Thee Debra Anastasia author of the Poughkeepsie series.
We caught up with her to get her thoughts on life and books.
Here is what she had to say
What's
your favorite restaurant/style of food?
I love chocolate. So
a restaurant that serves chocolate makes me happy. Other than that, Yak and
Yeti in Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is my favorite restaurant, so whatever
style that is!
If
one song could be the soundtrack to your life, what would it be?
Feeling Good by Nina Simone. I’m generally a happy lady and I’m in love with my
life.
Best
coffee table book?
I actually love the ones that you can
make yourself out of personal pictures online? Those are super special.
What's
your favorite way to spend lazy Sundays?
Music on, pajamas on
with the plan of watching a movie with my kids. I’m insane about my family
time, I’m just crazy about being with my husband and kids.
Where
do you look for an obscure source of inspiration?
Always music. I fall hard for songs and set them on replay. Recently I watched
a video of a tatted up girl pole dancing, and the song was just so amazing. I
have it set on replay, it totally fits the mood of the book I’m currently
writing. (Brain by Banks)
Chris
Hemsworth or Liam Hemworth?
Chris. Just
something about his hammer.
Most
memorable book event?
That’s tough! I actually can’t pick.
Any time I get to see my readers in person I freak out. I feel like they are
already my friends, so it’s an honor to meet them. I guess my very favorite is
when we get to hang out. Tammy at TammyVoicedEvents put together two small meet
and greets, and we all had a blast.
Coolest
person you ever met [famous person or fellow author] The
coolest person I ever met?
That’s another tough one. I guess I love getting to
see EL James. We knew each other before she was rocket ship famous and I
cherish the time we get.
What
pushed you to decide to publish? Were you nervous? Why/why not?
My
readers started with me in fan fiction, so we have a very close relationship.
When they told me they wanted Poughkeepsie as a book, and that they believed in
it –I believed in them. I was nervous, but ready to do battle at the same time.
I knew what I was doing was different, so I had to have a nice, strong
backbone. I was more nervous producing the books that I wrote outside of the
fandom because I missed the input from my readers during the process. They
taught me well though.
How did it all start? Poughkeepsie, for example.
It started
with me writing trip reports on a Disney website! They were comedy-based true
tales of my family’s trips to Disney World. From there I dipped into fan
fiction and that’s where I found my readers.
How far do you go to research for your
books? I’ve interviewed people, visited towns, and spent four million hours
on Google. I like everything to be as accurate as possible, and I’m fortunate
to have a great team in Omnific Publishing and my editor Jessica Royer Ocken.
We will each go back and forth on a fact until we are confident. In Saving
Poughkeepsie we had a bit of science to learn together.
What was your favorite book to write?
Saving
Poughkeepsie was my most recent favorite! I was stressing out about ending the
whole series, and then when it came time the ending wouldn’t fall in line. For
me, the ending is even more important than the beginning. It has to satisfy the
reader that has spent time and money on the journey. And when I hit on the
correct ending I had peace. I loved that.
Do you have a favorite
character? Was it based on someone you actually know? Satan Jack is my
unofficial favorite. He’s the devil in my Seraphim Series and in my head he
looks like Johnny Depp. So I don’t actually know him. Which is sad.
Anything new and exciting you have going
on that we may expect in the future? I.e. more with the Poughkeepsie crew.
I may have some tricks up my sleeve! It’s a rich world full of characters, so I
never say never.
Title: Saving Poughkeepsie
Author: Debra Anastasia
Series: Poughkeepsie
Beckett
Taylor’s quest to be a better man has brought Eve Hartt back into his
life, but sometimes it feels like they’re bound together with barbed
wire. Though he longs to love her without causing pain, the wreckage of
their past continues to crash down around them.
Yet with the
help of this brothers—and for his brothers—Beckett won’t stop trying.
He’s determined to make them all a family, to make a life they want to
live, and to make Poughkeepsie a place that’s safe to live it.
He
can feel their futures balanced precariously on his shoulders: Blake
and Livia and their children, Cole and Kyle and the new baby they’ve
just brought home, and Eve…always Eve. He wants their dreams to be real.
But murderers don’t just get Happily Ever After handed to them. They
have to wrench it away from Satan himself.
Good thing Beckett is prepared to do just that. After all, saving Poughkeepsie is the only way his story ends.
Prepare
your heart and your head for a wild ride in this final installment of
the Poughkeepsie Brotherhood series. Debra Anastasia does not disappoint
as she weaves the last chapter of a story that blends true love,
turbulent emotions, and life’s harsh realities into an uplifting tale
that calls to the good in each of us.
Book 1 on sale for .99 cents starting 11/19/14
Poughkeepsie (Book 1)
Return to Poughkeepsie (Book 2)
Excerpts
1.
“I’m not
worried about tomorrow. I’m worried about right now, with you, under this
Christmas tree.” Blake supported her neck as he laid her on the floor.
Livia
turned her head. “You’d better convince me. So far you’ve talked about the dog
going to the bathroom, trash, and dirtiness.”
