Interview with Lillian Grant

Lillian welcome to Books-n-Kisses.  Can you please share with us a little about yourself

I am originally from the UK but I now call Australia home.  When I am not at the day job or writing I enjoy reading, drinking red wine and when I can afford it traveling. If I could afford it I would move to house overlooking the beach and spend my days tapping away on my laptop to the sound of lapping waves.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Until about 6 years ago I didn’t even know I could write. I began messing about online with a friend and she convinced me to take it more seriously. I wrote my first book and sought a publisher. Three books later I was offered my first publishing contract.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

Because I have a day job I have to write whenever I get a window of opportunity.  If my husband leaves for work early I grab some time in my study before heading into the office. If I don’t have any lunchtime meetings I drive to a nearby carpark and spend an hour tapping away and if I am not too tired I write for an hour at night. Some weekends, when not busy renovating, I get a few hours during the day.  The only thing I need to write is my netbook and some music.

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

The most challenging is taking what is a brilliant idea and accepting that no matter how good it looks in your imagination it never quite works the same on paper. The most rewarding is when a reader emails and tells you they love something you have written.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

My latest book is called Go With The Flo.  Nineties girl Florence Spring joined Avon to find her Edward Scissorhands but instead needs to rescue his porno alter ego.

When Florence notices her eccentric ex-boyfriend, Eddie, isn’t putting on his usual show in the front window on Friday night she decides to investigate.  She asks her best friend, Nelson Tyler, to help but he seems more interested in seducing Florence than in finding her personal flasher. Florence has no idea when she embarks on the adventure she will accidentally shoot an undercover policeman, or that her actions will lead to Nelson’s kidnapping.  Now with two men missing she has no choice but to continue and thwart the plans of a psychotic soon to be divorcee.  She needs to rescue Nelson because life without him is unbearable, especially since she’s discovered his long sensitive fingers are far more erotic than scissorhands.

How did you come with the idea for this story?

I love the movie Edward Scissorhands and I used to sell Avon in my youth. I got to thinking what if you went looking for your own Edward only to discover you had him all along. The idea of her going on the hunt for a missing flasher was just a moment of madness sparked by my wild and uncontrolled imagination.

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

I am currently working on a book called Hot Male. It is book three in my Reigning Men Series. This book follows the life of Irish Stripper Michael Monaghan from the time he meets heroine Maggie Riley when he is 18 until she finally gives in to his obvious charms some 11 years later. Unfortunately she comes with a live in boyfriend, a frigid mother and a nymphomaniac octogenarian great aunt. Needless to say it’s a comedy. The book starts with the hero stripping to Parisian Walkways by Gary Moore and my critique partner says she will never hate that song ever again.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

My favourite authors include Janet Evanovich, JR Ward and JD Robb. They all have things about their writing that I love. Janet Evanovich makes me laugh out loud. JR Ward writes amazing vampires and I love JD Robb’s hero and heroine.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style? 

I think every book leaves a mark and influences you. I can’t say that any one author has inspired my writing style. I do think that they have all made me realize there is no one way to write and every author has their own voice and all attract readers who love your style.

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

I am hanging out for the next Black Dagger Brotherhood book by JR Ward, Olivia Cunnings next Sinners book and Jaci Burtons’s new Play by Play novel. I still have at least half a dozen JD Robb books to read as well. I just wish there were more hours in the day.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Only to thank you for interviewing me. You have been very gracious.

www.lilliangrant.com | http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lillian-Grant/187161274732755 | https://twitter.com/lilliangrantaus

Nineties girl Florence Spring joined Avon to find her Edward Scissorhands but instead needs to rescue his porno alter ego.

When Florence notices her eccentric ex-boyfriend, Eddie, isn’t putting on his usual show in the front window on Friday night she decides to investigate.  She asks her best friend, Nelson Tyler, to help but he seems more interested in seducing Florence than in finding her personal flasher. Florence has no idea when she embarks on the adventure she will accidentally shoot an undercover policeman, or that her actions will lead to Nelson’s kidnapping.  Now with two men missing she has no choice but to continue and thwart the plans of a psychotic soon to be divorcee.  She needs to rescue Nelson because life without him is unbearable, especially since she’s discovered his long sensitive fingers are far more erotic than scissorhands.

Buy Links: Amazon / All Romance Ebooks / Liquid Silver Books

Excerpt:

Florence Spring trudged down another empty street. A bag full of lipstick, foundation, eye shadow, and all manner of items designed to make a girl of the nineties a sight to behold, swung from her shoulder. The tote banged against her hip, aggravating an already aching bruise. Even though drizzle soaked her face, she resisted the urge to wipe it off. She knew it was her duty to represent the products she sold to the best of her ability. The handbook for sales 101 read, better to appear damp, than smudged.

This wasn’t how she’d envisioned life as an Avon representative. Where was her dark castle? Her mysterious hero? When would she find a beautiful man with a penchant for leather and rubber? She joined up to find her Edward Scissorhands. The closest she’d come was his porno alter ego, Edward Penishands.

If Eddie Cain wiggled his dick in his front room window one more time as she walked past, she would take the gold-handled nail scissors, on special this week for two dollars with any order over twenty dollars, and snip the little worm off. Bad enough she’d gone out with him once—once, and only once. The relationship had been doomed from the start. After his mother died, Eddie became most odd. Their one date had confirmed her belief that he was strange.

Snuggled together upstairs at the back of the number forty-six bus, he had whispered that he would like to handcuff her to his bed and whip her with a riding crop. She hadn’t even had a chance to answer before he let out a low moan and spontaneously ejaculated, leaving a noticeable stain on the front of his gray gabardine pants. She’d graciously lent him her jacket to carry in front of him as they climbed from the bus and entered the movie theatre. When he unzipped his fly and pulled the worm free at the first on-screen kiss, she excused herself and fled. She never did ask for her jacket back. It was her favorite too, genuine faux leather and fur. Never mind. She doubted even the dry cleaners would have been able to get the spunk stain out.

Cautiously, she approached number ninety-two Stoffer Street. The curtains hung open, however the front window stood bare. Eddie appeared to be out. She checked her watch. Bang on time. Eight p.m. as usual. She passed by every Friday night. He lived on the most direct route from her allotted sales patch to Nelson’s house. Eddie always waited for her. This time of the year he was usually silhouetted by the living room light. He’d never missed an opportunity to wiggle his wanger at her before. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed the little bugger; the wanger, not Eddie. She needed a good laugh after the dismal sales she usually mustered and Eddie always managed to add some element of humor to the whole sordid show. If only he learned to do the comedy act without the nudity he could take his show on the road. Of course, he could take it on the road with the striptease if he wanted to appeal to a whole other audience.

Truth be told, seeing him semi-naked once a week was, she suspected, the closest either of them had come to dating lately. If only she could find her prince charming, all dark, mysterious and quiet. She had a thing for silent movies. Everyone knew men of few words were sexy. You could imagine all sorts going on in their heads. Plans to show you the world, slay dragons, and win your heart. No one wanted to deal with the truth of them wondering if your boobs were real or if you had tissues stuffed in your bra, or calculating how long it would take them to wrestle you out of your underwear.

With a shrug, Florence tugged her jacket collar up in a feeble attempt to protect herself from the steady precipitation. She hated winter. Every year her mother reminisced about her childhood in England, telling Florence about the huge family Christmases they had which broke up the long cold months. Nothing happened in winter in New South Wales. Florence only had her mother’s secondhand memories of chocolate box celebrations. Although, Grandma Wilson did her best to break up the monotony of endless gray days with her Christmas in June party. Florence recalled the last outrageous family event only six weeks ago. What had that been beneath the mistletoe with Nelson? She shivered, even though she wasn’t cold. She needed to push that memory right out of her head before she reached her destination.

With a dismissive toss of her head, just in case he was watching, she left Eddie to his own sordid devices and continued on her way—her ego a little deflated. Even the local flasher had lost interest.

She turned the corner and a feeling of contentment swept over her. Her best friend Nelson’s home was her bolt-hole from reality, away from her parents and the madness at her house. The small, rundown, two-bed town house might look in need of TLC to some. To her it stood out as an oasis in a horrible sales jungle. A lamp lit vision shrouded in mist. The tiny house was a cottage by the sea, a cozy little shack in the woods, anything her imagination fancied.

Not bothering to knock, she turned the handle and stepped inside. A blast of motor oil and male musky-scented air greeted her, along with Nelson’s cat, Killer. She lifted the undersized ginger fur ball to her face and rubbed him against her cheek, giggling at his loud purr. He waited for her every week, as did Nelson. She always popped in to warm up before he escorted her home.

A shout came from the kitchen. “That you, Squirt?”

She put the cat down and dropped her heavy bag on the side table. After tugging off her sodden woolen gloves and damp jacket, she tossed them on the banister to dry.

“Yeah, it’s only me.”

She secured the front door so Killer couldn’t escape, and sauntered the length of the threadbare carpeted hallway, glancing at the shiny new bolt and padlock on the basement door. She stopped on the threshold of the kitchen and stared at the vision before her.

Nelson glanced up from where he was kneeling on the floor. His eyes were hidden by his tousled dark hair. A huge grin spread across his face. “Hot chocolate’s by the stove.”

She stared at the red and polished chrome monster currently taking up half the floor space. “What are you doing?”