I'm very happy to welcome the bloomin' fantastic Lavinia Lewis to my blog!
Lavinia is the author behind the super sexy Shifter's Haven series, which you can check out here at Total-E-Bound.
Over to you, Lavinia! :-)
Hi everyone! Before I
begin I’d like to say a huge thank you to Melanie for ‘having
me’.
Five Q's About The
Author
- Who are you, and where do you come from?
For
those of you that don’t know me, *waves*, my name is Lavinia Lewis
and I’m a M/M romance author from South Wales in the UK.
That’d
be the country where the rain never seems to end. I write full time
now, but I’ve done myriad jobs in the past from a croupier in a
casino to an interventionist in a job centre.
- Describe your writing style in three words:
Oh,
that’s a hard one. Um okay, how about descriptive, sensual and
romantic.
- What inspires you to write?
Lots
of things inspire me, from everyday conversations I hear in the
street to pictures I find on the internet when I’m *cough*
researching. Films, music, TV programmes. I find inspiration
everywhere. And often what I’m reading at the time will influence
what I want to write.
For example I was reading a lot of paranormal
romance when I began writing my shifter series and at the moment, I’m
hard at work on a detective story so I’m reading a lot of similar
themed books.
But my reason for writing is simply because I must.
I’ve been making up stories every since I was a little girl and
when my parents bought me a brother typewriter for my eleventh
Christmas, I think my fate was pretty much sealed. I’ve been
writing ever since, but it was only in the last couple of years that
I began to take it more seriously and really believe that it was
something I could make a living doing.
- Do you have a favourite author?
There
are lots of authors that are auto-buys for me. Many in the M/M
romance genre and lots of mainstream authors too. I spent my teenage
years and twenties reading authors like Stephen King and Dean Koontz.
I love Dan Brown’s novels and Val McDermid is another favourite.
Now, I especially love paranormal romance and urban fantasy so
authors like Patricia Briggs, Richelle Mead and J. R. Ward rate
highly. I’ve read a lot of young adult fiction over the years too.
Rachel Caine and Cassandra Claire are two favourites in that genre
and excellent world builders and of course I couldn’t mention world
building without giving a shout out to J. K. Rowling who in my
opinion is an absolute expert at it.
There are so many wonderful M/M
romance authors out there that it would be impossible to list them
all here, but a few favourites include Heidi Cullinan, Dani
Alexander, Syd McGinley, Marie Sexton, Jordan Castillo Price and
Chris Owen.
- Read any good books lately?
I
have to admit, I read far less than I used to since I began writing
my own stories. I used to get through a book a day, but now it’s
more like one a week. But I have read a lot of great books over
recent months, mostly in the M/M genre.
The PsyCop series by Jordan
Castillo Price instantly springs to mind as does Shattered Glass by
Dani Alexander. I also loved The Island by Lisa Henry, Cut and Run
and The Price of Falling by someone called Melanie Tushmore :P
Five Q's About The Book
'Bollywood Desires' by Lavinia Lewis
Blurb:
How
can Brent give in to his desire for the sexy Bollywood actor when a
relationship between them could cost Raj his life?
When bodyguard Brent Hawthorne moves to India to start a new business, he thinks his biggest problems are going to be the language barrier and coping with the intense heat in Mumbai. But when he starts working for one of Bollywood’s top actors, Rajkumar Khan, Brent has to rethink that estimation.
Raj is not only handsome and sexy but also secretly gay, and sparks fly the instant the pair meets. But Raj is being blackmailed and the unknown sender of the letters is not only threatening his life but also to reveal his secret.
As Brent battles to find the identity of Raj’s blackmailer, he finds himself growing closer to the sexy Bollywood star. He struggles at first to resist Raj’s advances, fearing any sort of relationship between them could cost the star his life, but Raj is a hard man to resist. Can Brent keep his hands and heart to himself long enough to find the culprit, or will he give in to his Bollywood desires?
When bodyguard Brent Hawthorne moves to India to start a new business, he thinks his biggest problems are going to be the language barrier and coping with the intense heat in Mumbai. But when he starts working for one of Bollywood’s top actors, Rajkumar Khan, Brent has to rethink that estimation.
Raj is not only handsome and sexy but also secretly gay, and sparks fly the instant the pair meets. But Raj is being blackmailed and the unknown sender of the letters is not only threatening his life but also to reveal his secret.
As Brent battles to find the identity of Raj’s blackmailer, he finds himself growing closer to the sexy Bollywood star. He struggles at first to resist Raj’s advances, fearing any sort of relationship between them could cost the star his life, but Raj is a hard man to resist. Can Brent keep his hands and heart to himself long enough to find the culprit, or will he give in to his Bollywood desires?
* * *
- How would you describe Bollywood Desires?
Bollywood
Desires is essentially a romance between a British bodyguard that
moves to India to set up a security company catering to the stars of
India’s film industry and the top Bollywood actor that hires him.
It’s a light and fun read filled with sexual tension, but light on
angst.
