It is my GREAT honor today to be the first to host Alyse Carlson (aka Hart Johnson) on her first blog tour!!!

Facing the Flaws

Jessica has the dubious honor of being my first. That is to say she's my first host for my book blog tour and the first victim of an experiment of mine. (we'll see if it lasts)

The experiment currently has an N of 1 (a statement proving to all of you I'm a geek). But my GOAL is to find the common ground... something about the writing or blog content of the blog owner and apply THAT to the book I'm trying to promote.

Now I'm positive if Jessica and I met in person, we would have a TON of common ground. We seem to see life (and in particular, relationships) in similar ways. But because of divergent skills, she's gone CLASSY with that base and I've gone a little SILLY (or if serious, then YOUNG). She writes literary fiction and poetry. I write cozy mystery and YA (or conspiracy stuff).

But I think our common ground is in characterization. I've read String Bridge, with its wonderful, flawed but very real heroine, and it got me thinking... my main character is flawed and likeable anyway, too. So that is what I'm going with.


Cam Harris is a thirty-something public relations professional whose job is to share her two favorite things with the world: gardening and Roanoke, Virginia. As a PR pro, there is a single almighty priority. Damage control. That is behind her primary flaws.

See, Cam is a spin doctor of sorts and this has given her a fast and loose relationship with the truth. It's not that she out and out lies. She just tells everything in the prettiest way possible. And this leaks into her personal life, as well as her professional. Most of what she says has been filtered through a rose-colored lens.

Cam might also be a bit of a control freak. Because something tightly controlled doesn't spin off in an unexpected direction. And worst of all, Cam is a lightweight, and so chooses really tasteless light beer.

But her flaws are balanced with loyalty, compassion, friendship, and a good sense of fun, so I still think she is a winner as an MC.


The Azalea Assault

Cam Harris loves her job as public relations manager for the Roanoke Garden Society. It allows her to combine her three loves, spinning the press, showing off her favorite town, and promoting her favorite activity. She's just achieved a huge coup by enlisting Garden Delights, the country's premiere gardening magazine, to feature the exquisite garden of RGS founder, Neil Patrick. She's even managed to enlist world-famous photographer Jean-Jacques Georges. Unfortunately, Jean-Jacques is a first-rate cad—insulting the RGS members and gardening, goosing every woman in the room, and drinking like a lush. It is hardly a surprise when he turns up dead. But when Cam's brother-in-law is accused and her sister begs her to solve the crime, that is when things really get prickly.


Alyse Carlson is the pen name for the author some of you may know as Hart Johnson. She writes books from her bathtub and when she isn't writing, does research for a large, midwest University or leads the Naked World Domination Movement (your choice).


Links
Barnes & Noble Paperback or Nook
Amazon Paperback or Kindle

Confessions of a Watery Tart

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PS: Thank you so much to Amie McCracken and Rebecca Emin for helping me promote my latest poetry collection, Fabric, today!