INTERVIEW WITH AUTHOR ZRINKA JELIC

Friends, please welcome someone I recently “met” online, Zrinka Jelic. Although I haven’t yet had a chance to read her books, I intend to. And don’t you love her name? Since I have a common name, I love distinctive names. Growing up, there were so many girls named Caroline, Carolyn, Carol, and Karen that I longed for an unusual name. That’s especially so because my maiden name is Johnson. 

Enough about me, today we are learning more about Zrinka, so on with the interview.

Zrinka Jelic, Author

  

Caroline: Tell us about growing up. Where did you grow up?

Zrinka: First seven years of my life, I lived on an island in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia. The island didn’t have high school and after the summer my sister started the high school, we moved to the city. It was quite a shock for me to come from a small village that only had a few students in each grade to a huge school with over 30 children per one teacher and numerous 1^st graders. My family was mostly out working, or in school. There was no before and after school care offered in those days, so I’d spend many hours alone. But I adapted and life carried on.

Caroline: I had a similar shock, but in reverse. Until I was almost eight, we lived in a large town in Southern California. Then we moved  to a rural area in West Texas where I had to ride a school bus. What’s your favorite way to relax and recharge?

Zrinka: That would be writing and reading. I also love doing yoga and working out in the gym. Especially this new gym I just joined, some serious muscle to drool over while I’m on that treadmill. A good incentive not to skip my workout.

Caroline: Do you have a favorite quote that sums up how you feel about life?

Zrinka: Life is an echo. What you throw out there comes back at you. In another words, do good and good will come to you.

Caroline: A helpful quote. How long have you been writing?

Zrinka: I’ve been scribbling most of my life, but only started at the serious level in 2009. Since then I’ve come a long way.

Caroline: You certainly have. Where do you prefer to write?

Zrinka: My couch or in front of TV if we’re watching a movie. We don’t have cable, but we do rent or buy DVDs. Latest was the 3^rd season of “Game of Thrones”.  Since we didn’t really see 2^nd or 1^st we watched the whole thing backwards. LOL, but I kind of got into it. At first all I was interested in were the scenes done in Dubrovnik, Croatia. They used the city as a “Kings Landing”. The city is such a pearl of the Adriatic that I’d hate for the world to think of it as Kings Landing. You have to visit to truly experience the city, the history, the people.

Caroline: Do you need quiet, music, solitude?

Zrinka: Music is a definite must. Not just to block my kids from bugging me but it’s an inspiration.

 Caroline: Do you use a PC or laptop?

Zrinka: Laptop, can’t imagine being tied to a PC. Need my mobility.

Caroline: Do you use real events or persons in your stories or as an inspiration for stories?

Zrinka: Yes, I do but since I write paranormal, I give the stories a twist. I love to resurrect local legends of tragic love and play on that.

Caroline: I also love local legends. Do you get a chance to write every day?

Zrinka: Not every day, though I do try. With a full time job and family it’s hard to carve time for writing when that laundry basket is overflowing, or have to take kids to their afterschool activities. But I put in what I can, even if it’s a couple of hundred words or if work on edits, I always make a point to open my wip and work on it for an hour before bed.

Caroline: I admire you for being able to juggle all your duties.What do you hope your writing brings to readers?

Zrinka: An escape from everyday world. And also a message that life is what you make of it. Happiness is not necessarily finding love, but finding peace. Once your life is in balance, everything else will follow. And if it should fall out of balance, reflect and try to pinpoint where did that happen. Did you let a wrong person in your life? Bad things do happen if we fall under the influence of others who don’t inspire us to be better person than we were yesterday.

Would you like to tell us what you’re working on now? I’m working on a prequel to my debut novel BONDED BY CRIMSON. I’m titling this one ROSE OF CRIMSON and taking readers some 6 years back in time when young Kate first met Miles (Matthias) and he “shows” her the story of his tragic life and love.

Caroline: Share a fun fact readers wouldn’t know about you.

Zrinka: There was a phase during my university days I actually despised romances. I read works of Marx and Pushkin, Shakespeare (but not Romeo and Juliet) not even knowing that some of those works are romances, like Pushkin’s “Onegin”. 

