Featured Interview With Samantha Anne
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Suffern, NY and raised in The Bronx. I am a proud Hufflepuff, my heart is wrapped in Yankee Pinstripes and I’m pretty sure my blood type is hot chocolate. After spending decades in the city, I moved to the DFW area of Texas to spend time with my amazing nephew. It was in Texas that I found my two rescue cats, Alfie and Claire. They keep the house safe and also keep busy knocking over family photos and Funko dolls while I write novels, screenplays, paint, or play bass. We all like Hulu and especially dig The Golden Girls and The Dick Van Dyke show.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My mother and grandmother will tell you that, when I was three, I would sit with the TV Guide and pick out words. I feel like this is the perfect jumping off point into describing who I am today. I’m into books, television, movies, and obsessed with the creation of all of them. I started writing as a teenager; I’d write epic romance stories about my friends and their favorite boy band members (they were called ‘Daydreams’ back then) falling in love and then sit with them and read aloud the story of my friends’ happily ever afters. This continued well into my 20’s, but I wouldn’t publish my first book until 2013 – nearly 20 years after writing my first daydream.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
It’s worth it to say that it all started with Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume; I owe my obsession with books to these two women, who truly introduced me to reading in the form of Ramona The Pest, Henry Huggins, Tales Of A Fourth Grade Nothing, and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
I tend to gravitate toward romance, and have been very much into reading indie authors in this genre – Serena Clarke, Becky Flade, Nancy Weeks, and Peggy Bird (RIP) to name a few. I am a huge Harry Potter fan (as evidenced by my declaration of fealty to the House of Hufflepuff above), and have fallen in love with a couple of YA series – The Divergent Series, The Hunger Games books, and The Twilight Series.
Other authors that fascinate me are JD Robb, Janet Evanovich, Danielle Steel, and Nora Ephron – to name a few. This could easily go on forever, so I’ll just shout “Sweet Valley High!” and move on.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
I was once an author in the Crimson Romance galaxy of stars, but after they closed their doors almost a year ago, I sort of became a Gal With No Country. So I’ve re-released both Kirby (pubbed in 2013) and Company Ink (pubbed in 2015) so that I can feel better about having them out in the world again, because I’ve felt *lost* without them.
I’m currently working on a follow-up to Kirby, which wasn’t supposed to happen (it was originally a standalone!), and another romance tentatively titled “The Other Shoe”:
The Kirby follow up is going to be released by way of my personal imprint, ‘Cookies & Queens Publishing’, and catches back up with Rachel a few years after her HEA with Joe Pavon, aka Hottie McCoffeehouse. Her best friend is getting married, and everyone drives out to the bride’s hometown for her big day. Rachel is once again juggling her life, dividing her time between being the best Maid of Honor in the world and a brand new author. She’s also considering a job offer that would change her life in a big way! The wedding takes Rachel out to the country and out of her element, and she struggles to stay sane and keep what she believes is her best life on track. As you can imagine, calamity ensues.
“The Other Shoe” is about a freshly-turned 30 year old Annie who, in the interest of turning her life around and going after her dreams, packs her bass and moves to Boston to work for a prominent recording studio as a session bassist. She ends up joining a band and making unexpected friends, including Drew Morrison, Hollywood’s new Golden Boy, who happens to have returned to Boston to find his footing after receiving a lucrative movie-making offer that would change his life forever, should be choose to accept it. Together, they figure out what it means to leap and how sometimes, when you’re afraid, it can mean that you’re exactly where you need to be.
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