Thursday, February 18, 2010

Getting Spicy With Kiyara Benoiti!!!


Hi-Oh!! How you doin', Hot Stuff?

Hope you're ready to kick the heat level up a notch!!

Better flip on your fan because the Lovestruck Novice is going SPICY this week! We've got the vivacious Kiyara Benoiti lounging in the TLN Hot Seat and she's laying it all out for us today!

Let's savor the flavor of Valentine's Day and take a walk on the steamier side of romance!

So, slip into something more comfortable and get ready to be seduced . . .



1) If you were a book, what would your blurb be?


Racy, full of unexpected twists and turns, Kiyara will woo you with her romances and shock you with surprises.

2) Using three words, describe your voice.

Smooth, lyrical, spicy.

3) What's your favorite aspect of writing? Plot? Characters? Building worlds?

The actual writing of all of the above.

4) What's the best writing/career advice you've ever received?

To keep trying because you never know when your big break will come.

5) Writing with heat: Is steam level an ingredient to the story as a whole or is it more like a frosting?

It's frosting. My plots don't need the heat, but I add the heat because that's what today's romance readership wants 90% of the time.

6)Give us the 411 on Kiyara Benoiti!!

My work is either erotica or erotic romance, but it’s usually blended with paranormal or dark fiction. I have fun with urban fantasy and science fiction themes too. Again, always with romance.

In the summer of 2009, I returned to e-publishing. I was offered five contracts in the fall of 2009. Four have been published; one of those is with LoveYouDivine and three with Breathless Press. The fifth contract is with Siren-Bookstrand, with a tentative spring release date. I’m happy to announce, too, that Siren-Bookstrand offered me a second contract, and that book is scheduled for a June 2010 release.

I enjoy people and hanging out with writers, but I don’t have a lot of time to be a cyber social butterfly either. It’s tough to balance my writing with the promo required by publishers, but I try to direct readers to my site where I work hard to write interesting blogs. That way I don’t feel like I’m firing one buy-my-book promo after another at people.

If you would like a sample of my work, I have two short and free e-books on my website (
http://kbhotromances.wordpress.com/). One is Her Surprise, which is contemporary erotic romance, and the other is On the Wicked Moon, which is erotic fantasy with a dark edge.

I have a few manuscripts in progress, and an outline for the second book to one of my Siren contracts, so it’s just a matter of what I decide to finish next.

Please stop by my site and comb through the blog posts that range from vampires and werewolves to m/m romance and the woes of promotions. Check out my excerpts and available titles, and visit my alter ego, Amber Redd, who writes m/m romance.

You can email me at
kiyarabenoiti@googlemail.com or leave a comment on my site.

Thanks for reading!



Blurb: Bloodlust

When a tiny wisp of a woman is cursed by Loki, she wields a sword most men would struggle to use and is untamable, but then along comes the Ambassador of Dwarves...

Deyorah is cursed by Loki. She loves to spill blood. Thus, she suffers from bloodlust, and, as a result, most men fear her. Sir Avegore, Ambassador of the Dwarves, has a different perspective of her power...as well as the power of sex and love.


Excerpt:

Night descended on the eastern face of Jewel Mountain. The shadows deepened across the steep inclines, crags and boulders. With only the bloody smear of the sunset tinting the sky behind it, the mountain transformed into a stark silhouette above Deyorah.

She glanced skyward. The first glimmer of stars sparkled in the gods’ canopy. It wouldn’t be long before she could tiptoe into the Ogre village and begin slaying the filthy creatures. Deyorah waited until their cooking fires winked in the gloaming. She dropped her cloak to the ground, scooped up a handful of ogre dung she’d found near her hiding place, and smeared it over her clothes to mask her scent. She could easily kill the monsters if she took them by surprise, but if their keen noses sniffed her out, and several of them ambushed her, she’d certainly end up above a spit as one of the females ladled meade over her body.

On the ground lay a large suede sheath. It took three yanks, but Deyorah finally unsheathed a broadsword that a full-grown man would have difficulty wielding, let alone a young woman who stood only ten hands high. She paused and contemplated the big weapon as she dragged it through the dirt. Its tip glinted dully in the fading light. It was unfortunate that she came from a long line of small, delicate women, but Loki’s twisted sense of humor would forever be her true curse.

She had to kill, had to quench the bloodlust that Loki had infused in her body through the sword. She had to....

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she slung the sheath’s strap across one shoulder. With stealth, she crept up the rough path that led to the village, tugging the broadsword along behind her. The Ogres’ love for potent drink would once again be their downfall; the beasts were easy to slay when they guzzled meade. The ugly creatures caroused by their fires, their guttural laughter filling the night.

Deyorah paused by a boulder and peered several yards up the mountain face at the cluster of mud-and-thatch huts. A female squealed, spun on her big, blocky feet, and slugged a male who kept pawing at her generous behind. He snarled something and reached for her again. The female punched him in the face. He tumbled over backwards and lay still. The others roared with laughter.

“Are you insane?” a voice whispered.

Deyorah pressed herself flat against the rock, her gaze zipping from one dark silhouette to another.

A burly form separated itself from the deeper shadows. “You can’t sneak into an Ogre village alone. They will kill and skin you before your blood cools.”

“Who goes there?” she whispered. Her heart knocked crazily against her ribs, and a chill swept over her feces-smeared skin. Although she was favored by Loki and an accomplished killer as a result, she wasn’t stupid enough to take chances. An unexpected voice in the night could be anything from a god to something from the depths of Hell.

The moon crested the mountaintop. A dwarf stood in the orb’s soft illumination—a big dwarf.

“Who are you?” Deyorah asked.

“Sir Avegore, Ambassador of the Dwarves at your service.” He bowed, his light-colored braids and beard swaying with the action. “I am on my way back home from a Communion of Races held in the Southern Region.”

She quirked an eyebrow. “Really? An ambassador? You look more like a warrior. Perhaps a Captain of the Guard?”

“Regardless of my unusual size, I am truly an ambassador.” He nodded toward the village. “This is a new Ogre settlement. It wasn’t here a fortnight ago when I passed through on my way to the Communion of Races. Ogres seldom make homes this close to the base of a mountain.”

“I am called Deyorah,” she jerked her head toward the raucous sound of merrymaking, “and the Ogres are why I’m here.” She slipped the sheath over her head and placed it on the ground. It took her a moment to wrestle her weapon into its home. Once Deyorah had the strap stretched over her shoulder again, she slowly straightened and balanced the weight of the weapon across her torso. “The village is too close to my home. It won’t be long before those things begin to prey upon us.”



Wowza! Who doesn't love a heroine with a wicked side?! I'd like to thank Kiyara for giving us such a tasty teaser! To learn more about Kiyara Benoiti, click on over to her website.

THANK YOU, TLN'ers, for being so darn awesome! You've helped make the Lovestruck Novice a fun place to hang out! Now, go get a little naughty this weekend! Here's
The Divinyls rockin' I TOUCH MYSELF! Oh-la-la! See ya next week!

6 comments:

J.A. Saare / Aline Hunter said...

Hey Sarah and Kiyara ~ What a fun interview.

Networking is tough. There is never enough hours in the day. ;) Love the cover for Bloodlust. Very sexy!

Jaime

Kiyara said...

Sara, your work on the blog's look is awesome! And thank you so much for having me as a guest on your blog!

Jaime, I could not agree more on both notes! lol

Nicole McCaffrey said...

Wow, indeed, LOL, what a fun interview! Kiyara, so glad to see another author who finds the whole promo thing to be a bit much. If I'm out there socializin', I'm probably not writing. It's a tough balance.

Congratulations on all the contracts!

Sarah--love the new background!


Nic

Kiyara said...

Thank you so much!

Cari Quinn said...

Loved the interview, ladies! And yes, it's so tough trying to find time to write and time to promo! Wishing you much success, Kiyara! :)

Kiyara said...

It is nice to know so many feel the same way. Here is the link to my blog post on this very topic if anyone would like to comment with the other writers there.

http://kbhotromances.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/promo-sucks/