Spotlight Author with Gabi Stevens

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. Mine was fabulous! I have Gabi Stevens visiting us again here today to tell us all about the book that she has hitting the shelves as we speak! Welcome back Gabi. Tell us about your title, AS YOU WISH that is being released today.

Imagine being part of a family where everyone has a special ability except you? That’s the set up for my latest release, AS YOU WISH. Born in a magical family Regina Scott has no powers of her own. She was content to live out her life as a Groundling until she discovers that she is next in line to be a fairy godmother. Needless to say, her life becomes complicated. In the space of a few days, she has to deal with a bad guy, a curse, an all too enthusiastic mother and a new love interest.

It’s a story about looking past appearances and finding the true heart of both people and an issue. Doing the right thing is never easy, and Reggie faces many challenges before her happy ending.

What inspired you to create this three book series?

I love the Grimm Brothers’ Fairy tales. I studied them in college, in, and in German. When I knew I wanted to write a paranormal romance, I looked beyond the vampire and werewolf stories and wanted something different. Magic has always been a subject I’ve loved to read about, so witches and wizards was a natural progression. But I still wanted something more unusual. Viola. The fairy godmother.

I also like having villains in my stories and planning out a three book series with the same villain sounded challenging. Could I sustain a story arc for three books, yet still fulfill the requirements of the happy ending? AS YOU WISH is its own romance, yet the second part of a greater story. It absolutely stands alone, but also flows and continues from THE WISH LIST and continues with WISHFUL THINKING next year.


Can you tell us what you are working on now?

WISHFUL THINKING, book three, is already finished and turned in. I have a couple of proposals out with my agent, both paranormals, and many, many ideas for other books that I’m getting ready to think out (No, I don’t plot, I think).


Often time’s writers describe writing a love scene like being an intruder in something so very personal. Do you feel this way and how do you get through the dreaded love scene?

If the love scene is intrusive, than it doesn’t belong. There are so many varying degrees of heat in romance today that no author should feel forced to include more than she is comfortable with. Discomfort shows. That’s why you don’t write one if it doesn’t flow from the story. Sex for sex’s sake is pornography, not a love story.

If you had to pick a favorite character that you have created or one that you wish you had created who would it be and why?

I have two very special characters in AS YOU WISH. Tommy and Joy are Arcani, bakers, and have special needs. Tommy has Down syndrome and Joy is...well, Joy is just Joy. Reggie, the newest fairy godmother and the heroine of the novel, has set up a bakery for her friends and works beside them, taking care of the business aspects because she doesn’t bake. Tommy and Joy are very capable and talents bakers. And yes, they are realistic. I should know. My daughter was the inspiration for Joy. Give her the rules and instruct her, and my daughter can do most things. Oh, she requires supervision for her daily life, but she’s fiercely independent—heck she’s a typical teenager in more ways than not—but she makes her own lunches for school, cooks some, and makes all the brownies for the family. In AS YOU WISH, Reggie truly regards Tommy and Joy as her friends—friends who need perhaps a little more care, but friends first. In honor of Tommy and Joy—and my daughter—I have pledged ten percent from my royalties from AS YOU WISH to Best Buddies International, a group that strives to overcome the prejudices and loneliness that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities face. If you want to find out more about Best Buddies™, please visit them at www.bestbuddies.org.

Give us a glimpse into your writer’s life.

What life? I work a day job and try to get as much done in the evenings and on the weekends that I can.

What does your family think of your job?

My husband is completely supportive of me. He always has been. Even when I hadn’t yet sold and when I wasn’t making money, he always encouraged me to go to conferences, take the time to write, do what I needed to do. It helped that he’s a computer fiend and was more than willing to get me computer equipment too. The kids love that I write and am following my dreams. They’ve told me that they have made many important decisions in their lives based on that knowledge. I’m thrilled I could actually be an object of admiration to them. At least sometimes.

What’s one thing that you know now that you wished you knew when you started your journey as a writer?

That getting published doesn’t mean you’ve “made it.” There are always roadblocks, from not getting another contract, to personal issues, to lines folding, to the big questions in publishing right now (the role of e-books, self-publishing, etc.). So much is uncertain always. The only thing you can control is your writing.


Thank you for returning to Micole Writes Romance. Tells us again where we can find out more about you and your books.

You can visit me at www.GabiStevens.com, read my blog at www.GabiStevens.blogspot.com, find me at Facebook and at Twitter.

Thanks so much for having me here, Micole. I truly enjoyed my time.