Poppy Dennison is here today on The Blog of Sid Love to promote her very recent release “Born This Way”. I took this opportunity to get her talking a bit about the book, her writing and her love for travelling – among other things, of course. Find the exclusive interview with Poppy Dennison below and “Born This Way” blurb followed by it.

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Welcome Poppy! We are really honored to have you over.

Hey Sid! Thank you so much for having me! I can’t wait to see what questions you have in store for me. A little birdie told me you come up with some good ones! LOL

God! High expectations always make me nervous! Well, I will try my best not to screw up then. lol 

Your newest novella – Born This Way – is about some interesting shifter species; something I’d really like to see in real life ’cause simply put, it’s hot! And one of the MCs – Hart, I believe, is a liger?

Hart is a liger—he has a lion mother and a tiger father. They are real animals, but they don’t occur in nature. Rumor has it that a frisky lion found his way into a tigress’ cage at a zoo … and well, a liger occurred. Hehehe. You can also have a tiglon, which is a tiger father and lion mother. There are some down sides. From what I understand, they don’t live very long and they aren’t able to reproduce. Something about the combination of species making them sterile? What really intrigued me though was how HUGE ligers are. The ones I found information on are twice the size of their parents, and if you’ve ever seen a lion at a zoo, you know they’re big enough. Imagine an animal twice that size! Okay, I’ll stop the liger lesson but I found the idea so amazing that I had to look into it.

Rawr! He just sounds temptingly delicious. What about the other MC? Tell us something about him.

When I started developing the idea of a shapeshifting liger, I came up with Hart. The challenge then became creating a character that could balance my idea of the super strong, over the top liger. He needed to be strong too, and a wee bit sassy so he could put up with Hart. Dayton became the perfect match for his tall, dark and humongous liger mate.

Hmm… Dayton – I don’t know why but I kinda love that name.

Thanks! It took me a while to name him to be honest. As I was pondering, I called him Sunshine in the story because I knew a lion would really like basking in the sunshine. I found the name Dayton which means “bright and sunny town” and knew that Hart could find his home there!

So, what’s the real deal between Hart and Dayton?

The real deal is that Hart has a bit of an advantage over Dayton. Hart knows that Dayton is his mate. Dayton, on the other hand, is 100% human. He has to rely on finding his true love the old fashioned way! He’s not just going to fall swooning into Hart’s arms when he learns the truth—he’s going to make Hart work for it!

Well, I did read the blurb and that itself had me intrigued. Also, it seems people are loving the concept.

Yay! I had a lot of fun with this book. Can I tell you a little secret? I might have been a little drugged up on painkillers when I wrote the first draft. Hehehe. I had surgery last summer and while I was recovering, I decided to take a break from the TRIAD series. Those books require a lot of careful plotting and while I was healing, I was not quite up to the challenge. I saw the liger image while poking around and that’s where the concept came from!

Is there a possibility that this novella may turn into a prequel for some more Dayton/Hart Shifter Romance for the readers?

I think that’s a definite possibility. I had a lot of fun creating the world in this novella, and the side characters that I created to fill out Hart and Dayton’s world would be fun to explore a little more.

Okay I have been dying to ask you this and I am not gonna hesitate at all – Are you a Lady GaGa fan?

LOL! Of course I’m a Lady GaGa fan! Although, I’m not hard core or anything to be honest. That said, Bad Romance comes on the radio and I’m cranking it up full blast and singing along.

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“When I first met Poppy, we made an immediate connection, without really having any logical reason for doing so. But I think we instinctively saw in the other a true friend. Poppy has enormous heart and enormous talent.”

RICK R. REED

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Obviously, you are a fan of the genre you write in – so who according to you rules in this fantasy or paranormal genre? I mean, is there any author who you look up to? What is it about him or her that interests you?

I’m a huge paranormal fan! Can’t get enough. I’d say it’s about 75% of what I read. There are so many good paranormal authors out there…it’s hard to choose! I absolutely can’t get enough of Mary Calmes Change of Heart series. I love those werepanthers! Love lovelove them! Mary created an amazing world with such intricate details and thorough planning….gah, if I could have a tenth of her talent I’d consider myself completely blessed.

Do you have pets?

Alas, no. I did have a dog for many years but when he passed, I couldn’t brave the heartbreak again!

You have travelled to various parts of the world. Tell us about your experience.

