Thanks for dropping by Aurelia B. Rowl's blog tour stop. Take a look at her new release, the questions I just had to ask her and make sure to enter her giveaway at the end.
Now take it away Aurelia....
To get us started can you tell us a little about what you are working on or have coming out?
Right now I’m mid blog tour to promote my new release, Popping the Cherry, which was published on September 19th by Harlequin UK’s new digital imprint, Carina (not to be confused with Carina Press which is the US version). I am also frantically trying to get book two in the standalone series written with the deadline getting scarily close and an awful lot of words still to write.
Do you have any guilty pleasures?
Disney movies! Especially ones that feature Zac Efron...in fact, most movies that feature Zac Efron.
Are your characters able to love or do they need to be taught?
Oooh, I guess I write a bit of a mixture, and even when a character knows how to love, it may be a forbidden love that they are forced to hide. The book I’m writing now though is about a teenage girl who has learned to harden her heart and keep everybody out to avoid getting hurt anymore, so she’s going to be tough to break down but I know just the right guy for the task.
If you had a reporter follow you around for the day, what would the readers get to see in your daily schedule?
Oh I feel sorry for the poor reporter already!
With two young children in the house, there truly is never a dull moment. The day generally gets going any time between 6:30 and 7:15 and then it’s the chaos of getting ready for school, with getting them fed, washed, dressed and out the door by 8:30 to drive them to school. I’m back home by 9:15 and that’s when I try and get some writing done. I’m still getting used to not having to collect my youngest at lunchtime and tend to just grab a slice of toast or bowl of cereal for lunch in front of the laptop on the sofa with the dog snoring his head off beside me.
At 15:00 the peace is over and it’s time to collect the kids from school again. Depending on which day it is, there is usually some activity to play chauffeur for, from martial arts training to gymnastics or cricket if it’s Summer-time. From there it’s back home to sort dinner followed immediately by the children’s bedtime, complete with spellings practice and bedtime stories. By 20:00 I’m usually back in front of the computer either working on my manuscript, social networking, or preparing blog posts. I try to be in bed by 23:00 but if it’s getting close to deadline day, I could be up for several more hours yet and have been known to pull an all-nighter to ensure the work gets done.
I lead such a glamorous life! LOL
When you begin your stories, do you go with the flow, or go with an outline?
I’m a bit of both depending on the project but going with the flow wasn’t an option with my current book deal and I had to get the synopsis approved for book 2 before I could even start writing it.
I’m a huge fan of the W-plot for outlining, particularly because it allows a degree of flexibility but also ensures I have thought my story through from beginning to end.
If you were to replenish your cabinets with one junk food, what would it be?
Oh good, another easy one. I’d choose microwave salted popcorn every time.
Is music a factor for you while you are writing? Do certain songs put you in the right frame of mind to write certain stories?
There was a point when working on edits for Popping the Cherry that I was also writing a Christmas contemporary and I found it really hard trying to flit between YA in first person to adult romance in third person. The solution came thanks to my book trailer for Popping the Cherry... when I was searching for the music for the trailer, I found the ideal tune and it became the anthem for the story. Whenever I worked on Popping the Cherry after that, I would plug in my headphones and have the anthem playing on a loop, instantly transporting me into the right frame of mind.
For the sequel I’m trying something new and have already found the music I want for the trailer—even before I’d written a word—and it helped me to get the synopsis written. Since then, I’ve created an entire soundtrack on Spotify, telling the story from beginning to end, and although early days, it is helping me get in the mood to write.
Mature Young Adult/New Adult fiction
Release date: 19 September 2013
Publisher: Carina (Harlequin UK)
ISBN: 978-1-472-01805-2
ISBN: 978-1-472-01805-2
Check out the book trailer HERE
Buy links:
You
only get one first time . . .
From driving tests to relationships, Valentina Bell
thinks she’s a failure, with a big fat capital F. At this rate, she’s certain
she’ll be a virgin for ever. So Lena’s friends plan Operation: Popping the
Cherry to help her find the perfect man first time.
Yet somehow disastrous dates with bad-boy musicians and
fabulous evenings with secretly in-the-closet guys aren’t quite working out how
Lena planned.
Soon Lena’s avoiding Operation: Popping the Cherry to
spend time with comforting, aloof Jake, her best friend’s older brother, who
doesn’t make her feel self-conscious about still clinging to her V card. But
could Jake show Lena that sometimes what you’re looking for most is right by
your side?
A Forever for the twenty-first century
Teaser Excerpt:
‘This, my dear Lena ,
is an intervention.’
‘A
what?’
Heads
turned to look at us, my words coming out louder than intended.
Gah!
Gemma
waited until everybody had gone back to minding their own business. ‘An
intervention,’ she said, completely matter-of-fact, using the same tone she’d
use to tell me I had lettuce stuck in my teeth. ‘We, as in all four of us—’ she
paused for dramatic effect and waved her hand to include Flick, Chloe and Piper
‘—are all agreed that you need our help.’
‘Is that so?’ I
asked.
Flick suddenly
seemed determined to avoid eye contact but I refused to let her off the hook.
She finally gave in and offered me a small shrug, along with a resigned smile.
Not
good.
The heavy feeling
in my gut got even worse. ‘Help with what, exactly?’
Gemma met my glare
head-on. ‘You need to lose your virginity.’
‘Pardon?’ I hissed,
unable to believe my ears.
‘Don’t you see,
Lena?’ she said, not backing down so much as an inch. ‘You have so many
hang-ups about sex, you’re like a faulty telephone.’
‘You’re joking,
right?’ I forced out a laugh. Gemma jutted out her jaw even further, not even a
flicker of a smile. My nails pierced the apple, the juice running down my
fingers to form a satisfying puddle on the table. ‘Don’t tell me this is your
big plan.’
‘It’s a damn sight
better than being dumped.’
‘Whoa, hang on,’ I
said, narrowing my eyes to accuse each of them. ‘Are you all saying I should
have slept with Damian?’
‘No way.’
‘Eww, no.’
‘Not at all.’
‘Nuh-uh.’
They all answered
at the same time, their voices jumbled together so I couldn’t be sure who said
what. At least we were all agreed on something.
‘You can do a
million times better than him,’ Flick said.
‘Which is exactly
what I said,’ Gemma said. ‘And that’s where we come in.’
‘Huh?’
‘We had a little
brainstorming session and came up with the most wicked idea.’ Gemma reached
into her tote and produced a piece of A4 paper with a flourish. I could already
see Piper’s cursive handwriting running down one side.
‘Wicked as in evil
and demonic, or wicked as in excellent?’
‘It’s good to see
you’ve still got your sense of humour.’
‘Who’s joking?’
Gemma ignored my
outburst and started to slide the page towards me, but then she noticed the
state of the table. ‘Bloody hell, Lena, what did the apple ever do to you?’ She
prised the mangled apple out of my grip and dumped it on my tray. ‘You’ve well
and truly murdered it,’ she said, grabbing a load of napkins. She tossed one to
me, then used the rest to mop up the juice and bits of pulp. ‘Right, let’s try
that again,’ she said, finally getting back to the sheet of paper and offering
it to me. ‘Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it.’
In no mood for one
of her silly games, I snatched it off her and scanned the page. It turned out
to be a list of names, all of them boys, and some of whom I recognised. And
then I noticed the title: ‘Operation: Popping the Cherry’. I leaped to my feet
and fired a glare at each of them in turn, trying not to shout. ‘Are you
shitting me?’
Flick at least
flinched and mouthed, ‘I’m sorry.’
‘So what am I
supposed to do?’ I asked, caught in two minds whether to tear the list into a
thousand pieces or scrunch it into a ball. ‘Work my way down the list and sleep
with them all?’
‘Are you going to
at least hear us out before you go off on one?’ Gemma sounded infuriatingly
calm compared with my wailing-banshee routine.
‘I don’t even know
who half of these guys are.’ I settled for tossing the page back onto the table
in disgust. ‘Why not just shove me at the first guy to walk in here and pay him
to have sex with me?’
‘It’s not like
that, Lena, and you know it.’ Gemma snapped, finally biting back, but, instead
of getting drawn into a slanging match, she took a deep breath and exhaled
slowly. Composure restored. ‘I know you’re spoiling for a fight, and I know
this is hard, but you know we’d never do something like that to you.’
‘Hmph,’ I grunted.
‘Can’t you at least
give us two minutes to explain?’
As I stood mulling
it over, trying to decide whether to stay or flounce off as I’d intended, I
noticed the glances and raised eyebrows being directed my way. Being the only
one of our group standing up, combined with my raised voice and Gemma’s
hissing, I was drawing way too much attention. All of the fire left me and my
legs gave way before I’d made the conscious decision to sit back down.
‘Thank you.’ Gemma
seized the opportunity and slid the list back across the table. This time, she
kept her hand on it as if expecting me to try to destroy it. She wasn’t wrong.
‘These are just a few of the names we came up with. Guys we thought you might
like, but wouldn’t necessarily think of yourself. Now it’s your turn to add
your own potential candidates to complete the shortlist.’
‘Candidates? You
make it sound like some kind of election.’
‘In a way, it is,’
Chloe said, speaking up for the first time. ‘Take a look at the list and get to
know some of the guys on there that you don’t know already. Go on a few dates
maybe. And then you cast your vote.’
‘As
in . . .?’
‘Uh-huh.’ Chloe
lowered her voice, ‘You have s-e-x with them.’ She even spelled out the word
‘sex’ as if it would deter eavesdroppers and lessen the impact.
‘And this is the
best you could come up with? Your brilliant plan?’ I said to no one in
particular. ‘What happened to saving yourself? Waiting for the right person?’
‘Saving yourself?
This isn’t the 1950s. All you’re doing is missing out on something fun. No guy
expects you to be a virgin on your wedding day these days, so you might as well
get it over with.’
‘Get it over with?
Jeez, Gemma, you make it sound like going for an injection?’
‘Let’s just hope
it’s more than a little prick when the time comes, then, eh?’ she said,
waggling her eyebrows up and down. Her quick-witted innuendo earned a chorus of
giggles. I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of making me smile but—damn
it—the corners of my lips were curving up whether I wanted them to or not.
‘So, I just have to
go on a few dates and see if any of these guys get my mojo going enough to want
to . . . you know . . .?’
‘Exactly.’ Gemma
grinned at me, looking mightily pleased with herself. ‘You see, ladies, I told
you she’d get it,’ she said, exchanging high fives with the others. ‘So what
d’you say, Lena? Are you up for it?’
Am
I?
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 or you can find her hanging out online, far too often, at the
following:
Blog ¦ Facebook ¦ Twitter ¦ Google+ ¦ Pinterest ¦ BlogLovin ¦ Tumblr ¦ YouTube ¦ Linked-In ¦ Amazon ¦ Goodreads
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