Essence of Time by Liz Crowe: Author Interview and Giveaway

Kinky Vanilla Romance is pleased to share Essence of Time by Liz Crowe, an erotic menage romance released in May of this year from Tri Destiny Publishing.

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions (click on the banner above to see more tour dates). Liz will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.

Essence of Time by Liz Crowe

A “take life by the throat” philosophy has always served Rob well. It keeps him focused, forcing emotions and potential relationships to take a back seat to his aspirations. But once every obstacle has been conquered and he’s achieved his goal—executive chef at a famous Chicago restaurant—he must acknowledge that he has reached his mid-thirties very much alone.

Blake has just jettisoned his dream job—head of a fast-growing craft microbrewery—to escape from the woman who shattered his soul. Arriving at a Chicago beer festival prepared to drown his sorrows before moving on he is miserable and numb.

Fate throws the men together altering their respective worlds forever.

Once Rob reveals the personal demon that has haunted him for years, Blake allows himself to fully trust again, and admits he wants a child. But a mutual attraction evolves out of a business arrangement with the woman hired as their surrogate, which has the potential to destroy an already delicate status quo.

But time is of the essence, and becomes the one luxury they don't have.

An honest depiction of a modern relationship mosaic reminding us to treasure every single moment we are allowed to love and be loved.

*** You can check out an excerpt and my thoughts on Essence of Time here.***

Author Interview

How much of a story did you have in mind before you started writing?

For this book, I already knew a lot about the 2 men in question, including the fact that they were bisexual, damaged by their previous life experiences, both into beer brewing and cooking. While you can read this book as a stand alone, if you read it in the sequence (book 4) you’ll get to know these guys pretty well thanks to their relationship to the protagonists in the first 3 books. I had hinted at what happened to them in those books so for book 4 I let myself tell both of their stories.


What about your characters surprised you while writing?

The intensity of their commitment to each other. As business partners as well as lovers their relationship is pretty fraught with stress. I admire any couple that can work together every day and still want to look at each other, much less anything else by the end of the day.


What was your favorite chapter (or part) of Essence of Time to write and why?

I have a couple of them: One is when Rob convinces Blake to go with him to Paris and they set some “parameters” for their relationship. Another is the one when they take Lila (the woman who will be a surrogate mother for their child) out on a first date. But the one when they are trying to get their gastro pub The Local open is pretty awesome and hilarious too.


Essence of Time is the fourth book in the eight-book Stewart Realty series. Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?

The Stewart Realty series is a 9 book one so trust me, I’ve been working with these folks a lot! The final novel (unless my fans get their way and get a sequel) is Good Faith and takes the characters in Essence of Time (and the other couples) through parenthood and beyond.


Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

Getting random emails from total strangers who say, “I just read your book and you are my new favorite!” They are coming more and more lately, which is great!


How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?

I went to my daughter’s soccer game—I was at one of her many tournaments! It’s where I am for a lot “milestones.”


What’s your biggest challenge as a writer? How did you overcome it, or how are you working to overcome it? 

Finding time for everything. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to editing so I subject my work to lots of drafts and edits so getting all that done plus all the required promotional work is a 28-hour a day job. I am trying to time manage a bit better but as a creative (ergo: not the most organized) person, I struggle with finding the time I want/need to get it all done.


Do you prefer to write in silence or with music?

I have no real preference. I can write in a room full of people drinking coffee and talking if need be!


Finish the sentence: One book I wish I had written is… one I will probably write before I’m done. I have all sorts of ideas for books and will mention that my first self publishing series, The Love Brothers will release in January (pre orders in November). They are books that I’ve been thinking about for a while and am excited to get around to them (although now that I’m deep in edits I’m sort of sick of them, but honestly if you care about your craft as an author, that is a stage you gotta get to!)

I have a great thriller novel set in a future anti-dystopian Detroit (a completely revived city long about 2035) outlined and hope to get to it in 2015.


An addition to being an author, you are also a microbrewery owner and beer blogger. What beer would you pair with a weekend reading of Essence of Time?

In honor of Blake Thornton, the master brewer of the 2 men and “hop head” like myself, I’m going with “several pints of Bell’s Two Hearted IPA..” especially by the time you get to the final chapter…just saying.


What project are you working on now?

I’m in edits on the first 2 books of the Love Brothers series, a family saga set near Lexington, Ky and finishing up book 3. They feature each of the 4 brothers in a boisterous, mixed Irish/Italian American family whose father owns “Love Brewing” (“Love” is their last name, a bastardization of an old Italian name thanks to an Ellis Island mistake when great-great-great Grandpa Amatore showed up in the New Country). Love Garage is book one (oldest brother Antony owns a shop), Coach Love is book 2 (Kieran, brother #2 played basketball in college and NBA but was injured and is now back home trying to find his way), Love Brewing is book 3 and is about super bad brother Dominic, a master brewer and the one brother everyone worries about. Book 4 will be Family Love, which will be a novel within a novel by youngest brother Aiden, budding author who drops out of his MFA program to rush home to Kentucky because he hates the program but also because their beloved, strong, saucy and strong willed Mama, Lindsay is very ill. The first 3 books will be available all at once around Jan. 5 next year. I’m working on a trailer now and the covers are done, thanks to a custom photo shoot and an amazing cover artist.

