NAked with Aurelia B. Rowl

Today, we're getting NAked with Aurelia B. Rowl 


Who are you and what should we know about you in 50 words or less?

I’m an avid reader turned writer, and I write as Aurelia B. Rowl, which is an anagram of my real name. My writing style is very ‘British’ and I still consider myself a novice, and I fit writing around caring for my two young(ish) children and mad mutt.

Which one: chocolate or bacon?

Easy peasy... having been vegetarian for over twenty years, it’s chocolate every time for me.

What is the name of your book and what is it about in 50 words or less?

Popping the Cherry is a Young Adult/New Adult coming of age story told through the eyes of Valentina ‘Lena’ Bell’ as she walks a tight rope between bowing to peer pressure, staying true to her heart, and holding out for the right guy.

Tell us your main character's name and 3 adjectives that describe him/her.

There are several ‘major’ characters in Popping the Cherry, but the three mains are:

Lena, who is: tenacious, strong, and courageous

Gemma, who is: flirtatious, well-intentioned, and attention-seeking and Jake, who is: hard-working, responsible, and irresistible

Who is your current book boyfriend?

If you’d asked me a week ago, it would have been Jake – one hundred per cent – but since then, I have been immersed in book two, so I have a significant soft spot for Zac. I don’t suppose I can have them both?

Aurelia B. Rowl lives on the edge of the Peak District with her very understanding husband, their two fantastic children, and their mad rescue mutt who doesn’t mind being used as a sounding post and source of inspiration. She regularly wows them all with her curious, hastily thrown together meals when she gets too caught up with her latest writing project... or five!... and she has developed the fine art of ignoring the housework.

Aurelia writes Young Adult/New Adult crossover fiction and contemporary romance. She is currently busy writing the standalone companion novels to both Popping the Cherry and Christmas is Cancelled.

To find out more about Aurelia, you can visit her website: www.aureliabrowl.com

NAked with Casey Peeler

Today we are NAked with Casey Peeler

Who are you and what should we know about you in 50 words or less?  
My first passion is teaching students with special needs. Over the years, I found my way to relax was in a good book.

I have been an avid reader, blogger (Hardcover Therapy,) and now writer.  No Turning Back (Full Circle #1) is my debut novel and releases September 30th. Finding Charley (Full Circle #2) will release in April 2014 with several other titles in the works.

When I'm not reading or writing, you can find me at a country music concert, spending the day at the lake or pool, being a wife, dance mom, and spending time with friends and family. My perfect day consists of water, sand between my toes, a cold beverage & a great book!

Which one: chocolate or bacon?   

BACON!  Now Chocolate covered bacon could be a whole new story ;)

What is the name of your book and what is it about in 50 words or less? 

No Turning Back (Full Circle #1) Cover Reveal September 5th, 2013 & Release Date September 30th, 2013.

After getting involved with Dylan, the bad boy of the Dixon High Swim team, Charley decides to stay close to home for college. It’s just safer that way. Until she realizes it’s a mistake… just like dating Dylan. She decides to put the past behind her and leave the small hick town of Grassy Pond.There is only one problem; she makes this decision 3 weeks before Fall Semester starts.  

Charley packs up her Honda and heads to Southern College but on the morning she’s about to leave, Cash walks back into her life. He has been her best friend since they were 4 and is the only one that knows the REAL Charley. She leaves her farm in Grassy Pond with all kinds of “what ifs?”  

Charley decides to live her college career to the fullest.  She finds a great group of friends, joins the swim team, and meets a guy named Joe.  He’s got eyes that make ya wanna melt!  

There is only one problem…Charley has been away from home for only 48 hours before she breaks the 2 promises she made to herself.  Will she be able to overcome her past? Find new love? What will happen with Cash now that he is back in her life? Will she find what she is wanting in Jack-a-lope Joe? How will her first semester end?… Joe, Cash, or alone?


Tell us your main character's name and 3 adjectives that describe him/her. (If you have multiple main characters, do this for each). 

Charley- Feisty, sweet, and country chic 

Cash- Hardworking, Country boy, and Trustworthy

Joe- Hot, smooth, and eyes that make ya wanna melt!

Who is your current book boyfriend?   

My permanent book boyfriend is Travis Maddox, but I do <3 Trace Corbin from Girl with Guitar... something about a country boy and country music... stills my heart every time :)

Giveaway: 

2-$25 Amazon Gift cards, 
3-ecopies of No Turning Back by Casey Peeler & 
3-ecopies of Undescribable by Shantel Tessier  
(Running now until Sept 30th.)

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/MjNhYzA3MmJiOGE1Yjg2Nzg5MzE0NzkwMGY2MzM3OjQy

Real College vs. College in a New Adult Novel

I'll just be honest--I probably shouldn't call myself a "new" adult anymore.

I've been an adult for a while now, not that I always act like it. (I frequently do not.)

But though it's been a few years since I left college, I have a pretty good memory. So when I began reading all the fantastic New Adult novels coming out that are set on college campuses, I felt a little like this...

Because I just don't recall anything like what I was read about.

For example. Say you're the mc in a New Adult novel. This is good, because you're smart, ambitious, and gorgeous (even though you don't know it and insist you're not). You have amazing friends and even if you have a troubled past, you know what you want to do in life.

1) In NA college, the mc is often assigned a partner for a class project. His name will be Liam or Ashton or Hawk or Braden or Quinn, and he will look like this:

He will smell terrific, have bad grades but amazing test scores, and pay attention to what you like at Starbucks so he can bring it for you one day.

In real college, I had partners like Rog, who clearly chose his shirts from his hamper (do boys have hampers?) once October hit, might have had nice eyes except I never saw them since he slept all through class, and never remembered the due dates of any assignments, let alone how I liked my coffee.

 2) You may also have a professor in NA college who looks like this.

He wears bow ties and tweed jackets with elbow patches and has longish, slightly messy hair, as if he was too busy contemplating the brilliance of your last essay on transcendentalism in American Lit to remember to comb it. But it's totally clean and smells amazing--not that you've ever been close enough to sniff it!

And if you were, it's OK because you didn't know he was going to be your teacher at the time, and you guys can work it off work that out later.

In four years of undergrad and three years of grad school, I had ONE attractive young professor. And all he did was complain about how much grad school costs versus how much it pays and how few jobs actually exist out there for history PhD's so we might want to think about doing something else.

I did. I thought about doing something else all the time... ;)

3) Finally, if you're at college within a NA novel, you have a great social life. You go to cool parties and dances and bars and restaurants, and you probably eat really well. Someday a tattooed bad boy with eyes like the sea might even cook for you, and it will be something like this pasta with lemon and arugula:

He'll serve it with a caesar salad (prepared tableside) and pour you a nice chilled glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

When I lived in the dorms, on the other hand, I ate a lot of meals that looked like this:

But I suppose that's why I had romance novels...to escape the realities of every day life and live out the college fantasy of my dreams. Although back then, we didn't have NA novels like now--you pretty much went from Sweet Valley High to Danielle Steel.

Maybe I should be glad about that. I probably would have asked for a transfer!

Cheers!
Melanie

Ask the Naturals: Plotter or Pantser?

In the world of writing there are two camps those that plot and those that pants.  (Ok, there's a third camp called plotsers, too).

A plotter is someone who outlines and plans their novel in advance.

A pantser is someone who just starts writing by the seat of their pants.

And a plotser is someone who does a little bit of a both.

I used to be a pantser until I realized that some books required more planning.  Since then I've become a hybrid—a plotser.  Often I'll start writing random scenes to get to know new characters, but then at some point I stop and create a very loose outline of the book.

I thought it might be fun to ask the other Naturals what they prefer.

Laurelin: Plotter because that's how my mind works. I can't even imagine writing something that doesn't have direction. I don't necessarily outline, but it's all worked out in my head. FYI, when I used to play drums, I even planned my "improvs."  Surprises pop up for me along the way as we go, but still mostly outlined versus pantsed. I like to think of myself as a pantyliner, because it's funny.

Tamara: Pantser. Because it gives me freedom to go wherever the characters take me. I usually know I'll get from A to B, but I have NO idea how I'll get there.

Lucy: Pantsers. Because I am terrible at figuring out where the plot is headed until I get to know my characters. I typically have a rough idea of a narrative arc, but specifics surprise me and my MC both.

Melanie: Total panster. I have tried every possible trick to map out beats, outline, etc, and I blank every single time. Once I'm about a third to a half of the way through, I can see pretty clearly.

Are you a writer?  Do you plot or pants?

Under the Cover of The Long Game by J.L. Flynn

Today we're Under the Cover and between the sheets (of paper) with J.L. Flynn's NA debut, The Long Game. The book releases on Oct. 7th. First, here's the cover:

Now let's go Under the Cover:

The door of the trailer opened, and Jimmy Boy stepped out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. He stopped when he saw the gathering in his front yard, and for a second, it looked as if he might turn around and flee back into the safety of the trailer. Instead, he forced his feet down into the grass, taking a few hesitant steps toward the picnic table. He didn’t speak but crossed his arms over his chest, hovering behind me like hired muscle.

Pop Sheedy continued on without acknowledging my brother. “Then you’re in luck, Shay, because that’s exactly why I’m here. Sending you out with that trailer was a little test. An experiment, you might call it.”

I nodded to indicate I understood. I glanced at Pop’s sons, standing in a line behind their father just as Jimmy Boy stood behind me. It struck me that this meeting would present a pretty strange picture to anyone watching.

“And it proved exactly what I guessed it would, which is that you are an asset to this clan. I have a very special job, and you’re the only one who can pull it off.”

I’d been leaning forward, listening, but hearing this sent me reeling back several inches. “I’m honored, Pop. What did you have in mind?”

“I’m sending you up north to Pennsylvania. A place near Philadelphia called Balanova.”

“Balanova?” I’d never heard of the place. And I couldn’t think of a single person I knew who lived in Pennsylvania. “What’s in Balanova?”

“Revenge,” Pop said.

 

GUEST POST: How to write a sex scene, and also be more sexy in real life.

Today we have the often hilarious, always hot Mimi Strong giving us some valuable tips of getting sex scenes on the page and in real life.

In writers' forums, I frequently hear the lament of some author dreading the writing of an upcoming sex scene. This author says something like, “How am I supposed to get excited about writing yet another sex scene?”

My answer to this is: Don't.

Don't sit down and say you're going to write a sex scene.

How would your sweetheart react if you walked into the room and said, “Okay, whatever. Let's just have sex now because it's in my planner.”

That is a trick question, because fifty percent of sweethearts would clap their hands and say, “Yay!”

Your characters, however, won't be as enthusiastic.

So, here's an idea: Why not start something up, like a massage or a tickle fight or that thing where you pretend to fellate a breadstick in a fancy restaurant? You can also try these tips in real life. You're welcome!

What purpose does your sex scene serve in your story? Does it heighten tension, or create intimacy? Relax, because you can still accomplish that whether the train goes into the tunnel or not.

The same is true in real life. If you want to feel close to your partner, get close. Snuggle up on the couch, then kiss your partner's neck during the commercial break. Maybe your partner will gaze over at you, like he or she just realized you were in the room. Say something flattering, like, “Baby, you're so good with the remote control. I love how masterful you are at getting the volume just right.”

Your partner will give you side-eye and ask if you're angling for the rest of the dark chocolate bar you've been sharing.

You say, “No, baby, that's all yours,” and for this you will be rewarded with the final square, fed to you lovingly. It's the good chocolate, too, the organic stuff that's $3.99 a bar on sale, harvested by chanting monks on a faraway mountainside. (Don't get too bogged down in the details. One or two adjectives is enough. They could be boring monks who don't chant.)

You kiss your sweetheart to show your appreciation, and you let your lips linger. Maybe in thirty seconds when your show comes back on, you'll snuggle up together and watch Dexter murder someone as you're safe in your lover's arms, or maybe you'll hit the pause button and make your neighbors wish you had thicker curtains. Either way, you made the first move, and you'll be rewarded with something.

Be sexy and be safe, unless it's fiction!

www.mimistrong.com

Mimi Strong writes chick-lit, erotic romance, sex comedy, and new adult contemporary romance. Most of her characters have a strong sense of humor. 

Mimi's latest book is out today!  Check out STARLIGHT!

Release Event: Girl on Tour by Caisey Quinn & Giveaway!

Caisey Quinn is celebrating the release of Girl on Tour, book #2 in the Kylie Ryans' novels! Make sure to check out the excerpt below and enter the giveaway Caisey is offering!

Title: Girl on Tour: Kylie Ryans #2 

Author: Caisey Quinn 

Release date: August 27, 2013  

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

Age Group: New Adult   

An up and comer trying to make a name for herself... KYLIE never expected to be stuck on a tour bus with a pampered princess and her boyfriend’s ex. A troubled artist struggling to hold onto his career... TRACE thought he was finally getting to do things his way. Until the label added co-headliner Gretchen Gibson, the only person in country music with more issues than him, to his No Apologies tour. Surrounded by tabloid rumors and people they can't trust, Kylie and Trace need each other more than ever. But the choices they make will change everything. Because chasing your dreams and following your heart don’t always lead you to the same place…

   

   

Read an Excerpt:

“Behave yourself while I’m gone, Mr. Corbin,” she said, playfully smacking him square in the chest even though she was completely serious. Please don’t drink, she almost added. But she’d seen the dark cloud that had threatened to roll over his features when she asked if he’d be okay.

“I’ll try. Long as you promise to come back to me safe and sound, pretty girl,” he said, slapping her on the ass as she turned to make her way up the steps of the bus.

“Always.” She threw him one last wink before climbing the steps. A lady that looked old enough to be her grandmother sat in the driver’s seat staring straight ahead. Kylie greeted her and got nothing but a slight head tilt in response. She missed Carl, Trace’s friendly driver, already. Every step she took was like walking deeper into quicksand. Her legs seemed to be completely against the idea of walking away from Trace Corbin.

Her eyes began to tear up and she couldn’t even see the cool décor inside the bus through the pools of moisture. Screw this. She dumped her suitcase in the aisle and sprinted back to the door of the bus.

“Hey,” she called out to his retreating figure. Dang, he looked good from the back. Hate to see you go but I love to watch you leave.

“Hey yourself,” he answered as he turned to face her.

She didn’t think. Didn’t worry that she might be getting in too deep, moving too fast, or throwing more at him than he could handle. She just did what she was best at. Felt first. Acted on impulse. Once he was close enough, she launched herself into his arms and slammed her mouth down on his.

He caught her, just like she knew he would. His hands gripped her tightly as she wrapped her legs around his waist. His mouth said he was just as hungry for her as she was for him. She deepened the kiss as far as possible, lashing her tongue against his until it ached. When the world began to spin, either because she was falling hopelessly in love or because her brain was seriously deprived of oxygen, she finally pulled back.

Panting, she looked him in the eyes. “I’m going to miss you more than I can even stand. I needed a better goodbye than that.”

Trace didn’t disappoint. He backed her against the side of the bus, still holding her to him in mid-air. Her mind flashed to their escapade in the barn earlier and she felt the warmth spreading through her core. He ravished her mouth before she could even smile at the memory. When neither of them could take any more, he set her down gently and pulled her in close against his chest. “I’m going to miss you, too, Kylie Lou. So damn much.”  

About the Author Caisey Quinn lives in Birmingham, Alabama with her husband, daughter, and other assorted animals. She is the author of several New Adult Romance novels featuring country girls finding love in unexpected places. She is currently working on Girl in Love, the third and final book in the Kylie Ryans series. You can find her online at www.caiseyquinnwrites.com. 

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