I am delighted to welcome Molly Ann Wishlade, author of Trying Too Hard released last month by Carina (Harlequin UK), onto my blog for today's round of #20Twenty...
ACT ONE – all about you…
Molly Ann Wishlade has always been an avid reader and writer of stories. She regularly indulges her love of romance and passion by getting lost in the delicious worlds created by romantic novelists. When not reading, she’s busy with her current WIP, usually her next highly erotic tale about sexy and saucy heroes and their lady loves – and sometimes their gorgeous male lovers too.
1) Have you always been a writer or is it something you fell into?
I’ve always written stories and longed to be published but I didn’t think I had what it takes. I fell into teaching instead of following a career in journalism as I’d planned. Motherhood and a very busy time followed and I tried to forget about my dream.
In 2007, I submitted a medical romance to HM&B but it was rejected and I’m not surprised! Then I wasted time procrastinating. A few years ago, after confessing my burning desire to write to my husband, he encouraged me to try again and after a few bumps and bruises (i.e. rejections and revise and resubmits) I finally made it and Totally Bound contracted my debut novella Desire in Deadwood.
2) Do you have a particular writing style or ritual?
Whenever and wherever! ;) As I work fulltime, have two young children and a gorgeous and supportive husband, writing doesn’t get the time I would like to give it. So I seize every opportunity!
3) Is there a book or an author that has influenced you in your writing?
Growing up, I loved the passionate intensity of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I adore a good romance but I also read every Stephen King novel I could get my hands on. I like all genres and I admire good writers. It’s a craft and one that I hope to improve with every book I write.
4) Is there one piece of writing (or life?) advice that has stuck with you, or that you would like to share?
Be true to yourself and your author voice. Don’t try to write what doesn’t come naturally because it will show.
5) Can you tell us three things about yourself that we probably don’t already know?
I have a bulldog and a greyhound and when we take them out, people often comment on them being an odd pair.
I make a tasty curry using my own special blend of spices.
I’m an Olympic snowboarder. (I wish! I have enjoyed the Winter Olympics enormously and I’m addicted to the snowboarding and skiing events. I can ski but not at Olympic level. YET!!!)
6) What five luxury items or gadgets would you hate to be without?
My laptop. I NEED it!!!
My husband. He is a luxury and a necessity and a gadget in a way because he drives me around. (I hate driving.) I’m kind of an emotional scatterbrain and he grounds me.
My kids. They ground me too but they’re also a luxury because they keep me smiling and give me lots of hugs.
Wine. YUM! (Not necessity but luxury. Well…kind of necessary luxury.)
Net Flix – since we discovered this, it’s been amazing. I love House of Cards and Louis Theroux’s weird weekends.
ACT TWO – all about your new release…
What’s the French word for lust…?
Hired as an intern at a coveted talent agency, blonde bubbly Catrin Owens knew she could be brilliant at the job. The code of conduct is crystal clear – business is business, pleasure is pleasure…and the two should never, ever meet! No problem for Catrin - she’s hardworking, and determined to excel. Until, that is, she meets the 6 ft-something wall of lean muscle that is her boss’ top client…
Scarred, and brimming with forbidden sex appeal, the French rugby star Henri Chevallier crashes through the walls of Catrin’s neatly-ordered life – and throws her polished professionalism aside like a scrap of sheer French lingerie!
The sex is fierce, exhilarating…life-changing – and almost all the more exciting as she knows she’s risking the career she dreamed of. Catrin knows she should step away. The problem? Henri is a temptation she can’t seem to resist…
7) Congratulations on your recent release of Trying Too Hard, what was your inspiration for writing Catrin and Henri’s story?
I wanted to write a romance featuring a rugby player set in Wales. The story idea came to me and I sketched an outline then when I started writing, it just flowed.
8) Did the story flow from your finger tips or did some scenes take a bit of cajoling?
This one pretty much flowed. It’s a novella about an intense and passionate affair between a Welsh celebrity agent and her firm’s handsome client, a French rugby player.
9) How long did it take for the initial spark of the story to make it onto the page and then onto the publisher’s desk?
Taking into account the day job and my busy life, a couple of months.
10) Do you have a favourite paragraph or sentence from your story that you would like to tantalise us with?
The voice was like silk against Catrin’s skin and a flicker of lust darted like a hot tongue between her legs.
;)
11) Over to you, what can you tell us about Trying Too Hard, to make us rush out and buy it?
If you like your romance hot, fast, emotional and with a dash of humour, this is the read for you!
12) What can we expect from you next? Is there something you are working on right now?
I have a mini-series of three Western novellas (currently in edits with Carina UK) centred around three young women living in Deadwood in 1890 as well as a release due in March with Totally Bound called Harlot at the Homestead. It’s the first in a series of historical Westerns called The Duggans of Montana.
QUICK FIRE ROUND – it’s pop quiz time…
13) Plotter or pantser?
Plotter.
14) Digital books or print books?
Both! I love my Kindle because it can hold so many books and I can download them immediately. But I also love a print book – the feel, the smell, the cover! Yummy!
15) Tea or coffee?
Earl Grey
16) Extrovert or introvert?
Introvert. I hate being the centre of attention.
17) Facebook or Twitter?
Both have their good points.
18) Christmas or birthday?
Christmas
19) Morning person or night owl?
Morning person if I have a day of writing planned.
20) Sweet or savoury?
Savoury.
And that’s a wrap!
Thank you so much for taking part, Molly, I wish you every success with your new release.
To discover even more about Molly Ann Wishlade and to keep up with her latest projects, you can visit her at:
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You can also catch up with Molly on the Total-E-Bound Blogspot on the twelfth of every month.
Buy it now…
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Released: 29 January 2014
Carina UK
Amazon UK / US / CA
All Romance
NOOK UK / US (B&N)
Kobo
iTunes
Excerpt…
“There you are!”
The voice was like silk against Catrin’s skin and a flicker of lust darted like a hot tongue between her legs. The poky, clinical office kitchen suddenly seemed too warm, its aroma of burnt toast overpowering. The air conditioning hummed in vain as Catrin’s body was flooded with heat.
The new arrival took hold of her shoulders in large, powerful hands and pushed her towards the counter so that her stomach pressed against the hard melamine edge. Her heart picked up its pace. The fine hairs on the back of her neck pricked up.
“Catrin,” he whispered into her right ear, causing a blonde tendril of hair that had freed itself from her chignon to flutter.
“Yes?” she whispered, her nipples tightening in anticipation.
“I missed you this morning.” He nibbled her earlobe. She shivered as he ran his fingers slowly down her sides.
“Henri.” She leaned into his warmth, felt the strength of his stomach muscles against her back, his heat searing through her thin blouse. “I had to get back to my apartment. You know...feed the cat.”
“What cat?” he said, trickling slow kisses down her neck then sliding his hands under her arms to cup her breasts.
She sighed as his exquisite touch fired her passion and her breathing quickened. She slid around in his arms then pressed a trembling hand upon his broad chest.
“Please, Henri…”
“What is it, chérie?” He tipped her chin upwards with a fingertip and his cologne washed over her. She savoured the fresh green woody tones. At their edge she could make out something else, something even more delicious: his musky masculine scent. It made her want to open his shirt and press her face against his belly to breathe him in.
“I can’t keep going like this,” she smiled, trying to regain her composure but desire pulsed through her core like a lusty demon possession.
“Like what, Catrin?”
He reached out and stroked the back of his free hand over her black satin skirt and she groaned, moving towards him even though a voice at the back of her mind reprimanded her. He laughed softly at her body’s betrayal and turned his hand around, pressing it against the apex of her thighs and cupping the ready flesh beneath.
She slumped against the counter, her eyes half-closed. Her legs turned to jelly as he lifted her skirt to her thighs.
Here I go again!
Her common sense drifted away like cobwebs on the wind and her body revealed her true emotions with every breath she took.
“Oh, t’es la plus belle femme du monde!” he gasped.
“Sorry?”
“Pardon, chérie!” he laughed. “I said that you are the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“Oh,” she smiled, “Thank you.” She loved it when Henri spoke his own language but wished that she could understand him better. A GCSE in French hadn’t equipped her for communicating with a French lover.
She relaxed and closed her eyes again as he ran his hands over her thighs.
“And this is what I love about you!”
Her eyes shot open.
Love?
He pushed her skirt right up to her hips then fingered the tops of her hold-ups and she realised what he meant. This Frenchman loved a woman’s body with all the trimmings, which was lucky as she liked pretty underwear. It was just more fun to have someone to appreciate it.
Mere moments ago she’d been spooning two sugars into her coffee cup, desperately in need of a caffeine fix after yet another long night of French loving with the handsome rugby player.
She was exhausted. Exhilarated. Still horny.
It was hard to believe that it was only two nights ago, on a rather cold, drizzly July evening that she’d accompanied her boss – the renowned celebrity agent Liam H. Clarkson – to an annual dinner. It had been the sixth anniversary of the establishment of Clarkson and Gwillam Celebrity Agency. It now had five branches across Europe, with the possibility of further growth, so spirits were at an all-time high.
And it had been there, deep in the cavernous candlelit corridors and ante-chambers of Cardiff Castle, polished, manicured and poured into her best lbd, that Catrin had met Henri.
And since then, her feet hadn’t touched the ground!
