Writer Wednesday: Meet Mysti Parker!

Welcome to Writer Wednesday!

Do we ever have a sweet treat for you today: Mysti Parker, author of romance for every reader’s taste (she had me at chocolate, y’all.). She’s not kidding, either – she’s published fantasy, contemporary, comedy, historical, and erotic romances!

So grab your favorite treat and settle in for a quick bite with Mysti as she shares a bit about herself and her latest release, Mann Cakes.


Which type of romance do you love most, and why?

I enjoy pretty much every type of romance. That’s why I write romance for every reader’s taste. But my favorite stories involve imperfect heroes and heroines that are both strong enough to overcome whatever obstacles are keeping them apart, no matter how many times they stumble along the way.

 

Name one interesting thing you learned in writing/researching your last book.

Gosh, I love research. It’s easy to get caught up in it, and I’ve learned so many things in the process.

While researching my new book, Mann Cakes, I learned how to make a Molotov cocktail. So, if you ever get the crazy idea to fire bomb something…you don’t know me, okay?

 

Name two things people don’t know about you.

  1. Everyone knows I’m a chocoholic, but not everyone knows I’m a chocolate snob. Anything that says “chocolate flavored” is NOT chocolate. Give me Godiva or Ghirardelli or even Cadbury, and I’m a happy girl.
  2. My biggest pet peeve is when people don’t put their shopping carts in the corrals. You see, a kitten dies every time you leave your cart out in the parking lot. True story.

What’s your favorite romance novel of all time, and why?

I’ll have to say Jane Eyre. Such a classic. It got me hooked on the genre.

Who can resist the dark and brooding Mr. Rochester and the plain, yet bold, Jane, as they weather the secrets and revelations of this Gothic love story?

 


A Bit About Mann Cakes:

Love makes men do desperate things, if desperate things means opening a rival cupcake shop to drive your ex-girlfriend crazy.

Twin brothers and Air Force vets, Tanner and Garrett Mann, return from deployment to find their thriving business burned to the ground. Time for Plan B: Move back to their hometown of Beach Pointe to start over.

But that means running into Paige and Morgan Baxter –gorgeous, curvy, and owners of Two Sisters Cupcakes.

There’s an old diner for sale across town, Garrett’s a great cook, and Tanner has an idea. They’ll make savory cupcakes that men would like. We’re talking bacon and Cheez Whiz. Even better? They’ll call it Mann Cakes. Problem is, they end up attracting an unexpected crowd.

Paige is furious. Every man in her life has left her behind, including Tanner. She’s sacrificed everything for her shop. She won’t lose it over some egotistical ex-boyfriend, even if he does have an Air Force-chiseled body. Her younger sister, Morgan, isn’t helping matters. She’s been gaga over Garrett since high school.

To hell with that. If it’s a fight Tanner wants, it’s a fight he’ll get. But how much is Paige willing to risk to win a cupcake war?

Find Mann Cakes here (release date May 11):

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSHTPYY
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XSHTPYY
Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XSHTPYY
Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/d/B06XSHTPYY

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mann-cakes-mysti-parker/1126051104

Apple iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/mann-cakes/id1219491854


A Bit About Mysti:

Mysti Parker is an award-winning author and shameless chocoholic. She writes romance for every reader’s taste from super sweet to scandalously spicy. When she’s not writing the next best-story-ever or tackling the endless mountain of laundry, she works as a freelance copywriter and editor. Mysti resides in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, three children and too many pets.

Want to connect further with Mysti? Find her here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RomanceforEveryReader/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MystiParker
Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Mysti-Parker/e/B0055LOTX8/
Website: http://www.mystiparker.com
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/k1j5q6


Thanks so much for popping in, Mysti! It was a pleasure to have you.
Now I’m hungry for some cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes. Yum! 

The (Former) Sugarless Life: Attack of the Christmas Chocolate!

cookiejar
Oh, Christmas tree, oh, Christmas tree! How lovely are thy contents…

I did well until Thanksgiving, people. I really did. Sure, I had a few stumbles this fall – a sugar cookie here, a couple of Halloween candies there. But in general, I was sugar-free. Until after Thanksgiving. Until the holiday decorations came out, and the Advent calendar chocolate went up.

See, a few years ago I bought the kids a beautiful wooden Advent calendar in the shape of a house. I love it. They love it. They love it mostly because it means they get a piece of chocolate every day in December. I love it because it’s cute, and a German tradition, and a reason to buy chocolate for every day in December.

Around the same time, I bought a Christmas tree-shaped cookie jar. It sits on the dining room table, and it’s become our “tradition” to fill the thing with holiday chocolates. It’s been my “tradition” to inhale said holiday chocolates day after day, occasionally filling up the tree again and hoping nobody notices.

1000-px-AdventCalendar1
It’s a stinkin’ adorable house of sin.

Holiday traditions die hard, folks. I fell into the chocolate. “It’s Christmas!” the sugar-addicted devil in me kept whispering in my ear. “It’s only a month!” the sugar-addicted angel in me kept reassuring myself.

Gah. It’s been fun. In a way. And I’m not kidding myself that I’m giving it up before January. But it’s also been an eye-opening experience, to see how quickly I can fall back into this sugar trap, and to see just how much it affects me.

I’m fun when I’m on chocolate. I’m vivacious, chatty, happy, giddy. (Sometimes I’m those things without chocolate, but definitely more so with it.) My confidence level goes up. I have energy.

For a bit.

I’m also a witch when I’m on chocolate. Well, not when I’m ON; when I’m withdrawing. And if there’s one thing I’ve noticed this month, it’s how awful I feel when the rush is going away. I’m not sleeping well. I can’t concentrate – I seriously flit from thing to thing and haven’t sat down to work on writing or editing or anything requiring more than about twenty minutes of focus, because I just don’t have it. Part of that, no doubt, stems from all the demands December brings: gift buying and present wrapping and holiday baking and holiday recitals and holiday school programs and did I remember something for this person or that person? But part of it does not; part of it stems from the sugar highs and the sugar lows.

It’s depressing, this sugar addiction. When it’s not making me manic. I truly feel better without sugar. I’m more level-headed, more even-keeled. I actually want to work on stuff. My body feels better, and it was getting smaller. I can list many pros and many cons; the addiction discards them all in favor of itself.

So come January, I’m back on the bandwagon. I like resolutions. Starting over. New beginnings. I can’t say it hasn’t been fun, this bingeing. Sometimes. I can’t say I’m going to enjoy the withdrawal that’s coming. But I can say it will be better when I’m back to the sugarless life.