I’m so close I can see the end in sight, and then I’ll be able to share a cover reveal and blurb for Secrets of the Soul, I’m hoping for an October release, so wish me luck.

This week I’m excited to introduce Gigi Rivers!

Books are fueled by coffee

Gigi's Amazon Home Page

Author Bio

Gigi spent her childhood daydreaming and living inside the imaginary worlds in her mind. As an author, she now shares these worlds with her readers.

Born and raised in Australia, she now resides in Berlin, Germany. She is mixed race, being half-Filipino and part Welsh. She is a traveller, potter, gym enthusiast, nature and animal lover, an avid consumer of stories, and now, a writer of MM fantasy romance.

Gigi’s Quirky Questions

Holly: If you could live anywhere, real or imaginary, where would it be and why?

Gigi Rivers: As someone who loves fantasy I’m going to have to go somewhere with fantastical elements and magic. I’m thinking middle-earth and I’m going thinking somewhere elvish, like Lothlorien. I like the idea of living in these ethereal magic trees and drinking wine with lots of singing and music. Sounds awesome to me!

Holly: What other artistic pursuits (if any) do you indulge in apart from writing?

Gigi Rivers: I love pottery. I’ve done it for a few years and even spent a month in Japan studying pottery. Sadly, I’ve had less time to enjoy it since moving to Berlin and taking up writing. But I got to write about pottery in A Winter Crush (A Nymph Solstice Romance 3) which was a lot of fun. One of the main characters was a potter and it was so nice to bring my hobby to my medieval winter holiday series. I’m hoping to do some pottery again soon.

Holly: What are some day jobs that you have had/have? Do they impact your writing, share an example.

Gigi Rivers: I’ve had quite a varied working past! My first part-time job was behind the counter at McDonalds whilst in high school. Then I worked in a pharmacy. After I got married, I spent a year living in a van, driving around Australia, and working on mango, tomato, apple, and capsicum/pepper farms. I then spent some time doing a bachelor and then a PhD in psychology. I worked for a little while teaching at the university and working in academia.

I think having so many different experiences and working in so many places has influenced how I write. And I hope my psych degree helps me to write more emotionally complex characters. My PhD also involved studying sexual fetishism. I’m sure that has influenced my writing a little! 😆

Holly: We know what you like to write, but what do you like to read in your free time, and why?

Gigi Rivers: I’ve been a long-time reader of MM in all its forms. But I also like to read just pure fantasy. And I love it when the two combine!

Holly: What qualities do you and your characters share? How much are you like them, or how different are they from you?

Gigi Rivers: A recurring theme in my books is a desire for acceptance and belonging. I think it is something that I have personally dealt with in my own life, the need to belong whilst also struggling to feel accepted and loved for who I am. A reader actually pointed out that this was a recurring theme in my books.

Holly: Do you ever base your characters on real people? Do you tell them?

Gigi Rivers: I sometimes use real people for inspiration. But never people I know. For example, I might be watching a reality show (e.g. Bakeoff) and for whatever reason a person will stick out to me (often because of a specific trait or motivation or something I find interesting). Like I might notice that the person has a particular mannerism or seems quite nervous. Then I might build a character around them, often exaggerating those behaviors.

Holly: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?

Gigi Rivers: I don’t read negative reviews. Sometimes I accidentally read one and then I’m annoyed with myself because they easily get into my head. So for my own mental health I don’t even glance at the bad ones.

I often read my good reviews. I find this helps remind me that I have readers out there who enjoy my books. That keeps me motivated and feeling positive when I write. It even helps me to identify what it is in my books that my readers enjoy and I try and give them more of that.

Holly: How do you celebrate a new release?

Gigi Rivers: Food and drink! I like to go out for dinner with my husband or enjoy a few cocktails or glasses of prosecco at my local bar.

The Pirate and the Naiad (Book 1: Pirates and Water nymphs.)

Holly: How did you come up with the idea for this book?

Gigi Rivers: This was the third book I wrote. As with my first two books, it included water nymphs. But I wanted to branch out and challenge myself a little. This book has more adventure type themes and involves fighting and battles with an enemy. Although that is the subplot. The main focus is still the MM romance. I love writing the romance! I can’t remember exactly why I wanted to write pirates. But pirates are awesome!

Holly: What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Gigi Rivers: The battle scenes. As I mentioned, I had never written one before, and this book has several! But I had a lot of fun writing them.

The Pirate and The Naiad

Blurb:

A pirate captain. A naiad who despises him. An MM fantasy romance.

Raiya despises humans. They abducted him from his home, kept him in captivity, and forced him to fight other nymphs. But when a pirate ship crewed by both naiads and humans rescues him, he is confused at seeing them working and living together. What’s more baffling is his attraction to the ship’s captain, with his calm confidence, broad shoulders, and steely grey eyes. Even so, Raiya will never give in to his desire for a human.

Silas is the pirate captain of the Naiad’s Revenge. His mission is to lead the crew in their fight against the Order. But when Raiya comes aboard, Silas can’t deny his attraction to the scowling naiad stalking around his ship. However, Raiya clearly loathes Silas, so there is no point wishing for something more.

As they fight alongside each other, Raiya realises that Silas is different from the humans he’s dealt with before. Still, after everything humans have done to Raiya, could he ever love one?

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