INTERVIEW WITH TAMSYN BESTER AUTHOR OF: THE LINE BETWEEN

We Would Love to Welcome

Tamsyn Bester

Author of:

Rad-Reader:  This seems to be a more common occurrence these days.  What made you pick this storyline to write about?

Tamsyn: I’m a fan of the love-hate relationships in books, so I decided to write The Line Between and add an element to the book that would ‘validate’ the way Dane and Kennedy felt about each other.

Rad-Reader:  How did you develop each character or did they just kind of create themselves?

Tamsyn:  I knew when I started writing that I wanted Dane and Kennedy to be really strong characters, and once their initial ‘outline’ was developed, they took over and showed me who they were. I allowed their characters to come naturally, and fell in love with who they became.

Rad-Reader:  Kennedy was a character who just couldn’t seem to catch a break, whether it be at home or school.  How did she stay so positive?

Tamsyn:  Kennedy closely resembles me as a person, and by nature I always try to have a positive outlook. I wanted her to be a character that could see the silver lining in any situation, and she proved that inner strength and courage could overshadow the bad things she experienced.

Rad-Reader:  You were still able to project her hidden pain was that difficult to do as the writer?

Tamsyn:  Yes and no. I channeled my own bad experiences, and really drew that out, but I was careful not to make it seem like it was unrealistic. Kennedy’s emotions became mine, and mine became hers which allowed me to make whatever she was feeling as raw and real as possible.

Rad-Reader:  As most of our readers know my daughter was bullied at a young age.  She has turned it around and has also made it a positive learning experience but it has been a long hall.  The emotions that you brought out were all too real.  I was just amazed at the ability that you had at just giving enough without making it morbid or a crusade.  

Rad-Reader:  Was Kennedy secretly crushing on the persona Dane put out or Dane?  The Bad Boy image at all during the time he was so awful?

Tamsyn:  I think she was too busy dealing with her home life to really pay that kind of attention to Dane when they were younger. But after her time away, and after she’d grown up a little, I think she fell in love with him in his entirety, rather than just the façade he put up. She understood his loss, his anger, and his pain better than anyone, and that gave her a rare glimpse of who Dane really was.

Rad-Reader:  Dane hated his father yet he continued the hate that was passed down.  Why?

Tamsyn:  As children we grow up wanting to please our parents, and for Dane growing up with that hate was normal. To him that’s how it was because his father said so. He didn’t know better.

Rad-Reader:  Dane said he wanted her since grade school yet instead of ignoring her he made it his mission to be not just mean but cruel.  Why?

Tamsyn:  Kids are cruel, and I think Dane’s cruelty was borne of frustration from wanting what he wasn’t supposed to want. Being a bully was the only way he could give Kennedy his attention, and get hers, because he wasn’t allowed to express how he really felt in another way.

Rad-Reader:  Why didn’t Dane’s twin feel the same way he did?

Tamsyn:  Jewel was far more laid back than Dane was, and she didn’t care to be involved with family politics that really had nothing to do with her or Dane. She thought it was outdated, and decided that following her own rules was more important than hanging on a family feud that went back generations.

Rad-Reader:  Reid once in a while would say he was being an ass.  Why didn’t he stop him or call him out knowing Kennedy was his best friend’s friend and his friend that he was being cruel to?

Tamsyn:  Reid’s loyalty, although a little misplaced at times, was towards Dane and I think he was trying to stay out of whatever Dane had planned next. It took him some time to mature as well, and see that Kennedy had been through just as much as Dane. It took him some time to become objective, and see that Dane was wrong.

Rad-Reader:  Why did Kennedy take so much abuse from Dane?  Not standing up for herself?  Was it because of her dad’s treatment?

Tamsyn:  She didn’t know any different, but when she got older, and after losing the one man who loved her, she realized that she deserved better. She didn’t want her life, and her future relationships to be defined by the lack of attention from her father, or the cruel way in which Dane treated her.

Rad-Reader:  If your book was made into a movie who would you want to play:

Kennedy:  Jennifer Lawrence

Dane:  Nicholas Hoult

Reid:  Colton Hayes

Jewel:  Mia Rose Frampton

Charlie:  Cjase Crawford

Jade:  Miranda Cosgrove

Tamsyn:

Kennedy: Diana Agron

Dane:  Matt Lanter

Reid:  Kellan Lutz

Jewel:  Teresa Palmer

Charlie:  Chris Hemsworth

Jade:  Shay Mitchell

Rad-Reader:  What song out today best describes your book or makes you think of it?

