Author Saturday Spotlight: Bru Baker *Interview and Giveaway*

I am very excited to have M/M romance author Bru Baker as my Spotlight author today. I became a fan of hers over night. That's how easy it was for me to become a fan! Every author's style is their fingerprint in the writing world. They are defined by it. Bru Baker writes a story that pretty much covers every emotion and you easily fall in love with her characters. It's one thing to write one book that people love. To write many and keep your fans and build on them is something else entirely!

Bru Baker took time out of her writing to answer some questions I had for her, and I can tell you all it's exciting. She discusses her future projects (So exciting) and lets us see inside her mind a bit.

I always love an author for their talent. When I get these opportunities to talk to them and find out they are amazing, smart, respectful, funny people it makes me so happy and just want to buy their books all over again! Bru Baker is that wonderful.

So let's check out some of her books ( ALL OF WHICH YOU CAN SEE ON HER GOODREADS PAGE) Bru Baker on Goodreads

THE BUYOUT
Blurb:
All Parker Anderson has ever wanted is to take over as CEO of Anderson Industries when his father retires. But when his father is ready to leave the company, he doesn’t plan to pass the reins to Parker. Instead, he plans to sell the company, jeopardizing not only Parker’s job but hundreds of others.

Parker finds an unlikely ally in Mason Pike, the company’s resident IT guru. What starts as a flirtation takes them from coworkers to coconspirators in a plan to forcibly buy Anderson Industries out from under Parker’s father. While they focus on the buyout, their budding romance has to be put on hold, but that doesn't stop them from flirting and teasing each other to distraction—and once their master plan comes to fruition, nothing and no one can keep them apart

DROPPING ANCHOR SERIES:
Book One: Island House

Blurb:
Unable to move on after the death of his lover, British expat Niall Ahern clings to Nolan's dream of living in the Caribbean by moving to Tortola. Once there, he finds that not even the beauty of the island can fill the hole in his heart. Broke and spent in nearly every way imaginable, Niall wants out of the lonely, miserable, guilt-ridden life he's carved out for himself.

When Ethan Bettencourt, a wealthy tech guru, shows up in British Virgin Islands looking to purchase a second home, he gives Niall hope that he can move on. Both men fall hard and fast, but Niall finds piloting his yacht in the midst of a hurricane is nothing compared to weathering life's simple misunderstandings. As their troubles come between them, Niall is left to wonder if he and Ethan are over before they've begun

Book Two: Finding Home

Blurb:
Unable to move on after the death of his lover, British expat Niall Ahern clings to Nolan's dream of living in the Caribbean by moving to Tortola. Once there, he finds that not even the beauty of the island can fill the hole in his heart. Broke and spent in nearly every way imaginable, Niall wants out of the lonely, miserable, guilt-ridden life he's carved out for himself.

When Ethan Bettencourt, a wealthy tech guru, shows up in British Virgin Islands looking to purchase a second home, he gives Niall hope that he can move on. Both men fall hard and fast, but Niall finds piloting his yacht in the midst of a hurricane is nothing compared to weathering life's simple misunderstandings. As their troubles come between them, Niall is left to wonder if he and Ethan are over before they've begun

Will there be a book 3 in that series? You'll have to read the interview to find out :)

Branded
Blurb
When a would-be assassin sneaks into the citadel disguised as a servant, the king requires that all servants who work in the castle be branded with the royal crest for easy identification. Prince Coren is powerless to fight the edict, but he refuses to allow his personal advisor and secret lover Brannir to suffer alone. Coren shows his devotion by wielding the brand to mark Brannir himself, even though he fears it will change their relationship. He's prepared for resentment, hurt, and anger--every outcome but the one he receives: unconditional love.

Again, check out Bru Bakers Goodreads page and check out all her books. SHE IS HAVING A READER'S CHOICE GIVEAWAY so you'll want to check and see which one you'd want!


***INTERVIEW***

You have so many amazing books. How do you plot out your stories?

Aw, thank you! I think it would be overly generous to say that I plot things out. Sometimes it's a necessity, like with the Dropping Anchor series, since that required pre-approval from my publisher before I started it. So with that one, I did actually sit down and come up with a general plot synopsis for each book. But for my novellas and shorts, honestly I just jump in and start writing. I usually have a general idea of where I want things to go, but nothing is set in stone. (For example, my next novella release, Late Bloomer, went a totally different direction than I intended. I thought it would be a short, hot story about a friends-with-benefits relationship, and instead it's probably the sweetest, sappiest slow-build romance I've written.)

The Dropping Anchor Series is brilliant. With a series what do you find to be the easiest and the hardest part?

This was my first series, so there was a pretty big learning curve for me. I thought it would be all rainbows and unicorns, and it definitely wasn't. Some of the things that should have made it easy, like having the same general cast of characters throughout all three books, actually made it more complicated. I had to keep track of all kinds of details about the characters that I wouldn't have had to do if the books were one-offs, and that was time consuming and frustrating.

