Blood Drive by Traci Houston Blog Tour – Interview & Giveaway

BOOK SUMMARY

When a group of vampires rises from the dark of the humid Miami summer and murders her partner, officer Cara Evens gathers a group of allies with their own unique abilities to avenge her partner's death and save the city. To succeed she'll have to accept her own changing abilities, ignore her lust for a vampire and hide the one thing her enemies need to kill them all.

INTERVIEW

I read and loved Blood Drive so I’m sending a big thank you to Yara at Once Upon a Twilight for organizing the blog tour and allowing me to be a part of it. 

As part of the Blood Drive Blog Tour, I have the pleasure of interviewing Traci Houston. Thank you Traci for joining us!  

At Random (AR): Was there a certain moment you knew you wanted to be a writer or have you always known?

Traci Houston (TH):  I didn’t always know I wanted to write. When I was young I wanted to be everything. Lawyer, cop, actress, photographer, business woman, dancer, martial artist, whatever I could think of I wanted to do it. My eyesight was too poor to be a cop, my body not suited to dancing or martial arts and they all required a focus I didn’t have. I couldn’t find that one thing that held my attention, but when I sat down to write there was nothing else. I could write anywhere and in those stories anything could happen. In my stories anything usually does.

AR: Can you tell us in one sentence what makes your book stand out?

TH: My books may not end the way you think, but there will always be hope at the end.

AR: Do you have a favorite among your characters?

TH: Mason edges everyone out as a favorite. What you see is what you get. There’s no hidden agenda, he’s not complicated. Not to say he’s not intelligent but for him things don’t require a lot of thought. Friend in trouble, help. Evil thing, kill it.

AR: Was one character more enjoyable to write than the others?

TH: Actually I don’t know if enjoy is the right word but it was a challenge to write the male characters. Being female I know what I want to see in a male but it’s impossible to get it in one being and seeing things from a male prospective is difficult. I split some of the qualities I like into the three male characters. I tried to see things from a man’s point of view and to be honest it made my head hurt sometimes.

 

AR: Your male and female characters are on a level playing Field so to speak. They are all strong and determined. What made you decide to go this route rather than the typical ‘formula’ of an alpha personality and other less dominant personalities?

TH: I think when you’re up against a big bad you need strong people. They do have weaknesses but they’re all different. Just as their strengths are different. No one is perfect but as a unit they could be. They complement one another and support one another.

AR: It’s becoming more common for people to associate books and music. Have you come across any songs that reflect Blood Drive?

TH: One of my favorites while I was writing this book was, Duck and Run by 3 Doors Down. The tag line is I won’t duck and run, and these characters never will.

AR: What is your favorite line/quote in Blood Drive?

TH: “Careful, your fangs are showing.” Is just a little snotty and a great parting shot that hit right on the mark.

AR: I would love to see more of Cara, Beth, Jonathan, Thomas, Mason, Rory and Grettel so the big question is are you planning on continuing their story?

TH: One of the other reasons I made these characters equals was because I had future plans for them. Were they simply supporting or peripheral characters I worried they couldn’t carry a book on their own. There are three books following Blood Drive. Body Number Nine, Forgotten Queen and Devastation.

AR: What is the first book you can remember reading?

TH: The first two books I remember reading and being completely caught were Be Buried in the rain by Barbara Michaels and Down a Dark Hall by Lois Duncan. I can’t remember which was first but they were close together.

AR: What book can you read over and over and never get tired of?

TH: I  read very fast so as a general rule I can read any book over because sometimes I go so fast I miss things. Most often I read series repeatedly, especially when they have more than a few. Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series I’ve read several times along with the Mary Gentry series. J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts) Eve Dallas Series, Simon R. Green’s Nightside series, Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander series and Iris Johansen’s Eve Duncan series. So many more that’s there’s not enough room on the page.  

Thank you again Traci for taking the time to talk with us.

Readers, if you would like to learn more about Traci or Blood Drive, see the links below:

Blood Drive Website

Goodreads Link
Blood Drive on Amazon
Blood Drive on Barnes & Nobles

TOUR STOPS

Don't forget to check out the rest of the Blog Tour stops for more chances to win!

10/10 OUaT - Kicks off tour Review
10/12 Becky - Bibliognome - Review
10/13 Katie - See K Read - Tens list
10/14 Amber - Me, My Shelf and I - Review
10/17 Damaris - Good Choice Reading - Review
10/18 Amy - I Heart Reading - Interview
10/19 Sandra - Panda Reads - Review
10/20 Lisa - The Garden of Books - When Im not writting
10/21 Yani - The Secret Life of an Avid Reader - Review

GIVEAWAY

And now for the giveaway. Writers of the Round Table Press were kind enough to provide a finished copy of Blood Drive to giveaway to one of you wonderful readers!

To Enter:

·         Must be over 13 years old to enter

·         You have until October 18th at 11:59pm to enter

·         The winners will be selected on October 19th using Random.org

·         I will email the winner and you will have 48 hrs to respond

All you have to do is comment with your email address. Easy Peasy!

Good Luck!