Rad-Reader:   Thin Line Between Love & Hate

Tamsyn:  ‘Up’ by Demi Lovato & Olly Murs

Rad-Reader:  How much do you think Charlie and Jewel influenced the fire that burned between Kennedy and Dane?  Good and Bad?

Tamsyn:  I think their deaths had a lot to do with the relationship that developed between Dane and Kennedy. The fire between them was ignited when Charlie and Jewel died, but then gave light to a different kind of flame.

Rad-Reader:  The emotional fall out Dane has toward Kennedy when his father opens a can of worms in the press it was heart wrenching.  Where did you pool that emotion from?

Tamsyn:  That was an incredibly tough scene to write. My biggest concern was how readers would respond to Dane’s outburst. But I had to stay true to how Dane and Kennedy told me their story, and wrote that scene from within my heart. In that scene, I was Kennedy, and I was Dane, and I put myself in their minds in order to get the real emotion out.

Rad-Reader:  I have to say that scene was gut wrenching and so hard to read with tears in my eyes.  Once I could focus it was such a powerful scene that I could not see being in this book.  I think it was a huge turning point in both of their lives as to who they had been, who they were at that moment, and who they wanted to be. Bravo!

Rad-Reader:  Can our readers look forward to a new book soon?  If so what?

Tamsyn:  I’m current;y planning my next 3 projects, but yes, readers can look forward to at least one more new release from me this year. The cover is currently with the designer, but for now I can reveal the title.

Playing Pretend…

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers buy your books?

Tamsyn:  My books are available online on Amazon, iTunes, B&N, and a few other platforms.

Rad-Reader:  Where can our readers find you?  (websites, etc…)

Tamsyn:  Website: www.tamsynbesterwrites.com

Twitter: www.twitter.com/@Ms_Tam_Tam

Instagram: www.instagram.com/tamsynwrites

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamsyn-Bester/635202666493424

Rad-Reader:  What is the one item you can’t live without?  Why?

Tamsyn:  Ha, there are several things I can’t live without, like any of my electronic devices. My iPhone/iPad/Macbook. Oh and my coffee machine. Naturally J

Tamsyn,

     I can’t begin to tell you how much this book touched me.  I was tearing up in many places and in others just laughing my ass off.  You have such a gift for writing. Finding ways to bring out emotions of the characters that engulfs the reader as if they are part of the scene that they are reading about.  I want to thank you for taking the time to answer all of my questions and allowing my “FANGIRL” to come out.  I can only hope our readers find the question that I had were some that will answer some of theirs when they read the book.  Oh yeah!  Now by hook or by crook you are stuck as part of the 1 Rad-Reader Review Family.  You poor thing you.  You had your chance to run but now you're ours.  It’s not too bad we water regularly and feed sparingly.  No really thanks Tamsyn for everything.

Char J

SHINE NOT BURN

SHINE NOT BURN                                          ELLE CASEY

Andie Marks, known as “Party Girl” in her college days, is now a whip-smart lawyer on the fast track to success. Determined to move on from a bad break-up, she joins her girlfriends for a wild bachelorette weekend in Las Vegas, promising to let her hair down just this once.

Vegas is a blur of cocktails and blackjack, and in the middle of it all she meets Mack, a real-life cowboy with a winning hand and an irresistible body. They get lucky in the casino and luckier back at the hotel, a hot night of passion that was definitely not part of Andie’s life plan.

By dawn Mack is gone and all she has to remember their one-night romance is a hangover and a pile of casino chips. Or so she thinks…

MY REVIEW:

     This was a very interesting story.  I could relate to in a lot of ways.  I could totally relate to Andie Marks Character of a woman who came from an out of control background.  Andie being an only child had to come up with a plan to bring order to her life to make it bearable and to have goals set to have things to look forward to, hence her “lifeplan.”

     You see Andie’s dad took off when she was young and her mom looked for love in all the wrong places.  With men who would use and abuse her in every which way.  To the point where she started allowing the men to abuse Andie.  The saddest part being in those instances Andie could see in her mom’s eyes that she was relieved that she was not the one who had gotten beaten that time but that it was Andie.  Until one day Andie had to get her mom to the emergency room because she had been beaten so badly.

     She was able to talk her mom into staying away from that man at least until she went on to college but her mom went right on back to the same woman beating man.  That is when Andie broke all ties with her mother.  She needed something more so she had gone back to the list she had made at 15 to help her have that focus she needed to make it in the world and she finished college and then went on to law school.  She is 25 and a lawyer.  She has her eyes set on junior partner.  After that comes the husband, the 2.5 kids, and then the good life.

     Now at 25 years old she is a lawyer and she is committed to being the best of friends to her college friends to her roommates from college, Kelly and Candice.  But they just need to understand nothing can come in the way of the “lifeplan.”  So when Ruby, her closest thing to a mother, neighbor, and secretary brings in an invitation to Kelly’s bachelorette party that they want to spend in Las Vegas she is like “Oh Hell No!”  But Ruby is “Well yes you are.”  They banter back and forth but Andie knows it is a lost fight already Ruby was right Kelly and Candice were her dearest friends and she had to do this.  Ruby called to accept.

     The whole way there she dreaded the whole thing of having to be gone the weekend.  Not to mention that Luke her fiancé, (one Ruby, Candice and Kelly disliked), in fact they called him Luke the puke.  Andie knew he would be put out that she was gone with them but she had to go.  Sure enough she was right he was because while they were waiting to board the plane she gets a text.  He is pissed that she is going with the girls and breaks up with her over the text.  So the girls grab the phone from Andie and respond by duping him right back all before it could register to Andie.  She was upset at the situation but the girls made her promise to have a good time and not to worry about it until she got back.  Until then she was to have unleashed fun.

     That night Candice cuts and styles her hair.  They put make-up, dress her up and take her down to show her off.  But you see they had started hitting the hard stuff early.  So by the time they had gotten down stairs Kelly the bride to be was a little on the queue size.  So Candice told Andie to stay down at the casino and that she would go take care of Kelly and be back.  Well when Andie started looking around she saw the most gorgeous Cowboy she had ever seen.  He was over at the blackjack table and so she decided to saunter on over and check him out.  There was only one small problem she was wearing one of the girl’s high heels that were in nosebleed country so with the drink in her hand and her losing her footing she trips and spills the drinks over this god looking Cowboy.

     The handsome Cowboy turns out to be Gavin Mackenzie.  He just looks into her eyes smiling.  Andie on the other hand grabs some napkins and starts whipping his crotch vigorously causing a woody.  He grabs her wrist with a wolfish smile and says something to the effect before we embarrass each other I better go get cleaned up.  When she looks down and sees the effect of what she had down she turns beet red.  He ask her to save his seat. 

     While he’s gone she uses some of his chips to play or they would have made her leave the table.  She has never played so an elderly gentleman next to her helps her.  (This to me is one of the cutest scenes ever because it would so be me.)  By the time “Handsome” gets back she is up $600.00.  He introduces himself as Mack they continue to play.  They decide to leave to go get a bite to eat and get to know one another but she wants to go change.  So they go to her room.  One thing leads to another and their worlds start to spin, collide, and then crash together.  They are so drunk or at least she is that when she wakes up she is in bed next to one of her roommates and no sign of Cowboy.  Leaving her with the feeling of not being sure of what was real and what was not.

     This was a funny, sweet, and heartwarming story. Of a girl determined to not end up like her mom.  And a man who lives by the motto “Luceo non uro – Shine, not burn.” It is a sign of how we all try so hard to protect ourselves so well but if love wants to find us and hold on it will.  I give this 5 stars.

Tonight 7pm PST: Tamsyn Bester Written Interview Author of: The Line Between & Blurred Lines

Tonight at 7pm PST.

Written Interview with

Tamsyn Bester

Author of:

There’s a fine line between love and hate, so fine that you don’t know you’ve lost balance until it’s too late.
I’m not sure exactly when I lost my balance, all I know is that he was to blame.
Dane Winters.
The boy who’d spent most of his life hating me for reasons I never understood.

