Sunday Snog – The Other Brother

by | Jun 1, 2014 | | 1 Comment

Sunday Snog

The Other BrotherIt’s time for another Sunday Snog, yay! Last time I shared my second snog from Sweet Spot, my f/f erotic romance novella which is part of the Raw Talent series. It’s due for release on the 18th June, and is up for pre-order now. This week’s snog is from another of my June releases – The Other Brother, which came out today. It’s a m/f erotic romance and is part of Decadent Publishing’s Calendar Men series.

Gladly, she did as he said and pressed her lips to his. The two of them had been through so much, they deserved to be happy. She pushed all the negative and difficult thoughts to the very back of her mind and concentrated on the here-and-now; on his lips, his arms around her, his hard cock beneath her.

Their mouths opened and their tongues began a dance, a sensuous and very erotic one. Sliding together, battling. She’d almost forgotten how it all worked, how to kiss, how to make love…but she’d figure it out, and fast. Her body already had. Tight nipples, heavy breasts, and slick pussy.

Then she stopped thinking at all. Her brain morphed into a pleasant, fuzzy kind of place while her hormones raced, her nerve endings exploded, and she became one big ball of blissful arousal. Patrick shifted, held her tight, and carried her to her bedroom. Or perhaps they floated.

Depositing her on the bed, he joined her immediately, his lithe body covering hers, his mouth seeking hers once more. His lips took a slight detour, brushing the sensitive skin of her throat, kissing and nipping her. She growled and another rush of juices seeped into her panties.

You can get your hands on The Other Brother here.

Also, don’t forget to head back to Blissekiss and see what other luscious lip to lip action other authors have posted. Yum!

The Evolution of a Trilogy by Grace Marshall (@gm_romance)

by | May 29, 2014 | | 0 Comments

I’m celebrating the tour by giving away two print copies of the first book of the trilogy, An Executive Decision. Enter to win at the end of this post.

An Executive DecisionSometimes the journey to a trilogy is a no-brainer, quick and clear, and sometimes not so much. The Executive Decisions Trilogy was a long time coming, and it evolved in a way I would have never imagined when the first ideas popped into my head. We were living in Russia at the time for my husband’s job. While he travelled to refineries all over the FSU by trains, planes and mini vans, I was sitting in our flat overlooking the Moscow River using my time, as a woman of leisure, to hone the skills I would need if I were ever to become a published author.

At the time I was totally convinced that I didn’t want to write romance and yet, I couldn’t stop myself. It was awhile before I gave in to that overpowering urge and not only started writing romance, but also started flinging the bedroom doors in those romances WIDE open.

The original version of An Executive Decision began its life as a novella-length piece called ‘Leaning the Business.’ I had finally given myself over to actually writing the dirty bits rather than just thinking them. ‘Learning the Business’ started as nothing more than an exercise in writing erotica. I wanted to set up a situation in which a boss hires a woman, who is very highly qualified for the position, but a part of her job is sex on demand with her boss. They affectionately refer to this part of her job as ‘The Executive Sex Clause.’ According to him, this is the secret weapon that keeps him sharp and on top of his game.

In spite of my best efforts to keep it simply about sex, as is often the case, characters can be unruly, and my two characters, Dee and Ellis, fell in love. I should have expected that would happen, since love is an essential element in most of what I write. I also found that the wonderful character who evolved to be Ellison Thorne had his own mind, and he would never have done anything so unethical as what I originally had in mind.

However, the idea of the Executive Sex Clause, the idea of busy executives needing an outlet for their pent-up sexual energy, needing a no-strings attached way of keeping their focus, still intrigued me. In order to make the story work, I needed to keep Dee and Ellis wrong-footed with a sex clause that started out as a joke, a crazy scheme cooked up by a mutual friend. If the implementation of such a clause could happen almost by accident and turn into Dee and Ellis’s own little secret weapon, then I’d have created a wild romp of a story that would be fast-pace, a little bit tongue in cheek and very sexy. Secrets always make for fun twists and turns of a plot, and the Executive Sex Clause seemed the perfect secret.

Once the story had evolved to romance and to a novel, the rest was easy. I fell in love with Dee and Ellis right from the beginning, and they were both such fun characters to write. I took out a lot of the sex, populated the plot with friends, family and nasty colleagues, polished it up and sent it off under the poorly-chosen name, ‘The Executive Sex Clause.’ Those were the days before 50SoG.

Identity CrisisAlmost a hundred rejection letters later, disappointed and more than a little disheartened, I decided to give it a rest and try my hand at something else. That was over five years ago. A lot has happened since then. I’ve published nine novels under two different names — K D Grace and Grace Marshall. Fifty Shades of Grey exploded onto the literary scene, and the time was right to revisit The Executive Sex Clause.

One lovely agent, who will always hold a warm spot in my heart, actually took the time to critique the full manuscript before sending back a very apologetic, but encouraging rejection letter. Her main criticism – too many characters.

Too many characters! That was the key to transforming The Executive Sex Clause into An Executive Decision and the Executive Decision Trilogy. The story was too big for a single novel. Five years ago, the story was too sexy and the plot a little too controversial, but in the post 50SoG era, the novel, rewritten as a trilogy has come into its own. I’ve upped the stakes and broadened the scope. The Executive Sex Clause grew into An Executive Decision, Identity Crisis, and The Exhibition. I put the sex back in and tempered the heat to a slow, hot sizzle, and voila! The timing was perfect!

The ExhibitionI’ve written The Executive Decisions Trilogyas Grace Marshall rather than K D Grace because the focus of the story is the romance. And though the sex is hot enough to melt metal, it’s a little more subtle than what you would expect from K D Grace. However the chemistry between Dee and Ellis is anything but subtle, even before the two actually meet, and the comedy of errors that results in the two shell-shocked colleagues implementing the Executive Sex Clause. An Executive Decision is a fast-pace romp of big business intrigue, corporate espionage and the ultimate in mergers and acquisitions that happen when the heart takes control. It’s been extremely satisfying to finally be able to share Dee and Ellis’s story with the world, and even more satisfying to see Kendra and Garrett, and Stacie and Harris reveal their sizzling stories in Identity Crisis and The Exhibition. Yup! The Executive Decisions Trilogy was a long time coming, but very well worth the wait.

An Executive Decision Blurb:

Book 1 of The Executive Decisions Trilogy

Overworked CEO Ellison Thorne has no time for sex, let alone romance. The only answer, at least where his retiring business partner Beverly is concerned, is a no-strings sex clause in her replacement’s contract, designed to make Ellis’ busy life easier – and hotter. But she’s joking, right?

When Dee Henning takes over Beverly’s job, sparks fly between her and Ellis, but work takes priority in driven Dee’s life too. Can one night of passion in a Paris hotel room prove Beverly’s Sex Clause is their secret to success in the boardroom and the bedroom, and what will happen if that private clause becomes public knowledge?

 

An Executive Decision Excerpt:

At last Ellis pushed his chair back and looked up at her. ‘Marston refused the proposal.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Dee said again.

‘Not that it was a huge surprise, but I could have done nicely without him berating me for hiring someone incompetent and irresponsible to take Beverly’s place. That didn’t exactly make my day. What the hell happened?’

She felt the heat rising up her spine and onto her ears. ‘I overslept.’ She forced the words out into the chilled room.

‘You overslept?’

‘Yes.’ She nodded imperceptibly, feeling the scrutiny of his glare.

For a long moment he just stared at her. She forced herself to meet his gaze and held her tongue, afraid if she tried to say anything she’d burst into tears, and she despised women who cried.

‘That’s it, then? You overslept.’

She nodded again, swallowing hard.

‘Well that’s a relief.’ He leaned forward in his chair and rose almost as though he were going to leap over the desk and pounce. The tension in his body was palpable. ‘I was afraid you were lying on the freeway somewhere in a pool of blood. I’m so relieved that it was nothing so dire, and that you simply overslept.’ With each word, his voice grew louder until he wasn’t exactly yelling, but neither was there any way she could miss his message as each word drove her deeper into her chair until she felt as trapped as if she had been tied there.

‘I’m sorry,’ she forced a whisper through the roadblock in her throat, but the stinging behind her eyes warned that a swift exit would be necessary if she were to avoid the flood.

‘Sorry? You’re sorry? Tally had to pick up the slack. Do you have any idea how that looked? Just when I was starting to make progress with Marston, just when the man was beginning to listen to reason, you oversleep. You made Jamison’s deal seem all the sweeter, that’s what you did. Now, tell me what the hell’s going on.’

‘Pardon?’

He moved from behind his desk and paced the carpet in front of her like a bull ready to charge. ‘You’re supposed to be working to shore up the situation with Scribal. I told you up front that’s your major concern at the moment, then not only do you oversleep and miss an important meeting, but I find out you’ve been working on something else behind my back.’ Before she could respond, he turned on her. ‘Is Trouvères what you’ve been staying up half the night and missing meetings for? When I hired you, I never thought you, of all people, would neglect your responsibilities.’

‘I’m not neglecting anything. If you would just –’

He interrupted her. ‘Don’t think just because I gave you this job, you suddenly know it all. I took a big risk hiring you.’ He stopped pacing and rooted himself in front of her, close enough that she had to strain her neck to look up at him. ‘You want to do something; you bring it to me first. You’re not ready to make that kind of decision on your own. You don’t have the experience it takes to…to… You’re not Beverly.’

His words were a hard slap, felt more than heard above the roar in her ears. She wasn’t sure the ragged breathing her brain finally registered in the chasm of silence that followed his tirade was his or her own.

The phone rang into the charged atmosphere and Ellis jerked it from its cradle in a strangle hold. ‘This had better be good, Lynn. Wade? What the hell does he want? Can’t it wait? We’re not finished yet. I can what?’ He heaved a sigh of resignation and slammed the receiver back down. ‘Wade wants to see you right now. He says I can get back to you on this, and believe me, I intend to.’ He nodded toward the door. ‘Well, go on, at least don’t keep him waiting. Pick up the notes on the meeting from Sandra.’

She stood on trembling legs and turned to go. As she reached for the door, he called to her. ‘Dee, I strongly suggest you make no more attempts to prove Marston right about you.’

Sandra joined her in the hall. ‘I have the meeting notes for you.’

‘Just put them on my desk. Wade wants to see me.’

Sandra nodded. ‘Yes, I know. I told him he did. And I told him to give you a few minutes in the ladies to freshen up first.’ She offered a reassuring smile and turned on her heels.

*****

Still breathing like a freight train, Ellis watched Dee disappear shutting the door behind her. He grabbed up the phone and called his secretary. ‘Lynn, hold all my calls. I don’t want to be disturbed. How long? Until I say otherwise, that’s how long.’ He slammed the receiver down, snapped his laptop shut and stormed down the hall to the lounge.

He shoved his way out of his jacket and tossed it across the wingback chair, then practically strangled himself in his efforts to loosen his tie. From the coffee table he grabbed up the remote and plunged the room into the wild raucous ride of the third movement of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. Then he dropped onto the sofa struggling to breath, struggling to regain control, struggling to figure out what the hell had just happened. All through the meeting, when Dee didn’t show up, he was terrified that something horrible had happened, terrified that he would lose Dee the same way he had lost Beverly. And the relief he felt at seeing her. Jesus, the relief was like nothing he’s ever felt before.

If Lynn hadn’t called, if Wade hadn’t demanded Dee’s presence … If Ellis had had one more second with her, he would have yanked her up from the chair and fucked her senseless right there in the middle of the day with all of Pneuma Inc just outside his door, fucked her as though he might never get another chance, fucked her as though his life depended on it, and that’s exactly how it felt. He wiped cold sweat from his forehead and struggled to breathe. If he’d lost her, Jesus! He couldn’t even bear the thought.

Christ, he couldn’t go on like this. It felt like he was always either avoiding her or jerking off thinking about her. And damn if he wasn’t thinking about her all the time; the shape of her, the feel of her, the sass of her. He’d never wanted anything so badly. And then … and then she screws up so royally that all he wanted to do was punish her, to turn her over his knee for giving him such a scare, to … to … to fuck her until she couldn’t walk.

Available from:

http://gracemarshallromance.co.uk/books/an-executive-decision/

*****

Grace MarshallAbout K D Grace/Grace Marshall

Grace and KD both believes Freud was right. In the end, it really IS all about sex, well sex and love. And nobody’s happier about that than she is, otherwise, what would she write about?

When she’s not writing, Grace is veg gardening. When she’s not gardening, she’s walking. She walks her stories, and she’s serious about it. She and her husband have walked Coast to Coast across England, along with several other long-distance routes. For her, inspiration is directly proportionate to how quickly she wears out a pair of walking boots. She also enjoys martial arts, reading, watching the birds and anything that gets her outdoors.

Grace and KD have erotica published with SourceBooks, Xcite Books, Harper Collins Mischief Books, Mammoth, Cleis Press, Black Lace, Erotic Review, Ravenous Romance, Sweetmeats Press and others.

K D’s critically acclaimed erotic romance novels include, The Initiation of Ms Holly, Fulfilling the Contract, The Pet Shop. Her paranormal erotic novel, Body Temperature and Rising, the first book of her Lakeland Heatwave trilogy, was listed as honorable mention on Violet Blue’s Top 12 Sex Books for 2011. Books two and three, Riding the Ether, and Elemental Fire, are now also available. She was nominated for ETO’s Best Erotic Author 2013 and 2014.

Grace Marshall’s sizzling hot romance novels, An Executive Decision, Identity Crisis, The Exhibition are published by Xcite Books.

Find Grace and KD Here:                                                
http://gracemarshallromance.co.uk/
http://kdgrace.co.uk/
http://www.facebook.com/GraceMarshallRomance
http://www.facebook.com/KDGraceAuthor
https://twitter.com/GM_Romance
https://twitter.com/KD_Grace
http://www.pinterest.com/kdgraceauthor/

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New Release – Crazy, Undercover, Love by Nikki Moore (@NikkiMoore_Auth)

by | Apr 24, 2014 | | 0 Comments

CUL Banner

The day has finally arrived!! Nikki Moore’s debut novel with HarperImpulse – Crazy, Undercover, Love – is released as an ebook today, 24th April 2014.

If you like pacy, sexy romance and fancy a long weekend in Barcelona with a smoking hot guy this one’s for you!  Want to know more…?

 

Crazy Undercover Love CoverWhen uber-feisty career girl Charley Caswell-Wright takes on the assignment as PA to the gorgeous Alex Demetrio, CEO of Demetrio International, she’s there under entirely false pretences; to get her life back on track. Having lost the job she worked so hard to earn, she’s determined not to give it up so easily, especially when she didn’t deserve to lose it in the first place.

Mr Dreamy CEO is her only chance of clawing back her career – and her reputation. So she has to keep things strictly professional… boy, is she in trouble!

To buy Crazy, Undercover Love as an ebook:-
Amazon – http://amzn.to./1gdpOxb
Google Play – http://bit.ly/1rTMrQw
iTunes – http://bit.ly/1mkzpHP
Kobo – bit.ly/QlpKpC
Sainsbury’s – http://bit.ly/1hoD1bj

 

Or to buy it as a paperback on pre-order, released on 26th June:-
Amazon – http://amzn.to/1rTKGmB

 

What people are saying about Nikki’s other stories…

The Love Letter and A Day in the Life… HarperImpulse short story collection Be My Valentine, with Teresa F Morgan and Brigid Coady, attracting 4 and 5 star reviews.

‘I loved all 5 stories and will look out for more books by each author.’

CometBabesBooks, Amazon

‘Whilst I enjoyed all of the stories, I particularly liked Nikki Moore’s … her voice as an author really resonated with me and I can’t wait to read more of her work.’

Kate Beeden, Goodreads

Nikki’s short story A Night to Remember in the Mills & Boon/Romantic Novelists Association anthology Truly, Madly, Deeply which has also attracted 4 and 5 star reviews.

‘My favourite story was A Night To Remember. I think what drew me to this … was its resonance with real life. I’m not going to spoil the story but I could feel the emotions spilling out of the page – it was beautiful.’

Beckie, www.beckiesbookmix.blogspot.co.uk

‘A Night to Remember – Beautiful, devastatingly so.’

Cheryl M-M, Goodreads & http://mmcheryl.wordpress.com/

Nikki Moore Author Pic 1Nikki Moore lives in beautiful Dorset and writes short stories and sexy, pacy romances. A finalist in several writing competitions including Novelicious Undiscovered 2012, she graduated from the Romantic Novelists Association New Writers’ Scheme after four years and and has contributed to their magazine Romance Matters. She has far too much fun attending the annual RNA conference and has previously chaired a panel and taken part in a workshop at the Festival of Romance.

She blogs about some of her favourite things – Writing, Work and Wine – at www.nikkimooreauthor.wordpress.com and believes in supporting other writers as part of a friendly, talented and diverse community.

You can find her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/NikkiMooreAuthor or on Twitter @NikkiMoore_Auth and she invites you to pop in for chats about love, life, reading or writing!

Random Acts of Fantasy by Julia Kent

by | Apr 15, 2014 | | 0 Comments

Random Acts Of FantasyDescription:

From New York Times bestselling author Julia Kent comes the third in her Random series:

You ever really think that you’ll win the lottery? Meet Mr. Right? How about two Mr. Rights?

Somehow the universe is handing me everything I want (except for that lottery part…), and I don’t like it. Not one little bit. Because just when you get all your dreams handed to you on a silver platter, that’s when an airplane dumps its sewage on your house. Or your mama’s diabetes takes a bad turn. Or your mobile phone gets stuck in your hoohaw.

(What? It happens…)

Boring old average me got everything I wanted already, moving from small-town Ohio to big-city Boston to follow my heart. So when the fancy invitation offering me a pile of money to come with the band, Random Acts of Crazy, to perform on an island resort and be their manager arrived, I thought it was a cosmic joke. Enough money to help my mama get what she needed, five days in sunny paradise, and a shot at greatness for the band? Unreal. One big shoe was waiting to drop. On my head.

Just like no one really ever finds a naked man wearing only a guitar standing by the side of the road hitchhiking and ends up falling in love with him and his friend and moving halfway across the country for true love, no one gets an invitation to come to what turns out to be a resort where people make what me and Joe and Trevor do together look like a chaste peck on the cheek. But…

Well.

I guess these things do happen.

To me.

–-

Pre-order links:

Amazon US | Amazon UK | iBooks

3 Worst Airports for a “Lay”-Over by Tara Quan

by | Jan 3, 2014 | | 1 Comment

Hi Lucy. Thanks so much for letting me drop by to promote my new book. A contemporary romance, Delicious Delay was just released by Decadent Publishing. The blurb and excerpt are at the end of this post, and the book is now available from the publisher (here), Amazon (here), Barnes & Noble (here) and other major ebook retailers (here).

Writing Delicious Delay has forced me to mull over a plethora of logistical hurdles related to sex in an airport. While certain airports have the amenities to make a “Lay”-Over possible, there are ones that would make any attempt the opposite of pleasant. Here’s my short list of worst airports for “Lay”-Overs, along with the reasons why. (Disclaimer: I do not advocate having sex in an airport.)

3. Siem Reap International Airport, Cambodia: There are virtually no enclosed areas in this tiny little airport (the architects seemed to favor stilts over walls). It’s equipped with a few extremely cramped bathroom stalls and air conditioning is difficult to come by. Combined that with the humidity, heat, and mosquitoes, and you’ve got one of the least sex-inspiring airports on the planet. That said, I highly recommend a trip to Angkor Wat!

2. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, India: This is without a doubt the most crowded airport I’ve ever visited save for Cairo. In general, India gives the term “sea of people” a whole new meaning. Because of the amount of traffic this place gets, it’s impossible to keep it clean. With queues snaking out the doors, you’d be lucky to catch your flight, let alone sneak in a naughty kiss.

1. Washington Dulles International Airport, D.C., USA: I might be a bit biased since I’ve traveled through this airport more times than I can count. That said, with security the way it is these days, you can get into a ton of trouble in the nation’s capital by looking even remotely suspicious. There are cameras everywhere, along with drug-sniffing German Shepherds (that once took a shining to my stash of pork jerky), as well as over-worked government employees who seem to be in a bad mood more often than not. Most would not think this of the country that birthed Hollywood and MTV, but Americans can be quite prudish when we’re in a rush to catch our flight!

Are you wondering what I think are the best airports for a “Lay”-over? Drop by Teri Rigg’s Blog on Wednesday to find out (January 8, 2014)!

 

Delicious DelayDelicious Delay

Stranded in a Middle Eastern airport, Michelle Day finds herself the object of interest for an abrasive, but all-too-sexy stranger—a stranger who tempts her with the forbidden in a land where indecency could get her killed. But how does one say no to such a deliciously, relentless pursuit?

Khalid Al Dehri takes one look at the red-headed spitfire in the business class lounge and knew he’d either been transported to heaven—or hell. Her tart response to his surliness intrigues him beyond all propriety and the longer he spends in her company, the more he can’t deny his forbidden attraction. But will she explore the sensuality between them or will society’s rules keep them apart?

Buy links: Consolidated | Decadent | Amazon | B&N | GoodReads

 

Excerpt

He grinned. “So I have a proposal.”

She tried to get her breathing under control, without much success. “Why am I sure it’s an indecent one?”

He motioned his head toward the far end of the lounge. Latticed wooden screens gave that particular section more privacy. In an L-shaped room, the tucked-away location prevented a direct line of sight from the dining or reception areas.

He got up and offered her his hand. She hesitated for a long moment before taking it. With faltering footsteps, she followed him. More private or not, limits on how far this could go existed due to them being in an airport lounge. Since her self-control had chosen today to take a vacation, she appreciated the imposed constraint.

He lowered himself onto a plush leather sofa deep inside the cordoned area. With walls on either side and screens strategically angled, the space seemed to have been designed as a spot for people to nap.

On the brink of crossing a dangerous line, she hesitated. “What exactly do you have in mind?”

“I’m just giving you the opportunity to have your way with me,” he offered, his face the picture of innocence.

She hadn’t expected that answer. “I don’t quite follow.”

He kicked one of his legs out and tangled it with hers. She stumbled and instinctively moved her hands forward to brace herself. Her palms flattened over his hard muscled chest when she landed.

She traced the shape of his pectorals. “What do you do all day? Work out?”

He chuckled, the low rumble all male. “I have access to the best personal trainers money can buy. They help keep me honest.”

She shook her head in disbelief as the man preened. “Have you heard of a concept called humility?”

“It’s not one of my virtues,” he admitted. “I’ve never understood the point.”

She sighed. “It’s the polite thing to do.”

He placed his forefinger under her chin and tipped her head up, his expression playful. “So what is a sweet, polite, goody two shoes doing on top of me?”

 

Tara QuanAbout Tara

Globetrotter, lover of languages, and romance author, Tara Quan has an addiction for crafting tales with a pinch of spice and a smidgen of kink. Inspired by her travels, Tara enjoys tossing her kick-ass heroines and alpha males into exotic contemporary locales, fantasy worlds, and post-apocalyptic futures. Armed with magical powers or conventional weapons, her characters are guaranteed a suspenseful and sensual ride, as well as their own happily ever after. Learn more at www.taraquan.com

Website: http://taraquan.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taraquanauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laylatarar
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/taraquan
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00B19HWJQ

Interview with Zee Monodee

by | Dec 9, 2013 | | 0 Comments

Bad Luck With BestiesTell us about yourself. Both your writing self and your non-writing self. What are your interests and hobbies? Do you have a day job, etc?

Hello everyone! Pleasure to be here; thanks to lovely Lucy for inviting me over. 🙂

Okay, about me… I’m 30 years old, and sometimes it feels like I finished secondary school yesterday. But I just need to glance at my 10-yr-old son to know that cannot be the case, and then into the picture comes the husband, this man I’ve been with for almost 12 years now without throttling him (or vice versa, lol!) I live in Mauritius, born and raised here actually, and despite a stint abroad in England, home is where the heart is and mine was always on my island (especially when I met my husband here while trying to get over a very bad divorce. Yep, you read that right – I was already married and divorced at 18).

So basically, I’m your typical fun-loving gal – I love pop music, fashion, movies, TV shows, soap operas. I’m of Indian origin, so anything with drama draws me like a magnet to iron. 🙂 And of course, I love to read. I could spend all my time in my reading corner downing book after book, but sadly, that’s not real life.

As for the day job, well I’m firstly a freelance editor, but since July 2012, I have been managing the Ubuntu line (geared to romance set in Africa and/or with African characters) at Decadent Publishing. It’s a challenging post but I relish a good challenge and there’s nothing I love more than finding a gem in the submissions and getting to bring an author into the spotlight.

And of course, I’m an author. I write mainly contemporary romance. Some of these works are set in Mauritius, where I showcase the culture I grew up in. Lately, a lot of my work is veering toward small town romances set in rural England – there’s something lovely and romantically magical to me about village life in the UK. Then I indulge my love of the paranormal (Uh, hello? I’m Zee and I’m a Supernatural junkie. Yes, the TV show) through the self-published Eternelles series I co-write with my bestie, Natalie G. Owens.

 

Give us the background on your latest release.

Well, I totally did not see this one veering into a series. It started as a thought a couple years back – I’d just finished dealing with a second bout of cancer (yes, 2x survivor of breast cancer here, and yes, too – it hit me twice in my 20s. Cancer doesn’t wait for later, so ladies, please take heed and check your boobies every month! It can save your life, like it did mine).

So yeah, there I was like a veritable encyclopaedia of first-hand cancer knowledge, and my bestie suggested: why not exploit all this and turn it into a story?

That’s how the character of Megha Saran was born, and her romance meant she fell in love with the most unlikely man ever – her super-playboy boss, Magnus Tramell. Now, Magnus’ family is very rich and in the village where they hail from, they’re almost considered like royalty. Since I’ve always loved the county of Surrey, it came as no surprise that I invented a small village there called Daimsbury.

Then life butted in and deadlines on other works crept up, so this story got relegated to the backburner. But sometime this year, one of the editors at Decadent Publishing mentioned a new line starting. In a nutshell, these would be category-style stories in a short length. Needless to say, I was intrigued. What could I write to submit to that line?

And the idea of Daimsbury popped inside my head again. Like, why not use a setting I’ve already created and peopled with some intriguing characters?

Now I’m a huge – and I really mean huge – fan of the TV show Supernatural. Jensen Ackles (considered by many, especially in the fandom, to be the hottest man alive) and Jared Padalecki (the hottest nerd alive, at least in the show, coz he’s no nerd in real life, lol) play two brothers fighting against Evil. So far, neither has got even the hint of a happy ending. It got me thinking – what if Dean and Sam (as they are known in the show) were regular blokes who also got a happy ending?

Jensen/Dean being the eldest, I had to start with him. J I wanted the characters in this series to be young, around their thirties. What sort of conflict can you give an early 30s bloke? Oooh, what if he had a teenage daughter? And what if this being-involved-in-a-teenage-pregnancy angle meant he lost the girl he really loved and wanted to marry all along? And what happened to this girl? That’s how Liam Morelli and Honor Whelan were born, and theirs became a story of former best friends finding themselves and a second chance at love over a Christmas season.

 

How did you get started with writing? And what was your route to publication like?

I have to say thanks to cancer for getting me to pursue my dream of writing. So there I was, just-turned 22. I was happily married, had an adorable toddler, and even my then-5-yr-old stepson seemed to like me and didn’t see me as an evil stepmum or something. 🙂 I’d taken a break from corporate work (I used to be an after-sales department coordinator) to bring up my son, and was pursuing my degree via distance learning on the side. Life couldn’t get any better. Then the lump came, seemingly overnight. Less than 2 weeks later, I had a diagnosis of super-aggressive malignant breast cancer and it was a miracle I was still alive.

You know when they say that facing death and getting away with it gives you a different outlook, like a second chance at life? I was alive, and wanted to celebrate that fact every single moment of my life. It had always been my dream to write ‘one day’, but when I told my husband about this, he told me this: ‘One day is now. You make it happen.’

So that’s how I picked up the pen (and the keyboard) to start my first story. Writing this tale of divorce in Mauritius and a second chance at love became an anchor to me, and it kept me going and powering on between chemotherapy sessions and all the other treatments for the cancer.

That story was first published in Mauritius, in print. But my writing proficiency didn’t match the local market’s pace, so I turned to e-pubs in the US to push my work through. And that’s been it. Never looked back again. 🙂

 

What are you currently working on?

Well, I just finished my first NaNoWriMo, and the novel I penned for that challenge ended into a longer, single-title romance. Set in a rural village in North Yorkshire, it’s the tale of an anorexic supermodel whose family kidnaps her from backstage at a fashion week and forces her to lay low in this village until she’s realised how much she’s putting her life in danger because of the anorexia. On the first morning there, the model tries to break out…only to land onto the path of the very handsome, Viking-god-like pub owner and chef. Suddenly, staying in this sleepy place doesn’t look like Purgatory anymore.

It’s Book 1 in a series I’ve titled Havisham Park. I am now editing and polishing before I can submit this to a publisher. It’s fun, because I had to learn how to speak Yorkshire (which is a veritable other language from English, lol!) and then the village and its inhabitants came to life while I was writing. I’ve totally fallen in love with this world and cannot wait to get back to it.

 

Do you have a particular Muse for your writing? Do any of your characters bear startling resemblances to sexy celebrities or people you admire?

Muse? No, not really. I do hear ‘the voices’ though *grin* Authors will know what I mean. But yeah, characters scream to be written, and that’s muse enough for me.

And yes – almost every time, my characters will bear striking physical resemblances to sexy celebrities, especially men I’ve ogled/found hunky. The heroines, too, will look like someone famous. For example, in Bad Luck With Besties, Book 1 in The Daimsbury Chronicles, you already know that Liam Morelli, the hero, is templated off actor Jensen Ackles. Honor Whelan looks a lot like Katie Perry (especially with her blunt-cut fringe and those big eyes).

I prefer to work with a physical likeness because I always visualize my scenes before I write them, and this is easier to do when I have a definite physical image in my head, like an actor/puppet I’m having play out the scene. Helps keep my focus and consistency, then.

And yes, too – creating hunky romance heroes is a perfect excuse to indulge in eye candy research 🙂

 

Where do you see yourself in five years? Both writing-wise and non-writing-wise?

Writing-wise: a few series under my belt, and hopefully, these will be successful ones so I’ll still get to indulge in dabbling into those worlds and bringing their inhabitants to life for the length of a story. I hope to be a ‘recognised’ name by then, and readers seeking my stories for a good time.

Non-writing-wise: …to tell you the truth, I have absolutely no clue here. 🙂 Hopefully, still married to my wonderful husband and watching the kids grow. My stepson will be out of the house/an adult by then, while my son will be in the last years of secondary school. I hope both will have grown into decent, respectable men and beautiful human beings. And yeah – me celebrating another 5 years of being cancer free.

 

And now for some silly questions…

Muscled or skinny?

Muscled. Not the bodybuilder type coz that’s a bit freaky, but some muscle even on a lean frame is, imo, necessary (and yeah, a man cannot, I repeat, cannot, have smaller hips than I do!)

 

Tall or short?

Tall. At 5’2, almost any male will tower over me, but I love my high heels so my man’s got to be tall for us not to look like Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise 🙂

 

Boxers or briefs?

Doesn’t matter. He’ll lose either when it matters *wink*

 

Moustache or beard?

Beard + moustache or nothing at all. I find moustache-alone rather creepy 🙂 And beards can be sexy

 

Long hair or shaven head?

Hmmm… Both have their particular allure. I’d go with shaven head, though, coz I tend to find balding men sexy (hello, Jason Statham!)

 

Tattoos or piercings?

Tattoos! Piercings are scary, like, what if I hurt him without meaning to because of that scrap of metal in whatever-body part? 🙂

 

Intelligent or funny?

I’d go with funny. Nobody likes a bore, even if he’s super intelligent. 🙂 That being said, nerds are sexy, though…

 

Blond, brunette or red head?

Being of Indian origin and living in a land where almost everyone has dark hair, I have a definite propensity to like blond men (half my heroes, or more, are blond…)

 

Hottest celebrity (tell us why, if you like)?

Hmmm, now that’s a very tough one…. So many to choose; do I have to settle for just one? It’s a tossup between Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth. Yes, they’re both gorgeous men with adorable smiles and voices to make you swoon, but what attracts me most on top of all that is they’re both family men. I find that the epitome of hotness – a man dedicated to his wife and children.

 

Top same-sex crush (or opposite sex if you already like same-sex!)

Another tough one…. Charlize Theron. That woman kicks arse and she is gorgeous! 🙂

 

Most disliked celebrity (tell us why, if you like)

Kim Kardashian. Do I really need to state out the obvious why? 🙂

 

Favourite food

Hands-down, pizza!

 

Favourite book (tell us why, if you like)

The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. It is funny and smart and somehow, real, because this could totally happen, and I love the way the heroine’s eyes become open to what really matters in life. And yes, the laughter. 🙂

 

Favourite place in the world (tell us why, if you like)

My home country, Mauritius. It’s got beauty and what I cherish most – tolerance. I’m a “covered” Muslim woman yet nobody gives me a second glance or calls me a potential terrorist here despite my conservative dressing-type.

 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Lol – I think I’ve rambled enough. *wink*

 

Now give us the blurb, an extract and buy links for your latest release.

 

Title: Bad Luck with Besties

Series: The Daimsbury Chronicles

Book #: 1

Genre: Contemporary romance

Heat level: Sweet

Publisher: Decadent Publishing, LLC

 

Blurb:

Honor Whelan always trips into bad luck with male best friends. Abandoned by her bestie of eleven years who got her pregnant during a one-night-stand, she finds herself destitute and alone, with no other choice but to head home to the Surrey village of Daimsbury.

Fifteen years earlier, Honor left Daimsbury because her then best friend and the boy she loved, Liam Morelli, got another friend pregnant.

Honor had run…but today, she can no longer hide. Especially not when fate knocks her straight into Liam’s path, and he starts to show signs of wanting a second chance.

Will her luck finally change or will she continue to fight bad luck with besties?

 

Excerpt:

She let her gaze travel to the dining table, bare except for the two white documents in stark contrast against the mahogany wood. Which one should she contemplate first? Not that she hadn’t spent the past three months pouring over them. Glancing at the papers shocked her with solid punch to the gut. Every single time.

What had she expected, really? Jonathan might have gotten her up the duff during one drunken night, yet he still remained totally gay. The flat and all its contents belonged to him. He wouldn’t get his hands on her book collection, that was for sure. Everything else, he’d ditched, like a person picked up a rotten sock with the barest pinch of fingers and tossed the smelly rag in the rubbish bin.

A flutter, akin to something pulling inside, started in her belly. She placed a hand on the spot where a baby grew in her. She could almost feel the kid calming from the touch. Doctors could say whatever they wanted; she knew her body. Her baby was alive and proud to exist. Why couldn’t Jonathan see that?

She sighed. Her gaze landed on the eviction papers. Her three months’ notice would run up tomorrow, and she no longer held hope that Jonathan would come round and tell her everything had been a mistake, that he hadn’t meant to eject her, and his child, out of his life and throw her out on her arse, to boot.

She’d been an idiot. The minute she’d confessed about her pregnancy, all shades of her best friend for the past eleven years had vanished. The cold, hard man she’d faced had turned tail and run to his former lover, the same one who had dumped him like a rotten sock, too. The most misogynistic bastard Honor had ever encountered. No wonder Jonathan, under his influence, sent her not only an eviction notice, but also the papers wherein he renounced all rights to the baby and requested she never bother him with anything pertaining to the child.

How could she have been so wrong about him? A tear rolled down her cheek. She should know, shouldn’t she, having an awful track record with male best friends. Hadn’t Liam Morelli gotten Rose Payne, the other member of their trinity, pregnant when they’d been seventeen?

And speaking of Liam. No, she couldn’t think of him. He’d returned to Daimsbury where she was headed, but no other choice lay before her. She had to go back, because the family house in that Surrey village was her only remaining possession.

Buy Links:

Amazon UK
Amazon US
Decadent Publishing

 

Now give us your author bio and website/social media links.

ProfilePicStories about love, life, relationships… in a melting-pot of culture

Zee is an author who grew up on a fence – on one side there was modernity and the global world, on the other there was culture and traditions. Putting up with the culture for half of her life, one day she decided she’d stand tall on her wall and dip toes every now and then into both sides of her non-conventional upbringing.

From this resolution spanned a world of adaptation and learning to live on said wall. The realization also came that many other young women of the world were on their own fence.

This particular position became her favourite when she decided to pursue her lifelong dream of writing – her heroines all sit ‘on a fence’, whether cultural or societal, in today’s world or in times past, and face dilemmas about life and love.

Hailing from the multicultural island of Mauritius, Zee is a degree holder in Communications Science. She is married, mum to a tween son, & stepmum to a teenage lad.

Website & blog: http://zeemonodee.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ZeeMonodee
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/zee.monodee
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4836171.Zee_Monodee
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/zeemonodee/

Thanks again for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed this interview and wish you the best of luck with your latest release. Many sales!

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