“The Love Brothers: A family saga with heat, humor and heart…not to mention beer, bourbon and basketball!”


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger and beer marketing expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe lives Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels, which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much “real life.”

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

If you are ever in the Ann Arbor area, be sure and stop into the Wolverine State Brewing Co. Tap Room—but don’t ask her for anything “like” a Bud Light, or risk serious injury.

Pictured with Liz is SCOTT NOVA, a cover model who portrayed "Hans" her beer loving muse at a book release party.

www.lizcrowe.com

www.brewingpasssion.com

www.facebook.com/lizcroweauthor

www.facebook.com/groups/lizcrowefans

www.twitter.com/beerwencha2

www.a2beerwench.com

www.amazon.com/Liz-Crowe/e/B00573TC7M


Giveaway 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Essence of Time by Liz Crowe: Book Review

Kinky Vanilla Romance is pleased to share Essence of Time by Liz Crowe, an erotic menage romance released earlier this year from Tri Destiny Publishing.

Liz will be awarding a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. You can check out my interview with Liz and the giveaway here.

Essence of Time by Liz Crowe

A “take life by the throat” philosophy has always served Rob well. It keeps him focused, forcing emotions and potential relationships to take a back seat to his aspirations. But once every obstacle has been conquered and he’s achieved his goal—executive chef at a famous Chicago restaurant—he must acknowledge that he has reached his mid-thirties very much alone.

Blake has just jettisoned his dream job—head of a fast-growing craft microbrewery—to escape from the woman who shattered his soul. Arriving at a Chicago beer festival prepared to drown his sorrows before moving on he is miserable and numb.

Fate throws the men together altering their respective worlds forever.

Once Rob reveals the personal demon that has haunted him for years, Blake allows himself to fully trust again, and admits he wants a child. But a mutual attraction evolves out of a business arrangement with the woman hired as their surrogate, which has the potential to destroy an already delicate status quo.

But time is of the essence, and becomes the one luxury they don't have.

An honest depiction of a modern relationship mosaic reminding us to treasure every single moment we are allowed to love and be loved.


EXCERPT

Rob interrupted him, keeping his distance, his voice low and calm. “I don’t want to do anything that will make you unhappy. It’s all I do anymore it seems. I know, I know, me being sick doesn’t make you unhappy it makes you mad. Whatever. Listen,” Rob said, taking the few steps between them and pulling Blake to his feet. “You look like you’re about to walk in front of a firing squad. Fuck it. Let’s call it off.”

“No.” Blake let himself be held a moment, listened to the sound of his lover’s beating heart, his arms wrapped around the man’s too-thin waist. “It’s okay. She’s…I mean, I think it will be fine.”

Rob tilted his chin up. Blake studied Rob’s face, stared into his brown eyes, memorized it, for later. They both smiled. Blake pressed a quick kiss to Rob’s lips, then began to disentangle himself. They needed to get on with it. Lila would be sitting and waiting by now. It would be rude to…But Rob held onto him, his grip strong. The lips he pressed to Blake’s, parting them with his tongue were firm and had a familiar urgency.

Blake broke the kiss first, held onto Rob’s face. “Keep that up and the poor girl will have to pay her own expensive dinner bill. Come on, let’s go. I’m tired of waiting on you.” He brushed a hand across Rob’s chest, and lower, grinning. “Save this. I’ll take some later.”

The ride downtown shimmered with anxious energy. Rob hummed, a clear sign of his nervousness. Blake tapped his fingers on the armrest, fiddled with the window, the HVAC, the radio.

“God damn it.” Rob smacked his hand away from the controls. “Cut it out. You aren’t making either of us feel any better.”

Blake blew out a long breath. “It’s not like I know how to act here. I mean, what the hell are we supposed talk about? The bank transfer of the money? The process? Who gets her first? If she wants it in both…”

“Stop it.” Rob’s voice was strained, his jaw clenched. “I don’t know either but I damn sure am not gonna ask her if she wants a DP. At least not on the first date.”

Blake laughed so loud he snorted. Rob shot him a sideways look as he pulled the F-150 into a parking spot behind the restaurant and put it into park. They both sat, frozen with indecision and anxiety.

“Do you remember Paris?” Blake put a hand on Rob’s thigh. The other man’s muscles twitched under his palm. “That girl, from the nightclub? Our first vacation?”

“Yeah.” Rob kept his hands on the steering wheel, eyes trained straight ahead. “What about it?”

Blake sighed. Rob’s body language, his clenched teeth and white knuckled grip only ramped up his own stress. But he needed them to get past this. They had to go into the restaurant, meet with Lila, eat, drink some wine then…possibly…go home and…He shook his head. He ran fingers through Rob’s hair, the silkiness of the new growth brought a smile to his face. “That was pretty easy. I mean, you know, my first time as three.”

