Welcome, Tina Martin, author of Accidental Deception, a contemporary romance, and a Kindle published book.
Whee! Let’s get to know Tina: TINA MARTIN is a fiction, romantic suspense author from eastern North Carolina. Her love of poetry evolved into writing novels which includes Secrets On Lake Drive, Can’t Just Be His Friend, The Baby Daddy Interviews, Accidental Deception and Accidental Heartbreak. She is also the author of two short stories – “Vacation Interrupted” and “The Crush,” and one poetry book, Love Like Yours. She resides in Charlotte, North Carolina with her husband and two young children.
Here’s a blurb from Accidental Deception:
Accidental Deception is a story about love versus loyalty, the tug-of-war that dictates every action Carter Williams will take after he stumbles upon a homeless woman, Shayla Kline, in Uptown Charlotte. Completely out of character for the usually self-centered bachelor, he puts his life on hold to spend a few nights with the stranger in the hospital.
That’s when he makes an earth shattering discovery – Shayla was the fiancée of Jacob, his estranged brother. His brother who hated him. His brother who recently committed suicide. His brother who, despite the animosity between them, wrote him a suicide note asking him to take care of Shayla.
Out of guilt and fulfillment of Jacob’s final wish, he moves Shayla into his home and gives her everything she needs to start over. The more she confides in him, the deeper their relationship grows and Carter not only wants to help her, he finds himself wanting desperately to love her, to be a man for her, to give her everything his brother could not. There’s only one problem – Shayla does not know that Jacob was his brother. Now, Carter wages an internal war within himself with his own morals – morals that tells him he should be loyal to his brother by not pursuing Shayla. But it’s hard to walk away from the only woman that has been able to awaken his heart.
It’s so exciting to have you with me, Tina, for this Coffee Time author interview.
What jumped out at me in Accidental Deception is you have a man taking care of a stranger, a homeless woman. What made you choose to write about this?
I like writing about things that are out of the ordinary. And for a wealthy man to take care of a homeless woman who is also a complete stranger is definitely out of the ordinary – something that you would rarely ever see in society today. And I wanted people to learn a lesson from this as well. Homeless, wealthy, middle class – status in life doesn’t matter. We’re all humans and should love one another and treat each other with dignity and respect.
Your hero definitely rises to the angel category when he aids the young woman.
Depression figures largely in Accidental Deception. A very aha moment was when the heroine visits a therapist who tells her, “Jacob can’t love you back.”
Did you do research on depression?
Yes, I did, actually. I didn’t do extensive research, but I read up on some cases about people who lost their spouses in death and not being able to cope with it. And many times, people do not want to move on and try to love someone else because they’re so depressed about the spouse they lost.
I noticed the yummy candy bar, Snickers, popped up. Is this your favorite treat?
It is one of my favorites! And I was thinking about someone who was homeless and hadn’t had junk food in months. What snack would they like? I know. Snickers!
Snickers rocks! In fact, I might have one soon… LOL
These quotes struck a chord with me: “A woman can always tell when her man is lying,” A mild spirited woman is soothing…a rare gem,” Dealing with tragedy in isolation is self-destructive,” “…love is perfect. An act of love is perfect. To tell someone you love them and sincerely mean it from your heart is perfect,” “To fulfill our need for human closeness through meaningful relationships,” and “Life doesn’t follow a plan.”
From where do these tidbits come from?
Hmm…I guess it just comes from the story itself. In Accidental Deception (and the entire Accidental trilogy), I planted a lot of emotion and real feeling into these novels and I wanted it to translate to my readers.
I’m thinking you are a very good writer to have created these words which have me making special note of them. How did you get from writing poetry to writing romance?
Thank you! It was a pretty easy transition from poetry to romance novel writing. Most of the poetry I write is about love and relationships, so instead of writing a poem when an idea comes to mind, I write an entire story. Granted, writing a novel is much more work than writing a poem, but a good, solid romantic story (with a splash of suspense) is what most of my readers prefer!
I have to say I love your style with dialogue. Now, down to the nitty gritty of writing. What is the hardest part –drafting, editing, research, or marketing? Why?
Editing and marketing are the hardest parts for me. With editing, I can pay to have it professionally done, or I can do it myself. I’ve paid a LOT of money to have my novels professionally edited in the past and they still come back with errors. So now I try to do my own editing. With marketing, I have to do most of it myself with social media and as you can imagine, it takes a LOT of time. Hiring someone to do it for me can be a bit pricey.
Marketing is very tough to tackle. What is your newest project? Anything else you want to share?
I’m currently working on the last book in the Accidental trilogy. The first book, of course, is Accidental Deception. The second is Accidental Heartbreak. The third, Accidental Lovers, is due out this fall.
I also just released a novella, Just Like New to the Next Man, a story about love, divorce and starting over.
Excellent news! Let’s do a speed round:
Favorite color: Black
Favorite drink: Coke Zero
Favorite movie: The Holiday
Favorite accessory: Watch
Thank you, Tina, for being with Coffee Time Romance and me. I wish you much success.
Thank you so much, and thank you for having me, I really enjoyed it!
Connect online with Tina Martin at:
Web Site | Blog | Email| Twitter
Find Accidental Deception at Amazon
Find Accidental Heartbreak at Amazon
Leave a Comment