Kristabel Reed: #Interview Take the Heat Anthology edited by @skye

EDITOR BIO

Skye Warren is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of dark romantic fiction. Her books are raw, sexual and perversely romantic.

Visit Skye’s website for her current booklist

Follow Skye Warren on Twitter

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The ultimate bad boys, criminals capture our attention and awaken our darkest desires. Celebrate the illicit in this romantic suspense anthology, where handcuffs are used for more than play. These stories are shocking, sexy, and thought-provoking.

In New York Times Bestselling Author Skye Warren’s Magnolia Hotel, meet the heroine who pays her brother’s debt to a loan shark—who happens to be her childhood crush. Find out if the jury made the right decision in Acquitted by award-winning author Giselle Renarde. Explore a dark and sensual psychology with New York Times Bestselling Author Pam Godwin in Unlawful Seduction.

Hi, Skye Warren here! I’m the New York Times Bestselling author of dark romantic fiction, and I’m also the editor of Take the Heat, an anthology of criminal romance. I’m so excited to share this release with you.

One of the best parts of putting together this anthology was seeing what each author did. Sheri Savill’s story is hot as hell and surprisingly tender. Plus, she’s a seriously funny lady, so I’m excited to interview her today and get her to spill her best, and hottest, writing advice.

Sheri, let’s start with the age-old question: are you a plotter or a pantser?

Sheri Savill: I’m neither. I pretty much just take down the internal dictation from “the voices.” Because all my books are entirely factual and everything in them is real and true even though they’re sold in the “fiction” section. Heh.

Skye Warren: What are the best and worst pieces of writing advice you ever received?

Sheri Savill: The best piece of writing advice I’ve had is “Sheri, for god’s sake, just write whatever the hell you want, you crazy bitch. No one is reading it anyway. Just have fun.” The worst was being told to send things I wrote to online publishers. They were very interested, by very flaky and unprofessional. There, I said it.

Skye Warren: Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?

Sheri Savill: Swedish death metal. And spa music.

Skye Warren: What are you passionate about these days?

Sheri Savill: Tattoos and living life to the fullest, every minute. Spoiler alert: were all going to die.

Skye Warren: If you could apologize to someone in your past, who would it be?

Sheri Savill: “Dear George Eliot, I’m sorry, but I never finished any of your books. They were uber-boring and way too long. I faked like I read them by skimming the back cover and I wrote papers on them and got As anyway. Sorry.”

Skye Warren: Tell us about the absolute BEST fan letter you have received.

Sheri Savill: “Dear Sheri Savill, please stop writing. I have made a voodoo doll of you. I am out of pins.” Seriously, I don’t know if you will print this but the best fan comment I ever got, hands down, was: “Savill writes the best face-fuck in the business.”

Skye Warren: Do you write in multiple genres or just one? Do you ever consider straying outside your genre?

Sheri Savill: I write erotic romance AND humor and anything else I feel like writing. I “stray” a lot. I’d think I’d like to write humor exclusively, at this point. It’s easier for me. It makes me feel good to make a couple people snicker. I never wrote fiction—much less erotic fiction— in my life, until a couple years ago. It’s okay, don’t get me wrong. But it’s not nearly as interesting as my real life. Heh.

Skye Warren: Would you ever co author a book with someone?

Sheri Savill: If so, who would you choose, and what would you write? I’d co-author almost anything with someone I respected as a writer and who could hit the ball back. I thrive on the back and forth, the interaction. I don’t do well in a vacuum of self. Which is problematic for a writer, I realize. My dream job would be sitting in a room with other creative funny people, writing crazy shit all day.

Skye Warren: Having recently written a co-authored book, I think the mutual respect thing is so important. It’s SO FUN and SO HARD, which pretty much encapsulates writing in general. So, what is something you'd like to accomplish in your writing career next year?

I’d love to get some erotica readers to give me a chance in other genres, get the word out on me. I’d especially like to have some quality publisher realize that I’m a really good humor writer and beg me to do a humor essay book and then promote the hell out of it for me. Since that is unlikely, I will be doing that on my own.

Skye Warren: Thanks so much, Sheri! And thank you all for coming to check out Take the Heat. If you’re down for a dark ride, I hope you’ll read it!

TAKE THE HEAT

In New York Times Bestseller Skye Warren’s Magnolia Hotel, meet the heroine who pays her brother’s debt to a loan shark—who happens to be her childhood crush. Find out if the jury made the right decision in Acquitted by award-winning author Giselle Renarde. Explore a dark and sensual psychology with New York Times Bestseller Pam Godwin in Unlawful Seduction.

