Her Man
This is a male/female/male erotic romance.
Where I get My Story Ideas
By Ashley Ladd
I have a few books on tour and thus I’ve been interviewed
several times recently. One of the questions I’m often asked is where I get my
story ideas from and do they ever come from real life events.
Let me segue a bit. I went to the movies last night and saw ‘This
Is Where I Leave You’ with Jason Bateman and Jane Fonda. Jane Fonda’s character
is an author. Her children are mortified when she starts taking notes during a
Shiva. They’re upset because this signals she’s about to write things about
their lives in her next book. Supposedly she has a habit of using their most
embarrassing moments as her book fodder.
I’ve read author interviews recently in which authors admit
to doing this too.
Okay, I confess. I’ve done this also, much to the
mortification of my daughter. In fact, my daughter has forbidden me from using
real life events in my stories.
Thus I haven’t used actual events—lately. Usually I’m merely
influenced by real life and change the events to protect the innocent. Aren’t
we told to write about what we know? Research is good and necessary, but we
have to rely on other people to relay and teach the truth in that case.
Well, maybe that isn’t true. My father is suffering from
dementia and so is Guy’s father in ‘Business or Pleasure’, one of my recent
releases. My dad became paranoid that his neighbors were out to get him and
thus so is Guy’s father. It’s a sad sad thing but something that sometimes
comes with dementia.
Also, in my soon to be released book ‘Pretend Lover’, the
heroine has a cleft palate—like me.
Because I know my children don’t want me to use their lives
as fodder for my stories, I haven’t used any of their funny stories for a long
time. But about thirteen years ago my oldest child hacked into his school’s
computer system and changed his vice principal’s user name to “Jack Ass”. After
the vice principal read me the riot act and threatened felony prosecution, I
was scared. But it turned out that’s all that happened and the school actually
hired my son to work in their computer department after school. Whenever I told
anybody about this story, they rolled on the floor laughing so I knew I had a
gem. That gem became the basis of a story, sadly out of print now. But it was
funny.
I’ve based other characters on me as well. Rick in ‘Self
Defense’ is a disabled vet with hearing loss just like me. And Haley in
‘Purrfect Justice’ has a disability that prevented her from joining the police
force (I wanted to join the FBI). Molly in my work in progress is an erotic
romance writer who hasn’t come out of the closet to her friends, family, and
coworkers which is also a lot like me. Lucky Julie in ‘Her Men’ is an ex-FBI
agent. She was able to do what I wasn’t and which I could only dream about.
So now you know. Sometimes we (I) use real life events in
our stories. We have to get our inspiration and our knowledge somewhere. That’s
not to say I don’t ever dream up scenes or get ideas from news stories, TV, and
movies because I absolutely do.
Title: Her
Men
Publisher:
Totally Bound
Genre:
Contemporary Erotic male-female-male romance
Book Length: 22,000
words
Forty-four year old Julie Weston has loved Timmy and James
since her college days twenty something years ago. She's fantasized about both
all these long years, never able to choose between them.
Hoping Tim and James will attend, she attends their college
marching band reunion. When both men show up her dreams are answered. They're
sexier than she imagined and she hopes they won't be disappointed by her older
self.
It turns out both men came just to see her again and neither
is happy about the other’s presence. They fight over her, confusing her more
than ever. It takes a hot ménage…or two…for her heart to decide which one she’s
in love with.
EXCERPT:
Oh God. She couldn’t make up her mind, just as she’d
feared. They were both fulfilling her dreams and almost her fantasies. Why couldn’t she be like Connie and love just
one man?
“I’m single. And confused,” she admitted
unhappily, hoping and praying her answer wouldn’t drive either man away before
her heart could decide who it wanted. She held her breath, waiting for James to
drop her on her ass and leave in disgust.
But he stayed. His eyes darkened. His fingers
bit into her arms, but he didn’t walk away. Instead, he kissed her again,
rubbing his groin against her. When he finally released her, he promised, “Game
on.”
Tim stomped over and shoved James away. “What
the hell was that?”
James pushed him back. “What in the hell does
it look like?”
“Keep your hands off her.”
“I don’t see a ring on her finger, and she
started it.”
Tim wrinkled his brow, captured her hand and
yanked her to him. “She’s had too much to drink.”
Again she help up one finger and repeated, “I
just had one.” She thought it best not to mention the Benadryl.
With sad eyes, Tim asked, “Who do you want? Me
or him?”
Fighting back sudden, scalding tears, she freed
herself, stepped back and regarded both men. “I don’t know.”
Tim’s expression grew incredulous as if she’d
struck him. He echoed, “You don’t know? Since when do you like him?”
“Maybe since you dumped her,” James said with a
sneer. He puffed up and faced off with Tim. “If you don’t like it, back out.
I’m going to fight for her—like I should have before.”
Tim’s eyes grew large as saucers. “I had no
idea. You were with Theresa…”
“Theresa dropped me like a hot cake. And you
disappeared.”
“And I heard she was going out with Gus, not
you.” Tim looked around as though to make sure Gus wasn’t about to pop out of
nowhere.
She heaved a sigh. “Gus was my friend. He fell
for me, not vice versa. I feel bad if I led him on. It wasn’t intentional.”
“Like me? You never realized I liked you as
more than a friend,” Phil interjected as he danced nearby with Anita.
She blanched and wanted to evaporate.
James winked. “It seems you were quite the
siren, leaving all of us shipwrecked in your wake.”
Stunned, she clasped her hand to her throat. “I
swear, I had no clue. I’m so sorry.”
“Yet you’re still leaving us in your wake,
honey.” Tim glared at all of them and fisted his hands on his hips.
Honey? She didn’t like the sound of that.
BUY LINKS:
AUTHOR
BIO:
Ashley Ladd lives in South Florida with her husband, five children, and beloved pets. She loves the water, animals (especially cats), and playing on the computer.She's been told she has a wicked sense of humor and often incorporates humor and adventure into her books. She also adores very spicy romance, which she weaves into her stories.
How you can contact Ashley:
