Reader's Give-aways 4: A Time for Everything

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Hello Fellow Readers’ Abodians,

I had the pleasure of chatting with Miss Brona Mills about her recently released romance novel, A Time for Everything:

In this time-travel dilemma, twenty-year-old Michael is visited by time-traveler Audrey, who

leads him down a path to improve his life. But information comes at a price. Michael becomes aware of the deadly way in which Audrey was pushed back in time and the danger that awaits her. Does knowing the future mean fate can be changed? Does Michael love Audrey enough to sacrifice the history created with her in the time-travel loop? Will he risk the career he has built for his family’s financial security? Can he save Audrey’s life by preventing the event that caused her time-travel? Can he return her safely to her own time... to the arms of her waiting husband? What are the rules? What are the possibilities? Could tampering with destiny lead to something else? What would you risk to save the woman you loved, if the stakes were literally everything? Don't miss out on this exciting debut novel that will leave you in love, even after you close the pages.

Review: A Time for Everything by Brona Mills

I mean, are those some exciting stakes or what? As someone who’s read Brona’s debut novel, I must say, it’s amazing. An intriguing plot about how love can stand the tests of time. Literally. Audrey is thrown back in time repeatedly and it’s not easy for her. Or for the man she visits.

If you want a unique romance with likable characters and a bit of steam, I highly recommend A Time for

Everything. To make things THAT MUCH BETTER, we’ll be doing a giveaway and you could receive her e-book FREE! WHOO HOO! Don’t you just love free? I do. It’s like a breath of fresh air and a bite of chocolate cake.

I’m super excited to share a Q&A I did with Brona! I think you’ll really enjoy learning a little bit about Brona, her novel series, and her unique pen name. ;)

Author Interview with Brona Mills:

Carly: How did you come up with A Time for Everything?

Brona: I always wanted to write a romance and had the story of the main characters in my head and how they get together and their lives and experiences, but I was thinking, what will make this story unique? What will make people want to read about this couple? And I love the idea of time travel and things we might influence in the past, and even in our own past, so I sat and wondered, how could I combine the two elements ... and A Time for Everything was born!

Carly: In A Time for Everything, Audrey goes back in time to change things in Michael's life and help him get on the right path. If someone else went back to change your life, who would you trust the most with your past?

Brona: My husband. I don’t think anyone has as pure intentions about my life or our life as he does, and I don’t think he would risk messing anything up. And that goes both ways. I would be so cautious if I had to change his life, but I think if I went to change my friend's lives, I'd be a little less cautious, and maybe a little more daring and fun, but boy could that wreak some havoc!

Carly: Did you do any research?

Brona: Surprisingly yes! Ha! Even in Sci-fi, there are some 'rules' and 'theories' out there. As a reader, I didn’t bother with conforming too much to the 'time travel norm' cause hey, that bit is fiction and I didn't want to sound like other things out there. Like, I’m in a position to make up my own rules here, so I'm going to do it! I can make it up, and I loved seeing reader comments and reactions and discussions over the ideas and theories I presented on time travel.

But there are actually theories on the Universe and time travel out there that I wanted to read to make sure I wasn't too far off the mark. I spent a lot of time working out the theories on birthdays too! Seriously, you may be celebrating your birthday on the wrong day, especially if you're a leap baby (29th Feb!) Time zones and the daylight-saving changes throughout the year reduced me to tears especially when I switched scenes and locations for some things. I had to figure out what time would be best to have Michael's time of birth so that 20 years later, did I want the scene I was writing to take place at night or during the day? And don’t start me on when he moved to a new country and time zone. I had three versions at one point, depending on the time of day, and the country where scenes were going to take place.

Carly: What made you decide to go the Indie route?

Brona: Time! Ha, see what I did there!

I approached a few traditional publishers, some of whom took the time to get back and officially reject me, which is nice cause they are busy! And some I never heard from. The traditional route is super long, and I was already a year behind my original hopes of getting this out in Feb 2016, which is where Audrey time-traveled from on the leap year. I always wanted to get this story out there, and I was lucky that I was in the position to invest in professional editors and cover design. Self-publishing an e-book is super easy, but you also need to invest a lot of time and energy getting everything together so that the reader enjoys the book, instead of working through typos to get to the story.

Carly: Are you a plotter or pantser?

Brona: Plotter. But I also just turn on my computer and write. I’m lucky that I don’t have a whole lot of time to write. I run my own franchise business, most of which is evening work, and during the day I'm a mother and homemaker! (<--This sounds so posh, in the UK we say, 'stay at home mum' but I like the US homemaker better, it sounds so warm and fuzzy). So basically, I don’t have time to waste. If I get stuck or the ideas aren’t flowing, I have to turn off the computer and get back to 'real life' cause someone is always hungry/thirsty in my house. I will go about my day and still think about the novel and work out scenes in my head, then later at night, after work, I might get 20 min to super speed type it out before I crash into bed.

Carly: What's your favorite and least favorite part about writing?

Brona: My favorite part is when people I've never met not only purchase the book but take the time to leave a review and say what it did to them. A few people have got in touch to say that they laughed and cried and cheered for the characters, which to me is amazing, cause that's what I did, and I was scared that no one would ever love these people as much as I did. I suppose it's like when someone says they like your kids, and you’re cheering in the back ground going, yeah baby, I made that one, and he's damn cool.

Carly: When do you usually find time to write between family and work?

Brona: Literally when I can. When I had a new baby I was getting up at 5:30 and 6 a.m. to write before feeding. Now they are in school, I can grab a morning when I'm not working, to write. Since I hit publish on the first book, and getting the second book finished is becoming a priority, I manage to take a day at the weekend to lock the bedroom door or sneak off to a cafe for a few hour and get caught up.

Carly: What character in the book do you identify with the most.

Brona: One of the supporting characters, Stella. I love Stella. I love how she is raising her son on her own, cause raising a child is hard, and I have my husband who is hands-on. I admire anyone who is a single parent. I don't know how they do it. I'm hanging on in there, and don't think I could do it on my own. Hats off, single parents. Hats off.

I love Stella's love for her son, even though her relationship with his dad was bad. I love her drive, and her want to make a living for her son, and also her mom, who is struggling. Stella doesn't necessarily come off in a good light the whole way through this novel, that's why I chose her as the main POV for the second in the series. Originally, it was going to be from David's POV, but Stella can carry her own book. I had so much strength from Stella as a character, I was thinking of making A Time for Everything a multiple POV, and including Stella. But again, advice from one of the 'how to' books was, if you have a character who is taking over, take them out and give them their own book. So, I stuck with the single POV for Michael in A Time for Everything and discovered that there was a whole story for Stella and David to tell. I think this is the one I cried for the most.

Carly: What are you working on now?

Brona: I'm working on The Same Time, which is a continuation of sorts of A Time for Everything. It follows the supporting characters, Stella and David, through the similar time line, but telling a much different story. It basically highlights how a group of friends can live together, but have such different lives happen, and how we can be almost oblivious to what the other is going through. The second half is going to pick up on the ending of "A Time for Everything" and close the story out. People have already been asking if there is going to be a book three, but honestly, I think the story is going to finish here. I know three and four book series are popular, but when the story is done, it's done.

Carly: If you had to live in a novel for one day, which novel would it be?

Brona: Honestly, I don't think I could. I get too wrapped up in the emotions of the characters, and the books I read, have a lot of emotions going on that I don't think I could handle. Plus, there is normally some element of danger or past trauma, that I don't want to be in. I like diving into a book for an escape from reality, but I always love coming back to my life. I know I've got it good in real life compared to my favorite characters, so I think I'll stick with that

Carly: What are some of your fav authors/books?

Brona: Since writing, I have taken on one piece of advice to read things and genres I would never

normally read, and I've been blown away with Colleen Hoover who writes a lot of YA and New Adult romance. Carly Marino who writes Fantasy and YA. Kit Rocha who has a whole series of dystopian erotica, seriously I never thought I would like that sort of thing ha! Max Barry wrote an amazing Lexicon and Jennifer Government, which I just read each page in utter awe. KC Lynn, Misti Murphy and Tammy Falkner are all people who I had never read before and I've devoured their whole collection. Oh, man BB Easton, 44 chapters about 4 men I was laughing out loud at that one, and I can't wait to see what she has next.

Carly: Which do you prefer: Peanut butter: crunchy or smooth? Orange juice: pulp or no pulp?

Brona: This is interesting cause in the UK peanut butter isn't as popular. A lot of people don't like it. I spoke to an American once who told me, what we have is more like a natural peanut butter, where as the one you guys have is much sweeter. So, I actually like it when mixing with chocolate spread ha! Smooth is better. Although either if I'm using it to make homemade Chicken Satay.

Orange juice with pulp, otherwise it's too much like Ki-ora

Carly: How did you choose the pen name, Brona Mills?

Brona: Well, Mills is a nickname of sorts that we call my daughter, and I was looking for a first name for a while. When watching Penny Dreadful one evening, Billy Piper was playing the part of a hooker called Brona, and it reminded me how much I loved the name Brona! It's Irish, and although I'm Scottish, I live in Ireland with my husband and kids, so it was a little nod to my new home. But basically, I named myself after a dying prostitute

Carly: If you had to marry one of your characters, who would it be?

Brona: Michael. Actually, maybe David too, just wait and see what he does for Stella and Max in The Same Time.

Carly: Much thanks to Brona for joining us to share a bit about herself, her debut, and her upcoming novel. She’s really a gem! Check out her book!

Until next time …

Happy Reading,

XO Carly

P.S. If you JUST can’t wait for the giveaway (and I don’t blame you), you can purchase A Time for Everything here.