Lucky Number Seven by Anh Leod - PG

Good morning! It's Monday again and today I have Anh Leod, writer for Ellora's Cave as my guest author. She also writes for Cerridwen Press as Heather Hiestand. Today's book is a Quickie from Ellora's Cave Naughty Nuptial Series - Lucky Number Seven. Anh was good enough to answer my questions so let's jump right in and get to know her.

1) If you could start over with your writing career, what if anything would you change?
I would have "written from the heart" right away instead of wasting years trying to fit into category lines and having eighteen-month wait times in between each rejection. I'd also have stayed more focused and found more time to write.

2) What was the best piece of advice you received regarding the life of a writer?
"Finish it!" I always thought once you'd finished a book you'd proven yourself so why not write partials thereafter and wait for interest. But when it came time for me to make my first novel-length sale, the fact that I did have the book completed made the sale within eighteen hours of having the partial requested. Whew! Luckily Cards Never Lie (Cerridwen Press) was one of my few projects that was complete.

3) If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would it be?
First I'd have to find out who my ancestors were, then I'd like to pick one living somewhere interesting at an interesting time and talk to them about how they made it through tough times. I know I'm part Irish. Maybe ancestors who survived the potato famine. Finding out how they coped might teach me something about myself.

4) If you could meet any fictional character, who would it be?
Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series.

5) What do you want to be when you grow up?
A housewife who writes books!

6) In the next century, what do you hope people will remember you for?
I'll be long dead by then, and no one alive will remember me as a young woman. So here's to hoping that I'm a nice old lady instead of a terror. It would be nice if I wrote a book or two that stayed in print because they either made people happy or made people think. It would also be cool if one of my short stories made it into school curriculums and generations of children were forced to read me and wonder what I was thinking!

Lucky Number Seven by Anh Leod from Ellora's Cave

For those of my readers who are not familiar with Ellora's Cave Quickies, they are short with intense sexy story lines. Just as a "quickie" in our culture denotes an explosive burst of afternoon delight, the EC Quickie focuses on a short intense story about the sexual relationship between two people. Many of the Quickies are part of series such as the Naughty Nuptial series which is centered around the events surrounding a wedding. Other Quickies are stand alone stories. In either case Quickies are the most difficult type of story to write because of the required elements in such a short length.

In Lucky Number Seven Anh presents us with Vi, an angry jilted bride who declares that she will have sex with the next man she meets. After cleaning up the wedding debris from the church, she packs her car and heads home, depressed and determined to find out if another man will be any different from her ex-fiance. At this point, a flat tire places her on a collision course with Cere, a hunky construction worker for the Brotherhood of the Dog.

Cere changes her tire and in exchange she informs him that she would like to have sex with him. Sex with Cere is an eye-opening experience--so good that afterwards Vi declares that her ex-fiance was right when he declared that their wedding was off because of their uninspired sex lives. The balance of the book is a series of encounters which balance love-making with the gradual revealing of the truth about Cere. It seems that there's more to Cere than his physical assets. Cere is a were wolf. And Cere's packmate informs him that Vi is his mate.

Lucky Number Seven is an amusing, unusual take on the were legend. With so many versions to pick from Anh has chosen to come up with one of her own. Cere is a caring, attractive hunk who is more than willing to take on the feisty Vi. She in her turn is blunt and knows exactly what she wants. In the beginning Cere introduces himself, "I'm Cere." Her reply? "I'm horny."

As with so many Quickies, the reader longs for a longer story and is left with questions about the couple involved. But this story performs exactly as advertised. It's a quick snapshot of the lives of Vi and Cere. It's funny, hot, and introduces us to two delightful people who belong together. I'll personally never think of construction guys in quite the same way!

Lope right out and snap up your copy of Lucky Number Seven by Anh Leod from Ellora's Cave.

Anny

If you haven't checked out the Crazy Blog Serial for today, skip over to Kelly's blog and see what she's come up with. I believe that DairyAir down in Texas has wilted her brain... http://www.kkirch.blogspot.com/
So much so that Amarinda threatened to take back her Tim Tams! For the Tim Tam saga check out http://www.amarindajones.com/

Life in the Hive

Living in an apartment is somewhat like living in a hive. While you may have your own private little compartment, it shares walls, ceiling, and floor with the other compartments in the building, giving you a cozy window into the lives of your neighbors. You have access to all sorts of personal information about them. When do they go to the bathroom? Take a shower? Make love?

What kind of music do they listen to? Are they sports fans? Do they have pets? Children? Oh, yes, you know all the answers to those questions and a whole host of others. You know what time they leave for work, when they come home, how often they have guests, when they do laundry, and go shopping.

If the police have occasion to visit the building, you know all about it. If someone requires an ambulance, you will be a silent witness to their trauma...unless you're the one that needs medical care. If someone burns the dinner, they'll never be able to hide that. And the pizza, chinese, and UPS guys are familiar visitors.

But there are advantages to living in the hive. If you need a helping hand, you can usually find someone around. If you have an emergency, your neighbors know more about your medical issues and medications than your family. If your car dies, it's very likely that someone is going your way or will be happy to pick up that gallon of milk or loaf of bread.

There are rules of course, to successful living in the hive. 1) No loud music. I don't care whether you listen to Boy George or George Strait as long as I don't have to listen to it with you. 2) It won't kill you to smile. You don't have to be my best buddy, but when we pass on the stairs, say hello. 3) Don't knock on my door before eight o'clock in the morning or after nine o'clock in the evening unless it involves a lot of blood or a fire extinguisher. 4) Don't send your child to my apartment to visit me so that you can have a quickie with the cable guy. That does not constitute an emergency in my book. 5) Don't leave your dog on the balcony without water when it's ninety degrees outside. I will call the police. 6) Writing is a profession. When I am writing, I am working. Do not assume that I have nothing to do.

Oh, yeah. One other thing. If you're not going to take that medication that keeps you sane? Make sure you put on clothes before you answer the door. I don't know how long it's going to take me to recover from that.

Anny

Don't forget that tomorrow is the Monday Interview and Mini-Review. My guest author is Anh Leod and the book is Lucky Number Seven!