Hello Christina, and thank you for visiting today. Tell us a little about yourself. Hi Melissa. Thank you for having me on your blog. It’s a great page. I’m Christina Hoffman. I’m originally from London England, but moved around a lot as a kid. I live in San Francisco right now. A great, if chilly, city. I thought California would be warmer! I’m writing Contemporary Romances that pretty much go against all the current trends. My stories definitely have sex in them (!), but I tried to make the characters more “real” than we might usually see. I don’t think Romance has to be completely separated from reality. Real people can have fantastic sex lives, so why not write about it? I’m probably completely wrong, and will likely starve to death. I hope you don't starve to death. That doesn't sound like a good time. Thanks for sharing about your life! It sounds like you have an interesting life. Now on to some personal questions. If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself? Jump. It gets worse. Kidding, kidding. I would tell myself that I was going to meet some amazing people and do some amazing things, so hang in there! For what are you grateful? There are just too many things to list. I was very very sick two years ago and barely made it out of the hospital. I still have terrible days when I need to crawl under the sheets, but I bounce back much faster these days. I guess I’m thankful for that perspective. I’m also very happy that I get to try to make a living writing stories that are a lot of fun. If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable? I am very out of touch with zombie lore (the audience gasps!). Do they bite you? If they sneeze on you, is that a problem? If you tell me how to kill them, I’ll do it NO problem! I think I have an angry streak that could really be tapped into in case of a zombie revolution. It seems like everyone has their own take on the zombie invasion. So at least I can count on you to fight. :) What television sitcom is most like your family? Why? My family is mainly my sister, who lost her husband in a car accident, and her two young munchkins. I don’t think they’ve made the sitcom yet where a slightly crazy aunt (who secretly writes dirty stories) hangs out at the PTA in order to try to give two little children a slightly more normal childhood. My personal life would likely be more like The Mindy Project. Maybe you need to write that television show! What’s your favorite thing to do to relax? It sounds decadent, but I had a massage (a real one – get your minds out of the gutter!!!) about three months ago, and it was incredible. I really believe it releases some kind of healthy chemical. I also like just being outside. And online shopping… Let’s find out a little bit about you as an author. Did you always want to be an author? The desire to write romance novels is new for me. In fact, it was more a case of a story appearing in my head and me deciding to figure out how to get it on paper (and eventually, published). Do you have any “must haves” with you while you’re writing? Diet Pepsi and candy. It’s terrible. I let myself have whatever I wanted while I was writing this book, because I was so anxious I needed it to help me calm down a bit. But if I get to write more books, I’ll need a better game plan. I also need to be warm and sort of cozy. And I can’t have a pretty window to look out of. What have you learned the most from being in the writing business? This makes me laugh, because what I’ve learned is that writing the book is the easy part. Three months ago, I would never have believed it. Since then I have had to learn the publishing business, advertising, and everything about social media and how to use it for promotion. Tell us about your latest release: INVITATION Blurb: Who says Heat can't be Sweet? Can the love of a good man bring you back to life? Dr. Liam Mason wants to try... Madison Spencer is a focused medical student, concerned only with work and paying the bills. She hides her beauty and once passionate spirit behind a quiet plain Jane facade. Since she was drugged, stripped, and photographed by a vengeful ex, she has stayed away from men and kept her heart and body safe. But the loneliness is becoming more than she can bear. When heart-stoppingly gorgeous Dr. Liam Mason walks into her world, she knows she's in trouble. The attraction is instant, but Madison expects her past to be a deal-breaker. Instead, Liam offers to bring her back to life with passion and pleasure. No love, no commitment, just straight-up fun. Madison's sensible mind resists, but her body is willing. Together the young doctors explore days and nights of pleasure, slowly becoming much more than bedmates. Deep inside, each wonders if they've found their perfect match. But their fears threaten to destroy the world they're building together. Will they each be strong enough and brave enough to risk