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Elizabeth Marx

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Elizabeth Marx

December 3, 2015 3 Comments

Elizabeth Marx

About the author: Elizabeth Marx pens deeply emotional romances that take her readers on a roller coaster ride between desire and despair. Often described as hilarious, heartbreaking, and heartwarming, she’s not afraid to add a sprinkle of magical realism just when you think you know what’s going to happen. Because let’s face it, a happily ever after has to be earned.

Elizabeth resides in Chicago with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. After traveling extensively, she still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.

**Contact Elizabeth: Website   Facebook   Twitter

INTERVIEW

Describe your books in five words: Heartbreaking, Earnest, Alluring, Redeeming, and Tempting.

Tell us about your writing/editing/publishing process: I usually write about two titles a year. I write straight through version one and usually end up with three drafts, going through the manuscript evaluating different aspects: plot, description and settings, and then a line by line review of dialogue. By the third draft, I have a good idea what sort of image I think would represent the theme of the book so when I send the title to my editor I start working with my cover designer on the cover in conjunction with writing the blurb and other marketing materials. Once I get the book back from my editor I edit it and go through it at least twice. Then I send it to beta readers and copy editors for review, once I get those back I go through the manuscript for the final phases.

Salty or sweet? Sweet, salty, sweet, nah, both. LOL!

At what time of day do you think you work best? I usually wake up with an idea or two for whatever manuscript I’m working on. I usually get up and jot all these ideas down. I use different sized Post It notes so I can easily attach them onto pages in a manuscript. Then I write or do interviews or blog posts in the morning at lunchtime I usually spend some time working on Twitter. After lunch I’ll go back to either writing or organizing marketing, etc.

If you could meet any other author, who would it be? Easy, Jane Austen, she’s my favorite author and I’m a big history buff so I think I’d really enjoy a conversation with her. The first question I’d ask is who was the real Mr. Darcy? And what happened?

Do you have any writing rituals? My stories come to me in scenes, so I write the scenes I know and then I create a loose outline around that. I do a lot of writing in notebooks and notes on my phone. If something comes to me I always write it down, even if it’s the middle of the night in a hotel in Omaha and the only thing I have to write on is TP in the bathroom. LOL, seriously this happened to me in the middle of the night and I didn’t want to wake my kids looking for something to write on.

Is the social media a hinder or a help? Social media is a blessing and a curse. How else can Indie authors get word out about their work? Unfortunately it takes a lot of time to organize and schedule posting but once you get a system down social media can be very helpful. But there’s always a pull that we feel like we need to see what’s up on FB, who’s saying what, etc. The one great thing is the speed with which information is relayed, especially on Twitter.

What made you want to be a writer? I’ve always written, in grade school short stories. I won a city wide writing contest in 8th grade and then in high school I wrote a lot of bad poetry and song lyrics and then during college more creative writing. I’ve always been very expressive, especially with words.

Hard/paperbacks or eBooks? I publish in paperback and eBooks and I read all three. Recently I’ve noticed that authors published by the big publishers, their hardbacks are within fifty cents of the eBook price of a title. I end up buying the hardcover even though I’m playing into their hands and keeping their business model alive, of course that’s their goal with their pricing strategy.

Every author must have (a): Every author must have the ability to read people and understand what motivates them, it’s the key to writing memorable characters.

What do you want people to take away from your books? A sense of hope and that the power of love can and will conquer everything, even the worse loss.

What are you working on right now? The release of Just Close Enough is on Dec. 1, 2015 the second book in the Alabama Secret Series. In the small secretive town of Crossroads, a Russian playboy comes looking for revenge and what he finds is a young woman who can help him fulfill that goal, but he quickly realizes he can’t get close enough to her without falling for her.

I also have a new title coming at the beginning of next year: Tell Me Something Real. It’s a coming of age contemporary romance about two college students. A graffiti artist is trying to figure out if she wants to display her work in galleries or the side of brick building, while the heir apparent to a political dynasty is working his way through every girl on campus, until Kami asks him, “Tell me something real, something so real it hurts.”


 

JCE #AlabamaSecrets


 

JICsept23_smaller**Buy “Just In Case (Alabama Secrets Series Book 1)” now!:

Amazon

Smashwords

Nook


 

JCE_sept23_smaller**Buy “Just Close Enough (Alabama Secrets Series Book 2)” now!:

Amazon

Smashwords

Nook

 

JCE BORNSOUTERN

JCE WHAM PROMO


**GIVEAWAY**

Leave a comment below with your email address with the reasons why you love Southern romances!

Your prizes: Elizabeth will give away an autographed copy of JUST IN CASE & JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to one winner U.S. residents only, and one pair of ebooks of JUST IN CASE & JUST CLOSE ENOUGH to an international winner.

**Giveaway ends on December 21st!

Filed Under: Elizabeth Marx-Interview Tagged With: Alabama, Author Interview, Books, Chick-Lit, Elizabeth Marx, It's Just A Little Crush, Just Close Enough, New Release, Romance, Southern Fiction, Women's Fiction

BOOK FEATURE: “Just in Case”

June 17, 2015 1 Comment

 

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“Just in Case” by Elizabeth Marx

Blurb: 

He’s been waiting for her all these years…

Scarlett Marbry was sixteen when her mother, an acclaimed Sacred Harp singer, committed suicide, sending her away from Crossroads, Alabama and whatever pushed her mother over the edge.  Seven years later, she’s returning for her grandparents’ funeral and the letter her mother left her when she died. Not only does Scarlett have to face her deep Southern roots, but the one she left behind.

She’s never thought she was good enough for him…

Revell Marshall is used to working with fragile objects. He’s built a life and career around reassembling the delicate stained glass windows that saved the small town of Crossroads from ruin. Once Scarlett returns, he’s determined to win her heart, even if that means helping her piece together the facts of her mother’s past and exposes truths he’d rather leave buried.

What happens when your secrets are revealed to the world?

You better hold on tight to the one person you think you can trust…

Just in case.

JustInCaseCoverPic

Chapter Tease

“Revell?” she hissed, as if confused. Her perfectly formed mouth was frozen in the shape of an ‘O’.

My name on her lips hit me like a F150 clocked over the speed limit, impacting the center of my chest like a head on collision. I had forgotten what a simple look from Sister Scarlett Marbry could do to a man. Possibly, because the last time she’d looked at me, she was only the outline of the woman she would one day be. At eighteen, she was a mere shadow of the gorgeous woman that leaned over the bar in front of me now.

Scarlett looked back at her barely restrained backside and tried to turn and reclaim her seat. Unfortunately, the snakeskin stilettos she was wearing had the slippery intent of the evildoer in the Garden of Eden, and Scarlett slithered onto the stool with enough force that the barstool fell backwards.

I was known throughout the state of Alabama for both my gentlemanly behavior and my athletic grace, but even I wasn’t capable of discarding the “crate of whiskey fast enough to stop Scarlett’s head from colliding with the table behind her on her way to the floor. Plus, I couldn’t chance breaking the quart sized mason jars of what would be P.M.’s last batch of hooch because I wanted his final send off and everything associated with him wiped from the minds of Marshall County as if he’d never existed. And the moonshine would expedite that.

Now here, at my booted feet, fell the last of his progeny, the one thing about him that I’d allowed myself to remember and remember well.

The only thing that came from him worth having . . . and Heaven help me. . . as inappropriate as it was I still wanted to have her.

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**Buy “Just in Case” now for only $0.99!: Amazon   Barnes & Noble

* * * * *

Elizabeth Marx**About author, Elizabeth Marx:

Windy City writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.

**Contact Elizabeth: Email   Website   Facebook   Twitter   Amazon – Author page

Filed Under: Just in Case Tagged With: Books, Chapter Tease, Chick-Lit, Elizabeth Marx, Just in Case, Romance, Women's Fiction

Excerpt of Stained by Elizabeth Marx

August 20, 2013 1 Comment

Today is the release day of “Stained,” written by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth Marx! With great pleasure, I’m sharing an excerpt of the book.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 
“Is that why you were living in the same city as me and you never came to see me?” I asked a little bit more accusatorially than I meant to. “Why didn’t Mandy call me or come to see me?”
 
His jaw seemed to harden as he looked over the top of his sunglasses. “Do you want to know about me or Mandy?”
 
I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
 
“Maybe I was just admiring you from afar as I always have.” Revell merged onto the highway in the direction of Crossroads.
 
I snorted. “What’s Mandy’s excuse?”
 
Revell took one hand off the steering wheel and rubbed the back of his neck. “She took Daddy’s death hard and she’s been busy with school there.”
 
“So for some reason, which you won’t explain to me, one of few people I consider a true and loyal friend came to live in my home town and she didn’t even want to see me?”
 
Revell sighed. “Since you didn’t come here when Daddy died, maybe she thought your friendship was over.”
 
“Is that what you thought? That our friendship was over?”
 