- What's all this about Bollywood, then? Where is the story set?
Bollywood
is basically India’s version of Hollywood. The films are always
vibrant and full of colour and I’ve yet to watch one that isn’t a
musical. They are often overly dramatic, but a lot of fun.
So the
story is set in the home of Bollywood – Mumbai, India.
- Is this a love story?
I
would say yes, it is. But, although it’s first and foremost a
romance, it also has elements of mystery and suspense thrown into the
mix.
- Are the characters based on anyone?
One
of my favourite Bollywood actors is John Abraham and I had a picture
of him stuck to my whiteboard for inspiration when I wrote the book.
[[ John Abraham, nominated for Filmfare Best Villain award for his role in action movie Dhoom, 2004!! ]]
[[ John Abraham, nominated for Filmfare Best Villain award for his role in action movie Dhoom, 2004!! ]]
This is the pic I used and how I imagine Raj’s character.
I
didn’t use any pictures for the inspiration of Brent, but I had an
idea of how he would look in mind and I have to say the model used on
the cover of the book comes very close to how I ‘see’ him.
- If your book was a Bollywood movie, who would play your characters, and what would your budget be?Well, because I used John Abraham’s image to inspire Raj he’d be perfect to play him in a movie.Brent’s character would be more difficult to cast and as the character is British, I’d have to go with a British actor so I think I’ll choose the very handsome, sexy and talented Richard Armitage.Oh, and no expense spared for my boys of course!
* * *
Excerpt:
“Another hang-up?” Jessie leant back in her chair and applied bright red polish to the nails of her left hand.
“Fifth time today and it’s only ten in the damn morning. Do you have any idea how much work we’re losing because Jack won’t get his head out of his ass and hire us a secretary who speaks Hindi?"
“We have a secretary who speaks Hindi.” Jessie held up her hand to the light and admired her newly painted nails.
“Yes, and Jameela is great, but she only works three days a week. What about the rest? I’m a bodyguard, not a damn receptionist. I’m tired of this shit, and don’t you have any work to do?”
“Tea break,” Jessie explained.
Brent looked at the clock on the tiny office wall. Jessie had been at work precisely forty minutes, and he hadn’t seen her do a damn thing. And when had he started using the word ‘damn’ so much?
He tugged on the collar of his white linen shirt and groaned out loud. The lousy air-conditioning unit in their small rented office only worked when it felt like it. Mumbai had two temperatures, it seemed. Hot…and ridiculously hot. Brent wasn’t a fan of either.
“Can you remind me again why we moved to this piss-poor excuse for a city in the first place?”
Jessie put down the nail polish and stared at Brent, eyebrows raised. “I’d be delighted,” she deadpanned. “My idiot husband got you drunk one night and convinced you the pampered princes and princesses of Bollywood would pay top dollar for experienced British security personnel. You, like the jackass you are, agreed with him. And here we are. So thanks for that. I owe you one.”
Brent grinned. It was a good thing he’d known Jessie most of his life. If they’d just met he could have been easily offended by her sarcasm. But despite her dry wit, she was absolutely right. Brent had no one to blame but himself. He’d been working as a bodyguard in London when his best friend Jack had come up with the idea to move to Mumbai.
Jack was convinced that Bollywood, India’s version of Hollywood, could do with a few more bodyguards and before Brent had time to think seriously on the idea they were already on the plane. That would teach him not to be so damn impulsive.
“Watch your mouth,” he joked. “And if you value your life I wouldn’t let Jack hear you call him an idiot either.”
Jessie snorted. “It’s nothing he hasn’t heard from me before. Besides, he happens to like my mouth.” She grinned salaciously. “Especially when I use it to—”
“Please, God, don’t give me any details,” Brent interrupted. “I only ate breakfast an hour ago and I’d like to keep it down.”
Jessie chuckled. “Come on, Brent, you love hearing about my sexploits…admit it.”
Brent was about to argue the fact when the phone on her desk started ringing. Jessie smirked and quickly picked up the handset. Witch.
“All-Star Security, how can we help?”
Brent’s eyebrows all but disappeared behind his hairline when Jessie began nodding and speaking to the caller in English. How the…?
“Slow down, sir, and start again. How exactly can we help you? Your client has been receiving death threats? I see, and has he reported the matter to the police? Yes, okay, yes. Oh, well, that does sound like something we can help you with. Yes, sir. I can get one of our top security experts to come out and have a chat to you about some of the services we provide.” Jessie looked at Brent and rolled her eyes. “No, sir—the consultation would be free of charge.”
Brent watched on in complete amazement as Jessie took the booking and finished the call. When she hung up she grinned, rather too smugly for his liking.
“What were you saying about needing another secretary?”
Brent frowned. “Just give me the damn details.”
* * *
LINKS!!!
You can also find Lavinia on
Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads as "Lavinia Lewis"
My books can be found
on my publisher Total-E-Bound’s website here
Thank you
for playing Tush's Ten, Lavinia! :-)
Thanks again for inviting me hon!
ReplyDelete