Wacky Wednesday: Stop on ANYTHING BUT SWEET by Candis Terry Tasty Book Blog Tour - Interview with Candis & Huge #Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the ANYTHING BUT SWEET by Candis Terry Tasty Book Blog Tour. There was no way I wasn’t going to read this first book in a new series by the author of the amazing Sugar Shack series, Candis Terry, so when asked if I wanted to join the blog tour, I leaped at the chance. Even better, I was given the opportunity to talk one on one with the lovely lady herself. Feel free to check out my review that I published for y’all on Monday, just click on the title above.

Candis Terry was born and raised near the sunny beaches of Southern California and now makes her home on an Idaho farm. She’s experienced life in such diverse ways as working in a Hollywood recording studio to chasing down wayward steers. Only one thing has remained the same: her passion for writing stories about relationships, the push and pull in the search for love, and the security one finds in their own happily ever after.

I hope you will all help me make Candis comfortable while I grill her wonderfully, sweet brain. Please join me in welcoming Candis Terry, author of ANYTHING BUT SWEET, to Unwrapping Romance … 

Amy: Welcome Candis, it's an absolute delight to have you with us today, and I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your busy day to join us.

Candis: Thank you! I’m so excited to be here today!

Amy: Perhaps you'd like to tell us a little bit about yourself for those who don't know you yet.

Candis: Well, for those who don’t know me my road to publication was a long and bumpy road that took 22 years. Why? I’m either a slow learner or stubborn. Most likely both. My first book for Avon Romance—Second Chance at the Sugar Shack—was literally meant to be my last attempt at being published. In 2011, I happily grabbed the attention of an amazing editor and finally received the call. Since then I’ve completed another two books in the Sugar Shack novels and Home Sweet Home, a short story that appeared in For Love and Honor with Cathy Maxwell and Lynne Hinton, and also in Crazy, Sweet, Fine with Rachel Gibson and Jennifer Bernard. My June release, Anything But Sweet, is the first book in the Sweet, Texas series. Lucky for me it’s been a busy couple of years!

Amy: I’ve read them all and can tell you that you were well worth the wait. Candis, you began your writing career with Avon Impulse but you're now being published in print as well as ebook. It's been an amazing journey for you. Perhaps you could share with us how it felt when you first learned that your Sugar Shack series was going into print and that your newest series would be as well.

Candis:  I have to be honest and tell you that I still can’t believe it. It’s my dream come true. And yeah, I cried a whole lot of happy tears. Seeing my books for sale in a bookstore or online? Crazy! My heart still pounds. I’ve now had the privilege to be at several occasions with other Avon authors and all I can think is ‘What am I doing here?’ When I first signed with Avon Impulse, the sun was still rising on the whole ebook thing. Other than marrying my husband and having my daughter, I’ve never made a happier decision.

Amy: You’ve achieved the dream that some of us are still hoping for – I guess that’s why I wanted to know what it felt like. Yes, I’m jealous but so glad you’re writing because I love your stories. The title of your newest release, ANYTHING BUT SWEET, obviously gives tribute to the town in which the story is set. So what inspired your creation of Sweet, Texas and the characters we meet there?

Candis: In coming up with the new series idea, the first character who popped into my head was Charlotte (Charli) Brooks, the heroine in Anything But Sweet. Since I am an avid HGTV watcher and a person who really would like to have a makeover designer come to my house, I knew Charli just had to be a cable TV host/designer for a makeover show. Instead of her just popping in and redoing a single room for someone, I gave her the task of going into a town sorely in need of a facelift and having to renovate several buildings in a short six weeks. All this is much to the dismay of the hero, Reno Wilder, who does not want his little town to change.

Then my task became creating Sweet. Since I live in a small rural town, it isn’t difficult for me to conjure one up. However, when I decided to make the town in Texas I knew I had to take a road trip. I’d only been to Dallas before, and since in my personal life I have to see hills or mountains to be happy, I knew the new town had to be in Texas Hill Country. So I grabbed the Hubster and away we went. We fell in love with the towns and the people. Along the way I kept seeing these big ranches and in my head I pictured these hard-working, honorable men and the Wilder brothers were born. Most of the other characters you’ll meet in the series are either a happy and sometimes quirky composite of people I’ve met throughout my life, or people I’d love to meet.

Amy: The characters in ANYTHING BUT SWEET were most definitely a great part of its charm. I’m sure they’ll play a large part in the rest of the series. Is contemporary romance where you see yourself staying with your writing, or do you see the possibility of dipping your pen into other romantic genre directions? 

Candis: I love contemporary romance and it really fits my particular voice very well. But there are also stories in my head that are much darker or more suspenseful. So while I have no intention of moving away from the sexy, fun type of stories that I write anytime soon, I’m also the type to never-say-never. I think the point is to always be able to stay fresh for the readers and my imagination.

Amy: As a fan of dark and suspenseful stories, I may just have to bug you about writing one. LOL!  I know you're as prolific a reader as well as writer. I know my readers would like to know what authors have influenced your writing, but in addition, perhaps there's something about your talent that you hope inspired readers (such as myself) come away with from reading your works? Is there?

