I want to welcome Ashley
Ladd. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.
Tell us about your
latest release.
My latest release is ‘Spooky Sojourn’ a ghostly paranormal
in which the heroine, Deanna Thompson, is the new manager of a purportedly
haunted hotel. She doesn’t believe in ghosts and she is determined to find the
culprit(s) responsible for driving guests and employees away from the hotel. She
hires Harry DeVeaux, a paranormal investigator, in the hopes of proving there
are no ghosts. Immediately, sparks fly. But they often disagree and often argue
as he knows ghosts exist and she thinks he’s crazy for believing in them. Still,
she can’t help fantasizing about the hottest man she’s ever met and she wonders
if she’s crazy for doing so. When bowling pins and kitchen knives start flying
through the air and her brother’s car explodes, she starts to rely on Harry
more and more.
Now I have a few
questions for you – I have found readers do like to know fun things about us
writers.
1.) Who is your
favorite villain – it can be from a book (even one of yours), movie or TV show.
And why?
The Mummy. He’s completely head over heels in love with his
girlfriend, so much so that his love survives his death. He’ll do anything so that
they can be together again. In his mind, he’s her hero.
2.) Who is your
favorite character out of your books? Why?
Haley in ‘Purrfect Justice’. She’s a mild-mannered secretary
by day but by night, she dons a Cat Woman costume and really kicks criminal ass.
When she was coming home from a Halloween costume party one night she was
listening to the police scanner and heard that the policeman she’s in love with
was in trouble and she flew to his aid. She saved his neck and it became a
habit – in costume. She even borrows her girlfriend’s motorcycle and she jumps
it over a police car to escape being caught when they try to pin her down.
She’s a lot of fun.
3.) What genre do you
write? What made you pick that one?
I love contemporary erotic romance, especially rom com.
Within that I write a variety of pairings: mf, mm, mfm, mmm, mmf
4.)What are you
working on now?
‘Gaycation’ which is an mmf about an erotic romance writer
who hasn’t come out of the closet about what she writes to her family, friends,
or employer. When she uses her vacation from work to attend a gay conference to
get more ideas for her books and her big boss, the man of her dreams, also
shows up, she gets way more than she bargained for.
5.) What got you to
start writing?
I started writing when I was about six—as long as I can
remember. I’ve always loved the written word. I loved Superman and Lois Lane
and I wanted to be a hot shot reporter like Lois.
6.) Where do you get
your ideas from?
Everywhere. Listening to conversations. Watching and reading
the news. Watching people including my kids. Dreams. Fantasies. Songs.
7.) What would people
who read your work be surprised to find out about you?
That my friends and coworkers are afraid to swear around me
or tell dirty jokes and stories. They think I’m too sweet and innocent for that
stuff. It cracks me up. I tell them I really don’t mind but they insist that
I’m a goodie two shoes. If only they knew…
8.) Do you have any
special talents?
I type 96 wpm. I’m a good aim with a bow and arrow.
9.) What was the one
piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck
with you? Why?
That I should open the bedroom door and write hotter. That’s
when I started to write romantica.
10.) If you could talk
to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what
would you talk about?
Captain Jack Sparrow – about anything that came to his
amazing, crazy mind. He’s so fascinating and sexy and funny I’d never get
bored.
11.) What song would
you say describes your life?
Everywhere by Tim McGraw
12.) If you could come
back as any animal – what would it be?
A cat! I must be part cat already. I’ve probably been
scratched enough that our blood has mingled and I have cat DNA.
Ashley Ladd lives in South Florida with her husband, five
children, and beloved pets. She loves the water, cats, and playing on the
computer.
She's often incorporates humor and adventure into her books. She
also adores very spicy romance, which she weaves into her stories.
Blurb:
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.
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!
Excerpt:
Wow!
Deanna
reread her fantasy, barely able to believe she’d penned it, wondering if she
should delete it. Did she really want to make out with Harry, a perfect
stranger, on a public beach? Did she really want her words on the Internet,
even in a supposedly private blog under a make-believe name?
Well,
it was confidential, right? As long as she didn’t give anybody the web address
or password or tell them about it, it would remain secret.
Enough
fantasizing! She had to get back to work. Dragging the files out, she
familiarized herself with the ghost sightings as well as Lynette’s and Grant’s
history. By the time she finished, she knew how they’d died and the theories
about their suicides-slash-murders. She also knew that everybody was afraid to
point fingers at the now very influential and powerful Roxanne
Cambridge-Anderson. Could Roxanne be behind the haunting nonsense? Did she want
the hotel shut down? But that made no sense. The rumors portrayed Roxanne as a
murderess. It wouldn’t be in her best interest to keep their legend alive.
Deanna’s
temples began to ache the harder she thought about everything, so she decided
to go to sleep. Hopefully she’d awake if any hi-jinks took place in the bowling
alley.
About three a.m., deafening booms awoke her. Light brightened lane fourteen and all but one pin lay scattered on the wooden floor.
Groggy, Deanna tried to gather her senses. She looked around then, to her horror, she saw an iridescent figure of a man on lane fourteen picking up a glowing ball. Collecting her presence of mind, she grabbed her webcam, pointed it at the ghostly shape and turned it on. Shaking, she tried to hold her computer steady. Not believing what she was seeing, she knew there had to be a rational explanation. Perhaps some machine was projecting the image onto the lanes. Perhaps a real person stood in front of her in glowing phosphorescent powder.
Whatever or whoever it was, picked up the ball, and knocked down the spare pin. Then the ‘apparition’ bowled three strikes in a row.
Unexpectedly, he turned and glared at her, fire shooting from his eyes. Pins flew from all the lanes at her. Her heart racing, she ducked under the score table.
Buy links:
How you can contact Ashley:
http://www.ashleyladd.blogspot.com
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