Interview with Manuela Cardiga

 

So pleased to be part of the Blog Tour for Guilty Pleasures today. I reviewed the newest release from Ms Cardiga a few weeks ago and today she was kind enough to do an interview.

About the Book

Tell us a bit about your novel.

Briefly: a red-hot narcissistic compulsively healthy-living control freak - Lance Packhard -  who happens to be a bankrupt sex-therapist (writing a book called “Sensual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate”) gets hired to impregnate a woman who just loves food. Millie Deafly. She’s not interested in men, let alone someone like our hero. So in order to get close to her, he gets himself hired as an assistant to the Chef at Guilty Pleasures - a dinner club belonging to our heroine - and her partner, Serge. Serge used to be a prostitute in Istanbul, a fluffer in skin-flicks in Vegas and is now a Master Chef in London. He’s also a homosexual black dwarf with major personality/sensitivity issues. Every night a new set of crazy guests come to the Guilty Pleasures to pig out, and poor Lance (as his alter-ego, a geeky but sexy Will) finds himself sucked in to a riotous world of eccentricity and sensuality quite unlike anything he’s ever experienced. He suddenly finds himself falling madly in love with his “subject”… and about to be outed as an impostor! If you want to know how it ends, read the book! (It’s really funny) Every chapter opens with “advice” from Lance’s how-not-to book, and closes with excerpts from Millie’s diary. I had an obscene amount of fun writing this book. I hope my readers enjoy reading it.

What gave you the idea for Guilty Pleasures? How long did it take you to write?

One night we had a Girl’s Only dinner at a friend’s place. We had something Mexican I’d made, I believe; and lots of wine. Lots. Lovely red wine, which led to confession time; so these wonderful, bright, successful, stunningly beautiful women started talking about their sex lives. And they weren’t getting any “Satisfaction” as Mick might say. So I got home and suddenly Lance showed up and says: “Hello! I’m Lance Packhard, Pubic Detective Extraordinaire! Looking for a lost Orgasm? Call me! Satisfaction guaranteed!” THEN Serge pushed him aside. “This arsehole doesn’t know WHAT he’s talking about! You wanna know about sensuality, desire and passion for life? You talk to ME! I was -and still am - the absolute BEST in the business! Lemme tell you a story…” And that is how it happened. I wrote a chapter a day, for about three months. That was it. I was taking dictation...

Which character was your favourite to create? Why?

I didn't CREATE him. He just showed up! I LOVED living with Serge inside my head. He is funny and fierce and loyal. A survivor. A wonderful character. I had a hard time keeping him in his place. He wanted to take over the whole book! Only way to get him to behave was to promise him he would get his OWN book...He's still here, waiting!

If you were asked to make a soundtrack for Guilty Pleasures, what songs would be on it? There is a soundtrack to it! I love music and it keeps creeping up in the story! I would use a lot of James songs for Millie: Laid, She's a Star; Waltzing Along; oh and Cure: Love Cats; but her "shattered song" would be "Someone That Cannot Love" by a brill singer called David Fonseca. Lance is a Neil Diamond fan so a lot of his scenes would go thata way; Lance's broke up song would be "Creep". Serge would be snazzy, cheeky and jazzy; Hendricks is  Goth...

If your book was turned into a movie, who would you choose to play the leading characters?

Oh that is HARD! Millie would be Adele...Sensuous, so utterly lovely! Lance/Will would be Diogo Morgado (he can do cocky sex appeal AND geeky vulnerable and he is so gorgeous).I don't think I could convince Morgan Freeman to do an entire movie on his knees, so Serge would be Peter Dinklage, he is AMAZING; he forces me to interrupt writing so I can watch him in Game of Thrones.. 

What’s your writing process like?

I don't really have one, really. The characters write themselves. The story tells itself to me. I'm listen, I write it down. I'm just as astonished at how things turn out as anyone else. The characters just show up, push me around, tell their story and then leave...

About the author

What is a normal day for you? Take us through your usual routine.

I have a pare-pubescent pre-teen girl? I don't DO normal. 

My usual routine starts at 7:00, I go to work (day-job, starving writers etc). 

