During the
day, Tamara Lush writes news as a journalist with The Associated Press. At
night, she writes fictional romance tales about complicated, sexy men and the
women who love them.
When Tamara
isn’t reporting, writing or reading, she’s doing yoga, cooking for her Italian
husband or chasing her dogs on a beach on Florida's Gulf Coast. She loves connecting with people on
social media.
Her latest
book is the erotic romance, Tell
Me a Story (Book 1 The Story Series).
For
More Information
- Visit Tamara Lush’s website.
- Connect with Tamara on Facebook and Twitter.
- Find out more about Tamara at Goodreads.
Can you tell us what your book is about?
Tell Me a Story is about a bookstore owner who also writes
erotica. She attends a literary event in her city called Story Brothel, where
people pay writers to read their work aloud. A mysterious and handsome man pays
her to read a sexy story, and they embark on a relationship.
Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting
characters?
Emma Price is the bookstore owner. She’s fought and
struggled for what she wants – a successful business – and has surrounded
herself with friends and writing and art. But her livelihood is
Caleb King is the hero of the book. He’s a wealthy real
estate developer and widower. He’s captivated by the lovely and quirky Emma,
but doesn’t understand why she won’t trust him more.
Other characters include Emma’s best friend, Sarah, and
Caleb’s sister, Laura. They are lesbians and also begin a relationship in Tell
Me a Story (and will likely get their own novella at some point).
Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are
they totally from your imagination?
Totally from my imagination, although some of the characters
have traits of people I’ve met in real life.
Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a
novel or do you discover it as you write?
I plot and outline heavily before I begin writing, down to
what will happen in each chapter. I don’t always follow the outline, but I
usually do.
Your book is set in Orlando,
Florida.
Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
I live in Florida
and so far, most of my books are set here, too. Florida’s
such an interesting place. I wanted to set Tell Me a Story in Orlando
because to a large degree, this is a fairy tale. Emma grew up poor and meets her
Prince Charming. Orlando is known
for magic and fairy tales because of the theme parks.
Does the setting play a major part in the development of
your story?
Yes. In all of my books, the Florida
heat, the sun, the bright colors and the odd happenings here all play a role in
my books in some way. I am in love with Florida
and I want to reflect that in my work.
Open the book to page 69.
What is happening?
For the first time, Emma asks Caleb questions about his
deceased wife, who died of cancer.
What would you do with an extra hour today if you could
do anything you wanted?
I would probably exercise more. I seem to spend a lot of
time sitting in front of the computer!
If we were in my city of St. Petersburg,
I would take you to The Canopy, which is a rooftop bar/lounge along the
waterfront. We would have a beautiful vista of Tampa
Bay, The St. Pete Yacht Club and a
gorgeous green park. We’d have dragonberry mojitos and share a flatbread.
What do you like to do for fun?
I love going to the dog beach with my husband and our two
small dogs.
What kind of advice would you give other fiction
authors?
Read. And then read some more. Read in your genre but pay
special attention to reading outside of your genre as well. Read the classics.