Welcome to my tour stop for Making Angel by Amanda Washington! This is a new adult mafia fiction. The tour runs November 9-20 with reviews, interviews, guest posts and excerpts. Check out the tour page for more information.
Heir to a powerful Las Vegas crime family, D’Angelo Mariani’s survival depends on his ability to prove his value to his father. Forced out of the technology lab and into the underworld, Angel is on the brink of pulling off the impossible when he runs into a captivating humanitarian who changes everything.
Markie Davis is all about compassion, service, and the ultimate adrenaline rush. After a year-long stint volunteering in an African orphanage, she’s in Vegas to check up on her wayward little sister. Markie never anticipated meeting someone like Angel.
While Angel always believed he’d be the one with explaining to do, as war sparks between the Vegas crime families, it’s Markie’s secrets that might just cost them both their lives…
*What would you be doing right now if you were not
an author? Working full-time in some corporate job
where my soul dies a little more each day.
*5 years ago: what were you doing? Plotting to take over the world. I settled for creating characters who dominate the criminal underworld. Same thing.
*Do you have a certain writing ritual? Yes. Before I begin writing, I have to open the document. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's amazing how difficult opening the document can be. Occasionally there's a pep talk before it happens. Sometimes I bribe myself with wine and chocolate.
*What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? I am a sick and twisted individual who loves to see my manuscripts bleeding in red ink. I wasn't always like this. The first couple of times my book was shredded, it was devastating to the point of making me want to quit. I did quit a few times. But you get to a point where you stop taking criticism personally and actually listen to what readers and reviewers are saying. You put on your big girl panties and learn to sacrifice your ego in order to improve the quality of your work to get to the next level. Then you do it again to improve more. So, the toughest criticism? They're all tough. And I freaking love them.
*Ever fangirled over another author? Who was it? I stalk several authors - Greg Keyes, Ilona Andrews, Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, and Patricia Briggs to name a few.
*Is there an author you'd like to meet? All of the above. Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife team, and I'd love to talk to them about their writing process, but Jim Butcher just seems like he'd be a blast to sit down and have a beer with.
*Biggest writing pet peeve? Telling. I want to be involved in the story, so I hate it when authors tell me what's going on instead of showing me. I'm also not a big fan of info dumps.
*5 years ago: what were you doing? Plotting to take over the world. I settled for creating characters who dominate the criminal underworld. Same thing.
*Do you have a certain writing ritual? Yes. Before I begin writing, I have to open the document. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's amazing how difficult opening the document can be. Occasionally there's a pep talk before it happens. Sometimes I bribe myself with wine and chocolate.
*What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? I am a sick and twisted individual who loves to see my manuscripts bleeding in red ink. I wasn't always like this. The first couple of times my book was shredded, it was devastating to the point of making me want to quit. I did quit a few times. But you get to a point where you stop taking criticism personally and actually listen to what readers and reviewers are saying. You put on your big girl panties and learn to sacrifice your ego in order to improve the quality of your work to get to the next level. Then you do it again to improve more. So, the toughest criticism? They're all tough. And I freaking love them.
*Ever fangirled over another author? Who was it? I stalk several authors - Greg Keyes, Ilona Andrews, Rachel Caine, Jim Butcher, and Patricia Briggs to name a few.
*Is there an author you'd like to meet? All of the above. Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife team, and I'd love to talk to them about their writing process, but Jim Butcher just seems like he'd be a blast to sit down and have a beer with.
*Biggest writing pet peeve? Telling. I want to be involved in the story, so I hate it when authors tell me what's going on instead of showing me. I'm also not a big fan of info dumps.
* Do you read other's reviews of your books? Every single one. I don't think readers understand how important honest reviews are to authors. They really help us to see what we're doing right and what we need to improve on. I love my reviewers! Even the ones who don't love me.
Fav Color: Black
Fictional Character you'd like to spend the day with: I want to say a strong female bada$$ like Kate Daniels or Mercy Thompson, but let's be honest - my inability to wield a sword or grow claws would leave me lacking in their worlds, and I'm not tryin' to look bad here. So... I think I'm gonna go with Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, because I'm pretty sure I'd make a better bounty hunter than her. Hopefully. No guarantees.
Fav food: Dark chocolate and red wine.
Fav song and/or singer: My taste in music is really eclectic, so this changes based on my mood. Because Angel has a thing for the oldies, I listened to a lot of stuff like Gladys Knight and the Pips, Otis Redding, The O'Jays, Bill Withers, etc. while writing Making Angel.
Guilty pleasure: I will
straight-up throw down on some video games. Especially after a hard day. I
think it's important to have an outlet and I like to kill things. All of the
things. But never in real life, so that's good, right?
Amanda Washington first put her dreams to paper in 1999. MAKING ANGEL is the first book in her new adult mafia fiction series, but she's also written dystopian (RESCUING LIBERTY and LIBERTY'S HOPE) and young adult (FALLEN, CUT, FORSAKEN). When she's not writing, she's busy living out her real adventure in southwest Washington with her husband and their five boys.
5 limited black edition signed paperbacks and custom keychains (US)
$25 Amazon gift card (INT)
Ends November 26th
Prizing is provided by the author, hosts are not responsible. Must be 13 or older to enter and have parental permission if under 17. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary to win.
This event was organized by CBB Book Promotions.
I kind of loved that Angel loved Oldies, it just seemed to fit his personality really well.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for hosting a tour stop!
Thank you for hosting. I really enjoyed reading the interview.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting!
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