Caroline: Where can readers learn more about you?

Zrinka: Where to find me?

Visit my blog: http://forromanceloversonly.blogspot.ca/

Find me on: Facebook Twitter  Amazon Kobo

 Caroline: Can you give readers a blurb about your book?

Zrinka: My debut novel,  BONDED BY CRIMSON, released on January 28th 2012, and it is available in all formats at Black Opal Books, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble Kobobooks and All Romance eBooks

BONDED BY CRIMSON Blurb:

Love isn’t in the cards for her…

After her short failed marriage, Kate tries to rebuild her life and takes a position as a nanny to three small boys. She quickly grows to love them, but their father, terrifies her, while igniting a passion she didn’t know she possessed. Disturbed by his distant manner with his sons, Kate struggles to make him more involved in the boys’ daily lives. Her efforts are mysteriously supported by an entity that cannot really exist. Or can she? And if she does exist, is she really trying to help Kate, or just take over her body?

But when he deals the hand, all bets are off…

Six years after his beloved wife passed away, Matthias is still trying to become the father she wanted him to be. Not an easy task for a three-centuries-old immortal. His search for the ultimate nanny ends when Kate Rokov stumbles to his home and into his arms. The immediate attraction he feels for her seems like a betrayal of his dead wife, a love he’s harboured for over three hundred years. But when Kate is stalked by a deadly stranger, life he clung to in the past begins to crumble and break down. Can Matthias learn to trust and to love again in time to save his family from disaster, or will his stubborn pride destroy everything worth living for?

BONDED BY CRIMSON Excerpt:

He claimed to be immortal, but that was ridiculous...wasn’t it?

Kate’s heart hammered. The experience seemed so real. A low moan escaped her and she bit her lip. Soon warmth surged through her, causing her body to go limp. Her legs gave way underneath her, but Matthias—or whoever this man claimed to be now—wrapped his arm around her waist. His sweet, musky scent clung to her. Ecstasy filled her and she felt as if she hovered in the air. If he intended to kill her like this, she could imagine no better way to die. A voice echoed through her mind, speaking of undying love in centuries old Croatian.

“Wake up,” he whispered close to her ear, his strong arms still locked around her.

“I don’t want to.” Her head wobbled, exuberant with sheer happiness, a kind she had never experienced before.

“You must.” He stroked her hair with tender fingers. “Wake up now.”

“No. I want to stay like this. Forever.” She focused on his handsome face staring at her through her haze.

His smooth cheek brushed against hers. “Me too, but you must wake.”

The fog lifted and his image appeared, clearly now. She blinked once. Twice. What had happened? She pushed away from him and flattened her back against the wall.

“You, you—”

“You,” he said, pointing at her, “asked for proof.”

Watch the book trailer: Bonded by Crimson

BONDED BY CRIMSON Reviews

I had many wonderful reviews on this novel, but this is where you can read my absolute favorite review of BONDED BY CRIMSON.

"Bonded by Crimson" is a beautifully written, almost poetic piece of literary fiction. The language to me was one of the main strengths of the book.

The story is simple: Kate arrives to become the latest of a string of failed nannies to a remote home in Canada. The Croatian widower both frightens and attracts her but she loves the children and stays…”

“Is Bonded by Crimson, by Zrinka Jelic, a paranormal romance? Yes, it is, but if you’re looking for ravenous werewolves, bloodthirsty vampires, vicious ghosts, or superhuman lovers, it probably isn’t your kind of book. While there are references to the past, the book is set in the present. In the present most people, including the female protagonist, don’t believe in, or at least try to make themselves think they don’t believe in, the paranormal. In this novel the paranormal is real…”

“A refreshing take on a vampire/ghost story. This is packed full of myth and Adriatic charm. I love that part of the story is set in Croatia and we get to live the beautiful culture and scenery…”

“I Love the story of Kate and Matthias. Taking a position as a nanny in Matthias household there is an instant attraction. Who is Matthias and what is his secret?”

Thanks for stopping by!