Sincerely, Ginger: Swoon-a-Palooza Book Boyfriend #1

In the days leading up to one of the most romantic days of the year, I've decided to highlight the many men who populate my book universe. There will be sales and giveaways as I go in depth about these characters, particularly how they were developed and what they mean to me personally.

It's not a bad job when you can fall in love book after book with so many different kinds of men.

And of course... we have to start where it all started. Giovanni (Vanni) Carnevale.

Vanni has deep, deep roots in my own personal life. I was a budding groupie from age 9, when I happened to fall in love with a Monkee.

It was 1979, and I had discovered the Monkees through syndicated TV. I had no idea what a rerun was when I was nine. I just knew that cute little guy who talked funny was the bees knees, and I - for lack of a better term - had fallen completely in love with him. I joined a very long list of other girls who felt likewise, including Marcia Brady.

That bitch got to live out all our fantasies. (But I'm not bitter.)

Like every other starry-eyed girl who watched that show and lived, breathed and ate everything Davy, I immersed myself in the fantasy. I had my sister's old castoff record player (no, not stereo - *record player*)and I would play the one album I had managed to get of theirs from start to finish every single day, memorizing every single word, and fantasizing daily about being the subject of his song.

I had one beautiful summer until I realized not only were these shows taped a good ten years before I saw them, but he was a happily married adult and I was still just a nine-year-old girl.

Ah, reality.

Soon, another rock star took his place. 1979 was also the year I discovered Journey via my Bert & Ernie AM/FM radio. I had many favorites that year, including the song listed below on the VANNI playlist (no surprise,) but my own personal "song of the year" was a little revenge ditty called "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'" by a band named Journey. What a cool name. And what a great voice. I belted that song out with all the angst a nine-year-old could muster, even though I probably had no idea what the song was really about at the time. By 1981, when I was up late one night watching the Midnight Special, I was overjoyed to see the band perform my favorite song.

That was until I saw the lead singer... who was nothing AT all like what I had pictured. He wasn't sweet and cute like Davy Jones. He had long hair, and a pronounced profile, and it took me a long time to wrap my mind around the fact that was the face behind that magic voice. While I was working through my confusion, he went out into the audience and crooned to a gal in the front row.

It was such a rock star moment that it stuck in my head like super glue. After that, I regarded this singer with profound curiosity. It didn't turn into love until the second verse of "Faithfully" on a fortuitous Friday night years later.

I fell in love then and there and decided that I may have only been 13 years old, but I would marry Steve Perry. That fantasy carried me through the treacherous waters of adolescence until I met the man I actually *would* marry four years later.

But oh, what a beautiful fantasy. He would remain the ideal throughout the decades that followed. He inspired a little ode to star-crossed love affairs in SAN FRANCISCO SERENADE, where I finally dipped my toe in the rock star waters. And it was this fantasy I called upon to create Vanni, the compelling, complex rock god who drove me absolutely crazy.

I was 41 when I crafted Vanni Carnevale, and the cynicism that sets in with age definitely came into play. By 2011, I knew a little thing about fandoms and the celebrities that they orbit around, and not much of it had ever been good. Try sharing your ideal man with dozens of other women who think he's their ideal, too. Pepper in some people with no clear association with boundaries (or reality) and it gets complicated really, REALLY fast. This allowed me to tap into that all-too-important conflict that was built right into the fantasy. How do you love someone who belongs to the entire world?

It was a question that Andy Foster set out to answer. Much to both of our chagrin, it couldn't be answered in one book. Though I knew that I was breaking a few rules by sidestepping that requisite "Happily Ever After," I knew that Vanni was in no way, shape or form ready to settle down in one book alone, which means thanks to Vanni I gave birth to my very first series.

All these books later and I'm still not completely convinced that this man-whoring leopard has changed his spots. So far he's been good, though.

Vanni was heavily influenced by Michael Hutchence, who exuded sex when he performed. I was seventeen when I first "found" INXS thanks to MTV, and it left a lasting impression.

This schtick also worked very well for American Idol contestant Constantine Maroulis.

It was thanks to both Steve and Constantine (called Connie by his fans - ahem,) that I knew I wanted to give Vanni a more ethnic background, where his culture would play into his being the man he was, holding the appeal that he did. My love for New York City filled in the rest.

I gave him dark, long hair because I like dark, long hair. (Ahem.) I gave him dark eyes because I'm a sucker for some dark, soulful, intense eyes. And I gave him a smirk because... well... I'm a sucker for that, too.

Many have said they wanted to see GROUPIE as a movie one day. If I could cast him I don't know who I'd pick. At first I thought Ryan Reynolds, which is why Vanni is so tall and physically cut in the book. I've got a much better role for Ryan now though, so I'm open to suggestions. Although I have to say, of all my characters, I'm probably most protective of Vanni simply because he was created to be everything I love AND hate about a man all rolled into one complicated human being. It would take a pretty incredible person for me to say, "That's the guy." He has to have "it" because Vanni has "it" coming out of his ears. He has to, right? Otherwise none of us could have forgiven him for the things that he did. He has a way. He's just... well, Vanni.

It's one of the reasons I am OVERJOYED every single time I can revisit him in new stories. If you're a Ginger Voight reader, meaning you'll my whole catalog, not just one series or one title, you'll see Vanni pop up in all kinds of different books. I just can't let him go, and I certainly can't contain him.

From the notes and letters I get whenever you all see him again, I guess that's true for many of you as well.

It's no surprise, really, that he was the one who launched my career, sparking a "frenzy" though Maryse's book blog and setting me soundly in the best-selling category for the first time in my career.

For that, I kind of love him best and most. He connected me with all of you, and there has been no greater gift than that.

If you haven't yet, get to know Vanni Carnevale in "VANNI" - the prequel to the Groupie series. You don't have to read it last, though it was the latest book written in the saga. It takes place years before he meets the girl you get to know in Groupie, and gives you some idea why he went down the road he did. He wasn't always meant to be a p*ssy hound, but life happens to the best of us.

VANNI is written from his POV, and gives you insight into one of the most influential book boyfriends I have written to date. For a limited time only, it is $0.99! So get your copy now.