L.D. Blakeley Visits with her Two Hunky Heroes!

Hello! Thank you so much for visiting Written Butterfly with me today! 

Thanks so much for having me (and the boys, of course) over for a chat!

Q) How did you dream up the dynamics of your characters?

I liked the idea of two men who were not only polar opposites to each other but who were, deep down, quite different from how the public saw them. For me, personally, I find timid nervousness absolutely endearing. And, at the same time, I’ve totally been attracted to a take-charge, almost cocky personality. So, in my mind, if I could be attracted to two men like this, then I figured they'd totally hit it off if I were to put them together! 

Q) Do you have any habits that get you in the writing frame of mind?

Coffee helps. But, then, coffee helps pretty much everything, doesn’t it? I used to have a 9 to 5 where the bulk of my routine involved editing, so there are also times where a cheeky glass of red helps me turn off that editor’s voice and lets me just write… errors be damned!

Q) How much real life do you put into or influences your books?

Much to everyone’s chagrin, I’m constantly jotting things down that happen in real life –mainly because I have a memory like a sieve. I have notes on my phone and in a tattered book in my purse with descriptions of charming places, entertaining events, and even just faces I find particularly appealing. People are fascinating and, often, the things we say and do in real life are far and beyond anything you could try making up. And sometimes things just happen that you couldn’t have written if you tried… those are the best things to take note of for later use ;-)

BLURB

Agonizingly shy Emory North has his life mapped out for him: finish his business degree, go to work for his father, and one day take over as CEO of North Star Publishing. More at home amongst stacks of books, Emory has little to no interest in his lot as ‘North Jr.’, but has never had the courage to follow his true passion—writing.

 

Brash and ballsy Bryce Palmer, editor-in-chief of ECLIPSE magazine is known for bedding and discarding PAs like yesterday’s newspaper. He’s up against a serious deadline and down two staff members. And the last thing he has time for is babysitting the spoiled rich son of a CEO. But when Pierce Barclay North insists now is the time for his heir apparent to get his feet wet in the company waters, Palmer's hands are tied.

But looks can be deceiving. And, sometimes, passion can spark in the most unlikely of places...

EXCERPT

By 6:30 Monday morning, Emory sat at his desk nursing a steaming hot cup of strong, black coffee. It was far earlier than he should rightfully be at the office. But his internal monologue was making him crazy and he’d hoped work might, at least, distract him from the situation. Torn between anger — at Bryce for his wrongful intrusion — and mortification — also directed at Bryce (but more at himself) for that stolen kiss — Emory was fit to be tied. Did he confront Bryce about the email and risk his ire? Or should he avoid both subjects entirely? Emory knew his father would give him some variation of the I Assumed As Much speech, if Bryce were to fire him. Would he, though? Would Bryce fire him for last night’s indiscretion? He’d seemed well enough into it at first. So maybe Emory could call him out on the manuscript without risk of being upbraided like a child for the kiss — or worse, fired.

Before he had time to become completely unhinged with his thoughts, they were interrupted with the arrival of their main source of strife.

“Morning,” was all Bryce muttered as he breezed past Emory’s desk and into his office.

Seriously? That’s it? Emory was at a complete loss. Now what? Act like nothing out of the ordinary happened Friday and he hadn’t spent the entire weekend fretting? March into Bryce’s office and demand an explanation for the email? Before he was able to decide one way or the other, his phone lit up — Bryce’s extension.

“Emory speaking,” he finally managed after picking up the phone and hesitantly clearing his throat.

“I should hope so — I did dial your number.”

“Oh, um.”

Bryce sighed and Emory was positive there had been an accompanying eye roll. “Are we back to nervous monosyllables again?”

“No, I…” Emory heard Bryce chuckle before he could manage to spit out the rest of his sentence.

“Would you please come into my office, Emory?” This was it. He was about to be tossed out on his ass and onto a pile of jilted former PAs… and he hadn’t even managed more than a drunken kiss!

“You wanted to see me?” Emory stood in the doorway of Bryce’s office, not entirely sure what to do or say. A million things came to mind: curse the man out for taking his story; apologize for his behaviour after the gala; kiss him one more time just to see if it was as scorching hot as he remembered. He chose none of the above and timidly avoided eye contact.

“Would you please come in?” Bryce appeared to be finishing up an email, his fingers flying across his keyboard. “Shut the door behind you and have a seat.”

Emory did as he was told and sat facing Bryce. Before he could change his mind, he managed to muster up more temerity than he’d ever thought possible, and spat out “I’msorryaboutFridaynight,” as though it were all one single word.

“Sorry about… what, exactly?” Emory was surprised to see a smile on Bryce’s handsome face.

“The wine?” Emory started worrying at his thumbnail once again.

“I didn’t mind the wine, to be quite honest. Made you much more… conversational.” And didn’t that sound laced with… undertones. Emory could feel his face burning.

“But that wasn’t what I wanted to discuss.” And there it was. Emory braced himself. 

WHERE TO BUY

Amazon Canada
Amazon UK
Amazon US
ARe
BookStrand
Evernight Publishing

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A pragmatist with a romantic soul & a dirty mind, L.D. is a fan of horror movies, hot sex, and Happily Ever Afters. Easily distracted by shiny things, she’s a slightly neurotic, highly ambitious dreamer who enjoys dabbling in photography & pretending she can carry a tune. 

In another life, L.D. was a newspaper reporter, an entertainment & music writer, travel writer, website content editor, and a marketing shill. Now she prefers to spend her time writing hot, steamy fiction (with a healthy dose of romance) about intriguing, sexy men. Of course, whether these pretty boys end up between the sheets with other gorgeous lads or up against a wall with a spicy and spirited heroine, all depends on which direction her imagination takes her on any given day.

Although she dreams of living some place isolated with an endless supply of wine and an infinite number of titles on her eReader, she currently lives in down-town Toronto with her husband and their rock star cat.

You can find her online pretty much everywhere: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, Goodreads, her blog, and her official website.