Blog tour: Interview & giveaway with Diane Alberts

Today I am happy to welcome Diane Alberts to the blog, as part of her blog tour for new book, Divinely Ruined.
Author bio: Diane Alberts has always been a dreamer with a vivid imagination, but it wasn’t until 2011 that she put her pen where her brain was, and became a published author.  Since receiving her first contract offer, she has yet to stop writing. Though she lives in the mountains, she really wishes she was surrounded by a hot, sunny beach with crystal clear water. She lives in Northeast Pennsylvania with her four kids, a husband, and a Senegal parrot. In the rare moments when she’s not writing, she can usually be found hunched over one knitting project or another.
She is a multi-published, bestselling author with Entangled Publishing and Decadent Publishing. She is repped by her fabulous agent, Lauren Hammond of ADA Management. She has, as of this date, two books with Entangled Publishing, and five books with Decadent Publishing. Her February release with Entangled Publishing, ON ONE CONDITION, hit #18 on the Barnes and Noble Bestseller List. She has a lot of projects currently being shopped around by her fabulous agent, and her goal is to write so many fantastic books that even a non-romance book fan will know her name.

Let's find out a little more about the book!

She finally meets a decent man–after she’s oath-bound never to touch men again!
Rebecca’s life sucked before she became an angel. Crappy apartment, awful jobs, abusive boyfriends–it was no wonder she jumped at the chance to escape it all and become a real live angel. The problem is Rebecca’s not very angelic, and she’ll have to do more to earn her wings than end her love affair with the word f–er, frick.
Especially when she’s assigned to save single father Tony Weis, whose less-than-pure thoughts wreak hell on a telepathic angel’s nerves. It’s all Rebecca can do to keep her hands off him…but when she loses her memory injuring herself to save Tony’s daughter, now it’s Tony’s turn to be her angel and care for her. But will Tony’s devotion tempt her from her angelic path, even if it means being human again?

I had the chance to ask Diane a few questions for the blog.
Ailsa: First of all, 'Divinely Ruined' deals with the idea of guardian angels, but your angels were originally human. Rebecca is still very influenced by who she was in her human life - is she different in this, or do others have problems with adapting to 'angel behavior', too?

Diane: I think she, in particular, has a hard time adjusting to the new life she is in. She had such a dark, unhappy life as a human, so she thinks she is ready to give it all up for the glory of the life of an angel. She doesn’t want love and a family anymore…or, she thinks she doesn’t. But Tony helps her see past her fears, and helps her move on from them.
If not for her past life as a human, I think she wouldn’t have been so tempted by Tony, since he represents everything she wanted when she was human, but could never find.

Ailsa: Aww! So what's your favourite thing about Rebecca? How about Tony?

Diane: I love that Rebecca, despite her attempts at being a hard-hearted, perfect, non-swearing  angel, finds everything she didn’t know she wanted in Tony and Miranda. She is stubborn and tries to ignore the signs, like any red-headed angel would, but not too hard-headed to admit it.
And my favorite thing about Tony is the way he acts around those he loves. He tries to hide behind a hard shell and act like he doesn’t care about anything or anyone, but around Miranda and Rebecca, the real Tony shines through.

Ailsa:  Tony's daughter is adorable! Did you always plan for her to be an equally important main character? I love how much she is tied in to the plot, not just someone there to lighten things up and look cute.

Diane: Yes! To me, she is a central character because she drives Tony to be a better person. She makes him want to be an amazing father and a good human…despite his skepticism toward life. She needed to shine through as the adorable, amazing little girl she is. And, I’ll tell you a little secret. She’s based off my own daughter.

Ailsa: That's so nice to be able to base a character on your daughter! A lot of our readers are also aspiring writers - how would you describe your writing process for the story? Did it come to you fully formed, or did it take a while to come together? Is that typical for you?

Diane: Well, the first thing that came to me was the fact that I wanted to write an angel story that is different from all the other ones. In other angel books, they are ethereal beings that have great, sunny dispositions and never lose their temper. I thought it would be a fun change of pace to switch it up and have them be more human. And Rebecca? Well, she came with a foul temper and bright red hair.
Tony quickly followed, and with him came Miranda. A single father, down on his luck and miserable—in desperate need of saving. Saving that Rebecca could give, and only her. The rest of the story just flowed along after the characters formed, and after lots of re-writing and revising, I subbed it to Entangled!

Ailsa: Hurray! Finally, what would you say to people who still aren't convinced to try the book - what do you think makes Divinely Ruined different?

Diane: It is such a refreshing take on angels, and I tried to blend in the realistic world with the fantasy world. I tried to make you believe that angels like Rebecca really do exist—and maybe you know one. But more importantly, this is not like any angel book you’ve ever read. Trust me…I know! Pick up a copy today!

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Thanks Diane! If you want to know more, you can read the first chapter online, Entangled Publishing or follow these links to buy: Books on Board,  Amazon,  or Barnes and Noble.


Find Diane on the web:
Website: www.dianealberts.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/DianeAlberts
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Alberts/121705201245084
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5081315.Diane_Alberts


Finally, Entangled Publishing are offering a giveaway copy of 'Divinely Ruined'! Just leave a comment  to enter, open to midnight June 7th. Winner will be chosen at random and announced as close to June 8th as I can manage.