** ** ** ** ** **

It was no secret that I hated her, but only I knew why.
She was off-limits.
And then our separate worlds collided with one tragedy.
It wasn’t her fault, I knew that, but I wanted her to hurt the way I did, and I needed someone to blame. She was an easy target.
Kennedy Monroe.
The girl I’d picked on all our lives.
And the woman I barely tolerated.
Until the line between love and hate was no longer visible… 

*New Adult Contemporary Romance*
*Due to mature content this book is not suitable for readers younger than 18* 

I put one foot in front of the other, and strode towards Dane and his ‘peeps’. The roses he’d been so generous to buy me were perched on my arm, but as I got closer, I moved them and grasped onto the thick collection of stems with my hand. 

Reid saw me first. Uncertainty darted across his face, and he tapped Dane on the shoulder, alerting him of my presence. Our eyes met, and he stopped his groping session with Red long enough to register that my visit wasn’t at all a friendly one. His eyes bounced between mine, and the roses in my hand.

“Kennedy,” he said, standing up. I stopped a foot in front of him, trying to calm my nerves. My empty hand was fisted against my thigh, and I could feel my nails digging into the flesh of my palm. Seeing Dane, being face-to-face with him, and standing so close only coaxed my anger.

Time passed as we stared at each other and we paid no mind to the people around us who had suddenly grown quiet.

I ended it with the first swing of my hand, hitting Dane in the chest with the bouquet. Collective gasps sounded around me, but I was too blinded by fury to care.

“What the fuck, Kennedy!” Dane yelled, lifting his arms to shield his chest. I swung again, feeling a sick sense of satisfaction when Dane flinched. 

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” I shouted between hits. Petals hit the floor, and the thwack of the stems echoed around us. “You are a disgusting human being, and a pathetic excuse of a man. I’m not one of your fucking groupies, and I’m not someone who can be bought with a bunch of overpriced fucking flowers.”

“Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?” He grunted, and stepped back. I matched his movement and moved forward.

“What’s wrong with me?” I laughed harshly. It was empty, and yet still carried a sardonic tone. “What’s wrong with you? You told some random guy I’m a hooker when we were at Kolony, then you kissed me like you meant it, and to top it all off, you then took some trashy waitress home and fucked her all night knowing that I could hear it through the walls of my bedroom. So I’ll ask you again, Dane, what.” Wack. “Is.” Smack. “Wrong.” Thwack. “With you?”

My chest heaved from exertion and my arm dropped to my side. Dane glared at me, his eyes hard and cold. His arms were red from where I’d continued to hit him, and I could make out a few welts from where the thorns had caught his skin. The cafeteria was completely soundless, save for my heavy breathing. Who knew hitting someone with a bouquet of roses was so damn tiring?

“Kennedy.” My name came out of his mouth as a growl, but instead of being menacing, it made my skin prickle with carnal awareness.

So not the time to be turned on, you idiot.

“I suggest you turn your ass around and leave,” Dane continued, “before you make an even bigger spectacle of yourself.”

With quivering muscles, I closed the gap between us, and looked up. “I’m not leaving until every single fucking person in the room knows what an asshole you are,” I replied. “I am done being your punching bag, and the ass of all your crude jokes. I let you get away with your childish bullshit in high school, but we aren’t in high school now, and I am not that girl anymore. I fucking hate you, Dane. You make me sick to my stomach and I swear to God, if you never speak to me again, it will be too soon.”

On the outside Dane’s expression was stoic, and I knew he wanted the world outside to think my words had no effect at all. But they couldn’t see his eyes – the way they billowed with every emotion he was feeling, ranging from his own anger to a heat so scorching it warmed my skin.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” he said. The timbre of his voice was low, and grave. Threatening.

“No,” I replied. “That’s what you don’t understand. This isn’t a game. Not anymore. I’m done.”

I lifted what was left of the rose stems, and Reid’s hand flew out. He gripped my forearm, and pried them from my aching hand before I could do anymore damage.

“I think it’s time you left,” said Reid. “You’ve made your point.”

I couldn’t see his face, but I could tell he wasn’t impressed with my outburst. That was too bad, because I felt like it was long overdue. I should have done it years ago, but I was too afraid, and to be honest, a little too blinded by the way my body seemed to respond when Dane was close by.

“Good,” I replied.

