Interview: Gemma Brocato (Hunger) ~ Excerpt

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Hello and Welcome!

Today I’m happy to introduce Gemma Brocato author of Hunger. Gemma, thank you for visiting Angel’s Guilty Pleasures and speaking with me today. 

First let me say thanks so much for hosting me today. I really appreciate this opportunity.

How did you choose the genre you write in?

Well, you could say it choose me. One day, I was out for a walk and listing to a Pandora station when suddenly I perked up and heard the words that directed me to the Goddesses of Delphi. I do split my time between Paranormal and Contemporary genres, which is fine as long as they are stories with a happily ever after.

Was there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way wither growing up or as an adult?

I can’t pin that on any one author or book. I’ve always been a voracious reader and haven’t been picky about genre. Ha – I’m just a book slut.

What’s the last romance book that blew you away?

I just finished re-reading Motorcycle Man by Kristin Ashley for the third or fourth time. I think Tack and Tyra, while rough around the edges, have a sweet spot that pegs my happily ever after meter.

What underrated book do you think all romance lovers should read?

I don’t know that I’d call it underrated, but am a sucker for anything written by Laura Griffin. She’s a master at Romantic Suspense and definitely on my auto buy list.

Hunger

Would you tell us a little about the Goddesses of Delphi series?

I’ve always loved mythology and how so many beliefs have been shaped by myths. In this series, I have a rogue god, Pierus, challenging the nine Muses for control of Olympus Enterprises. Olympus is run as a multinational corporation, with Zeus still in charge. But if the Pierus has his way, Zeus will be fired and Pierus’ daughters will be unleashed on the world. Those bitches come with names like Tyranny, Mayhem, Greed, Hunger, Hate…you get the idea. Life for mortals will not be pretty if the Muses lose.

Would you please tell us a little about Lia Thanos & Botanist Ben Jordan?

Lia is the Muse of Comedy and addicted to junk food. Ben is a botanist and refuses to soil the temple of his body with anything other than organic produce. Lia’s funny to Ben’s dour, but they rub off on each other. In a departure from the normal route of the challenge, Ben has been hand-picked by Pierus to help Lia with the challenge. The chemistry between the pair is super hot, but Lia isn’t sure how real it is, and fears the proverbial falling of the other shoe. 

What was your favorite scene to write in Hunger and why?

There is a scene where Lia, Ben, and her partisans (supernatural bodyguards) are in Lia’s kitchen. Hunger attempts to break in, but can’t get past the wards protecting the house. One of the partisans, Stewart, starts to open the door, but Lia tells him not to invite her in. Stewart quips that Hunger isn’t a vampire, which throws Ben into a tizzy. Vampires and Immortals? Reading that scene always puts a grin on my face.

If you could have given your characters any piece of advice before the opening pages of their book, what would it be and why?

Wow – that’s a stumper. Any piece? Go ahead and indulge in junk food, but only in moderation.

If could spend a day with one of your characters from Hunger, who would it be and what would you do?

Probably Mars. He’s Lia’s uncle and in charge of corporate security for Olympus. He’s a badass with a sterling silver heart. I’d hang with him in Security Communications, where he is cock of the walk just to see people trip over themselves to do his bidding.

Last, what is next for you?

Once I finish the Goddesses series (still have four more book to write) and Hate releases in May, I’ll be releasing a new series, Durango Desires (Contemporary). When the Muses have finished with me, I have a series planned for descendants of Heracles. And, I’m taking a little trip back to Granite Pointe to finish the Five Senses series (Contemporary). At this rate, I’m going to need to start writing science fiction so I can figure out how to clone me!

Gemma, it was a pleasure having you visit. Thank you for taking the time to chat with me today!

Thank you so much for having me. You had some really get questions. 

 

Hunger 

Goddesses of Delphi #4

Gemma Brocato

Genre: Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance

Date of Publication: Jan 10, 2017

Number of pages: Approximately 220

Word Count: 66K

Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde Media

Book Description: 

Lia Thanos, Muse of Comedy, has joked her way through hundreds of lifetimes. But the past few months have been no laughing matter. She and her sisters have been locked in a battle to save Olympus from a hostile takeover. Now, the god challenging them has upped his game and personally selected the mortal man destined to help Lia win.

Botanist Ben Jordan has his hands full; running a farmer’s market, helping his hearing-impaired sister, and trying to figure out why crops around the world are failing. If the trend can’t be reversed, humans will starve and chaos will destroy the world. The only good news is the long-time famine he’s faced in his love life came to an end when he met Lia.

Despite the fact that Ben finds it hard to believe immortal gods exist, he accepts the challenge to help Lia, a woman he yearns to spend the rest of his life with. But Pierus and his daughter, Hunger, will stop at nothing to keep the two apart.

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“Will you please tell me what’s going on?” Ben’s earlier calm evaporated as Mnemosyne chanted in a language he didn’t understand.

“I will. I know we only just met, but Pierus has deemed you my partner in this challenge. It’s going to require you to suspend disbelief and trust me.”

“A lady just materialized out of thin air and I haven’t even once considered myself crazy.”

“There is that. Will you come with me?” Lia moved toward a door to the left of the stage.

With one last look at his statue-like friends, Ben followed.

Lia’s hips swung side-to-side as she preceded him down a hallway lit by florescent lights. Even as fucked up as reality seemed at the moment, he still noticed the seductive sway. Barely curbing the urge to increase his speed so he could grab her ass, he shook his head.

Maybe he was certifiable.

She opened a door on the right side of the corridor and slipped inside.

He followed, closed the door, and then leaned against it. “I’m waiting.”

“You already know my name is Thalia. What you don’t know is that I’m immortal. I’m the Muse of Comedy and Agriculture. And mortals—the entire human race—are under siege. You just don’t know it yet.”