“We weren’t friends, Scarlett, don’t fool yourself into believing that!”
 
“Then I’d like to know what we were?” I countered angrily.
 
He wouldn’t look at me, and his voice was rough and tense when he spoke. “You knew I’ve wanted you in every way a man can want a woman since you were fifteen.”
 
“Friendship is better than nothing, especially when what you wanted to happen between us was completely inappropriate.”
“It was only wrong if it was one sided or if I’d acted on it when you were under age.”
 
“The summer I was fifteen and Mamaw found us in the deer stand you came pretty close to you going to jail.”
 
“The age of consent in Alabama is bit lower than it is up North.”
 
“You were twenty, it was a crush on an older man on my part. What was it on your part?”
 
Revell paused, turned, and looked me up and down. “It was I’m going to rot in hell because I want a minor or I’m going to die a slow death because I don’t believe I can live without her.”
 
I grumbled in disbelief, “And yet here you are perfectly healthy and happy.”
 
“You were the one who just said that I don’t smile the way I used to.”
 
I moved away from his ire closer to the door. “Are you blaming me?”
 
“I’m not blaming anyone, I’m just trying to tell you how I feel because you wouldn’t let me tell you back then, and you never came back to let me explain how it was.” Revell sighed. “Why didn’t you come when I wrote you?”
“I couldn’t.”
 
“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?”
 
“Couldn’t, Revell, couldn’t.”

 

Buy Stained on SMASHWORDS.
 
Add Stained to your GOODREADS want to read list!
 
About the Author: Windy City writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.
 

 
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Purchase Links: AMAZON |

Filed Under: Stained Tagged With: Books, Chick-Lit, Elizabeth Marx, Release Day, Romance, Stained, Writing

Cover Reveal: STAINED by Elizabeth Marx

July 29, 2013 7 Comments

I’m thrilled to share with you the cover reveal of “Stained”, by the lovely Elizabeth Marx!

Instead of a lot of build-up in a huge post, Elizabeth’s publicist thought that it would be best to let the front and back covers do the talking for themselves.

Back Cover:

Front Cover:

All together now!

Stained is due out on August 20th. It tells the beautiful, yet heart-wrenching story of a young woman whose only defense is to run when the going gets tough; and the man who will do anything to help her face her demons, including letting her go so she can find herself.

Add Stained to your GOODREADS want to read list!

About the Author: Windy City writer, Elizabeth Marx, brings cosmopolitan life alive in her fiction—a blend of romance, fast-paced Chicago living, and a sprinkle of magical realism. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs. She grew up in the city, has traveled extensively, and still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

 

**A Rafflecopter GIVEAWAY**

Filed Under: Stained Tagged With: Book Cover Reveal, Books, Chick-Lit, Elizabeth Marx, Stained by Elizabeth Marx

Binding Arbitration

March 11, 2012 13 Comments

Book review for “Binding Arbitration”

“Binding Arbitration” by Elizabeth Marx

Libby Tucker’s son, Cass, is terminally sick.  As a single mother the only choice she might have to possibly save his life is to contact the boy’s father, baseball player – sexy, alluring, and passionate, “Band-Aid” Aidan Palowski.  (He even left me even swooning for him).  When she reaches out for his help, he does so willingly.  The instant connection between Cass and “Mr. Pole-ow-ski” is what begins to make these three the family that they should’ve been all along.

After reading the storyline, I knew that I would love this book.  When I finally did started it, I was instantly in love with “Binding Arbitration.”  From the beginning I was hooked, especially having Chapter 1 start in Aidan’s POV.  (I thought that was a really cleaver thing that the talented author, Elizabeth Marx, did).  In the first chapter, we see Aidan shooting a commercial with little girl fairies.  In a cute way, it was comical to see how Aidan behaves around them.  He’s not mean, just the typical baseball player who isn’t a fan of sparkles and screaming kids.

Chapter 2 was in Libby’s POV.  I liked her character because with all that she has going for her, she doesn’t back down and shows no sign of weakness whatsoever.  She’s a woman who gives 100% to her job as a highly acclaimed attorney, and as a mother who would do anything for her child.

After the Libby confronts Aidan and at the end of the 3rd chapter, it was obvious that there are still some very strong feelings between these two, no matter who or what stood in their way.  I was cheering for them the whole way through, especially at the end when a tragedy strikes, which turned out to be a heartwarming conclusion to this sweet book.

