wouldn’t have shared. It was like therapy, I guess – necessary, but at some point, you’ve worked through the issues and it’s over. I don’t feel the need for everything to be in the open, except in my relationship with Jacqueline. We’re both ready to move on. If it’s okay with you ladies, I’m just going to go home after this and pretend it’s not all out there. ;)

Lastly, and because we couldn’t not ask… Lucas, have you ever given thought about redoing all your old piercings? There were quite a few and we think you’d look even more delicious with them in. Any plans for getting a new tattoo(s)? If so, can we watch while you get them?

LM: C’mon, now ladies. *shakes his head* Some of that is classified info. I actually got a new tattoo representing Jacqueline, right here, next to my mother’s rose. *places hand over his heart* Oh – you want to see it? *pulls T-shirt over his head and ignores the sighs* It’s the musical score – a bit of the chorus – of the song J and I listened to a long time ago, in her dorm room. It’s called Hardliners, by Holcombe Waller. That song conjured her up to me, every time I heard it. Still does. J wrote out the score, and I sketched it into this design, and our tattoo artist put it on both of us. Same place. *gives that ghost smile, with an extra dose of wicked* It looks even better on her. *shrugs shirt back on*

Now, for the more fun, less serious questions…

Lucas, you worked at Starbucks at one time, so we’re wondering what type of drink best represents Jacqueline and Tammara, and why?

LM: Something hot and sweet. Jacqueline, because she is both those things, and Tammara, because she laughed so hard when I told her that story for Breakable. Okay, seriously – J loves her Americano, with sugar and cream. See? Hot and sweet. And Tammara likes black tea lemonade. Maybe because she’s half sweet, half acerbic. *winks at Tammara, who rolls her eyes and smirks*

Tammara, do you have mood music while writing? If so, what are your favorite tunes? Lucas, what’s your go-to music; whether it be a song/artist/genre?

TW: I have playlists – really long playlists – that I listen to when I’m working on a book. I narrow them down when I’m finished and assign a song to each chapter, which usually takes me a few days. My musical tastes are all over the place and always have been. I’m not a music snob – I’ll listen to anything I like, and I refuse to take any guff about it. I’m in love with some Safetysuit and Griffin Peterson tunes at the moment. *gives Lucas a quirked brow*

LM: Yeah, no guff, I got it. *smiles and shrugs* Me – I like to discover local bands and singer/songwriters who live and play nearby, so I can go to shows. I prefer indie music – stuff you’ll hear on college and university stations that might never make it to the big, corporately-owned stations. Of course, I listen to plenty of pop and country here and there, because Jacqueline does.

You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

TW: First, I would bawl my eyes out and beg and plead for that not to be true because SERIOUSLY. I guess… if I had to narrow down to one… Pride and Prejudice would win.

LM: Easy, of course. I love reading what Jacqueline was thinking about me… major turn-on.

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You’re stranded on a desert island, what three chosen items would you want to have with you?

TW: (1) GLASSES, because otherwise I would die from thinking a big snake was an inner tube or a pretty scarf. (2) My inhaler, because breathing is good. (3) Can I take margaritas? My favorite bartender? Rats – I guess the third one should be fresh water… (I learned that from reading On the Island). Wait. My husband. Although I shouldn’t want him to be stranded with me. That would be selfish…

LM: Jacqueline, fishing gear, and a big effing knife.

Describe your perfect date in 5 (or should we do 10?) words or less? (Ours would include Lucas being shirtless at some point, just saying.)

TW: A personal chef comes over, cooks a fabulous meal, brings a server to keep wine glasses topped off, clear plates and do all the dishes. (That was way more than ten words… Oh hell with it – that’s my ideal date. Could you guys show this to my husband? I’ve got an anniversary coming up.)

LM: Jacqueline, my apartment, brownies, action flick on the flat screen. (I feel like I’m cheating, because I get my perfect date all the time…)

TW: Staaahhhp! You’re making real men look bad!

LM: Maybe Paul just needs to step it up a little.

TW: You do realize that if Paul wasn’t already stepping it up, you might never have been created, right?

LM: Point taken.

And just because we’re silly, what was your favorite childhood game to play?

TW: Tag. I was really fast. (I wasn’t a big fan of board games.)

LM: My mom liked to play this board game called SORRY. She always demanded to be the red pieces, and she won at least ninety percent of the time. When she would bump Dad’s or my piece back home, she’d say, “Sooorryyyy!” when she obviously wasn’t even the slightest bit sorry. *smiles*

Quickfire questions:

Cake or pie? pie

Books or e-copies? books

Coffee or Tea? Nooooooo… please don’t make me chooooose

Beach or mountains? beach

Chocolate or fruity candy: chocolate

Last spontaneous thing you did? I self-published a book.

Favorite food for breakfast? coffee

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Tammara Webber c Ami KellerTammara Webber is author of the New York Times bestselling New Adult novel Easy, the first novel in her Contours of the Heart series, and the Between the Lines series.  She is a hopeful romantic who adores novels with happy endings, because there are enough sad endings in real life.  Before writing full-time, she was an undergraduate academic advisor, economics tutor, planetarium office manager, radiology call center rep, and the palest person to ever work at a tanning salon.  She married her high school sweetheart, and is a mom to three adult kids and four very immature cats.

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Huge thanks to Tammara and Lucas for taking the time to deal with our fangirling be here. Make sure you’re subscribing to Tammara’s blog, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads shelf.

And extra squishy hugs to my PA for everything inviting me.

Now.  Haven’t gotten your greedy hands on Easy or Breakable? Well, I’ve got a set of e-copies up for grabs! Winner must have ability to get e-copies and will have a choice of Kindle or Nook.  Additional giveaway rules are here.

And…go here for another chance to win from The Book Hookup.

**Good Luck!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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