Interview & Giveaway with Inez Kelley

Inez Kelley has been writing for both Carina Press and Samhain since 2009, and her contemporary romance books are amongst some of MinnChica’s favorites. (Really, if you haven’t read Sweet as Sin yet, you NEED to!) She has dabbled in both fantasy and contemporary romance, both sexy and sweet.  Just this past week she has released her 5th Carina Press title, Turn It Up (review can be found here).

 

Inez, Welcome to The Book Pushers!

 

The Book Pushers: Tell us a little bit about Turn It Up.

Inez:  It’s a lighter look at sex and a deeper look at forever and infertility. I had a great time writing this, probably the most fun time I’ve ever had writing anything.

Oh, I guess I better share the official blurb huh?

Dr. Bastian Talbot and self-proclaimed sex goddess Charlie Pierce heat up the air waves with their flirty banter as radio hosts Dr. Hot and the Honeypot. Off the air, they’re best friends…but Bastian wants to be so much more. He wants Charlie—in bed, and forever.

Problem is, Charlie doesn’t do commitment. Sure, she’s had X-rated fantasies of Bastian, but he was always just a friend—until he impulsively proposes and unleashes the lust they’ve been denying for years. Charlie’s willing to explore where their wild chemistry leads, but she won’t marry him. And he won’t have sex with her until she accepts his proposal, despite her seductive schemes.

What are Dr. Hot and the Honeypot to do? Ask their listeners for advice on how to tame a sex kitten and turn a perfect gentleman into a shameless lover. The Race to Wed or Bed is on…who will turn up on top?

 

 

The Book Pushers: Where did the idea for this story come from?

Inez:  Well, that’s a story in itself. Basically, I looked at what I had been reading at the time and the women were mostly the good girls. There were some bad girls but not any who I really felt a connection with. So I created Charlie. It grew from there. I got 2/3 through the book and then it sat, unfinished and incomplete on my computer. I didn’t know how it ended. After writing SWEET AS SIN (which I loved but was draining since it is so dark and emotional) I needed a palate cleanser, something to refresh my creative well. I pulled this out and the ending was in my head immediately.

 

The Book Pushers: What do you love most about writing romance?

Inez:  The HEA (or HFN although in my head it always will be HEA)

 

The Book Pushers: Which of your characters was the easiest to write? The most difficult?

Inez: Easiest?  Charlie, hands down. I never ever had any issues getting into her POV. I adore her. The hardest, John Murphy, no question… although my fantasy hero Bryton from SALOME AT SUNRISE gave him a run for his money.

 

The Book Pushers: Do you think you will ever write in any other genre?

Inez: Probably. I don’t like boxes. I read across genres and I can’t help what my brain creates.

 

The Book Pushers: What aspects or attributes make your ideal romantic hero and heroine?

Inez: Every single one of my heroes and heroines have a personal idea of right and wrong, they are faithful and their love is absolute.

 

The Book Pushers: What upcoming books do you have in the works?

Inez: Oh lord, let’s see… I have a new lighthearted contemporary in submission right now. I’m in the beginning part of a three book novella series I hope to have completed by the end of the year. I have major revisions to do on the third book in my fantasy series. Plus, there are a few surprises up my sleeve.

As an added bonus, I wrote a free short story featuring Caz, Bastian’s brother from TURN IT UP, that will go live on my website on August 1st.

 

The Book Pushers: What is your favorite genre to read? Favorite book of all time?

Inez: I can’t answer that. I read so many and love a lot.

 

The Book Pushers: Do you have a favorite sub-genre of romance to write in? Do you prefer contemporary to fantasy? Why?

Inez:  Damn, hard question. I can’t pick. I like both and actually like to combine them (I did it a little in SWEET AS SIN).

 

The Book Pushers: And last but not least, a fun one!!  If you’re heroines all met for coffee one day, what would they talk about? And if you’re heroes sat down for a beer, what about them?

Inez:  Oh Chickie… I wrote this once. Let me dig it out, brush it off and share it, okay?

 

While Inez does that, be sure to leave her a question or comment to be entered for a chance to win an ecopy of Turn It Up. The contest is open internationally and will end on August 15th. Good Luck!

 

COFFEE WITH CHARACTERS (oh look, there are one or two who you haven’t met yet, geeee how about that?)

 

The picnic table is long and filled with the remnants of a long and lazy lunch. Livvy brings out a tray overflowing with sugary sweets, fresh from her bakery. Rich yeasty goodness fills the air and everyone inhales deeply.

“Oh, my butt doesn’t need any of those,” Vivi says, snatching a gooey cinnamon bun from the tray.

“Sweetheart, you don’t hear us complaining, do you?” Cade and Grant share a secret look.

“You hush.” Vivi shoos them away and asks about recipes. Carly whips out a steno pad to record every word, terrified she will miss a quarter teaspoon of something. The pen slips and jams into her thumb, leaving a big blue streak surrounded by red. “Ouch!”

Bastian comes over, examines it. He wipes the ink away. “It’s nothing. You’ll live.”

“You making house calls now, Doc?” Charlie teases.

He sends her a heated look. “Why, you have something you need me to look at?”

“Only if you kiss and make it better.”

“Brat.” He goes back to his discussion with Nora about bio-chemical reactors. They are basically speaking their own language and Jesse walks away with a grimace. Who in their right mind would sit around and discuss things like sweat glands? He palms his camera and fades into the background while capturing the moments forever in snapshots.

Charlie looks on with a bored eye, sips her coffee then sneaks the éclair off Bastian’s plate. He won’t care. Jinx attempts to pour salt in Cade’s coffee cup when he’s not looking but Frannie puts the kibosh on that with one firm look. She barrels over to plop baby Lauren in his lap and tells him to behave. He arches his left eyebrow. He says she’s no fun but ends up blowing raspberries on Lauren’s tummy.

Myla cants her head to the left before approaching Bryton. He has a new dagger and the hilt fascinates her. King Taric just shakes his head with an indulgent smile. His Queen is more warrior than royal and he’d never change her. A detailed discussion on weaponry draws the red-headed warrior’s brows low. Myla irritates him because she knows her steel as well as he does yet she barely reaches his sternum. She’s also kicked his ass a few times. Those things are not discussed in public, however.

Cade, Grant and John discuss a new patio the Murphy’s want to install. The blueprint is spread between the mustard and the potato salad. They slip into a full male bitch session about eco-regulations and OSHA rules. Bryton’s dagger thunks into the center of the table and they all jump back.

“’Scuse me,” the Captain mutters, reclaiming his knife. The last piece of coffee cake is skewered on the blade. He walks away, nibbling the sweet.

“Asshole.” John scowls.

Bryton is one huge muthafucker he wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. But a longer looks stirs his muse and he borrows Carly’s note pad. Something about the way Bryton moves blends with Carly’s cartoon doodles on the page take form in his mind. A new tale comes alive in his head.

Livvy grins at the tiger he’s drawn while automatically refilling his coffee cup. “Bram called. He sends their love but they can’t make it. He’s stuck in Texas on a job.”

“A pity but duty must done.” Salome removes a squirming Lauren from her father’s lap and puts her on the blanket with the other children.

The babies drool and coo and Salome delights in each tiny giggle. Her rounding belly makes getting down a lot easier than getting up so she stays on the blanket surrounded by diapers, happy as a meadowlark, while Jesse snaps picture after picture, capturing the best shot before the sun goes down.

Jarod watches the children with a soft gleam in his eye, images things to come and sends a searing look across the deck. Nora and Bastian have moved onto to discussing hormones versus pheromones. How any two people can reduce sex to a bunch of molecules amazes him. Sex talk should be sensual and erotic, not ph levels and temperatures.

“There’s one slice left.” Livvy’s voice breaks into his thoughts. He nods and holds out his plate for a second helping of ‘Triple Cheesecake Climax’.

The dessert name sparks Charlie’s interest. She starts outlining a show topic, sweet and sexy food play, and grills Livvy like a burger about the top rack of delights in her shop. Something she says about frosting penetrates John’s writing haze. He winks at Livvy and she blushes to the roots of her ginger hair.

Charlie’s laugh rings across the deck and Bastian looks up, plucked from medical jargon in time to see her smile. His tender look may have lingered if Carly hadn’t tripped over a duck-shaped rattle. She went sprawling, knocking the table leg and upsetting the coffee carafe. Dark steaming liquid darkened the blue print and note pad. John curses as his story faded to smudged blue and brown.

The loud masculine voice startles a sleeping baby and the cry sets off a domino effect. Four weeping children of various ages are shushed and soothed while Vivi efficiently cleans up the mess.

Cade leans to whisper in Grant’s ear. Grant drains his coffee cup then nods. “Babe, it’s time to go. We’ve got a drive in front of us.”

Vivi sighs but dries her hands on a paper towel. “There’s never enough time.”

“Pictures first.” Jesse calls setting up the timer. “Who knows the next time she’s going to have us all on the same page.”

The group draws together. The children on the blanket are the focal points and Salome never rises, her sparkling gray eyes always watching the babies. Irritation crosses Bryton’s face until she looks back to him. Then and only then does he grin a small bit.

John grumbles but stands with his chin propped on Livvy’s crown, arms around her waist. Taric pulls Myla beside him. She can speak to the blacksmith about the hilt design when she gets home. For now, she is to just look straight ahead and smile.

Charlie peeks around Bastian’s shoulder, her hands buried in his pants pockets. His whispered warning ignites a glimmer in her eyes and she shifts her thumbs. A blush darkens his cheeks. “Behave.”

“Spoilsport,” she giggles.

Jarod tugs Nora to his side, his dark hair brushing her cheek as he whispers. Her eyes dart to the babies and she gives him a smiling shrug. Who knows what the future will hold for the naughty professor and his lady biologist?

Jinx holds two fingers up behind Frannie’s head until she elbows him in the gut. His soft oomph! makes Grant snicker and Vivi turns in Cade’s arms to throw him a questioning look. Grant just takes her hand with a gentle squeeze. With both her men close by, Vivi’s in heaven.

