Today I have the honor of bringing to you author Olivia Cunning. Combining her love for romantic fiction and rock ‘n roll, Olivia writes erotic romance centered around rock musicians.
Raised on hard rock music from the cradle, she attended her first Styx concert at age six and fell instantly in love with live music. She’s been known to travel over a thousand miles just to see a favorite band in concert. As a teen, she discovered her second love, romantic fiction — first, voraciously reading steamy romance novels and then penning her own. Her first Sinners on Tour novel, Backstage Pass was named a Top Read of 2010 by Love Romance Passion, Alpha Reader, The Fiction Vixen, Loves Romance and Smexy Books. She currently lives in Nebraska, where she is working on her next book! Please help me welcome Olivia toThat’s What I’m Talking About.
Twimom: Olivia, welcome and thank you for stopping by.
Olivia: Thanks for having me!
Twimom: Rockers and romance… seems like women have been swooning over musicians since Elvis first appeared. Can you tell my readers a little more about your inspirations and how you began writing?
Olivia: I’ve been a music fan my entire life. I became obsessed with rock stars as a teen. My walls were literally covered with pictures I’d carefully clipped from every imaginable music magazine. I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up. I tried to teach myself to play the guitar, with little success. Music consumed the majority of my days. And then I had a kid, worked on my education and my obsession for music settled a bit. When the kid started to become obsessed with music about five years ago, we started going to tons of concerts and I remembered why I’d been obsessed as a teenager. There’s nothing I love more than music, except maybe writing. I started writing in high school, too. I had big dreams of becoming an author. When that didn’t pan-out immediately, I realized I had to pay the bills and pursued a “normal” job and gave up my aspiration to be a rock star/writer. I never stopped writing. I just continued working on it on the side. So my two greatest passions are rock music (and nummins musicians) and writing. It only took me sixteen years to combine the two. You’d think it would be a no brainer.
Twimom: Do you have any rock star crushes or stories you want to share? What’s the best concert you’ve been to see?
Olivia: Rock star crushes… I’ve had too many to name. My first was Rudy Sarzo when he was the bassist for Whitesnake. The man licked the neck of his guitar and did this hip gyration thing that had my 15-year-old hormones coursing through my arteries like water in a flood-stage river. I went to see Whitesnake and Motley Crue in concert that year and I screamed Rudy so loud and so long that I couldn’t talk for two days afterward. The best concert I’ve been to was the first time I saw Avenged Sevenfold live. I’ve since seen them five times. They’re now my favorite live band and whenever they tour within 300 miles of my house, I’m there. As a matter of fact, I’m driving 4 hours to go see them next month with Bullet for My Valentine and Three Days Grace. CAN. NOT. WAIT!! Another thing that made that concert so good was the opening band, Papa Roach. You must see these guys live. Jacoby Shaddix works a crowd like no other front man on the planet. I once drove 1100 miles to see Tool in concert. Was it worth it? Oh yeah! Thanks for taking me to my happy place by asking that question.
Twimom: Wow! I cannot even being to compare concert stories! LOL! Your first series, Sinners on Tour, follows the romantic exploits of a rock band. Can you tell my readers more about the series and your future plans for the Sinners?
Olivia: Sinners is a rock band with five sexy single men. Each book in the series focuses on one of the band members and how he finds his happily ever after with the right woman. The first book, Backstage Pass, is about lead guitarist Brian Sinclair. He’s the sweet, romantic of the group. The second book, Rock Hard, is about vocalist Sed Lionheart. He’s pretty much Brian’s polar opposite. The thing about Sed is that when he falls in love, he falls hard and he falls forever. The other guys of the band (Jace, Eric and Trey) will each get their chance at love, too. And one thing that’s great about the series is that because these guys all live on a tour bus together most of the time, you’ll see your favorite character reappear in each and every book. You also get to know them quite well and see how their relationships (friendships and love) evolve over time.
