Author Interview with Tawdra Kandle, Author of Best Served Cold

Sometimes revenge is your only choice. . .

Julia worked for weeks planning the perfect surprise birthday party for her boyfriend, Liam, but that night, she was the one who got the biggest shock. He broke up with her in front of all their friends, humiliating her in the process.

Clearly revenge was in order.

The plan is simple. Make him jealous, win him back, and then crush his heart. Fair is fair. However, there is one little hiccup and he has curly brown hair and dimples.

Jesse is everything she wants. With him, she could almost forget her bruised heart. Almost. Julia has one choice: let Liam walk away after everything he did, or lose a chance at love in pursuit of payback.

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Book Babe: Most authors have a moment of "inspiration", when a story idea hits them and they say, "I must write this!" How did this story come to be? What was your moment?

Tawdra: Most of my inspiration comes from music. In this instance, it was Miranda Lampert's song My Mama's Broken Heart, particularly the line "Sometimes revenge is a choice you gotta make." I started thinking about a girl who decided to seek revenge on an ex. At first, it was set in a small town, but eventually, it morphed to the college setting. Some of my own personal experience seeped in, and then. . .there it was.

Book Babe: Have you ever planned revenge on an ex?

Tawdra: Oh, I wish I could have some fascinating story about that . . .but no. The closest was probably once when I decided I would date an ex's friend in order to make him jealous and/or mad. That's about as much revenge as I plotted.

Book Babe: How did that go?

Tawdra: It didn't work right away, but later the ex admitted that it bothered him and made him regret breaking up with me. But it was too late!

Book Babe: Is there any of you or your personal traits in the heroine Julia?

Tawdra: Not as much in Julia as in some of my other female leads. Julia loves college, threw herself into the whole experience. . .I myself did not love college. I was seriously dating the man who would later become my husband, and so I took a train every weekend up to his college. Julia and I share a love of journalism and of sports (but NOT wrestling!), but other than that, she's pretty much her own person.

Book Babe: Sometimes authors base their characters on people they really know. Do you have a friend like Ava in your life?

Tawdra: I have a lot of friends who have my back no matter what. Ava is probably an amalgamation of those women in that way. Ava is also a bit like my oldest daughter, in that she is very driven and focused, though when her book comes out, we'll learn more about what made Ava that way--and it's not particularly like my daughter.

Book Babe: Have you ever been humiliated in public? Dish.

Tawdra: Hmmm. . .probably not humiliated, but embarrassed, for sure. I was in our town's "Miss" pageant, a feeder for Miss New Jersey and Miss America, about a hundred years ago, and my talent was dancing. It was great except that my costume apparently didn't have as much support as I might have hoped during certain moves. Oh, well. . .but that was no one's fault save my own.

Book Babe: *chuckling but trying not to* I've had a *clears throat* wardrobe malfunction myself. So, is Liam secretly based on an ex in your own past?

Ava?

Tawdra: He did start out that way. The whole basis of his break-up with Julia came from something that happened to me, though I made some big changes to protect the guilty. And I am pretty sure Liam will turn out to be a slightly better guy than my ex, who was really a jerk. However, the whole concept of Julia's 'I didn't even want to date him!' is definitely true-to-life; this guy asked me out while I was secretly crushing on his best friend. I said yes and lived to regret it. As I said. . .a hundred years ago.

Book Babe: A common question, but I honestly love to know. Who would you cast if this was made into a movie or TV show?

Tawdra: This is a tough one. Okay, I needed help, so I reached out to fans. According to the Pinterest boards, Shailene Woodley would be an awesome Julia. Robbie Amell is nominated for Liam, Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Jesse. Or maybe a younger Josh Duhamel? Ava? Hmm, need an Italian actress! How about Alessandra Mastronardi? And for Giff. . .maybe Jake Abel?

Book Babe: Growing up, what authors did you enjoy reading and who would you credit for your interest in the writing profession?

Tawdra: Laura Ingalls Wilder was hugely influential, as was Madeleine L'Engle. I read anything I could get my hands on. Margaret Mitchell was one of my first big inspirations, too. Gone With The Wind. . .does it get any better?

Book Babe: Not writing related, but I always asks this... Do you have pets? Please feel free to share photos as well as details.

Tawdra: Oh, do I? I have a sweet Malti-Pom named Kaipo (Po Po for short) and FIVE cats. Yes. I am the crazy cat lady. They are Della, Dixie, Calypso, Chessie and Lenni. We almost had a sixth, but I managed to convince my daughter and son-in-law to adopt her, and now I have a grand-kitty named Stormy.

Tawdra Kandle has been a writer since pens were invented. Her first published story appeared in Child Life magazine when she was 13 years old. She took a brief hiatus of about thirty years to hone her craft, get married and have four children before publishing the young adult quartet The King Series. She has since published books in both the adult and new adult romantic genre. Tawdra lives in Florida with her husband and children, both skin and fur-types. Oh, and yes--she has purple hair.


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