BLOG TOUR: LOVING YOUR LIES

Hello Loves! And welcome to our stop in the Loving your lies blog tour. We have tons of things for you today! Interview, Review AND an excerpt you're gonna LOVE!
So keep reading ;)

LOVING YOUR LIES by PIPER SHELLY
Published: January 2013
*Ebook provided by tour Host for an Honest Review*


Julian is drop-dead gorgeous, annoyingly provocative, and he's fast becoming her best friend. But he also has a secret that makes the little hairs on her arms stand on end...

My name is Jona Montiniere, and that’s pretty much the only good thing to say about me. 

I’m seventeen, I’m snarky, and I’m a crap-load of trouble. Or so they say. But what did they expect from me really, when they dumped me in an orphanage at age five? That I’d grow up to become the new first lady? Nah, I think it’s much more fun to raid Camden Market in London with my friend, Debby. She’s cool. She lives on the street. I learned so much from her. 

The only thing she missed to teach me was how to tend to a vineyard. And yeah, that’s what I’m going to do for the next 6 weeks, courtesy to this darn judge, who sent me off to France after I was caught stealing again. Fair enough, the vineyards are okay, and so are my aunt and uncle, who I haven’t met up ‘til now. What isn’t okay, and I mean it, is that I have to live in the same house with my mother, that god-awful dragon, who spurned when I was only a child. And now she wants me back? Demands my forgiveness? Why, because she’s about to die of cancer? Uh-uh. Sorry, but that’s not gonna happen. I want no contact with that woman, thanks. 

But what’s Julian got to do with all of this? About my age, he’s too young to be my mother’s lover. So why doesn’t he leave her side? Ever. He’s different, as in the paranormal kind of different, but he’s swoon-worthy gorgeous. He obviously has secrets, but he’s also get-under-my-skin charming. In short, he’s a riddle to me. But he likes me, and that’s scaring the shit out of me. I sure won’t let anyone come too close. 

So now I'm wondering only two things: How did he manage to hold me in his arms after only three days? And how the hell do you keep an angel earth bound?

What? Still not convinced? Let's go with the excerpt, then... 

“Then you are going to live with your family.” The bang of his little wooden hammer slamming onto the small round plate sealed the matter. “Now get out of my courtroom and don’t come back.”

I was so screwed.

When they started making plans over my head, and voices mixed to a painful blur, Quinn let me wait outside the room. I had to promise not to run off or pick up a fight with an officer again before he opened the door for me. I restrained from giving him the finger and slipped out.

Elbows propped on my bent knees, I sat on the floor in the hallway with my back resting against the windowed wall. The chain of the cuffs rattled mockingly. With them on, I wouldn’t get far on an escape for fresh air. I might as well surrender to my horrendous fate.

Utterly miserable and confused about my new future, and no less annoyed by the glances of passing officials, my head dipped back, my gaze focusing on the blank ceiling. Out of habit when I was by myself—and stuck knee-deep in shit—I started humming a song I didn’t know the name of. It always had a strangely soothing effect on me. Odds were I had made up the melody myself over the years. But I’d hummed, whistled or tapped the rhythm with my fingers so often that the tune wouldn’t get out of my head ever.

The door to Abe’s room opening opposite me didn’t disrupt my low singing. But when my mother’s blond friend came out and leaned one shoulder casually against the column in the middle of the hallway, the hum died in my throat.

“Hi,” he said with a compassionate look that made me wish the traitor, Quinn, had taken off those damn handcuffs so I wouldn’t look like a complete idiot.

Lips pressed together, my fingers waggled in a feeble greeting. The mere sight of this man sent a quiver of excitement to my stomach.

“That was quite an interesting…situation in there.”

With an evil grin, I hoped to send the message Mind your own crap, buddy to him. Out loud, I said sweetly, “Glad you enjoyed the show.”

“I didn’t really.” He wrinkled his nose. “Getting involved with Laurel and Hardy in there wasn’t your best idea. Even a smart girl like you might get hurt in a fight with those two.”

Yeah, sure. My eyes narrowed to slits. But his words warmed my heart in an unfamiliar way.

The young man nodded his chin at my tied hands. “They look a little uncomfortable.”

And they bloody well were, but I shrugged it off like it was nothing unusual. “The latest fashion. You heard the judge, I wear them quite often.”

A teasing smile played around his lips that spiked my blood pressure. “Shall we take them off?” he said.

He must be kidding. “Unless you’ve got teeth like a hacksaw, I don’t see how that would work.”

He crossed the hall to me, pulling out a key-ring from his pocket. He squatted, leveled his eyes with mine, and shook the ring in front of my face. The friendly jingle of metal filled the high hallway.

