I have a lovely, bubbly guest for you today. Her name is Sibel Hodge, and she's a chick lit romance author. If you dip into any Indie forums online, or have blog wanderlust then you've probably already seen or heard of at least one of Sibel's highly praised books.
Now, in your spare time you're Wonder Woman (I'm Jessica Rabbit in mine *giggles*), and so you're told the world is going to end in one minute, what do you do?
Yikes! One minute isn't enough to save everyone. Hmm...I'd send a repeat text to all my friends and family. Then I'd say goodbye to my hubby. And if I had any time left, I'd down a bottle of wine. The end of the world sounds like it might be quite painful and I'd like to die happy!
Can you give us an idea of what kind of person you are?
Crazy, quirky, loves to make people laugh, generous, happy.
How do you feel about Goodreads and promotion on the site? Are you a Goodreads Author?
I am a Goodreads Author, and I think it's a great site for readers. I do find it a little hard to use at times because there are so many forums. I don't constantly plug my novels but I like to add reviews to books I've read and let people know what I'm reading. I also use it a lot to post giveaways from my blog. I wish there was more time in the day to get involved in all of it. I think I need a clone!
It has to be asked ... bad reviews, how do you deal (if you’ve had any)?
Eat lots of chocolate cake and drink lots of wine!
Are there any Indies you think we would be crazy not to connect with online?
I've had the opportunity to meet some fantabulous indie authors since I started. Here are a few of them...Mel Comley, Lia Fairchild, Valerie Maarten, Seb Kirby, Faith Mortimer, Traci Hohenstein.
You have an number of romantic comedies available as eBooks, but talk to me about your most recent release. What's it about?
My latest release is a comedy mystery called Be Careful What You Wish For. It is the second Amber Fox mystery and combines murder and mayhem with romance and chicklit...
For fans of Janet Evanovich, Kate Johnson, and Gemma Halliday...
Armed with cool sarcasm and uncontrollable hair, feisty insurance investigator Amber Fox is back in a new mystery combining murder and mayhem with romance and chicklit…
Three deaths.
A safety deposit box robbery.
The boxing heavyweight champion of the world.
Somehow, they’re all related, and Amber has to solve a four year old crime to find out why.
As she stumbles across a trail of dead bodies and a web of lies spanning both sides of the social divide, it’s starting to get personal. Someone thinks Amber’s poking her nose in where it’s not wanted, sparking off a game of fox and mouse – only this time, Amber’s the mouse. Amber’s forced to take refuge in the home of her ex-fiancé, Brad Beckett, and now it’s not just the case that’s hotting up. So is the bedroom…
All Levi Carter wanted to be was the boxing heavyweight champion of the world, but at what cost?
All Carl Thomas wanted was to be rich, but would his greed be his downfall?
All Brad Beckett wants is to get Amber back, but there’s a reason for the ex word.
Be careful what you wish for…you might just get it.
To wrap this up, are you still submitting to Agents?
With my first two novels I queried hundreds over a period of 2 years. I counted up how many rejections I had a while ago and it was about 200! They're not always right! My novels are consistently in the top 100 genre categories for humor, women's fiction, comedy, and romantic suspense, and I've gone from 200 rejections to Amazon top 200. I see it as the gift of rejection, and I don't think I will be querying for a while!
Connect with Sibel online:
Sibel was kind enough to provide an extract of the book. Please be aware this contains adult themes ;)
When I was about five, I always loved losing myself in fairytales where the handsome prince would come charging up on his white horse and save the fair maiden. I frequently imagined that I was Rapunzel, although there were two problems with this daydream. 1) I wasn’t into heights in a big way; and 2) My hair was destined to be more flyaway than flaxen.
Fast-forward thirty years, and now I had an even bigger problem. I had two handsome princes in my life, and I didn’t know what to do about either of them. I know, I know – be careful what you wish for, right?
In my thirty-five-year-old-daydream, there was Romeo, my boyfriend and all-round Mr. Nice Guy. Then there was Brad, my boss and ex-fiancé. There was a reason for the “ex” word, though.
I sprawled on my sofa, staring at the ceiling and contemplating this little conundrum. Marmalade, my ginger cat, lay next to me. He purred away, mirroring my ceiling stare. I absent-mindedly stroked his head, wondering whether he was contemplating a two-pussy scenario.
I know what you’re thinking – two gorgeous men after little old moi. Lucky me. I wish! It wasn’t lucky, it was way more complicated than you can imagine. In fact, it was as complicated as trying to assemble flat-pack furniture with a stupid amount of screws and no instructions. Not that I couldn’t assemble flat-pack stuff, you understand. I’m a very practical kind of girl. But, you know, flat-pack can beat even the most enthusiastic DIYers. Or is it just me who ends up with a big bag of screws left over, wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do with them?
I was so deep in thought that I didn’t hear my mobile ringing straight away. When it finally registered in my conscious, I tumbled off the sofa, dislodging Marmalade in the process, and grabbed it from the wooden floorboards.
I glanced at the caller ID.
Think of the Devil. The last person I wanted to talk to when I was doing my contemplation thing was Brad. He might sway my decision about things, and I was pretty easily swayed at the moment.
‘Hey, Brad. What’s up?’
‘Foxy,’ Brad said, his Australian twang sounding more pronounced tonight. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Stroking my pussy.’
‘Mmm. Don’t give me ideas.’ I heard the smile in his voice.
‘You don’t need any ideas,’ I said. He probably heard the smile in mine, too.
‘No Romeo tonight, then?’
I rolled my eyes. Even though he couldn’t see it, he’d know I’d done it. ‘Stop fishing for information.’ I grabbed a fluffy cushion from the sofa and hugged it to my stomach, as if somehow that could put more distance between us.
His voice lowered. Deep and slow, he said, ‘I need you.’
Thanks so much for having me! :)
ReplyDeleteLoveLoveLove Sibel Hodge. Thank you for a great interview!!
ReplyDeleteAw, thanks so much for stopping by, Pj :)
ReplyDelete