Celia Breslin | Susana's Morning Room

Susana: Welcome to Susana’s Morning Room, Celia. What would you say inspired you to start writing?

Celia: My Irish grandmother started it with her stories of the Fae, including one tale of her encounter with a Banshee in her root cellar. Imagination fueled, I wrote a lot of fairytales as a kid.

Susana: What advice would you give to writers just starting out?

Celia: Write every day. Even if, some days, you only have time for a few sentences. Every. Single. Day.

Susana: What comes first: the plot or the characters?

Celia: Characters. They arrive like a casting call in my head. We meet, I get their backstory, and then my Muse decides what to do with them.

Susana: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Celia: A bit of both. My stories typically unfold in a linear fashion and follow a basic outline. If I try to jump around and write scenes out of order, my Muse gets cranky. If I try to work from too detailed of an outline, my Muse throws a tantrum and veers wildly off-script. It’s a fascinating and fun process.

Susana: Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.

Celia: I have a favorite vampire and it’s not the hero. While all of my Haven characters hold a piece of my heart, Carina’s mentor Jonas is my favorite. An ancient vampire originally from England, Jonas embodies extreme violence in a pretty package. He’s a man of few words, dark and moody, fiercely loyal and violently protective of those few people he loves (such as Carina). I adore him so much I gave him his own story, The Vampire Code. It’s a prequel to Haven and releases October, 2013.

Susana: What are you reading now?

Celia: I just finished Dysus Dreamer, an urban fantasy and second book in J. A. Garland’s Halfling Chronicles series. Next on my list is Instinct, the first book in her series.

Susana: What is your work schedule like when writing?

Celia: As a full-time mom, I fit in writing time where I can. A typical day looks something like this: Chauffeur child to school, exercise, write, line edit and/or read slush pile for indie publisher, pick up child, spend evening with family. Rinse, repeat.

Susana: What is your favorite food? Least favorite?

Celia: I’m a big fan of Asian cuisine, especially Chinese, Thai, Korean and Burmese. I also like Japanese cuisine, especially sushi, and am totally addicted to Soy Thai Iced Tea.

My least favorite is anything involving dairy — I’m allergic to dairy proteins. Alas, no pizza for me!

Susana: What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?

Celia: Hm… just one, eh? Well, I have a tattoo I designed myself.

Thanks for having me over for a visit today!

Cheers,

Celia

About Haven

San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli works hard, plays hard, and never allows the death of her parents and her twelve-year memory gap to get her down. But her life takes a left turn when a witch attacks her on her twenty-fifth birthday.

Three hauntingly familiar vampires emerge to reveal she possesses a latent power. To protect her from their enemies, they admit to wiping her memories clean and abandoning her as a child, but now they need her help. As she struggles to evade her new protectors and even newer enemies, she meets Alexander, an enigmatic, undead musician. Insta-lust flares, leaving her wanting more.

With evil’s minions hounding her every move, and everything she thought she knew turned on its head, Carina must harness her burgeoning power, unravel her vampire family’s web of deceit, and fight to have a love life…without getting killed in the process.

Available

AllRomance • Amazon • Amazon UK • Champagne • Kobo

Excerpt

Talk time was over. We stared. And stared. And stared some more.

His smoky blue eyes bled to black and his power pushed at me, hot and hard, causing a response inside me, like a rumbling volcano deep in my core. My eyes widened. Was this the power my family had mentioned? No longer dormant and infinitely more intense than a little static electricity in my palms.

Alexander crushed his lips to mine. Need roared through me leaving me breathless with edgy hunger.

My hands burrowed into his thick, silky hair, holding his head as if he might try to escape. He growled his approval against my lips, his kiss growing more insistent. His tongue explored my mouth. He tasted metallic, like the blood he’d consumed. Again, I found I liked the taste. My tongue danced with his and delved into his mouth, searching for more penny metal flavor. He groaned and tightened his embrace.

I thought we’d devour each other forever, but Alexander stiffened and his head snapped up. His eyes glinted black as night, wild with lust and…aggression? He bared his teeth in a snarl, canines morphing into fangs.

About the Author

Celia lives in California with her husband, daughter, and two feisty cats. She writes urban fantasy and paranormal romance, and has a particular fondness for vampires and the Fae. When not writing, you’ll find her exercising, reading a good book or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies.