I want to welcome Iris
Blobel. First I’d love you to introduce yourself.
A big hello to you, Barbara, and all your readers from this
end of the world.
Who am I?
I’m a German girl who escaped the German way of life and is now
enjoying the laid-back life style in Australia. I’m married and have two
beautiful girls.
As you’d guess, yes, in my spare time I write and write some
more, I read a little, and present a German radio program on our community
radio.
Life’s busy, but fun.
Tell us about your
latest release.
“Let Me Love You” is the second book in the Australian
Sports Stars series. It’s all about baseball player Oliver, who’s met his
coach’s niece, who he can’t get out of his head anymore. Even though his coach
warns him “She’s off limit”, he’s never been one to play by the rules.
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 person that came straight to mind is the character Silva
played by Javier Bardem in the Bond movie Skyfall. The long –uncut- monologue
about the cannibalistic rats is intense (although creepy), his seductive tone
when he talks to Bond is brilliant. He’s clever and intelligent, and a former
secret agent.
2.) Who is your
favorite character out of your books? Why?
I love each of my character, they’re like children to me.
But if I really had to choose, I’d say Daniel from my first book Sweet Dreams, Miss England. He’s Irish,
he’s a charmer, he’s caring, and he’s sexy … I loved him from the very start.
3.) What do genre do
you write? What made you pick that one?
I write Romance. The
idea of bringing two people together makes my day. Even though I’d love to
write crime or mystery as well, I’d be useless at it. I have the greatest
respect for crime / mystery writer … any writer obviously, but more so those
who are able to come up with an awesome ‘who dunnit’ story.
4.) What are you
working on now?
I am currently writing on the third book in the Australian
Sports Stars series. It’s the story about Markus, the third friend in the
series.
I’ve also started a book, tentatively titled Echoes of the
past, which is about a man who was born in Australia, grew up in the UK, but
returns to his hometown in his late twenties, only to find out that most of his
memories of this place is based on lies.
5.) What got you to
start writing?
Boredom? Basically. I’d never considered myself as a writer
/ author. But one day I put my daydreams to paper and … voila …. years later
I’m still writing. And loving it. English is my second language, so there are
heaps of hurdles to overcome, but I work with two very generous and patient
publishers who’ve given me a chance.
6.) Where do you get
your ideas from?
Life around me. You get ideas watching or listening to
people. But I’m also in a small group called Tuesday Tales. It’s a group of
authors writing to a prompt every week. I love it. It gives me heaps of ideas.
9.) Do you have any
special talents?
I wish. I’ve got a photographic memory for faces. Does that
count?
10.) What was the one
piece of advice you received when you were an aspiring author that has stuck
with you? Why?
Never give up. Never ever give up. If one person doesn’t
like your manuscript, so be it, if ten don’t like it, so bit it, but one day
there’s that person who will … your time to shine will come!
11.) If you could talk
to any famous figure (present, past or fictional) who would it be and what would
you talk about?
Possibly Lee Child – asking him how he comes up with all the
Reacher ideas, about his research, writing techniques etc.
12.) What song would
you say describes your life?
Nena’s “Fragezeichen”
13.) If you could come
back as any animal – what would it be?
I love Dolphins, so I’d go with Dolphins.
By Iris Blobel
Blurb:
Oliver Dempsey, pitcher for a Melbourne baseball club, loves the women,
and they love him…
But he keeps
them at an arm’s length, and when he meets Tamara, he’s unprepared for the
attraction he feels for her. Told by his coach that she’s off limits,
only draws him in more.
Tamara Amis moved to Melbourne to find some distance between her past
and herself…
With the
help of her uncle, the coach of a Melbourne baseball club, she quickly finds a
job, and a place to live. Yet, one meeting with the handsome pitcher stirs
unexpected emotions that threaten to overwhelm her.
It’s
Oliver’s injury that brings them together, but as they find out about each
other’s pasts, how can they be ready to share a future?
Author:
Iris
Blobel was born and raised in Germany and only immigrated to Australia in the
late 1990s. Having had the travel bug most of her life, Iris spent some time
living in Scotland, London, as well as Canada where she met her husband. Her
love for putting her stories onto paper only emerged a few years back, but now
her laptop is a constant companion. Iris resides west of Melbourne with her
husband and her beautiful two daughters as well as their dog. Next to her job
at a private school, she also presents a German Program at the local Community
Radio.
Buy Links:
Amazon
Australia: http://bit.ly/1Aq2J7r
Amazon
US: http://amzn.to/1AzCCfB
Where to
Find Me:
My
Blog: www.iris-b.blogspot.com
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/irisblobel
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/_Iris_B
Pinterest:
http://www.pinterest.com/iblobel/
Excerpt:
Sweat ran down Oliver’s back, soaking his
shirt. He’d been on the field for a couple of hours, but frustration grew in
him with every ball he missed. He placed his hands on his knees and took a deep
breath, fixing his stare at the ground. For Pete’s sake, he was a pitcher, not
a hitter, and well known for his fastballs as well as his perfect curveballs.
Alas, he had neglected his hitting. Today, his swing was below average, and,
unable to focus, he walked over to the bench where he spotted Coach Becker
shaking his head towards him.
Pointing his finger back towards the field,
the coach said, “Head right back out there, Oliver. You need to improve your
hand-eye coordination. I want to see more, and better.”
Oliver cursed under his breath. “It’s not
going to happen. My shoulder’s killing me. It’s been a long day.”
Coach Erik Becker rubbed his face.
“It’s not gonna happen today,” Oliver
persisted.
With a grimace on his face, his coach nodded.
"Righteo, call
it a day. But I want you back out there again in the morning, though.”
Oliver eased off his
gloves and shoved them into his back pocket, before removing his helmet.
The coach gave him a
gentle slap on his back. “I need you to concentrate more tomorrow. Remember
what I told you. You need to focus on your proper stance as well as swinging
the bat. Keep your eye on the ball as it comes towards you. Try to connect the
bat with the ball, preferably at the fat of the bat. We have a game coming up
soon. Go and deal with the shoulder issue. Check in for a massage.”
Oliver wiped his
forehead with his arm when he noticed a woman standing in the coach’s shadow.
Raising his eyebrows, he nodded towards her as to ask who she was.
Erik turned
slightly. “Oliver, this is my niece, Tamara. She’s moved here from Perth.
Tamara, this is Oliver.”
Oliver extended his
hand towards her. “Nice meeting you.”
She ignored his hand
and took a step back. Taken aback by her reaction, Oliver instinctively checked
his hand for dirt or sweat. Questioningly, he looked at his coach.
Erik ignored the situation
and simply said, “Have your shower and see me before you head off to discuss
your training schedule.”
Nodding, Oliver took
another quick look at Tamara. For a brief moment, their eyes met, and he was
puzzled by her expression. It seemed as if her intense blue eyes were trying to
hide something. The distant look in them was almost mysterious, and combined
with her body language, he couldn’t help but get the impression something was
wrong. She was very guarded.
With one last look
towards Tamara, Oliver turned and left.
As soon as he got to
the locker room, he peeled off his t-shirt. Pain shot through him the instant
he lifted his right shoulder. He’d been ignoring the twinge during the training
session, but knew he had to have it looked at. The fucking skateboard rider had
nearly knocked him over the previous day when he came out of nowhere. Oliver
hadn’t had a chance to move out of the way fast enough and slammed his shoulder
into a post.
He slowly stripped
out of his track pants before grabbing a can of Coke out of his bag. Leaning
against the wall, he chugged half of the drink while enjoying the quietness
around him. Everyone else was still out on the field trying to please Coach
Becker. He choked a laugh, hoping his mates would put Erik in a better mood
than he had. They had a few important games over the next few weeks before the
season ended, and for the first time in years, the club was doing well.
As
he walked to the showers, he thought about his training session and wondered
whether his shoulder was to blame for the bad hits, or his lack of training.
But who was he kidding, he always liked to throw everything he had at people,
yet was hopeless in receiving anything thrown at him. That applied in baseball
and in life. When he’d been to see his first baseball game as a kid in Los
Angeles, he’d known he was born to pitch.
Thanks for the feature, Barbara.
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