That said, I tend to fall in love with my characters. I try to write people who I'd want to be friends with, so getting to interact with them over the span of three books was a real treat.

The theme of the entire series is personal growth and overcoming obstacles, both for the individual characters and in their relationships. So doing that in three very different ways was a bit of a challenge, but I think I managed it well. It was also a bit challenging to keep to the nautical theme, since there isn't a lot of inspiration for that in the landlocked Midwest where I live!

Some authors have a set character in their head and they sort of carbon copy pieces of it into their work. Is there certain characters of yours that all share a common trait?

Like I said earlier, pretty much all of my characters are someone I'd want to be friends with. I try to write them as real people, meaning they have flaws and personality quirks just like the rest of us. I value a sense of humor in my own friends, so if there was one overarching trait that most of my characters share, it would probably be that.

Where do you hope to see yourself in five years?

Hopefully still here, writing. I'm coming to the end of my second year as an M/M romance writer, and I'm still in love with what I do. As my books have (slowly) begun to take off, I've been transitioning away from my day job as a freelance journalist, taking fewer assignments and spending more time working on fiction. In five years I hope I'll be transitioned over to writing fiction full time.

Can you tell us about any of your future work?

I have three books coming out between now and the end of the year. All In a Day's Work is an anthology that a few other authors and I came together to write about workplace romances. My piece in it is a nod to fandom, which is how I got drawn into writing M/M in the first place. It's about co-hosts of a television show that have such amazing on-air chemistry that their fans believe they're together. They are, of course, but not in the kind of #OTP relationship that fandom is convinced they share. The story is one of eight shorts in the anthology.

Late Bloomer will be out around the holidays. It's about a romance that blossoms between David, a gruff misanthrope who avoids dating after having his heart broken, and Erik, his polar opposite. The two of them dancing around their attraction to each other through the novella was so much fun to write.

Playing House is the third (and final) book in the Dropping Anchor series. The story includes the cast of characters from the series, but it revolves around Frank and Warner and their struggle to decide whether or not to start a family. Like all books in the series, there are emotional obstacles that stand in the way, and the book focuses on Frank and his journey of getting to know himself through his struggle over whether or not he could be a parent.

I also have two novel manuscripts and two novella manuscripts I've been working on, so that should stock up 2015 pretty well, too. *g*

Has your research ever taken you to, or lead you to some interesting places?

I spent a week watching videos of strike branding, which is searing flesh with a hot branding iron, while I was researching for my historical, Branded. It was eye-opening and more than a little disgusting, but I wanted to be as realistic as possible in the book.

What inspires you?

I was a voracious reader as a child. I still am. I am always amazed at how a well-crafted book can actually draw me into the scene so vividly that I can see it playing out in my head, and I try my best to accomplish that in my own writing. Whenever I need to recharge, I take a week or so off and just read. It never fails to inspire me and help me launch back into my own writing with renewed enthusiasm.

You write in the M/M genre. Did it choose you or did you choose it and would you ever venture outside of it?

I'd read a lot of heterosexual romance as a teenager and young adult, but I'd never had anything really grab me until I discovered the M/M genre a few years ago. So I suppose you could say it chose me!

Right now most of what is on my plate is in the M/M genre, but I'm also writing a few non-romance manuscripts and a YA paranormal manuscript. Those are back-burner projects at the moment, since right now I have more manuscripts than I can handle going in the M/M genre.

How do you find time to write with your little ones around? I've often wondered how it's done... I'd love to know so I can master it.

I've always been a night owl, which is something that served me well as a journalist in newsrooms where most of the work happened late at night. I usually write in the early morning after getting my oldest off to school and then late at night after both kids are in bed. It's not unusual for me to be up writing until two or three in the morning...and then get up at six to start the shuffle off to school and write some more. There's a lot of coffee in my life. Like, ridiculous amounts.

My youngest will be starting kindergarten this year, so I'm hoping to get more writing time in during the day. We'll see how that goes. Fingers crossed for more sleep!

How can your readers follow your work in social media?

I'm pretty active on Twitter! @bru_baker

You can also follow Bru on her website and check out her books there as well : www.bru-baker.com 

Author Bio:

Bru Baker is a freelance journalist who writes for newspapers and magazines. Fiction makes her happiest, whether it's creating her own characters or getting caught up in someone else's. She and her husband live in the Midwest with their two young children, whose antics make finding time to write difficult but never let life get boring.

As I stated above, Bru Baker is being awesome and offering one fan an ebook of their choice. Simply go to her GR page or her website and make your selection. Contest will run from August 2nd until August 8th. Winner will be notified via email. Please respond within 48 hours of winning and Bru will send you your ebook in the format of your choosing!

Good luck everyone and thank you, Bru, for being awesome!

 

 

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