The New York Saga Blog Tour

Audiobook Series Tour: The New York Saga by Diana Rubino

Author: Diana Rubino

Narrator: Nina Price

Length: 11 hours 19 minutes

Series: The New York Saga, Book 1

Release date: Feb. 6, 2019

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Genre: Historical Romance

It's 1894 in New York's Lower East Side. Irish cop Tom McGlory and Italian immigrant Vita Caputo fall in love despite their different upbringings. Vita goes from sweatshop laborer to respected bank clerk to reformer, helping elect a mayor to beat the Tammany machine. While Tom works undercover to help Ted Roosevelt purge police corruption, Vita's father arranges a marriage between her and a man she despises. When Tom’s cousin is murdered, Vita’s father and brother languish in jail, charged with the crime. Can Vita and Tom’s love survive poverty, hatred, and corruption?

Toiling over the mind-numbing work, Vita conjured up her favorite daydream: an elegant brownstone with lacy iron gates, bay windows, polished floors, marble fireplaces. No trash flung down air shafts, no shared toilets, no backyard privies...above Fourteenth Street.

Diana Rubino writes about folks through history who shook things up. Her passion for history and travel has taken her to every locale of her books, set in Medieval and Renaissance England, Egypt, the Mediterranean, colonial Virginia, New England, and New York. Her urban fantasy romance, FAKIN’ IT, won a Top Pick award from Romantic Times. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Richard III Society, and the Aaron Burr Association. When not writing, she owns CostPro, Inc., an engineering business, with her husband Chris. In her spare time, Diana bicycles, golfs, does yoga, plays her piano, devours books, and lives the dream on her beloved Cape Cod.

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Nina Price is a Renaissance woman: a conservatory trained musician, a Silicon Valley businesswoman, a radio personality, a licensed acupuncturist and master herbalist, and a voice actor/storyteller. She especially loves books with an element of history in them: historical novels, memoirs, biographies, although she’s narrated books in many genres. Born and raised in New York, the characters and places in the New York Saga are very familiar to her, and dear to her heart. She loves to travel the world and listen to the way people speak English.

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This is an incredible story, I was so engrossed in it that I almost forgot that I was listening to an audiobook, it felt more like a movie I was listening to. Vita is such a strong passionate female character and you really get to enjoy her journey.

Price is a great narrator and makes it easy to distinguish characters.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Nina Price. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Q&A with Author Diana Rubino

Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
- My publisher, The Wild Rose Press, auditioned some narrators and sent me samples. When Nina finished narrating it, Wild Rose released it and put it on sale with retailers.
Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
- Adventure and suspense translate well, as long as the narrator has an animated voice. My books, with characters who have different actors, came out really well, because Nina does great accents and different voice inflections.
How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process? Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
- We spoke on the phone a few times, and discussed the characters and their backgrounds. When she had a question about the pronunciation of a word, I either spelled it out phonetically or sent her a video of someone saying the word or phrase.
Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
- Yes, FROM HERE TO FOURTEENTH STREET’s heroine Vita is based on my great-grandmother, a businesswoman, wife and mother. She was way ahead of her time. I always have historical events as backdrops for my books. BOOTLEG BROADWAY is set during ProhibitIon, and THE END OF CAMELOT is centered around the John F. Kennedy assassination.
How do you manage to avoid burn-out? What do you do to maintain your enthusiasm for writing?
- I pace myself, I write 2500 words a day and sometimes more if I’m on a roll. My enthusiasm never wanes, because I’m a huge history buff, I love doing the research, and my passion for it comes out in my stories.
Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
- I listen to audiobooks on long car trips. It’s convenient to listen to books while doing something else, driving, as a passenger in a car, doing chores, etc.
Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
- The dialogue is very animated and authentic throughout all three books. Nina does great New York and ‘wiseguy’ accents.
How did you celebrate after finishing this novel?
- I always celebrate by recharging my batteries—usually by reading my favorite genres, biographies, mysteries, and paranormal novels.
What gets you out of a writing slump? What about a reading slump?
- I’ve never been a slump; I make sure I reach my 2500-word goal every day, even if it’s not my best output. I can always go back and rewrite.
In your opinion, what are the pros and cons of writing a stand-alone novel vs. writing a series?
- A series allows the reader to get to know the characters and become familiar with them. Stand-alones don’t have that advantage.
What bits of advice would you give to aspiring authors?
- Keep writing. Keep practicing. Most of all, don’t ever give up on your dream. Just having a dream makes you very special. If you get impatient because it’s taking so long, just ask yourself this: Why does 16-year Scotch take 16 years? Some things are worth waiting for.
What’s next for you?
- I’m writing my next biographical novel, about Edith (Mrs. Theodore) Roosevelt.