Book
Name: Shifting Weight
Book
one of a series
Author
Name: Tina Blenke
Author
Bio: Tina is a
retired Air Force brat and has lived in several states as well as a handful of
countries. She has always had a soft spot for literature and is a voracious reader.
When she isn’t writing, she can be found cuddled up with a good book. Though
Tina adores a thrilling novel with sappy lovesick heroes, she is terrified of
things that go bump in the night. This makes for quite a complicated
relationship with zombies, something that she just can’t get enough of.
Author
Contact:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tinablenke
LinkedIn: Tina Blenke
Instagram: tinablenke
Wordpress:
http://tinablenke.wordpress.com/
Website:
http://tinablenke.wix.com/author
Tumblr:
tinablenke
Publisher: eXtasy Books
Cover
Artist: Latisha Waters
Blurb(s):
Jason is a West Coast wolf Shifter who leaves his native Pack
Lands to search for his destined mate. When he finds the large muscled man
working out a local gym, Jason is ecstatic and apprehensive. Eric is a
Changeless human and there are tense sides to the politically heated debate
around the integration of Shifters and Changeless. Jason is at risk of losing
control of his wolf without bonding with his destined mate. But, will Eric
accept that Jason is a Shifter? And can Eric trust Jason after his heart has
been left shattered from a previously failed relationship.
Categories: Erotica, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M
Romance, Paranormal, Romance
Excerpt:
Jason
allowed himself to run that night. Elation filled him making it easier to relax
and allow his wolf to flow into his mind and body. The shift was seamless,
years of transitioning helped his wolf to take control in under a few painless
minutes. Jason knew of wolves who could never shift because the pain was so
intense. It was unknown what the cause was but some insisted that it was
because the Shifter’s true mate had never been found and the man could not
control the beast inside of him.
The old
wives’ tale had haunted Jason especially as years passed without locating his
mate. Now that he knew Eric existed, it was one less thing to worry about. Now
he could focus on worrying about Eric finding out he was a Shifter. Eric’s
acceptance. If the two would find love and happiness despite fate playing a
factor, then, and only then, could Jason think about starting a family with
Eric. Maybe he was jumping the gun, but he had always wanted a man to love and
a family to care for. Was it too much to want? Shouldn’t he be satisfied with
finding a mate? All of this thinking and stress was weighing him down. Yes, he
had found his mate, but would Eric want Jason?
His legs
pumped harder as he made his way across hills and through forests with large
trees reaching up towards the skies. It was not the familiar woods of his home
on the Pack Lands but it felt good to stretch his limbs, pull deep pulls of
fresh air into his lungs, and feel the wind tickling through his fur all over
his body. With a grin, he imagined his large bear of a mate with sexual wants
that matched his own.
Pages: 60 pages
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February 6
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Prize: E-copy of Shifting Weight and a gift certificate
~What comes first, the plot or characters?
Characters are usually the first that jump into my head. Shifting Weight is the first book in the series and I’m currently working on the third story. I know one of the main characters right now and I know where he is in life and the start of what’s going to happen to him. I wonder about who he’s going to meet and who the MC2 is. The plot will usually write itself in my mind but it’s the characters’ reactions to the curveballs that are thrown at them that make the story more interesting.
~Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
The idea for the story happened one afternoon when I was at the gym. There was a guy working out at the squat rack next to me and another man approached him asking about his specific set of exercises. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but there must have been a plot bunny hopping around in the back of my mind. I started wondering about that conversation and where the characters came from and where they might be going and that same evening Shifting Weight was born. I was so taken up by the story that I stopped working on another novel to type it out. A few weeks later, it was complete. I think it’s a sweet story about two men that go out on a limb to find each other. They’ve both been around the block and are lonely, looking for friendship and happen to find each other at just the perfect moment in both their lives.
~Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?
I just finished writing the sequel to Shifting Weight and I’m hoping that it will be out in the Spring and the third story has already jumped into my head. I jumped out of order when I started this series because I’ve been working on a contemporary novel. I’m planning on finishing this by the end of the month and hope to have it out soon as well. I’m enjoying the fun quick reads of the shifter series and I don’t plan on stopping those anytime soon.
~Describe your writing space.
My writing space has almost never been the same for long. I just finished up my home office but even now I’m quite portable and I write everywhere. Sometimes, I take myself on field trips and I write where the characters are. In my first novel, Athan’s Kiss, it takes place in a book store and I wrote a lot in the library or in coffee shops. I’ve also written in parks, at the gym, and in bowling alleys. But right now, I have an office surrounded by art of men kissing, music playing, and voices that tell me their stories.
~Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
I love to create a playlist for my stories to set up a specific scene or tone that I want to emulate. I like getting in the mood. I have one beta in particular who loves for me to keep images and song titles that I use for inspiration in the body of my manuscripts so that she can get the same feelings and emotions that I’m immersed in when I’m writing. I remove all of it before submission of course, but I di keep a copy of all that stuff. My sister says that I listen to a lot of angry music and my favorite song right now is Monster by Disturbed, I can listen to that song on repeat for hours. When I write upbeat scenes, I listen to the top 40 and when it’s depressing or full of angst I listen to slower moodier songs.