Travelling is one of my all-time favorite things to do. I’ve been really fortunate to travel to several countries abroad and I’ve recently started expanding my travel with the States. I’ll tell you a funny experience that happened to me when I was in Malaysia. I was on a public bus, heading into the market and noticed a little boy who wouldn’t stop staring at me. He kept reaching out to me, but his mom kept pulling him back and telling him no. He started crying so I told her it was okay. He wasn’t bothering me at all—I love kids! So the little guy comes up to me and starts rubbing my arm. He was fascinated. I couldn’t figure out what was going on until a friend I was traveling with spoke to him in Malay and cracked up. It turned out, he was trying to pet my freckles! He’d never seen them in person before and thought they would feel different. It was the cutest thing ever!

What does Poppy Dennison do when she is not writing?

When I’m not doing “Poppy Business” (i.e. writing, editing, blogging, etc.), I read or spend time in the garden. I’m on the road any chance I get, usually seeing friends or trying to visit somewhere I’ve never been before.

There’s a game I’d like you to play where I will give you two choices out of which you’d have to choose one. If none of them apply to you, simply say ‘None’. Are you ready?

– Easy one, if you could shift, which one would you prefer to change into – Lion or Tiger? I’m going to go with lion. I love the idea of all the lionesses working as a team. Although I’m not sure I’d like the idea of being in some lion’s harem. Hmm. Maybe I need to rethink that!

– Red or Black? Red, of course! With a name like Poppy, how could it be otherwise? LOL

– Would you prefer – a novella with the hottest sex scene ever but no storyline or a 1000 pages novel with the best story idea but no sex scene? I’m going to have to go with the novel. I love intricate world building so a really long book would be right up my alley.

– A genre you like the most – Romance or Fantasy? Romance

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I wish my neck wouldn’t be hurt anymore so I didn’t have to have more surgery!

What’s next from Poppy Dennison then?

I have two books coming out in September. The first is Wild Magic, a spin-off to the TRIAD series. It gives a little more background into the mountain lion shifters in that world. The second is Accidental Alpha, the first book in a new paranormal series I’m doing with Wilde City Press.

What advice would you give to all the aspiring authors out there?

Oh gosh, there are tons of things I’d like to share. I’d say the most important thing for me is to have an amazing support system. I know it’s a challenge when just starting out, but find some good beta readers. And here’s a hint on what “good” is…if they aren’t afraid to tell you something isn’t good, then hang onto them. The last thing we need is “oh this is so good”. No first drafts are that good! Or maybe that’s just me. LOL

And a message to your fans or readers…

Thank you for all of your love and support. I can’t tell you how much it means when I get messages saying how much folks enjoy one of my books or have connected with one of my characters. It’s really special and I can’t explain how much inspiration it gives me to keep writing. As long as you guys want to read my books, I’ll keep writing them!

“BORN THIS WAY”

Blurb: Dayton Whitmore injures his arm playing basketball with his lion-shifter friends, and his best friend asks Dayton to check on her estranged brother Hart while he’s in Atlanta visiting a specialist. Though Dayton and Hart were never close, he grudgingly agrees.

Banishment from his pride meant Hart Sherman could never see his family again. His liger heritage—a tiger mother and lion father—was a thorn in his alpha father’s side. He always planned to go back for Dayton, the man he knows is his mate, but he uses his career as an entertainment attorney as an excuse to avoid risking Dayton’s rejection. When Dayton shows up unannounced on his doorstep, Hart wants nothing more than to claim him.

Knowing what it means to be a lion’s mate, Dayton isn’t in any hurry to make a lifetime commitment. To convince Dayton he’s serious, Hart must come to terms with the circumstances of his birth—and find a place in the pride for them both.

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press  ||  Book Store

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About the Author

A sassy southern lady, Poppy Dennison developed an obsession with things that go bump in the night in her early years after a barn door flew off its hinges and nearly squashed her. Convinced it was a ghost trying to get her attention, she started looking for other strange and mysterious happenings around her. Not satisfied with what she found, Poppy has traveled to Greece, Malaysia and England to find inspiration for the burly bears and silver foxes that melt her butter. Her love of paranormal continues to flourish nearly thirty years later, and she writes steamy love stories about the very things that used to keep her up all night. If her childhood ghost is lucky, maybe one day she’ll give him his own happily ever after.

You can find out more about Poppy’s books on her website http://www.poppydennison.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Poppy-Dennison/270574609631110?ref=ts

Twitter https://twitter.com/PoppyDennison

Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5108648.Poppy_Dennison