The Wednesday Interview

It’s Wednesday again and it’s time for the brilliant author interview. Molly Daniels graces us today with her latest release Love Finds A Way. Next week the talented Jean Hart Stewart will drop in to discuss her book Song of a Druid Princess.

Love Finds a Way -The Blurb

Can a blind date ever turn into a meaningful relationship?

Amy Callahan wants to find out

Three months before, she had agreed to go on a blind date with Matt Slagal, who was home on leave from the Air Force. Now, she can’t seem to get him off her mind. When she finds herself holding a free ticket to anywhere in the continental United States, Amy jumps at the chance to fly to California and see if the chemistry between them still exists.
Matt Slagal is ecstatic when he learns Amy is in California. But his past experience with the opposite sex has taught him not to trust women. And when one of his friends makes his move, Matt thinks his fears are confirmed, even though Amy hotly denies anything happened.

For her part, Amy is shocked and stunned at Matt’s attitude. She finally convinces him to see the truth, and learns the reason behind his mistrust. When her visit is over, the relationship is back on solid ground again.

But they soon discover that the miles separating them are just one more obstacle. Matt is still commitment-shy, and the fact his ex-lover still wants him drives a wedge between he and Amy. Finally, fed up with the fact her rival won’t leave her man alone, Amy takes drastic measures to ensure Matt’s fidelity. Will it work? Which one reigns…”Absence makes the heart grow fonder” or “Out of sight, out of mind”?

The interview

1. You have some sizzling sex scenes in your book. How hard is it to write sex and make it convincing?
I’m not finding it hard at all. The problem I do have, however, is keeping the scene fresh, and not repeating the same phrases over and over. In Love Finds A Way, Matt and Amy have already been together for six months, so they know each other well. I wouldn’t exactly say my scenes are sizzling, but I’m improving. In the third one, Forbidden Love, the scenes are a bit steamier. It’s sort of a coming-of-age story, where my virginal heroine meets the man of her dreams. My ex-agent said he actually blushed when he read it.

2. Romance and the condom. How hard do you find to slip it in or on when the action is hot between characters?
Again, it flows naturally. My series takes place in the 1980’s, when AIDS was still a mystery, and it wasn’t clear how it was transmitted. So a lot of my girls are taking the Pill. However, as the series moves into later years, condoms become more important than just preventing pregnancy.

3. Do you think romance just happens or do you make your characters work for it?
Both. There are some characters who are instantly attracted, and others for whom the romance develops later. I think if you have two characters who care about each other, it will eventually flow.

4. What is it about your hero that makes him irresistible to women?
He’s a typical ’bad-boy’ figure, and the fact he’s in the military and looks great in his uniform is a real attraction to the ladies he encounters. Matt’s also not afraid to speak his mind, as you’ll find out in later books.

5. Do you think readers want to escape or do they want to identify with a character?
Again, both. I’ll pick up a book and escape to another world, but at the same time, an author has to make characters believable. My series deals with timeless social problems, and if one reader can identify a potential problem in her life or knows someone going through the problem and helps steer the course, I’ll have done my job well.

6. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when writing romance?
You have to have characters who show the struggle. Love doesn’t happen overnight, and besides, that would be boring! Two people who would walk through fire for each other is much more interesting to read than two people who accept their lot in life and ‘yes dear’ each other to death. In my book, Amy is frustrated by the distance between her and Matt, while he is caught between the two worlds. He’s used to the fast-paced women of California, while she’s more practical and concerned about his commitment issues. Matt never dreamed he’d fall for a woman who had ambitions beyond just having fun!

7. What are you working on now?
I have a number of projects. I’m revising the third book in my series, Forbidden Love, dealing with the older man/younger woman issue; he’s 30; she’s 19. There are other factors involved, such as he’s in the process of getting a divorce and has a young child. Keri’s never had an adult relationship before, and she’s also trying to break the glass ceiling by being the first female mechanic to work on Indy racing cars. I am also working on number eight in the series, my interracial storyline, as well as working on an Ellora’s Cave submission.

Thank you, AJ! This was fun!

**Click on the cover to buy the book**

Anny aka the Zen Queen and Mary Ellen Walton due to her wise words has the blog serial today on www.annycook.blogspot.com. Will we learn what Matilda’s vow is? I suspect not as we never do anything the easy way. Evidence of this is Kelly aka Grasshopper and a lot of other names but if I told you them she would have to kill me – that is if she could catch me. Check out her blog www.kkirch.blogspot.com and the great writers of Resplendence Press. And as always – the blogs to the left are fascinating, funny, probing and sometimes downright odd. But read ‘em and enjoy a walk on the odd side.

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Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?