their hearts to have it all? Please note: this title contains adult sexual content and is not intended for readers under 18 years old. How did you decide on your story plot? The story really just came to me over the course of a couple of days. I knew I wanted to tell the story of a person who had once been very passionate and open to life’s experiences, but who had been shut down. I wanted to show the value of sexual intimacy as something good and even healing. Once I had that part of the story, I had to create characters that could make this happen. Do you have a favorite scene? Why? I do have a favorite scene, but talking about it would be a total spoiler. Maybe I can come back after the book’s been out for a while and we’ll chat. Do you have a character that you identify with? Who and why? I don’t know about me identifying with the character, but I think I knew a Liam once. He had a lot of bravado, but I missed that he was really sweet and generous underneath. I was young and stupid, and might have missed out on something really great. You’ll have to see if Madison is wiser than I was. Let our readers know how they can get a hold of you… · http://goodreads.com/goodreadscomsmart_sexy · http://www.twitter.com/choffmanbooks · http://www.christinahoffman.com · http://www.facebook.com/christinahoffman.smartand sexy · http://www.amazon.com/author/christinahoffman Is there anything else that you want to share… feel free!! I just want to say thank you, Melissa. Blogs like yours are launching great books and writers into the world who might not otherwise get that chance. And most of you do it for free. Writers should never forget how much we owe you. Purchase your copy: AMAZON Discuss this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE Title: Invitation Author: Christina Hoffman Publisher: Christina Hoffman Pages: 187 Genre: Contemporary Romance Format: Paperback/Kindle Purchase at AMAZON Madison Spencer is a serious medical student, focused only on work and hiding her beauty and her once-passionate spirit behind a quiet plain-Jane facade. Since she was drugged, stripped, assaulted and photographed by a vengeful ex, she has stayed away from men and kept her heart and body safe. But when heart-stoppingly gorgeous Dr. Liam Mason walks into her world, she knows she's in trouble. After finding out about her devastating past, Liam offers to bring her back to life with physical passion. Madison thinks she should be repelled, but she's intrigued and can't turn him away. Together they explore days and nights of pleasure, and slowly develop into something more than bedmates. Deep inside they each wonder if they've found their perfect match. But with Liam's fear of being dragged down by commitment, and Madison's fear of being hurt by another man threatening to destroy the world they’ve built together, will they each be strong enough and brave enough to risk their hearts to have it all? First Chapter: I can't even blame it on the booze. There wasn't any, or at least there wasn't any for me. I was with Chloe, my bodyguard. Okay, actually she was my friend, but a really overprotective friend who knew all about what I’d been through and wanted to make sure it never happened again. So, no alcohol. But, what she and I hadn't counted on was him being there. There I was, minding my own business, putting in my time at the Med School Social, more than ready to head home for some studying, then Chinese food and a movie. And suddenly, him. I was inhaling when I caught sight of him, but my breath just stopped. It felt like being punched in the chest. I kept telling myself, look away, look away! But it was impossible. I was paralyzed. His beautiful face and magnificent body were magnets, and my eyes were locked on them. I hadn't felt this kind of physical attraction since, well, ever. I had never felt like that. I had stayed away from men for two years. I was pretty much terrified of them, to tell the truth. But there he was. Unavoidable and irresistible. I saw him in profile. Oh, that hair. Thick, almost curly, falling into his eyes. The kind of hair you need to gently push off of his face right before you kiss him. Or, the kind of hair you grab really hard right before you're about to... But, I'm getting ahead of myself. The point I'm trying to make is that my mind very clearly recognized all the dangers ahead and was saying, “Turn around, go, get out of here! Before it's too late.” But then he turned around to look right at me. It was already too late. We held each other's gaze a second longer than politeness required. Something inside me went click, and for the first time in almost two years, I felt young and alive, and really, really turned on. Every part of me suddenly woke up, and all the best parts started to tingle. I was breathing harder. My lips parted slightly, already begging to be kissed. It was a little overwhelming. I was out of