Monday Author Interview with Taryn Raye

My friend and fellow author Taryn Raye is here with us today and I’m excited. She’s got some great answers and I can’t wait to share them with you all. Now, Taryn, describe yourself in three words.

Prolific, Funny, Dreamer

Good choices. How about a hard question. Cast your book. Tell us who would play the main characters in a movie and why.

I envisioned a very young Kate Beckinsale as Catherine, my innocent sweet heroine, especially how she looked in Much Ado About Nothing, but with red hair and blue eyes.

As Dawson began to take shape in my mind, he started to favor James Scott, who played EJ Dimera on Days of Our Lives. At the time I was writing Castaway Hearts, I was watching DOOL and there was a storyline where he was also playing his “grandfather” Santos Dimera in flashbacks. (That’s where the black and white photo came into play, with the mustache, and best fits what Dawson looks like to me. Of course, the other images of James Scott are simply yummy, too.)

I had also cast Orlando Bloom (ala Pirates) as Dawson’s ill-fated younger sailor brother, Nathaniel.

I haven’t seen a soap opera in so long, but those male choices are definitely hot. Good ones! Since we’re talking about hot, what’s your favorite love scene from a movie?

Wow. I guess one of my favorite love scenes would be from The Notebook. Passion that intense is usually a once in a lifetime thing, but it’s also one that runs deep and true over an entire lifetime. But then there’s also the scene from Far and Away- only a kiss or two, but when Shannon and Joseph break into that home on Christmas and she asks him to “pretend you love me.” It is one of the most sensual scenes I’ve ever seen in a movie.

Yes, it was a sensual scene. I almost forgot about it. Grin. What’s your wildest fantasy?

In all honesty? A weekend away with just my husband. No, really. If he and I could have an entire weekend, tucked away in a room with a Jacuzzi to just enjoy each other and spend time connecting on a level we don’t normally get to express with kids in the house, maybe snuggled close in front of a fireplace afterward on a snowy night…that would be absolute heaven.

Nothing wrong with wanting time with the DH. Trust me, I’d love a tryst with mine if I could get him to take the time off work. If you were to lose one of your senses, which would you rather lose and why?

If I had to give up one willingly, I guess it would be my sense of taste. I love food a little too much as it is, so I could do without the taste buds as I’d still be able to smell the food, which might make up for it and give me a false sense of “flavor” when I eat. Giving up smell would actually take away the sense of taste as well, so I wouldn’t want to lose 2-in-1. I enjoy the beauty of nature and the smiles on my loved ones faces too much to give up sight. To never hear “I love you” or my children’s laughter again wouldn’t do either and the human touch matters a great deal so you don’t burn yourself or cut yourself without realizing it until you’ve bled all over the place. Yeah, taste it would have to be.

Hmm. Never thought about the smell/taste being a 2-in-1 like you mention. Food for thought. Grin. What is the naughtiest thing you did as a kid?

I was rather bookworm-ish growing up and didn’t really get into a lot of trouble, though there was the time I accidentally slammed my little sister’s fingers in a car door, which was already locked. She had to wait until one of the grown-ups- I believe it was my oldest uncle, unlocked it before she could get her hand out. Luckily, she didn’t have any broken fingers because of it. She was more apt to be trouble though- breaking glass jugs full of water on the basement floor when she was trying to be “helpful,” cutting her hand open with one of our dad’s wood chisels, it was always something.

Goodness, sounds like she was a pill. Now me, I’m a perfect angel. Well, wait. No, I write erotic romance. Never mind. I’m wonderfully wicked. Speaking of wicked, it’s time for my favorite part of the interview... The Quickies! Fast, loose and always fun!

Boxers or Briefs?

Boxers- gives the boys a little breathing room.

Snicker! Love it. Top or Bottom?

Top. A control thing, I suppose, for that hint of Mistress hiding beneath my pristine surface.

Ahh! See! I thought I saw a whip in your back pocket! Pajamas or nude?

Nude- clothing chokes, constrains and gets in the way.

Good thing I’m not drinking anything. I’d have snorted it out my nose. Love it! Hairy chests or smooth?

Smooth, though a little hair doesn’t hurt- just not full-on Robin Williams…ugh. If I want a bear skin rug, I’ll buy one.

Yeah, the Robin Williams look does nothing for me. Alpha or Beta?

Either. I don’t mind a man who knows what he wants and makes sure I know it, too, but I also like the idea of a gentle sensitive poetic soul, as well...

Awww. Nice. Now, if you want to know more about Taryn’s book Castaway Hearts, here’s the Blurb

Twice orphaned, Catherine Barrett arrives in Virginia a stranger to her closest kin and secretly engaged to the one man her family would disapprove of- her seafaring grandfather’s apprentice. Add to her troubles, the rich and intriguing older brother of her secret betrothed, Dawson Randolph, a plantation owner who is as heartless as he is handsome. Heartbroken when her intended sets sail for his maiden voyage, Catherine finds it difficult to adjust to her new life, hoping to befriend the one man who is, undoubtedly, the match her grandparents wish for her. Dawson’s distaste for her secret engagement to his brother makes it clear he has no designs for marriage to anyone. Especially her.

Ten years since the tragic loss of his young wife and infant son, Dawson Randolph is convinced love and marriage is a fool’s game and resents being pardon to his brother’s hidden engagement. Damned by his instant attraction and his own growing desire, Dawson vows to befriend her against his better judgment. Determined to bring her happiness in a time of fear and uncertainty, Dawson puts aside his animosity to become her confidant, only to realize Catherine holds the key to his heart. When tragedy strikes at sea, Catherine’s guilt pushes Dawson to the fringes of her life as madness consumes her.

Can his love save her before she drowns in her own grief? Or is he doomed to love her from a distance, always in the shadow of her love for his dead brother?

And because you know you want more of Taryn, here are her links!

A romantic at heart, my love of storytelling began in childhood with the typical fairytales and my membership at age 10 to the Just for Girls Book Club. I grew up on classics and contemporary tales, but it wasn’t long before my tastes also matured as I ventured into my mother’s stash of Harlequins and Silhouettes, too. Born and raised in a small town in Central Kentucky, I now reside in the southern part of the state with my husband, stepson, daughter and my mischief-making cat named Miscellaneous, aka Mizzy.

Castaway Hearts is available in eBook & print from my publisher-

Turquoise Morning Press

 Also available on Amazon for- Kindle & Print as well as On Nook from B&N & In Print from B&N

 As well as various formats on Smashwords, All Romance Ebooks, OmniLit, Bookstrand

Here are just a few places you can find Taryn Raye-

Website, Blog, @ScribblingTaryn on Twitter, FB Page, Goodreads, Google +