Thursday, January 20, 2011

Interrogation Room with Sondrae Bennett

Sondrae and I have had this in the bag for a while now, ever since I found her blog (I cant even remember how we met) I knew I wanted her in the interrogation room, she is kinda like that beautiful pearl you want to show off to the world or in this case on my most wanted list. She came in without a fight so i decided to go easy on her. I give you Sondrae Bennett

Joanna: Okay you strike me as the shy or withdrawn type so lets start off with a nice secret from you

Sondrae: A secret... Hmmm. I guess I'd go with the fact that I am a total geek. I love Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, and World of Warcraft. In fact, I love Star Wars so much that when I was in middle school, I had a picture of Mark Hamill in my room right next to my bed. ... I can't believe I just admitted that. 
(you framed it? I dont blame you) 



Joanna: You have two books coming out this year how surreal does that feel right now?

Sondrae: Very surreal! Every now and then when I'm thinking about my book 'Arctic Winds' that came out January 17th, I break out in giggles.  

Joanna:    What made you choose Lyrical Press as the right home for your babies? 
Sondrae: I researched a lot of different publishing houses before finally submitting to Lyrical. It wasn't the first place I subbed to but I'm actually quite grateful the first one turned me down. Lyrical has been great to work with. I adore the cover they've created for the book, love my editor, and generally feel they've done a fantastic job.  

Joanna: Since you write paranormal romance(and i love my paras), I am kinda intrigued what do you do for book research?  

Sondrae: The most important research I do is about the animals my characters shift into, especially some of the more unique ones. Samantha, my heroine in 'Arctic Winds', is an arctic fox so I had to know what they ate, how they differed from other foxes and stuff like that. Gwen, the heroine in my second book 'Chasing Paradise', is an otter shifter. There's one scene in particular when Gwen is hunting for fish. I had to research how she would hunt and also what kind of fish she would catch based on where she was. And of course there's the small details that come up while I'm writing that I have to research for accuracy. What the house would look like where they live, weather and those kinds of things. 

Joanna:  Cookies, wine, books or chocolate? 

Sondrae: Ooo, I can't have all four? I guess if I had to order them it would be books then wine. Chocolate and cookies are fighting for third....not sure who would win. I guess it depends on what kind of cookies. 
(if u or KarenG baked them they might be #1 on my list)

Joanna:   How and where do you get inspiration for your stories?  

Sondrae: Everywhere. I'll be walking down the street on my way to work and I'll see something or hear something and BOOM a story idea will pop into my head. Usually I write down a few details and then put it aside to let it simmer so I can come back to it later.  

I'm still staring at your pretty picture so i guess you can tell us about your amazing new baby

Nothing will stop a wolf once he's found his mate....
After her skulk abandoned her four years ago, Samantha knew she would never truly be wanted. When she accidentally stumbles into a wolf town and is asked by their Permier to stay, she believes it's the novelty of an arctic fox motivating him. She knows she'll be on her own again once he tires of her.
Jason finds himself pulled to Samantha from the moment she faints in his arms. His wolf is calling to him, telling him he's found their mate and the heat he feels for Samantha is impossible to resist. But his little fox is loaded down with emotional baggage and doesn't believe she's worthy of love. Can he overcome her fears? Or will pack jealousies and the local foxes convince her she doesn't belong with him before he has a chance? 
Author Bio: Sondrae lives in New York City where she loves to people watch for inspiration. She has been an avid reader of romance her whole life, and began writing them after imaging different twists on the books she read. Sondrae believes the best characters are those deeply and truthfully invested in the situations they find themselves in and usually lets her characters speak for themselves. Above all, she loves giving her characters the happily ever afters they deserve.
Sondrae loves to hear from readers. Please feel free to email her and drop by her blog to learn about upcoming releases.

32 comments:

  1. Hi Joanna, Hello Sondrae,

    I loved reading about you and your processes, Sondrae. Thanks for bringing her to us, Joanna!

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  2. Wonderful interview, ladies! I, too, would be hard pressed to choose between cookies, wine, chocolate, or books. Yes to all, please!

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  3. Wow, sounds like a great story! That boom of an idea arriving sounds very familiar, too! Thanks for another great interrogation. (I love that we're somehow sliding from spotlights to cookies and chocolate in our interrogations.)

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  4. Thank you for the interrogation of the fab and lovely named Sondrae Bennet, Joanna St James!! Oh the book sounds wonderful - wolves and foxes and romance!! What a great combination!! Good luck Sondrae Bennet and all the best with your writing! Take care
    x

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  5. Great interview and thanks for highlighting these books and their author! Hadn't heard of them before now but they sound like a great read! Good stuff!

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  6. Great interview! I love Star Wars AND Star Trek :) Does that make me even geekier? LOL.

    I love that you're using an arctic setting in your book. Best of luck with your release!

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  7. What a fun interview. I love getting to know other writers.

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  8. Battlestar Galactica--original or remake?

    I'm a purist. Didn't like the remake at all.

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  9. Thank you all for coming to visit today and for your kind comments!

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  10. Great interview, Jo. And great to meet you, Sondrae!

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  11. Joanna, another lovely interview my dear!

    Sondrae, love the sound of your books. I shall have to check them out! ;)

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  12. Thanks Talei. There's just the one out right now but my second will be released in August from Lyrical Press. And hopefully there will be many more to come after that!

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  13. Cool interview. Love the plot of her novels and the cover. I would be excited if I had two books coming out.
    CD

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  14. Wonderful interview, Joanna and Sandrae!

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  15. Clarissa- sometimes I have to pinch myself because I hardly believe it's real!

    Thanks Maria!

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  16. It's so nice to hear success stories like Sondrae's. Thanks for a great interview, Joanna!

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  17. Congrats on your books, I've read only a couple of shape shifters before but yours sound great!

    Nice interview Joanna.

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  18. Awe awesome interview Joanna and Sondrae!!

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  19. Congrats on the books, great interview ladies!

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  20. Sondrae, kindred spirits! I had a total crush on Mark Hamill in sixth grade! Obsessive! And same with BG!

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  21. Thank you all so much!

    Tamara - Mark Hamill totally had it going on :)

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  22. Ooh, great interview. I'm totally a fan of Battlestar Galactica as well :)

    Rach

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  23. Fantastic interview, ladies. Interesting to hear how she does research for her paranormals!

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  24. It's nice to see you here, Sondrae!

    I didn't know you were a fellow geek. Huzzah, another member!

    Congrats on your new release. :)

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  25. Book sounds great Sondrae! And I have heard really lovely things about Lyrical, so congrats.

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  26. Great interview. I am looking forward to reading Sondra's books! Joanna - I love the questions you ask in your interviews. Thank you for exposing me to such interesting authors. I love the paranormal romance genre. Sondra sounds like an author I am going to love reading!!

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  27. Hi Joanna,
    Nice interview! I just stopped at Sondrae's lovely blog and I became her latest follower ;)
    Thank you for sharing your literary pearl ;)
    Claudia
    http://www.claudiadelbalso.blogspot.com/

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  28. Terrific interview, both of you!

    Joanna, I gave you a Making Smiles on Faces Award over at my blog.

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  29. Congrats on your release! Glad you found a publisher that you adore. Thanks for such a lovely interview!

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  30. These books sound amazing.Tthanks for finding Sondrae Joanna and exposing us to her lovely books!

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  31. Another great interview. I really look forward to these.

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