Twimom: Sounds fantastic! Do you write any other genres and/or have plans for any future stories outside of the Sinners?
Olivia: I think I’ve written a novel in every imaginable genre. I’ve been thinking of digging some of those out, polishing them up a little and self-publishing them under different pen names. My agent wants me to pursue my medical/scientific thrillers (I had one semifinal in Amazon’s Novel Breakthrough Awards a couple of years ago.) under a different name, after I get my Olivia Cunning pen name well-established. But the YA science fiction? The fantasy? The YA contemporary romance? The horror? The series length romance? Time travel erotic romance? Etc, etc, etc… I don’t want to confuse readers by releasing all those under Olivia Cunning and most of them aren’t ever going to sell to a traditional publisher, so I might publish them myself in my “free” time. As for the Olivia Cunning “brand”, I’ll keep writing erotic romance about rock stars forever, if I can. I hope to write a spinoff series about Exodus End (a band mentioned in the Sinners on Tour series) and just had a great idea in the shower this morning about another, young band that is discovered by Sinners (the Sinners hear them play in a bar and introduce them to their manager, Jerry), but it will never be mentioned the Sinners on Tour series. I’m a prolific writer, if you can’t tell. LOL!
Twimom: Wow! Can’t wait to see where you go. I always like to ask authors about their reading habits… What types of books do you enjoy reading? What was your favorite read during 2010? Olivia: I read a little bit of everything (like I write a little bit of everything – ADD-much, Olivia?). And I’m a slow reader. At a few pages a day, it usually takes me a month to get through a book. I wish I had more time to read. I seriously love YA fantasy. The Harry Potter series. The Percy Jackson series. (I’ve never read Twilight—don’t hit me!) I think I like them because they are so different from what I write. I do read romance of all kinds. I do read thrillers. I do read classics and literary fiction. A little horror. Some fantasy. A bit of erotica. I like variety! I read a Lacey Alexander book this year, What See Needs, that I lost sleep to finish. Very sexy!
Twimom: What upcoming 2011 releases are you most excited to read?
Olivia: I can’t wait to read Virgin by Cheryl Brooks. It’s the 7th book in her Cat Star Chronicles series, and comes out in June. Love those Zetithian men. MEOW!
Twimom: Olivia, once again thank you so much for taking the time to tell my readers a little bit about yourselves and your writing. It was wonderful chatting with you.
Olivia: My pleasure!
You can find Olivia Cunning on line at
GIVEAWAY: I have two (2) copies (two winners) of Rock Hard to giveaway here at That’s What I’m Talking About. Thank you to Sourcebooks (www.sourcebooks.com) for sponsoring the giveaway of Olivia’s newest release. To enter, please leave a comment and your email at the end of today’s interview or yesterday’s review of Rock Hard. One entry per person. Winners are restricted to US and Canada mailing addresses, only. Contest open from April 12, 2011 until Sunday April 17, 2011 at 9:00 PM EDT. Two (2) winners will be selected from the comment entries using random.org.
I enjoyed your interview. I haven’t read many books about Rock Stars. But this one caught my eye and my interest. It sounds like a great story I look forward to reading. Thanks for the great giveaway.
rjofusATgmailDOTcom
This is a new author for me but I enjoyed the post and would definitely like to read this book. Thanks for entering me.
LadyVampire2u AT gmail DOT com
Oh this looks like a wonderful read and very smexy!
thehistorychic@gmail.com
Great Interview! I just started reading Backstage pass and I am loving it so far. Brian is so sweet.
I’d love to win a copy of Rock Hard, and thanks for the opportunity!
jcross719 at yahoo dot com
I loved reading Backstage Pass. Watching Myrna and Brian and the difficulties she faced before she could find happiness. As I read the books, I felt drawn into the characters lives and cant wait to here more about them. I look forward to reading more of the series and finding out how each character has evolved from the beginning. It was great finding out how your passion for rock concerts allowed you to take a role on stage and see the lives of rock stars we dont get a glimpse at.
mitchellashlyn@yahoo.com
I really enjoyed Backstage Pass and am looking foward to Rock Hard. I love second chance love themes, esp. when they are steamy. 🙂
jenma76 at hotmail dot com
I’ve been hearing alot about this one, count me in! tWarner419@aol.com
Sounds interesting, please enter me!
