Vivi Andrews joins us to talk about her shifter series Lone
Pine
Pride, romance, and what fans can look forward to in the future!
Jen: Hi, Vivi! Thank you so much for joining us on Fresh Fiction!
Vivi: Thank you so much for having me! I’m delighted to be here.
Jen: The Lone Pine Pride series is so addictive. Each book
in the
series gets harder and harder to put down! TANGLING
WITH THE
TIGER…oh my heart. Part of what I really love about the series is how
the
stories overlap. How do you keep everything straight when you are writing
the event
from a different point of view?
Vivi: It can definitely get complicated when I’m trying to weave the
threads
of the various stories together. I’m a total organization nerd, so I keep
copious
notes, flagging the scenes that I know are going to appear in multiple
storylines.
Then I re-read them as I go to make sure I haven’t tripped myself up. I
also have a
team of fabulous beta readers, and my amazing editor as my last line of
defense
against continuity snaffles. Hopefully it all seems to come together
effortlessly,
though a lot of effort goes into it. :)
Jen: Dominec may be my favorite character in Lone
Pine
Pride series, so far. I’m a fickle reader and fall a bit in love
with them
all, but when he speaks to Grace my heart melts, and when he takes her to
her
office…sigh. Perfect moment. But Dominec is dark and intense and he also
brings out
a seriousness and intensity in Grace. I love that you show this side of love
and
romance. Why do you think it is important to show that love can be more than
a
light-hearted happiness?
Vivi: Oh, Dominec. His brand of romance is unique, but he’s
definitely one
of my favorites too.
I adore this question, because love isn’t just the happy-happy twitter-pated
feeling. That surface level joy is fun and fabulous, but a deeper current
of
connection is what I think really gets us through when things get tough—and
no
matter how much we might want life to always be sunshine and roses, there
will be
tough times, when we need that underlying bond. Grace and Dominec have
that,
grounding each other in ways no one else can.
Jen: There is a female Alpha introduced in TANGLING
WITH THE
TIGER. I love this! What do you think being an Alpha means and why is it
not
just for guys any longer?
Vivi: Being an Alpha is about strength and leadership and the ladies
can
absolutely rock that! I knew I wanted to introduce Amala in TANGLING
WITH THE
TIGER because Grace’s book has such natural girl-power themes. And we
will see
more of Amala as the series continues. Of course, she will have her own
challenges,
since a lot of the social issues in the paranormal world are reflections of
our own,
but no more Alpha glass ceiling, baby!
Jen: We meet The Archive in TANGLING WITH THE TIGER. I love that knowledge
and
tradition are all passed down orally and kept by this woman. In an age where
it’s
easy to research using the internet, what do you think we miss and/or gain
by
keeping our information and history in technology rather than with people?
Vivi: The battle between tradition and technology pops up as a theme
a lot in
this series. I love having Google at my fingertips as much as the next
person, but
I do feel like our sense of community and ability to communicate have
changed a ton
thanks to the internet. History in a story is so different from history on
a
Wikipedia page and I feel like the Archive is a personification of that
difference,
bringing wisdom and perspective as well as fact with all her stored memory.
We have
access to so much information, but I wonder if we have lost the perspectives
of
those who would have told us their stories if we weren’t always asking the
net.
Jen: Can you tell us what you are working on? Will we be getting a
chance to
see some of the other shifter communities in The Lone
Pine
Pride world?
Vivi: I will say that I’m currently working on Mateo’s story (who
might be
forced to venture outside his Batcave, poor baby). :) As the series
progresses, I
have plans to explore more shifter communities, including the wolves—
provided
readers like the series enough for me to justify keeping it going! There’s
a wide
world of shifters out there and I’d love to explore it. :)
Jen: I can't wait to read Mateo's story! Thank you so much for being here with us.
Award-winning paranormal romance author Vivi Andrews was born and
raised in
Alaska, though she currently lives in Manhattan when she isn't indulging her
travel
addiction. After graduating from Northwestern University, Vivi tried out a
variety
of careers—from the movie industry to accounting—but kept coming back to her
first
two loves, writing and travel. She lived in nine cities (on two continents
and one
tropical island) while pursuing her dream of writing romance professionally.
In 2009, Vivi won the Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart Award, quit
her last
day job, and her first two paranormal romance novellas were released by
Samhain
Publishing, launching the Karmic Consultants and Serengeti Shifter series
respectively. In the years since she has written and released over twenty
paranormal
romance novels and novellas. Her books have been selected as Top Picks by
Romantic
Times Bookreviews and nominated for their Reviewer's Choice Awards, as well
as other
awards.
When she isn't writing, Vivi enjoys reading, hiking, skiing, and watching
every
movie ever released, though she is most often found traveling or planning
her next
trip. Whether at home or on the road, she is always hard at work on her next
happily-ever-after.
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog | Goodreads
It might be love. If they don't kill each other first.
Siberian tiger-shifter Dominec Giroux doesn't play well with others.
Horribly
scarred by the Organization scientists who killed his family and tried to
turn him
into their pet assassin, his sanity has been hanging by a thread ever since
his
escape.
His one reason for living-revenge. But when he snaps during one of the
shifters'
strikes against the Organization and goes on a killing spree, it doesn't go
over so
well with his pride mates. As the only female lieutenant in Lone Pine Pride
history,
Grace Calaveras has a lot to prove, and a lot on her plate. The last thing
she needs
to deal with is Dominec's brand of crazy, but until she can get him under
control,
she's his babysitter.
It would take a miracle for these two to find common ground, but when
they're sent
on a mission that could impact the future of every shifter in the world,
lioness and
tiger form an uneasy alliance and unleash an attraction that could be their
salvation. If it doesn't destroy them both.
Warning: This book contains a scarred, brooding tiger with an
unconventional
approach to romance, a feisty, flirty lioness who doesn't know how to quit,
love
triangles, secret missions, and rooftop kisses hot enough to melt the
Montana snow.
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