Dane’s jaw ticked, and he looked ready to retaliate. I wasn’t going to give him the chance, so I turned on my heel, aware that all eyes were on us, and walked out of the cafeteria with faux confidence. It wasn’t until I was outside that I took my first real breath of air. Even through the glass windows I could feel Dane’s eyes on my back.

Hot on the heels of the International Bestselling novel, The Line Between, comes the much-anticipated sequel, Blurred Lines. 

Jade Matthews and Reid Cole have been best friends all their lives. He was the boy who chased away the monsters from under her bed, and she was the girl he knew he was going to spend the rest of his life with. 

But even friendships aren’t always built to last. 

This is a story about two best friends who’s lives change after one night – a night that not even Fate could have stopped. In the aftermath, Reid and Jade lose their friendship, but soon come to find that they were destined to be so much more. 

**Due to language and sexual situations this book is intended for readers older than 18. Although it is about two supporting characters from The Line Between, it is not recommended as a standalone. If you don’t like somewhat clichéd stories, this book isn’t for you. HEA. No cliffy**

Jade huffed. “Stella is the problem, but I guess you just don’t see it. Everyone else can see her for what she is, why can’t you?”

“She’s only a problem because you don’t like her, and she knows it!”

Jade reared back as if I’d physically slapped her. “I’m not the one who told you we can’t be friends, Reid.”

A bitter laugh stumbled from my mouth, and the words followed before I could stop them. “I can see why blaming it all on Stella for that would be convenient for you.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you are somewhat responsible for what happened between us. You decided we couldn’t be friends anymore, way before I started seeing Stella.”

Nothing was going as planned, but the only way we were going to work it out was to verbalize everything we kept to ourselves. She had to know, once and for all, that she’d done some irreparable damage to me too. I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore. It was starting to gnaw away at me.

“We made a mistake,” she said angrily. “But if I recall correctly you were there too, and now there’s no going back.”

“This is where I disagree,” I replied, fighting the natural inclination to shout. Jade got me riled up in every way, and fighting with her, however wrong, was always my first reaction. Knowing that she regretted us stung. “You decided for both of us we couldn’t be more. You ran scared, and now you want to blame my girlfriend because you’re jealous.”

Jade’s face remained hard, but her eyes had glazed over at some point, and the guilt pulled at me. I didn’t want it to be this way, but once I opened the door to our now screwed up friendship I couldn’t close it. It was too late, and I was afraid we were really and truly done for.

“I think you should leave now,” she said, standing quickly. I jumped up and took hold of her arm. She spun to face me, hitting me with the force of those boundless brown eyes that I’d spent all my life drowning in.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, pulling her closer. “Not until you’ve heard everything I have to say.”

“What more is there, Reid? You’ve moved on, and I’m trying my best to stay away because it’s what Stella wants - ”

“Moved on?” I asked incredulously. “You think I’ve moved on? I’m trying to fill the fucking hole you left with someone who will never compare. Don’t you get it?”

Jade bit her lip but I still saw the slight quiver. She was emotional, more so than usual, and I wondered if the end of our friendship had taken a bigger toll on her than I’d initially assumed. Maybe she was just as bruised on the inside as I was, trying to figure how to continue living even though we had to do it without each other.

“Then why are you with her?” Her voice was husky, and thick, unlike I’d ever heard it. Jade had always been so strong, so willful, and she never showed weakness. But she was showing it all now, allowing me to see that she’d been suffering.

“You did this,” I whispered harshly, ignoring her question. “You made me move forward without you, and God I’m fucking trying but you’re making it impossible!” My voice has risen, and Jade whimpered when I lowered my face to hers.

“Being with Stella is better than being alone and pining for the woman who fucking destroyed me two months ago. She’s not perfect, and I don’t think I love her, but if it means I won’t hurt anymore, I’ll fucking try.”

Jade’s hot breath fanned my face as she squeezed her eyes closed. Her mouth was so close, and I was so tempted to kiss her, crush her body up against mine and never let her go. But I had to. She didn’t want me, and there was only so much a man could take.

 “I miss you,” I murmured, pressing my forehead against hers and holding her forearms. “But I can’t do this, Jade. You’ve broken me baby,” I swallowed, struggling to speak calmly without cracking in front of her, “and I have to put myself back together the best way I know how. You walked away first, and I’m just doing what you want.”