I read “Binding Arbitration” in about a week, and it was everything I thought and hoped it would be.  There weren’t any slow parts that left me feeling that I was being strung along.  I think that Ms. Marx did a phenomenal job of creating such wonderful book that deals with such a sad situation for such a sweet little boy like Cass.  I admired the way Cass’s character was written as a child – he didn’t seem to care much about what was happening to himself, but only wished the best for his parents.  That was just one more sign of what a great mother Libby was to her little man.

If you’re the mood for a quick read about love, forgiveness and family, I think you enjoy it as much as I did.

“Binding Arbitration” will definitely be on my list of my Top Reads of 2012.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

**GIVEAWAY**

Win “BINDING ARBITRATION” by leaving a comment telling me why you love reading Chick Lit books, along with your email address!  Two winners will be randomly selected.  This giveaway ends on April 2nd at midnight EST!  (I WILL ONLY INCLUDE YOU IN THE DRAWING IF YOU LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS)  Good luck!

About the author:

Windy City writer Elizabeth Marx brings cosmopolitan flair to her fiction, which is a blend of romance and fast-paced Chicago living with a sprinkle of magical realism. In her past incarnation she was an interior designer–not a decorator–which basically means she has a piece of paper to prove that she knows how to match and measure things and can miraculously make mundane pieces of furniture appear to be masterpieces. Elizabeth says being an interior designer is one part shrink, one part marriage counselor and one part artist, skills eerily similar to those employed in writing.

Elizabeth grew up in Illinois and has also lived in Texas and Florida. If she’s not pounding her head against the wall trying to get the words just right, you can find her at a softball field out in the boonies or sitting in the bleachers by a basketball court. Elizabeth resides with her husband, girls, and two cats who’ve spelled everyone into believing they’re really dogs.

Elizabeth has traveled extensively, but still says there’s no town like Chi-Town.

Contact Elizabeth:

Blog

Facebook

Twitter

Website

Email: elizabethmarxbooks@gmail.com

Buy “Binding Arbitration!”

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Get the prequel!  “Cutters vs. Jocks” is still available — and FREE!

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Filed Under: Isabella Tagged With: Binding Arbitration, Book giveaway, Book Reviews, Books, Chick-Lit, Cutters vs. Jocks, Elizabeth Marx, Giveaways, Images, Isabella, Link, Random, Romance Books, Writing

It’s Fun Friday

March 9, 2012 5 Comments

Friday’s are the days where I try to write about something other than writing, editing, or publishing, but today I really wanted to share something very exciting with you:

Earlier this week I added the TOURS tab to my website.  This was the next step on my website, and I’m thrilled to be taking part of Samantha’s Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.  Having this opportunity has introduced me to some wonderful writers, along with their books filled with many memorable characters.

If you look at my new tab, you will see that on Monday will be my very first time for a tour!  I highly encourage you to come back on Monday to see what it’s all about.

**(There will be a giveaway of the book “Binding Arbitration” by Elizabeth Marx, and I know you won’t want to miss it!)

I hope y’all have a wonderful weekend — I know I will!

Filed Under: Isabella Tagged With: Binding Arbitration, Book Reviews, Books, Chick Lit Plus, Chick-Lit, Elizabeth Marx, Friday, Giveaway, Guest Author, Isabella, Link, Random, Romance Books, Self-publishing, Writing

Gone, But Not Forgotten

February 27, 2012 2 Comments

Hi, y’all!  It’s been about two weeks since I’ve blogged and I’m so happy to be back!

During my hiatus there’s not been a second where I’ve not been thinking about my books (editing my first, and thinking about what to do with my second – self publishing?), reading book for my reviews, my upcoming guests, and of course my fantastic followers!

In the next few weeks I’ll be busy with a few book tours, featuring some wonderful writers (Elizabeth Marx who wrote “Binding Arbitration,” Kathleen Kole who wrote “Favorable Conditions,” Toni Aleo who wrote “Taking Shots,” and Liz Matis who wrote “Love By Design!“)  I also have a few guest posts/interviews that I’m excited about hosting!  And in the midst of it all, I’ll be dedicating the rest of my time to the books I’ve written!

Once again, I’d like to thank my fans, followers, friends, and family for sticking by me.  Your support has meant so much to me!

Filed Under: Isabella Tagged With: Book Reviews, Books, Chick Lit Plus, Chick-Lit, Editing, Elizabeth Marx, Guest Author, Images, Isabella, Kathleen Kole, Link, Liz Matis, Random, Reading, Redefined Dreams, Romance Books, Self-publishing, Sex, Toni Aleo, Writing

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