Let the touring begin…
Certainly, Possibly, You
Lissa Reed
Release date: October 6, 2016
Interview
Hi, hello, and hey there! Thanks for hosting me today. I am a
queer writer, software tech, and owned cat person who lives in the DFW
Metroplex area. Certainly is my
second book, the second in a series, but my first book that features a
female-female love story. Sarita is a cake decorator, Maritza is a ballroom
dancer, and together they are a whole lot of fluffy fun with a side of some
drama.
Talk
to us about your characters in this book. What makes them unique?
I love these ladies so much. Maritza was a
lot of fun to write, and she’s unique in my canon because she doesn’t really have
any insecurities. She can be indecisive about what to do in her life, she can
second-guess her choices, but as far as her view of herself, she’s solid and
secure. She’s very comfortable in knowing herself, and that’s interesting
because I tend generally to write people who aren’t on quite so solid ground
with themselves. It was a refreshing experience.
Sarita was interesting to work with – in my
first book, she was a secondary character dispensing sarcasm and cool advice.
In book two, she’s still sarcastic and smart, but we see that it covers up
someone who is rattled by deep family problems, who is uncertain that it is
wise to continue her college studies even though she loves what she is
studying, and who just really is afraid to move from the place she’s standing
in. Maritza comes to shake that up a little, and it’s great.
What
was one of the most surprising things you learned in getting your book from
start to publish?
I’m still continually astonished by my
ability to write entire novels. I mean, I am sure I will get over that one day
but for now I keep going, how do I have that many words in me? How?
Then I listen to myself in conversation and
I begin to have some small idea.
Have you ever gone to a convention? If so, how was it? If not,
do you think it’s something you’d like to do in the future?
I have been to the RT Booklovers Convention
twice, and I just signed up to go again! I really enjoy conventions, I have
been to a few in my life outside of writing, and they are good for catching up
with friends from out of state that I don’t see often. They do leave me rather
exhausted from all the go-go-go, but man, they’re fun.
Would
you like to be a full-time writer?
I honestly do not know if I could be alone
with my brain that much. Truly I do not. I think it could be interesting for a
while, but I don’t believe it is sustainable for me, personally.
Design
the ultimate pizza.
I am a woman of simple tastes. I like a nice
hand-tossed crust – truly hand-tossed, not the Pizza Hut version – with a white
sauce, some mozzarella, mushrooms, black olives, and marinated diced tomatoes,
maybe some Canadian Bacon. I also love a good Margherita pizza. I am
uncomplicated in my pizza choices!
Blurb:
Sarita Sengupta is in her last semester of
grad school and has finally realized she doesn’t have a career plan, a
girlfriend, or a clear outlook on life. She works as a pastry shop’s head
decorator, but is otherwise drifting without direction until a friend’s
birthday party ends with her waking up in surprise next to Maritza Quiñones, a
pretty ballroom dancer whose cheerful charm and laser focus sets Sarita on a
path to making all of the choices she’s been avoiding.
Categories: Fiction, Romance, LGBT, F/F
290 pages
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: CB Messer
Excerpt:
“I met someone.”
Devesh makes a happy little humming noise.
“Reeti, that’s great.”
“Yeah. It is. She is. I mean, so far. I met
her last night.” Not for the first time, Sarita wishes she’d had a land line
put in. She could use the coiled phone cord to fiddle with right now. “We had
dinner tonight.”
“That’s really fantastic.” Devesh is
smiling, she knows, and she hears him put a hand over the phone to tell Sunil.
“Sunil says that’s great, too. Tell me about her?”
“Um,” She plucks at her laptop charging cable,
winding it around and between her fingers. “Well, her name is Maritza. She’s
hot, and she’s funny, and she’s a ballroom dancer who seems to actually know
what she wants to do with her life, and now I’ve got a complex.”
“Reeti,” Devesh sighs, and he tsks. “Come
on, don’t think like that. You’re great. You don’t need to have a complex.”
“Eight years of college and I don’t know
what I want to do with my life. You come on.” Shaking the coiled cable off of
her fingers, she picks it back up and starts twisting it again. “She’s known
what she wants since she was nine. When I was nine I wanted a Tamagotchi, which
I couldn’t even manage to keep alive for more than a week at a time.”
“Okay, the only person we knew who was
successful with their Tamagotchi was that Brian Michaelson kid from down the
street,” Devesh says. “The rest of us all sucked at it. I wouldn’t go around
using it as a yardstick to measure your life’s ambition by.” His voice softens.
“Don’t worry about it, Reeti. You’re doing fine. You want to study philosophy,
so you’re doing it. Figure everything else out later. And Jesus, don’t judge
yourself by someone else you just met.”
Sarita leans on her hand, running her
fingers into her hair. “It’s been a long day.”
“I guess so.” The sounds of Devesh settling
in against a pile of pillows rustle down the line. “So. Funny, hot, and a
ballroom dancer, huh? She sounds like a keeper.”
Sarita leans back in her chair, and suddenly
she’s smiling again, her paper and her existential crisis forgotten. “Early
days, but… you know, I definitely want to see her again. And again…”
The butterflies take flight.
Buy the book
It’s all about the author…
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs,
and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her early interest in writing
back to elementary school, when a teacher gifted her with her first composition
book and told her to fill it with words. After experimenting with print
journalism, Reed shifted her writing focus to romance and literary fiction and
never looked back. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Certainly,
Possibly, You is the second book in Reed’s Sucre Coeur series.
…and stalking them :)
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Thanks for hosting me today!
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