Bonnie Edwards's Blog - Posts Tagged "bonnie-edwards"
A sexy bit of ... Body Work
Amazon startled me this morning by having my erotically-charged contemporary romance novella,
Body Work
available for sale.
When they say 24 hours: call me crazy, but I'm startled by 6 hours. Who works that fast but Amazon? LOL
But, I'm thrilled to share this news, because Body Work was in the launch anthology, The Hard Stuff. (Kensington Books Aphrodisia) and the novella received some lovely reviews, of which I'm very proud.
This is a reunion story (I love them!) about a first crush that just couldn't happen back in the day.
You can find it for Kindle here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GM6HZ86
But now? Anything can happen between Lisa and Tyce...and plenty does. (Plus I got to write about cars...another of my favorite things)
So, color me happy today while I tweet, post, update my site and blog here. (Whew!)Bonnie Edwards
When they say 24 hours: call me crazy, but I'm startled by 6 hours. Who works that fast but Amazon? LOL
But, I'm thrilled to share this news, because Body Work was in the launch anthology, The Hard Stuff. (Kensington Books Aphrodisia) and the novella received some lovely reviews, of which I'm very proud.
This is a reunion story (I love them!) about a first crush that just couldn't happen back in the day.
You can find it for Kindle here:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GM6HZ86
But now? Anything can happen between Lisa and Tyce...and plenty does. (Plus I got to write about cars...another of my favorite things)
So, color me happy today while I tweet, post, update my site and blog here. (Whew!)Bonnie Edwards
Historical Research for the Contemporary Writer by Bonnie Edwards
Bonnie Edwards
I write contemporary romance but a few years ago I got a blindingly complete idea for a paranormal erotic romance that my editor snapped up for the Aphrodisia line at Kensington Books.
I was so excited by the idea that I sent an email that said something like, “What would you think about a book set in a haunted bordello where the dead hookers tell their stories?” Four minutes later a response came asking for two books.
My first series was born, but wow! Dead hookers? A hundred-year-old mansion? The spirits of the hookers who worked in Perdition House each had a story to tell. Since they lived in the mansion pre-WWI I had some major work to do.
For the first time ever, I found myself writing historical fiction. Why? Because each story is told in real time by the women while the contemporary heroine is sleeping. In other words, Faye Grantham falls asleep and dreams a vignette out of a woman’s life.
So, while Perdition House has a contemporary heroine, it also has several historical heroines as well. Confused yet? I never was. As I said above, the idea came to me in blinding clarity.
Back to research…
One question on the net about brothel museums led me to The Montana Historical Society at the state website.
I learned that Butte, Montana had a reputation for its bordellos and vice dens. I also learned that the crusader Carrie Nation had met her match in madam May Maloy. The women scuffled in a saloon and Ms. Maloy emerged the winner.
Butte became the perfect place for me to find my madam. Not a prostitute, I decided, but a kept woman, raised by a single mother who'd embraced the Free Love movement that rose in the years following the Civil War.
So, I had the real Carrie on one side of the movement for social change and Belle, a fictional forward-thinking free love advocate who also needed to make a living. I used Carrie's appearance in Butte as a ticking clock.
In one vignette signs appear that Carrie's due to arrive. In another, I show the scuffle that ended Carrie's time in Butte. Carrie Nation is a catalyst for change within the novel's historical setting. Belle, my fictional madam, sees Carrie's interference in Butte's business as a sign that it's time to move on. She decides to collect several women and head west to Seattle to build a fine mansion dedicated to elite businessmen and powerful politicians.
Oddly, months after completing the first story (then titled by Kensington as Midnight Confessions) I fell across the book: Stella, by Linda J. Eversole. This is a creative non-fiction biography of a madam, Stella Carroll, who operated brothels from San Francisco to Victoria, BC.
Reading the account of Stella's life sent chills up my spine. Her reasons for choosing her locations were exactly the reasons I chose to set the mansion where I did. Her attitude toward living the high life, having the best wines, the best foods, fine clothes were shared by my fictional heroine, Belle Grantham.
Creepy? You bet. The real story of Stella Carroll proved that I'd come at my characters correctly. They felt real to me and then, having read about Stella, I hoped my characters in Perdition House felt real to readers as well.
