Karen Booth
Karen Stivali is here today to tells us about her story for the Foreign Affairs anthology, a collection of romantic tales about men from faraway lands and the women who can’t resist them. Foreign Affairs is available from:
Amazon | Turquoise Morning Press | Smashwords | All Romance
Karen’s contribution, All I Need, is a fabulous story starring the to-die-for Daniel, a Brit for whom any woman could easily fall head over heels.
Tell us about your hero. What makes him irresistible? What attracts your heroine to him?
Daniel is irresistible because he’s charming, sweet, funny, smart and gorgeous but isn’t the least bit egotistical. Justine is a beautiful woman and has never had any trouble attracting men, but she’s drawn to Daniel because he’s different. Unlike all the other handsome men she’s dated, he’s not just interested in her for her looks. He listens when she talks. He takes her seriously. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s sexy as hell and great in bed.
How did you choose your hero’s nationality?
I’ve had a lifelong weakness for men with British accents and for this particular character, from his subtle charm to his dry wit, there was never any doubt in my mind that he was a Brit.
Do you have anything new coming out in 2012? Any recent releases you want to tell us about?
My most recent release is the short novel, Marry Me, published by Ellora’s Cave in June 2012. It’s a sweet, erotic romance about a widowed British drummer who learns to love again when he meets the right American girl. Did I mention my weakness for British accents?
Any plans to write anything more about your characters from the Foreign Affairs Anthology? What about more multicultural romance?
The characters in All I Need are the main characters in my full length novels MEANT TO BE and HOLDING ON, due out August 26, 2012 and November 26, 2012 respectively, so if you’re looking for more Daniel, there’s plenty to come!
I don’t have multicultural romances planned in any of the stories I’m immediately working on, but I’m quite sure they’ll factor into a story at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Meant To Be will be available from Turquoise Morning Press as an e-book August 26 and trade paperback soon after. To find out more about Karen Stivali and her work check the following links:
We’ve got more about the Foreign Affairs anthology today, with author Michelle Garren Flye. Michelle’s story gives us a Greek hero, and what a hero he is! Foreign Affairs is available now from:
Amazon | Turquoise Morning Press | Smashwords | All Romance
Tell us about your story for Foreign Affairs:
“Agapi Mou”, which means “My Love” in Greek, follows the romance of Myron and Lisa and takes place on a vineyard in eastern North Carolina. Myron and Lisa have known each other for several years. Lisa owns the vineyard that grows the scuppernong grapes that Myron’s winery in Greece uses to make scuppernong wine. Circumstances have kept them apart but on one of Myron’s visits, a simple kiss awakens their attraction to each other. Is the attraction just eratos (erotic love)…or could it be agape (true love)?
Tell us about your hero. What makes him irresistible? What attracts your heroine to him?
Myron is sexy and Greek. What else do you need to be irresistible? He lost out in love once before. He was married to a woman he’d loved for a long time, but she didn’t love him, so he let her go. He is kind and concerned about Lisa, who is lonely and finds herself working too much to make up for her lack of a social life. The combination of their friendship and their mutual attraction to each other finally convinces them both to explore new depths of their relationship.
How did you choose your hero’s nationality?
I was researching wines for another work-in-progress and had never tasted Greek wines. I fell in love with them first, the country next and it was a natural progression to create a Greek man for my heroine.
Do you have anything new coming out in 2012? Any recent releases you want to tell us about?
My contemporary romance Where the Heart Lies was just released in July by Carina Press. Here’s a little about the story:
All widowed Alicia Galloway has left of her war-hero husband are the flag that draped his coffin and his final wishes: to move to his hometown, take over the family bookstore and enjoy a simple, quiet life with their two small children. When she arrives, her husband’s best friend makes that new life anything but simple. How can she be so drawn to Liam Addison?
Liam only intended to help Alicia get settled. But one unexpected kiss awakens his long-held forbidden feelings. Soon, the town busybodies swoop in to warn Alicia away from him. Because no matter the man he’s become, he’ll never live down his reputation as town troublemaker and wolfish womanizer.
No one wants the war hero’s sweet widow and the supposedly former bad boy together. But the more everyone tries to keep them apart, the closer he and Alicia get. And the more determined Liam is to prove he’s a changed man. Will it be enough to convince Alicia to let a new love in her life? Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Any plans to write anything more about your characters from the Foreign Affairs Anthology? What about more multicultural romance?
I think Lisa and Myron’s story is told, but I’d love to write more romances about the Greek culture. I did a lot of research into it when I was writing Agapi Mou, and it was fascinating. Of course, I have nothing against any sexy foreign male character who’d like to creep into my subconscious and make his way onto the page!
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.
Michelle Garren Flye’s latest is Where The Heart Lies. You can learn more about her and her books at the following links: Website | Twitter | Facebook
Author JM Kelley is here today to discuss her fabulous contribution to the brand new Foreign Affairs Anthology, Siren Song, and her dreamy Irish hero Declan. Foreign Affairs is available from:
Amazon | Turquoise Morning Press | Smashwords | All Romance
Tell us about your story for the Foreign Affairs Anthology:
Lorelei Dupree is a legend in her hometown–not because of a deliciously scandalous life, but for her uncanny ability to get herself into pinches. From errrant lightning bolts to runaway pianos, chances are if something is amiss, Lorelei Dupree isn’t far from the scene.
Irishman Declan Healy has dropped anchor in the quiet seaside community of Lark’s Cove, South Carolina, a town in transition in the summer of 1956. Starting out on his own as a fisherman, the last thing Declan expected was to fall victim to the siren song of a bewitching local.
A chance encounter brings Lorelei and Declan together, and they quickly bond. Passion may blossom, but can Declan convince his siren that his love for her won’t lead him to certain doom?
Tell us about your hero. What makes him irresistible? What attracts your heroine to him?
Declan is a simple man. He’s not sophisticated, he’s not worldly, but he’s got a good heart, and Lorelei recognizes that. His immediate and total acceptance of her and her quirks makes it quite difficult for her to find an excuse to do anything but give him her heart.
How did you choose your hero’s nationality?
Simple enough reason-I just adore the Irish brogue. It was fun to figure out Declan’s turn of tongue, to bring out the Irish. His personality—a little brash, a little awkward, all loveable, seemed to fit perfectly with the Irish voice I heard in my head as I was writing.
Do you have anything new coming out in 2012? Any recent releases you want to tell us about?
My debut novel, Drew in Blue, is a contemporary romance available in ebook format, and soon to be in print. Drew in Blue is the story of a perpetually single guy who is forced to grow up and confront his past, and his future, when he is forced to become the primary caregiver for a son conceived out of wedlock. It is available online at Amazon.
My next release will be Daddy’s Girl, a work of women’s fiction, coming in January 2013 from Turquoise Morning Press. Daddy’s Girl is the story of Janie McGee, the black sheep of the family who must return home to care for her gravely ill father. As she copes with the harsh realities of her father’s diagnosis, she must find a way to open her heart to a love she never expected to find. Daddy’s Girl was so close to my heart as I wrote the novel, and I can’t wait to see it in print!
Any plans to write anything more about your characters from the Foreign Affairs Anthology? What about more multicultural romance?
Declan actually started out as a very small character in my work in progress. The story is set in modern times, whereas Siren Song takes place in the 1950s. Originally, he was an eccentric older resident who would pop up once or twice in the storyline, but my beta-reader convinced me to flesh him out for this anthology. I’m so glad I did, and I am looking forward to allowing his back story to color this particular tale.
After one too many Snowmageddon shoveling catastrophes, J.M. Kelley, a native of Pennsylvania, loaded her car with all of her belongings and moved to sunny South Carolina.
Now, she finds herself shivering when temperatures dip to fifty degrees, and battles against the slight Southern accent she seems to be developing. When not toiling away at her day job, she can be found huddled over her laptop in a quiet corner of her favorite coffee shop, slurping a caffeine-laden milkshake as she writes.
J.M. Kelley is a proud recipient of a Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Award from The South Carolina Writers Workshop, and is pleased to announce she will join the faculty roster at the October 2012 SCWW Conference. Drew in Blue, her debut novel, was nominated for Best Contemporary of 2010 by The Romance Reviews, and is a TRR and Night Owl Reviews Top Pick.
You can learn more about JM Kelley at jmkelleywrites.com.
The Foreign Affairs romance anthology from Turquoise Morning Press is out today in e-book format. (Trade paperback out October 8.) Available from:
Amazon | Turquoise Morning Press | Smashwords | All Romance
This steamy collection features stories of dreamy foreign men from all over the globe, penned by Sidney Bristol, Michelle Garren Flye, J.M. Kelley, Karen Stivali, Georgia St. Mane, and myself. Anthology author Sidney Bristol is here to get things started by tempting us with visions of French men and her story, Dream Vacation.
In a few sentences, tell us about your story for Foreign Affairs:
Dream Vacation is about Naomi, a school teacher who has recreated herself into the woman she’s always wanted to be, going on the trip of a lifetime and finding herself stranded on the resort by a tropical storm. Unbeknownst to her, Luc, her internet pen-pal from a weight loss forum, has flown in to surprise her.
Tell us about your hero. What makes him irresistible? What attracts your heroine to him?
I think what attracts Naomi to Luc besides her fascination with everything Paris, she is a French teacher after all, is that Luc knows her. They became friends back before she lost weight and in many ways they’ve held hands while they went through this transformation together. Luc is a quiet guy, but he’s driven and he’s decided Naomi is worth moving heaven and earth for. I think that makes him pretty irresistible. Plus, who doesn’t love a guy that can turn his life around on will power alone?
How did you choose your hero’s nationality?
Last year my mother and I went to Paris for the largest and longest running organized cycling event, Paris-Brest-Paris, or PBP. I don’t cycle, but my mom is a nut about it. So I went with her and helped crew some. When I wasn’t helping her, I was discovering the city on my own, so it just seemed right that I write about it. There wasn’t a lot of opportunity to use my personal knowledge of Paris since Dream Vacation actually takes place in Cancun, but it was still fun.
Do you have anything new coming out in 2012? Any recent releases you want to tell us about?
Oh my goodness, yes! There’s lots coming out. I just released my first novel, Under His Skin, on July 20th from Ellora’s Cave. I have a Taboo book with them that should come out late fall or early winter titled Bound with Pearls. And there’s also a Christmas science-fiction romance called A Kiss for a Cure coming out from Lyrical Press during the holidays, so a lot is in the works. And that’s just what’s contracted!
Any plans to write anything more about your characters from the Foreign Affairs Anthology? What about more multicultural romance?
I don’t know. I really like Naomi and Luc, and their story is really only beginning. There’s a lot left to work out, but it’s not like they’re strangers beginning at square one, they have history. I’m not going to rule out writing about them, but it’s not in my pipeline right now.
Dream Vacation isn’t my first multicultural romance. I’m a big believer that we’re not all one flavor and we should write about everyone and anything. Personal Adventures has a Native American-Asian heroine. I have a book in edits right now with a Korean heroine, and more planned along those lines.
It can never be said that Sidney Bristol has had a ‘normal’ life. She is a recovering roller derby queen, former missionary, and tattoo addict. She grew up in a motor-home on the US highways (with an occasional jaunt into Canada and Mexico), traveling the rodeo circuit with her parents. Sidney has lived abroad in both Russia and Thailand, working with children and teenagers. She now lives in Texas where she splits her time between a job she loves, writing, reading and belly dancing.
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My Twitter pal and fellow erotic romance author Anya Breton is at the helm of RNRHS this week, in celebration of her latest book release. Lots of people have shared stories of seeing disparate musical acts, but I’m not sure anyone can top the fact that Anya saw both Huey Lewis and P-Funk within a fairly reasonably span of time. In fact, I would love to hear from anyone who has seen both of these artists in their lifetime. Just so I can both mock you and bow to your superior musical taste.
Anya Breton
Concord High, Concord, NH, Class of ’95, Currently: Web Design/Smut author
Band and/or song that reminds you the most of high school: I wish it weren’t the case, but the theme song from Friends – “I’ll Be There for You” by The Rembrandts was played at my Senior prom. And everyone flipped out. They were crazy dancing and pretending to splash in a fountain. I’m not proud of my classmates. LOL. To this day hearing that song reminds me of high school rather than the show.
Favorite piece of music memorabilia (poster, t-shirt, etc.) in high school: I didn’t buy any posters or t-shirts in high school (I was pretty broke) but my copies of “Throwing Copper” by Live and “Sixteen Stone” by Bush got seriously worn out from repeated plays.
Band that you hated that everyone else at school seemed to love: Backstreet Boys
Best show or concert you saw in high school: Erm, didn’t see any concerts in high school. *flush* (note the broke part) When I was younger I saw Whitney Houston and Huey Lewis and the News (not at the same time). The spring after graduation, I saw George Clinton and the P Funk Allstars at Jazz Fest in New Orleans and got a serious sunburn (along with a contact high).
Best high school make-out song: “I’ll Make Love To You” by Boys II Men
Anya Breton is a multi-published author of erotic romance and urban fantasy. Her latest is A’s Surrender, out now from Siren Publishing! You can learn more about Anya at anyabreton.com
