An Author's Favorite Books

Author Kristen Beairsto is in the house today! 
In between her to-be-read pile and trying to bring the characters in her head alive, Kristen spends as much time as she can with family and friends.  Much to her husband’s dismay, she enjoys collecting purses, shoes, and jewelry.  During those rare times she’s not working at her day job, rushing her daughters somewhere, watching movies with her husband, and trying to meet a deadline, she can usually be found energetically cheering for one of her favorite New York sports teams.

As with just about every other writer on the planet, Kristen grew up an avid reader.  She started with young adult before she technically hit the age range and moved on to sci-fi classics by Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury.  At fifteen, her best friend gave her a book she just had to read!  The book was Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts.  Always a sucker for a happy ending, she was a goner and fell in love with the romance genre.  Having started writing novel length stories at the age of eleven, Kristen’s stories all took a romantic turn from that point on.

She's a busy gal but she took the time to make us a list...

13 Favorite Books!

1. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen – 

Austen had me at the first line - of course rich men want a wife = ) 

2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – 

I love her voice

3. Honest Illusions by Nora Roberts - 

the first romance novel I ever read

4. Taming The Shrew by William Shakespeare - 

I know this isn't technically a book but it's one of my all time favorites

5. Hearts Aflame by Johanna Lindsey - 

the heroine is a six foot green eyed blond Viking named Kristen - 

it's like she wrote about me from a previous life LOL! I wish! 

6. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - 

one of my favorite heroines who face adversity and thrives despite her mistakes

7. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury – 

he had a way of commenting on life without beating you over the head with his message

8. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain – 

the first grown-up book my grandmother gave to me

9. The Rake by Mary Jo Putney – 

the first historical romance novel I ever read, 

it brought together my love of history and romance novels

10.  Little Women by Louisa May Alcott – 

Jo always felt like a long lost sister

11. Nobody’s Darling by Teresa Medeiros – 

my first western historical romance novel and the discovery that I have a thing for cowboys ; )

12. The Darkness Chosen Series by Christina Dodd – 

Love her!!

13.  1984 by George Orwell – 

I wouldn’t say this is a favorite book, but it’s always stuck with me

Kristen's Book: Sugar & Spice
Sugar and spice makes everything nice, but mixing business and pleasure can come with a price . . .

Francis Stevens – Frankie to her friends – has declared herself permanently single after a couple of monumentally disastrous relationships.  And she doesn’t mind at all.  Between the international expansion of the lingerie catalog company she runs with her friends, labor strikes, and her regular work load, she has little time for love or a relationship.

But Royce Weston has other ideas.  After his family accuses him of becoming a workaholic, a chance encounter with Frankie at a night club has his mind on things other than business.  As luck would have it, Royce winds up the executive assigned to work with Frankie and her lingerie company when she partners with his family’s investment firm to fund her expansion.

Despite Frankie’s outward appearance of confidence and swagger, insecurities rear up and cause her to over compensate and drive harder for what she wants.  Doubts weigh her down and with Royce watching her every move, she fights to keep her businesswoman’s façade firmly in place.  But while Frankie tries her best to keep her mind on business, she can’t ignore the way Royce’s touch makes her feel or the fact that he makes it clear he’s interested in more than just a business relationship.  When all of her defense mechanisms fail to keep him at arm’s length, Frankie finds herself wondering: is it possible to mix business and pleasure?

Share some of your favorite books. Are they the same as Kristen's books? Do you have others? Kristen we be back to check in and chat with anyone who COMMENTS.