All the featured authors are from the Romance Writers of Australia or Romance Writers of New Zealand, and have just been or are newly published with the digital imprints of Australian publishing houses like - Random House, Harlequin, Penguin and Pan Macmillan.
This week, please welcome Madeline Ash.
Madeline has always lived in Melbourne. She’s emotionally allergic to
spontaneity, and yet doesn’t mind the weather that drags her into rain
when she’s planned for sunshine. She likes to call this her wild side.She works in media and communications by day, and writes contemporary romance pretty much the rest of the time.
UNCOVERED BY LOVE is her début novel.
Title: UNCOVERED BY LOVE
Release Date: 15 December, 2012
Publisher: Destiny Romance
Call Story - UNCOVERED BY LOVE is a romance I had initially submitted to the RIVA romance fast-track at Mills & Boon. I made it to a full request, which I submitted prior to the RWA Gold Coast conference. In late October, it was rejected on the grounds that the conflict was too tragic.
I didn’t entirely agree. It was moving, perhaps, but it was a story of hope, not tragedy. Since Destiny had launched during the wait, I decided to submit it to them that very same Rejection Day. A second opinion could give me an idea of what to do next.
Carol called five days later, claiming she and Sarah loved it. Apparently it had everything they wanted in a romance. It was exactly what they’d been waiting for and they wanted it as a December release. The Call came through on October 30th, meaning I only had six weeks until publication!
And what a hectic, exciting, and life-changing six weeks that was! :-)
Hero
Name: Leeson Stone
Occupation: Investor
Wants: Vera to take over the gallery that belonged to his late sister.
Needs: Vera. Badly. Now.
Doesn’t know he needs: Someone who knows his secret and loves him all the more for it.
Relationships - yay or nay? Nay. He has a secret shame. This means he wants to move Vera quickly into the bedroom, fling-style, so she doesn’t have time to figure it out.
Appearance: “The man’s figure was broad and strong, a contrast to the thin and flimsy material of her market tent. He filled the space, dominated it, looked as if he could knock it down with his hands behind his back. With faded jeans stretched over hard thighs, sculpted arms and a large hand splayed on the display table, Vera’s most coherent thought was man.”
Heroine:
Name: Vera Cole
Occupation: Sculptor
Wants: To travel to Spain and study sculpting.
Wishes: She were normal so she could go to bed with a man.
Relationships – yay or nay? Ideally, yay. But she has a secret too, and it means she cannot be intimate unless she wants to risk rejection all over again.
Appearance: “Vera alone had a figure that could make a man gasp for mercy, all dips and swells, curves and angles. A full figure, some would say. He would call it a masterpiece. Her long hair fell loose in thick layers, softening the cute point of her chin and brushing her elbows. The shortest dark tresses offset her sweet face, drew his attention to her eyes, her lips, her cheeks.”
Setting: This story is set in Melbourne.
Leeson is a man who measures himself by financial success, while Vera couldn't be less interested in material things. And both have secrets they are desperate to hide. But the more time they spend together, the more they struggle to resist the powerful attraction between them.
Knowing the truth would ruin him, Leeson avoids commitment. But when Vera works up the courage to reveal her past, Leeson falls hard for the bravest woman he has ever met. Can two people from very different worlds overcome their fears and learn to trust in love and one another?
A moving, contemporary romance about love against all the odds.
UNCOVERED BY LOVE excerpt:
‘I won’t reject you,’ he said instantly, running his hands up her sides. ‘I won’t hurt you, Vera. You can trust me.’
The past had taught her that trust shouldn’t be handed out to a man with desire in his eyes. ‘I can trust you to want me naked.’
They locked eyes. His hands stilled beneath her arms, his thumbs resting on the sides of her breasts. ‘You called me this afternoon, knowing I want you naked. Don’t make it sound like news.’
She’d known it. But she’d been alone and safe in her room then, without rejection circling her heart, snarling and ready to strike.
‘I don’t want you to see me naked,’ she whispered, her voice catching.
He looked shocked.
‘You won’t like it.’
‘Don’t assume you know what I like.’ His voice was deep, firm.
‘I know what you won’t like.’
‘I don’t like what you’re implying,’ he said. ‘How shallow do you think I am?’
She shook her head, distressed. ‘This was a bad idea.’
Leeson’s hold tightened when she tried to clamber off him. If anything, he pushed her harder against his erection, and the feel of him made her want to weep. ‘Leeson,’ she begged in a whisper. ‘Trust me on this. I’m not what you want.’
He said nothing. His jaw set and his eyes bored into her, accusing, speculative, hungry. Then he shifted beneath her. ‘Nakedness is optional with sex, you know.’
Vera met his gaze helplessly.
‘Nudge the crotch of these little shorts aside,’ he said, demonstrating just how it could be done. ‘And then – ’ he delved in and she gasped, ‘ – we go from there.’
Her breath had cut out somewhere between his words and his touch, so she just nodded. She put everything she had into that nod.
‘You’d prefer that?’
She nodded again.
‘Then let’s try it.’ When she hesitated, suddenly troubled by such a lack of intimacy, he withdrew his hand and added, ‘The second time we have sex.’
‘What?’
Leeson leaned forward, his mouth on her ear. ‘The first time you come around me, there’ll be nothing but sweat between us. And I’ll love every bare inch of you. Got it?’
Thanks for having me on your blog today, Kylie!
It's been a pleasure, Madeline. :-)
You can find out more about Madeline on her website, or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
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