I'll preface this by saying Lucy Lit is in an author group I am a member of. We're friends on Facebook and she's a quiet member of the group (I on the other hand am....eh, not so quiet).
I grabbed 42 Rue de Jardin: Sultry Savannah Series Book 1 from Amazon and cannot WAIT to read it!
It is with great pride that I introduce you to fellow author, Lucy Lit! #YouGoGirl!
42 Rue de Jardin: Sultry Savannah Series Book 1
Book Description
The streets of Savannah have stories to tell…One determined Alpha male. A woman whose faith in love is shattered. Tantric sex. Could be a disaster or maybe a path to healing.What happens when your romance novel fantasies collide with your reality? Forty-something Cullan Davis almost has it all. Loving family, friends, successful business, community activist – and no sex life.
A chronic, disfiguring skin disease and past abuse left physical and emotional scars that prevent her from believing in relationship possibilities. Resigned to being alone, she compensates by living vicariously through the heroines in her beloved romance novels. When her real-life lust from afar notices her, panic sets in. She cannot possibly get involved. Her scars are too deep. No man wants a self-proclaimed freak, do they?
Royce Jacobson is a wealthy philanthropist, single parent of a twenty-year-old daughter and womanizing player. Practicing his own version of tantric sex, he subscribes to the love ’em and leave ’em satisfied mentality. He wants to add Cullan to his conquest list but discovers vulnerability in her, touching a part of him he didn’t know existed. She’s an enigma. And Royce excels at solving puzzles. He’s convinced tantra can break through her reserves… if only she would cooperate.
Flawed self-perception, meet ancient sexual practices. Boom.
*A complete novel with no cliffhanger. Link to the music playlist on my website and listen while you read!
*Contains explicit scenes and language.
A chronic, disfiguring skin disease and past abuse left physical and emotional scars that prevent her from believing in relationship possibilities. Resigned to being alone, she compensates by living vicariously through the heroines in her beloved romance novels. When her real-life lust from afar notices her, panic sets in. She cannot possibly get involved. Her scars are too deep. No man wants a self-proclaimed freak, do they?
Royce Jacobson is a wealthy philanthropist, single parent of a twenty-year-old daughter and womanizing player. Practicing his own version of tantric sex, he subscribes to the love ’em and leave ’em satisfied mentality. He wants to add Cullan to his conquest list but discovers vulnerability in her, touching a part of him he didn’t know existed. She’s an enigma. And Royce excels at solving puzzles. He’s convinced tantra can break through her reserves… if only she would cooperate.
Flawed self-perception, meet ancient sexual practices. Boom.
*A complete novel with no cliffhanger. Link to the music playlist on my website and listen while you read!
*Contains explicit scenes and language.
LUCY LIT’S WORK IN PROGRESS
How did you come up with the idea for your new WIP?
The concept came when I was revising my first book, 42 Rue de Jardin. My husband (Garage Guy) and I were driving to the beach for our annual vacation and a secondary character from Rue (Stoney Carrington) started jabbering at me, telling me his story and how it intersected with the protagonist, McKenna Beaumont. I stopped talking to Garage Guy, pulled out my notepad and began scribbling. Two hours later, I had the outline when Stoney paused for air.
What excites you most about this project?
I love seeing a strong female learning her strength is not diminished by allowing others to share her life. Plus learning more about tantra has been exciting. You can interpret that how you wish.
What is your least favorite part in beginning this new book?
Insecurity and fear I won’t do justice to the characters who have entrusted me with their story.
What character do you think you connect with most?
I connect with McKenna as a ‘take charge, doesn’t need anyone else’ type because she can handle things on her own. Except she’s wrong. People are not meant to live in a vacuum and accepting help doesn’t make you weak. Connecting with others is vital to who we are as a species. I struggle with that on a daily basis – just like McKenna.
Have you found any plot twists that you were not expecting so far? Is the story basically the same now as it was when you first started writing it?
