Christine ~ Essence of Time by Liz Crowe

Please welcome Liz  author of Essence of Time.

Liz will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.

Please use the raffelcopter below to leave a comment for a chance to win.

Essence of Time

by Liz Crowe

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INTERVIEW:

1. How did you come up with ideas for your books?

The STEWART REALTY SERIES, which is the set of books that really got me launched at least on a small level as an author came to me when I was working as a successful realtor in Ann Arbor. There are so many opportunities for sitting around and thinking up “what-if’s” and so one year I did that.

ESSENCE OF TIME is part of the Stewart Realty story arc but is 100% readable and enjoyable as a stand alone novel. It came about because the secondary cast of characters in the first 3 books (fan-dubbed “The Jack & Sara Trilogy” of Floor Time/Sweat Equity/Closing Costs) were so interesting and crucial to the story that I wanted them to have their own novel.

So the “Rob and Blake” novel was crafted and remains a fan favorite within the series (but remember you do not have to read any of the others to appreciate this one, although you will likely get hooked on these folks once you do)

2. What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

That my characters and plots will never (ever, ever) be predictable. Not only do I set my books in fairly unique situations (small business owners feature in all of them) my “people” will act in ways that many reviewers call “distressingly realistic.” Which is to say, you should leave all expectations and assumptions about my books at the door when you crack one open!

3. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

I have a really great series I will be self-publishing in January called THE LOVE BROTHERS. It is a “real life family saga” series set in modern day horse country near Lexington, Kentucky. I’m excited and yet terrified at the same time to be self publishing!

But I also have a “find an agent” project sitting on my computer, waiting for my attention—it’s a thriller novel set in future Detroit.

4. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

No one really encouraged me. I took this all on myself, did a bit of research about who was publishing what I got something accepted within a year (at a very small publishing company). Then I got a few more things accepted at a slightly bigger publisher, then finally found a “home” for the Stewart Realty series with a very small publisher but that has been my best experience so far. I also have a book with a Big Romance Publisher.

5. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

BEST: Never discount the value of a hard edit—the kind that makes you huffy, defensive and want to cry. Those are the ones you learn the most from.

WORST: Never deviate from a formula because readers just won’t “get it.”

6. Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I am a 100% pantser. But The Editor Who Shall Not Be Named who is helping me with the thriller novel is slowly, but surely, breaking me of that. It’s painful, but I allow myself to pants along with some projects as a bit of a break. I’m not sure why outlining is so hard for me but it is interesting to hear from authors who can ONLY write if the whole novel is fleshed out on a whiteboard or stickie notes.

7. Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

As a former marketing director for a craft brewery, I learned a LOT about that product and process and include it in nearly every book I’ve written. ESSENCE OF TIME is about 2 men who are business partners and brewers (they own a brew pub together).

8. Do you have an all time favorite book?

Yes: Gone With The Wind.

9. Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?

LOVE GARAGE: The Love Brothers Book 1 is about the oldest and youngest sons in a tight-knit Irish/Italian descent family of 4 sons and one daughter. Antony Love owns the garage, and his brother Aiden has come home after dropping out of the MFA program at Iowa and needs to work with him (and live with him) a while. There are 2 more planned plus a potential novella. It’s already a “highly anticipated book of 2015” on Goodreads I might add. You can look it up and read the working blurb there.

1. Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?

It’s a moment that many (many) fans of ESSENCE OF TIME hit and claim they “never saw coming.” This book comes with a “tissue box” warning regarding that very moment. Just saying.

BLURB:

A “take life by the throat” philosophy has always served Rob well. It keeps him focused, forcing emotions and potential relationships to take a back seat to his aspirations. But once every obstacle has been conquered and he’s achieved his goal—executive chef at a famous Chicago restaurant—he must acknowledge that he has reached his mid-thirties very much alone.

Blake has just jettisoned his dream job—head of a fast-growing craft microbrewery—to escape from the woman who shattered his soul. Arriving at a Chicago beer festival prepared to drown his sorrows before moving on he is miserable and numb.

Fate throws the men together altering their respective worlds forever

Once Rob reveals the personal demon that has haunted him for years, Blake allows himself to fully trust again, and admits he wants a child. But a mutual attraction evolves out of a business arrangement with the woman hired as their surrogate, which has the potential to destroy an already delicate status quo.

But time is of the essence, and becomes the one luxury they don’t have.

An honest depiction of a modern relationship mosaic reminding us to treasure every single moment we are allowed to love and be loved.

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EXCERPT:

Rated PG 13 for language and implied ménage relationship

Rob interrupted him, keeping his distance, his voice low and calm. “I don’t want to do anything that will make you unhappy. It’s all I do anymore it seems. I know, I know, me being sick doesn’t make you unhappy it makes you mad. Whatever. Listen,” Rob said, taking the few steps between them and pulling Blake to his feet. “You look like you’re about to walk in front of a firing squad. Fuck it. Let’s call it off.”

