Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

Here’s another alpaca shot, taken during our visit to the Sydney Easter show earlier this year.

To see more animal photos visit Camera Critters.

The theme this week is spooky, which is a suitable topic with Halloween tomorrow. But, the thing is we don’t really celebrate Halloween in New Zealand and, as it happens, I couldn’t think of a single spooky scene in any of my books. Note to self – write a spooky scene or two!

Instead I’ve picked a scene from Tiger By The Tail, book nine in my Middlemarch Mates series just because I like it. You have my promise to try to do better next year when spooky comes around again.

Tiger By The Tail by Shelley Munro

“Rohan. Rohan!” Ambar stomped into the house she shared with her brother and his mate Kiran. The scent of freshly brewed coffee made her turn in the direction of the kitchen. She burst through the doorway and glared at them both before focusing on Rohan.

“I asked you to do one thing. One thing! And did you do it? Oh no.” She threw up her hands in disgust, her scowl intensifying.

Kiran took one look at her face and stood. “Maybe I should go.”

“Sit,” Ambar ordered. “Rohan, you didn’t cancel the marriage broker.”

“I did so.” Rohan met her gaze without a hint of deceit. “I cancelled the contract with the marriage broker and told him his services were no longer required.”

“Then why did a man turn up in the store this morning and tell me he’d come to marry me?”

“What man? Where is he?”

Ambar glowered at both men. “I pushed him out of the store, slammed the door in his face and hightailed it straight here.” She twisted the golden band on her right hand, the ring she’d inherited from her mother and wore to remind herself of her desire to live an independent life. While men were lots of fun, she didn’t need one to survive. She did not need a mate to complete her life.

“Why didn’t you bring him here? Or ask him to wait at the store and call me so we could sort it out?”

“I’m not marrying him, and you can’t make me.” She wrenched on the gold band again, trying not to think about him. Hari.

“Rohan doesn’t intend to force you to marry anyone,” Kiran said, handing her a mug of coffee. His unruffled manner went a long way to restoring her calm.

“I can’t believe you closed the store,” Rohan muttered. “How are we going to grow our business with you shutting shop at the slightest provocation?”

“Provocation? You call this provocation?” Ambar snapped, the fragile hold on her temper fraying again. “I supported you and Kiran. I expect you to tell this…this man to leave Middlemarch and never come back. I told him, but I expect he’ll only listen to a male.”

Rohan pushed back his chair and stood, circling the table to stand at her side. For a moment Ambar wanted to deck him then she saw the concern on his face. All the fight drained out of her. Deep down, she didn’t think he’d arrange a marriage for her. He knew she valued her independence, but he didn’t know of her desire to travel. She hadn’t confided her list of dream destinations to anyone.

“Finish your coffee and we’ll go back to the store together.”

“But what if he’s gone?”

Kiran chuckled. “Isn’t that what you want?”

“He was actually quite nice,” Ambar said, recalling his tentative manner. “He had an awful scar on his face. I’d hate for him to think I acted like a boor because I couldn’t bear to look at him. I think he was nervous.”

“Where was he from? Did he say?” Rohan asked.

“I didn’t give him a chance.” Ambar frowned, trying to recall his face in detail. Apart from the scar, she didn’t remember much. “He wasn’t from India. He sounded English to me.”

Rohan took a sip of coffee. “I wonder if Dad used a broker over in England as well as the one in India. There’s a large Indian community in Manchester and a smaller one in London. I didn’t find anything in the paperwork in the office. Did he ask to speak with me?”

“Of course he did. I was consigned to the little woman box straightaway,” Ambar said, her top lip curling in disdain.

“Why didn’t you just tell him to piss off?” Kiran sipped his coffee, studying her carefully like one of his animal patients. “Why did you flick your tail and run away? You know a male tiger’s typical response is to chase.”

She winged him a glare. “I did not flick my tail. I’m not interested in another man. You know I’m going out with Jake.”

Rohan’s brows rose and his lips quivered as if he was trying not to laugh. “But you did run away.”

