Today’s post is for Sylvie Fox’s Stirred. We will have info about the books and author. A great guest post by Sylvie . As well as a great giveaway. Make sure to check everything out and enter the giveaway.
Happy Reading :)
Warning: One kiss can lead to another...
Quirky cartoonist, Zoe Andreis puts her life on hold, flying back to the States to care for her ailing father. Spending her post-college years gallivanting all over Europe while capturing her adventures in comic form, Zoe grapples with the notion of being shackled to one city.
When she encounters Max Kiss, Zoe's true adventures begin. Although Max would love to branch out and take carefree and crazy chances of his own, he too is tied to LA, tending to his aging father. Stirred by Zoe's zest for life, Max longs for a future full of love and spontaneity.
While they struggle to find balance between caring for their parents and living a life of their own, Zoe and Max form a strong and sensual bond. When tough challenges surface, Zoe and Max search for a way to have the life they want without feeling the burden of guilt. Can they find of balance of duty and excitement while building a future together?
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How I Chose an Illustrator for Stirred
Stirred is the fourth book in my L.A. Nights series. When I wrote the first two books, Impasse and Unlikely, two years ago, I never thought there would be more to the series. A single reader asked about more books in the L.A. Nights world and days, weeks, or months later I conceived the ideas for the final three books in the series.
Zoe Andreis, the heroine of this book, was always the outlier in her family—the artist, the rebel. As I wrote her story, I started to think, what if she (and I the author) could share the comic strips she drew, the ideas and jokes that bounced around in her head.
Usually, a character’s job and background are hinted at, maybe shared, but are not a part of the story that readers see.
Inspired by fellow author Jenn LeBlanc, who writes romances illustrated with her own photographs, I decided to include Zoe’s comics.
Why?
Why not?
The biggest barrier to sharing her ideas with you was bringing the concepts to life. I may have a number of talents, but drawing is not among them. I often draw with my first grader, and let’s just say, our skill levels are about equal.
So I put out a call for illustrators. The response was amazing and overwhelming. I narrowed down the choices and had Zoe’s signature cartoon (the one on her t-shirt at the start of the story) drafted by the artists who were finalists. At the end of that process, there were two artists who I liked.
Both took a terrible sketch (mine) and made it into something a comic strip artist would be proud to call their own.
The choice, then, came down to these two artists. They were both talented and willing to work on a tight turnaround schedule to produce the thirty plus comics needed for the book.
Ultimately, I chose Josh Bauman, the illustrator of the last cartoon. The decision rested on a single difference. He’d taken my original concept and added a twist. In the last panel, he spelled out ‘Greek’ in Greek.
It made the comic funnier, more irreverent, and just plain better. Although we chose not to use that final version in the book (because the Greek word probably wouldn’t be obvious to most readers), it made me laugh.
Josh did a great job on the two strips: Wanderlust and Canoga Park. The book wouldn’t be the same without him.
Sylvie Fox is the author of smart women’s fiction. Her compelling stories are boldly told, designed to keep readers turning the pages. Whether you’re reading romantic women’s fiction or legal thrillers, written as Aime Austin, she wants you to enjoy the heroine’s journey.
She splits her time between Los Angeles and Budapest, where she enjoys yoga, knitting, farm-to-table cooking, and life with her husband and son. When she’s not writing, her nose is stuck in a book.
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