Author Interview with Linda Griffin ~ New Release: The Rebound Effect

Please help me welcome today’s guest, Wild Rose Press author, Linda Griffin.

Linda, please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?

I was born and raised in San Diego, California, and although I love to travel, San Diego is still home. I have a B.A. in English from San Diego State University and an MLS from UCLA. I’m single and share a house with my sister. I’ve had numerous short stories published in literary journals, and I’m a member of RWA and the Authors Guikd. I’m definitely a cat person, but don’t have any pets now, unless you count my lizard muse Sparkle, and my sometime collaborator, Huxley, a writer mouse from Starbucks. Huxley co-authored my novella, “Starbucks,” (Eclectica, April/May 2015), but his specialty is bedroom scenes!

Where did you get the idea for The Rebound Effect?

The original trigger was a response that wasn’t made to an apology. Teresa responded instead and although it’s now in Chapter Two, it was the first line I wrote.

Why did you choose this genre (is it something you’ve written in before)?

I never choose a genre. I write the story that wants to be told, and then try to figure out what genre it belongs to. I had written other romances, but some were a better fit for the traditional genre than others.

 Was there anything unusual, any anecdote about this book, the characters, title, process, etc, you’d like to share?

Some of the notes for the story were written while I was traveling, and Frank and Teresa’s first visit to the coast is based on a real one. The fictional places are versions of spots on the Oregon coast, and I had a lot of fun renaming them. The city of Florence became Genoa, but the rest were less obvious.

Do you have another occupation, other than writer? If so, what is it and do you like it?

I loved my career as reference and fiction collection development librarian, but the job changed so much in recent years that I was glad to retire to spend more time on my writing.

What do you love that most people don’t like and wouldn’t understand why you do? 

Probably a lot of things, but the two that are most often remarked on are riding the bus and washing dishes by hand (although I prefer to be read to while I do it). I also enjoy editing, which most writers dislike.

What was your first job?

I had my first babysitting job when I was four years old. A new mother paid me a dime to watch the baby while she hung her laundry on the clothesline. My first real job was as a library aide in a branch library, where I discovered my dream job—reference librarian. I’d always loved looking things up, but didn’t know it could be a career.

Is there one subject you would never write about? What is it?

Probably politics. I did once begin a romance between a librarian and a campaign manager, but I generally find the subject distasteful and boring.

Have you written any other books that are not published?

Several that are definitely not publishable, and a couple I hope will be. The decision on Guilty Knowledge, a police procedural/interracial romance is pending. The other still needs work before being submitted.

If you could spend time with a character from your book, whom would it be? And what would you do during that day? (PG-13 please 🙂

I’d like to spend a day with Sasha English. She’s one of my favorite characters, and it would entertain me just to listen to her talk. We would go to the zoo or the beach or shopping and out to lunch at a restaurant that serves ravioli. It would definitely be G-rated  since she’s only seven.

Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from your imagination?

None of the major characters in The Rebound Effect is based on a real person, but I gave Teresa a lot of my own quirks, from her pet peeves and T-shirts to her religious philosophy. The bipolar cook that Alix describes was based on someone I worked with.

How did you come up with the title?

It wasn’t the original title. The Wild Rose Press already had one called Whirlwind, and my wonderful editor Nan Swanson and I had a lively back and forth on the subject before settling on the current one. The rebound effect refers to symptoms recurring and even worsening when treatment is stopped, and love is a dangerous illness. A rebound romance can be the cure for a broken heart or a prescription for trouble.

How did your interest in writing originate?

I learned to read. As soon as I grasped the concept that somebody had to produce those words, I knew that was what I wanted to do when I grew up. I didn’t wait though; I wrote my first story at the age of six.

Thank you, Linda. I enjoyed getting to know you. I also do not want to write about politics, good call. 🙂

And now, check out Linda’s book…

Blurb:

In the small town of Cougar, struggling single mother and veterinary assistant Teresa Lansing is still bruised from a failed relationship when Frank McAllister sweeps her off her feet.

Frank is a big-city SWAT officer who moved to Cougar only four months ago. He’s handsome, charming, forceful, very sexy, and a bit mysterious. He had his eye on Teresa even before they met and is pushing for a serious relationship right away.

Teresa finds his intense courtship flattering, and the sex is fabulous, but she doesn’t want her deaf six-year-old son to be hurt again. Her former fiancé cheated on her when he got drunk after being unjustly fired, but he loves her and her son, and the whirlwind romance is complicated by his efforts to win Teresa back. And then there’s the matter of the bodies buried at Big Devil Creek…

Excerpt:

She reached inside the robe to rub his shoulders. She was feeling something new now, something tender, loving, intimate, possessive. She kissed him. She wanted to give in to this sense of well-being, of the inevitability of a future together, of love, but wasn’t it too soon?

“Teresa,” he said, again as if her name was a special endearment. “I want to sleep with you. I want to hold you all night.”

“It sounds very romantic,” she said, “but what if I snore? What if I need you to let me breathe a little?”

“Breathing is overrated. I never want to let go of you again.” He kissed her, and then he lifted her in his arms. It had never happened to her before—Gene hadn’t even carried her across the threshold on their wedding night.

“Frank!” she cried, laughing, but a little scared—what if he dropped her? He was strong, but she wasn’t very light. He didn’t drop her—or he did, but deliberately, from about an inch above the cool, clean sheets of his bed. They were both laughing, and he started kissing her randomly, here and there. This can be a lot of fun, she told herself. Enjoy it while it lasts. “Remember when you asked if it was too soon for me to date?” she asked.

“Yeah, and you said it depended on the definition.”

“It turns out it was too soon,” she said, “and now it’s too late.”

~*~

The Rebound Effect can be purchased from:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SS8SGT1/

Barnes & Noble  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rebound-effect-linda-griffin/1131957492

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-rebound-effect-2

~*~

I can be found at:

Website:  http://www.lindagriffinauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindagriffin.author/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaGriffinA

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