Loved the interview! It’s great to find someone who loves hard rock and romance novels as much as me, and an author no less! I’ve heard a bit about the series and it sounds SO good. Thanks for contest and good luck to everyone!
afox89(AT)hotmail(DOT)com
I can’t wait to read this book. I’ve been really looking forward to it. Looks really good and I keep hearing such great things about it.
iqb99@yahoo.com
Hi, everyone! I hope you’re having a great Wednesday. Good luck!
Love both books!!! I’ll be rereading them often until the third book comes out! Really hope to read about Exodus End, as well as, the new discovery band! You have combined my two favorite things, music and erotic romance…the most sublime combination! Please write/publish faster!
No need to enter me in the contest, I have both books.
Oooh! Sounds great!
jesilea (at) charter (dot) net
Thanks for talking about these books! I’m a huge rock fan and totally get where Olivia is coming from. Put romance and rock bands in the same book and I’m so there. I’m looking forward to reading this series.
josiecatx@verizon.net
Great interview; I enjoyed it.
Last October, when I first hear about Backstage Pass and the detailed descriptions of the band member, I knew this series would be a must have for me.
I’m so thrilled Rock Hard is out now; I can’t wait to read it.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
I loved Backstage Pass and cannot wait to read Rock hard!
great interview ladies.
You always do the best interviews. I must admit, I haz jealousy of your interview skillz. 😉
Bells was telling me about the first book today and it’s definitely going on my TBR pile. I admit, I bought it right after I hung up the phone with Bells. What can I say? I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to books. LOL. Of course, I’d love the chance to win Rock Hard so I can save some money for the next one. 🙂
Hm… I’m so curious about this one. I’m looking forward to reading it. I haz it on my wishlist. 🙂
books (dot) things (at) yahoo (dot) com
Olivia, fun to hear about your love for music and writing. Of course you wanted to combine them. And you have. Rock on!
James Rafferty
Forgot to leave an email, just in case.
jayAThumancommDOTcom
great interview! It is awesome to be able to combine your passions. As a former music teacher I love books that combine music and romance, so these hit my happy spot 🙂 I loved Backstage Pass and would love a chance at a copy of Rock Hard.
froggykm at gmail dot com
I just started reading Olivia first book “Backstage pass” on my kindle at work yesterday. I had to put it down as it’s tooo hot for reading in my cubicle. Can’t wait to finish it and then start “RockHard”. Olivia is definately a telented writer. i would love to win Rockhard, great interview!
vintamsigond at aol dot com
looovveeee the Sinners
Sed is a god, Brian a romantic, i wanna save Jace, eric is fun loving and trey is mysterious…can not choose a favorite…
Read Backstage Pass last night now I am a sinner groupie…
seachele71@hotmail.com
Looooooooooove the Sinners and can’t wait to read more about them. I had barely even started Backstage Pass and I put Rock Hard on my wishlist. I cannot wait to read it.
ashley.mckinsey@yahoo.com
It’s great to see so many Sinners fans here. You all rock!
FANastic interview! I just finished Backstage Pass I’m so sad I don’t have Rock Hard in my hands. So happy to know the whole band will be getting books I’m really excited for Trey and Jace’s book!
inkbella77@gmail.com
This makes me think of all the crushes I had as a teenager on rock stars (still love listening to hairband music…LOL).
Would love to win a copy of ROCK HARD. I have BACKSTAGE PASS e-book in my TBR but have not read it yet…Gotta get to reading more!
US resident
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Backstage Pass was great, and I can’t wait to read the other guys’ stories. Keep up the good work!