Hi Susanna! Welcome to Fallen Angel Reviews! Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with us. We appreciate the opportunity to speak with you.

In your upcoming release, Lip Lock, your heroine is not what she appears to her co-workers and boss. How did you come up with such an intriguing concept?

The image people give at work can be completely different than the one they have for their home or social life. I decided to exaggerate that idea, but make the heroine maintain the cool, professional image under challenging circumstances.

It also appears that your stories are riddled with not only romance but humor. Do you find that it is more believable when humor is also an element of the story?

I think women can relate to humor in stories. It’s one of the traits they sometimes need to get through the day!

We have all heard that becoming a published author takes time and dedication. What kept you motivated while waiting for your first story to be published?

I almost hate to admit this, but at first, I kept at it because I didn’t know any better. Then it became more of an okay-last-year-sucked-but-I’ll-get-published-this-year kind of mentality. Finally I had spent so much time, energy and money pursuing the dream, that there was no way I could quit!

As a writer, do you also take time to read other works? If so, do you have a particular author or style of book that you enjoy?

Absolutely! I’m a die-hard romance reader, and I read whatever I can get my hands on. My all-time favorite books can be found here http://www.susannacarr.com/ rec.htm#favorites

If there were one thing you could ensure readers come away with after reading your books, what would it be?

My books are meant to give some sexy and romantic fun for the reader. The stories are usually about women who reinvent themselves and the wild consequences those transformations can bring.

You have very fun covers. Do you get to have a say in the overall presentation of your work?

I like my book covers and so far LIP LOCK is my favorite. I don’t get a say in the artwork – but that’s probably a good thing!

Of all the individuals you have created, do you have a particular favorite?

Molly Connors from LIP LOCK is my favorite. I like her perseverance, even when everything is going wrong.

What was the first story you ever wrote?

The first story I wrote was when I was in high school. It was a romance (of course), but I never got past chapter three on that story. Probably because I wrote about a sophisticated characters in glamorous professions and living in a cosmopolitan world I knew nothing about!

What is your favorite part of a book to write?

Coming up with the idea energizes me. I think brainstorming is the best part. My second favorite part is when something unexpected occurs in the story that fits so perfectly that you can’t understand how it happened.

How do you know what to name your books or the characters?

Sometimes I know their names right away, and other times I’ve had to change it in the course of writing the story. There was a heroine in one of my novellas (which is at Brava, awaiting publication) whom I named Danielle, but the character wasn’t working. While I was struggling with it, a telemarketer called and her name was Tamsin. After I got off the phone, I returned to manuscript, and it just clicked. I changed the heroine’s name to Tamsin and everything about the character fell into place.

Could you describe for us your idea of the perfect man?

Protective. Intelligent. Funny. Sexy. Employed. And not always in that order.

What is the biggest misconception about being a twin?

The biggest misconception I’ve dealt with is the comparison and labeling. I played with some myths in my novella “Sister Switch”, found in BEACH BLANKET BAD BOYS. People always seem to think that there is a bad twin and a good twin. Sometimes that can get really annoying, but after being labeled the good twin, I found I could get away with a lot and my sister could barely get away with anything!

Being a twin has influenced the way I view the world. I write about sisters a lot, and on a few occasion, I add twins in my stories. In fact, in my upcoming novella “Valentine Survivor” found in VALENTINE’S DAY IS KILLING ME, the heroine has a twin sister.

Could you tell us your biggest pet peeves?

My biggest reading pet peeve is the too-good-to-be-true heroines. You know the type. The woman who always does everything right, can make everyone love her, and has a bad reputation but didn’t do anything to earn it. What’s wrong with heroines who don’t get it right the first time, who will always have opponents, and can look at someone in the eye and say, “Yeah, I did do that, and I had fun while I was at it. Wanna make something of it?”

What makes a great book to you?

I’m partial to stories about women who discover their strengths under difficult circumstances. That pretty much all I need to get to the last page.

You find yourself stranded on a desert island, what things could you not survive without?

An unlimited supply of Diet Coke and my to-be-read pile of romances.

Can you give us an insight to what might be in the works? *grin*

Right now I’m working on EX, WHY AND ME, which is romance set in a scavenger hunt. This story will be in bookstores July 2006.

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?

I send out an e-newsletter every month, offering subscribers up-to-the-minute news, exclusive contests and special events. To find out more, click here http://www.susannacarr.com/extra.htm#newsletter.

Thank you so much for stopping by Susanna. Let me just add, readers if you have not had a chance to read some of Susanna’s work, stop by her website to see what you are truly missing. You won’t be disappointed. It has been a pleasure chatting with you Susanna and I look forward to losing myself in the pages of your next story.

Thank you, Jessica! And thanks for taking the time to interview me.

Interviewed by: Jessica