Flawed by Vivian Kohlman

Please welcome Vivian Kohlman author of Flawed

Vivian Kohlman will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Flawed

by Vivian Kohlman

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GENRE: Contemporary Romance

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INTERVIEW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

It’s not one story or one author, but throughout the years there have been stories that I love (like Wuthering Heights, Less Than Zero, and yes, Twilight) and that I’ve gotten very absorbed in. Each of those stories—and many more—have elements of the real-life stories I write about.

I love reading; I’m constantly reading a romance novel of some sort. So one day I thought, “why not write my own stories?” and it was as simple as that. I opened my laptop and began to write.

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

I was born and raised in the Washington, DC area and had a large social network through my teens and twenties. My friends and acquaintances were so unique and diverse, and the way we lived our lives created the majority of the stories in my series.

Yes, much of my novels are rooted in truth, but enough was changed or embellished that only I can detect fact from fiction (and maybe a friend or two of mine).

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

I have so many! I plan to keep writing romance novels in theYoung and Privileged of Washington, DCseries, or maybe a new one. I also plan to write a few screenplays for movies relating to the book series or completely other things (there’s even a horror script in my head that I’m thinking of writing down!). And finally, if I ever have consistent time on my hands, I’d like to write a blog of some sort.

4. If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why. the characters, so I won’t choose her! I think I’d choose Ava from Girls Like Me…she’s young, bright, and bratty…but you just love her anyway. And she’s true to herself, once she figures out who she is. Breaking rules are OK, as long as they’re not her rules. That’s a free spirit that I admire. Oh, and did I mention that she dates a few hotties, ending up with quite a smoldering man—lucky her!

5. If you were the casting director for the film version of your novel, who would play your leading roles?

I would absolutely love to see Flawedon the big screen! If I had the opportunity to cast it, I think I’d go for Zoey Deutch or Nina Dobrev for Kara. I haven’t seen an actress that really hits the mark for Kara—she’s basically a young Sophie Marceau look-alike, in my mind. For Naheed, I would pick either Çagatay Ulusoy or Gregg Sulkin…that role needs to be an actor that can pull off smoldering well. These choices cover the looks of the characters, but the most important thing to me would be how their chemistry together is.

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

I first decided to publish Flawedso that I could share it with the characters it was based on.

At first, I didn’t really expect it to be something I’d stick with, but after a couple of first readers said they loved it, I couldn’t stomp out the writing bug. As soon as I put out the first book, I began writing the rest of the story (book two in the series), so that started my self-publishing career.

Before publishing the first book, I wrote it with no real plan of what I was going to do with it. Writing the story was fun for me; it wasn’t until I wanted to share the story with friends that I put it out in the public.

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

Best advice: to get professionally designed book covers. People DO judge a book by its cover! Yes, there is a cost involved, and you’re relying on someone who’s not read your book to make a visual interpretation of it, but it’s worth it.

Worst advice: to set writing goals and do your best to meet them The goal would be something like “write one chapter a week” or some other way to make sure you continue to write and finish your book in a timely fashion. This type of discipline also may drive creativity, forcing you to write anything—and this might lead to new ideas. But this approach doesn’t work for me.

I just can’t force myself to write. I will usually come up with a story, then write every free second I have until it’s all on paper. That is, unless the writing bug leaves me. If it does, I just stop writing. This approach seems to work better for me.

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

I just start writing…once a story gets in my head, I dump it all down into a document, then expand on the story and characters until it grows into a full novel.

Because I don’t start with an outline, or any other ordered approach, I have had to re-write one book almost completely as I kept changing the story. But I like the free-flow writing the best…that’s the most fun for me.

9. Do you have an all time favorite book?

Wuthering Heightshas always stuck with me…other favorites are Wide Sargasso Seaand Frankenstein. I love reading these books and the stories behind them. And Twilight is a favorite of mine, too; I can get lost in the story from the very first paragraph.

So I can’t say I have one all time favorite…my favorite depends on my mood at the time.

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

I’m at the very beginning of book six in the series, which continues (finalizes) Ava’s story. Her story started in Book 4, Girls Like Me. I have to admit that my writing bug is sleeping, so I don’t know when I’ll put book six out

11. Who is your favorite actor and actress?

This changes with the times, but right now my favorite actor is Jason Momoa (thanks to the Khal Drogo character) and Sarah Hyland (the blonde version of Haley). Haley was the muse for Ava in Girls Like Me), and Khal Drogo was the muse for King. Since I’m in the middle of writing their story, these two actors are currently my favorite.