~What are your favorite TV shows?
I’m a big nerd since I’m a immunobiochemist by training. Some of my favorite shows right now are the Big Bang Theory, House, and Doctor Who. I also love superhero shows like Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Because I love the paranormal, I am the biggest fan of Supernatural, Grimm, and Sleepy Hollow. And just because it’s an amazing show, I’m really into Blacklist.
~What are the biggest public misconceptions about erotic romance?
I only started reading romance for about the last eight years. Like many others, I’m sure, I thought that it was about men sweeping silly women off their feet. Funny enough, I’m a romantic but I’m not romantic if that makes any sense. I like the idea of a happy ending but I’m not one to buy roses or remember birthday cards or presents. I thought people that read romance novels were silly fools who had lost their grip on reality. I was only partially right. I only picked up my first romance because the cover had a ridiculously good looking guy on the cover.
Characters are usually the first that jump into my head. Shifting Weight is the first book in the series and I’m currently working on the third story. I know one of the main characters right now and I know where he is in life and the start of what’s going to happen to him. I wonder about who he’s going to meet and who the MC2 is. The plot will usually write itself in my mind but it’s the characters’ reactions to the curveballs that are thrown at them that make the story more interesting.
~Tell us something about your newest release that is NOT in the blurb.
The idea for the story happened one afternoon when I was at the gym. There was a guy working out at the squat rack next to me and another man approached him asking about his specific set of exercises. I didn’t think anything of it at the time but there must have been a plot bunny hopping around in the back of my mind. I started wondering about that conversation and where the characters came from and where they might be going and that same evening Shifting Weight was born. I was so taken up by the story that I stopped working on another novel to type it out. A few weeks later, it was complete. I think it’s a sweet story about two men that go out on a limb to find each other. They’ve both been around the block and are lonely, looking for friendship and happen to find each other at just the perfect moment in both their lives.
~Are you working on anything at the present you would like to tell us about?
I just finished writing the sequel to Shifting Weight and I’m hoping that it will be out in the Spring and the third story has already jumped into my head. I jumped out of order when I started this series because I’ve been working on a contemporary novel. I’m planning on finishing this by the end of the month and hope to have it out soon as well. I’m enjoying the fun quick reads of the shifter series and I don’t plan on stopping those anytime soon.
~Describe your writing space.
My writing space has almost never been the same for long. I just finished up my home office but even now I’m quite portable and I write everywhere. Sometimes, I take myself on field trips and I write where the characters are. In my first novel, Athan’s Kiss, it takes place in a book store and I wrote a lot in the library or in coffee shops. I’ve also written in parks, at the gym, and in bowling alleys. But right now, I have an office surrounded by art of men kissing, music playing, and voices that tell me their stories.
~Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?
I love to create a playlist for my stories to set up a specific scene or tone that I want to emulate. I like getting in the mood. I have one beta in particular who loves for me to keep images and song titles that I use for inspiration in the body of my manuscripts so that she can get the same feelings and emotions that I’m immersed in when I’m writing. I remove all of it before submission of course, but I di keep a copy of all that stuff. My sister says that I listen to a lot of angry music and my favorite song right now is Monster by Disturbed, I can listen to that song on repeat for hours. When I write upbeat scenes, I listen to the top 40 and when it’s depressing or full of angst I listen to slower moodier songs.
~What are your favorite TV shows?
I’m a big nerd since I’m a immunobiochemist by training. Some of my favorite shows right now are the Big Bang Theory, House, and Doctor Who. I also love superhero shows like Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Because I love the paranormal, I am the biggest fan of Supernatural, Grimm, and Sleepy Hollow. And just because it’s an amazing show, I’m really into Blacklist.
~What are the biggest public misconceptions about erotic romance?
I only started reading romance for about the last eight years. Like many others, I’m sure, I thought that it was about men sweeping silly women off their feet. Funny enough, I’m a romantic but I’m not romantic if that makes any sense. I like the idea of a happy ending but I’m not one to buy roses or remember birthday cards or presents. I thought people that read romance novels were silly fools who had lost their grip on reality. I was only partially right. I only picked up my first romance because the cover had a ridiculously good looking guy on the cover.
The part of romance stories that I had completely wrong was that there wasn’t a story. I was dead wrong. The action and adventure in that book, and many more, rivaled many of the non-romance books that I was into at the time. I read more and fell in love. (Thus losing my own grip on reality. Ironic, huh?) The sex in erotic romance is another means to advance the plot and grow with the characters. You learn so much more about someone when there clothes are off and nothing stands between them and the rest of the world. A few years later, I read my first M/M novel and the rest is history. I still read other genres, but erotic romance is my all-time favorite.
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