Interview and Giveaway with Sylvia Day!

What a month July has been for UTC and for this talented author.  Some of you might've just started hearing her name with the success of BARED TO YOU, but she's been around for quite some time and with much success!  Today, she's taking time from her busy schedule after coming back from Comic Con to answer some of our nosy questions.

Hi Sylvia, welcome back to UTC and thanks for participating in our Burning Up July event!

Thank you for inviting me! I'm thrilled to be here.

I think this has been a great year for releases from you, lets start with BARED TO YOU.  This was rumored to have been loosely based on your historical SEVEN YEARS TO SIN.  How did the Crossfire series come to be? 

Seven Years to Sin follows a couple with abusive pasts. In Seven, the characters' histories brought them together, but I wondered later what it would be like to explore a relationship in which the characters' pasts pushed them apart instead. What if the defining trauma of your life impeded your ability to connect with the person you love? Can two abuse survivors have a functional and healthy romantic relationship? That's the core question of the Crossfire series. I'm under contract for historicals, paranormals, and futuristics, which left me with contemporary as the setting. I transplanted Alistair and Jessica from Seven to modern-day New York City and began writing, and from that genesis, Gideon and Eva came to be (which is why the two couples look alike and have similar backgrounds).

It can be a good and bad thing when books are compared to others.  With this book coming out after the Fifty Shades trilogy had such massive success, there's been a lot of comparison between BARED TO YOU and FIFTY.  How do you feel about this?

On one hand, the comparison gives readers a point of reference. On the other, the books are very different. Plus, one is a completed series while the other is just one book, which is rather like comparing a one-hour TV episode to an entire season's worth of episodes. But the majority of readers enjoy both series for their own merits and go on to find even more stories to love, and that's wonderful for everyone.

Gideon Cross is such an interesting hero. We're dying to know more about him! Why do you think Gideon is so well-received by readers?

I'd like to think it's because he's willing to work hard for Eva. He's flying blind, but he won't give up.

The second book in the Crossfire series was initially titled DEEPER IN YOU. But now, it's been changed to REFLECTED IN YOU. What was the reasoning behind the decision and which one of the titles did you prefer?

Some of the merchants felt the title was too provocative and they hesitated to put the book out for their customers. Because we want all of the Crossfire books to be available in as many venues as possible, it was necessary to change the title. I think the first title more closely fit the storyline, but the second does as well.

Can you tell us a bit about what is going to happen in REFLECTED IN YOU?

In Reflected in You, we see Gideon and Eva struggling to mesh who they are as individuals with their joint identity as a couple. Trying to blend "his" life with "her" life into "our" life brings all sorts of new problems. Eva is close to her family; Gideon is estranged from his. Eva is a social creature whose network of friends expands as she settles into New York; Gideon is fiercely private and contained. As much as they have in common, they have a lot of differences, too, and they continue to trigger each other's defense mechanisms in unexpected-and sometimes painful-ways.

You recently released A HUNGER SO WILD congrats!  This is the second book in the Renegade Angels series.  Do you have a favorite scene or thing about this book?

Thank you! I'm very happy to be able to share Elijah's story with everyone--I love him madly. Favorite scene: when Elijah hunts Vashti down in his lupine form. Favorite thing: that Vashti takes tremendous risks for Elijah.

The Renegade Angels series is meant to be a trilogy. Have you considered continuing?

I'm trying not to think like that. I have three other unfinished speculative fiction series (Dream Guardians, Marked, and Sapphire's World). I want to wrap something up!

You also had another great release just a few days back, the HOT IN HANDCUFFS anthology, with Shayla Black and Shiloh Walker.  Your story ON FIRE was actually my favorite in that book!  This is part of the Shadow Stalkers mini-series.  Can you tell our readers a bit about this story and what this series is about?

I'm so thrilled you enjoyed "On Fire"! Thank you. The anthology is a fun treat for me, because Shayla and Shiloh are both dear friends of mine. 

Darcy Michaels is a fire inspector who calls in the U.S. Marshals Service to help investigate a series of arsons in her town. When Jared Cameron arrives, the attraction between them is as hot as the blazes.

The Shadow Stalkers miniseries is a series of contemporary novellas following a group of special operations Deputy U.S. Marshals.