I take a train along the shore, and then a long walk by a sea wall to the office. (My desk is separated from the ocean by a 12 foot high picture window and a 5 meter wide quay, it's what keeps me sane). So I work, I go home at the end of the day, 18:00 train ride. Get home, make dinner; the usual gripes: "Mom! YOU RUIN MY LIFE!"; I put in another three hours on the keyboard, and usually try to be in bed by 24:00...

 When you’re not writing, what else do you like to do?

Oh I love reading, and drawing, and painting and cooking. I love music too, I love singing (badly and loudly!)... And I love writing. I do it even when I'm not doing it, if you know what i mean.

Tell us about the day you found out Guilty Pleasures was going to be published. How did you react? 

After about a year of sending the manuscript to agents and publishers, I got used to receiving these e-mails that said: "WE LOVED YOUR STORY! I killed myself laughing, the Acquisitions Department loved the concept; however...It is not our Genre.Don't give up, it's a GREAT story!" Everyone laughed, everyone loved, nobody published...HUNDREDS of lovely encouraging "no"'s. So one day I saw another e-mail, I clicked on it. I read it. I didn't understand a single word it said. So I read it again. And again. It was weird. I just couldn't understand. My daughter came over and said: "Mom, why are you crying?" And I was. So I told her, "I think someone wants to publish the story, but I can't be sure." And she started crying too.

Is there a certain book that has made a lasting impression on you?

Yes. Harper Lee's To Kill a Mocking Bird. It is so absolutely perfect. Also, the Cout of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas. It was my first "grownup book". My Father gave it to me when I turned 7.

What made you want to become a writer?

Oh dear....You think people WANT to be writers??? It's not a choice, it's an affliction, a compulsion. Stories possess and overwhelm you. You either let them out or explode.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what five things would you want to have with you?

Chocolate, lipstick, eyeliner, silk stockings, and a bold Knight on a quest... 

What’s next for Manuela Cardiga?

I have absolutely no idea! I'm waiting for life to surprise me. 

(there is a novel harassing me, but I'm considering a restraining order)

Bonus Questions

Favourite movie/TV show/food/season? Favourite movie. JUST ONE? It's a Wonderful Life; The Piano; Blade Runner; Breaking the Waves; When Harry Met Sally;  Black Cat White Cat; Dangerous Liaisons, just about anything directed by Clint Eastwood or starring De Niro (I hate De Niro)...Sorry, there are just too many. 

TV Show: Game of Thrones(I dont watch TV. This is an exception)

Food? Are you kidding? Don't ASK things like that!

Season
Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring.
 

Who would you give the award to for best first kiss (in a movie)? The award goes to: COLIN FIRTH! In anything. The man can kiss...(Did you see what he did in "The Diary of Bridgit Jones"? He MADE that movie)

Sweet or salty?Both. Separately or together. Also spicy...

Worst fear?I wake up, and this is a dream.

 

Thanks, Manuela!

Review: Guilty Pleasures

Title: Guilty Pleasues
Author: Manuela Cardiga
Publication Date: December 5 2013
Source: Net Galley
Summary:

Gorgeous, narcissistic, self-absorbed Lance Packhard is a sex therapist specializing in Awakenings, helping anorgasmic women find sexual fulfillment.

Lance’s spare time is dedicated to the cult of his body and writing a how-not-to book entitled Sexual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate. His personal life consists of Sunday tea with his grandmother and a monthly night out with his best friend, George. Oh, and no sex, none whatsoever.

When a wealthy, ruthless mother offers him an enormous sum to seduce and impregnate her thirty-six-year-old daughter, Millicent Deafly, a debt-ridden Lance hesitantly agrees.
However, Millicent is not into sex, and definitely not into Lance. She’s chosen the other end of the sensuality spectrum and is heavily into food. She is bright, bouncy and joyous, uninhibitedly plump, natural, and completely dedicated to her palate. The only way Lance will get her attention is if he dabs soy sauce on his pulse points.

Determined to get close to her, Lance creates an alter ego—sweetly shy Wilfred Pecklise—and takes a job at Millicent’s dinner club, Guilty Pleasures.

