Author * Writer * Stoker of Flames
Hey romance addicts. I had the chance to connect with fantasy YA author, Ally Aldridge and talk about writing, and her new book, Ocean Heart.
Ally and I talked about creating lovable characters, connecting with readers and finishing a book.
//www.instagram.com/embed.js Continue reading “LWL Live Interview – Ally Aldridge”
Greetings, romance addicts. Today, author, Megan J. Parker will share a little about herself and the characters of her book, New Moon.
Welcome, Megan.
Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
#openbook
What would be the hardest thing for you to give up?
I recently had to give up the delusion that I could be everything for everyone.
I wear many hats. In addition to being a phenomenal romance author, I am a freelance writer, contributing to multiple platforms. I am also a terrific wife (my husband is a lucky man), mother of six , homeschooler, content editor and writing coach. A lot of stuff, right? Well, those are the things left after I did some soul searching and decided I was doing way too much.
Hey, romance addicts. I have a sweet romance. Rescue Road is part of Gayle M. Irwin’s Pet Rescue series. Romance and cuddly critters, what’s not to love? The author was gracious enough share an excerpt. Check it out!
One year ago, my first clean, contemporary romance released. Rescue Road is a second-chance, western romance story, the first book in my Pet Rescue Romance series. I chose to release the novel at this time because October is Adopt-a-Shelter-Dog Month and November is Adopt-a-Senior-Pet Month.
Continue reading “#booktease- Rescue Road”#MFRWhooks
Hey, romance addicts! I had the pleasure of introducing you guys to Raad Khouri, the scrumptiously villainous antagonist in Building on Broken Dreams, the third book in the hot Brothers in Law series.
Raad’s wickedness is a result of conflicting emotions of desire for Maryam and the family-fed racism infusing his veins. He is one of those men who loves Black women but not Black people. He tries to have it both ways, but that didn’t work out for him. His family soon made demands, and he (at least in his mind) had no choice but to crush the woman he loved in his own sick way.
Raad has his cruel side, but he is a consummate charmer, with the ability to sway women his way. Check him out below, working his masculine mojo on his wife Yasmina and never forgetting that it is Maryam he really wants.
#openbook
Is humor an important element is your stories? Do you ever laugh at something you've written?
Funny you should ask. I think humor is an essential part of romance writing, especially if a writer seeks to add layers to their characters. Sure, readers want the whole falling in love thing, but restricting protagonists’ interactions to the lovey dovey stuff reduces them to caricatures.
Nothing is funnier than the way people fall in love. The rom-com subgenre highlights the comedy in doting and devotion. No, I do not write romantic comedies (yet), but I do add humor elements like wit, sarcasm, and irony in my writing to give characters depth and readers a levity as a way to further connect with them and their amorous pursuits.
Continue reading “Writing Humor in Romance”
Get ready to fall in love, laugh and cry with Marcus and Toni in Sweet Love, Bitter Fruit by Lyndellย Williams.
Q & A with author Lyndell Williams. โ I Love Diverse Romance
I had the pleasure of joining social media influencer Abdullah Najjar for an interview about my work. I found the experience interesting. Abdullah was the first Muslim male interviewer who discussed my romances and inclusion of sensual scenes with me.
I was glad to be able to express the reasons why I am committed to providing readers across social backgrounds diverse romance that touches on social issues and gives off some heat!
Hey, romance addicts. Who doesn’t love it when it’s up to the mysterious hot guy to help find out why the world is falling apart? Alistair Cross has that and more in her book, Dream Reaper.
Hey, romance addicts. Let’s check out the contemporary romance Type Dirty to Me by…
hold up, type dirty?
Yeah, that’s what it reads. Looks like somebody will be doing naughty things with a keyboard. Let’s see.
#openbook
Do you embrace dialog or narrate your way around it? Why?
I love to talk, maybe even more than I do writingโmaybe. Whether written or verbal, I value the power of words. When reading fiction, I prefer books that pull me into characters through dialogue and action. Just like with real people, what a character expresses often serves as the most efficient means to get to know it’s perspective and emotion in ways that can be lost when conveyed through a narrator.
Dialogue remains essential to character-driven writing, where authors offer readers the opportunity to have a vicarious experience and connect to the characters’ internal or interpersonal conflicts. Focusing on character development requires that authors show readers emotion through what they do and say, things especially important in genre fiction.
Continue reading “Dialogue in Fiction Writing”Hey, romance addicts! Today, I am sharing passage from Amber Daulton’s new romantic suspense Arresting Jeremiah. Enjoy the back and forth between the main characters Jeremiah and Calista.
Hey, romance addicts. Sapphire JBlue and I had a terrific conversation about the romantic suspense, Building on Broken Dreams. I had a fabulous time on Sapphire’s blog radio show, talking about Adam and Maryam’s powerful story or love, faith and endurance.
โข Finding love after trauma
โข Dysfunctional love
โข Interracial Relationships
Hey, romance addicts! Are y’all ready for an Amber Daulton book drop? She has the next story in the Arresting Onyx Series all ready for you. Check it out and keep scrolling for an awesome giveaway!
Continue reading “#NewRelease – Arresting Jeremiah By Amber Daulton”
#openbook
What is your favorite fruit dish? Can you share a recipe for it? Do you include food in your stories? While we're talking about food, pumpkin, yea or nay?
It is a cruel irony for me to get this question right after I embraced low-carb eating.
(10/14-10/16)
Hey, romance addicts. Letโs welcome author Anne Krist (Dee S. Knight) to the Layla Writes Love blog. Anne writes about the need that more attention be paid to the brighter side of life, so the darkness doesn’t overwhelm us. She is also giving readers a special treat, an excerpt from her book Burning Bridges.
By Anne Krist
While watching The History Channel a while ago, I saw a program on Leonardo da Vinci. I really only started watching because the location featured Florence, one of my favorite places, but I soon was caught up in Leonardo’s early life and his handicaps.
The man we consider one of the greatest of his timeโmaybe one of the greatest men of all timeโwas illegitimate. Today that doesn’t seem all that horrible, but in the 15th century, illegitimacy limited what one could do in life. Joining a professional guild was the way to change your position in society, and many guilds were closed to bastards. He had no formal education; everything he did came from his own observation and self -education.ย
Continue reading “Looking for the Silver Lining”I love writing a variety of steamy scenes, where readers can connect with the arousing and complicated sensual encounters of my characters. Out of the range of hotness, the moment of a couple’s first kiss offers some serious titillation.
In the suspense romance, Building on Broken Dreams, Adam and Maryam refrain from touching each other until after they are married. By the time their wedding ceremony is over, each of them are pretty ready to get busy. In the excerpt below, we see them heated and poised to finally have their first kiss.
Enjoy!
Hey, romance addicts! I am excited to have author Anna M. Taylor on my blog this week. Anna is a gothic romance and women’s fiction writer. She is a retired United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA minister and has been writing seriously since joining Romance Writers of America in 2003.
Anna’s first published work appeared in 2008 under her inspirational romance pen name, Anna Taylor. She published her first erotic romance in 2016 with The Wild Rose Press as Michal Scott.
Anna shares her experience and motivation as an author, common pitfalls writers fall into and her favorite trope.
What are common traps for aspiring writers?
Comparing themselves to other authors. Our journeys are unique and therefore we should focus our energies on what we are bringing to the literary worldโs table, not whatโs already there that we wished we had brought first.
Lyndell Williams 