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Friday, February 5, 2016

"VBT: Sky Garden by Jenny Schwartz"



Sky Garden
by Jenny Schwartz

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GENRE: Romantic Suspense

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BLURB:

On the rooftops of London, you can be anyone.

A year ago, Lanie Briers escaped a serial killer. She grew up in a theatre family and her act was mediumship, but not anymore. Life, now, is a hidden retreat above a quirky Bloomsbury museum, where she waits and watches.

Nick Tawes is an unexpected intrusion. He's a landscape architect filming a television series on roof gardens, and he intends to build one in Lanie's aerial territory. He has his own demons, old family troubles, that lure Lanie out of her refuge and into living again.

But as summer progresses and the sky garden grows, Lanie's enemy is closing in--because some secrets must go to the grave.



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Excerpt Two:

She hadn’t cared for vintage clothes before, but living in the time capsule of her flat, the temptation to go all-out was irresistible. So she’d started prowling the street markets for clothes, and especially accessories, from the 1950s, and snapped up sewing patterns from the era. Then she could make her own costumes. And they were costumes. A tiny part of her knew that she was employing a classic distraction ploy: dazzle people with a costume or some outrageous trick of appearance, and they tended not to notice anything else. Not the shape of your nose, the line of your jaw, the way you walked. There was nothing quite so anonymous as an eye-catching costume.

 
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:


Bio:  Jenny Schwartz is a hopeful romantic with a degree in Sociology and History — people watching and digging into the past. She lives in Western Australia and is working towards her dream of living by the sea. Jenny writes romantic suspense, as well as contemporary and paranormal romance.




Amazon buy-link for “Sky Garden”:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018J7YW0E/ 


“Sky Garden” will be $0.99 during this tour.
Interview with Jenny Schwartz 
As a kid did you write or make up stories?

Absolutely! I was one of those kids with an imaginary friend. I can’t for the life of me remember his name, but I do remember running in after being with him and telling my Nana that there was a wolf in the yard! PS wolves are pretty much non-existent in Australia.


Where does most of your character inspiration come from?

I wish I knew. Characters just seem to emerge for me. I start with a name, age, some basic physical description, and they rush onto the page, jostling me out of the way in their haste to come to life. I’ve heard that some authors use actors as inspiration, at least, for appearance, but that doesn’t work for me. Somehow, somewhere, my characters are just waiting for their chance to star!


Do some qualities of your characters come from real people?

Not that I’m aware of. Probably they pick up things from all over, but I don’t consciously note things like a guy’s way of walking, a woman’s head tilt, a celebrity’s personality.

I like discovering more and more about my characters as I write. Yes, I’m a bit of a pantster, rather than a detailed plotter.


What was the inspiration for your book?

A few things came together for Sky Garden. I’m fascinated by how stage psychics structure their performances, and so emerged the heroine, Lanie, an ex-medium. Are ghosts real? What haunts us? But Sky Garden isn’t a paranormal romance. There’s a lurking threat in the real world, and a very challenging hero. I finally got to write a gardener-hero, although Nick is a bit of a different gardener, being a landscape architect specialising in roof gardens. I’m interested in urban landscapes and issues of city living, and that comes through in Sky Garden.


What is your favorite spot to write?

I have a cheap desk that is exactly the right height in relation to the plain wooden chair I sit on. It’s all arranged to keep my wrists from getting RSI. I bless my typing teacher (yes, I’m old enough to have learned typing in high school) for insisting on good practises. Look after your body and you can keep doing what you love.


What advice would you give budding writers?

Nothing teaches you how to write so well as actually writing. That said, keep learning. Read books and blog posts on the writing craft. Keep up to date with changes in publishing. Talk, whether online or in real life, with fellow writers. It’ll take a while to sort out what works for you. Everyone has their own unique approach. Respect your instincts.


Thank you so much for such a great interview!

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Jenny Schwartz will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn host.



18 comments:

  1. Hi Teresa! Thanks for interviewing me for the Sky Garden tour.

    Happy weekend, everyone :)

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    1. Thank you for the interview. Best of luck to you and your book.

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  2. Enjoyed reading your interview, thank you!

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  3. Enjoyed your comments. This sounds like an exciting story.

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  4. I enjoyed your interview, Jenny, and I, too, am old enough to have learned typing in high school:) I also really enjoyed the excerpt and I had never thought about it but I guess a unique outfit is a great way to hide in plain sight!

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    1. Re typing class ... those cold mornings when you had to bash the return key with your little finger to get to the next line ... *shudder*

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  5. Sounds like a terrific book, thanks for sharing!

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  6. I enjoyed the excerpt and the interview. Thank you for sharing!

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