Guilty Pleasures caters to the flamboyant and the eccentric: supermodels pigging out, trash-metal rock stars with penis-piercings and their loving grannies, the widows of billionaires, and many more oddities.

Lance finds himself immersed in a sensuous world of scents, tastes, and color, and befriended by Serge Moreno—a homosexual black dwarf who has had a colorful life as a prostitute in Istanbul, a fluffer in skin flicks in Vegas, and is now a celebrity chef in London.

Ironically, Lance isn’t just failing to seduce Millie, but falling madly in love with her.
Balancing the two lives of Lance and Wilfred becomes next to impossible when his geeky best friend, George, suddenly marries and decides to hold the reception at Guilty Pleasures. Will the truth be uncovered?

I was really excited to get this one. I mean, have you seen the cover? Visions of hot sex and food flashed in my mind as I read the summary—two of my favourite things. I immediately dived right in, all but drooling on my reader as I started the first page and prepared for the blurry vision I expected to have from staying up all night to get as much of this treasure as I could before exhaustion took over.

I’m still asking myself where I went wrong.

*sigh*

First let me just say do not read this book if you’re hungry. But even if you’re not hungry prepare to be. The author does get your mouth watering with all the delicious meals described in the book, but I wanted more than my mouth to water. Again, have you seen that cover? And read that summary? Where was the hot sex I had dancing in my head like naughty little cherries coated in chocolate and rolling around in whipped cream?

My disappointment of the lack of sex in an erotic novel aside, it was just so long. At times it felt like the author was writing a cookbook rather than a novel with all the food that was involved. Yes, I understand that the book centers around food because of Milly, but there was just so much of it. It got to be repetitive. I would have liked to have seen more interaction between Milly and Lance/Will in a social setting than always at the restaurant.

That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy the book, it just wasn’t what I expected. I did really love Serge and all his stories and foul mouth. He was the highlight, in my opinion. I just went into it expecting something completely different than what I received. Again, not a bad thing, just different. Ms. Cardiga definitely has a talent for storytelling (and making ones stomach grumble).

Cover Reveal: Not the Same Season

Summary:
Not the Same Season

Two broken hearts embarked on a holiday season in a way they never had before. Divorced.

Mitch had been badly burned by love, but was willing to take a chance . . . with the right woman.

Hannah had lived everyday with the grief love had brought her and followed her everywhere.

Can two hearts find love and heal each other during the most difficult season of the year?


Look for it November 19, 2013!

Review: Newton Neighbors

Title: Newton Neighbors
Author: Suzy Duffy
Publication Date: September 26, 2013
Source: Publisher
Summary (from Goodreads): Crystal Lake—in the suburbs of Newton—is one of the most desirable places to live in Boston, and Newton Neighbors is a romantic comedy about its colorful residents just trying to “live the dream.” Things, however, rarely go as planned. The story starts with two fire trucks and a couple of cop cars getting called to the upmarket road, and that’s when things begin to heat up.

The Ladies of the Lake:

Maria’s best asset has always been her hot Puerto Rican body, but she sees the effect a new sitter has on her husband, so she decides to fight back the hands of time.

Cathi is Maria’s best friend and greatest admirer. Her own life is pretty good, too. Still, she can’t help being consumed with ambitions to live on the water. She spirals from persuasion to coercion to deceit faster than you can say ‘change of address,’ but will she succeed?

Noreen may seem like the nice little granny from next door. However, it’s the quiet ones you need to watch. While facing forty is a nightmare for Maria, Noreen’s living large at eighty. She believes “the only thing worse than a weak dollar is a weak martini.”

Jessica is in America to study. But when she takes a babysitting job in Newton, she gets more than she bargains for in the shape of fine-looking firefighter. We learn soon enough that not all heroes are good—but is bad better?

Thankfully we have Ely, Jessica’s crazy roommate, who keeps everyone laughing and partying, too.

There’s Botox, Bollinger, and a randy Bulldog. We have fireworks, fistfights, and family fiestas. It’s a story that stretches from Boston, to London, to beautiful Puerto Rico.

Welcome to the wet ‘n’ wild world of Newton Neighbors.

