Talk Dirty with the Player by Jackie Ashenden

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jackie will be awarding a digital copy of Talking Dirty to the CEO and a $50 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Thanks to Jackie for answering all our prying questions!

Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?

I love writing contemporary romance because I can concentrate on the characters rather than too much world building because for me the characters are the most important thing in my books. More important than the setting or even the plot. I'm also quite impatient when I have a new story idea and I like just getting stuck in and writing it , which is easy when you're writing contemporary because the world is already set up for you.

What research is required?

It depends what I'm writing about. When I'm setting a book in a different city/country I tend to do a bit of internet research about it first so I can get details right. I also research a characters profession/interests if I'm not familiar with it. For example, Talking Dirty with the Player, I had to investigate a bit about rugby (since I don't play or follow the game). And for Talking Dirty with the Boss (due out in December) I did quite a bit of research into OCD because that's what my hero has.

Name one thing you learned from your hero.

From Caleb I learned that when you kick a rugby ball you have to balance it on a tee first. Hehe.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?

Oh, interesting question! I know some writers like to have a tidy room or scented candles or something to help get them into a good writing space. I don't. I just sit down and start writing. But once I'm fully immersed in writing, I HATE being interrupted. Makes me sooooo cranky. Actually, perhaps I should have a little ritual or something because it can take me a while to get fully immersed – and then I'll have to get the kids from school and then I'm cranky!

Are you a plotter or pantser?

Total pantser. I generally work out my characters and set up before I start writing but that'll be the extent of it. If I've figured out my hero and heroine, the plot will happen as I write because the plot all depends on the choices my hero and heroine make.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?

My iphone! Keeping me up to date with Twitter. And also Skype-ready so I can call my crit partner for any character related emergencies.

Anything new coming up from you? What?

I have the third in my Talking Dirty Series coming up – tentatively in December. This is Marisa and Luke's story. Party girl meets Uptight OCD boss. Shenanigans ensue. You get the idea… Do you have a question for our readers?

Oooh, I do! Okay so what do you think about sports romances? Favorite or not? And why?

Up-and-coming photographer Judith Ashton is pretty sure she has everything in her life under control. That is, until a blast from the past comes back to taunt her, in the shape of Caleb Steele, her older brother's best friend...and the man who broke her heart eight years ago. Their chemistry is combustible, but she's been fooled once by this player, and she's not going there again. To pro rugby player Caleb, Judith has always been his Kryptonite. But his former playboy lifestyle is the last thing she wants to be involved in. In the midst of her brother's threats to back off, and the deal of his career sending him far away from her, he knows he's playing with fire. And this is one game he's going to lose.

Enjoy the following excerpt:

His smile widened and Judith had to remind herself that she was now immune to its lethal charm. Completely immune.

“Oh don’t be like that,” he said. “You missed me. Admit it.”

“Yeah. Like I miss gonorrhea.”

One dark brow rose. “You’ve had gonorrhea?”

Judith sighed. He was all about the witty comeback. If that’s what you called wit. “Oh, shut up, Caleb.”

“See, this is what I’ve missed while I’ve been away. I say something then you say something, then I say something back and you end with ‘shut up, Caleb’. We always have such great, in-depth conversations.”

Still the same old Caleb. Patronizing, arrogant, and cocky as hell. They’d been friends once, a long time ago. And then more than friends. Until he’d broken her poor little teenage heart. She’d forgiven him for that, though; it had been years and years since their affair, after all.

Eight years to be exact.

Nevertheless a familiar feeling began to creep up on her. An antsy, irritated feeling. Like she’d brushed up against poison ivy. Okay, so she may have forgiven him. That didn’t mean he didn’t bug her on occasion.

Judith swallowed her irritation and maintained her usual calm-and-in-control expression. The one that seemed to exasperate him as much as his teasing arrogance exasperated her.

“Did you have something special you wanted to say?” she asked him in bored tones. “Or are you just here to be annoying?”

“Actually, I’m here to shoot you. Though, being annoying is always an added bonus.”

About the Author:

Jackie has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart – writing romance. She particularly likes to write emotional stories with alpha heroes who've just got the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.

She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband, the inimitable Dr Jax, two kids, two cats and some guppies (possibly dead guppies by the time you read this). When she's not torturing alpha males and their stroppy heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random crap on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband.

Twitter: @JackieAshenden
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jackie.ashenden
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6577006.Jackie_Ashenden
Website: www.JackieAshenden.com

Buy the book at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.