Guest Post with Author Jackie Ashenden and Giveaway

Meet Jackie Ashenden, author of Talking Dirty with the Player.

Jackie has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart – writing romance. She particularly likes to write emotional stories with alpha heroes who've just got the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.

She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband, the inimitable Dr Jax, two kids, two cats and some guppies (possibly dead guppies by the time you read this). When she's not torturing alpha males and their stroppy heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random crap on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband.

Places to find Jackie:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter | 

Five Fun Facts about Talking Dirty with the Player

Hi everyone, thanks for having me on the blog, it's fab to be here. Today I'd like to share five things about my latest release – Talking Dirty with the Player.

1. Firstly my hero is based on Sonny Bill Williams, a certain hot tattooed, Kiwi rugby player. The Aussies like to claim him because he's now living there and playing rugby league but I'm afraid he was Kiwi first. So there.

2. My editor actually asked me to hot the love scenes up in the first edit pass, especially the dialogue because if you're going to have a book called 'Talking Dirty' there actually has to be some dirty talk in it somewhere. So I really pulled out the stops for these two – Caleb is quite a naughty guy and my poor heroine is made to say some things she really doesn't want to. I think she survived though….

3. I didn't want to write a book about a rugby player. When my editor suggested that I make Talking Dirty with the CEO the first book of a series, I was all, 'yeah, that's awesome' and so I originally wrote Caleb as a PR guy. But then my editor came back with , 'this isn't working for me. What if he was a sports hero?' and I was all 'ugh. No way'. Because I hate sports. I really do. But then – since I like a challenge – I pulled on my big girl panties and decided if I was going to write any kind of sport playing hero it would be a rugby player since rugby is the Kiwi game. And also see point 1. ;-)

4. I was originally going to set the book in the summer because Auckland is really beautiful over summer. Sea, sun, heat, etc. But then I realized that rugby is a winter game and that if there was going to be rugby playing in it, it had to be during winter. Curses. Then again there is rain. And certain people do get rather wet…

5. Judith, my heroine, actually appears in Talking Dirty with the CEO, the first book of the series, as does Marisa, the heroine of the third book. I never meant for either of these two to have their own books and some of the things I introduced in the first book have made writing Judith and Marisa's books VERY difficult. If I had my time over again there are a couple of things about these two that I would have changed in the first book! But since the first book is already out, I'm not going to tell you what they are. ;-)

Up-and-coming photographer Judith Ashton is pretty sure she has everything in her life under control. That is, until a blast from the past comes back to taunt her, in the shape of Caleb Steele, her older brother's best friend...and the man who broke her heart eight years ago. Their chemistry is combustible, but she's been fooled once by this player, and she's not going there again. To pro rugby player Caleb, Judith has always been his Kryptonite. But his former playboy lifestyle is the last thing she wants to be involved in. In the midst of her brother's threats to back off, and the deal of his career sending him far away from her, he knows he's playing with fire. And this is one game he's going to lose.

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His smile widened and Judith had to remind herself that she was now immune to its lethal charm. Completely immune. “Oh don’t be like that,” he said. “You missed me. Admit it.”

“Yeah. Like I miss gonorrhea.”

One dark brow rose. “You’ve had gonorrhea?”

Judith sighed. He was all about the witty comeback. If that’s what you called wit. “Oh, shut up, Caleb.”

“See, this is what I’ve missed while I’ve been away. I say something then you say something, then I say something back and you end with ‘shut up, Caleb’. We always have such great, in-depth conversations.”

Still the same old Caleb. Patronizing, arrogant, and cocky as hell. They’d been friends once, a long time ago. And then more than friends. Until he’d broken her poor little teenage heart. She’d forgiven him for that, though; it had been years and years since their affair, after all.

Eight years to be exact.

Nevertheless a familiar feeling began to creep up on her. An antsy, irritated feeling. Like she’d brushed up against poison ivy. Okay, so she may have forgiven him. That didn’t mean he didn’t bug her on occasion.

Judith swallowed her irritation and maintained her usual calm-and-in-control expression. The one that seemed to exasperate him as much as his teasing arrogance exasperated her.

“Did you have something special you wanted to say?” she asked him in bored tones. “Or are you just here to be annoying?”

“Actually, I’m here to shoot you. Though, being annoying is always an added bonus.”

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs For Entire Tour:

• 1 $50 Amazon Gift Card + a copy of Talking Dirty with the CEO

To Enter: 

• Please leave a comment or question for Jackie.
• Please leave your email address along with your comment to be entered. 
• Giveaway ends September 30th.

Good Luck! 

Special thanks to Meg Lacey and Goddess Fish Promotions for sponsoring this tour-wide giveaway.