What’s better than love in the beautiful Cedar Valley in British Columbia, Canada? Find small-town romances with a touch of angst, a bit of heat, and a lot of heart…
Gabbi, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about The Luminosity of Loriana Harper.

The Luminosity of Loriana Harper by Gabbi Powell

Genre: small-town contemporary romance
Book heat level (based on movie ratings): R

Loriana Harper is the head librarian of the Mission City Public Library. She considers herself a matchmaker in this little town in British Columbia—especially for her employees. When a gorgeous technician arrives to update their computers, she can’t help musing about who might be his perfect match. Except, the more time she spends with Mitch, the more she wants him for herself.

Mitch Alexander left in disgrace from a good job in California. He’s come to this small town to make a new start where no one knows him. Although he has no plans to get involved with anyone, he’s drawn to the nosy, vivacious librarian who makes him smile. The local matchmaker might go overboard, but she has good intentions. Except he’s not in the market for any match, unless it’s with her.

When Mitch’s past catches up with him, and the police come calling, he has to decide if he’ll stay with Loriana or leave to save her from the taint of being associated with him. Loriana’s not ready to let her new man go without a fight—but maybe this is a match that wasn’t meant to be.

The Luminosity of Loriana Harper is an older-woman age-gap interracial romance with a touch of angst and a large cat named Plato. The book is the first in the Love in Cedar Valley series set in a small town in British Columbia, Canada.

Tell us about yourself as a person.

What makes you different from other people?

My mind. I know, everyone would say that, but if I told you about my dreams and my waking imaginings you’d think I needed help. Well, maybe I do. But those flights of daytime fancy and nights of wild dreams translate into some pretty awesome stories. I’ll never run out of things to write about because my imagination is always going a hundred miles an hour.

What is your favorite subject to talk about?

Writing. I love talking about writing – the books I’ve read and loved, the books I’ve read and loathed, and about my books as well (sorry, not sorry). Now, beyond writing, I love talking politics. Fortunately, most of my family are of the same political bent, so the debates are nuance and not down and dirty name calling. I grew up in a political city and have watched results come in for every election night for as long as I can remember. And have voted in every election and referendum I was allowed to dating back again, as far as I can remember. Some people shy away from tough subjects…I’m willing to go there.

What is your favorite book?

I’m a huge fan of the old Harlequin Superromance category romances. I read voraciously and wrote my books much to the length and quality of those books (around 85,000 words). My favorite authors included Jean Brashear and Janice Kay Johnson. When I was learning to write, I read their books over and over to dissect what I liked. I aimed to replicate and I think I’ve done a pretty good job. My favorite book out of all of those, though, is Tara Taylor Quinn’s The Promise of Christmas. I loved that book for so many reasons and have read it almost a dozen times. I want my readers to have the same satisfaction and enjoyment when they read my book that I got from Ms. Quinn’s.

What is your favorite meal?

My first instinct is to go with something wickedly bad for me – Canadian pizza (yes, that is a thing) or honey garlic chicken wings or a Big Mac. When I think about it, though, if I could choose anything, it would be rosemary chicken with whipped mashed potatoes, carrot slices marinaded in butter, and asparagus sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Tell us about yourself as a writer.

What made you want to be a writer?

I think I’ve always been a writer. Even at an early age, I was good at telling tall tales – both in my mind and out loud. I had a poem published in my yearbook in the sixth grade and that felt awesome. In the eight grade, I sat down to write my first book. A romance, of course. About a doctor named Jesse and her trusty nurse Misty and how they were overseas in Libya. Jesse was reported killed and her boyfriend moved on without her, but she came back from the dead. Even at twelve, my mind went to dark places.

What are your favorite books for writing advice?

The Creative Academy for Writers has a series of books they’ve put out to help writers including Build Better Characters, Create Story Conflict, Full-Time Author, and Build Better Settings. My favorite, though, is Strategic Series Author. I read it from cover to cover while I prepared to launch my Love in Cedar Valley series and I think I’m in a much better place than if I’d tried to go it alone.

What are your favorite reference books?

The Emotional Wound Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and Angela Ackerman. The women (Writers Helping Writers) have a 9-book series of thesauruses. I own every one and use them frequently. My favorite is the emotional wound book. I tend to write stories with moderate angst because this is how my characters talk to me. But not all characters come with their wounds fully formed. Sometimes I need help to get the character in the right headspace for the stuff I’m going to throw at them. A mentor once asked, “what’s the worst thing that can happen to your character? Great – make that happen. What’s the next worst thing? Make that happen too.” This might seem brutal to an outsider who doesn’t want to know how the sausage gets made, but it makes for fully developed characters who are three-dimensional.

What’s your best advice for a new writer?

Finish the damn book. I started writing my first serious romance in my senior year of university. I never finished it. I started several other projects over the next fifteen years. I’d write for a few days, then tuck the file away. I’d try again later, adding some, but never quite get through an entire story.

When I turned forty, and had a breakdown (unrelated to hitting that milestone), I decided the time had come to take writing seriously. I finished the book. I polished it off and sent it in for consideration to a major publisher. And while I waited for the acceptance (that I was certain would arrive any day), I wrote the next book. And the next. And the next. In the end, I got my rejection (very long story for another day). In that intervening two-and-a-half-years, I wrote fourteen full books. Now, they’re messy and need editing, but I taught myself to write by repeating the process over and over again. That book the publisher rejected? The Making of Marnie Jones – one of the two books I’m releasing today.

My other piece of advice? Perseverance. I had to come a long way and, eventually, publish the myself, but Marnie is out for the world to enjoy. Final piece of advice? Find a good editor to work with. I won’t hit publish on anything that hasn’t gone through someone extremely competent. If I put my name on something, you can be guaranteed it’s well edited.

What are your writing goals for the next year or so?

Having three pennames means writing and publishing content under each. One penname is for dark erotic BDSM romances. One is for gay romances. One is for contemporary small-town romances. Within those three genres, there isn’t a lot of overlap. Some authors manage multiple genres under one penname, but sometimes their readers get confused. I don’t want someone who is looking for a mid-heat mid-angst romance to snag one of my BDSM books with power exchanges and bondage.

I don’t regret having chosen this unique publishing path. I wrote over half-a-million words last year and I aim to do the same this year. I’ve got books under all three of my pennames being published this year. I hope to keep interacting with readers and helping new booklovers find my novels. If I manage to pull that off, I’ll be very happy.

Where to buy The Luminosity of Loriana Harper

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVL3X4JZ

Gabbi Powell Social Media

Gabbi Powell has been a lover of romance since she first put pen to paper in the eighth grade to write her first romance. She writes her novels while living in Beautiful British Columbia with her trusty ChinPoo dog a as companion. She also writes gay romances as Gabbi Grey and contemporary dark erotic BDSM novels as Gabbi Black.
Website http://gabbipowell.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/powell_gabbi
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/gabbi.powell.9/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorgabbipowell/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21065056.Gabbi_Powell
BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/3142441314
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/stores/Gabbi-Powell/author/B08T8NTQNY
Get to know Gabbi better by signing up for an email newsletter https://sendfox.com/gabbipowell

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