The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom: Interview and Giveaway with Kristen Strassel

Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

Hi! I’m Kristen, I’m always Kristen, haha. No pen names here. I already had worked hard to get my name out in the world as a freelance makeup artist, so I figured half of my work had already been done for getting my name out there as a writer. Hopefully, no matter why someone is searching for me, I can add something creative to their lives. I write New Adult Romance, Paranormal and Contemporary.

Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

NIGHT MOVES is the second book in The Night Songs Collection. It introduces a new narrator and band, so if you haven’t had a chance to read BECAUSE THE NIGHT, you won’t be lost. Of course, you’ll pick up on a lot more if you’ve read both books. Anyway, NIGHT MOVES is the story of Melanie, a girl who did all the right things but they made her miserable, and a rock band that will do anything to make their heyday last forever.

Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

All the time! Much of NIGHT MOVES, aside from the vampire part, is based on real events. I’ll let the readers decide how much I embellished. J The Night Songs Collection is mainly set in Las Vegas, a city I used to call home and still consider my home away from home.

Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?

I write New Adult, but not the girl in college meets bad boy NA that we see so much of. I’m interested in the people who’ve messed up, who make decisions that didn’t work out as they planned, and how they bounce back from them. Not everyone goes away to a 4 year school and lives in a dorm. I’ve always been fascinated by the people who’ve taken the hard road, whether they’ve had the choice or not, and how the flourish.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I am a diehard football fan. Go Patriots!

When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?

My “day job,” as I mentioned above, is doing makeup for film, TV, and commercials. So that’s always pretty interesting, because I get to see a lot of cool things and meet a lot of great people. When I’m home, I like to cook, decorate, and I’m learning how to pole dance.

Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?

I have this 70’s space opera thing floating in my head which might be visually cooler than anything else. We’ll see.

Of all the characters you’ve ever written, who is your favorite and why?

Tristan. He only makes a cameo in NIGHT MOVES. He was my first character, and he’s a bit misunderstood. LOL I wanted him to be volatile, not in any sort of abusive way, but in the way that you never knew what to expect when he entered the scene. He’s the ultimate excessive seeking rock star.

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

Yes. There’s one more book in the trilogy, WE OWN THE NIGHT, coming late summer. Melanie teams up with Callie from BECAUSE THE NIGHT and they all have to fix the messes they’ve created.

What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?

WE OWN THE NIGHT will be next. There are more books in The Night Songs collection, but they’re in the world and support the trilogy. Life doesn’t happen in a straight line, not even in my books. I’m hoping to have one more book out that’s in the world by the end of the year. Otherwise, I’m putting the finishing touches on a first draft of a NA contemporary romance. There are no vampires, but there is a rock star. You can’t ask me to go cold turkey.

What book are you reading now?

WE WON’T FEEL A THING by JC Lillis.

Night Moves

The Night Songs Collection

Book 2

Kristen Strassel

Genre: NA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Foreword Literary

Date of Publication: 3.26.14

ISBN: coming soon

ASIN:coming soon

Number of pages: 294

Book Description:

We bonded in darkness, over darkness.

Melanie Vaughn’s job ruined everything. Her social life, nonexistent. Her relationship with her boyfriend, a hostile roommate situation. She resolves to fix everything one snowy afternoon, but instead comes home to discover her boyfriend is already exploring other options. Blonder, bustier options. Rage drives Melanie to do the unthinkable.

When Soul Divider was on the top of the world, so was Ryder Maddox. When the band faded into obscurity, Ryder’s luck plummeted with it. In a last ditch effort to rekindle the band’s heyday, Soul Divider teams up with powerful vampire clan leader, Talis de Rancourt. In return for her services, the band pays the ultimate price for never ending fame.

Now on the run, Melanie meets Ryder in a middle of nowhere hotel. She never expected her teenage rock star crush to be as lost and as in need of a companion as she is. Their connection is all consuming, even before they find they share another kinship: murder.

The newly turned vampires in Soul Divider still have a lot to learn. The police and public begin to connect the girls that go missing or die in sync with the band’s tour schedule. Back at home, clues are also adding up against Melanie as well. Between constant media coverage and unrelenting attention from the authorities, Melanie and Ryder find themselves in uncharted territory.

About the Author:

Kristen shares a birthday with Steven Tyler and Diana Ross. She spends each day striving to be half as fabulous as they are. She’s worn many hats, none as flattering as her cowboy hat: banker, retail manager, fledgling web designer, world’s worst cocktail waitress, panty slinger, now makeup artist and aspiring author. She loves sunshine, live music, the middle of nowhere, and finding new things to put in her house. Kristen is represented by Pam van Hylckama Vlieg of Foreword Literary.

Blog: www.deadlyeverafter.com

Twitter: @kristenstrassel

www.Facebook.com/deadlyeverafterblog

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7267647.Kristen_Strassel

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