Avril Tremayne's Blog

I’ve always got way too many story ideas in my head.

Which is why I often start working on three separate manuscripts, dividing my time between them until – inevitably – one starts clamouring so loudly for my undivided attention, I have no choice but to pack the other two stories away.

Those discarded stories are never jettisoned for long; they’re just waiting their turn – the end result of which is that the publication dates of my books don’t always match the order in which the manuscripts were actually begun (or sometimes, the order in which they were submitted). For example, the manuscript of what became my first published novel, Here Comes the Bridesmaid, was submitted after the manuscript for what became my second published novel, From Fling to Forever, and my third published novel, Turning the Good Girl Bad, had been started before either of those books. And at the same time as those three stories were making their way into the world, I had five more stories waiting for their moment in the sun (all of which subsequently appeared) and two series ideas that kept pestering me to give them a go.

Fast forward to 2016 – which is when out of the blue I had the opportunity to submit to Harlequin’s new DARE line.

I was partway through writing a single title romantic comedy, and since I was loving the hell out of that rom com, I had no intention of abandoning it for a bight, new, shiny story. But somehow one of those two series that was in my head unexpectedly decided to go the full clamour. It was a series about a group of university friends whose lives re-converge years after graduation when they’re all well-established in their careers and living in different cities. I think the clamour was because those stories seemed tailor-made for DARE and it was a case of synchronicity – and so, I gave birth prematurely to my three-book Reunions series.

My third and final Harlequin DARE Reunions novel, Getting Naughty, is out in the world, so it seems the right time to share a little about those books altogether in the one place, so here goes...

1. It's trope driven series. Unlike my usual practice of choosing a ‘meet cute’ to kick off a story, I wanted to play with tropes I’d never written before – Friends to Lovers, Second Chance at Love, and Bad Girl-Nice Guy. In that order, they go like this:

Getting Lucky

Romy has loved Matt for 10 years, but Matt’s always been determined to keep them firmly in the friend zone – no incursions allowed. He's not husband material, and she’s too important to him to risk the break-up that would follow a fling – and for cynical Matt there’s always a break-up after a fling. But when Romy needs a baby in a hurry, something twists tight inside him; he’s not going to let her turn to anyone else, even though he knows almost any man would make a better father, and he convinces himself he can be 'godfather' and keep her as his best friend too. Er...no.

Getting Even

Veronica and Rafael fell desperately in love at first sight as freshmen, but the combination of her wealth and his pride made for a tempestuous relationship all through college, which ended in a bitter break-up on graduation day. Seven years later, they meet again and know instantly that everything they’ve done to move on from their shared past has failed. But by God, they’re going to make one last ditch effort to get each other out of their systems…

Getting Naughty

Teague might hate having to play it safe with his life, but he has a good reason for doing so – and playing it safe has always meant keeping his distance from naughty Frankie Lee no matter how much he lusts after her. But while he may have managed to stay away from her ten years ago, when they meet again one hot summer in Sydney, he decides it’s time to take an overdue walk on the wild side.

2. Importantly for the readers out there, these books are all standalone stories. Interconnecting characters, but a guaranteed happily-ever-after per book and no bloody irritating cliff-hangers! I'd say the most closely linked are Getting Lucky and Getting Naughty, but you can choose to read one, two or all three, with no difficulties in following the individual storylines.

3. These are sexy-as-hell books! In fact, along with being the trope-driven, these stories are a departure for me in terms of that focus. They are more sex-reliant than my other books (with the exception of Now You're Mine) and I took the opportunity to try things in the sex scenes I'd never written before. Sorry – this is a spoiler free zone so you'll have to read them to find out what I'm talking about.

4. Boy oh boy, did these books kick my arse – to the point where I can confidently assert they are the hardest books I've ever got down on the page! Anyone who wants to tell me it’s easier to write a category romance than a single title novel can come and check out the state of my liver, because getting my characters from their messed-up past into their complicated present within a limited word count required copious quantities of alcohol.

Now Getting Naughty has launched, I feel like a parent who’s waved her third and youngest child off to college. I should be wondering what happens next in my empty nest life, but that, at least, is set for me because Sylvester and Phoebe – the hero and heroine of that romantic comedy I put on hold to write Getting Lucky, Getting Even and Getting Naughty, have given up clamouring for my attention and have gone straight for a chokehold! They’ve got me by the throat and are shaking me, the demanding bastards, insisting I dish up their own happily-ever-after.

