It’s
All About the Author…
1) Please
tell us 5 interesting facts about yourself that readers might not know about
you … I have dual citizenship, that means that I
have 2 passports, Italian and US.
I lived in 5 different
countries, that’s countries, not states. Italy, Belgium, Germany, France and
United States.
I spent a very special, long evening
at a private Geisha club in Tokyo. I was the only non working girl there.
I wrote my first full length
mystery while going through my divorce. That was my way of killing people
without going to jail. The book was eventually published and became the first
book of the Mina’s adventures series. Love
Thy Sister.
I have a background in fashion
design. Started in Italy and had my own business in the states with branches in
Arizona and California.
2) What do
you like to do in your spare time? I like to work
out, love yoga and hiking. But I also volunteer at a no kill animal shelter.
3) Is there
one book that you love to read over and over again? If so, what is it and what is it that keeps
you coming back to it? The Horse Whisperer by
Nicholas Evans…love the sense of pending doom that creeps through the book…
4) How did
you get started writing and have you always wanted to be an author? Yes, I was telling stories before I could write. Won my
first literary award at the age of fourteen, that’s the old fourteen…before I
even owned a typewriter…I’m aging myself…
5) If you
for some reason couldn’t be an author, what would your other choice be? I like creative things, decorating, making clothes,
painting walls…anything that involves imagination.
6) Did you
like school? Were you a good student? Loved school. I grew up in a chaotic household. School
was my refuge and yes, I was a good student.
7) When you write, is there a specific way you
have to write, ie: certain room, noise
or quiet, computer or paper etc…No noise, complete
silence, I tend to write on my laptop, without internet connection. I have a
regular computer I use for daily social life. And yes, I create best from my
desk, by the window.
8) If you could write a collaboration with
another author, do you have one in mind and what would you write? Would love to collaborate with another author because my
English is sometime limiting, however, I don’t do any planning, I sit and write
and that’s not conductive to collaboration.
9) How do you come up with your story
ideas? Mostly
from something that actually happened and left a big impression on me, I create
the rest. But all my stories have a % of truth.
10)
Do titles stump you or do they come easy? When do you pick a title, before the story is
written or when it’s done? Ah, funny you should
ask. Yes, I need a title before I write the story.
11)
Do you keep a notebook near you for when new ideas
pop into your head? No.
12)
If you write a series, do you re-read your
previous books before you begin the new one? Not
always. Unless I need something very specific, I know my characters pretty
well, don’t forget they are usually based on people I know..
13)
How does your family feel about your writing? They don’t much care. I know..I only have boys and they
think I write chick stuff and the rest of my family is in Italy and none of
them understand English…
Thanks
for sharing “you as an author” with us !
We hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!
* * * * *
BEST IN SHOW
Mina’s Adventures Series, Book 6
Maria
Grazia Swan
Cozy Romantic
Suspense, 188 pages
Mina Calvi, Italian
transplant to Southern California, thinks her love life might finally come
together, just as her professional life has. Her Furry Friends Foundation, a
no-kill shelter for rescued cats and dogs, is a success, and Mina hopes she may
find a loving forever home for herself, in the arms of Diego Moran, her
elusive, frustratingly mysterious, on again-off again, lover.
When a seemingly innocent night out with friends lands Mina
in a hospital bed and Diego undercover, and not the covers Mina wants him to be
under, Mina has to draw on all her new-found maturity, and all her supportive
friends for strength.
Meanwhile, a Best in Show cat takes up residence at the
Ritzy Cats B&B, Mina’s other venture, setting Mina on the trail of a
suspicious character who might not have the cat's best interests at
heart.
Add a Matchmaker to the Stars, a temperamental Italian chef
and the usual menagerie of people and pets, stir it all up and you have an
entertaining, hard to put down romantic tale of suspense.
Excerpt:
Did he love her?
In the heat of the night, love was a given. But as daylight
unfolded, her insecurities found their path to her heart. Mina didn’t move,
afraid the slightest shifting might wake him. His chest rose and fell against
her back as he breathed peacefully. Their bodies touched, connected in a
perfect fit. A match made in heaven she repeated to herself, in heaven but not
on earth?
The longing she felt for him transcended sex and lust. Eyes
closed, she revisited their good-bye two years ago in the cemetery in Italy,
and that sense of unconditional love he’d brought into her life. It was the
kind of love Mina assumed girls customarily expected from a father, a brother,
a kin. But that was only a guess, a yearning, since she’d grown up without
parents or siblings, so she had never experienced such love, until then, during
that magical Italian summer.
Diego stirred and brushed his lips up and down the nap of
her neck. “Missed you,” he whispered.
Now wide-awake, Mina quipped, “You missed me? How?”
“How?” In one fluid motion he spun her around, her body
pressed against his. “How did I miss you?’ He paused, his eyes burning from a
surge of passion she hadn’t seen coming. “For the last two years I carried with
me the image of you in your red dress. The way you looked the last time I was
near you. It’s branded in my soul. I couldn’t rid myself of it. Even now a
glimpse of a red dress would arouse me. I’d be aroused not by the woman wearing
it, but by the memory of you in that red dress.”
Books 1 thru 5 Available at Amazon
About the Author
Best selling author Maria Grazia Swan was born in Italy, but
this rolling stone has definitely gathered no moss. She lived in Belgium,
France, Germany, in beautiful Orange County, California where she raised her
family, and is currently at home in Phoenix, Arizona--but stay tuned for weekly
updates of Where in the World is Maria Grazia Swan?
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for--ooh-la-la--haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people and pets find the perfect home.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, Northern Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco--but then, who doesn't?
As a young girl, her vivid imagination predestined her to be a writer. She won her first literary award at the age of fourteen while living in Belgium. As a young woman Maria returned to Italy to design for--ooh-la-la--haute couture. Once in the U.S. and after years of concentrating on family, she tackled real estate. These days her time is devoted to her deepest passions: writing and helping people and pets find the perfect home.
Maria loves travel, opera, good books, hiking, and intelligent movies (if she can find one, that is). When asked about her idea of a perfect evening, she favors stimulating conversation, Northern Italian food and perfectly chilled Prosecco--but then, who doesn't?
Find Me Here
–Maria Grazia Swan
Giveaway:
I Love My Cat locket (US only)
Paperback copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (US only)
Ebook copy of any of Maria’s Books, winner’s choice (Intl)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for posting about my book and the author..that would be me. Mille grazie.
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