Good morning my little monkeys! I'm excited to have one of my pub sisters, Elizabeth Finn, here with me today. We have a ton to talk about so let's get to it, shall we?
First of all, let me congratulate you on your first release. I’m so excited for you! And you have TWO more releases coming before the end of the year! How are you feeling right now?
Busy! But, I’m thrilled. It has been so much fun sharing The Devil’s Pawn with my readers, and I can’t wait for my other two releases as well!
That makes two of us! LOL! How did you spend your release day?
Well, sadly, working most of the day – in fact, I spent nearly five hours in my car, travelling between my office and one of my company’s branch sites in the rain and fog! But I made it home safely in time to spend the evening with a small group of girlfriends. Lots of margaritas and laughs. It was a great day in all.
More smokin’ hotness! I love this story. It’s gritty, real, and emotional—I think that’s what I love best. You get caught up in these characters’ lives so easily, and to top it off, it’s jam packed with smoldering sex scenes!
Just like we like it! ("we" being me, of course). Derek is fabulously tasty. What was your inspiration for him?
I truly can’t say. Inspiration is one of the hardest things for me to nail down. I needed him to be gritty and harsh. He’s not a character you’ll start out liking right away. He may be fabulously tasty, but he’s a hard pill to swallow for a good portion of the book. But that makes his rise to righteousness all the sweeter in my opinion.
Is there any part of you that is reflected in Ashton’s personality?
I think there are definitely some elements of myself in all my female characters. You have to write what you know first and foremost, but fortunately, we all have sooo many facets to our personalities that while Ashton is one character that embodies some of me, she isn’t all of me by a long shot, and I can share plenty more of myself in the other female characters I write as well.
Tell us about your “ultimate” hero. Feel free to be specific! :)
You mean aside from gorgeous? Okay – here goes! I’m a tall-dark-handsome sorta gal. Beyond the physical, I love strong and sure men who are intelligent, commanding, but fair and passionately protective. They don’t have to be perfect – in fact, they better not be, but they have to know how to grow and evolve. I’m not attracted to immaturity or irresponsibility. I love a calm and reserved personality that is comfortable in his own skin but willing to lash out when he needs to. And, oh yeah – tall-dark-handsome!
Do you have any writing quirks? Specific place, music, etc?
I really don’t. I write anywhere I can. I jot notes in my trusty notebook when I can’t get to my laptop, I’ve cranked out some great stuff sitting in an airport restaurant during a long layover—twice! I’m busy, so I have to grab my writing time when I can get it. Sometimes that means when there are cartoons blaring in the background on Saturday morning, other times it’s late at night. I’d love to try to write to music someday, but there is usually too much going on around me to make that possible – fortunately, I’ve learned to concentrate through the chaos!
What does an average day look like for you?
Well, I’m a mom, a full time Human Resources Specialist, a half-time college student in her junior year of business management, and a writer. So – I juggle! A LOT! There are days when I get up at six, get my son and I out the door by seven, drop him off at preschool, get to work by seven-thirty, run home mid-day and crank out five hundred words, return to work until about four-thirty, head to class until nine-thirty, and then finally settle in at home at ten to write for an hour or two. It can be exhausting, but it is more rewarding than I ever imagined being overly-inundated could be.
What are you reading right now?
My Statistics text book, and no, in case you’re wondering, it’s not sexy at all! Not even one sex scene if you can believe it…
Can you share anything with us about your next two releases: Brother’s Keeper, coming October 22, 2012 and Restoring Jordan, coming December 17, 2012?
Of course! Here are blurbs for both!
Brother’s Keeper:
Rowan is ready to embark on a new
life as the recipient of a scholarship in ballet to Michigan State University.
Having lost her mother at an early age and being subjected to the abuse of a
destitute drunken father, she has known unimaginable loss and heartache and
been left wanting for a better life—a life that is finally within her grasp.
But with one ill-fated phone call, her life is turned upside down. Logan is her
best friend’s much older brother, his own career taking off as he prepares to
graduate law school and move cross country to the prestigious law firm that has
offered him a very lucrative contract. When Rowan finds herself at Logan’s
mercy after he inadvertently learns of the abuse she has suffered at the hands
of her father, their lives become intertwined in a way neither ever imagined
nor wanted.In an effort to protect her but with his own hands tied by her unwillingness to report the abuse, Logan strikes a deal requiring Rowan to stay at his apartment whenever there is a chance her father might be on a drunken binge—which is often. For her agreement, he will keep her secret. But soon, their time together weighs on them both, and they find themselves constantly tempted to step outside the bounds of their supposed platonic relationship.
When Rowan once again finds herself in the clutches of her father’s drunken rage, Logan’s long held resolve to keep their relationship innocent crumbles, and he’s left fighting his own desires in order to protect her virtue while craving his own indulgence in her as well. But though the boundaries of their relationship become foggier by the day, his passion and love for her does not. But there is no point, because the devastating fact of the matter is that their lives are moving in opposite directions—a relationship destined to die.
The ever present clock plagues them both as it ticks off the days until they are parted. But is being apart from one another truly possible? Is life beyond their time together livable? How can you survive when your other half is taken from you? And the most important question of all, how will he protect her from a father intent on hating her until the day he dies … or the day he kills her?
Restoring Jordan:
When Adeline
Parker decides to celebrate landing a coveted internship at one of Chicago’s
most prestigious architectural firms by indulging in a brutally dark and
handsome man, she gets more than she bargained for.
Lost in a maze of
hallways on the first day of her new position, she stumbles headlong in to a
boardroom of suits, very expensive suits. They are the somebodies of this
prestigious firm, and she is, by all accounts, the very definition of a nobody.
And sitting at the table with the rest of the principals from the firm is a
man—the very man who unwittingly de-flowered her only days before.
From the look of
it, Jordan Ellinwood is none too happy to see her again; by his own admission,
he’s a one night stand man, and the fact that she conned him in to taking her
virginity isn’t sitting well with him either. But as her path is inextricably
attached to his, their closeness will no longer be a choice.
Adeline is
talented—far more so than the other interns that have made their way through
the firm, and as they embark on a restoration project together, their physical
proximity becomes an unexpected emotional and intimate attachment.
Jordan was raised
by servants and nannies while his parents lived overseas. Emotion, compassion,
and intimacy were not a part of his life, and frankly, he liked it that way.
Adeline, on the other hand, was raised in a close knit Midwestern family that
taught her everything she knows about being warm, caring and compassionate.
When her
reputation and internship are threatened by co-workers bent on jealousy and
resentment, the long dormant emotion that Jordan has so effectively stifled
fights to break free. The realization that he cares for his one night stand is
as foreign to him as his own parents’ love for him is. And as he struggles to
get out of his own way long enough to let her see his compassion, her career is
jeopardized and leaves him fighting with every last ounce of himself to save
her.
Will it be enough?
Will his help come in time to protect her career that is being threatened
before it even begins?
Bonus question: Beer, wine or hard liquor?
Wine: Chianti
to be exact.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me today Elizabeth! Please stop back by anytime!
Now, for my greedy little monkeys, you know I wouldn't leave you hangin'. Here's a taste of Derek and Ashton in The Devil's Pawn. Enjoy!
When Ashton is left orphaned
after her parents are murdered, her life becomes a hell she could never have
imagined. Left to fend for herself, and responsible for a debt she doesn’t owe,
she is swept into a life as a gentleman’s escort at a private men’s gaming
hall. Her new manager makes it abundantly clear he doesn’t appreciate her
inexperience, innocence, and shyness. On the contrary, he despises everything about
her.
Derek can be “difficult,” she’s
been told. And however dark and handsome he may be, he terrifies her in a way
that chills her to the bone, but leaves her begging to understand him. As they
are pulled along together, more secrets and threats than either one could ever
conceive are revealed, and a common enemy emerges. This enemy will stop at
nothing to bring Derek to his knees while using Ashton as the greatest pawn in
his torturous game.
Will Derek be able to let down
his shield of cold, harsh emotion before it’s too late? Will he be able to
sacrifice himself to save Ashton, or will they both be destroyed by the secrets
of their pasts?
Excerpt:
Once in the
fitting room, Derek takes the chair again while I start to remove my clothes. I
intentionally wore ugly, stretched-out, white cotton underwear that is entirely
too big on me in the event he should be here. My mouth isn’t the only thing
that can get me into trouble—my sarcasm knows no bounds when I’m unhappy.
As he sees the
appalling excuse for an undergarment, his eyes move up to mine, narrowing
darkly at my obvious defiance. I look coolly back at him before looking away
dismissively. My anger and resentment of him from the humiliation he subjected
me to the previous morning, not to mention his treatment of me over the past
two weeks, have charged me into a bold, fiery bitch that no longer cares what
retribution I might face. While my tongue usually gets me in trouble, today I
decided to let my underwear do the talking.
Jacob enters
with an armful of dresses for me to try on, and he cringes as he takes in my
defiant granny panties, hated the world over by men, including, apparently, gay
men.
He turns to
Derek, and with a scrunched-up face, he worries out loud. “The dresses aren’t
going to lay right over those…” He tosses a nod in my general direction.
Derek wastes no
time at all reassuring Jacob and striking back at me. “No worries. Ashton was
just taking them off. She won’t be wearing underwear anymore.”
I glare
defiantly back at him as I drop the loose fabric to the floor. He returns the
glare for a moment before letting his gaze travel down my body to my sex, and
as it lands there, smoldering with heat, I turn abruptly from him,
intentionally showing him my backside instead. I look to the mirror in front of
me, and I catch his eyes flit away from me in annoyance. He worries his lip
with his thumb and index finger as he contemplates, and the slightest of smirks
crosses over his mouth. Jacob is standing by looking from one to the other of
us, obviously wondering just exactly what he’s gotten himself in the middle of.
Derek finally
looks back to Jacob. “Get on with it.”
I try on one
after the other of the dresses. Some are perfect; Jacob pins in additional
alterations in others. Derek sits by bored, only glancing up from his cell
phone occasionally. One such occasion is when Jacob remarks that I’m “just not
curvy enough for this one.”
Derek looks up
to Jacob, but he shifts his eyes to mine before commenting, “Yes, well, if you
can figure out some way of making her look female, you let me know.”
Jacob again
lets his eyes pass between us, seeming to wonder all the while what he’s
missing. As I hold Derek’s eyes with my own, my anger falters, and the pain
that is behind my fury pushes through. I try to wrangle my tears into
submission, but it’s no use. In defeat, first one, and then another spills from
my eyes and slides down my cheeks. Jacob regards my state and excuses himself
from the room.
I stand on the
hemming block in the center of the room, refusing to look at Derek. But he’s
looking at me, and as my hurt continues to work through my entire body, I let
my tongue do what it does best. “Why do you hate me so much?”
He says
nothing, but stands and moves to me. Reaching around behind me, he pulls the
zipper of the dress down, and then, returning his hands to my shoulders, he
pulls the straps down, exposing first my small breasts, and then the rest of my
naked body as it falls to the floor.
He
leans in to my ear and speaks. “You don’t know anything about me.” He then
takes me by the hand and pulls me to stand in front of the mirror, and leaning
to my ear once more as I watch him in the mirror, he speaks gently. “Lean
forward and put your palms on the mirror.”
BUY LINKS:
About Elizabeth:
Elizabeth Finn is an Iowa native, where she lives with her
husband and son. By day, Elizabeth is a Human Resources Specialist, but by
night, she checks her professionalism at the door and immerses herself in the
world of writing contemporary erotic romance. Look for more to come from
Elizabeth Finn.
Visit
Elizabeth at ElizabethFinnFiction.com, Facebook.com/ElizabethFinnFiction or email to ElizabethFinn77@gmail.com.
Thanks for letting me hang today, Parker!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for being here!
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