I was supposed to be part of the blog tour for this but I'm a complete spaz and forgot my date change. Huge apologies to Suzy Duffy and TWCS!

First I would just like to say how much I love the cover for this book. It’s so damn colourful it just draws you in and makes you smile! I love that Duffy’s books follow a cartoon theme. It’s just so much fun!

Okay, moving on. I adored Duffy’s pervious novel Wellesley Wives. It was funny and heartwarming and surprised the hell out of me at points. I was really looking forward to reading her newest novel. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Wives, but it was still a fun read.

Like her previous book, Newton Neighbors follows the lives of several characters, each with their own stories that interact with each other. I’d probably have to say that Maria was my favourite character in this one. I was instantly able to connect with her regarding the way she felt about her body after having kids. Haven’t we all had those, “Ugh, look what those monsters did to me!” moments in life while standing in front of a mirror, sucking in our stomachs and squishing our thighs as close together as possible so objects in the mirror will not appear as large as they actually are? It wasn’t just how I was able to nod my head and agree with every fault she found with herself that I loved this woman, it was also because of her strength and weaknesses. Duffy made a very believable character with this one.

Cathi. Omg Cathi! What a bloody childish, self-absorbed, devious snob this one was. How could Maria be her friend? I hated Cathi. There wasn’t one thing I liked about the character. Every novel has to have that one person who you just want to reach through and throttle, Cathi was that character for me. Seriously, she made me so pissed off with all her stunts every time her name was mentioned my hubby told me I’d glare at the screen and start grinding my teeth. Yeah, she hit a nerve. Michael should have left her sorry ass and kicked her to the curb. Really wish he had more of backbone when it came to dealing with his wife.

Noreen added the comedy, Ely the lesson on what happens when you’re more concerned with partying than studying and Jessie gave everyone hope that behind every good looking douche that sweeps you off your feet is a real man waiting to catch you when you’re dropped.

As far as the book as a whole goes, while I enjoyed it, there were also parts that just seemed silly in an annoying or ridiculous sort of way rather than a fun and laugh out loud sort of way that made me enjoy it a little less than I thought I would. Still, it’s a good read and being able to connect to even one character like I did and have someone to root for to work everything out definitely made it worth it.

Cover Reveal: Guilty Pleasures

Category: Romance / Erotica

Publication date: Dec 5, 2013

ISBN (paper): 978-1-61213-192-4

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-61213-193-1

Summary:
Gorgeous, narcissistic, self-absorbed Lance Packhard is a sex therapist specializing in Awakenings, helping anorgasmic women find sexual fulfillment.

Lance’s spare time is dedicated to the cult of his body and writing a how-not-to book entitled Sexual Secrets of a Sexual Surrogate. His personal life consists of Sunday tea with his grandmother and a monthly night out with his best friend, George. Oh, and no sex, none whatsoever.

When a wealthy, ruthless mother offers him an enormous sum to seduce and impregnate her thirty-six-year-old daughter, Millicent Deafly, a debt-ridden Lance hesitantly agrees.

However, Millicent is not into sex, and definitely not into Lance. She’s chosen the other end of the sensuality spectrum and is heavily into food. She is bright, bouncy and joyous, uninhibitedly plump, natural, and completely dedicated to her palate. The only way Lance will get her attention is if he dabs soy sauce on his pulse points.

Determined to get close to her, Lance creates an alter ego—sweetly shy Wilfred Pecklise—and takes a job at Millicent’s dinner club, Guilty Pleasures.

Guilty Pleasures caters to the flamboyant and the eccentric: supermodels pigging out, trash-metal rock stars with penis-piercings and their loving grannies, the widows of billionaires, and many more oddities.

Lance finds himself immersed in a sensuous world of scents, tastes, and color, and befriended by Serge Moreno—a homosexual black dwarf who has had a colorful life as a prostitute in Istanbul, a fluffer in skin flicks in Vegas, and is now a celebrity chef in London.

Ironically, Lance isn’t just failing to seduce Millie, but falling madly in love with her.