“No.” Blake let himself be held a moment, listened to the sound of his lover’s beating heart, his arms wrapped around the man’s too-thin waist. “It’s okay. She’s…I mean, I think it will be fine.”

Rob tilted his chin up. Blake studied Rob’s face, stared into his brown eyes, memorized it, for later. They both smiled. Blake pressed a quick kiss to Rob’s lips, then began to disentangle himself. They needed to get on with it. Lila would be sitting and waiting by now. It would be rude to…But Rob held onto him, his grip strong. The lips he pressed to Blake’s, parting them with his tongue were firm and had a familiar urgency.

Blake broke the kiss first, held onto Rob’s face. “Keep that up and the poor girl will have to pay her own expensive dinner bill. Come on, let’s go. I’m tired of waiting on you.” He brushed a hand across Rob’s chest, and lower, grinning. “Save this. I’ll take some later.”

The ride downtown shimmered with anxious energy. Rob hummed, a clear sign of his nervousness. Blake tapped his fingers on the armrest, fiddled with the window, the HVAC, the radio.

“God damn it.” Rob smacked his hand away from the controls. “Cut it out. You aren’t making either of us feel any better.”

Blake blew out a long breath. “It’s not like I know how to act here. I mean, what the hell are we supposed talk about? The bank transfer of the money? The process? Who gets her first? If she wants it in both…”

“Stop it.” Rob’s voice was strained, his jaw clenched. “I don’t know either but I damn sure am not gonna ask her if she wants a DP. At least not on the first date.”

Blake laughed so loud he snorted. Rob shot him a sideways look as he pulled the F-150 into a parking spot behind the restaurant and put it into park. They both sat, frozen with indecision and anxiety.

“Do you remember Paris?” Blake put a hand on Rob’s thigh. The other man’s muscles twitched under his palm. “That girl, from the nightclub? Our first vacation?”

“Yeah.” Rob kept his hands on the steering wheel, eyes trained straight ahead. “What about it?”

Blake sighed. Rob’s body language, his clenched teeth and white knuckled grip only ramped up his own stress. But he needed them to get past this. They had to go into the restaurant, meet with Lila, eat, drink some wine then…possibly…go home and…He shook his head. He ran fingers through Rob’s hair, the silkiness of the new growth brought a smile to his face. “That was pretty easy. I mean, you know, my first time as three.”

Rob turned to him, anguish suffusing every pore of his handsome face and filling his eyes. He gripped Blake’s hand, yanked him across the console and kissed him hard. When he broke away, Blake touched his face. “You’re the expert here. Not me. The ladies love your tall, blond, Germanic hotness. I’m along for the ride. I’ll…watch and learn.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Rob leaned his head back, hand over his eyes. “Jesus, this is…about as fucked up as it gets.”

“No, it’s not. Even if you weren’t sick we would be doing it. You know that. We wanted a baby.”

“You wanted a baby. I’m perfectly fine without…”

“You told me a thousand times you weren’t doing this to humor me. Were you lying then, or are you lying now?” Blake’s ears got hot and his chest tightened but he clamped down on the anger. “All we have to do is figure out how to share. That is one thing we know we both need to….practice. I don’t want her to think we’re a couple of barely evolved Neanderthals.”

Rob turned to him, his eyes still bright with unshed tears. “Even though we sort of are?”

Blake shrugged, unable to resist a smile. Rob sighed and climbed out, meeting Blake at the back bumper. He grabbed his arm. “I love you Blake Thornton. God knows I do. So, let’s get on with this, shall we? Not quite the impromptu heat of a Paris nightclub but…we’ll make do with the Chop House.”

The men walked around the corner and up to the restaurant in silence each deep in the mire of his own misery. They spotted her, seated at a table in the front window, before she saw them. Blake took a breath and leaned into his lover’s ear. “Don’t stand there and tell me that she is not beautiful. That she doesn’t do anything for you.”

He put a hand on Rob’s back, as they walked towards her. She looked up and smiled. Blake felt Rob shiver under his palm. “The mother of our child, Rob. The child we both want,” he whispered, then stepped aside so Rob could give Lila a quick hug before he did the same.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger and beer marketing expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe lives in the great Midwest, in a major college town. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse. While working as a successful Realtor, Liz made the leap into writing novels about the same time she agreed to take on marketing and sales for the Wolverine State Brewing Company.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels, which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much “real life.”

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

If you are ever in the Ann Arbor area, be sure and stop into the Wolverine State Brewing Co. Tap Room—but don’t ask her for anything “like” a Bud Light, or risk serious injury.

Pictured with Liz is SCOTT NOVA, a cover model who portrayed “Hans” her beer loving muse at a book release party.

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Essence-Time-Stewart-Realty-Crowe-ebook/dp/B008EN4V78/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1398439663&sr=8-1&keywords=essence+of+time

Barnes & Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/essence-of-time-liz-crowe/1111593343?ean=2940014630184

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