S.E.R's Welcomes Sylvia Day!! Author Spot and Giveaway!

I recently read my first Sylvia Day book, and it was Bared to You.  Let me tell you, it was absolutely DELICIOUS!!  5 of the 6 of us ladies here at S.E.R's have read this scrumptious treat and we all loved it! In fact it received 5 out of 5 stars from all of us. 

As I stated in my review, it wouldn't be my last.  I went right into Seven Years to Sin, and it was FANTASTIC!  It's a historical romance, that is beautifully written, and had everything I love, lovable characters, a great story, and very steamy hot. 

So, we were all pretty stoked when Sylvia Day agreed to stop in and share with us, and you.  She has also put together a very generous giveaway for you all. I'll admit I'm kinda jealous.

                               Please welcome Sylvia Day! - Rhonda

Sylvia Day: http://www.sylviaday.com/

 I’ll be honest. I’m the worst person to ask about my books. I can’t describe them or really do them justice. After all, it took me 100K + words to tell the story in the first place. :)

I’m also terrible at answering the question, “Where do you come up with your ideas?” I never have a clue. What usually happens is that a scene will pop into my head and I’ll end up writing a whole book around that one snippet. I couldn’t tell you where the scene snippet came from (although I can tell you where I was at the time it came to me--usually in the shower or while driving!). I’m always envious of authors who have fabulous stories about their inspiration and the birth of their stories.

All that said, I can tell you where BARED TO YOU started, because it began with another book of mine, SEVEN YEARS TO SIN.

SEVEN YEARS TO SIN is a Regency-set historical that tells the love story of two abuse survivors. Jessica is the survivor of child abuse so vicious she bears physical scars and is deaf in one ear. Alistair was emotionally abused and turned to prostitution as a way to survive and establish value for himself. For numerous reasons, I wasn’t able to delve into the aftereffects of abuse as deeply as I would’ve liked, so I continued to think about Alistair and Jessica after I turned the manuscript in to the publisher. For months afterwards, all through the end of 2010 and early 2011, I thought about how I’d expand upon the story if I could. I realized the historical time period had limitations I didn’t want to work within, so in my mind’s eye I transplanted Jessica and Alistair to modern-day New York.

Eagle-eyed readers of both books may notice that Gideon and Eva look remarkably like Alistair and Jessica. That’s because at the time I started BARED TO YOU, it was still Alistair and Jessica I was thinking of. Some things translated over--Gideon is a self-made wealthy man, just like Alistair; Eva is affluent and attends balls/galas, because Jessica was a peeress in her time; Eva and Jessica are both twenty-four. However, Gideon is twenty-eight while Alistair was twenty-two, because there’s no way Eva would’ve looked twice at a twenty-two year old man! There are other correlations that built the framework of BARED TO YOU, but you get the idea.

I started writing. (Or re-writing, as the case may be.) But a funny thing happened as the story unfolded. It took on a life of its own--it took on Eva’s life. She’s such a vibrant woman that she quickly assumed control of the storytelling. I’d begun the story in my usual third-person point of view, but I kept slipping into Eva’s voice. (Or Eva’s voice slipped into me!) I had to stop writing and reevaluate. What was happening?
It became clear that Alistair and Jessica’s story was complete the way it was. They were in love and happily married, and had absolutely no desire to have their story hijacked by a doppelganger couple. Besides, the new story I was writing was darker and completely its own.

So while BARED TO YOU’s genesis was in SEVEN YEARS TO SIN, they aren’t the same story at all nor do they have the same characters. Gideon and Eva are far more deeply damaged. Their pasts were brutal and their love for each other is totally unique to them.

Bared to you Review 

Sylvia Day has put together a very generous giveaway. 

She has included for two lucky winners:

1. A signed copy of Seven Years to sin, and to this winner S.E.R.'s will throw in a ebook copy of Bared to You (Kindle or Nook)

2. An ebook copy (Nook or Kindle) of Seven Years to Sin

and a Romantic Times tote with multi-author promo swag, and some books. 

*Please note: By entering the Rafflecoptor, you must be willing to give us your mailing address if you are selected as the winner.

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