New York Times Bestseller Skye Warren – Magnolia Hotel

Cynthia Rayne – Captivated

New York Times Bestseller Pam Godwin – Unlawful Seduction

Sheri Savill – Slipknot

New York Times Bestseller Shoshanna Evers – This Might Hurt A Bit

Candy Quinn – The Bombshell

Tamsin Flowers – Playing with Fire

Elizabeth Coldwell – Disposing of Donnie

Audrey Lusk – Surprise Witness

Trent Evans – Last Day

Giselle Renarde – Acquitted

Ride the edge of desire and see if you can TAKE THE HEAT…

Read Take the Heat now: Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | More buy links…

About Sheri Savill

Sheri Savill is the author of dark BDSM erotic romance, and humor, and is a real-life submissive who was into BDSM before it was cool. A career in media and journalism (reporter, editor, DJ, copywriter) drove her to the brink of insanity, so she became an attorney and web developer.

Known for her irreverent blog, Savill is tattooed, pierced, geeky, easily annoyed yet fun-loving, and well caffeinated. She speaks often of a treasured “letter from Dave Barry” that no one has actually seen. Award-winning sex author and columnist Violet Blue called Savill’s BDSM parody “painfully, hilariously timeless.”

When she’s not charging her portable electronic devices, Savill spends her time writing, thinking about writing, or wishing she had written. She scored a780 out of 800 on a standardized writing test of some sort and, just as she predicted, has never had to use calculus in her entire adult life.

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Ride the edge of desire and see if you can TAKE THE HEAT…

Skye Warren – Magnolia Hotel

Cynthia Richards – Captivated

Pam Godwin – Unlawful Seduction

Sheri Savill – Slipknot

Shoshanna Evers – This Might Hurt A Bit

Candy Quinn – The Bombshell

Tamsin Flowers – Playing with Fire

Elizabeth Coldwell – Disposing of Donnie

Audrey Lusk – Surprise Witness

Trent Evans – Last Day

Giselle Renarde – Acquitted

FROM “MAGNOLIA HOTEL” BY SKYE WARREN

Maybe Liam still had that spark of humanity, of compassion, I’d once loved as a child. And even if I knew my brother was partly to blame for his situation, I couldn’t leave him to the wolves. Namely, one wolf. Liam.

I turned to my childhood friend who looked so different now with the glint of scruff on his face, with a bend in his nose where it had been broken. He looked some much more distinguished. In fact, he looked intimidating.

“Please let him go. Even if he… I know what he did. But he’s my brother. I can’t leave here without him. Take the two thousand. I’ll get you more, soon. I promise you. Just don’t hurt him.”

“Do you know how much he owes me, Grace?”

I swallowed. “Five thousand dollars?”

His face pulled into a slight grimace. He sighed. “Fifteen.”

I stood there, stunned. Unable to gasp or even breathe. Fifteen thousand dollars. I would never have that much money, not ever. But he was my brother.

“Please,” I whispered, reduced to begging.

Liam looked away, and for a horrible second I thought it was a refusal. My stomach pitched wildly, in fear and doubt and desperation. How could I fix this? I couldn’t, I couldn’t. My brother was going to be beaten or killed.

Then he turned back to me, a hard glint in his gunmetal eyes. “There is a way you can help. You can be mine, Grace. Mine to do whatever I want with.”

Seconds passed with excruciating slowness as my mind protected me. Then reality slammed into me—all at once. He meant sex. I was almost sure he meant sex. Then I laughed at myself, hollow and jaded. What else would it mean?

I hadn’t thought it possible to hate Liam more, but I did, because he’d setup an impossible choice. For fifteen thousand dollars—and for my brother’s safety—I had to agree.

What did that make me? A prostitute? A sex slave?

I looked at my brother as the offer stood in the air. He wouldn’t meet my eyes. Couldn’t he at least put up a token protest? At least try to protect my honor? But I was getting a clearer picture of Benny than I had our whole lives. Letting himself fall to this level was one thing, but dragging me into it was the last straw. I would do this for him—and that was it.

“Never again,” I whispered.

I would never drain my bank account and come running to help ever again. Never sell my body for him. Never trust my brother again. It was like losing a family member. The only one I had.

Benny nodded, or maybe he was just drifting out of consciousness, his head bobbing slightly. Who knew? I was done. I would do what Liam required of me, and then I would be finished. Finished with family. Finished with criminals.

I’d be alone then.

I nodded grimly. “I’ll do it.”

The author will be awarding a $15 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter between this tour and the Review Tour, here.