Heart-to-Heart: Sylvia Shults

Today's Heart-to-Heart with Sylvia Shults brings to a close a fantastic month
of authors who participated in the 28 Days of the Heart at All Romance eBooks.
If you haven't had a chance to check out these fantastic authors and their
tremendously romantic and charming works, I encourage you to head right over to
ARe and start picking up copies, not only will you get a great read, you'll be
contributing to a fantastic cause.

Today's guest is Sylvia Shults, author of A Slightly Different Perfect. A Slightly Different Perfect Even immortals need a vacation now and then…

When Trisha Gillespie, mousy fifth-grade teacher, is chosen to take Aphrodite's
place on Mount Olympus, she thinks she is up to the task. Who wouldn’t want to
be the goddess of love, beauty, and physical perfection? But then she does the
unthinkable and falls for a mortal. Will the new goddess accept her fate
knowing she’ll have to leaving love behind?

Heart-to-Heart with Sylvia Shults

Share a little about why you chose to participate. First of all, I love mythology. And what better way to celebrate the heart and all its mysteries than writing about Aphrodite, the goddess of Love? “A Slightly Different Perfect” is my … well, I guess you could say it’s my offering to Aphrodite.

I also have a reason for participating that’s a little less frivolous. See, my
mom had a heart attack a few years ago, and had to have a stent put in. She has
slowed down a little after that, and it pains me to know that there are things
she just can’t do as well as she used to. Submitting this story for the
American Heart Association 28 Days of Heart fundraiser was just my way of
trying to give something back to her, and to all the people living with heart
disease.

What do you enjoy reading? Who are your five favorite authors? I read voraciously and omnivorously. I’d rather read than do just about anything else, honestly. When it comes to romance, I love reading humorous stories. It’s got to be funny – none of these serious Harlequins or Regency romances for me. The goofier, the better, and it helps to have a supernatural angle too. When I first started writing my own romantic stories, I consulted a friend who worked with me at the library. I knew she read romance, and I asked her to direct me to some good, funny authors. That’s when I discovered that I like reading humorous romance about as much as I like writing it!

I absolutely adore Karen Harper and her “Nice Girls Don’t” series. She has so
many nutty characters in her books, and they all contribute so much color to
the story. I also really dig Mary Janice Davidson’s “Undead” series. Mindy
Klasky rocks out loud. I’m thoroughly addicted to Kimberly Raye’s “Dead End
Dating” series. I have to read them when I’m by myself, because otherwise I
snort and embarrass myself. And I do have a soft spot for Katie MacAlister,
because she’s the first author my friend suggested to me.

What type of movies make you cry? When was the last time you cried in a movie? Anything involving sacrifice. I figured that out pretty darned quickly. The first time I cried in a movie was at the end of Terminator 2, when the Terminator realizes that he has to step into the vat of boiling metal and melt himself down too. (Yeah, okay, I’m weird.) And Titanic? Only every. Single. Time. Avatar, Up, the list goes on. The last time I cried was during the Season 5 finale of Lost. The part where Juliet … oh crap, there might be people who haven’t seen it yet. Anyways, when Juliet and Sawyer are in the jungle trying to decide whether to let Jack explode the bomb or not? I was holding it together pretty well until Juliet said, “If I never meet you, I’ll never have to lose you.” Sniff … sniff … BAAWWWLLLLLL!!!! What is the most romantic thing you’ve ever done? For my husband’s birthday a couple of years ago, I hired a Chinese lady to come in and … good lord, people, get your minds out of the gutter! Sheesh! My husband LOVES tea, and at this health fair in the fall, I met this lady who gives tea demonstrations. She comes to your house and sets up this gorgeous tea service, and tells about the different kinds of tea, and passes around samples of perfectly brewed Oriental tea. We always get together at our friends’ house on the weekend, so I invited a bunch of friends to come over for this, and didn’t tell my husband about it. He thought it was just one of our regular get- togethers, and he had no clue anything special was going on until this lady showed up with her presentation. Yeah, he was surprised. And pleased. He said it was the best birthday he’d ever had. I think it was his 36th – not even one of the biggies. Describe a moment that really tugged at your heart. Well! Every once in a while, my husband surprises me with something sweet and poetic, something just completely out of the blue. Years ago, when we were still dating, he did something sweet for me – I can’t even remember what it was now, maybe he got me a cup of tea without being asked or something like that. I said, “You treat me better than anyone ever has.” He looked at me with those gunmetal-gray eyes and said, “I want to treat you better than anyone ever will.”

I melted. Right there on the kitchen floor. Swoon!

Another incident really sticks out in my mind. Quite often he’ll stay up later
than I like to, so I’ll go to bed and he’ll tuck me in, then go about his
evening. That’s sweet on its own, but he really floored me with what he said
once. We’d been married for, oh, about four years or so. He came in to tuck me
in, and he pulled the covers up, snuggled them up to my neck, and made sure my
ear was covered, “because I know you like that”. I’ve been in relationships
before him. I’ve even lived with someone else before him. But nobody – NOBODY –
that I had ever slept with – in either sense of the word – had ever picked up
on the fact that I have to have my ear covered in order to sleep comfortably.

And THAT’S why I love him so.

About Sylvia Shults

"Sylvia Shults is the princess of darkness, a mistress of malevolent
miracles...and her lean, mean prose will keep your nightlight on well past your
bedtime. Highly recommended." -- Jay Bonansinga, national bestselling author of
FROZEN, TWISTED, and THE SINKING OF THE EASTLAND

"TIMELESS EMBRACE encompasses all the great human reactions and emotions:
laughter, amazement, lust, tears, joy, surprise, and the best, love. You
couldn't ask for a better story..." -- Xeranthemum, Whipped Cream