“Bullshit!” he scoffed.

“Wish I could say it was. That it’s just a huge prank that is part of the comedy club’s regularly scheduled entertainment.” She took up a position behind her desk, resting her palms on the dark wood. “But this is deadly serious. My sisters are Muses as well and we are in a supernatural fight for the safety of all mortal kind.”

As she sat in the chair behind her, the look on her face was earnest, brows raised, eyes wide. She believed her own psychosis. He searched his memory for anything he might have read about how to deal with delusional behavior. He had nothing other than recollected warnings about not encouraging that kind of behavior, and maintaining a distance in case of possible violent outbursts.

He took a step toward the desk, and then another, shaking his head as he did. This was no way to establish distance between them. He took another step and closed the gap, until the only thing between them was a block of wood. Not a very good barrier, considering the way she’d leaped over the bar when Paul had been going schizoid.

“I suppose next you’ll tell me Zeus is real and is your dad.”

She nodded solemnly. “And Gaia is my mother. Although she isn’t a god. She’s a primordial deity.”

He didn’t bother to restrain his snort. He had to be dreaming.

“I’m happy to pinch you if you think it would help. But I get to pick where I pinch.” Lia dropped her gaze to his ass, then lifted her eyes and offered with a bright smile. She gestured to a straight-backed chair.

Ben sat down hard enough to bite his tongue. Thanks to the pain he experienced, he knew he wasn’t dreaming. “Okay, I’m willing to go on a little faith here. Maybe you should start at the top.”

“In my first or second incarnation, a deity named Pierus challenged Zeus, claiming his nine daughters were superior to the Muses. While my sisters and I inspire the world to good things, Pierus and his offspring represent all the bad juju out in the world. His bitches come with names like Greed, Strife, Doom, Disease…you get the idea. It appears my challenge might be with Hunger.” She stood to pace behind her desk. “Zeus got pissed at Pierus, and transformed his children into magpies for all eternity. But the evil bastard still manages to rise up every thousand years or so to challenge us.”

Thousands of years? “How old are you?”

“Twenty-four.” She moved around the desk and leaned her hip on the edge. “In this lifetime. If you counted up the entire number of years I’ve been alive, my age is closer to six-thousand and twenty-four. No wait. Is it eight-thousand? I’ve sucked at math in every lifetime.”

Okay, that little fact freaked him the fuck out. Unable to deal with it, he filed the detail for exploration later. “Tell me more about this challenge.”

“Okay, but you have to know, until recently, no mortals in this millennia ever knew of our existence. Only three other men even have a clue at this point. You’re kind of a rare breed.”

She propped a hand on her hip, pulling her T-shirt taut over her breasts. Ben dropped his gaze to the luscious display and swallowed hard to move past the need to cup his palms around them.

Lia cleared her throat. “Um, just for now, eyes up. But this attraction you feel might be part of the challenge.”

“Don’t you feel it?”

“The connection? Yeah. When you touched my wrist, I had a premonition that we are meant to be together.”

“You too? I saw us in a darkened room with…I don’t know, maybe crows flying around us.”

She tipped her head to the side and pressed a finger to her lips. “That’s new. I’ve never shared foresight with anyone before. One more nail in your coffin.” She winked at him, followed the motion with a chuckle.

Her quiet laugh swirled through him, twisting like an auger along his body. Everything from his waist down drew tight, went hard. However, his brain heard coffin. “I’m not going to die thanks to this challenge, am I?”

“You won’t. Not if we beat Pierus. Unfortunately, we have to play to win.” Lia hopped up on the desk, swinging her legs. She held up her hand, closed her eyes and lifted her face. Almost like she was speaking to someone in her mind.

Ben studied her casual posture, her easy confidence. For a six-or-eight-thousand and something year-old, she was dead sexy. Oh, Lord. What was he thinking? Or better, which head was he thinking with? Even if his attraction to her was a result of his unknowing involvement in this challenge, he didn’t mind giving in to it.

 

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Gemma’s favorite desk accessories for many years were a circular wooden token, better known as a ’round tuit,’ and a slip of paper from a fortune cookie proclaiming her a lover of words; some day she’d write a book. All it took was a transfer to the United Kingdom, the lovely English springtime, and a huge dose of homesickness to write her first novel. Once it was completed and sent off with a kiss, even the rejections addressed to ‘Dear Author’ were gratifying.

After returning to America, she spent a number of years as a copywriter, dedicating her skills to making insurance and the agents who sell them sound sexy.

Eventually, her full-time job as a writer interfered with her desire to be a writer full-time and she left the world of financial products behind to pursue a career as a romance author.

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I'm an outdoor sun loving reader living near San Fransisco. I’m a mother, wife, animal & book lover. I'm the owner, reviewer & mind behind Angel’s Guilty Pleasures. My favorite animals are horses & dogs. As for reading I love all things paranormal & urban fantasy & my favorite shifters are dragons.

9 comments on “Interview: Gemma Brocato (Hunger) ~ Excerpt

  1. These books sound pretty amazing! And the covers are lovely! 🙂
    Christine P. recently posted…You Don’t Know My Name: Book Blitz & GiveawayMy Profile

  2. Thank you for chance and look forward to book.

    • Thanks, Barbara. I hope you’ll enjoy reading the story.

  3. Gemma is a new author to me and I’m looking forward to reading Hunger.

    • Thanks, Kim. I hope you’ll enjoy the story.

  4. Angela, thanks again for hosting me today. It really was a pleasure.

    • Thank you Gemma for the interview. It was great learning about you, the series, and the book Hunger! ^_^

  5. Thanks for chance. I can’t wait to read Hunger!

    • Thanks, Victoria. Good luck in the drawing and I hope once you read Hunger you’ll enjoy it.