If you could spend a day with one of your fictional men, who would you choose, why and what would you want to do?

It's impossible for me to pick just one. I can honestly say that I'd love to hang out with any of my heroes. It'd be fun to watch them play beach volleyball together...

We are asking authors participating in the event to share a favorite drink recipe with readers. Do you have one you'd like to share? 

Grey Goose and Cranberry. Simple and delicious.

EXCERPT

Deputy U.S. Marshal Jared Cameron waited until the Lion’s Bay sheriff sucked in a deep breath mid-rant, then he glanced at his partner.

“This winner is all yours,” he drawled, turning on his heel and leaving Deputy Trish Morales to it. She’d been assigned to him for just that reason: she had the patience of a saint and he had no patience at all. Especially not for defensive, posturing small-town authorities who whipped their dicks out and started marking their territories the moment he rolled into town. “I’m not done. Where the fuck is he going?” Sheriff Miller snapped, followed by a far more modulated reply from Trish.

Idiot. Nothing trumped the U.S. Marshals Service’s silver star.

Jared closed the sheriff’s glass inset door behind him just to shut out the man’s voice. Pushing the irritation from his thoughts, he started through the bull pen toward the exit when an unexpected and unwanted complication walked into the station. He took scant note of her initially, but something drew his attention back.

Grudgingly he slowed, then came to a stop. Whoever she was, she was a bombshell. Not in the physical sense. In that regard, she was of average height, slim, and moderately proportioned. Her face was free of cosmetics and her brown hair was pulled back in a casual ponytail. If he’d been looking at a photo of her, he wouldn’t have looked twice. But in the flesh, watching her move was what snared him.

She was hot monkey sex in a brown paper wrapper.

The secret of her was revealed in the sensual fluidity of her body and her heavy-lidded, bottle green eyes. The primitive male in him recognized the attraction instantly, completely disregarding his brain, which didn’t have time for this sort of distraction. Unfortunately for him, the blue uniform slacks and embroidered white button-up shirt she wore told Jared he had no chance of avoiding her unless he wanted to switch with Trish and take point with Miller instead. He was stuck with deciding which part of his anatomy was going to be the least controllable: his fists or his dick.

Maybe he’d be lucky and she would be happily married with kids, therefore not the least bit interested in getting sweaty and dirty with him.

She was lost in conversation with the female deputy manning the counter when he approached. The glance she shot him was cursory, just as his had first been with her. Then it snagged. Her focus zeroed in, sliding over his body from the top of his head down to his scuffed work boots and back up again. When her gaze collided with his, she sucked in a breath and licked her lower lip.

Fuck. He was screwed. His brain was screaming at him to turn his ass around and take his chances with the sheriff instead. Assaulting the local authorities for getting on his last nerve would garner him less trouble than playing with the sizzling awareness arcing between him and the sexpot fire inspector.

“Here he is,” the deputy said unnecessarily, pointing at him. Jared thrust out his hand and introduced himself. The moment his palm touched the bombshell’s, his blood rushed south and gave him a semi. He looked at her left hand almost desperately, cursing the lack of a wedding ring. A simple gold band would’ve killed his interest right then and there.

“Darcy Michaels,” she replied, in a voice pitched high enough to be this close to girlish. “I’m a fire inspector with the Lion’s Bay fire department.”

The pretty blond deputy at the counter smiled at him with the same invitation she’d given him when he first walked in. “Darcy’s the one who asked me to put out the information about the arsonist.”

The blonde was the type of woman he preferred to fuck—attractive enough to stir the most superficial interest and easy enough to want nothing more than a good time. Darcy Michaels was rousing something far deeper, igniting a hunger that was full-bodied and complex. The kind that overrode a man’s better sense.

Giving himself a mental kick in the ass, Jared caught the inspector’s elbow and steered her toward the exit. “Let’s go, Inspector.”

They’d barely stepped outside when she said, “You got here quick.”

He considered her voice. It was a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Jennifer Tilly. If anyone had asked him that morning what he thought of girly voiced women, he’d have said they annoyed the shit out of him. It was just his damn luck that Darcy Michaels was the exception. Every time she opened her mouth, his mind went straight into the gutter.

Harder, Jared. Deeper…

Christ. His teeth grit.


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