Author Spotlight - Jane O'Reilly

Today the Minxes welcome debut author Jane O'Reilly to chat with us and introduce her new book!

1.  Tell our readers a little bit about yourself.

Ugh! This is the hardest question in the universe. Ever. Does that tell you enough? I like to knit jumpers, I hate parsnips, and Han Solo is my favourite hero in a film. I tweet as @janeoreilly if you want to share in the parsnip hate/Han Solo love.

2.  What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)

It is my first published book, but it is the fifth book I’ve written. The rubbish drafts drawer is a bit on the full side.

3.  Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

I am the world’s worst shopper, so that helps! I suffer from terrible guilt if I don’t work as much as I feel I should (which is basically all the time) which keeps me working when I don’t want to. Other things that help include setting a daily word count target.

4.  What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Don’t use social media to promote, use it to make contact with other people and let them find their own way to your book.

5.  How does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing?

My children are both at school now (phew) so I do the school run, come home, look at dresses I can’t afford on the internet until guilt gets the better of me and then I get to work. I aim for 3K a day when I’m drafting.

6.  Do you write every day?

When my children were small and writing had to be crammed in to small pockets of time, I did write every day. Now I write Mon-Fri and occasionally at the weekend.

7.  Any craft books you recommend?

Lots! I’m a big fan of craft books. Favourites include Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain and Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham.

8.  In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

Before I was published, I always assumed that signing on the dotted line would kill the doubt crows. It doesn’t. It makes them grow.

9.  Have you ever written a hero you'd be happy to run off with?

Several. I’d have to run off with all of them. At the same time. It could get messy. Not to mention exhausting. But that’s why Mother Nature invented coffee, right?

10.  Do you write to music, or with the tv on in the background, or do you need complete silence?

This really seems to depend on the book. Some I’ve written to a play list. Others, like my next book She Who Dares (which will be out in September) were written to one particular song on repeat – for that book, it was Taylor Swift’s Never Ever, which I never ever want to hear ever again. My current book only flows with an episode of Castle on in the background.

Blurb

It seems like a dream come true when whispers of a reclusive film star fallen on hard times meets Lottie Spencer’s ears. Desperate to save her family’s auction house, she knows that Hollywood memorabilia could be the answer to her prayers. Unfortunately, she’s about to find out that this client comes with strings attached – an overprotective son who will do anything to shield his mother from the prying eyes of the press. But Lottie is sure she can handle it. If only being around a bad boy didn’t make it so hard to be good...

Once a Bad Girl is available at the following outlets:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

iTunes

Barnes & Noble Nook

Kobo

Waking up in Vegas - meet Phoenix

Last week you got to meet Max, the hero of Waking up in Vegas, over on Aimee Duffy's blog. Today it's Phoenix's turn.

My heroine was modelled on bar owner Lil in the movie Coyote Ugly, played by Maria Bello. A strong, take-no-prisoners kind of woman, Phoenix is tough as nails, completely unsentimental, but hides a wounded heart beneath all the attitude.

Raised by a musician dad, she's never lived in one place very long, and she's seen and done some interesting things along the way. Suburbia, with the white picket fence, SUV and 2.4 children, is her idea of hell on earth - so finding herself married to a man who believes in Happy Ever Afters has to be up there at #1 on her Not To Do List.

If Max hadn't come into her life, I imagine Phoenix would have ended up exactly like Lil - running her own bar and kicking ass.

Writing Phoenix was huge fun. She's nothing at all like me, but there's definitely a part of me that admires her and wants to be like her.

I'm going to leave you with one piece of trivia about Phoenix that didn't make the final draft of Waking up in Vegas: she has a tattoo of a phoenix on her lower back.

Waking up in Vegas is available now from Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and All Romance eBooks.

* * *

What happens in Vegas…
Waking up to the bright lights of Vegas in an unfamiliar penthouse suite, cocktail waitress Phoenix Montgomery finds she’s covered from head to foot in gold glitter and not alone – aside from the empty bottle of champagne, there’s a mystery man in the shower and a huge sparkly ring on her finger!

Stays in Vegas?
There’s no denying Max Waldburg’s demi-god sex appeal but commitment-phobic Phoenix doesn’t do relationships. Only it seems her new husband (agh!) has other ideas…he’s trying to keep that ring on her finger and his wife firmly back in his bed. The only question on her lips is – why? Or maybe, why not?

Author Spotlight - Olivia Logan

Today we're pleased to welcome the stunning Olivia Logan to the blog in celebration of her debut Crimson Romance novel.


1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself. 

My name is Olivia Logan. I’ve loved writing since I was a kid anything from fairy tales to inventing my own myths. As I got older I found my niche was romance and wrote short romances for my school newspaper. Cringe worth when your teacher comments on your grammer! 

I started entering competitions earlier this year and through one of these found my book picked up by Crimson Romance. 

2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!) 

My first! J 

3. Everyone who writes knows it's not easy - what methods do you use to keep at it on days when it would be so much easier to go shoe shopping?

Mmmm that’s tricky. If it’s a day when my characters won’t shut up then I just write but if they’re not I set myself word target and get down whatever that amount is- even when I come to revise there are usually okay bits that I can salvage so not a total loss.

4. What is your top promo tip for other authors?

Can I have 2? 1- listen to the critics (esp your CPs and eds if you get feedback) and work on their suggestions; 2- keep going (Think Dory in ‘Finding Nemo’ “Just keep swimming”) you will get there.

5. How does writing fit into your day? Or does your day fit in around your writing?

I work full time so writing fits around me. I’m a morning person so prefer waking up earlier to type then edit later as opposed to the other way around.

6. Do you write everyday?

Yes- though amount changes - sometimes 1K sometimes 200 words

7. Any craft books you recommend?

Liz Fielding's 'Little Book of Writing Romance'.

8. Keeping fit: Do you have an exercise regime to counterbalance all those hours sitting at a computer?

Full time job running that has me on my feet most days and dance work out DVDs at home.

9. In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?

Maybe it will change when I get the hang of it but I’m not reading / reviewing as much anymore which I loved to do.

10. Do you have any tips, tricks or sacrificial rituals you do when you hit a story roadblock?

Listen to classical music. By not listening to/ concentrating on words in a song my thoughts work themselves out.

***

Hotshot Hollywood Director Nick Trenton, needed a nanny and fast. It certainly hadn’t helped that his son had run off all the others he had employed and with a big shoot coming up in LA for three weeks he was running out of options. Then along comes Rania George- sweet shop owner and one of the few people his son didn’t want to give the slip. Yes, she seemed to dislike him from the get-go, but he could work around that. He loved his son and would do anything to get the lovely Miss.George to say yes to his plan.

 

Rania was used to children hanging outside her sweet shop but seeing one alone on a dark night was a first. What sort of parent would let their child wander the streets at night!

That was until she met his Hollywood Director Father. No wonder his son was wandering the streets alone, his father was probably too self absorbed to notice. She’d learnt from an early age that anything Hollywood related was bad news. Okay so he was attractive but she had vowed from to stay away from anything, and she meant anything Hollywood. Not that it helped when his cute as a button son captured her heart so easily nor when she was being offered to babysit said son for a huge amount of money. Only catch was she had to fly to Hollywood and spend three weeks in the company of his devastatingly attractive father.

The question was after all her experiences with Hollywood, was she willing to risk it all…

 

 

***

 

Urgent: One Nanny Required is available from Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes & Noble and  All Romance eBooks.

 You can catch up with Olivia on Twitter, Goodreads and at her Website.

Would you like to win a copy of Urgent: One Nanny Required? To be in the running all you need to do is follow Olivia on Twitter and leave a comment here answering the question: 'Who would play your dream leading man in a film opposite you?'. Olivia's awesome book will go to the commenter with the best answer!

Knight & Stay - OUT NOW!

Today is the official release date for Knight & Stay! 

In actual fact it hit Amazon a couple of days earlier than planned ~ it snook out whilst I was sleeping. Typical huh?

I woke on Saturday morning to lots of tweets from lovely stateside buyers telling me they were already reading it, and from there on things have snowballed pretty fast.

Forty eight hours later, and here we are on release day and Knight & Stay is already number 25 on the US Kindle chart, number 22 on the US Kindle chart,  and number 1 on the Amazon erotic chart on both sides of the atlantic. 

I am giddy, thrilled and crazy excited!

Knight & Stay is the sequel to Knight & Play, the story of what happened when Sophie Black, ordinary girl, goes to work as PA for the anything but ordinary Lucien Knight.

It ended on a big old cliff hanger, and that's where Knight & Stay picks up the story.

The Amazon blurb:


There's only one thing in life Lucien Knight really hates, and that's husbands who cheat on their wives.
There's only one problem in Sophie Black's life. Her cheating husband...
From the moment Lucien and Sophie met, the seal was set.


Romantic, emotional & intensely erotic, Knight & Stay is the much anticipated sequel to Amazon bestseller Knight & Play.

Lucien and Sophie's erotic journey began in Knight & Play. Find out how it ends in Knight & Stay, the breathtaking conclusion to their story.

Sophie Black has turned her back on both her cheating husband and her sexy, enigmatic boss Lucien Knight.

When she hits rock bottom, she finds herself drawn back into Lucien's glamorous no strings, high stakes world of intensely erotic encounters. Bold and beautiful, Lucien is a walking, talking Viking sex god ~ the ultimate rebound guy. 

His is a seductive world of pleasure without limits or commitment, but can Sophie's already bruised heart survive his strict no ties rule? 

When her husband returns with his tail between his legs, Sophie is faced with the toughest decision of her life.

How does she choose between the man she vowed to love forever and the man whom she hadn't planned on loving at all? 

From London to Paris to the glittering skies of Norway, Lucien & Sophie's is a story of star crossed love and forbidden passion ~ a sexual odyssey that spans the globe and changes both of their lives forever. 

* Knight & Play and Knight & Stay are two halves of one whole story, and best read consecutively.


About Kitty : Kitty French is the alter-ego of minx of romance Kat French, romantic comedy author.

Knight & Stay is available from Amazon US ~ CLICK HERE
Knight & Stay on Amazon UK ~ CLICK HERE


Knight & Stay is available right now on Amazon, and coming soon to other e-retailers.

Changes....exciting and terrifying...

A lot of changes are coming up for us this year in our household. We have a huge move coming up- that is if we ever sell our house, our eldest will start kindergarten (Yay) and I'm juggling being a mommy, dayjob, writing and trying not to be a failure at all. I know that this is a dilemma lot of writers out there face and I'm glad for the support system I have in the Hubster.

So, with all the move talk going on, Hubster asked me if I wanted to lay off looking for a new job in the city and just focus on writing for a while.

For context, hubster is an anal-retentive planner of all things in life. While this drives me to distraction, because he's forever trying to morph my disorganized, chaotic ways, I alsothank my stars every night that he takes our financial planning very seriously and his offer to focus on writing full time for a year and see how it goes, I know is a conclusion he has drawn from lot of data points, and taking into consideration the dip in our finances that will happen the moment I give up the day job.

With the stress that April was, I have decided to put my skeptical side aside and have taken the plunge.

********drum roll******

I have given my notice at day job that I am quitting. Come June 1st,  I am going to be free to concentrate on writing full time, while still trying to sell our house, packing to move to a new city, finding a house and a  school  for 5 year old.

Amidst all this, I am equal parts excited and terrified about being a full time writer although it will be a few months before I actually have a whole lot of time. But equally, I am excited about getting healthy again, working out, planning proper meals, and most important of all, spending enough time with kiddos and hubster, which suffered most with doing everything.

So wish me luck, won’t you?