Author and hopeless romantic, Ariana Rose, dabbles in all forms of contemporary romance. All her novels do have one thing in common. Her heroes and heroines are as passionate about life and love as they care about each other.
A mother of two, she hails from the Midwest. Born and raised in the Minneapolis area, she’s always been a storyteller and known to have a flair for the dramatic. Her daughter is just across the border attending college and is a go-to for all things web design. Her son is a busy middle schooler who loves all things penguins, science, gaming, cars, and the weather. He’s been known to hang in many Storm Chaser marathons with Mom. Ariana’s fur baby (a beagle/lab) can be found curled next to her while she writes unless chasing squirrels and finding puppy friends becomes a more pressing issue.
When Ariana is not writing, she can be found at the rink in a figure skating lesson, binge-watching her favorite shows, watching an 80s movie she’s seen hundreds of times, exploring history, or traveling to any of her current or new favorite places.
She first published in August of 2018. Her Stone Trilogy was the leaping point. Her next novel, Twisted, in K. Bromberg’s Driven World, will follow with its sequel Entwined in the summer of 2021. You can find her first sports romance, Bitter Edge, in the Cocky Hero World.
Turn To Stone (The Stone Trilogy Book 1)
Release Date:
August 28, 2018
Publisher:
Ariana Rose
Cover Design:
Mary Ruth
Welcome Ariana to Jeny's TattleTales
Welcome to Jeny's TattleTales on my blog! Today, I am going to ask you some questions for my blog on my website then we will continue with a quick interview for my podcast! Sounds good?
Yes! Thank you, Jeny’ for having me today as the author on spotlight on your website, podcast, and YouTube channel.
Let's start with the first question: What are some things that most people don’t know about you?
I love figure skating. It’s been something that has sustained me for over 30 years. I love all aspects of it. I got the pleasure of letting that love translate into my first sports romance Bitter Edge. It has taught me the value of hard work, when you fall you must get back up quickly. It’s given me a second family. It’s given me one of my best friends. It’s also given me some of the biggest challenges both mentally and physically as well as some of my biggest heartbreaks. My creative spirit lives in many ways. It’s my way to feel completely free.
How do you choose the names and physical characteristics of your characters? Do you base them on real people?
They seem to just come to me much like how you decide on how to name your child. Sometimes the inspiration comes from the person or persons they are based on and you reinvent their name.
I generally base every character I have with the physicality of an actual human in mind. It allows me to be able to visualize everything from a walk, how they move or talk. It makes them become more real.
What are two (or more) of your all-time favorite books in any genre?
The Gabriel’s Inferno Series by Sylvain Reynard, The Driven Series by Kristy Bromberg, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.
If a reader could do one thing to help their favorite author, what would it be?
Promote them and review their work. Nothing helps more than those two things
Your life would be absolutely complete if…?
I could turn one of my novels into a screenplay that would be filmed for the small screen. That’s the ultimate. It would marry so many of my passions into one.
The last question is…
What would you most like to say to your readers?
If I could have written my story, it wouldn’t have started like this. I have dreams that are waiting to burst out of me, but my present is suffocating my future. I want more for myself regardless of who doesn’t.
I vow to find my center in a new city. I will be able to make any and every choice I want without guilt or fear. That is until I find myself terrified of something new, Julian Stone.
My heart is still healing but I find myself completely drawn to a man who is dark, sexy, passionate, and terrified to live. I know how that feels. He appears to be living his dream, but can’t lay his past to rest. It bleeds into his every waking moment.
I want to leap headfirst into him, believing he will catch me.
If he does, I know together we can tear down everything holding us back and build something stronger.
Together, we will be whole.
Turn to Stone Excerpt
Fantasy.
Fantasy is the best kind of hope and the worst kind of evil. It can take you so high you have to look down to see heaven. It can also take you so deep the quicksand will swallow you whole. I’ve had both. I’ve had both at the same time. Is it the worst kind of sin? You want what you can’t have and may even be looking beyond the things you should be grateful for.
I’ve been in love twice in my life. The first?
Toxic.
I thought it was everything I needed and wanted. I felt safe and secure at first, but it quickly deteriorated. I was his arm candy; a prize he could show off, and nothing more. Hearing the words “I love you” from him always had a price. It usually meant my body. Whether it was my mind or sex; he always took from me. He never gave.
The second…
The second is trickier.
He was everything I could have ever wanted. Beautiful inside and out, brilliant and funny…did I mention sexy? He put a wall up, though. The typical person would never know his insecurities, but I saw them. I saw every flaw and imperfection, and it only made him…more.
I could never tell him that, though. It’s not because I couldn’t find the words or wasn’t brave enough. It was because of her. They were together. That’s the way it appeared to everyone anyway. The way she smiled at him and hung on his every word. She seemed to breathe for him, and I could never compete with that.
I wasn’t cultured like she was, or from an extravagant family. I had a father who worshipped the ground I walked on. I had many friends who would go to the mat and beyond. Some of whom held all my deepest and darkest secrets. I was even more scarred than he was, more flawed and more complex than anyone would ever be ready for. I could never destroy what he had, nor would I want to, but…
I can’t stop the thoughts.
So here I sit, on the bench right outside my tiny apartment off Piedmont Park. I’m a stone’s throw from where we first collided.
Stone.
See? Even my subconscious knows.
My journal is getting an earful because it’s the only place I can be honest. I write three words over and over again, the words that both terrify and excite me.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
One day, I hope he’ll know how much.
Character Interview
Julian Stone
Character’s Name
Julian Stone. I’m the hero from The Stone Trilogy
How would people physically describe you?
I think it’s best that you ask Alexandra about that. 😉 Although, I think she will be more biased
What’s your backstory?
Where did you come from? My father is a well known businessman, not always for the right reasons. He’s never been supportive of my chosen profession, but my mother has and always will. She is the most selfless person in my life.
What do you think of Ariana Rose?
Did he/she portray you accurately? I feel a kinship with her. She seems to understand me in a way most don’t. She, much like my Lex, can see parts of my soul I keep hidden.
If you could map out the next five years of your life, what would that look like?
The next five years? I think…. well, if I told you that, you might not read our saga
What actors would you like in the main roles if your book were made into a movie?
I’ve spoken to Ariana about this in detail. There is a gent in South Africa who models and has potential acting inspiration that I would think could understand my story well. His name is Karl Kugelmann.
Everyone is made up of both good and bad elements. What are your best qualities and what are your worst qualities?
I think I have one that is both my best and worst all wrapped into one. I believe there is good in all people. That has led me to people past and present in my circle that hold me up and remind me of who I am but then I tend to keep all those who don’t have my best interests at heart which becomes toxic.
Twisted Excerpt
Wes only takes the word no for so long before it becomes irrelevant what you say. He’s tried to get me to go out for the last six months. Nothing crazy, at least nothing crazy by his standards. He insists I need to simply wade into the cesspool, even if I don’t drink.
I could always write it off with a work function or a good nondescript prior engagement. However, tonight, he said there was a surprise waiting for me, so my normal no or not tonight could fuck right off. He even is going to pick me up so I can’t back out.
When he lets himself in with his key at nine-thirty, I’ve got U2 on and up, nursing a beer pregame on my couch. “Jesus Christ, will you fire up?” Wes tosses my jacket at me. “I won’t push the clear potential we’ll see tonight at you, just don’t be a Debbie Downer, would ya please?”
“Look, I’m going along with this because of your shitty insistence. Don’t push it by forcing me to like it.”
Our circle of friends has had Top Gun style call signs since I can’t remember when. It would be easier to say how long we haven’t had them. We’ve either taken a persona or had one given to us. For better or worse, Wes and I are Maverick and Goose. He’s the cocky shit, and I’m the cleanup wingman specialist. They couldn’t have been better suited for anyone else.
I dig my fingertips into my eyeballs while Wes chats with the doorman at Tao. Fuck. Tao. This is not the scene I’m up for. However, it’s not the place Wes would usually pick, so it has me curious why we’re here. The low profile draw of this place leads me to a couple of choices. I should have needed only one.
“Wood! What the fuck?” I clasp hands with Colton Donavan and pull him in for a couple of pats on the back. “I should have known you had something to do with this.”
“I’m only in town for the night, and this asshole behind you told me you’ve gone soft. I needed to see it for myself.”
Colton, Wes, and I have known each other for about a decade. We met at a fundraiser some time back. Our parents hit it off, and naturally, we did too. We all were about the same time in our lives. Colton and I seemed to steer into our relationships, while Wes didn’t feel the need, and we love him for it.
I glance over at Wes. “So West Coast is getting in on the save Elijah Sawyer from himself action?”
“Jesus. Check that pole in your ass. I’m going to get the first round. Colton? Usual?” Wes asks.
“Yeah, just one. I need to be able to check-in sober with the kids and my wife tonight.”
“God damn. I’m the only one of us who still remembers what it’s like in bachelor town. Thank fuck!”
“Fuck would be the word, wouldn’t it, Mav?” Colton chides.
Wes seems really affected by that small exchange. I’m stuck in the middle looking between the two of them, wondering what I’ve stepped into. “I’ll take an IPA if you’re buying,” I add.
“I’ve got you. Give me ten.” Wes follows a slender redhead closely to the bar side where he engages in a mood-changing conversation, as evidenced by the change in his posture and animation.
