BooksChatter: ℚ♫ Groupie: Rock-Hard Beautiful [1]

Today we have the pleasure of meeting up with author C.M. Stunich to talk about Groupie (21 March 2017, Sarian Royal, 394 pages), a New Adult Reverse Harem Romance, book one of Rock-Hard Beautiful series.

"It's raunchy, raw, dirty, sexy, a tad emotional but oh so very yummy. I was hooked from the very beginning. Page after page held me captive. " - Jennifer's Book Obsession

"C.M. Stunich brought these characters, and their love, to life for me within these pages. This love is endearing, STEAMY, and beautiful; the characters are vibrant, loud, and clashing in exactly the right ways." - Elizabeth Mathis, Amazon Reviewer

|| Synopsis || Trailer || Teaser: KCR Preview || Author Q&A || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

A very warm welcome to C.M. Stunich; thank you for joining us on BooksChatter!

Here at BooksChatter we love music, so C.M. Stunich has shared with us her music playlist for Groupie - enjoy!

What was the inspiration for Groupie?

"Oh my god, Groupie came up on me out of nowhere when I was lying in bed. I have a tendency to get too many ideas, so I didn't pay a lot of attention to it at first. I wrote it down in one of my “idea notebooks” (I may or may not be a member of notebooks anonymous; I totally have an addiction!) and happened to mention it to my cover designer. She ended up making the cover before the book was even written! That's what got me into working on it so quickly. I've always loved rockstars—I wrote another rocker series called Hard Rock Roots first—but I wanted to see what would happen if one girl fell in love with all five guys in the band … and didn't have to choose between them. ;)"

How much of yourself is reflected in this book, and how?

"Wow, so much. I'm not a musician, but I was a concert junkie in my teens and early twenties (and still kind of am), so I grew up around the “scene”. The type of guys I write about in my rockstar stories are the ones I knew (and lusted after!). Although my main character, Lilith, and I are very different people, I wrote this book the way I'd want things to go down if I were in her position."

The first thing that draws me to a book is its cover. Can you tell us about your cover for Groupie - why you chose that concept and who the artist is.

"My cover artist is actually my best friend, Amanda; she's done all my covers from the very beginning. In our initial conversation about this book (before it was even written), I mentioned wanting something different than couples or half-naked guys (although I can never quite get enough of those...), and she came up with this beautiful design before I'd even finished the book. I think it suits the tone of the story perfectly!"

Why should we read Groupie and what sets it apart from the rest? What makes your book unique?

"This is an easy one! “Groupie” is unique because there's not one, not two, but FIVE love interests for our heroine, Lilith. She gets to fall in love (and in bed) with five dark, glittering rockstar boys...and she doesn't have to choose between them. This book is about six people with hard pasts coming together to create something beautiful during a whirlwind tour across the United States."

Can you tell us something quirky about Groupie, its story and characters?

"Oh, this book is full of quirks! To make five separate love interests each pop in their own individual ways, they had to have strong but unique personalities. To start off with, my close friend and I actually looked up boy bands—even though my book is about rockstars—and looked at the 6 archetypes. Basically all boy bands have at least 5 of the 6 in their ranks. We started with those (boy next door, bad boy, class clown, etc), and then began to refine the guys, really getting to know their individual personalities. That was probably my favorite portion of the writing process."

Who would you recommend Groupie to and what should readers be aware of (any warnings or disclaimers)?

"I would recommend this book to romance and erotica readers, people who like steam and ugly cry emo-tions, lovers of the reverse harem genre, and anyone that's looking for something a little different than the usual. As far as warnings or disclaimers, if you are not a fan of explicit sex scenes, this might not be the right book for you. Also, you have to be willing to suspend conventionality and accept a different way of looking at relationships."

If you could / wished to turn Groupie and the Rock-Hard Beautiful series into a movie, who would be your dream team?

"Oh, I'm terrible at these questions! LOL I'm not big into celebrities or directors, so I never know who I'd cast. My best way of answering this is to direct you over to my Pinterest (pinterest.com/cmstunich). The guys and girls I pin there are the closest representations I can find to my characters. I always end up trying to cast Evan Peters in all my fantasy films because I'm obsessed with him, but other than that I draw a blank on movie names. I'm too busy reading and writing to watch much! ;)"

What do you like to write and read about? Do you stick to a particular genre or do you like to explore different ones?

"I write about everything. I think the old school model of an author sticking to one genre is going by the wayside. I write erotica, new adult, young adult, fantasy, romance, rockstars, bikers, etc. Whatever comes to me, I just take it and roll with it. I also write under a pen name, Violet Blaze. Oddly enough, I try to read outside of whatever I'm writing, just to avoid being too strongly influenced. You'll usually find me with an urban fantasy or a high fantasy young adult book in hand."

What is your writing process?

"My writing process is all over the place. It's fluid, and it seems to change with each book. Of course, I always make a playlist, load up on snacks and drinks (unsweetened ice tea is my weakness!), and drape myself with kitties for writing buddies. ;) I normally write a raw draft, give it to my best friend, and then reread it with her critiques before I pass it onto anyone else. I never outline though, just go with the flow and see where the story takes me. I usually end up just as surprised as the reader!"

What is in store next?

"The next two books in this trilogy are May releases, followed by a few sequels to some of my other series (the Bad Nanny Trilogy and the Tasting Never Series), and then a couple more reverse harem (one girl, lots of male love interests) series will be debuting. I have “Pack Ebon Red”, a werewolf romance, and “Beautiful Survivors”, a young adult/new adult romance. All of the above are up for preorder on Amazon (Nook, iTunes, Kobo, etc will publish on release day)."

And as a final quirky thing, to get to know you a little bit better... do you have a pet or something that is special to you that you could share with us?

"A lot of people don't know, but I run a small cat rescue operation from my house. I have 1.5 acres fenced off with a special “cat fence” made of black mesh that curves at the top and actually keeps the cats from leaving the yard. I also house cats in my garage, nurse motherless baby kittens, and take care of pregnant kitties in my spare bedroom. This is a picture of me and my personal cat, Liall!"

Wow! That is fantastic - I'd love to be able to do that (at the moment we have eight cats) and have wanted to use that fencing in my own garden for ages! Glad to hear it works :-) Definitely kudos to you! And of course thank you for sharing gorgeous Liall with us - lots of cuddles to her!