Welcome to the first Sins & Authors post, where your favorite authors sit down and chat about The Artists Trilogy. Today we have the lovely Courtney Cole who talks about her con artist alias, sexy Camden scenes and her newest book.

Karina: So Courtney, to get us all caught up on the books for people who haven’t read them, the In a sentence, describe what Sins & Needles is about.

Courtney: A hard-edged girl who goes home to hide and to heal, only to find more trouble than she bargained for and the man who is worth the trouble.

Karina: LOVE IT! Seriously, you should write my blurbs lol. Okay, so Ellie Watt, our heroine, is a con artist who is easily misunderstood. Name some things you admire about Ellie.

Courtney: I loved Ellie’s character because even though she’s hard-edged and tough, she’s soft on the inside. She’s damaged and vulnerable. Because of that, she’s strong. I love smart strong heroines.

Karina: Most readers are severely (but passionately) divided over the two male leads in the book, Camden McQueen and Javier Bernal. Whose team are you on and why?

Courtney: I’m Team Camden all the way. There’s something about an underdog that gets me… and what’s more underdog than a kid who was bullied in high school growing up to be badass and amazing… but yet still troubled and vulnerable on the inside? Camden melted my panties. (Was that TMI?)

Karina: You can never be too TMI with me! Your character from the best-selling If You Stay, Pax, is a bit of an asshole and rough around the edges (just the way I like them!). Do you think Pax and Ellie would make a good couple? Why or why not?

Courtney: Nope. I don’t think they would make a good couple at all. Like Ellie, Pax is damaged. He needs someone more whole, more emotionally healthy than Ellie in order to help him heal. Mila was definitely his perfect match.

Karina: Two wrongs don’t make a right! What scene in Sins & Needles was most memorable to you?

Courtney: I loved the scene when Camden and Ellie had sex after *spoiler* died. It was making love– soft and sweet. It was perfect.

Karina: Definitely understated. Any favorite quotes?

Courtney: “I regret my actions but I can’t reject the consequences. Everyone we meet, everything we do, it changes us.” I love that, because it’s the truth.

Karina: If you were to get arrested, what would it be for?

Courtney: Hmmmmm. Probably for drinking too many long islands and streaking down the street.

Karina: Remind me to buy you a long island next time I see you. Now, if you were a con artist, what would your alias be?

Courtney: Ooohhh. Something awesome, like Willow Zane. Or Alessa Michaels.

Karina: And those might up being great pen names! Tell me a bit about your next book.

Courtney: My next book, IF YOU LEAVE, is the second book in the Beautifully Broken series, which comes out on August 6th. It follows Madison and Gabriel… two people who are broken, but tough and bad ass at the same time. In the first book, Pax was a badboy. I wanted to do a story about a badass hero this time around– so Gabriel is an ex-Army Ranger. I love a man in uniform. 🙂

Karina: Sigh. Me too. I can’t wait to get my little paws on this!! SO soon now, six days! *dances for Courtney*

Courtney Cole is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could.

She has a degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds.

Every Last Kiss is her debut novel and she followed it with the rest of The Bloodstone Saga (Every Last Kiss, Fated, With My Last Breath and My Tattered Bonds).

Courtney lives in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming, her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from their mother) and a small domestic zoo.

Website: http://www.courtneycolewrites.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/courtneycolewrites

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Court_Writes

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3112212.Courtney_Cole