An Interview with Lisa Brown Roberts, author of Spies, Lies and Allies.
Award-winning romance author Lisa Brown Roberts still hasn’t recovered from the teenage catastrophes of tweezing off both eyebrows, or that time she crashed her car into a tree while trying to impress a guy. It’s no wonder she loves to write romantic comedies. Lisa’s books have earned praise from Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, and the School Library Journal. She lives in Colorado with her family, in which pets outnumber people.
I’m not going to be reviewing your newest novel, but from your other published novels, is there one that is your own personal favourite?
Hmm…that’s like picking a favorite kid or pet! I love each of my books for different reasons, but my first book, How (not) to Fall in Love, will always have a special place in my heart.
Everyone has a ‘first novel’, even if many of them are a rough draft relegated to the bottom and back of your desk drawer (or your external harddrive!). Have you been able to reshape yours, or have you abandoned it for good?
I’ve abandoned my early efforts, however I used the main character from the first semi-decent book I wrote as an important secondary character in How (not) to Fall in Love. He became the uncle of my protagonist, and played a major role in the story.
Some authors are able to pump out a novel a year and still be filled with inspiration. Is this the case for you, or do you like to let an idea percolate for a couple of years in order to get a beautiful novel?
Since my first novel came out in 2015, I’ve published a total of six novels. I never would’ve dreamed I could do that, but I was fortunate to be offered multiple book contracts – but then I had to produce much more quickly than I had prior to being published. However, by nature I’m more of a percolater and a tweaker. I can’t read my books after they are published because I want to revise them – again.
I have heard of writers that could only write in one place – then that cafe closed down and they could no longer write! Where do you find yourself writing most often, and on what medium (pen/paper or digital)?
I can write anywhere. With a family and a day job, I have to use every spare writing minute I can find. My favorite writing space is my sunny home office, but I also write in my car, in doctors’ waiting rooms, libraries, coffee shops, restaurants…anywhere and everywhere. I use notebooks when I’m out and about, but do my main writing on my computer. Sometimes I dictate ideas or dialog into my phone when I’m out walking my dogs.
Before going on to hire an editor, most authors use beta-readers. How do you recruit your beta-readers, and choose an editor? Are you lucky enough to have loving family members who can read and comment on your novel?
I have wonderful critique partners I’ve worked with for years – they are all authors. I also have a couple of avid reader friends (not writers) who are great betas. My family doesn’t read my books until they’re in print, and honestly family members usually don’t make good beta readers because they’re too nice and don’t want to hurt my feelings.
I walk past bookshops and am drawn in by the smell of the books – ebooks simply don’t have the same attraction for me. Does this happen to you, and do you have a favourite bookshop? Or perhaps you are an e-reader fan… where do you source most of your material from?
We have wonderful bookstores in Denver, Colorado- The Tattered Cover, Denver BookBar, Second Star to the Right, The Bookies, and more. I love print books,, but I also enjoy ebooks and audiobooks. I will use any media to enjoy a great story!
I used to find myself buying books in only one genre (fantasy) before I started writing this blog. What is your favourite genre, and do you have a favourite author who sticks in your mind from:
- childhood? Laura Ingalls Wilder, E.B. White, Dr. Seuss, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Norton
- adolescence? Paula Danziger, Judy Blume, S.E. Hinton
- young adult? The same as I’ve listed under adolescence. We didn’t really have YA when I was a teen.
- adult? So many I don’t know where to begin. Here are a few: Kristan Higgins, Anne Lamott, Jill Mansell, Sophie Kinsella, Sarah Hegger, Pamela Mingle, JoJoMoyes, John Irving, Graeme Simsion, Amy Reichert, Rainbow Rowell… I could go on and on!
Social media is a big thing, much to my disgust! I never have enough time myself to do what I feel is a good job. What do you do?
I handle all of my own, because I’m reluctant to trust someone else to express my “social media self” accurately. Social media can be a minefield, so I tread carefully.