All the hot air whooshed out of her at the challenge. Heck, they were right. Why hadn’t she told him to take a hike?

Purchase from Ellora’s Cave or Amazon Kindle

Check out the recent review of Tiger By The Tail at The Book Binge

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the trail below:

Shelley Munro
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Ashley Ladd
Mari Carr
TJ Michaels
Shelli Stevens
Jody Wallace
Eliza Gayle

My guest today is author Sloan McBride. Sloan kicked off her tour on 25 October to celebrate her new blog called McBride’s Mayhem. If you follow the rest of Sloan’s blog tour you’ll learn more about her and her books. Over to Sloan…

I’m glad it’s Friday. Halloween is two days away. It’s great to be here with Shelley Munro. Thanks for having me.

I was at a Goodwill store the other day and I met a guy in line who had an arm full of books. He told me that he came to return something for his wife then laughed because he thought he was spending more on the books than he got for returning the item. I laughed too because I know how he feels when it comes to books.

Q: Have you written stories about vampires, werewolves or ghosts?

A: Vampires and werewolves, no, but I love reading them. That’s not to say I won’t be writing one or both in the future. I do have a storyline for a ghost book involving three best friends. I hope to have that one out in the not too distant future, but there are so many stories and so little time.

Please leave a comment today and be entered for the prize. Thank you for tagging along.

TODAY’S PRIZE: COPY OF E-BOOK VERSION OF THE FURY

I’m visiting Unearthly Musings today and talking about The Spurned Viscountess and other things. There’s also a giveaway. Come over and say hello.

Here’s the link to Unearthly Musings

I’ll often pick up a writing craft book at the library. Recently I picked up a copy of Bullies, Bastards And Bitches: How To Write The Bad Guys Of Fiction by Jessica Page Morrell. I’ve found it fascinating and definitely helpful in writing villains. The author has included a list of characteristics of villains, which is very appropriate for this time of the year. Villains abound at Halloween, right?

Thirteen Characteristics of Villains

1. Villains are consistently bad. Their behavior isn’t random or a one-off act of nastiness.

2. They have a defining event in their background that set them on their path of bad behavior.

3. They often have secrets they’re desperate to hide from others.

4. They’re not usually afraid of confrontation.

5. Villains are complicated and multi-dimensional.

6. They’re unpredictable.

7. Viallains sacrifice victims to achieve their own ends.

8. Villains often have an aspect of narcissism in their personality makeup.

9. They like to take extreme risks.

10. They’re usually alpha males or females and have underlings who defer to them.

11. Villains like to obsess about details and their plan of attack.

12. A villain controls others by using guilt and loyalty.

13. A villain plays head games and is very good at playing them.

As you can see, a hero might possess some of the above characteristics. The villain and the hero are often two parts of the same coin.

Who is your favorite fictional villain?

My special guest today is Ellora’s Cave author Kaily Hart. Kaily officially became a multi-published author recently with the release of her smokin’ hot contemporary romance, Pay Up. Just check out that cover! Today Kaily is talking about animals in romances. Welcome, Kaily, and over to you.

My hero Rio from PAY UP almost had a dog. When I say ‘almost’, I mean I had originally written one into the story. It was a stray he’d picked up one night on his way home from work. He always intended to take it to the pound, but just never got around to it. Carly (the heroine), lives next door and used to look after him when Rio did extensive shifts. His name was Buddy and I found I’d done an extensive characterization on him (in my head at least), just like I would any other character in the book LOL. He had a very small role, but I’m a stickler for detail. Rio and Carly live in a condo building. When I thought of that poor dog spending so much time cooped up in the apartment and then the logistics surrounding him having to go ‘out’ regularly, well, it became a bit unwieldy.

Add to that the dilemma of what to do with him when Rio and Carly where ‘busy’ ::wink, wink:: and it just became too much. Plus, I didn’t want any reader scratching their head and wondering ‘what happened to the dog?’ towards the end of the book and I didn’t want to have to continue to write him into each scene. Perhaps if the story had been longer, I could have made it work, but alas poor Buddy fell victim to an edit.