My mouth fell open. “Where did you get these from?”

“Chief Madison.”

“You stole them from Quinn?” I pulled my hands out of his reach.

“Of course not.” The blond god gave me a pointed look. “I asked for them.”

Why would this guy ask my officer friend to release me? Frowning, I concentrated on the safety pin in my jeans. “Quinn wouldn’t free me when I asked him to.”

His intense blue eyes locked with mine. “I had to solemnly swear to keep an eye on you. Now hold still.” Cool fingers curled around my wrist to fix my hand while he unlocked the first cuff. Sparks tingled on my skin, my hand trembled slightly.

Why would he give his word to an officer, to free me? Why even care? He’d do well to stay behind that door, holding my horrible mother’s hand instead of setting mine free. With a click, the other cuff came off. I flexed my hands and rubbed my burning wrists. The shackles had left bright red lines on my skin.

“Better?” He tilted his head and arched one beautiful brow.

My head bobbed, but I found no breath to answer.

“Okay then.” He used my knees to push himself up and stretched to his full height.

He probably expected my gratitude following his selflessness. My gaze focused on the ripped hems of his jeans, my lips remained sealed.

When he turned on his heel and marched off to the left, I glanced up. “And now you’re going where?” The words shot out before I could stop myself.

“Bathroom break.” His arched brows dared me to object.

My lower lip threatened to pop from between my teeth as I chewed on it. Don’t speak! “But you’re supposed to keep an eye on me.”

After studying me for a couple of seconds, his expression softened even more. “You’re not going to get me into trouble.”

I let him take another stride away from me. Two. Three. Four. “How can you be so sure?” Shut the hell up, Jona. “After everything you know about me, I’ll probably be gone when you get back.”

A shrug of one shoulder and his beguiling smile struck me silent. “I trust you.” A moment later he disappeared around the corner.

INTERVIEW

Hello Piper! Welcome To We All Make Mistakes In Books! I’m Cynthia and this is Diana and we’re very excited to have you with us today.
Hey you two, it’s cool to be here. 

Want some cupcakes or cookies?
This is the one question I can never answer with no, LOL. A cupcake, thanks.
Is okay, virtual goodies are healthy hahaha

First of all, can you tell us a bit about yourself? How’s life on the other side of the Ocean?
The past five years I didn’t do much but sit in my writing room and work on LOVING YOUR LIES, then re-wrote it, revised, and did all the stuff a writer does all day long (which basically is banging your head on the keyboard when things don’t work the way you want, ha ha). 

I do have a part time job that pays the bills, and I like the people in my office, but it’s not a very exciting job Accounting – ugh, such a boring matter. (been there... NOT fun!) With all the writing I additionally did, unfortunately my family dropped to the background, which was quite hard for my husband and son. But they understood and gave me all the time I needed to finish LOVING YOUR LIES, and later on PLAY WITH ME and RYAN HUNTER which turned out to be real bestsellers. Now my family does the happy dance with me, because the hard work pays off.  We’re doing a lot more things together now that I decided to take a summer break from writing. I’m even going to the Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas in August to meet some friends I made recently. So if anyone of you plans to go, too, find me at the costume ball. I’ll be Cinderella in a candy pink dress ;) 
We won't be able to make it there, but maybe in another time! We do want pics of you in that dress!

We hear you like to travel, have you visited London and France? Was it hard setting the book in there?
I’ve been to both places, yes. France, well that was a long time ago, but the landscape was amazingly beautiful. The vineyards there must be the most romantic places in the world and they’re definitely hard to forget. I’ve been to London in 2009, and it was one of the coolest vacations I ever had. I went there with a friend and we did 5 days of sightseeing. Camden Market was cool, so I just had to work it into the book. I’m planning to go to London again soon, because I’m a big fan of England and Scotland. 

What made you want to be a writer? Any book or author in particular that made you go “this is what I want to do!”? 
The Night World Series by Lisa Jane Smith. They were the first English books I ever read, and the first romance books, too. I loved each line of them. And I fell in love with vampires from the spot. Back then I knew I simply had to write my own vampire story. And I did. :)
*Cyny's Note* OMG! I've been trying to get Diana to read that forever! Is one of my favs from her and I'm SO SAD that the ending was never published! I NEED to know how it all ends, I read the 9 of them like in a week! I think I love you just for that!

Readers want to know what is Loving Your Lies about?
In short, it’s about a 17-year-old girl that has been dumped in an orphanage at age five. Jona never knew why her mother would do this to her, but she gets a chance to find out. Only, she doesn’t want any contact with that dragon ever again. Julian is her mother’s caretaker, but only on the outside. And he’s the only one who gets through Jona’s solid wall of protection and sarcasm. Their love story is the main focus, but the book is also about learning to trust and to forgive. I was told it’s a real tearjerker before the happy ending.

Did you come up with the cover idea? We really like it and the models look pretty good for the characters!
Thanks. I like them, too. Finding the perfect models or pictures for a cover is almost harder than writing the actual book, LOL. I always spend days on Shutterstock and several other photo platforms, to look at way over 10,000 pictures and pick the perfect ones to piece together in a flashing cover. The idea was mine, but I got help with the work. Montana Jade is the daughter of a good friend and she’s amazing with such things. I told her what I wanted, and how I wanted it, and she totally nailed it for me.

Can you describe Jona and Julian to us? *If you have pictures, share them ;)*
Jona is sarcastic teenager, who learned the rules of life on the street. She’s sarcastic, sassy, streetwise, and a little kleptomaniac, ha ha. But she has a good heart and unknowingly waits for someone to see just that. 

Julian is…different. ;-) He’s caring, patient, wise, and super sexy. The guy comes equipped with wings and a smile to die for. He’s also loyal, which get’s him into trouble when he falls for Jona. I never found the perfect picture for him, but the model on the cover comes pretty close. 

However, I guess you remember Quinn from the book, Jona’s police officer friend? I have a picture of him for you. He’s a real sweetheart, and I had trouble not turning him into the hero when he suddenly appeared in the story. :)

We’re big fans of music. If you had to choose one song to represent the book, what would it be?  
A cover version of Hallelujah by Guillaume Robbe. It’s Jona’s and Julian’s song. Remember when he plaid the piano for her? You’ll love this… Check out the video HERE


What was the hardest and easiest part of writing Loving Your Lies?
The hardest part was finding a way to make Jona the brat she was, but keep her likable from the start nonetheless. I really had to give her a hard shell, a sarcastic personality and a wayward tongue. Some people told me, she was the meanest thing they ever came across and wanted to knock her upside the head through the first three chapters. But it all worked out and they fell in love with her all the same.

The easiest part was to write Julian. I have known this guy for a very long time (in my mind) and it was amazing how well and easily he came out onto the pages.
We were ready to ask you to introduce us to real life Julian... 

Is there anything you’re working on right now that you can share with us?
I started a contemporary teen romance series. The first book took off like a rocket, which was totally unexpected. But so many readers want more, so I’ll work in that series for another little while, before I move to something else. Right now, I’m writing book three, which is about the daughter of an army general and her struggles in a new hometown with a really stubborn guy. The book is called T is for…he’s a Total jerk! If this sounds interesting to you, you can read the first half of each book in the series on my website. 

And to go along with our blog theme, Can you tell us about a time you or your characters made a Mistake that taught you a life lesson?
OMG, just one? I made so many mistakes in my life, we’d still be sitting here next week, if I told you about them all. Then again, most of those mistakes led to new situations, often were the reasons for my meeting new people or learning new things, so I think none of all those mistakes I’ve made was a total misstep. Well, apart from me spending money on an editor at my early beginnings. Much money. And it was all in vain and the money could have been burned instead and the outcome would have been the same. It was after that experience that I joined a critique group and learned what was really important about writing, and I also (way too slowly) learned to trust myself. That is the only mistake I’d rather not have made. Anything else was part of a life-process really. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Piper! We hope to see you again soon ;)
Thank you so much for the invitation. It was really nice to talk to you.

ABOUT PIPER SHELLY

Hi, I’m Piper. I’m an Austrian lass—totally uncomplicated and up to anything fun.

I grew up in Vienna, not by free will but because my parents decided to move there when I was only 4 years old. Ugh, that was hard. I hated the city. Everything about it. So I moved back to Upper Austria right after graduation. There are trees now in front of my window instead of just another ugly gray building, and I love to be woken by the singing of birds every morning. One of my favorite movies? Snow White. The dwarves’ house would be one epic place to live.

At seventeen, I met the love of my life, but he was a playboy, and though he was also the inspiration for many of my teen romances, I didn’t make it easy for him to get me. It took him another four years of fighting for me until I finally decided to give that “couple-thing” with him a shot. I’m now married to this man ;-) It’s cool if you can say: I tamed Casanova. What I’m currently reading? The Fifty Shades of Grey Trilogy.

We have a ten-year-old son, and together we travel a lot…although I sometimes wish the trips were shorter because I can’t wait to get back to my laptop and my many stories. Unless we’re in Disneyland. No stress to go home then. ;-)

So, you see, I’m leading a pretty normal life.

Of course, it’ll all change the day my books follow the act of Harry Potter, and I’ll become richer than the Queen. I swear I’ll never again clean my windows myself then. Yeah, one day… LOL

WEBSITE  //  FACEBOOK