Perdition House An Erotic Saga Part 1 is FREE and available for download at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LDBRD0U
And for iBooks, Nook, Kobo and other retailers here: https://books2read.com/u/bpDwXb
I'm showing you the cover for Part 2 because I love it so much!
I write contemporary romance but a few years ago I got a blindingly complete idea for a paranormal erotic romance that my editor snapped up for the Aphrodisia line at Kensington Books.I was so excited by the idea that I sent an email that said something like, “What would you think about a book set in a haunted bordello where the dead hookers tell their stories?” Four minutes later a response came asking for two books.
My first series was born, but wow! Dead hookers? A hundred-year-old mansion? The spirits of the hookers who worked in Perdition House each had a story to tell. Since they lived in the mansion pre-WWI I had some major work to do.
For the first time ever, I found myself writing historical fiction. Why? Because each story is told in real time by the women while the contemporary heroine is sleeping. In other words, Faye Grantham falls asleep and dreams a vignette out of a woman’s life.
So, while Perdition House has a contemporary heroine, it also has several historical heroines as well. Confused yet? I never was. As I said above, the idea came to me in blinding clarity.
Back to research…
One question on the net about brothel museums led me to The Montana Historical Society at the state website.
I learned that Butte, Montana had a reputation for its bordellos and vice dens. I also learned that the crusader Carrie Nation had met her match in madam May Maloy. The women scuffled in a saloon and Ms. Maloy emerged the winner.
Butte became the perfect place for me to find my madam. Not a prostitute, I decided, but a kept woman, raised by a single mother who'd embraced the Free Love movement that rose in the years following the Civil War.
So, I had the real Carrie on one side of the movement for social change and Belle, a fictional forward-thinking free love advocate who also needed to make a living. I used Carrie's appearance in Butte as a ticking clock.
In one vignette signs appear that Carrie's due to arrive. In another, I show the scuffle that ended Carrie's time in Butte. Carrie Nation is a catalyst for change within the novel's historical setting. Belle, my fictional madam, sees Carrie's interference in Butte's business as a sign that it's time to move on. She decides to collect several women and head west to Seattle to build a fine mansion dedicated to elite businessmen and powerful politicians.
Oddly, months after completing the first story (then titled by Kensington as Midnight Confessions) I fell across the book: Stella, by Linda J. Eversole. This is a creative non-fiction biography of a madam, Stella Carroll, who operated brothels from San Francisco to Victoria, BC.
Reading the account of Stella's life sent chills up my spine. Her reasons for choosing her locations were exactly the reasons I chose to set the mansion where I did. Her attitude toward living the high life, having the best wines, the best foods, fine clothes were shared by my fictional heroine, Belle Grantham.
Creepy? You bet. The real story of Stella Carroll proved that I'd come at my characters correctly. They felt real to me and then, having read about Stella, I hoped my characters in Perdition House felt real to readers as well.
Perdition House An Erotic Saga Part 1 is FREE and available for download at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LDBRD0U
And for iBooks, Nook, Kobo and other retailers here: https://books2read.com/u/bpDwXb
I'm showing you the cover for Part 2 because I love it so much!
New Release!
I'm so excited to share my newest book, Fake Me: Last Chance Beach Romance.This is the start of a new series within a multi-author romance line set in the small beach town of Last Chance Beach. My heroine wants to start a new matchmaking service for single parents and this is the first of the romances centered around her business: Singles Fest.
International real estate broker Grady O’Hara, unkempt, miserable, and nursing his battered heart, is holed up in the Landseer Motel in Last Chance Beach.
A first-class grump, Grady’s appalled that enthusiastic sprite, Farren Parks wants him to open his motel to single parents looking for love. He suspects his sister has sent Farren to lure him into a romance. Again. The last one ended in disaster.
Farren expects him to tolerate children laughing. No! Crowds of happy families? No!
He does not want a second chance at life. Or love.
Unless Farren agrees to fake date him to fake out his matchmaking sister…
Grady soon plays handyman, painter, and business advisor to Farren’s fledgling business, Singles Fest. The happy squeals of children in the pool doesn’t grate on his nerves as he expected. He sees parents making romantic connections that stir his heart.
But an old flame of Farren’s has arrived and Grady wakes up to another looming loss if Farren gives her first love a second chance. The rival has brought his adorable kids to the motel. A rival who’s clearly looking for a new wife…
I am definitely hoping people will read and review Fake Me...it's sweet, the language is gentle and the loving is behind closed doors.
