Hi Katy, thanks for coming along today. I’m excited to know that your new novel “The Secret” will be released shortly.

Please tell us a bit more about it.

Hello Cristina – thanks so much for inviting me onto your lovely blog today to talk about the setting for my new novel.

The Secret is set in Tuscany, in the same village as The Silence which was published last year. The village is called Santa Zita and is entirely fictional but is inspired by lots of villages in the Lucca area of Tuscany – enclosed within its walls, the houses clinging to the rock.

It’s an area of craggy mountains, deep gorges and hilltop villages which from below look like little kingdoms. They each have their own character, traditions and folklore. And if they chose I imagine they could guard a secret for many years.

I think you’d like Lucca, the main town, Cristina, because it’s encircled by 4km of city walls which are perfect for running – although you might have to dodge the odd bicycle and rickshaw.

There are several towers to climb with wonderful views, and lots of squares with cafes where you can sit and watch the world go by.

The area’s ideal for riding, mountain biking, kayaking and canyoning. You can go dolphin spotting from Viareggio, visit an adventure park or the Grotta del Vento (the Wind Cave). Or take a cable car up to the mountains to ski in winter or cool off in summer.

And of course the food is fantastic!

You can also visit the remains of the Gothic Line fortifications which the Nazis built to hold back the Allied soldiers as they advanced up through Italy. It’s hard to imagine the devastation the war caused for the civilians caught up in it but I’ve tried to capture this in my story.

I’d advise anyone thinking of going to this part of Tuscany to go in spring when the snowy mountains provide a lovely backdrop and everything’s in blossom.

Publication day for The Secret is 1^st June for the ebook (£1.99) but it’s available for preorder now at http://mybook.to/thesecretjohnson

The paperback is available now at £6.99.

Blurb

Two girls growing up in Mussolini’s Italy share a secret that has devastating consequences. Against a backdrop of poverty, fear and confusion during the Second World War, friendship is tested and loyalties divided until a chance encounter changes everything.

The girls’ lives diverge when beautiful, daring Martina marries and moves into Villa Leonida, the most prestigious house in the village while plain, studious Irena trains to be a teacher. But neither marriage nor life at Villa Leonida are as Martina imagined. And as other people’s lives take on a new purpose, Irena feels left behind.

Decades later a tragedy at the villa coincides with the discovery of an abandoned baby, whose identity threatens to re-open old wounds.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us today Katy. I read and really enjoyed “The Silence” and I’ve already pre-ordered “The Secret” and I’m looking forward to finding out more about Martina and Irena.

You can find out more about Katy and her work here:

Katharine Johnson is a journalist with a passion for all things Italian (except tiramisu). She grew up in Bristol and has lived in Italy. She currently lives in Berkshire with her husband, three children and madcap spaniel. When not writing she plays netball badly and is a National Trust room guide.

www.facebook.com/Katharinejohnsonauthor

twitter @kjohnsonwrites

website/blog www.katyjohnsonblog.wordpress.com

 Good luck with the new release Katy and I hope to have you back soon with details of other writing projects!

Please welcome author Gemma Snow to my blog today, please make yourself at home.

Can you summarise your latest work in just a few words?

Thank you so much for having me on! Yes! So Leather and Gold is a class-clashing erotic novella set in Regency England, starring a widowed duchess and a devilish sea captain!

Regency England! I love it already! So, what was the inspiration for this book?

I love the built-in tension of historical romance! Everything has to be nuanced and unspoken and between the lines, and that makes for a really great set-up. Sexuality and desire are not new ideas, and so I wanted to play around with these universal wants in an era when they would have been even more misunderstood and secret. The character of Alexandre, my sea captain, was loosely inspired by the Three Musketeers, though, of course, the story takes place much later. I do love me a bad boy sea captain though.

Bad boys do have their appeal, don’t they ; – )

How do you decide on the names for your characters?

Well, apparently I liked the original names so much that I was halfway through the book when I realized I’d used both of them in Captain’s Quarters, one of my first short stories! I’ve written several Regency-era romances and there is a definite dearth of sexy names, so I made Alexandre French and moved outside of the nobility for Emmeline. It was a little embarrassing to realize that I’d forgotten my own characters!

That’s so funny, I’ve done something similar. I have a thing for “S” and “G” names and it’s often only half way through a WIP I realise everyone has almost identical names and then I have to go and change them all as it’s just so confusing to keep track of who is who! 

Do you have any advice for new writers?

Two things! One, you’ve probably heard a thousand times. Write – write all the time. Keep notebooks and phone notes and napkins and never stop telling stories. It’s easy to get caught up in the madness of the hustle, but if you keep your eye on the story, you’ll make it to the finish line.
And two, at the risk of completely negating that first one, you have to treat writing like a business. Get up, get dressed, make to-do lists, set deadlines, keep the books. When you treat writing like a business you’re more productive and the rejections and setbacks are far easier to manage.

This is so true! Aferall you can’t edit a blank page can you?

Tell us a little more about yourself. When you’re not inside your creative cave writing and plotting away, what do you like doing?

My dad and I have a startup company, so my days are almost all hustle and bustle. I run the social media and news department for a website for classic car enthusiasts, so I get to enjoy a lot of different hobbies and interests every day. I love baking, traveling, yoga, reading, art history, anything and everything that opens my mind and gives me new things to learn and explore.

From what I can gather, you write contemporary romance but also erotica, I have a great admiration for storytellers in this genre, what it the funniest / weirdest comment you’ve heard when you’ve told someone you write erotica?

Great question! So I’ve written in a lot of genres, contemporary, historical, erotic (erotic historical,) etc. I have to say, I get asked about Fifty Shades of Grey all the time! I have a lot of issues with the series, but I also find it funny because my work is much more graphic and explicit. If you go in expecting FS, you’ll probably be pretty surprised! The cool thing is though, erotic romance is a great platform to explore feminism, consent, sexual agency, and creativity. I think one of the most feminist things I do in my life is write about women exploring their sexual desires in safe, consensual environments, where they’re fostered and properly understood. This isn’t necessarily something I can explain to everyone I talk to though, but it’s a large element in why I love this genre so much.

This is a very interesting and important concept, thank you for sharing!

What can we expect from you in the future?

Stuff and things! I just signed the third book in the Triple Diamond series, which is a four-book menage series set on the Triple Diamond Ranch in Wolf Creek, Montana. That series has been such a fantastic fun series to write, because each book explores different elements and types of menage relationships. I also learned a lot about Montana — I’m a coast girl, so that was unique! Seduction en Pointe and Leather and Gold are both the first books in their series, so I’ll be working on the rest of those soon — and I have a contemporary royals erotic romance in the works too! I just wish there was more time for everything!

Congratulations on signing your next book. It sounds like you’ll be busy with all your up-coming writing projects.

As a child what did you want to do when you grew up?

Always a writer! Also a scientist, movie director, perfume-maker, and chocolatier. Obviously, I always had an imagination! I still haven’t given up on becoming a ballerina or a marine biologist. (My lack of background in either would disagree!)

I look foward to seeing you dance then…

Do you have any strange habits before, or whilst in the writing process?

I mostly keep a lot of notes — though they’re not always organized! I have tons of notebooks, two bulletin boards and a Google Drive worth of disapparate notes! Seduction en Pointe went through some major plot overhauls, and I actually did a storyboard of the whole book on this 12-foot whiteboard and may have left it in the foyer for like three months. My mom was really patient, but I think she had enough of her friends asking about the exhibitionism sex scenes in the dining room and she finally told me to take it down.

Oh my gosh! That’s hysterical! 

How many books have you written? Do you have any unpublished work?
Under Gemma Snow, I have four short stories, a novella and a novel currently published, with two more novels in the publishing queue and the series to complete. Under my other pen name, I have four novellas and a full-length novel out. I’m currently working to place my Special Forces series, so there are a couple completed manuscripts in the pipeline.

That’s quite a lot! You have a busy mind.

How long did it take you to get from the idea’s stage to your publication day?

Leather and Gold was a wild experience! I had submitted a very short version of this book, less than half, to anthology open submission, right around when I submitted The Lovin’ Is Easy to an anthology open submission. My grandma and I share a birthday and it’s always a big, rousing week of fun and family, and during this week my amazing editor gets in touch with me and says “we love both books, but can you double both of them by the end of the month.” I was literally editing the hardcopy of the manuscript in the backseat of the car on the way to my own birthday party! But I love how this book turned out and both manuscripts were far better for being longer.

That’s a real sweet story. It’s funny how things sometimes turn out and the bizarre things we often do to achieve our dreams.

What was your hardest scene to write?

There’s a scene where Alexandre and Emmeline break character during a very intimate moment, and that one was a bit rough. Alexandre is a hardened sea captain, very masculine, very controlled, and having his emotions displayed so rawly was tough to write, but so worth it in the end.

What did you do once you had written the final word in your book?

Haha, I don’t remember if I finished The Lovin’ Is Easy or Leather and Gold first, but it was such a whirlwind that I didn’t stop writing for a bunch of weeks — I think I then started on a different deadline. No rest for the weary and all that!

Yes, I think writing is difinately 24/7 , just as well we love it so much.

What movie could you watch over and over again?

Pirates of the Caribbean featured heavily in my life for a long time — I write about a lot of devilish sea captains and pirates! I’m also a huge fan of rom-com Shakespeare reimaginings, so She’s the Man, 10 Things I Hate About You, also Indiana Jones and any Harry Potter movie.

What would be the top song on your playlist?

I’m really more of an audiobook person than a music person (I know, it’s not cool to admit that!) But Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” or “Hell on Heels” by the Pistol Annies, give me a lot of angry feminist juice.

If you won millions, what would be your first purchase?

I’d pay off the student debt. It’s not sexy, but my boyfriend and I both owe a lot in school loans and it’s really tough to start a real life for ourselves with that albatross around our ankles. Then I’d fund my startup company in full. After that, there are some castles for sale in Europe…

I’m sure they’d make a great setting to one of your next novels too!

A talking cat walks into your room wearing sunglasses, and a cocktail glass in hand, what’s the first thing that he says to you?

“Sugar pie, ain’t no one teach you to play the piano?”

Thanks so much coming along today, and for these really fun answers. I wish you the very best and look forward to reading more about you and your work.

You can find out more about this talented author here:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Goodreads
Or at https://www.gemmasnow.com

Buy Links:

Loose Id

Amazon

Kobo

Please welcome to my blog today the wonderful and mysterious Shayne Ford. Thanks so much for popping along today.

Tell us a little bit about yourself, what sort of books do you tend to write?

I write what I like to read– hot, steamy romances with a solid, layered, character driven story. The lead men are hot, the women are soulful, and the narrative is spiced with a dose of realism to make the stories believable. I like stories that have a dash of mystery and a lot of depth. My stories are not the typical romance, nor are they formulaic or fit a mold.
If you’re looking for something different these books might be for you. I currently have 22 books published.
My books are intended for mature audiences.

Wow! 22 books! That’s quite an achievement! Can you summarize your latest work in just a few words?

Dark Erotic Billionaire Romance. Dark McKenna (Shades of Love #1)

What was the inspiration for this book?

It all started with one scene, which is the focus of the first chapter.
A broody, broken, powerful man who has everything and yet lives life on the edge because of something dramatic that happened in his past. And a much younger, beautiful girl who is forced to fight for survival with everything she’s gotten. They each have something that the other one needs in order to pull themselves out of the maze.

I’m intrigued to find out more!

How do you decide on the names for your characters?

So far I’ve been lucky to find names that fit the genre, narrative and their personalities. To me, the name is extremely important and has to reflect all that. I write New Adult books, so I need names that suggest a certain age or names that are timeless. They also have to match. Yes, I like their names to have good chemistry as well.

You’re right, the character’s name is fundamental. Could you offer any more advice, especially for any budding authors out there who maybe reading this? 

Writing a book can be as simple or as complicated it as you make it.
To write a book, you have to have a story in mind otherwise you get lost and lose your motivation.
Then you need to sit down and write it, regardless of the circumstances you are in, and fighting all the possible distractions.
And last but not least, you can’t be disheartened if the first draft doesn’t sound good enough. You have to cross that finish line, and then you can polish that story as much as you want.

I totally agree, you can’t edit a blank page.

When you’re not inside your creative cave writing and plotting away, what do you like doing?

I spent most of my time writing. Other than that, I like driving, walking my dogs and working out. Often times, I take a break from writing and walk outside or hit the gym or simply drive, opening my mind to new ideas. That’s how I get a lot of inspiration. I also get them by listening music.

From what I can gather, you write erotica, I have great admiration for storytellers in this genre, I’m also greatly curious about what you say when your gran grabs a copy of your book, reads it and then offers you advice on how you can improve a scene or two! Seriously though, what it the funniest / weirdest comment you’ve heard when you’ve told someone you write erotica?

I write New Adult erotic romance with strong emphasis on the story and the characters. I add a good dose of realism to my writing to make the stories believable. So it’s a fusion, if you wish, between the more literary genre that is more psychological in nature and the hot and steamy romance writing.

Regarding the comments…
I have to disappoint, but I pretty much live like a hermit. There aren’t that many people close to me in real life. Therefore I don’t have the chance to talk to too many people. I’ve never gotten advice on how to write either, but I can imagine that this could be a fun topic of conversation, and possibly a good story for a book (wink) when brought up at a party or a gathering

Yes, or perhaps as a saucy chat-up line…

So, what’s the best thing about being a writer in your opinion?

Working on your own. Entering a fictional world. Exploring your emotions. Learning and growing. These are the few things that make it perfect for me. Writing is not for everyone, and it’s not as easy as it seems when you fully get immersed in it.

What’s the worst thing about being a writer?

I can’t think of many. I like the lifestyle and the freedom to work with my brain and my imagination. I also love the fact that I get to know people who are drawn to me by my books.
But generally speaking, writing is not for everyone. It’s intense, consuming, maddening at times and comes with a lot of loneliness.
It can also be heartbreaking if you’re set on making a living with it.

What can we expect from you in the future?

More books. I have several series planned for this year. As long as the stories keep coming to me, I will continue writing.

Thanks so much for sharing your passion for writing with us. I wish you all the success with your books and I will keep a look out for your future releases.

More about Shayne Ford

I’m a fan of muscle cars, dogs, chocolate, flowers and quiet, starry nights filled with love.

In case you wondered, I like my leading men soulful, ripped, adventurous and knowledgeable. I prefer them a bit wild. Not to tame them, but to watch them in full splendor.

For notifications on new releases, sneak peeks and behind the scenes bits, subscribe to my mailing list at:

Contact: shayne@shayneford.com
Website: www.shayneford.com
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The Soulweaver, released 19th January 2018.

Today I have a very special guest. One of the most amazing things about becoming a writer is the incredible people you meet along the way. I have been fortunate enough to have become friends with a really special lady and an incredibly talented author. Please welcome Heidi Catherine to my blog today. Heidi, it’s so nice to have you here today, please make yourself at home.

It’s so lovely to be here with you! I’m a big fan of your writing. A Little of Chantelle Rose was a fabulous read. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you! I’m so glad you liked it! Heidi, I believe your soon to be released debut novel “The Soulweaver” won the Romance Writers of Australia’s Emerald Pro award, what a fantastic achievement, Congratulations! Could you summarise this work in just a few words.

Thank you so much. It was a huge honour to win the award and get such positive feedback from all the judges. I was genuinely shocked. In just a few words, The Soulweaver is a story about a girl who’s haunted by memories of having lived before. As these memories sharpen, she has to choose between the man she loved in her past life and the man she loves now.

Sounds fascinating, I’m so looking forward to reading it. I’ve acutally already read the prequel The Moonchild (which can be downloaded for FREE here: mybook.to/themoonchild ) and it’s got me really intrigued to find out more.

What was your inspiration for this novel?

I was a very curious child and one day I asked my mother what would happen if a widow remarried, only to one day find herself in heaven with two husbands. My quick-thinking mother told me that in heaven there’s no jealousy, only pure love. I really liked that answer and over the years I thought about it a lot. This was my inspiration for writing The Soulweaver and I really enjoyed taking the opportunity to explore the possibility of reincarnation. So this book has been a very long time in the making!

It’s cetainly a fascinating concept.

You have also been named as a highly commended author in The Hope Prize and your story “The Extra Piece,” was published by Simon & Schuster in a collection of short stories. Is there a similar theme in your stories or do they all touch on different aspects?

I must have a short attention span, as the only thing any of my stories have in common, is that they were all written by me! I’ve tackled everything from romance to crime to middle grade fiction. My short story, The Extra Piece, is about disadvantage in the community and although it’s a work of fiction, it’s based on a couple of conversations I had with people who had to escape their country of birth. It’s evoked some really touching responses from my readers. But I have to say that The Soulweaver series is my very favourite thing I’ve ever written. I honestly loved every moment of it.

You have achieved all these amazing, prestigious awards, but the road to publication is often a long and bumpy one, what advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I need to stop blushing before I answer this! Thank you. Yes, the road in my case has been very long and bumpy with lots of dead ends and crocodile infested waters. The advice I often give to aspiring writers is not to do what I did! Don’t write a book that you think will be easy. Write a book that you would love to read. Because no matter how good a writer you are, if your heart isn’t in it, then it will show. Although in my case, writing the ‘wrong’ book was an excellent way for me to learn how to write the ‘right’ one.

What was the most surprising thing you learnt in creating your book?

I learnt that not every detail of a book needs to be planned in advance of writing it. I’d been taught to plot out my stories using a beat sheet, to make sure it followed the standard formula for popular fiction writing. And although this works brilliantly for some people, it really doesn’t work for me. I find that process stifles my creativity and sucks out the joy of writing. I’m far better off to develop a rough story outline, then launch into it, letting the story come to me naturally. I find this a more rewarding way to write as often a big plot twist will jump out and surprise me, hopefully just as much as it ends up surprising my reader. So what works for one writer, won’t necessarily work for another, and The Soulweaver really taught me to trust my instincts.

If you could spend one day with a character from your novel, or any novel, who would it be and what would you do?

I won’t say one of my characters, as I’ve spent many, many days with them in my head over the years. So instead I’ll say, Casey who’s a character from a book called Make it Count by Tamar Sloan. When Casey touches someone she can see how many days they have left to live. She’s a bit of a recluse and doesn’t like touching people, so basically I’d just spend the day hanging with Casey and trying to ‘accidentally’ bump into her so she can let me know how quickly I need to finish writing my next book (hopefully not too soon!) I’d also quite like to hang out with your character, Chantelle Rose, basically so she can just make me laugh all day. She might even let me in on what happened to her after the book finished as I’m dying to know!

Thank you! I’m happy to confirm that we’ll see more of Chantelle in 2018!

I imagine that this year has been quite a magical year for you, and early next year we have the release of your debut novel, which, may I add, has already got, not just once but twice! a bestseller ribbon during pre-sales on Amazon, any new projects lined up for later on in the year? (Book related or not)

I’m working on Books 2 and 3 of The Soulweaver series, The Truthseeker and the Shadowmaker. These stories follow my main characters into their next lifetimes and will be released by Crooked Cat Books in early 2018. I also have a couple of crime novels and a middle grade novel sitting on my computer, which I’d like to revive. So I have plenty to keep me very busy! It’s just as well that I enjoy what I do.

Thanks again for popping in. I look forward to reading your novel which I have already pre-ordered (buy link: myBook.to/thesoulweaver ) and will appear, as if my magic, on the 19th January.

Thanks so very much for having me on your blog today! I really hope you enjoy The Soulweaver. I have a free prequel novelette available on Amazon that you can read while you wait. It’s called The Moonchild and introduces you to the two main characters from The Soulweaver in the lifetime they lived before the book takes place.

You can find out more about Heidi here:

The Soulweaver order link – myBook.to/thesoulweaver

The Moonchild FREE prequel order link:mybook.to/themoonchild

Website: www.heidicatherine.com

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/heidicatherine

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HeidiCatherineAuthor

Twitter – @heidicatherine

Instagram – http://www.instagram.com/heidicatherine

Oh! What a Pavlova, released 3rd October.

Please welcome author Isabella May to my blog today, please make yourself at home. I would offer you some tea and cake, but your confectionery skills together with the fabulous cover art of your novel puts my cooking to shame, so I’ve rustled up a fruit salad instead!

No problem, I LOVE fruit salad too, and I’ve almost overdosed on cake this week! Thanks for inviting me, Cristina.

Isabella, please tell me how you came up with this fantastic title “Oh! What a Pavlova” and could you summarise your latest work in just a few words.

I have a penchant for all things cake and pudding – you might have guessed. And I wanted to somehow blend this into a book about domestic violence, so interchanging the “pavlova” bit for the usual “palaver” was a play on words that just stuck!

How to summarise? Hmm…

Cake meets domestic violence, travel, spirituality, comedy, and a bid for freedom in the arms of many an unsuitable man… all set against the backdrop of the weird and wonderful characters of the publishing industry.

Sorry, that was more than a few words, but it’s one of those novels that straddles genres and covers a LOT of topics!

Please welcome author Katharine Johnson to my blog today.

Hello Katharine, please make yourself at home. I’ve prepared a fresh fruit salad and there’s some cheese and biscuits to your right also.  

Thanks Cristina, it’s lovely to be here!

Katharine, your novel THE SILENCE will be released in just a few weeks, on the 8^th June. I believe that this is your second novel. Your debut novel LIES, MISTAKES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS was an Amazon bestseller so congratulations!

Could you summarise your latest work in just a few words.

Thank you, yes it’s a story about a secret that a woman has kept for twenty-five years dating back to a summer she spent in Tuscany as a teenager – a summer that went tragically wrong. When human remains are found in the grounds of a Tuscan villa she realises her secret is no longer safe…