Author Interview – Ashley Ladd ( @ashleyladd #MFRWAuthor ) – Spooky Sojourn
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I’m delighted to welcome Ashley Ladd back to my blog today. She swung by a little over a month ago to talk about her ménage romance Her Men. As promised, she’s returned to give me the details on her new release, Spooky Sojourn. It’s an erotic paranormal romance. You can get it now—just in time for Halloween.
1. Hi Ashley. It’s lovely to have you over again. You’ve got a haunted luxury hotel as your setting this time. Is it inspired by any place(s) in particular?
Sort of. About ten years ago I attended a romance writers’ conference at the French Lick Springs Resort in French Lick, Indiana. It’s haunted by its former owner Thomas Taggart and his ghost horse. He supposedly rides his horse down one of the corridors on the 13th floor. We went on a ghost hunt and had a blast—when I wasn’t spooked. It’s an old hotel where both my grandparents often vacationed and Al Capone used to lay low when things got too hot in Chicago.
I knew then I wanted to write a haunted hotel story. However, it incubated a long time—until Totally Bound put out a call for a new hotel series. This one didn’t qualify for that series because it’s paranormal, but it was accepted as a single title book.
2. A paranormal investigator is a very interesting profession. How did your hero, Harry DeVeaux, get into the business? While we’re at it, would you mind telling me what the man looks like?
Harry DeVeaux is very sexy and very sultry. If I were to choose an actor to play him in the movie, it would be Harry Connick Jr. Harry DeVeaux got into the business after he was widowed and his deceased wife Tracy haunted him. Tracy wanted Harry’s help to catch her murderer (she was a cop murdered in the line of duty) so she could pass onto the next world. After Harry helped Tracy, he opened his business to help others like her.
3. Sexy and sultry is totally my type! So somehow, a romance convention and private blog seem to play a role in bringing these two unlikely lovers together. Could you give me a few hints as to how this comes to pass?
Shortly after Deanna starts to manage the hotel, a romance writers’ convention stays there. She decides that if her guests can write a romance she should try her hand at it. Harry’s voice had seduced her over the phone before they ever met in person and she based her hero on him. When Harry investigated her and the hotel when he accepted the job, he found her blog. This intrigued him so that when they finally met face to face, he was also having sexual fantasies about her too.
4. Now that I know for sure sparks fly between Harry and Deanna, I’d love to see it in action. Could you give me a sneak peek?
Excerpt
“You investigated me? You read my private musings?”
“You wrote about me? In some very intimate ways. At least, I presume it was me since you used my name.” He fixed her with a piercing gaze. “Did you?”
A pregnant pause filled the air as she veiled her eyes from his view. Finally, she smoothed her skirt against her legs and admitted, “Yes. I have very mixed feelings about you. You make me crazy the way we argue, the way you believe in ghosts, and yet I find myself thinking about you, fantasizing about you.”
Taking heart in the last part, even if he wasn’t sure he liked the first, he said with a lopsided grin, “You fantasize about me much?”
Surprising him, she sidled up to him with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes and ran the tip of her finger down his chest. “Aren’t my blogs proof? The question is— Do you fantasize about me?”
He wanted to scoop her into his arms and haul her onto that king-size bed right now, and have his wicked way. The sooner they lost every stitch of their clothing, the better. Luckily, he’d started packing protection since reading her blogs as he’d been thinking about ravishing her, not that he thought he’d ever get the chance.
“I am right now.” He lowered his head, smiled lasciviously and crooked his finger at her. “Come here, baby.”
“I can’t believe this is real,” she said huskily. Yet she started to move toward him.
She glided so seamlessly she seemed to float. When she was within touching distance, he drew her into the circle of his arms, bent his head and captured her lips. He teased her with his tongue, seeking entrance to her mouth. He rocked against her, molding her curvy body to his. She was so warm, so soft. He wanted to lose himself in her.
Against her lips, he murmured, “I’m usually the one you accuse of believing in fantasy. Are we switching places?”
“Um. Maybe. Crazy, isn’t it?”
5. *Fans face*. What were we talking about? It's a good thing there's only 1 question left. What projects are you working on right now? Should readers be expecting another release in the near future?
My work in progress is Gaycation an MMF erotic romance, also set in a hotel. Molly is an erotic male-male and BDSM romance writer who is in the closet about her writing. She doesn’t want her day job employers or her friends and family to know what she writes so she uses a pseudonym. She takes her vacation to attend a gay convention so she can get more story ideas. Then to her shock, her big boss (her director and the man she’s been fantasizing about and even based her recently released BDSM romance on) shows up at the same convention and she gets way more than she bargained for.
Alright folks—since I’ve got my own Halloween paranormal release to deal with, I’ll have to cut this interview short. For more information about the book and author, just scroll down. As always, comments are much appreciated.
Spooky Sojourn
by Ashley Ladd
Someone’s trying to kill Deanna, but is it the ghosts she doesn’t believe in, the rich socialite who might be a murderess, or someone else with a beef against The Gilroy Hotel and Resort that Deanna has just been hired to manage? The Gilroy’s owners want the ghosts, or whoever is causing the trouble at the hotel eliminated, and they are pressuring Deanna to do the job as quickly as possible. Harry DeVeaux, paranormal investigator comes highly recommended to do the job and against Deanna’s better judgment, she hires him.
Although Deanna thinks Harry’s crazy for believing in ghosts and Harry thinks Deanna has a closed mind to the possibilities of ghosts and they highly annoy each other, sparks fly. Deanna can’t help but fantasize about Harry and inspired by a romance convention visiting her hotel, writes her fantasies in a private blog that Harry finds, hacks, and reads. Ooh la la!
Buy Links: TotallyBound
ABOUT ASHLEY LADD
Ashley Ladd is a disabled Air Force vet that is hard of hearing but still loves language, especially the written word. She loves a sexy man, especially one with a military background and they’ll often pop up in her stories. She also loves cats and has been known to empower a cat with the gift of speech. Unfortunately he wouldn’t shut up. J She loves to plug into Pandora and sip Diet Coke while writing, usually with a cat or kid at her side.
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