Please Welcome, Maya Banks

Please welcome my guest today –  Maya Banks

Maya, Thanks for agreeing to be a guest on my blog.

Thank you

Can you tell everyone a little bit about yourself?

Not much to tell. I’m frightfully boring.  I live in Texas with my husband and three kids.  We’re a close knit family and do pretty much everything together.  Our favorites are hunting and fishing and hubby and I like to sneak away for poker weekends when we can.  I like to harass Amy in my free time.  Pity I don’t have more of it.

How long have you been writing?

Pretty much forever but I wasn’t “serious” about it until 2002 when I challenged Amy to get off her arse and get published with me.  Of course she had to show me up and get there first.

What is your writing process like?

I absolutely don’t have a process. Wish I did.  I’m terribly unpredictable and manic.

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest release The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress?

I had so much fun with this book.  Writing for Harlequin/Silhouette has always been a dream of mine.  The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress is the first book in the Anetakis Tycoons Trilogy about the Anetakis brothers, Chrysander, Theron and Piers.  Chrysander is the oldest and the opening of the book features the parting of ways between him and his current mistress Marley Jameson, but then she’s kidnapped and Chrysander knows nothing of it until a few months later when he discovers she’s pregnant and can’t remember her past.  Now despite the fact that he thinks she betrayed him, he is determined to take care of her and their child.  Knowing that the entire house of cards will tumble down the minute she regains her memory.

Where do you get your ideas for your books?

I don’t have a set answer for this.  Dreams are common.  Sometimes just a snippet of a thought will take hold and build in my mind over time.  Sometimes I get fixated on one scene and build an entire story around it.

Other than contemporaries, do you write in any other romance sub-genre? If not would you like to and if so what sub-genres?

I write mainly contemporaries, which if you knew how terrified I was of writing contemporaries a few years ago when I was only writing historical, is pretty hilarious.  I’ve written a couple of paranormals but my main focus is contemporaries, for now.  I might delve back into historicals, but I’m still mulling over that prospect.

Do your characters talk to you?

(If so who talks more your heroes or heroines?)

They’re pretty equal opportunity.  It really depends on who the story belongs more to, the hero or the heroine.  Sometimes it’s an equal split but others one character takes more of the story.  Like Into the Mist, I felt, was Tyana’s story more than it was Eli’s.  Into the Lair was definitely Katie’s story more than Ian and Braden.

As an author, you must be an avid reader. What books do you enjoy reading? Who are your auto-buy authors?

Oh boy if you only knew, as I sit here and watch my poor overworked postman pile boxes of my book orders on my front doorstep.  Really!  Reading is like breathing.  Given a choice, I’d read over writing, if I could only choose one, but thankfully I can do both.

What books are on your keep shelf?

Anything by Sharon Sala, Elizabeth Lowell, Julie Garwood, Hannah Howell or Catherine Coulter.  I’ve more recently discovered Susan Mallery and Allison Leigh

Do you read books other than romance books?

I will in a pinch, but I definitely prefer my romances.

What was the first romance book you read?

I honestly can’t say because I started reading them at a very early age.  Probably the earliest one I remember is Wild  Hearts by Virginia Henley, and I’ll qualify that by saying first single title because I’d been devouring Harlequin, Silhouettes and Loveswepts for a long time before that.

If one of your books was made into a movie, which book would you like it to be and which actors would like to see as the lead characters?

Probably one of my historicals and on characters I have no idea because I’m pretty ignorant of pop culture and don’t keep up with actors

If you could switch lives with one of your characters who would if be & why?

I honestly wouldn’t lol.  I like my dull, boring existence and I tend to put my characters through the ringer.

What are you currently working on?

I’m currently working on Amber Eyes, the sequel to Golden Eyes and also the third Anetakis book for Silhouette, Piers’ story.  Next up is Nathan Tucker’s story for Berkley HEAT, Sweet Seduction.

When you are not writing or reading, what do you enjoying doing in your spare time?

Hanging out with my husband.  He keeps me insane.  Spending time with my kids. Hunting, fishing, planning trips.

If you could ask readers anyone question, what would it be?

 

What makes a keeper book for you?  For me, it’s one I’ll read again.  If I finish it knowing that I’ll pick it up to read again and again, it’s a keeper.

***Leave a comment for a copy of The Tycoon’s Pregnant Mistress***