Once Sylvester and Phoebe sail off into the proverbial sunset, I'm in the blissful position of knowing exactly what story is coming next.

That is, unless that other series that’s been patiently for my attention starts to kick up a ruckus.

And then there’s this germ of an idea for a spin-off series from my three DAREs involving Veronica’s sister Scarlett, Matt’s awkward geeky friend Artie, the other dancers at the gentleman’s club where Frankie works (not to mention her unseen boss)...

But no! No, no, no, Avril! They can wait their turn…

The past week has been a huge one for me.

It started on May 10 with the publication of book 1 in my sexy romantic comedy duet with HQ Digital - Kiss Don't Tell.

And then today (five short days later), I had a double whammy of wonderful things happen with the publication of book 2 in that duet - The Dating Game - and the announcement that one of my other novels, Escaping Mr Right, had been named one of the three Long Contemporary Romance finalists in the Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year (RuBY) Awards.

For someone whose first book came out in mid-2014, this was wonderful and unexpected news. I am so proud to be in company with some of the best romance writers in Australia. If you'd like to see the other finalists, you can find them here: http://blog.booktopia.com.au/2017/05/...

I've spent a lot of today rejoicing, but tomorrow, I'm getting straight back to my next manuscript, for the hot new Harlequin DARE line that launches in 2018. I hope you'll watch for that one!

I've wanted to be an author my whole life, but I meandered my way through careers in nursing, teaching and public relations before finally giving myself permission to relinquish regular pay packets and just go for it.

When I landed contracts for four books in quick succession shortly thereafter, I thought I was set for a trouble-free write-fest.

Er … not quite, as it turned out.

This is where I come to Exhibit A: my book, Kiss Don't Tell, which is being published on May 3.

If you’ve already checked out the listing for Kiss Don't Tell on Goodreads, you might have noticed that the blurb resembles that of another Avril Tremayne book, The Contract – and the truth is they are the same book, and yet also...not.

Explanation?

Well, The Contract was one of those first four contracted books I mentioned. But unfortunately, almost the minute it went on sale, the line it was in folded. When that scenario played out once more just as I finished writing book 2 in the series, I wondered if my luck had run out and I was doomed to pop both books in a bottom drawer for an eternity or two.

To cut a very long story very short, the answer was no! In fact, I got luckier than ever when HQ Digital not only decided to publish both the old book and the new, they also offered me the opportunity to turn The Contract into a deeper, more fabulous story. About 40,000 additional words and an ingrained layer of sparkly polish later, The Contract became Kiss Don't Tell - bigger and better than ever.

Now, disclosure # 1: Kiss Don't Tell and the second book in the series, The Dating Game, are standalone stories. Each has its own hero and heroine, and although they have linked characters and share a good portion of a timeline, there isn't a cliffhanger ending in sight and nor do you need to read both to understand or enjoy just one.

Disclosure # 2: If you've read and enjoyed The Contract, you can move onto The Dating Game secure in the knowledge that the best bits of The Contract remain in Kiss Don't Tell.

And disclosure # 3: It is nevertheless a hell of a lot of fun to read the new Kiss Don't Tell and then The Dating Game as a 1-2 proposition.



Happy reading, whichever way you go!

I'm not a huge fan of prologues or epilogues, which is why none of my books so far has either of them. I have, however, made one sort-of concession, in the form of a free bonus chapter/prequel, to my book Wanting Mr Wrong.

The impetus for doing this was a few sentences about the relationship between Evie and Jack in one of the first reviews of the book. The reviewer wrote: She is understandably gun shy but is Jack ever persistent! I would love to hear his perspective of what kept him determined to love such a prickly woman.

That review stayed and stayed with me, until I finally decided to explore what was in Jack's head the first time he met Evie, three months before the start of Wanting Mr Wrong - a meeting that's alluded to in Chapter 1 of the main book.

If you're interested in reading it, the story is called When Jack Met Evie, and it's yours free-of-charge in a book of short stories called The Day We Met!

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway for The Millionaire's Proposition.

The winners' books should be with them any day.

Happy reading.

Avril

Thanks to all who entered my giveaway for Turning The Good Girl Bad.

The winners' books are all in the post from Australia.

Happy reading!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for my Harlequin Medical Romance, From Fling To Forever.

The books are in the mail and hopefully will be with all the winners soon.