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

The black moment in Flawedis when Naheed arrives to Kara’s apartment, after spending the night fighting with his family over a life-altering mistake he made. In a matter of minutes, Kara is crushed…and she never quite gets over that, or him.

The night before that moment, things had finally come together for them. Their lives should have played out perfectly, but his past catches up with them, and he makes the wrong decision about how to fix it. Her future changes in a moment, and she’s devastated.

13. What is your favorite reality show?

I’m not very big on reality shows, but I do watch the Shahs of Sunsetregularly. I just love LA and how the characters party all the time, and never cease to have drama. It’s frivolous entertainment for me.

14. Can you tell us a little bit about what it was like to write a series?

It’s fantastic! I didn’t mean to write a series, but after the idea of the third book came to me, and others started floating around my head, I realized I had a trend in my stories. Putting them into the Young and Privileged of Washington, DCseries just made sense.

16. Anything else you might want to add?

I know every reader has a style of romance novel that they like, and my novels may not be it. But if it is, I LOVE to hear from readers who can relate to, or just love, the stories and characters. I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and will respond to my own site’s blog posts or messages sent. So please reach out and connect with me!

BLURB:

That guy—the one that most girls would run away from—captured Kara’s attention and wouldn’t let it go. As expected, he turned out to be a player. So she cut him off.

But he wasn’t done with her yet. He waited until the memory of their start would have been forgotten—at least, softened a bit. Then he returned to her life, and captured her heart.

Finally blissfully happy, they fall in love and decide to make it official…until his past catches up with him and he destroys her again. But this is it…this is the last time she’ll fall for him.

And she keeps telling herself that until she almost believes it.

This book is for mature audiences.

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EXCERPT:

Chapter 1

I picked up my phone to check for messages and, well, to be honest I was using it as a way to not have to speak to whatever guy Dania left me with.

“Hi Kara, I’m Naheed,” a deep, relaxed voice stated.

When my eyes met his, everything seemed to stop. I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t hear the music anymore, and I felt like I was about to faint…I was mesmerized by him. He was gorgeous, but it was more than that. I felt his presence in my stomach.

He had naturally tan skin, dark brown thick and wavy hair, deep and large brown eyes with black eyelashes a mile long…and a slight under-bite that that instantly brought my attention to his full, perfect lips. He was so familiar to me, but I couldn’t place him.

I looked down to stop myself from staring and noticed that my bare, crossed legs were nearly touching his leg; we were very close—and he was slightly leaning in towards me. I suddenly wished I wore jeans instead of this short skirt. I felt exposed…and had to fight to keep my leg from moving to touch his.

The four words he said to me were echoing through my head…and I still couldn’t respond. I could only look at him…and I saw nothing else. I sat there in silence for way too long…unable to do much more than barely smile through what probably looked to be an unimpressed expression (I was good at hiding my emotions).  …sometimes that came back to haunt me.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Vivian Kohlman writes romance novels based on stories of love and loss under the backdrop of Washington, DC. She grew up in Maryland just outside DC, but lived in Los Angeles on and off in her 20’s before returning to the Washington, DC area to live out her adult life.

Vivian attended a private university in Washington, DC for undergraduate and graduate school, and lived a very active social life. During her teens and twenties she and her friends lived through a lot of ups and downs—these experiences have fed the stories of this series.

Currently, she loves to travel with her husband and reads or writes romance novels as often as she can. When she’s not writing, she works a fulltime job and enjoys all of the bars, restaurants, and other hot spots of the nation’s capital. Born and raised in the DC metro area, she adores the culture of the city and is passionate about highlighting the city’s attributes, lifestyles, and norms—not including politics.

Links

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013M8PJDE  Flawed, Book 1 of the Y&P series (Kara’s story, part 1)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01801MRO2 Found, Book 2 of the Y&P series (Kara’s story, part 2)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GUDGQGW  Let Go, Book 3 of the Y&P series (Billi’s story)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074ZN48CDGirls Like Me, Book 4 of the Y&P series (Ava’s story, part 1)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C1C5WSXGuys Like You, Book 5 of the Y&P series (Ava’s story, part 2)

www.viviankohlman.com

www.instagram.com/viviankohlman

www.facebook.com/viviankohlman

www.twitter.com/viviankohlman

Note from Author:

The book, Flawed, is not erotica, but does include some steamy scenes, and contains adult situations (curse words, drinking alcohol, etc).

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Vivian Kohlman will be awarding $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f2767