WELCOME STEPHANIE TAYLOR

I'm so pleased to have my friend, the wonderful owner/operator of Astraea Press as well as an awesome author STEPHANIE TAYLOR in the hot seat today! I'm picking her brain with a serious question and answer segment that you don't want to miss. I'm also showcasing her newest release. My One True Love which is getting great reviews. Let's start the interview off with the book blurb: Love or contentment.  What would you choose?
Seven years ago, Liz Henley left her fiancé without a backward glance to live a bigger life anywhere but in Oakley. Now she's back, with a new fiancé, ready to tie the knot on Valentine’s Day in the town she grew up in.  But one thing stands in her way: her first true love, Jason Kenyon.
Jason Kenyon has never really gotten over Liz, but he doesn't let that stop him from being the best park ranger he can be.  When he sees the body of a female go sailing past him during an avalanche, he doesn't think twice about trying to rescue her.  It isn't until they're both back at Jason's cabin that he realizes the body is none other than his almost-wife, Liz. 
Torn between his love for Liz and his duty to return her, Jason has to make a decision.  Does he take her back to her new fiancé or fight with all his might to get back the woman he never stopped loving?

Talk about catching my attention! Now, inquiring minds want to know.

What’s your favorite Disney Movie?  The Lion King.  Every time Rafiki holds up baby Simba and he sneezes, I can’t stand it.  Tangled is making its way to the top.  “You broke my smolder…”

Who’s your favorite villain either from a book or a movie? You can have a favorite villain?  Hmmm…I’ll have to come back to this one.  Okay, I thought of something.  The count in the Count of Monte Cristo is the hero AND the villain.  Perfectly done.  And it doesn’t hurt that it’s Jim Caviezel.

Where’s the one place you’d love to visit?  I can’t pick just one!  I lived a sheltered life in a small town, so travel is soooo important to me.  Other than living in the south, I’ve only been to NYC, and Japan.  I still want to go to the UK, all over the US, and to the carribbean.  Oh, and everywhere else I didn’t just mention.  lol

What genre do you love to read but would never write? Horror.  Even though I don’t read a lot of it now, I did when I was younger.  I couldn’t figure out why I kept having nightmares.  I stopped reading horror and watching horror movies and haven’t had nightmares since.  It takes a “special” brain to come up with that stuff!

Name one thing on your bucket list that would surprise people. Why? I want to drive a motorcycle.  Not one of those old man bikes, but a genuine crotch rocket.  Why?  My husband used to have a motorcycle (that he sold to buy my engagement ring ^insert sighs and ahhhs^.)  I secretly wanted to drive it.

Woman after my own heart. I have my motorcycle license:) Where’s the one place you’d love to live? Again, I can’t pick just one place.  I encourage my hubby to find a job across country all the time.  I’d live anywhere as long as I have my family and a church to attend!

Who’s the one person you’d love to meet? Nicholas Sparks.  I want to pick his brain over lunch and beg him to mentor me!

What book do you read over and over again? Anything I’m editing for Astraea!  ;o)

Do you prefer to read a book written in first person or third person? Third.  First limits too much but if it’s done well, I don’t mind it.  I like third the best because it allows for other POV’s and helps the story go deeper.

 Do you prefer to read stand alone books or a series? Either or.  Although stand alones are better for my wallet.

Thank you so much for letting me pick your brain. Stephanie is always seeking great talent to add to her roster at Astraea Press so click on the link above a check out her submission guidelines. Or go there to check out some great reads. Stephanie's book is available at Purple Sword Publications. Stephanie has graciously provided us with an awesome excerpt:

“I can’t believe you. Patrick is a good man who doesn’t deserve to be hurt, but I’m willing to stop my wedding to be with you. Yet, you still refuse to give an inch.”
“Something tells me if I give you an inch, you’d take a mile. Isn’t it the way it’s always been?” Anger pulsed in his jaw.
“No!”
“And if I don’t give an inch, you’ll go running away, the same way you did before. Anything to avoid giving up what you’ve envisioned for your life. Have you ever thought maybe you’re wrong? Maybe the fancy city life isn’t for you, and you might be happier here living the way your mother lives?”
“I hate this town!”
“Hate it so much you’d get married here?”
“I never said the landscape wasn’t beautiful,” Liz argued, but she knew he made a valid point, and she hated it even more. "My family's here. It was easier this way. You know they can't afford to travel to Baltimore." 
“Your family’s here, Lizzie. I’m here. You’ve gotta make a choice.”
“I don't know how to choose, Jason. I have a career and friends—a life—in Baltimore. Here, I have…" She trailed off. "How can I just walk away?"
“Everything isn’t always going to go your way. You might end up married to Patrick after all. Have two point five kids in the future with a white picket fence around your mansion on a hilltop. But you won’t have one thing, Lizzie.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Me.”

About the author:

Stephanie Taylor wrote and illustrated her first novel, The Bear Who Ate Christmas, several notebook pages stapled together to open like a “real book”, at the tender age of six (it’s still in the attic, just in case you were curious). Over twenty years later, she lives in Alabama with her husband and is a mommy of three by day and a writer by night. She has a doctorate in multitasking and can actually walk a tightrope while changing a diaper with one hand and typing her next novel with the other. She is the author of Doubting Thomas, Tinseltown, and My One True Love.