Blake
kissed her jaw and turned her head gently, kissing her mouth as she bit her
lips together.
“Can’t I
just convince you with my manly ways?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
He could,
of course, do just that—but she shook her head. She loved the playful sparkle
in his green eyes. His five o’clock shadow just made him more handsome, framing
his kissable lips with scruff.
“Okay.”
He put his fingers at the bottom of her shirt, lifting it gently so he could
circle her belly button with his index finger. “You’re the sexiest, most
beautiful woman on this planet. So sexy, in fact, that I had to have you. I had
to make you bear my children because my universe and yours had to be combined.
Everything I’ve ever been needed to be buried inside of you, so deep, so full
of love that we created life. Twice.”
He lifted
her shirt and kissed the tops of her breasts, whispering his devotion into her
skin. “And it’s never enough. Unless I can hear you coming, I can’t think of
anything else. All day every day. For years now. You’re that powerful, Livia.
This. Us. It’s so intense that years haven’t cured me. I can’t stop wanting to
make love to you.”
“Wow.”
Livia smiled and pulled his face back to hers, kissing him and effectively
stopping his beautiful words.
2.
“Come
with me.” He led her to the beach again, but during dinner a few people had
been busy. It was now lined with an aisle of candles, and a man stood close to
the breaking surf, hands crossed, waiting. Someone had used the surrounding
sand as a canvas, creating a swirling pattern. Their names were part of the
art.
What? She asked without a sound.
“I want
you to marry me. Here. Now.”
Beckett
let go of her hand and strode away. When he turned around, close to the water
at the end of the aisle, he hoped to hell she wasn’t running in the other
direction.
Review
"Our goal is this and only this: Saving Poughkeepsie."
Man, oh, man!
I'm still reeling from all the things that happened, that went down in this book. Ms Anastasia needs to give me a lot of hugs - she even offered her bosom to me - because I'm left empty. Drained up. I got teary-eyed, I laughed and melted. Not to mention, chewed on my nails because there were quite some angsty scenes.
So, Beckett and Eve are happy together but it can easily be taken away from them because Rodolfo Vitullo, the man whose daughter Eve killed in Return to Poughkeepsie, wants Eve for a very sick plan of his. Of course he doesn't succeed because Eve is just that badass, but nobody knows the old bastard finds another way to getting what he wants. And he comes this close to succeeding in that one.
Poughkeepsie becomes safe again, slowly but surely. It becomes a safe haven for misfits, just like in Maryland - Beckett realized ruling with an iron fist and putting the fear into people wasn't the way to go, so he tried with loyalty.
There's a peaceful period, after some things that went down - I either teared-up because of the aw-moments or because of the sad ones, but nonetheless, tear up, I did - and then everything blows up.
I can't even explain all of this, without giving something away. Every detail is important, everything they do. Beckett, once again, places everyone else above himself. That man is something unbelievable and he's a thousand kinds of amazing! I'll only say this, that bastard has a romantic side that turned me to mush. He evolved and changed so much, throughout the series. All of them did, but I think this change is most noticeable at him because he rose from the drug lord and pimp ruler, to the pseudo-saint that wants what's best for his family and his people. Just you read and see for yourself.
I knew reading this book would be bittersweet. I knew it. I was also lucky enough to read an early copy of it, for which I will be forever grateful! This series is different, it combines so many things, friendship, family, deep bonds that do not need blood to be created and kept. It's just wow and awesome.
5 +++ stars. I'll be rereading this series many times because I'll miss these characters. I may not have met them, back when the very first book was published, I may be a recent fan, but I do know that I fell and I fell hard. There's no going back now.
P.S. It may be the end of an era, but it's the beginning of a new one.
P.P.S. My dream came true, in the epilogue. Technically, before that. Read it and maybe you'll figure it out.
Saving Poughkeepsie by
Debra Anastasia
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
I can't even tell you how much i would just relish an afternoon talking to Debra.
These characters and the things that come out of there mouths its absolutely, positively, insanely, CREATIVE.
There was definitely some "cursing" that i have never heard of before. And don't get my started on her metaphors for things... like "fruit of your loins" being "Vagina Fruit"? i mean COME ON, that's #ucking GOLD right there!!!
Since I started with Debra's English usage in the book, lets start on the characters. Each one has a special quality, all in their own way. They are distinguishing, one does not bleed into the other, like real people, we are all unique and ((most of us)) have DEPTH.
The story line is INSANE!! I just can't even fathom any of this stuff happening, its like one big soap opera... but a humorous, dangerous one. Unfortunately this stuff probably DOES happen...either way, it keeps you entertained, on the edge and makes you want to read more and more...but sadly, all good things must come to an end.. and this is it for our Pough Crew.
Speaking of ends, that Epilogue... could ya melt my heart even fricken more?? I was actually listening to it in the car, so I was driving, tearing up, and smiling, all at once. What a range of emotions she elicits out of us!
I think Debra is a fabulous writer and though I am sad to see the series end, I am very delighted they got their HEA's. It couldnt have ended on a higher note.
View all my reviews