Both of these questions can be answered at the same time. When I started, I knew who the “bad guy” was but as he told his story, my feelings changed. Consequently, I had to dig deeper and find out the reality behind my initial misconceptions. It was quite a shock to me. So the story changed at that point. Also, McKenna has arachnophobia (fear of spiders) and after the first draft was finished, I realized she needed to confront her phobia where it originated. The final third of the story was scrapped and rewritten. Both McKenna and I are much happier with the result.
What has been the hardest part to write so far, don’t give us spoilers but let us know what you have struggled with.
The scenes dealing with the meaning of family as seen through the eyes of McKenna’s daughter Elly. They tug at my heart and still make me cry. I hate crying over a story. Goes back to my take charge, don’t need anyone personality. Yeah, it’s a serious flaw of mine. Even though I’m a grandmother, I’m still a work in progress.
Do you have any muses that you are using to help the reader picture the characters?
Readers can check out my Pinterest boards for my books. An interesting backstory regarding McKenna – she’s based on an Irish YouTube vlogger I’ve followed for years. One day as I was starting to flesh out the story, I saw a picture the vlogger posted and I was smacked between the eyes. It was my mental vision of McKenna! While authors use celebrity pictures for inspiration all the time, this woman is not in the public eye (except for YouTube). I contacted her and asked if I could use her likeness on my Belle Chene Pinterest board. To my surprise and delight, she agreed.
– Belle Chene is the second book in the Sultry Savannah Series. So far, eight books are in the series pipeline. The next one is already outlined.
– A new quasi-paranormal/romance series inspired by the 1970s TV show Fantasy Island.
– Three standalone novellas are also loosely outlined.
Whew! Not bad for a newbie, huh?
I’ll be revealing the cover for Belle Chene in the next month.
Lucy’s current release – 42 Rue de Jardin, A Sultry Savannah Novel
VIEWS FROM THE BETA READERS
A mutual friend of ours, Dorothy Shaw (author) asked me a year ago if I would be willing to work with a new author. She assured me that Lucy was hard-working and wanted to publish her first book. I jumped at the chance because I was intrigued just from hearing about Lucy from our friend.
When Lucy sent me her WIP the first time, I swear I took two weeks going over it. That is unusual for me. The problem was………….she was such a polished, clean and intelligent writer, we had to make some movement in the information but it was too tight to figure out where to put the stuff. Cullan had a medical issue that I had never heard of but since working with Lucy have come to understand it more. We had to keep the information to inform the readers, BUT we also had to not make her a walking medical label.
Royce, geez she had me falling all over him from the first scene, but she stood firm that he was not going to be one of those “Christian G” men, he was going to be real. She also used her knowledge of Tantra with him which was another thing I learned more about while working with Lucy. She is my one author who will send me a list of questions after I read for her and we go through my answers. I love that, it is a highlight to my job because we “gossip about the characters” and I usually find out she fooled me again with the plot.
So I have been thinking how I explain Lucy to you readers. I would say she is courageous to strike out and write her first novel at this stage in life. To throw away her fears and insecurities and put her work out there inspires me. She is brilliant with her plots, you don’t get just a romance, you have a very intelligent, detailed mystery in every story. Her WIP we are working on now stumped me as to the conclusion. She gives you real issues that you may never have heard of before and she weaves the knowledge she wants to share into the story, making the reader learn about the topics without really knowing it. The number one thing I am amazed at is she is telling the world that intimacy and desire does NOT die after the age of forty and if it has then you need to reclaim it. Her characters are all middle-aged, dealing with the real issues a middle-aged person deals with BUT they have passion and fire still inside of them. Sexy never dies, people just kill it sometimes because they forget the real woman and man inside of them, behind the labels of work, parenthood and spouse. Lucy wants to bring the sexy back and I am not talking just sex. She wants her readers to feel confident, loved, powerful, desirable and most of all informed that life doesn’t stop because something happens to you. If you are still breathing you are still living…….now get to it and make it the best life you can.
Biography
Find Lucy Lit
Website – www.LucyLit.com
Facebook – www.Facebook.com/LucyLitAuthor
Twitter – www.Twitter.com/LucyLit88
Amazon Author Page – http://www.amazon.com/Lucy-Lit/e/B00ITGIQG2/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Pinterest – http://www.pinterest.com/lucylit/
Thanks, Jennifer! :D
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