Carly waits until Jesse sits in the deck chair before crawling in his lap, careful to put her weight on his right knee and not his bad left leg. She knocks him in the chin with her elbow but he is used to it by now and just sighs.

“Ready? One. Two. Smile!”

*snap* 

The timer on the camera clicks and everyone packs up, kisses and hugs are handed out and waves are sent. They were all born in the same place, a writer’s mind. All have taken different paths but still, visiting with old friends is always bittersweet.

John and Livvy – SWEET AS SIN

Taric and Myla – MYLA BY MOONLIGHT

Bryton and Salome – SALOME AT SUNRISE

Jinx and Frannie – JINXED

Cade, Grant and Vivi – COMING CLEAN

Jarod and Nora – TALK DIRTY TO ME

Bastian and Charlie – TURN IT UP

Bram – LIPSTICK ON HIS COLLAR

Jesse and Carly – in submission

23 thoughts on “Interview & Giveaway with Inez Kelley”

  1. love the interview…and can not wait to read this book…I read Jinxed and i have to say i laughed soooo hard during his trip to the store for Frannie…the whole book had me laughing & crying

    thanks for the give-a-way

  2. This is a great interview! I have a couple questions for Inez.

    You mentioned that you’re an avid reader, which is to be expected. If you absolutely had to choose between reading and writing for the rest of your life (you could only do one or the other, aside from proofing your own work), which one would it be? Nightmarish, I know!

    Also, if you could have dinner with any author alive or dead, who would it be, and what questions would you ask them?

  3. Lauren, So glad you liked SWEET AS SIN. It was a powerful book to write.

    Camille, Thank you! I love MYLA BY MOONLIGHT. Have you read Bryton’s story, SALOME AT SUNRISE? I think that may be my favorite of all my books.

    Chele, JINXED was my debut and if you liked it, i think you will like TURN IT UP.

    Rosie…OMG, I don’t know if I could answer that. Reading, I guess, because I can’t imagine life without books. I told myself stories long before I actually wrote them down so I’d never stop creating but they would only be in my head. As for dinner, I’d love to sit down with Josephus.

  4. What a fun interview! I especially loved the ‘coffee with characters’. Which leads me to my question. Are your books stand alone reads or will I miss too much of the development of the relationships if I do? You are a new to me author, but definitely on my radar now!

    Thanks for the chance to win Turn it Up!!

  5. TURN IT UP sounds like a great book. I love that you have switched it up so that the man is looking for the commitment and the woman only wanting sex. Usually, it is the other way around in stories. Congrats on the new release!

  6. Great interview! Your a new to me author and you books sound so good! There all on my wishlist! Thank you so much for sharing and for the chance to win! Who are some of your favorite authors?
    shadow_kohler(at)att(dot)net

  7. I must be extremely stupid. I haven’t read any of your books. Why haven’t I? They all sound so good! I have to prove I am NOT a complete idiot. I will get some of them and I will read them and I will I love them!
    If it matters, I subscribe and follow this site.
    mom1249(at)att(dot)net

  8. Karen, all of my books are stand alone with one exception. MYLA BY MOONLIGHT should be read before SALOME AT SUNRISE just to avoid spoilers but both are independent books.

    Shadow, I admit to smoking the BDB crack from JR Ward. I also adore Faye Kellerman’s Decker-Lazarus detective series, Almost anything by Jodie Picoult and too many romance authors to name.

    Yadira, right now I have Louisa Edwards TOO HOT TO TOUCH on my Nook and Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound in paperback.

  9. Every single one of my heroes and heroines have a personal idea of right and wrong, they are faithful and their love is absolute.

    Sounds like you’re writing my kind of characters. 😉 I’ve heard really good things about Turn It Up and am interested in giving it a whirl.

    catherine.n.morgan(at)gmail(dot)com

  10. Inez is a new to me author, but I’ve read a couple of great reviews for turn It Up in the last week or two so I intend to check her books out for myself.

    Is there an actress or famous person she thinks of when she pictures Charlie?

    acm05atjuno.com

  11. I loved Jinxed! I have Sweet as Sin waiting for me on my kindle and I’d love to win Turn it Up. Thanks for the opportunity!

    jcross719 at yahoo dot com

  12. Great interview! And this sounds like a fun, sexy read 🙂 Thanks for the giveaway!

    smaccall AT comcast.net

  13. *gasp* I want this!!! Thank you forth opportunity, Inez! All my blogger friends have insisted I read you but I’ve just not made it yet! Would love this one. PS: I enjoy your tweets 🙂

  14. Thanks for an awesome interview! I’ve been reading such wonderful things about your books around the ‘blogverse and I’ve added this book to my wish list 🙂 Definitely want!

    Thanks again!

    efender1@gmail.com
    GFC ~ erin

  15. I have loved everything Inez has written, even books in genres I hadn’t yet explored. She (on twitter and her blog) has recommended books by other authors that I have enjoyed as well. Her characters are not perfect, which makes them real and likable.

    I am looking forward to reading “Turn It Up”!

    wuzcamp@gmail.com

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