Take it away, Kate!
Thank you Crystal for inviting me to your delightful blog today. I’m excited about my upcoming release of Lawyer Up from Sourcebooks and happy to talk about my love of romance fiction. As an author, I get asked a lot which are my favorite romances and why. And I find this so difficult for me to answer. I love all romance, and often whatever I’m reading at the moment is my favorite…as least until I’ve finished the book and then a sort of post-read let down sets in. Sometimes my fav is whatever I’m in the mood for at the moment. I keep them all and my shelves are overflowing, so I must give a few nods to some that aren’t currently in my top three: Gone with the Wind (Mitchell), Whitney, My Love (McNaught), and Warrior Woman (Lindsey)—the first romance I ever read and what turned me into a life-long fan.
There’s a surefire way to know if what I’m reading is going to be a favorite. I Cannot Put It Down! Literally, I’ll read straight through the night. I’m a book addict and am finally admitting it to the world. My husband has to take a riveting book out of my hands or I just can’t stop. He’s even resorted to hiding them, because I’ll sneak out of bed and take it off his nightstand and then just stand there under the guise of just one more page—it’s never just one more page! Here’s a deep dark secret: I once called in sick to work because I’d stayed up all night reading and was too tired to go in. These three have each kept me up: Georgette Heyer’s These Old Shades, Lorraine Heath’s Once More, My Darling Rogue, and Joan Overfield’s Time’s Tapestry. The last one is a fav because I love certain tropes—the American transported to Europe and time travel. I like the conflict of a heroine trying to fit-in and the hero having to learn to accept her oddities and the sparks those clashes create. I love this so much I’ve written plots for two “cross the Atlantic” heroines in my next series, Club Exotica, which is set in London.
How do these books influence my writing… Well here’s the rub…as one can guess from the titles, I love reading historic romance but only write contemporary. I thought that was odd at first, but I’ve since heard it is actually fairly common. However, that doesn’t mean historic novels haven’t influenced me, especially the eroticism. In everything I read, I’m drawn to the sexual tension the author sets up—which can be even more impressive in chaste older novels where not much sexual happens. Take These Old Shades written in 1926—the hero and heroine don’t have sex, but the sexual tension is red hot, achieved through looks or kisses on the hand. That amorphous, tantalizing pull I feel in my gut is something expert writers achieve even when couples don’t do much more than hold hands. Once More, My Darling Rogue is another example of building expert tension. I actually wrote a Goodreads review before finishing it: “Oh my god! After just 16 pages I could feel the flip flop in my belly that indicates powerful sexual tension between the hero and heroine (actually the sensation is a bit lower). I'm on a plane at 30,000 feet heading home from RT15…” I didn’t post until I’d read the entire book, and I can say Heath managed to keep the tension throughout.
With my Meeting Men erotic romance anthology series, I've an easier time of it because the sex is overt and an integral part of the stories, but where I’ve had to work the hardest is in the romance side. While the characters’ mutual respect and caring is always firmly planted in my mind, I sometimes fail to flesh that out in the early drafts—whereas the eroticism comes on full blast from the get go. I owe a special thank you to my editor Mary Altman for her expert help in spotting these romance holes. I also owe genuine gratitude to all the amazing authors whose ability to create sexual tension between characters on a page has inspired me to strive toward perfecting that skill in my own writing!
Thank you again, Crystal, for having me today, and Happy Reading!
Lawyer Up
By Kate Allure
Meeting Men #2
August 4, 2015
Erotic Romance
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All rise…
Three sizzling-hot, deliciously taboo erotic romances to stoke your mood.
Wrongly accused in Attorney-Client Privileges, sexy but innocent Beth has nowhere to turn but straight into the arms of hotshot L.A. lawyer, Jon. Can this attorney manage to get her off in time?
Liza reaches a meeting of the minds—and more—when she unleashes her inhibitions and gives herself over to the primal allure of Main Street lawyer Hawk in Of Unsound Mind and Body.
In Of Writs and Writhing, fearless defense attorney Pat gets more than she bargained for when she goes toe-to-toe with New Orleans’ infamous Playboy Judge. When things get heated both in and out of the courtroom, more than temperatures rise.
Kate Allure is the creator of the Meeting Men series. She has been a storyteller her entire life, writing plays, short stories, and dance librettos throughout her childhood and later for semi-professional theater and dance companies. Her non-fiction writing included working for American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet and authoring a weekly arts column for local papers. Beyond writing, Kate’s passions include traveling and exploring all things sensual with her loving husband. Follow Kate at on Facebook and at www.KateAllure.com.
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