Guest Post & Blog Tour: Death by Chocolate by Julie Lindsey

Welcome to author Julie Anne Lindsey.

Evolution of an Author

First, I need to thank you, Natasha, for having me over to your blog! Blog tours are a strange thing to experience. Self-promotion is an unusual animal, but I’m adjusting. More than adjusting, I guess. Honestly, I’m having a lot of fun! I’ve met lots of new bookish friends and found some incredible book blogs I may never have come across before this trip. I’m enjoying it so much, I thought I’d tell you how I ended up on this tour.

A few years ago I read a fabulous book that broke me out of a new baby/ sleep deprived funk and I wanted to do the same thing for someone else. So, I set out to write a book. I had no idea what to write about, but I wanted to make another stressed out or exhausted lady smile. That’s all I knew, so I went with it. Being completely new to the industry, I didn’t know the rules and I’m glad I didn’t. In hindsight, knowing what I know now, I wouldn’t have written this book. It doesn’t fit the market, doesn’t fit into a genre, doesn’t read the way it should. It doesn’t fit. I didn’t know. I only wanted to make someone smile.

I should confess I’m writing this blog post on the same day I finished Mockingjay. Last week I borrowed The Host from the library and fiddled around trying to want to read it for about 35 pages before I gave up. Then, I decided to go see The Hunger Games. BUT I hadn’t read it, so I quick got it on my Kindle and started reading. I read straight through the night and *luved*.  So, I got the next one. I liked Catching Fire even better than The Hunger Games. I tried telling people about it but they didn’t care.  I was completely swept away.

Then I got Mockingjay.  Mockingjay had me wound so tightly I thought I’d lose my mind. Talk about stressed out. I was a mess. I get invested you see. I rarely read books that get me all upset. Life is dramatic and stressful enough without putting myself in those situations intentionally. I was never one who needed “a good cry.” I don’t like movies meant to entice tears or stories with animals because I know someone will be mean to them.

I like to laugh and or swoon. Both is a double bonus. Which is what I aim for in my romances. I think of them as romantic comedies : ) But, I haven’t always fancied myself a romance author. A few years ago, when I signed my first publishing contract, my story was as far from a romance as possible. It was meant to be a crazy, over-the-top escape for a woman who needed one.

My debut novel, Death by Chocolate, arrived in print last month.  It’s not a romance, but it’s as far from stressful as they come, AND it makes me laugh. I like to laugh, and I like to write what makes me smile. Death by Chocolate is a nutty tale of harmless looking women with a mounting body count. I also like irony. LOL. Beware of the quiet ones they say.

If you’re in the mood to let loose and smile at the inconceivable, try my sweet ladies. But don’t try their goodies. You have been warned. LOL 
Death by Chocolate is available now on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble. 
I hope it will make you smile : )

Death by Chocolate

Ruby Russell has reached her limit. When she discovers her hipster husband has a dirty little secret, she whips him up a Viagra-infused-chocolate mousse punishment, but in the morning, her husband's a stiff. Armed with a lifetime of crime show reruns and Arsenic and Old Lace on DVD, Ruby and her best friend Charlotte try to lay low until after Ruby's son's wedding, but a nosy therapist, meddling minister and local news reporter are making it very difficult to get away with murder.

About Julie:

I am a mother of three, wife to a sane person and Ring Master at the Lindsey Circus. Most days you'll find me online, amped up on caffeine & wielding a book.

You can find my blogging about the writer life at Musings from the Slush Pile

Tweeting my crazy at @JulieALindsey

Reading to soothe my obsession on GoodReads

And other books by me on Amazon