My favorite is Instagram, because I don’t encounter any drama there like sometimes happens on Twitter and Facebook. Also I love admiring others’ photos, and following all sorts of feeds, like crafts, food, travel etc.
About Spies, Lies, and Allies
Summers are supposed to be fun, right? Not mine. I’ve got a job at my dad’s company, which is sponsoring a college scholarship competition. I just found out that, in addition to my job assisting the competing interns, I’m supposed to vote for the winner. Totally not what I signed up for.
My boss is running the competition like it’s an episode of Survivor. Then there’s Carlos, who is, well, very distracting––in a good way. But I can’t even think about him like that because fraternizing on the job means instant disqualification for the intern involved.
As if that’s not enough, an anonymous informant with insider intel is trying to sabotage my dad’s company on social media…and I’m afraid it’s working.
Much as I’d love to quit, I can’t. Kristoffs Never Quit is our family motto. I just hope there’s more than one survivor by the end of this summer.
The Alloy of Law’s first chapter was the best! I could have heard far more about Wax’s old life rather than his new one. It is interesting to return to the same stomping grounds of the original trilogy 300 years later, where technology has actually happened despite, or perhaps because of, the scarcity of magic. This is something rare for a fantasy series, although my beloved 
Wax’s slow romance burns a little brighter in the second novel Shows of Self. This novel moved quickly due to Wax’s insistence on doing everything himself. Kandra tactics and the way Kandra have moved on from the original Mistborn series is explored in depth here, and some very surprising information comes to light. It’s nice to have a ‘God’ who actually responds, even if it is sometimes not in the way you expect…
Although I might flippantly reply to a question of “What is the meaning of life?” with “There isn’t one.” this novel provides a better answer, or at least contemplation of the answer. People often have regrets about what they could have / should have done differently. There are the typical lists of ‘The Top 5 Things People Regret’, but this novel actually offers readers a gentle guide to how to go about improving things now.
The blurb suggests that there will be redemption, but there isn’t really. Sophie ends up being in worse and worse situations until there is no way out for her. But it’s not really Sophie’s fault. She is only 12 when she enters the system, and she doesn’t have a good grasp of right or wrong when she is thrown in the deep end.
I was pretty excited about the missing town! How was this one going to be explained? And of course there was a fantastic explanation! The other parts about the set up of the underground rooms seemed predictable and boring in comparison. Because I knew Jessica could solve any problem, it wasn’t exciting anymore.
This novel is full of action, action, action. The battle scenes and killings almost seem non-stop. Talking might be Em’s preferred way of negotiation but with Olivia on the loose it’s just not possible! Cas gets some airtime, and Galo and Aren finally are forged into full characters with their own thoughts and motivations.
Let me start out by saying first that this novel was terrible. Really terrible. The first half is lovely: the (seeming) main character developed well and I enjoyed the writing style. Unfortunately half way through the whole picture changed and I was left not wanting to finish the novel. I honestly no longer cared about anything that happened to Vale because her life was so boring and her real self so pathetic. Not to mention that Slate suddenly turned into a pile of goo.
This novel just got stranger and stranger, and I actually really enjoyed that. First there’s the strange Babies, and then there is a Zoo with a self-made savior. Then there is Mira and her conflicting personality traits and trusts. Despite feeling like I didn’t get to know the characters very well from Mira’s warped perspective, I didn’t actually want to know anything about the others so that I could better understand what Mira was going through.
Oh dear. This novel sat on my shelf for about 2 years before I picked it up. I just wasn’t feeling another strange disappearance or mystery after
Oh gosh. This was terrible. I skimmed the first half so I could get to where the FACE business actually happened. Then I was so disappointed in Martin’s eventual internal monologue about his face that I just dropped the book. I could have even dropped it in the pool, it was that terrible! The supporting characters might have actually had something to do in the second half of the novel, but I wasn’t waiting around to find out.