Rob turned to him, anguish suffusing every pore of his handsome face and filling his eyes. He gripped Blake’s hand, yanked him across the console and kissed him hard. When he broke away, Blake touched his face. “You’re the expert here. Not me. The ladies love your tall, blond, Germanic hotness. I’m along for the ride. I’ll…watch and learn.”

“Don’t be an idiot.” Rob leaned his head back, hand over his eyes. “Jesus, this is…about as fucked up as it gets.”

“No, it’s not. Even if you weren’t sick we would be doing it. You know that. We wanted a baby.”

“You wanted a baby. I’m perfectly fine without…”

“You told me a thousand times you weren’t doing this to humor me. Were you lying then, or are you lying now?” Blake’s ears got hot and his chest tightened but he clamped down on the anger. “All we have to do is figure out how to share. That is one thing we know we both need to….practice. I don’t want her to think we’re a couple of barely evolved Neanderthals.”

Rob turned to him, his eyes still bright with unshed tears. “Even though we sort of are?”

Blake shrugged, unable to resist a smile. Rob sighed and climbed out, meeting Blake at the back bumper. He grabbed his arm. “I love you Blake Thornton. God knows I do. So, let’s get on with this, shall we? Not quite the impromptu heat of a Paris nightclub but…we’ll make do with the Chop House.”

The men walked around the corner and up to the restaurant in silence each deep in the mire of his own misery. They spotted her, seated at a table in the front window, before she saw them. Blake took a breath and leaned into his lover’s ear. “Don’t stand there and tell me that she is not beautiful. That she doesn’t do anything for you.”

He put a hand on Rob’s back, as they walked towards her. She looked up and smiled. Blake felt Rob shiver under his palm. “The mother of our child, Rob. The child we both want,” he whispered, then stepped aside so Rob could give Lila a quick hug before he did the same.


MY RAMBLES

I have been on the road a lot during the past months, with nothing but my books to keep me company. I have read a wide variety of books over the summer, but nothing quite like Essence of Time. I was new to the entire Stewart Realty series - 8 novels and a novella - and Liz Crowe. 
  
Last week, I whined to a friend that I have been so busy that I haven't been able to go to Six Flags (an amusement park) this summer. I joked that there was probably no real need because Essence of Time was an emotional roller coaster all on its own.

I usually don't like starting in middle of a series. Essence of Time is book four in the Stewart Realty line up. I was so intrigued by the book's cover and description that I made an exception. Those three rings are a powerful image. Crowe provided plenty of background on Rob and Blake so I didn't feel lost or confused.

I chose the excerpt above because it is a good example of the range of emotions covered in the book. The story is heart-warming, sexy, funny, and at times -  unexpectedly heart-breaking. I really enjoyed the build up of the relationship between Rob and Blake, and then Rob, Blake, and Lila. Apologies to anyone that I talked to while reading the book. You probably got an earful as I was all over the place emotionally while reading it.

I was curious. I was excited. I was sad. I was hopeful. I was mad. I was shocked.

The phrase erotic menage romance conjures up all sorts of preconceived notions and images. Essence of Time challenges those in so many ways. I would recommend this book to a wide variety readers - especially those who have never given m/m or menage romances a try.

Readers love books that stir their emotions. Prepare to be shaken and stirred.


NOTE: I read this book as part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions (click on the top banner above to see more tour dates). I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amazon best-selling author, beer blogger and beer marketing expert, mom of three, and soccer fan, Liz Crowe lives Ann Arbor. She has decades of experience in sales and fund raising, plus an eight-year stint as a three-continent, ex-pat trailing spouse.

Her early forays into the publishing world led to a groundbreaking fiction subgenre, “Romance for Real Life,” which has gained thousands of fans and followers interested less in the “HEA” and more in the “WHA” (“What Happens After?”). More recently she is garnering even more fans across genres with her latest novels, which are more character-driven fiction, while remaining very much “real life.”

With stories set in the not-so-common worlds of breweries, on the soccer pitch, in successful real estate offices and at times in exotic locales like Istanbul, Turkey, her books are unique and told with a fresh voice. The Liz Crowe backlist has something for any reader seeking complex storylines with humor and complete casts of characters that will delight, frustrate and linger in the imagination long after the book is finished.

If you are ever in the Ann Arbor area, be sure and stop into the Wolverine State Brewing Co. Tap Room—but don’t ask her for anything “like” a Bud Light, or risk serious injury.

Pictured with Liz is SCOTT NOVA, a cover model who portrayed "Hans" her beer loving muse at a book release party.

www.lizcrowe.com

www.brewingpasssion.com

www.facebook.com/lizcroweauthor

www.facebook.com/groups/lizcrowefans

www.twitter.com/beerwencha2

www.a2beerwench.com

www.amazon.com/Liz-Crowe/e/B00573TC7M