Zara Stoneley

Around the World - Meet the UK's Teresa Morgan

20/12/2014

The wonderful Teresa Morgan is with me today, talking about Hollywood, New Zealand and Bristol!

I live in sunny Weston-super-Mare, trying to hold onto my Surrey accent where I was born and bred.

For years I persevered with boring jobs, until my two boys joined my nest. In an attempt to find something to work around them, and to ensure I never endured full time boredom again, I found writing.

I’m at my happiest baking cakes, putting proper home cooked dinners on the table (whether the kids eat them or not), reading a good romance, or sitting at my PC emptying my thoughts onto the screen.

I love writing contemporary romance, stories with a touch of escapism and creating heroes readers will fall in love with. Men who in reality, let’s face it, just don’t exist.

Find out more about Teresa - Blog / Website / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

Q. Can you tell us a bit more about Bristol and why you used it as the setting for your book?
I live about 20 miles outside of Bristol, so I figured it would be easy to visit for research purposes. Also, Steve Mason goes under a disguise to hide the fact that he’s really an up and coming A-list Hollywood actor. In London he probably would get recognised immediately, where as I figured Bristol might be safer for him to blend into the background.

Q. If you had a choice where would you choose to live, and why?
New Zealand... it’s beautiful, the food is fantastic, it’s less busy than England and they drive on the left.

Q. What comes first when you write a story?
With One Fine Day it was definitely Steve’s character. He’s become rich and famous, women throw themselves at him all the time. If he meets a woman, how can he trust that she’s interested in him, or is it his fame and fortune? So it was good to play with that.

Q. Can you tell us anything about your next book?
I’m only about 7,000 words into book three but I’m trying to generate a love/hate relationship between hero and heroine. She’s the damsel in distress and he’s the reluctant hero. He’s an ex-fireman trying to stay away from fire, and she’s an artist with an pyromaniac of an ex-boyfriend.

Q. If you weren’t a writer, what would be your next choice of career?
I’m not sure I can quite call this a career yet.... The problem with my life is that I’ve never truly known what I’ve wanted to do – I’ve gone from one boring job to another. I suppose I’d love to own a cafe, and make the best cappuccino in town.

Thank you!
Teresa's latest release 'One Fine Day' is out on 8th January -

Just a boy standing in front of a girl…

Steve Mason returns from Hollywood after 15 years to catch up with his sister, Ruby. He’s miserable because the woman he was planning on marrying has dumped him.

He’s now worried that with his A-list celebrity status he won’t find a woman who genuinely loves him. Ruby devises a plan to disguise Steve, so that he is unrecognisable as the famous Hollywood actor, in a hope to help him find true love. It worked for Clark Kent, right?

As Steve searches for his not-so-perfect woman and has a taste of normality, his relationship develops with his sister. But will he find the right woman before he has to head back to his real life in Hollywood?

Excerpt –

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I never meant to hurt you.” Then, hesitantly, she gently kissed him on the cheek. The doorman pulled open the door, and Erica confidently sashayed out the back of the hotel to her awaiting limo. There were a few opportunist photographers, held back by some security. The camera flashes were similar to strobe lighting effects, following her. Steve watched her elegantly step into the limo, disappearing into its blackness. Tomorrow the whole world would know Erica Kealey had dumped Hollywood heart-throb Steve Mason.

As the limo drove off, the pressure building in Steve’s chest rose to his throat and his eyes stung. The last time he’d cried was at his mother’s funeral, and even then, he’d hidden his grief from prying eyes. In the privacy of his apartment, he could allow his emotions to show, but not here. He needed to return to the party.

How was he supposed to appear happy, when the woman he had planned to spend the rest of his life with had just walked out of it?

***

‘One Fine Day’ is out on the 8th January, pre-order now from -
Amazon UK Paperback Amazon UK Ebook Amazon US
Add On Goodreads Harper Impulse

4 Comments

Around The World - meet Australia's Eva Scott

2/12/2014

6 Comments

We're heading all the way to the Redcliffe peninsula in Australia today to chat to Eva Scott about her latest release.
'A Season to Remember' is a Christmas anthology from four Australia authors. So, here are the four authors, and a quick introduction to Eva...

Eva Scott writes contemporary romance set in her homeland of Australia and historical fiction set in the Ancient World. Her books offer passion and adventure in some of the most beautiful and intriguing places in the world. Her heroes and heroines are strong, sassy and ready to rise to their challenges, and learn a little bit about themselves along the way.

Having lived overseas for several years, Eva returned to study Anthropology before heading off to live in Papua New Guinea for a year. There she met the love of her life, author G.W. Gibson, who was stationed there with the Australian Defence Force. The rest is history, romantic history.
She now lives on the Redcliffe peninsula with her husband, small son and an assortment of animals. When Eva is not writing she enjoys mentoring first-time authors, cooking up a story, practising yoga and getting out on the bay on her stand-up paddle board.

Eva is a member of Romance Writers of Australia; North Lakes Writers Group; Queensland Writers Centre and Australian Romance Readers Association. She is published by Musa Publishing and Harlequin Escape.

Website: http://www.evascottromance.com/

And the book...

