Guest Author Grace Coopersmith/Marta Acosta + Giveaway!

Please welcome my guest for this week, author of the Casa Dracula series, Marta Acosta! Marta has ventured out into the contemporary romance genre with the recent publication of her newest novel, Nancy’s Theory of Style written under the pen name Grace Coopersmith.

Fans of her Casa Dracula Series will remember Nancy as the main character Milagro’s good friend. Nancy has always had a lot to say, so it was about time for her to have her own book!

Marta also has a wonderful YA novel that is available online to read for free in its entirety. I had the pleasure of reading it and adored it. The title is The Shadow Girl of Birch Grove and you can read it at this link.

In October, the final book in the Casa Dracula series will be released, titled Haunted Honeymoon. Fans of Marta’s books will find three books this year to read, and I am beyond thrilled about that!

So without further ado please welcome Marta’s alter ego, the fabulous Grace Coopersmith!

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1. Please tell us about your new novel Nancy’s Theory of Style?

Nancy Carrington-Chambers is the girl you love to hate. She’s richer than you, prettier than you, went to better schools than you, and is invited to better parties than you. When her successful husband turns her dream house into a tacky McMansion, she escapes to the apartment she keeps in a family-owned building in posh Pacific Heights. Nancy decides to focus on her event planning business, Froth, and hires the perfect assistant, a gorgeous, stylish, gay man, Derek.

Nancy and Derek are hired to reinvent the city’s most important (and dreariest) fundraiser and everything’s going fabulously when her life-in-the-fast lane cousin abandons her four-year-old daughter with Nancy. Nevertheless, the three manage to form a sort of team, and Nancy finds herself growing very fond of her sexy and unattainable assistant and increasingly attached to the child. But when Nancy reverts to her old snobby behavior, her actions send her world crashing down. Will she risk everything she’s lived for to save those she’s come to love?

There’s a loony, affectionate, wonderful side to Nancy’s personality that comes out during the story.

2. How did you come up with the pen name Grace Coopersmith? What made you decide to write under a different name for Nancy’s book?

Coopersmith has long been one of my favorite names. I have a whole list of them. I liked it because it was simple, yet memorable, and would be shelved at a good place in bookstores. (Lots of good C’s! ) My editor and I thought it would be good to distinguish this novel from my Casa Dracula vampire series.

3. Will there be more books with Nancy? Is this going to be another series?

Actually, I don’t think in terms of series books. Happy Hour at Casa Dracula was supposed to be a standalone, but my editor kept asking me for more. I’m very happy to stay with my favorite characters, so if anyone wanted another Nancy book, I’d write one.

4. What is a typical writing day like for you?

My days are tragically dull. I start off by taking my dogs to the bayside off-leash park. They run crazy in the fields and I stroll around and enjoy the view to San Francisco. I come home and write my Vampire Wire blog, which takes way too much time. Then I have coffee, answer emails, and, finally, I get a chance to work on my fiction. I go outside and yank weeds and garden as breaks from the computer.

5. What are you currently working on?

I’ve got two projects. One is a young adult gothic set on a small island off the California coast. It involves a great crime that happened a century before. I’m also writing a contemporary novel about a pair of best friends who make a decision to radically improve their miserable lives.

6. What are you currently reading?

I’m reading a series of funny essays, I Was Told There’d Be Cake, by Sloane Crosley.

7. Who are some of your favorite authors?

I always name the same dead authors of classics, so I’ll name some living ones. Scott Spencer, Julia Spencer-Fleming, pretty much anyone with Spencer in their name. For humor, and I love to read humor, I think Katy Munger is one of the funniest writers around, but she doesn’t seem to be writing any more Casey Jones novels.

8. If you could write one book about any subject you wanted, and this book would sell no matter what, what would you write about?

I’d like to write a gritty, dirty, violent historical. There would be a lot of whoring, murdering, and nasty business by seriously bad characters.

9. If you were on a deserted island and could have only one book for the rest of your life, what book would you take and why that book?

I’ve been asked this so I already have an answer! The collected works (I’m sure there’s a collection somewhere) of Henry James. That would keep me occupied for a very long time.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to share with your readers?

I hope they’ll pick up a copy of Nancy’s Theory of Style for a sunny day’s read! Readers can find out more at my Grace Coopersmith website, http://www.gracecoopersmith.com./

I’m really excited about Haunted Honeymoon, which will be released in October. I think fans of the series will be really thrilled (or, as Nancy would say, thrillified) with how it ties together the entire series. You can find out about my Casa Dracula series at http://www.martaacosta.com./

I blog daily at http://www.vampirewire.blogspot.com/, and I have free reads at Scribd. In fact, I just uploaded the first draft of my second Casa Dracula novel, Monster Motel, there. Those with OCD are welcome to count the typos.

Thanks so much, Rachael, for having me here at Enchanted by Books!

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CONTEST:
Marta is kindly giving away one copy of Nancy’s Theory of Style to a lucky commenter. US ONLY. Please post your comments or questions to her about her books or writing in the comments section. This contest will run until June 14th at 7:00 pm EST.  Please include your email address in your post so I can contact you if you win.