Thursday 13 February 2014

Spotlight - Elise K. Ackers + Giveaway



Hi everyone and Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!

The lovely Elise K. Ackers is here today to chat about her new title, Dear Stranger which is released by Escape Publishing.
Elise is also giving away 3 e-copies of Dear Stranger. Check out the Rafflecopter at the end of the post.
 

Hi Elise and welcome! J

 

What type of romance do you write?

Romantic suspense, contemporary and new adult.

What inspired you to write this story?

Hannah Brencher’s TED Talk about love letters to strangers. She is the founder of More Love Letters, and I was so moved by how she was spreading love around the world that I picked up the cause myself. After that, it was a really natural step towards writing a story about it. (If you’re interested in watching Hannah’s Ted Talk, follow this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/hannah_brencher_love_letters_to_strangers.html)

What comes first, the plot or characters?

The characters. They sort of introduce themselves, then tell me what going on in their lives.

Are you working on anything at the present?

A new adult title set on an organised tour through Europe. It’s called One for the Road and it’s almost at the submission stage. I’m very excited about it! There are lots of cultural miscommunications, many different settings and big character arcs.

What advice would you give an aspiring author?

Every writer, be they famous with a backlist you couldn’t get through in a year, or as yet unpublished, has moments of crippling doubt. Writing a book will test you, but do everything you can to finish it. Ignore the temptation to Ctrl A Delete, persevere, then give the book some space. When you come back to it, you may surprise yourself. You have to finish projects in order to submit them, and you have to submit them in order to be published. Now is a brilliant time to be a writer, there are so many publication options available to you. But finishing is key. Then you get to do it all again J



Dear Stranger

 
A beautiful love letter to the most troublesome of holidays...

Soft-hearted Reese Ahearn is single for Valentine’s Day. Again. But that’s not going to stop her from spreading the holiday’s sentiment on the streets of Melbourne with short, sweet, anonymous love letters, left for strangers to find. 

The last thing she expects, however, is a reply…


 

Excerpt:

Ian’s aimless gaze returned to the woman sitting in the far corner. She seemed vaguely familiar. The poster-girl for coupled bliss despite the absence of a smile. Her romantic dress was so apt, he couldn’t decide if it was cliché or novel. She had a mug lifted to her lips, and watched the room over the rim of it. There was a single envelope on the table by her elbow and from time to time, she looked down as if to check it was still there.

            He wondered if it was for her or from her, if it contained a few simple lines, or if it were a letter.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d written one of those. Wasn’t certain he ever had. But her obvious preoccupation with it made him think it might be something worth doing one day, for someone worth doing it for.
 


About the Author:
Elise K. Ackers is a romantic suspense and contemporary romance author based in Melbourne, Australia. She is a 2013 Romantic Book of the Year finalist, print and ebook published with Destiny Romance and Escape Publishing, and known to do some pretty strange stuff in the name of research.  You can chat with her on Facebook and Twitter (@EliseKAckers), and find out more at her author website.
 
Links:


Thanks so much for stopping by.

Have a happy, warm & snuggly Valentine’s Day
Nicóle xx
a Rafflecopter giveaway

2 comments:

  1. This looks like a gorgeous story. I can't wait to read it:)

    ReplyDelete