Hello and thanks for stopping by today. I'm hosting Ann Jacobs' Fatal Affair Blog Tour presented by Romance Novel Promotions. Between the launch party and the blog tour, Ann is giving away five (5) $20 gift cards. So make sure to fill out the rafflecopter form for your chance to win.
How difficult was it to write this book? What challenges did you encounter?
I’ve written over 100 books, and FATAL AFFAIR was the hardest of all! Lanie and JD’s story took me nearly a year to hand off to my ever-patient editor. I’d like to chalk it up to writer’s block but it was more a case of having plotted and sold a story with elements that created inherent difficulties that were tricky to work around!
Lanie’s situation was touchy in that she was a beard for a successful politician, never a real wife. What could possibly have made her agree to a marriage like this and stick with it for nearly eight years? Okay, I worked through that. Now how was I to present her gay senator husband in a way that didn’t sound homophobic? As much a victim of manipulation as she had been, he couldn’t be the unredeemable villain whom I’d cast him as in my original plotting. (I hadn’t thought at first that my phobia against politicians would come across as a bias against gays—until I started writing, re-read the draft and realized that would never do!) Enter a new, irredeemable villain in the form of the senator’s scumbag campaign manager.
Next I had to consider JD, a real Alpha Dom in a white hat. Would he really fall in lust with another man’s wife, and if he did, would he act dishonorably and enter an affair with her even if she told him her husband had invited her to get her sex wherever she wished? Hardly. So I had to rethink this, have her separated before she meets JD.
I wrote over 200,000 words to come up with a book ¼ that long! My brilliant critique partner, Joey W. Hill, read and tore apart the “finished” story I sent her. Using her suggestions for rearranging the timeline, I rewrote the book again and finally came up with FATAL AFFAIR. I hope readers will love the book as much as I do!
Ann Jacobs
Blurb:
Book 1 in the Courthouse Connections series, a spinoff from Lawyers in Love.
Lanie Winstead is sort of married to a senator who isn’t what he seems. And she’s carrying on a torrid affair with hot corporate lawyer JD Ackerman. Something’s got to give when her affair is brought to her inattentive husband’s attention.
But wait. Suddenly the senator is dead and secrets start unraveling as Lanie is accused of his murder.
JD will do anything—anything—to protect his lover, even if it means revealing a tangle of lies and deceptions that will tear them all asunder.
Inside Scoop: Contains a graphic gay BDSM scene, not for the faint of heart.
Buy Links:
Amazon:
Fatal Affair: 1 (Courthouse Connections)
Ellora's Cave
Cats, orchids and kids, not necessarily in that order–these are things I like other than writing about lusty Alpha heroes and happy endings.
I started writing back in the early ’90s after I’d retired from my first career as a CPA/hospital financial manager. For a while my life revolved around my family, but by the time the kids had all started school, I found time to fantasize and to start putting the conversations my characters kept whispering in my ear down in writing. (It helped, obviously, to have discovered by that time that the personal computer did wonders toward mitigating my incompetent, error-riddled typing skills.) By the millennium I had sold five books and an erotic novella before I hit a snag.
You see, my muse screamed at me to write hotter, forget the euphemisms and pry open the bedroom doors. My characters wanted to get uninhibited <gulp> outside where they might be spied upon. Come to think of it, I didn’t even slam the bedroom doors closed in any of the five Berkley and Kensington releases although I did tone down the realism as far as language went, and I refrained from letting my hero and heroine have sex in semi-public places. I wanted to write Romantica (TM), though I didn’t even know what it was at the time. New York wasn’t ready for the ways my characters wanted to misbehave.
Then, in 2002, along came Ellora’s Cave. I was in heaven! Eleven years and eighty-seven books later, I’m writing what I love: erotic romance, a perfect combination of sex, sensuality, deep emotional involvement and lifelong commitment—the elusive fantasy women often dream about but seldom achieve.
Over the years I’ve earned my share of kudos including the Passionate Plume, the Desert Rose and More Than Magic awards. I’ve been a nominee multiple times for Romantic Times’ Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in erotic romance and had books nominated by RT reviewers for best erotic romance in several sub-categories.
The acclaim is good, but what I really love are my readers who keep me in business, my friends and fellow erotic romance authors who have opened new, more daring worlds for me to write about–and my very supportive family who has willingly cooked or eaten carryout for weeks on end, so I can pursue my dream.
My hobbies are growing orchids–not as a business but because seeing the beautiful blooms emerge makes me happy–and my family, an all-encompassing term that embraces not only the DH, kids and grandbabies but also our two spoiled, furry kitties who rule the roost.
On the left is LoverDog, 20 pounds of sweetness. Mr. Blue, on the right, weighs in at about 8 1/2 pounds and is my bedwarmer.
Keep up with my new and upcoming releases and find out where I’ll be at conferences and other events by “liking”my author page on Facebook and following me on Twitter.
Author Contact Links:
http://www.annjacobs.net
https://www.facebook.com/ann.jacobs.589
https://www.facebook.com/AnnJacobsAuthor
http://www.twitter.com/authrannjacobs
Between the launch party and the blog tour, Ann is giving away five (5) $20 gift cards.
TOUR SCHEDULE
Thursday March 6
Kinky Book Reviews
Friday March 7
For Whom the Books Toll
Saturday March 8
Harlie's Books
Sunday March 9
Illustrious Illusions
Monday March 10
Scorching Book Reviews
Wow, Ann, this one really sounded like it put you through the wringer! Can't wait to actually read Fatal Affair--sounds like a great start to a new series!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post! Thanks for sharing your writing challenges with this book.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about the background behind a book/story. I'll have to remember what you've told us while I'm reading this.
ReplyDeleteShannon
sabai30705(at)yahoo(dot)com
I'm really excited about this book! Cannot wait to read it and thanks for an awesome giveaway!
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you touched on some of the stickier plot points. Infidelity can be a really tough sell to readers and has to be broached very, very carefully.
ReplyDelete