Monday, November 4, 2024

Tiana Smith Interview - Mr. Nice Spy


Photo Credit: ©Pepperfox Photos

Tiana Smith is a web designer turned novelist who grew up in the Rocky Mountains. She graduated from Westminster University with double degrees in Honors and English with a focus in creative writing. In her spare time she’s learning sign language with her hard of hearing husband and she volunteers with special needs individuals attending the bi-weekly activities for Utah County’s SNAP program.

        
   

Greatest thing you learned at school.
The greatest thing I learned in school was how to be a perpetual student. Rather than memorizing facts or getting easy answers, I find that I’m always inquisitive and interested in learning more. I know how to find information and am constantly learning new hobbies because I love learning new things.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
I think my favorite thing is when I get emails from people who have read and loved my books. It makes my day to read these notes and see what people thought of the worlds and characters I’ve created.

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
Keep at it! Your odds increase if you don’t give up. Read all the books on honing your craft, keep reading, and soon enough you’ll make it.

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
I have chronic migraines. While I was writing MR. NICE SPY, my neurologist put me on a new medication that made it incredibly hard to focus. It changed my entire writing process because I couldn’t even write a whole sentence from start to end. I had to learn how to bounce around within a scene and write out of order, all while having the memory of a goldfish. I’m super glad to be off that medication now!

What was the most surprising thing you learned in creating your characters?
I always do a lot of research for my books (when your characters are hackers and CIA agents, there’s a lot to learn!) For MR. NICE SPY I learned a lot about how fireworks are made because my main character Andee is a pyrotechnic engineer. I also learned how to recognize a two-way mirror from a regular one. Hopefully I never need to use that tidbit of info.

Your Favorite Quotes/Scenes from MR. NICE SPY
Was I sure that I could trust him? Definitely not. But did I think I’d enjoy kissing him if he were to close the final inches between us? Definitely yes.

The first decent guy to pop up in my life in the past year and I’d repaid him by … getting him kidnapped?

Why was I trying to build a rapport with one of Holt’s henchmen? Henchwomen?
I didn’t have a good answer for that. I just knew I wanted her to like me. Here I was, the lone average girl, adrift in a sea of secret agents and edgy supervillains, and I simply wanted to be one of the cool kids for once.
Maybe I needed to buy a leather jacket.

Play along, play nice, play pretend.
Stay alive.

Here I was in a place where the possibility of death was around every corner, and I was the most alive I’d felt in months. Thousands of people were buried in the catacombs of Paris. Holt kept adding to that body count. But every touch from Chan was like a defibrillator that brought me back from flatlining.

In movies, the coolest characters never look directly at an explosion. They always walk away like they’ve seen it all before. But trust me, in real life, everybody looks.


When a pyrotechnic engineer discovers her biological father is an international criminal, she must work with a sexy CIA agent to take him down in this thrilling adventure rom-com.

Andee Paxton knows she’s good at her job as a fireworks designer. What she doesn’t know is that her biological father is Holt, a dangerous arms dealer who has escaped prison. And now he’s searching for his long-lost daughter-dearest.

After the CIA surprises her with this news, they drop another bombshell: they want to use Andee as bait to capture Holt once and for all. But before the CIA can even attempt to spring their trap, she’s kidnapped along with the very hot Officer Adam Chan—all because they were too busy flirting to worry about silly things like “safety protocol.”

A fake relationship—for their protection, of course—and just a few explosions bring Andee and Chan closer, but there’s more than their growing connection at stake. If Holt’s plan succeeds, the world will be brought to its knees. Andee and Chan must rely on each other to stop him…or else everything (including their feelings for each other) might just blow up in their faces.
You can purchase Mr. Nice Spy at the following Retailers:
        

And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you TIANA SMITH for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of Mr. Nice Spy by Tiana Smith.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
jbnlatestinterviews

1 comment: