Feature on R. C. Matthews, Date Night and Giveaway!

This week's Author Feature is on author R. C. Matthews and she's got a giveaway for you. A kindle gift copy of her Date Night.

R. C. Matthews on the web:

Website        Facebook         Twitter

Tell us about yourself?  

 

By day I am a certified public accountant, by night and weekend I am a writer. I grew up in a large family in the Greater-Detroit area and was raised by deaf parents. Growing up with deaf parents builds a certain level of self-confidence and independence in children, I think. And I'm grateful for that. I attended a liberal arts college in Michigan and spent four years abroad, living in Germany. After having studied the language for 7 years, I wanted to immerse myself in the culture. What a wonderful experience! I have two beautiful children - both boys entering their teenage years. And my husband and stepson were a happy addition to the family - second time was a charm.

What inspired you to be a writer?  

 

Ooohhhh...I have always loved writing. When I was in elementary school I wrote poetry. My best friend from elementary recently found a stack of them in her basement. Blush. Hopefully they don't find their way into the public eye anytime - ever. But what inspired me to write romance was the book "Till Dawn Tames the Night" by Meagan McKinney. I discovered romance novels in college. And I loved, loved, loved that book. In fact, I recently purchased a used copy of it and reread it. It's a wonderful story that takes me far away from daily life. I've yet to find a hero that was more complex, more villainous yet worthy of redemption, than Vashon. After reading it I knew someday I wanted to write a book.

How did you chose your genre?

 

 Funny question. I'm not sure what my genre is for Date Night. Chick lit? Contemporary romance? New adult? I didn't really pick a genre. Date Night morphed out of my desire to write a book based on a woman going on a series of funny dates. What I ended up with was a story that blurs the lines between genres.

What made you tell this story and why did you write this book?  

 

After I got divorced and took a break from men for about three years, I decided to get back to dating and signed up for a dating service as well as various on-line dating sites. The result was a series of crazy, wacky, hilarious dates. Entertaining dates. I wanted to share that in a book. I also wanted to try writing a book that was in alternating points of view in first person because my first book was third person and all from the heroine's viewpoint. I like to challenge myself. This style of writing is more typical in new adult so I felt like my hero / heroine needed to be in that 18-25 age range. Which led me to decide to write the book with my real-life niece's name and physical features - just for fun - because I'm strange that way.

How did you come up with the title?

 

 I didn't. My best friend came up with the title. I was leaning towards "The Scrapbook", "Only You", or "Kissing Frogs". I solicited ideas from my best friend and she threw out the title Date Night - obviously because the heroine goes on a series of dates. Duh! Why didn't I think of that?

What is your favourite scene? 

 

This is a really hard question. I'm not sure I can pick just one. But one of my favourite scenes is after Jordan's date with "mac-n-cheese guy" (JT gives food names to each of Jordan's dates) when Jordan is stinking drunk (she had to get wasted to make it through the horrible date) and she asks JT why he didn't make out with her earlier that week in the movie theater (they went after her last date was a "no show"). I was cracking myself up while I wrote that whole sequence. People can be really, really funny when they are drunk and let go of their inhibitions.

Tell us a little about your book... 

 

 It was fun and refreshing to write a story about a couple that is younger...not teenagers but still not full adults. It was the beginning of summer, Jordan didn't have a job (she's interviewing for teaching positions), they got to drink, go to movies, dance and make out and just have fun. Don't get met me wrong. There are a lot of aspects to this story that are serious...some will probably even make you cry (...my husband laughed his butt off sitting next to me as tears were streaming down my face while writing). But I also promise that you'll laugh out loud and you'll end the story feeling really, really happy and satisfied. 

 

Buy Links:
Amazon          Amazon UK               Amazon Aust

Smashwords