It got my thinking though about the use of animals in books, and romance in particular. I can’t help thinking of that saying you hear actors use – ‘never work with animals or children’ — and perhaps that can be applied to erotic romance as well. I know there are some publishers of that like to shy away from the use of children as secondary characters in their books. I get that. I wonder if there’s such a guideline when it comes to animals? I tried to think back to other books I’d read in the genre and couldn’t recall that many featuring an animal of some sort. I have some ideas for future books where it would be in character for either the hero or heroine to have a pet, but it got me wondering how readers perceive this.

Are readers OK with animals in romance books? Does it detract from the story? Does anyone even care as long as it is consistent with the characters and story line. What do YOU think?

Seriously, let me know what you think. If anyone would want to contact me (which I would love by the way), they can find me all over:

Web – www.kailyhart.com
Blog – http://kailyhart.blogspot.com/
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/kaily.hart
Twitter – http://twitter.com/kailyhart

Shelley, thanks for having me here today!! It was fabulous, of course. You’re very welcome, Kaily!

Kaily has a trailer you can check out here.

And here’s the blurb for Pay Up by Kaily Hart

Neighbor. Friend. Lover.

At least that’s what Carly Wagner wanted Rio Reyes to be. She’d settled for two out of three for almost a year and it just wasn’t enough. Not anymore. When Rio proposes a shocking bet—of the sexual variety—she knows it’s out of character and he’s not really serious, yet she can’t resist. The pay off could be finally getting her hands on the gorgeous firefighter she’s drooled over since she moved in next door.

The timing had never seemed right for him and Carly, but that hadn’t stopped Rio from imagining wild and wicked things about her. It had been a joke—sort of, but Rio’s shocked when she takes him up on the dumbass bet. Now he’s in a world of hurt, because regardless of who wins, he might be crossing a line he never thought he would and jeopardize a friendship that means more to him than anything.

PAY UP is currently available from Ellora’s Cave – and is also out on other ebook stores such as Amazon.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

~ Grab your current read
~ Open to a random page
~ Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
~BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
~ Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I’ve just started reading Mad About The Duke by Elizabeth Boyle.

“Falling in love was done in an elegant ball, in the rarified air of Almack’s, or at a properly attended house party, not surrounded as she was by the peeling wallpaper and the general lack of fine furnishings that her new home afforded.

And not wearing her second-best gown.

page 2, Mad About the Duke

Never judge a duke by his cover…

Level-headed Lady Elinor Standon will not allow her greedy stepfather to wed her younger sister to the highest bidder! The only way to stop this evil plan is for Elinor to to gain control of her sister’s guardianship, but to do that she needs to get married. Convinced that nothing less than a duke will do, she hires Mr. St. Maur, Esq. to help her land her lofty lord… However her plans go awry as she discovers that beneath her solicitor’s rumpled coat and haughty demeanor is a man all-too-desirable to ignore and she finds herself falling for more than his unconventional legal advice.

James Tremont, the ninth Duke of Parkerton, is astonished by the freedom and anonymity he’s gained simply by donning his brother’s ill-fitting jacket, especially when an exquisite, peer-hunting beauty mistakes him for a solicitor… Now he finds himself tangled up by more than her legal woes. For until he can undo the straight-laced yet delectable Elinor, his identity must remain a mystery—because by not having revealed it immediately, this dedicated bachelor may have already sabotaged his one chance for the madness of finding his one true love.

Purchase Mad About the Duke

My guest today is author Jessica Chambers. She has a new women’s fiction release called Voices on the Waves available from Red Rose Publishing. Today Jessica is talking about characters and why she thinks they’re so important.

For me, the most important part of any novel is the characters. This is particularly true of women’s fiction—one of the reasons I love both reading and writing it so much—but I believe it applies to all genres. Why do we continue turning the pages, if not to find out how things work out for the individuals involved? Is there any way for them to disentangle themselves from the mess they’ve gotten themselves into? When will the hero and heroine overcome their problems and find love? Will the protagonists ever emerge from their adventures alive?

This doesn’t mean that a strong plot isn’t also vital. However vivid and memorable the characters, if they don’t have a goal to achieve, a problem to solve or some kind of obstacle to overcome, the novel would simply be a random sequence of events and interactions. However, I don’t feel a writer should ever rely too heavily on the plot to hold the reader’s interest. NO matter how gripping and action-packed the storyline, if readers feel nothing for the characters, why should they care whether or not they reach the end unscathed? In R. D. Wingfield’s novels, we follow Detective Inspector Jack Frost’s bungled investigations under the ever disapproving eye of Superintendent Mullet. Naturally we want to solve the mystery along with him, but if we didn’t like Frost as a character, we’d have no interest in whether or not he succeeds.

Of course, the characters don’t necessarily have to be likeable. They simply have to be real enough for us to feel a connection with them. A prime example of this is Gone With The Wind’s Scarlet O’Hara. There’s just no getting away from the fact that she’s a spoilt brat with far too high an opinion of herself, and who doesn’t give a damn who she hurts so long as she has both the men in her life dancing to her tune. Despite all her faults, though, as the novel progresses and Scarlet discovers within herself a steely determination not to be defeated, we develop a genuine respect for her and end up rooting for her to come through.

So no, characters don’t have to be likable. They do, however, need to be believable. We need to be able to look at them with all their flaws and virtues, and recognize someone we could meet in our every day lives. If we don’t believe in these people, if they don’t leap off the page with a life of their own, we’re hardly going to care what becomes of them. I recently read Beach Coma by Josephine Cox. In fact, the plot shows quite a lot of promise—guy coming to terms with the death of his wife and children, meets girl who shows him he can love again, and all the while a mystery figure wants to ensure the hero never finds out the truth of what happened to his family. The trouble is, the hero and heroin are so sickeningly perfect that I just didn’t believe in them, and as a result, was completely indifferent to either the peril facing them or their budding romance.

So, to sum up. A strong plot is vital to give a novel its structure, but without lifelike characters the reader can relate to, the whole thing will more often than not fall flat on its face.

These are my thoughts, for what they’re worth, but I’d love to hear what you think. When you pick up a novel, is it the plot that captures your interest, or is having an instant affinity with the characters more important ? Are there any novels you feel combine these two elements particularly well?

CONTEST: Anyone kind enough to leave a comment here, or at any point during my blog tour, will automatically be entered into the draw to win a $15 gift voucher for either Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so don’t forget to provide an email address in case I need to contact you. I’ll be announcing the five winners at the end of my tour on October 31st over at my blog so good luck!

Thank you so much, Shelley, for inviting me on your blog today, and for all of you for stopping by. Tomorrow, the Voices On The Waves Blog Tour continues with an interview at the home of Savannah Chase. Hope to see you there!

In the meantime, my debut women’s fiction novel Voices On the Waves is available now from Red Rose Publishing

This is another photo I took at Wellington zoo. This pair of sun bears were having lots of fun wrestling with each other and running all over their enclosure.

Visit more animal photos at Camera Critters

The theme for this week is secondary characters. I love writing stories with secondary characters. They can say and do things the hero or heroine can’t. Secondary characters are also great for comic relief. Since I’m currently writing a follow up story to Fancy Free, this seemed like an obvious choice for my Snippet Saturday this week. And, for those of you who aren’t familiar with this story, Fancy Free is the story of Alice who inherits a condom factory.

Fancy Free by Shelley Munro

“Are you really all right, dear? You look a little flushed.” The knitting lady again.

Alice jerked back to the present to find every one of the six board members staring at her again plus the admin lady, and worst of all, the manager James Bates. He wore a grin, almost as if he knew what she’d fantasized about and relived only seconds ago.

Oh my. Steven was right. Her morals had fallen by the wayside. She was a wicked woman and was going to hell. Realizing she had yet to answer, Alice blurted, “Fine. I’m…ah…focused on the business.” And how. If she concentrated on sex and condoms any harder, she’d self-combust. An X-rated version of Alice in Wonderland. Who’d have guessed?

“How’s the security?” Richard Morgan asked. “Have we had any more breaches since we installed the security cameras on the roof?”

“The alarm hasn’t been tripped, but we’ve had a lot of problems on the production line recently. Missing supplies, and Scott, the floor manager, discovered someone had changed the settings on the packing machine. Most of the boxes packed this week went out one condom short. Of course we only found this out after they’d left the warehouse. We’ve had to recall them.”

“More money off the bottom line,” Sam Glengarry muttered, fingering his chin in a thoughtful manner. “Not good.”

“We’ll have to set up covert cameras on the floor.” Richard frowned. “I didn’t want to do that.”

“We’ll do what we have to,” Katarina stated. “Besides, I want to buy a red coupe with my next payout. Can’t do that if we don’t have profits.”

“Red?” Ben asked. “I’d get a black one. I heard on the radio today that the most desired car color in Britain is black.”

“Humph,” Katarina said. “It’s a bugger to keep clean. Fingerprints all over the paintwork. There’s nothing worse.”

“Can we get back to condoms?” James demanded with a trace of impatience.

Joseph Craig nodded, even though his mind was clearly on bonuses. “That’s a bit rough. Too much money invested in the X-100. We must sort out our security problems before the public gets wind of it. Can’t have the consumers’ confidence in the integrity of Fancy Free’s products dented.”

Everyone around the table nodded. The board moved on in discussions.

Rita Jamieson, the admin lady, produced a life-sized penis made of fiberglass from a padlocked wooden box, placed it on the table and competently rolled on a teal green condom with purple dots. Harriet Te Whare glanced up from her lime green and canary yellow knitting. “I’m not sure about the color selections.”

“Rubbish,” Ben Kumar stated. “Purple is the new black. I suppose we could have black dots since that color is so popular on cars.”

“Of course we’ll have several colors,” James said. “A matching palette. These are just two examples.”

“I’m more worried about the design.” Joseph Craig accepted the model from Rita and surveyed it from all angles. “And I’m still not sure about these dots. What have the people in the trials said about comfort?”

“The raised dots are fine. Do you have another one there, Rita?” Rita rolled a condom on a second penis model and handed it to James. He ran his fingers over the dots. “I’ve used it myself. See the way they move when I touch them? It’s like a mini massage when it’s in use.”

“But they’re much bigger than our regular raised dots model,” Joseph argued. “We need to use extra latex in the design because the dots are larger.”

“No. We have the right amount of latex. Pretend my hand is the woman’s vagina. See how the dots fan outward like tiny brushes?”

Alice stared, her mouth pursed in astonishment and partial shock as he showed the rest of the board how the new condom functioned. His fist acted as the woman’s vagina while he used his other hand to thrust and demonstrate how the raised dots worked. They didn’t bat an eyelid but paid close attention and asked intelligent questions. Alice leapt from one shock to another and learned more about the theory of sex and the practical application of condoms in the course of the day than she’d soaked up in all her twenty-five years.

But she managed to make it through the day. Just. It felt as though the heat controls of her body were firmly stuck on hot and fiery. Her mind drifted in the gutter with her supremely conscious of James Bates. Big and male, his crotch seemed level with her face for a good deal of the time while he stood to demonstrate various things for the board members. She had never felt so conscious of her body in her entire life. Her nipples felt more tender than normal, brushing with exquisite friction against the sturdy cotton bra she wore. She would never think about condoms and sex in the same way again. Never.

Purchase from Ellora’s Cave or Amazon Kindle

To read more Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below:

Shelley Munro
Vivian Arend
Taige Crenshaw
McKenna Jeffries
Lauren Dane
Ashley Ladd
Mari Carr
Lissa Matthews
TJ Michaels
Shelli Stevens
Jody Wallace