A Season to Remember
A Christmas anthology from four Australian authors
Eva Scott, Susanne Bellamy, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, and Noelle Clark
Release Date: November 28, 2014

Four short stories on the Christmas theme, spanning time, places. Uplifting, funny, thought-provoking, heart-warming, ‘A Season to Remember’ will make your heart sing.

A Season To Remember: All That Glitters By Eva Scott
Molly is a modern day Cinderella, second best to her half-sister Aimee and never measuring up to her step-mother’s expectations. Now Aimee has the chance to marry an elderly millionaire and Molly is expected to keep the man’s grandson, Connor Rathmore, from sabotaging the event. Handsome, charismatic and very, very sexy - how is she going to keep him from sabotaging her heart?

To find out more about the other stories and authors, and to download your FREE copy click here!

Can you tell us a bit more about the Gold Coast and why you used it as the setting for your story?
The Gold Coast is a huge tourist town on the south coast of Queensland, Australia. There’s an element of the GC that’s all about the superficial glitz and glam but there is another Gold Coast underneath that’s earthy and regular. Sometimes that version is hard to see in amongst the theme parks, shopping precincts, night clubs and endless beaches.

I used the Gold Coast as a setting for my story because its duality highlights my heroine Molly’s conflict of being true to herself versus what her stepmother wants her to be.

If you had a choice where would you choose to live, and why?
Up on the Sunshine Coast hinterland just north of where I live now. Gorgeous lush green mountains with cute little villages and such a laid back vibe. Views out to the ocean and plenty of rain (we seem to be in drought most of the time so this fact is super important.)

What comes first when you write a story? (e.g. characters, title, conflicts, setting)
It varies all the time. Sometimes I get the whole shebang at once and sometimes it will start with a really interesting character and I have to nurture them to get the story.

Can you name five characteristics we’re likely to find in your heroes, and same for heroines?
Heroes
1.      A sense of humour
2.      Perseverance in pursuit of the heroine
3.      A strong need to do what’s right and protect
4.      A disregard for authority (to some degree)
5.      Nothing Metro about any of them

Heroines
1.      Looking for their freedom in some way or another - either from a situation, bad dating cycle or in the case of my Roman historicals, their actual freedom!
2.      Feisty and opinionated
3.      Usually strong minded business women/leaders
4.      Women who prefer to take action than wait for something to happen

What’s your idea of a perfect day?
Sleep for as long as I need to (read ‘not getting woken up by my 4 year old’) then beachside yoga followed by brekky at my favourite seaside café then a spot of paddle boarding before heading home for a nap then lying about in the garden reading with a fat glass of red wine while hubby cooks up a bbq.

Can you tell us anything about your next book?
The Untamed Celt is the last in my Roman trilogy and follows the tale of Alexa, who appears briefly in Barbarian Bride (Harlequin Escape). In the other two books (The Last Gladiatrix and Barbarian Bride) both the girls were barbarians but this time it’s the hero! He’s a member of the tribe Brigantes, a Celt from Britannia, who has come to Rome to be schooled in Roman politics. He gets more than he bargains for when he meets Alexa.

If you weren’t a writer, what would be your next choice of career?
I was a trainer and a project manager before I became a writer so I’d be happy to return to those careers as I really enjoyed them. Having said that I’d be happy to go in a completely different direction and try something out of the box. Open to all possibilities.

Thanks for stopping by Eve!

Excerpt
“Well, are you ready?” She sounded rude but it was all she could manage to say. On the way over to pick him up she’d been too preoccupied to consider him at all. Instead she replayed the conversation she’d had with her stepmother. After receiving a reprimand for arriving late, Maria had grilled her over Connor Rathmore and found her answers less than satisfactory. Then the lecture started on her appearance. Where were the shoes? She’d kicked off those horrible expensive shoes at the airport and hadn’t given them another thought. An unforgivable act in her stepmother’s eyes. It was impressed upon her that she must try harder and remember her sister’s happiness. Of course. Molly loved her half-sister, Aimee, despite the fact the girl was spoilt rotten. Underneath all the embellishments she really did have a good heart. It wasn’t Aimee’s fault she’d been raised to be a life-sized doll.

She appraised the man before her. She steeled herself not to react to him. When he’d opened the hotel room door, more primal male than any man she had ever encountered, something unexpected happened to her. Bam! Right to the heart. Very inconvenient and impossible, the idea could not be entertained. Not for a millisecond. The consequences would be devastating.

“Good evening to you too.” He bestowed what she assumed was his best killer smile. “Shall we go?”

He stepped through the door, so close the heat radiating off his body hit her like a furnace. Her natural reserve began to melt. The scent of him was so… masculine and her knees wobbled as she caught her breath. Moving away wasn’t an option, even if she tried.

He smiled as if aware of the effect he had on her. Without looking back he strode towards the elevator and pushed the button. They stood in silence side by side while they waited. The animal magnetism between them shimmered, increasing with every passing second.

Molly’s senses scrambled. She stumbled into the lift. This situation would need careful handling. The man beside her must not guess his presence caused a meltdown. Her attraction to him created a complication she did not need. Just one week. Please help me make it through this one week. If her stepmother suspected an attraction between Molly and Connor, all hell would break loose.

6 Comments

Around the World - Meet the UK's Teresa Morgan

Around The World - meet Australia's Eva Scott

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