practice. No, actually, I had never had the kind of practice you would need to stay controlled in a situation like that. I think maybe you can have a soul mate for your mind, and also one for your body. And my body was saying “Get me over there right now!” But I was still too afraid. I smiled a little and turned away. I had to stay for a while, to look sociable, so I went over to the food table and stared at the snacks, which were already stale. Nothing looked very good, and my throat was too tight to eat anyway. I was starting to formulate a plan for escaping without the other students or the teachers noticing when I felt the air move behind me, the softest caress against my bare shoulders. Then, a hand on my back, an electric shock to my body, wildly pleasurable. I gasped and spun around. Right into the arms of... “I'm Liam.” Liam. Right into the arms of Liam. Oh, he was even more beautiful up close. My hand rose all on its own to push that wonderful floppy hair from his face. I stopped suddenly, embarrassed, but he caught my wrist, and held my palm gently to his face. We looked at each other and knew. “Wanna get out of here?” he asked, and of course, foolish, foolish woman that I am, I said, “Yes.” I saw him my first day at the new hospital. I'm a medical student and had just finished the lecture part of things where we sit around learning about chemical reactions and body parts. That was over, at last, and we were moving on to seeing real live patients in the hospital. The orientation was step one in getting us ready for our new roles. We each got a short lab coat and a tour of the locker rooms. We received our ID tag photos. I'm not sure why I first noticed Liam. Since the bad thing happened, I keep my head down and make eye contact with pretty much nobody. I wear my hair in a tight bun at the nape of my neck and my clothes are dull and loose. On that particular day, I was trying very hard to concentrate. I was excited to be starting work in the hospital, but I was mostly terrified. There was so much to take in and remember. My head was reeling after only two hours. The last thing on my mind was men. So, who knows why I took that second look as he walked by our group. Well, actually I do know why. He was gorgeous. Ridiculously gorgeous. Dark wavy hair, just slightly overgrown so he looked like a happy surfer who'd tumbled out of bed. Smiling eyes. Sparkling, mischievous, movie star eyes. A little bit of stubble, likely because he had been on call all night. The rest of him looked pretty much immaculate. He wore light wool pants and a sky blue shirt. No tie, but the white lab coat made him look professional enough. I was dedicated to maintaining my nun-like lifestyle, but, seriously, it was impossible not to look at him. Even Chloe noticed him. She looked at him, then at me. She shook her head lightly and whispered, “No”. I laughed a little because she sounded like a mom telling a toddler that she couldn't have any candy. Well, that was pretty much what was happening, so I guess Chloe nailed that. She was absolutely right. I didn't want any trouble. Certainly not that awful, frightening feeling of falling in love. No time-consuming romance. And certainly not all the time I had lost trying to recover from the trauma of what had happened before. Even a plain old tiny heartbreak could set me back, and put me way off course in my career. No, I didn't have the time or energy for any distractions. Nothing. Just work and school. So I ignored the stunning resident with the black hair, and tried to focus on the tall blond giving us the orientation spiel. This was much easier because I felt no attraction to him at all. He was really handsome, too. But something about him seemed mean. Or maybe arrogant. It's hard to remember what I thought of him that first time, because the memory is so clouded with all that came after. I'll just say he was a tall, slim blond who should have caught my eye, but didn’t. Christina Hoffman was born in London, England. She moved with her family throughout Canada and the US, and has finally put down her suitcase, for now, in San Francisco. She believes that everyone has the right to feel both smart and sexy. We don't have to be one or the other! She writes stories about characters who live in the real world and who, somehow, still believe in love. She's starting a mini-revolution. She writes sexy stories, but hasn't lost the romance from her Romances. Enough with whips -- back to lips! She hopes you enjoy her stories and see yourself in her characters. After all, they are based on smart and sexy people, just like you. Christina’s latest book is the contemporary romance, Invitation. Visit her website at www.christinahoffman.com. Connect & Socialize! TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS 5/23/2014 05:00:34 pm
Dear Melissa, Comments are closed.
|
Melissa KeirGator Girl Extraordinaire Archives
October 2023
|