Balancing the two lives of Lance and Wilfred becomes next to  impossible when his geeky best friend, George, suddenly marries and decides to hold the reception at Guilty Pleasures. Will the truth be uncovered?

 

Win a copy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author

Manuela Cardiga was born in Mozambique and raised in South Africa where she studied fashion design. She moved to Europe where she worked as a fashion designer, then moved to the crazy world of advertising as a graphic designer and copywriter. Manuela is a designer by profession, a cook by vocation, and a writer by compulsion. She currently resides in Lisbon, Portugal where she writes contemporary and historical fiction, designs book covers, illustrates children’s books, and mothers a gorgeous daughter while juggling a day job. She also dabbles enthusiastically in exotic, experimental cuisine, much to the discomfort of family and friends.

TWCS Book Page: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/books/detail/108
TWCS Author Page: http://ph.thewriterscoffeeshop.com/authors/detail/62
AuthorFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/mariamanuela.cardiga?fref=ts
Author Blog: http://manuelasinkspotblog.blogspot.com/
Author Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7203734.Manuela_Cardiga

Review: Feather Light

 

Title: Feather Light
Author: Lorenz Font
Publication Date: October 10 2013
Source: Publisher
Summary (from Goodreads): Parker Davis has conquered three major American cities and is the new ‘it’ man in massage. He earned the nickname ‘Feather Light’ for his sensual touches, tender caresses, and soft voice eliciting an almost orgasmic release. Clients from all over clamor for his services and his clientele are growing by the minute. Business is at its peak, which makes Parker a busy man who has no time to deal with problems, let alone dwell on his blindness. With his declining vision, Parker has to accept his limitations and the changes brought forth by this disease, but he is not ready to relinquish the last control he has left. He is still the master in his bedroom.

Kelly Storm, a Hollywood actress, will do whatever it takes to get some much-deserved peace. Being famous has its perks, except the little privacy her popularity afforded her is slowly eating at her. With the paparazzi hounding her every minute of the day, and her personal life under constant scrutiny, Kelly wants a semblance of normalcy wherever she can get it. Under the urging of a close friend, she agrees give Parker a try.

Their first meeting is nothing she expected. Kelly finds comfort in his gentle probing and the spellbinding experience guaranteed to keep her coming back for more. Parker knows the woman on his table is special. He feels her vulnerability with his fingertips and her smooth curves leave a burning ache inside him.

One night of steamy passion is all it takes to know that they wanted each other in more ways than one. Kelly hides in heavy disguises, making it impossible for Parker to know her true identity. What secret is Kelly keeping and will she trust Parker enough to tell him the truth? Will Parker see beyond Kelly’s lies to show her what a future with him holds?

When asked to participate in the cover reveal for Feather Light I gladly jumped at the chance. I mean, c’mon. Have you looked at the cover? It’s hot, and sexy and completely erotic—three things I love. But I hadn’t yet read the book. A few days after the reveal I was still thinking about the smoking cover and decided to give into my curiosity and request the book.

Kelly Storm is the beautiful, pap hating actress—typical leading lady material. But then there’s our hero, Parker Davis. Handsome, successful, smart and blind. A twist to the normal, people. I love when authors throw in something to make their characters unique and Parker was just that.

The story wasn’t all that original, but you can overlook it because the characters have such great chemistry that fire up the pages that I read the book at blinding speed just to get more of them.

There were a couple of things that irked me though, as they always do in erotica. Please, Oh Goddess of the Erotic Word, stop all authors from using the word “kitty” to name their vaginas. Pussy is fine—more than fine, actually. Keep it to the P word if you can’t summon up the courage to use the C word. Just no more kitties. I’m begging.

Oh, and while we’re at what not to refer to North of the Border as. There was one line that Kelly referred to Parker’s package as his weapon. I don’t know if it was the phrasing or the whole scene but it was hilarious—and not in a good way. Sorry, just, no.

The author also liked to over use the description “his cock hanging with pride…”, in my opinion. Okay, we got it the first handful of times it was thrown around. His cock is glorious and all men would be proud to have it. We don’t need the constant reminder that he has a dick that would make a donkey envious.

Other than that Feather Light was a great little read.

 

.5