Guest Post & Giveaway: Author Avery Flynn

Today, I have author Avery Flynn here with us talking about being a romance junkie.

Welcome back to The Book Vixen Avery!

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Hi, my name’s Avery and I’m a romance junkie. It all started in middle school with purloined copies of my mother’s V.C. Andrews and Jackie Collins. So brazen did I become that my sixth grade teacher - oh, she of the see-through blouses - sent my mom a note ratting me out for bringing The Thorn Birds for my independent reading time.

That wasn’t enough to rid me of my demons. No. I scoured used book stores for dogeared Harlequin novels. The sweet and sheltered heroine whose innocence reels in the arrogant and demanding hero (who later in life I realized was often a total prick). I’d devour the books in one marathon session in the tub, refilling it with hot water as necessary. Then I discovered Joanna Lindsey’s regency romance novels. Independent, smart, spitfire heroines out to right a wrong. And the heroes? Oh, yeah. Brawn and brains - and a title to boot.

The list goes on an on, there’s rarely been a romance novel I didn’t caress with lust, eager to rip open the cover and loose myself in the pure joyous high of the happily ever after, the adventure, the intrigue, the mystery, the black moments, the rediscoveries, the plot twists and the laughter found within a romance novel’s pages.

Until recently, I had no idea I had a problem. Sure, it wasn’t unusual for me to burn dinner because I was too engrossed in the tale to pay attention to my cooking. At the romance junkie house (AKA the bookstore), the pushers knew me by name. Then, they started sending me e-mails recommending other romance authors they thought I would enjoy. I’d buy the romance books unable to resist their heady charms.

Then a life coach explained that romance novels are addictive and as horrible as porn (I clutched my pearls at the thought because everyone knows only dirty men like to watch porn). Romance novels can cause major problems in a person’s life. She even had the pseudo-science to back up her claims.

The news hit me like a thunderclap. Crack! And here I thought I was doing OK. I graduated from college, own a business, married a devastatingly handsome and smart man, am raising three kids, have good friends, volunteer for local non-profits and donate to charities. But no, I am a romance junkie and it’s time I faced facts.

Fact One: I experience a thrill when I read a romance novel. Goosebumps. Butterflies in my stomach. An overall feeling of happy.

Fact Two: For years, romance novels and their required happily ever after ending have been one of my major stress relievers.

Fact Three: Sometimes, I am so drawn into the lives of the characters that I cry (cry!) when misfortune befalls them.

Fact Four: The heroines in romance novels have taught me to stick up for myself, to fight for the underdog, to be willing to take risks and to not settle for anything less than I deserve.

Fact Five: Romance heroes have taught me that not all men leave, that strength and intelligence are sexy in men and women, that even boys get scared and that they, too, should not settle for anything less than they deserve.

Shame is welling up within me as I type these facts. No jury in the world would fail to convict me.

I am a romance junkie.

And I’m off to take another hit.

 

Brianna here. I may have burned a dinner (or two) myself because I had my nose in a romance novel

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Avery Flynn has three slightly-wild children, loves a hockey-addicted husband and is desperately hoping someone invents the coffee IV drip. Evernight Publishing released the first two books in her Layton Family series, Temptation Creek and Seduction Creek. The third book in the series, Passion Creek, released on Aug. 31. Find out more about Avery on her blog, follow her on Twitter, like her on Facebook or friend her on Facebook. Also, if you figure out how to send Oreos through the Internet, she’ll be your best friend for life.

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Uptight history professor Sam Layton may have the abs of a movie action hero, but he stopped

believing in the joy of adventure a long time ago. However, when a one-night stand with a tattooed bombshell leads to a treasure map for the long-buried Rebecca’s Bounty, the call to action is too strong to ignore.

All Las Vegas cocktail waitress Josie Winarsky wants to do is paint. But when she lands smack dab in the middle in a mob plot, she has to push aside her dreams to find a treasure in Dry Creek,

Nebraska and save her family from harm. With Sam at her side and a Vegas loan shark on her tail, the treasure she finds turn out to be much more valuable than emeralds and rubies.

    

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Thanks to Avery Flynn, one lucky winner will receive an ebook copy of Passion Creek!!

Giveaway open Internationally.

Comments are appreciated, however, you must fill out the Rafflecopter form in order to enter this giveaway.

Please read TBV's Giveaway Policy before entering.

Giveaway ends 9:01 pm (Pacific Time) on 9/18/2012.

Good luck to all who enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway