Blogging with Jasmine Aherne

Hello Jasmine!  Thank you for stopping by my blog. I'm sure that readers would like to hear more about you and your latest release.   

Tell us about yourself:  I’m British, petite, half Chinese half English. Love to cook. Will read anything with writing on it.

What television sitcom is most like your family? Why? God… probably My Family. It’s British, so most people reading this might not have heard of it. Follow this link… http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006xj32

and why? Because the Dad in it reminds me of my dad. Very embarrassing, in a very British way. It’s a good show, though.


What’s your favorite thing to do to relax? Read, and/or drink a cup of tea. I love tea. Just hook it to my veins.

Do you prefer…
Public speaking or public singing? Public speaking. I have to do a lot of it for my
day job.

Writing in a notebook or typing on the computer? Typing, because generally I can do it faster than longhand writing.

Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi, always!

Living without your cell phone or living without your computer? I could do without my cell phone as long as I had everyone’s numbers written down on something. I’d pick my computer as I can’t write my books on my cell phone!!

Now about you as an author…
Did you always want to be an author? Yes!  Well, ever since I was about 10, I think. As long as I can remember.

What authors had an impact on you growing up and as an adult? Nora Roberts was the biggest. I could eat her books in one sitting. I also remember being in love with this “Point” series. They had Point Horror, Point Romance, etc. It was for teens but they were pretty long books and I felt so grown up reading
them.

Did anyone in your life influence you or encouraged you to be a writer? (teacher, family member, friend)  My parents have always encouraged me to do
whatever I want to; they’re amazing.

What is your favorite aspect or writing? Your least favorite? Favourite – really getting to know the character in my story. Least favourite – getting to about 5,000 words. I really hit my stride then. Before that it feels like a bit of a slog. It’s just occurred to me that I probably spell “favourite”wrong to you! Ah, language.

What aspect of writing would you most like to improve on? My beginnings. I have a lot of false starts. There are about a thousand half-written books on my hard drive.

Do you have any “must haves” with you while you’re writing? Tea and classical
music.

Do you have a common theme or item that appears in each of your books? Hmm… good humour, maybe? Sweetness and optimism? I like my books to be fun as well as romantic.


What have you learned the most from being in the writing business? Someone once said “being a writer is 4% talent, 96% not going on the internet.” That is so painfully true. You have to make yourself write because no one else is going to kick your ass. In other words, being lazy is a killer if you’re a writer.


Tell us about your latest release: (blurb, excerpt, cover) My latest release came out earlier this month with Rebel Ink Press. It’s called Back at Your Door. 

Blurb: Laila and Anton grew up together and became fast friends before
becoming lovers. But growing up forced them apart although deep down, Anton
never stopped loving Laila, his first best friend. When a bad break-up brings Laila back into Anton’s life, he’s determined that no matter what, he’ll show her that she's always been the woman for him. And that best friends can make the best lovers.


Excerpt:
    “Do you need a hand?” Anton didn’t know why he was offering, but it seemed the thing to do when she’d just cried all over him.

    “I...” She made a pfft sound. “You don’t have to help me because I just got
dumped.”

    “I’m not. I’m helping you because I’m your friend.”

    Laila met his gaze, and for a moment Anton thought he saw something flicker in her eyes. Something that told him maybe she was thinking of their teenage kisses too. Maybe she’s wondered what might have happened if she’d stayed in London.

    But he put that from his mind. She’d just come out of a relationship, and he did not want to be the rebound guy. If she even wants a rebound guy. He didn’t want it to be him – but didn’t know how he’d feel about it being someone else.

    I want to be the rebound guy but I want to be the next guy, too.

     “Okay,” she finally acquiesced. “Thanks, again.”

     They sat in companionable silence for a few moments. Anton subtly studied Laila’s face, the delicate curve of her jaw, the long line of her neck, graceful as a swan. The gentle slope of her breasts under her grey dress.

     “So,” Laila started.

     Anton chuckled.“Nothing good ever came of conversations that start with that word. But, go ahead.”

     “So,” Laila looked at him with something unreadable shadowing her eyes, “Are you going to tell me what happened last night?”

     “Do you want me to?”

     She covered her face with one hand the held the coffee in the other. “Was it that bad?”

     Anton debated whether he should tell her the truth or not. He could lie and say they’d had mind-blowing sex. He could say they’d done nothing.

     Thinking about her lying there underneath him, gasping, her head thrown back in the throes of orgasm, her beautiful eyes locked on his, made desire rush into his body, specifically below the belt. He quelled it. “You were in the bar. You had a cocktail. I’d recognized you at the presentation. I came over, I saw you were upset. We talked.”

     Laila winced. “I expect I did most of the talking.”

Great excerpt and blog!  Makes you want to check it out right?
 
How did you decide on your story plot? I’ve always wanted to write a “friends to lovers” story, so I think the plot has been percolating for some time. Friendship can have so many layers – it’s complex and interesting.

How did you choose your characters names and location for your story? Location was easy; I live in Cardiff so I could write about it without problems. Characters names – I used to know someone called Anton, and I saw the name Laila in a magazine and loved it. I wrote it down in my“Ideas Notebook” – I know, I actually have an ideas notebook, that makes me proud of myself (!!).

Do you have a favorite scene? Why? Probably the very first scene in the book because it was one of the very last scenes that I wrote. I had it roughly sketched but it took weeks before I was ready to flesh it out.

Do you have a character that you identify with? Who and why? That’s a hard question. I think I put a little bit of myself into all my characters; it would be impossible not to.

Let our readers know how they can get a hold of you… They can find out all about me and my books at www.jasmineaherne.com, or at www.twitter.com/jasmine_aherne

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  Please feel free to leave a comment for Jasmine below. 

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