International real estate broker Grady O’Hara, unkempt, miserable, and nursing his battered heart, is holed up in the Landseer Motel in Last Chance Beach.
A first-class grump, Grady’s appalled that enthusiastic sprite, Farren Parks wants him to open his motel to single parents looking for love. He suspects his sister has sent Farren to lure him into a romance. Again. The last one ended in disaster.
Farren expects him to tolerate children laughing. No! Crowds of happy families? No!
He does not want a second chance at life. Or love.
Unless Farren agrees to fake date him to fake out his matchmaking sister…
Grady soon plays handyman, painter, and business advisor to Farren’s fledgling business, Singles Fest. The happy squeals of children in the pool doesn’t grate on his nerves as he expected. He sees parents making romantic connections that stir his heart.
But an old flame of Farren’s has arrived and Grady wakes up to another looming loss if Farren gives her first love a second chance. The rival has brought his adorable kids to the motel. A rival who’s clearly looking for a new wife…
I am definitely hoping people will read and review Fake Me...it's sweet, the language is gentle and the loving is behind closed doors.
Fall into Love in September!
Fall into romance is our theme this month and boy—I started early. Back in the seventies I met and married my partner, my best friend and so far, so good. I think he’s a keeper, mostly because we enjoy the same shows. And he cooks. He also has a soft heart.
We had our anniversary last week and we celebrated with two of my favourite things: breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the ocean and later, dinner at a fabulous steakhouse. (Two meals out in one day blew my mind.)
On the writing front I started planning for this fall back in December 2020. I took a hard look at the upcoming year and realized I had four projects to write and publish through 2021.
Only one has been released so far. Which means the fall will be full of releases from me.
Expect to get tired of hearing about them. As I moved through the spring and summer, I began to sprint to get words down. The art of sprinting was a new idea for me. In a writer’s toolbox sprinting means setting a timer for a short period, say, fifteen or thirty minutes. During that time you write! Words. It doesn’t matter how few or how many, you simply focus on your book and put down words.
Many writers have daily wordcount goals and fret if they miss them. That no longer works for me. Now, I’m balancing too many other things in a day to push for a word goal. Sprinting works well for someone who’s working on two books at once. One is in the first draft stage, the other in edits. Taking a break between sprints on the different projects is best.
Right now I’m working on:
The Tinsel Tango: a revised, longer version of a novella that was in an anthology of Christmas stories last year. Available October 5!
Claiming Shandy Book 4 of Return to Welcome. People have waited far too long for this one, but I believe it’ll be worth the wait. Release date TBA
Fake Me A Last Chance Beach novel (August 15) People seem to like it, but I’d love more reviews if you’ve read it.
The Rumball Rumba A Dickens Holiday Romance will be out November 23!
Fake Me: Last Chance Beach Romance
We had our anniversary last week and we celebrated with two of my favourite things: breakfast at a restaurant overlooking the ocean and later, dinner at a fabulous steakhouse. (Two meals out in one day blew my mind.)
On the writing front I started planning for this fall back in December 2020. I took a hard look at the upcoming year and realized I had four projects to write and publish through 2021.
Only one has been released so far. Which means the fall will be full of releases from me.
Expect to get tired of hearing about them. As I moved through the spring and summer, I began to sprint to get words down. The art of sprinting was a new idea for me. In a writer’s toolbox sprinting means setting a timer for a short period, say, fifteen or thirty minutes. During that time you write! Words. It doesn’t matter how few or how many, you simply focus on your book and put down words.
Many writers have daily wordcount goals and fret if they miss them. That no longer works for me. Now, I’m balancing too many other things in a day to push for a word goal. Sprinting works well for someone who’s working on two books at once. One is in the first draft stage, the other in edits. Taking a break between sprints on the different projects is best.
Right now I’m working on:
The Tinsel Tango: a revised, longer version of a novella that was in an anthology of Christmas stories last year. Available October 5!
Claiming Shandy Book 4 of Return to Welcome. People have waited far too long for this one, but I believe it’ll be worth the wait. Release date TBA
Fake Me A Last Chance Beach novel (August 15) People seem to like it, but I’d love more reviews if you’ve read it.
The Rumball Rumba A Dickens Holiday Romance will be out November 23!
Fake Me: Last Chance Beach Romance