Candis:  Oh, I am a crazy reader! Just ask my husband. I’m the one with the headlamp on under the covers in the middle of the night (because I still have my original Kindle). As a child, reading kept me sane. Seriously. I still have most of the books I purchased through Scholastic Books and yes, that includes Mr. Pudgins. I cannot bear to part with them. As far as authors who have influenced me? Wow. There are so many. Judith McNaught. Suzanne Brockmann. Nora Roberts. Johanna Lindsey. Judy Blume. Jane Austen. OK, I should probably stop now.

Amy:  Once a reader, always a reader, eh? I’ve still got books from my youth, too. I hate parting with books and so some look very ragtag.  : )

Candis: As to the second part of your question, I don’t know that I have as much talent as I do drive. Once I get a story in my head I have to see the characters find their happily ever after. I want my readers to feel that love. The heart of the story. To take that journey the characters take. Some of my story situations—in part—come from real life. Mine or others. While making it a fun adventure I try really hard to make the characters relatable or at least seem like someone they might know. The most important thing I would like readers to come away with, after reading one of my books, is a little hope that even when life doesn’t seem to be going your way, or things are just a little freaky, there is a little cheerleader at the end of the tunnel waving a flashlight saying - “Come on, you can do it! I got your happily ever after right here!”

Amy: Wow! I think you do just that, Candis. I love the way I feel when I finish reading one of your stories – like I just experienced something wonderful and now I’m happy. I like that I’m always left with a smile even if I shed tears while reading, which I did while reading ANYTHING BUT SWEET.

So now for my last question for you, and it’s my personal favorite. If you could be ANY character in ANY book, who would it be and why?

Candis: Holy snickerdoodles! Any character? Well, not Harry Potter because even though he has some really cool magical stuff going on, he’s got too many freaks after him and he’s got to wear those really bad glasses. And not Scarlett O’Hara because even though Rhett is pretty hot, he leaves her, and her house burns down, and she’s got to wear drapes.

Amy:  *laughing*

Candis:  Hmm. Maybe Princess Buttercup because she gets to go on a fun adventure through the fire swamp and ends up with Farm Boy Wesley aka the Dread Pirate Roberts. But probably right now I’d choose Charli from Anything But Sweet. I’m a glass half-empty girl and Charli is someone I aspire to be. She’s had a tough life but she’s always an optimist. She’s energetic, funny, smart, and she has an enormous heart that she’s just so willing to share with anyone. Yep. I’d want to be Charli—and not just because she ends up with sexy Reno Wilder. OK, maybe because of that.

Amy:  Great answer! I totally agree with you about being Charli. She is an awesome heroine. Who knows, maybe someday a real Charli will come and do a full house makeover for you.

Candis, thank you so very much for joining us today and for sharing ANYTHING BUT SWEET with us. Congratulations on your new series, and I'm sure my readers are as excited as I am to read more. 

Candis: Thank you for having me! I’m really excited about Anything But Sweet and hope you enjoy. And keep a lookout as there are three more Wilder brothers to come.

Amy: Indeed. Folks, Reno and Charli’s story is just the beginning and what a beginning! I hope you’ll all read this fabulous contemporary romance when it releases June 25th from Avon Romance.

Blurb for ANYTHING BUT SWEET:

A man who doesn’t like change . . .
The Wilder family is something of a Sweet, TX institution: between their yearly BBQ blow-outs and their Hardware and Feed store, they’re an institution—an institution that ex-marine Reno Wilder has tried to preserve, in honor of his lost loved ones. But it seems like he’s the only one who’s got any respect left for traditions when a new TV makeover show rolls in to renovate Sweet to bring in more tourists. Everyone is pleased except Reno—and this cowboy is determined to keep everything just the way he likes it.

A woman who wants to change everything . . .
Inquisitive. Stubborn. Smart. Drop dead gorgeous. That would be makeover show host and designer, Charlotte Brooks—the woman Reno has declared war against. And yet, he can’t seem to keep away from her, or to get her off his mind. Charlotte isn’t afraid to back down from a challenge—of any kind—and she’s promised to prove to Reno that change can be sexy, hot, and very, very sweet, if Reno and Charli learn to let go of their pasts and grab hold of a future full of promise.
 

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If you’d like to learn more about Candis Terry and her wonderful books, please visit her website and feel free to follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. She’d love it!

Now, normally, I run some kind of giveaway with my Wacky Wednesday interviews but since this is part of a blog tour, Candis has something truly fabulous for you – I mean HUGE! Knock your socks off amazing! You’re going to want in on this Giveaway! Please use Rafflecopter to enter here and all along the tour – click HERE for a complete list of blogs.

*Prize will be given away after the end of the tour and will include: 

Black and White Striped Summer Tote Bag, "Cooking with Love" Heart-Shaped Baking Set, Red Heart-Shaped Alabaster Paperweight, Signed copies of ANYTHING BUT SWEET, SECOND CHANCE AT THE SUGAR SHACK, ANY GIVEN CHRISTMAS, SOMEBODY LIKE YOU, FOR LOVE AND HONOR, and CRAZY SWEET FINE.  *Giveaway is also open to international readers.

Is that not amazing?! I know I want in. Have fun, good luck, and ...

Happy Reading Everyone!
 

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/521ac478/

ANYTHING BUT SWEET by Candis Terry, Avon Romance, release date – June 25, 2013 in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Indiebound, Powell’s Books, and Books-a-Million.

***click on links or cover below for purchasing/pre-order information.