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Do you pay attention when book characters drink your beverage of choice? Our guest author today, Christina Rost, is talking about her characters and their drink of choice. See if you can relate.  Tea or coffee? Which do you prefer? I waffle between both, depending on my mood. During the afternoon, my go-to drink is a creamy latte with my favorite seasonal flavor combo: peanut butter and honey. But during autumn nights, you’ll frequently find me cozied up in my comfy chair, cradling a cup of Lady Grey. As I draft my novels, these kinds of preferences are fun to add to characters because it can add an element of realism to them. The human quirks also enable me to engage with my readers through my characters. Think about your family and friends. What are their preferences? What are their dislikes? We often keep these facts in mind when we make plans with them. Just like friends, characters become more layered and relatable when you uncover their unique quirks, favorites and dislikes and allow them to come alive on the page. Without giving too much away, I’ll pull back the curtain and give you a glimpse into the personalities of my main characters from Best Seller including their coffee or tea choices. Kelly, a crime fiction novelist, loves her coffee with lots of cream and flavor. She’s a bit of a loner, but doesn’t want to be alone, prefers the quiet, and isn’t pretentious. Declan, a literary agent, foodie, and coffee snob, craves the limelight and wears high-dollar suits. He never checks the price when he orders his drinks. Nathan, a brooding bodyguard, thrives on call-to-action moments, and prefers hot tea over coffee any day of the week. But not just any tea, artisan blends are more his style. Can u see how it would be fun to watch the three of them interact? They’re all my favorite characters, but let’s talk about Nathan. Nathan’s choice of hot beverage is tea. He claims that he’s a fan of all things British and cannot understand how Kelly can drink coffee late in the evening, then go to sleep. One of my favorite lines in Best Seller is: “And I know you like Dickens and Brontë and Austen, but for the life of me, I don’t understand why you won’t drink tea.” Every story I write includes a touch of my personality, along with a sensory element like a recipe, historical fact, song, or landmark that can jump off the page and connect the reader. These special touches give the reader something tangible to hold on to long after they’ve finished the story. For Best Seller, as I looked into Nathan’s preference for hot tea, an idea sprouted inside of me. What if I could have a tea made for Best Seller? What if readers could sit down in their own comfy chair and enjoy a cup of tea Nathan would love? Guess what? It happened. Introducing Heirloom Tea. For the launch of Best Seller, I’ve collaborated with Lilyrose, a small, woman-owned business in Oklahoma City. Lilyrose makes handcrafted, custom-made, artisan tea in a variety of flavors. After reaching out to Lilyrose with my idea, she opened her heart and her tea craft to me and created a tea with all the notes of Best Seller! Think world travel, libraries filled with leather-bound books, reading by candlelight and cozy mysteries. And it’s bodyguard approved. My hope is that Heirloom Tea allows a small portion of Best Seller to jump off the page and into real life, even if only for a few minutes while the reader enjoys a cup of tea. Heirloom Tea is made with Assam Tea, Cinnamon, South African Honey Bush, & Orange. It tastes wonderful, hot, or cold. My preference? After I brew the tea, I add a few drips of honey and a little shot of caramel. What about you? Do you enjoy reading novels with something tangible to touch, see, hear, smell or taste connected to the story?  Want to try this tea that was created to go with Christina's book? You can find it here: Lilyrose https://www.facebook.com/LilyroseOKC  Best Seller When crime fiction novelist Kelly Landon agrees to write a memoir for an eccentric, elderly gentleman, her quiet life turns upside-down. Unbeknownst to her, the memoir is peppered with clues leading to a rare collection of stolen jewels from World War II. After the memoir makes the best-seller list, Kelly finds herself in the crosshairs of a decades-old vendetta. Now, instead of enjoying her rise to literary fame, she’s thrust into the dangerous world of treasure hunting. While Kelly struggles to win the game of cat-and-mouse, a secret family legacy is unearthed, forcing her to choose between trusting her charming literary agent or her vigilant bodyguard to keep her safe. As the three of them become entangled in a web of deceit, it’s a race to see who’s the villain, who’s the hero, and who holds all the pieces to solve the mystery of the best seller.  Christina Rost is an award-winning author, mother to three amazing children, and is married to her high school sweetheart. While she currently resides in Oklahoma City, she’s lived all over the US, a few years in the UK, and loves to travel. When she isn’t spending time with her family or writing you’ll find her chatting over coffee and perusing antique stores for tattered books.
Social Links: www.christinarostauthor.com www.facebook.com/christinarostfiction www.instagram.com/chrsitinarostfiction www.pinterest.com/writergirl2020
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This is a place for me to tell you about what I'm writing, talk about the process or where some of my ideas came from, or even have other authors come in and talk about their books.
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