Monday, December 17, 2012

The Rules of Engagement...

 My next guest helping me to celebrate my 20th anniversary is Ally Blake. Ally is more than a friend and colleague, she is also my webmistress, helping me keep in touch with readers around the world. She picks up the things I miss, finds links for me and goes the extra mile every month when she updates my site. It's a real joy to welcome her to tell you about her latest book, The Rules of Engagement.  Over to you, Ally...
Thanks so much for having me over to celebrate your 20th anniversary, Liz!  It reminds me my ten years comes up next December.  You've been such a support, a wonderful ear, and a lovely writing friend these past years, I am blessed to know you.  You'll be first on the invite list for my party, I assure you.
And it's extra kind of you to have me since I don't even have a Christmas story on the shelves!  In fact, I've never written a Christmas book, and THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT  - out now from Harlequin Presents Extra - is no different.  But if you're after  something to warm up your holidays if you're in the snowy north, or to add some sizzle to your sweltering summer if you, like me, live down south, then this could be your luck day ;).
I was meant to be writing another story, one of those tricky ones where every word on the page was written in blood, when I heard Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love on the radio.  And that was that.  Caitlyn March was born - a woman so addicted to love, when we first meet her she's just getting over her fourth failed engagement.  And from that moment this fun, frothy book near wrote itself.  It was such a joy I dedicated it to fairy dust.
Here's a taste

The house lights slowly lifted, encouraging the dregs to stumble on home.  Panic set in.  Caitlyn's hair would be a mess, her lipstick bitten away, her mascara ever so delightfully smudged.  Yet Dax's expression didn’t change.  The glint in his eyes if anything grew.  Quickened.  Scorched.
Oh God.  Oh God!  OH GOD!
And for a girl who in the past had lived for the adrenalin brought on by the mere possibility of a new relationship, she felt like she was free falling into those hot hazel eyes.
In the past, being the most important part.  She wasn’t looking for that brand of blistering intensity that could sweep a girl off her feet before she knew what was happening.  She wanted fun and frivolity.  She needed...
Sorbet.
All of a sudden parts of herself began to click and slide, like the tumbling open of a combination lock.
What she needed most was emotional catharsis.
What she wanted was to clear the bad taste in her mouth that her most recent failed engagement had left behind.
Sorbet sex.
What kind of sorbet sex she couldn’t be certain, since it was her first time going down that route.  Sorbet came in a million different flavours, and if hers came in the guise of a tall dark handsome stranger she had no doubt could wipe away the memory of every man she’d ever met, well then who was she to argue?
‘Closing time,’ Ivan called out, dragging Caitlyn to the present.
Her breath shook as she wondered how exactly one went about picking up a sexy stranger in a bar by asking for no strings sorbet sex.
‘Hungry?’ she asked, before she even felt the word coming.
‘Ravenous,’ Dax said without missing a single beat.
Well, she thought, as he slid his hand around her waist, resting it possessively on her hip as he led her towards the door, even that gentle touch making her feel like lava was sliding through her veins, that’s how.

Ally Blake is the bestselling author of twenty-three fun, fresh, flirty romances for Harlequin Mills and Boon.  Her latest Harlequin Presents Extra THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT has been purported to have “So much sizzle you could toast marshmallows on it!” 

Grab the paperback from The Book Depository (free delivery worldwide!) or the ebook from eHarlequin.

For a free online romance, given to you in daily bite sized pieces, "like" Arabella Rose’s journey on www.facebook.com/50dayswithrose.

7 comments:

Ally Blake said...

Hi Liz! Thanks for having me. Congrats again on 20 years.

Ally
xXx

Fiona Marsden said...

Ah. NOw I get the sorbet connexion on Arabella Rose. Congratulations Liz and Ally.

Ally Blake said...

Yes, there was a bit of an ode ;)

Vince said...

Hi Ally:

Your last book that I read was “A Father in the Making” and I gave it a raving 5 Star A+ review. Some how since then you just seem to have drifted off. I'm glad you came to visit Liz. : )

'Rules of Engagement' play a big part in my romance WIP. The hero is an Army Captain stranded in a cabin with a romance writer who is fighting a deadline but has writer’s block. He edits his sister’s military romances so he’s very savvy about the romance genre. They have to draw up 15 rules of engagement to prevent them falling in love and risking heartbreak. They do this before they agree to share the cabin. The 15 rules cover about every circumstance that writers use to bring the hero and heroine together. I think it’s a hoot. It has even finaled once. : )

I certainly have to read your book now and see what you have done with the 'Rules of Engagement' theme.

Liz had a bride who was gilted twice at the altar in one book but four lost engagements might be a record. What fun.

Vince

Ally Blake said...

Hey Vince! A drawn up list of "rules" does seem fun! Especially if one by one they break 'm down ;).

So glad you enjoyed A Father in the Making. That was one of my early Sweet books, so things have heated up a little in Ally world since then ;), though I hope all my books have the same warmth, humour and heart.

Happy writing and reading!

Ally Blake said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Liz Fielding said...

Welcome, Ally! It's a joy to have you here.