Rivals to Lovers Archives

May 18th Love, Art, and Other Obstacles By Sadira Stone

Give a warm welcome to Sadira Stone, author of Love, Art, and Other Obstacles. I see you’ve brought a couple of guests.

Yes, This is Elmer Byrne and Margot DePont of Love, Art, and Other Obstacles. Welcome all! Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Elmer, Margot and Sadira as well as Love, Art, and Other Obstacles!

Lets start with Elmer. Come on over here and have a seat.

Tells us about the real you—

Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your bed? sketch pads, colored pencils, sci-fi paperbacks

……What makes you laugh out loud? The kids at the Rainbow Arts Center, where I teach ceramics. They tell it like it is.

……What makes you angry? Snooty people, users

What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you? My foster parents taught me what real family love is, and that the best kind of family is the one you choose.

What do you most value? Connection

…..What do you sleep in at night? Nothing. That’s what blankets are for.

What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with? She has to be creative, funny, artistic, a free thinker. And she has to love sex, of course.

What do you consider most important in life? It’s a tie: creative self-expression, and love.

What is your biggest secret? Confidence: fake it until you feel it.

****

Okay Margot, your turn in the hot seat. LOL

Who are you really? I’m a rebel.

Tell us three things we’d find if we looked under your bed? Manga books, mismatched socks, dust

……What makes you laugh out loud? The little kids at the bookshop where I work. I love it when it’s my turn for story hour.

……What makes you angry? Snobs. Judgmental people who try to squash me, or anyone else, into a narrow box.

……What do you sleep in at night? My vintage Godzilla T-shirt.

Who were the biggest role models in your life? Maxie Schmidt, my 90-year-old surrogate grandmother. She sampled all of life’s pleasures and always followed her own path. And she accepts people as they are.

What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with? Who says I want a forever partner? And who says it has to be a guy? But if I do commit to one person, they’d have to be open-minded, artistic, nerdy, and sexy.

(or if you don’t want romance – Why not?)

What kind of man would you never choose? A judgmental one who wants to clip my wings.

What is most important to you in life? Creative self-expression and independence.

What is your biggest fear? Having to hide who I am

Sadira, Tell us a little about writing this story. Was it fun or difficult? Do your characters always act as you expect? Are you a plotter, or fly (write) by the seat of your pants?

This story was great fun to write. I loved the chance to revisit the crew at Book Nirvana, the bookshop at the center of this series. Margot is an important secondary character in the first two books in the series, and readers told me they wanted to read her story. Elmer first appeared in book two, and he’s such a sexy flirt that I enjoyed giving him a story of his own. They’re quite the unlikely couple. At first, Margot’s turned off by Elmer’s cocky, flirtatious ways. Of course, there’s more that she suspected under his pretty surface.

Another facet I loved was developing the Rainbow Art Center, a youth arts program where both Elmer and Margot volunteer. The kid artists and Rainbow Center staff sort of emerged to tell their own story about the importance of art in their lives. If I had great piles of $$, I’d love to sponsor an arts center like this.

I’m definitely a plantser—I plot out the story, but new sprouts develop as I write. Some of them grow fruitful; others need to be trimmed or pruned as I revise.

A little about Love, Art, and Other Obstacles, if you please:

She’s a free spirit. He’s a one-woman man.

Rejected by her family for her bisexuality, graphic artist Margot DuPont yearns for a life with no fences, no limits, and no family ties. Between college, work at Book Nirvana, and an art competition, she barely has time for her part-time girlfriend, much less a flirtation with her competitor.

Dumped into the foster system at a young age, ceramics artist Elmer Byrne craves a big, loving family of the heart. His artist family almost fills that need, but something is missing…until Margot. But when he offers his heart, her thorny defenses shatter him.

Thrown together in an art competition that could jump-start one artist’s career, but not both, their irresistible attraction forces them to reconsider the meaning of success.

Buy Links: Psst…Love, Art, and Other Obstacles is on sale for $2.99 from May 15-29. After that it’s $5.99. If I were you, I’d snap up a copy!

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A sneak peek between the pages:

“Tell you what,” he said. “How about if we have drinks and talk about anything but the competition?”

“Because…why?”

“You’re a real hard-ass, aren’t you?” He rolled his eyes. “Because I like you, Margot.”

“Why?”

He leaned so close their foreheads almost touched, a challenge simmering in his smile. “Have a drink with me and find out.”

If there was one thing she couldn’t resist, it was a challenge. On the other hand, he might not like her so much if he knew about Darcy. Let that be the test, then. Let him prove he wasn’t one of those possessive, controlling guys Darcy warned her about.

“Okay. I will.” She stepped back. “But you should know, I’m sort of seeing someone.”

His thick auburn brows contracted. “Sort of?”

“A woman.”

His nostrils flared on a deep inhalation, but he held her gaze. “Is it serious?”

“Not really.” Might as well serve up the truth, raw and ungarnished. Might as well be honest with herself too. “She lives in Berkeley. I only see her every month or two.”

Holding her gaze, he nodded. “Okay then. Thanks for telling me.” The tense lines of his mouth relaxed into a casual grin. “So, drinks?”

Well I’ll be damned.

About the Author:

Ever since her first kiss, Sadira’s been spinning steamy tales in her head. After leaving her teaching career in Germany, she finally tried her hand at writing one. Now she’s a happy citizen of Romancelandia, penning contemporary romance from her new home in Washington State, U.S.A. When not writing, which is seldom, she explores the Pacific Northwest with her charming husband, enjoys the local music scene, plays darts (pretty well), plays guitar (badly), and gobbles all the books. Visit Sadira at www.sadirastone.com .

I’d love to hear from you! Please visit me on all the socials.

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