“Some things don’t change eh, Eli.”
“What was that side of awkward with you and Wes?”
“He never told you? Tawny went to him with a song and dance while she was fucking with Rylee and me. He landed square in her bed. He knew what she did and went anyway. Tawny has her own life, and I have mine. She’s inconsequential, but I’ll never understand his choice. Forgive not forget.”
“I feel like I should say I’m sorry or something.”
“Fuck that. Don’t. Move on.”
“How is Rylee? I know things were tense for a while. Show me the kids. Mom went on and on about your baby and Zander. I think your mother sent pictures every week for a year.” I laugh.
“Rylee is strong. She’s got more courage than I could ever hope for, too. She shows me new ways of being every day. I’m not surprised by my mother. She’s nearly as proud as I am. Ace may look like me, but he’s everything like Ryles. Zander is special. Come out west. Meet them.”
“This fall. I’ll come. I promise.”
Colton calls me out. “Is that a promise like you will, or a promise like you likely made Wes tonight about you attempting to enjoy yourself?”
“Please don’t start.”
“Then finish it. Christ, Eli. It’s been over two years.”
“That’s rich coming from you. You self-sabotage better than anyone I know. Preaching to me about it is bullshit.”
The Colton I knew back in the day would have taken a swing at me for a comment like that. I can see the tension in his hand as he takes his wedding ring and twists it back and forth until he looks up and leans in. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right. I don’t want you to walk even a fraction of that path. I’m not going to open season on Tori. I think you know what I would say without question. Here’s the deal. Living is so much better than not. You’ve been there.”
“Yeah, I know. Past tense.”
“I’m only going to say this once, so pay attention, Sawyer. You had everything I ever wanted that I was too afraid to get until, and even after, Rylee. This is not a planet where I live that life and you don’t. This time you could walk away with the checkered flag. Get back on the track.”
Bitter Edge Excerpt
We make it down to the Sun Valley Club with the sun still high overhead. Coach holds the outside door for me as I hobble in. Just near the right of the host stand sits a lone man. His sunglasses are down. He’s leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, scrolling on his phone. He looks like he is some stuffy executive who is in need of a shave and a haircut. As I look around there seems to be no one else waiting. Please say this isn’t the secret weapon.
He slides his glasses to the top of his head, taking a bit of the mop with him. When he stands, my crutches come to above his waist. “Hello, Coach Mason, Brian.”
Coach B extends his hand. “Spencer, nice to see you in person. Cierra, this is Spencer Broten. Spencer, this is Cierra Avila.”
I balance on my left crutch and offer my hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Pleasure. Still on the crutches? We’ll have to work on that. I have a connection for a better knee brace for you as well. It will allow for easier mobility.”
“See, ideas already. I like it. Do we have a table yet, Spencer?” Coach asks.
Straight into I’m irrelevant I see. This will go well.
“I was waiting for you. Cierra, would you like to pick the table? We’ll follow.”
Gee, I get a choice? Thank you. “My vote is one closest to the bar.”
“Lead on then, Princess. Your wish is our command.”
I look at Coach; he smirks but says nothing. I hobble past Mr. No Manners and slide into a chair about ten feet from the bar and slide my crutches away under the table. Coach sits to my left while Spencer opts for across instead of to my right.
This is how you want to lead off? Sounds like a plan. This will be over before it starts.
~~~
Before the menus are even opened, I’m told the drink I’m ordering is the last one for a while. With the phone his face was in earlier, Spencer pulls up his notes on a “plan” for me. He says it starts with attitude, diet, and then add in the rehab. Then he orders my dinner without even asking what I want, he texts me a copy of our daily routine and an outline of our week by week exercises. Who does he think he is? A drill instructor?
Coach seems to be down for everything. He’s letting Spencer run the show. I don’t understand. I thought this was about the team. The longer we sit here, the angrier I get. I stuff my face in silence to get this over with faster, while B and Spencer become fast friends. I can’t stomach this anymore. “Since my new routine starts tomorrow, I’d like to go back to my room and get prepared. Are we finished for tonight?”
“We can refresh in the morning. Sure. All you need to do is be dressed to move and have a good attitude. I’ll be by to get you at seven sharp.”
I think about clapping back with a smart comment, but I don’t want to give him the satisfaction. I limp off alone. Before I exit out the front of the building, I look back at a handshake between them.
I stop on one of the winding paths back to my room. There is a text waiting from my mother.
Mom: How was dinner? Did you like Spencer?
Did I like him she asks? Jesus. This wasn’t a date.
Me: Boot camp would have been easier. Thanks for the keeper.
I have no idea how to navigate this obvious gang mentality. I hope something will come to me in my sleep.
