Wednesday, August 22, 2007

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Morgan Ashbury has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.

Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.

Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.

Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple by-pass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing: writing full time. “I can’t tell you how much I love what I do. I am truly blessed.”

Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that human kind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.

Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling – though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.

Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario with a cat that has an attitude, a dog that has no dignity, and her husband of thirty-five years, David.

Morgan's website: www.morganashbury.com
and her journal: www.morganashbury.com/journal.html.


ABOUT THE BOOK:

BLURB:

A steamy, sultry summer night. A swimming pool bathed in moonlight. A lonely woman unexpectedly comes upon the forbidden sight of a naked, much younger man.

Years later, Lily Martin is haunted by the erotic dream of that one night. Divorced and newly returned to the scene of that vision, the last person she expects to come roaring down her laneway on a Harley is that same young man, now fully grown.

Ryan Kincaid never forgot his teenage crush on Lily Martin. Years and distance separated them, but Lily remained the one woman Ryan had craved but never tasted. Now she’s within reach, and he has every intention of feasting his fill.

Embarking on a sexual odyssey together, Ryan awakens passions Lily never suspected she had. But can his hot loving uncover the woman within and give her the courage to overcome the past and claim the future with him?


EXCERPT:

He dropped his clothes right in front of her.

Lily should have said something the instant he came into view, but she didn’t. Instead, she stepped back just enough to hide in the shadows. And she stood, a silent witness, a hidden voyeur, as he stripped.

The son of her uncle’s neighbor, he’d been introduced to her a few days before. Ryan Kincaid was only sixteen.

The moon, bright in a cloudless sky, painted his flesh with silver streaks of light, an incandescent glow that glistened and aroused. His chest, broad and manly, nearly barren of hair, made her mouth water. He must work hard. Even from this distance, she could see highly defined muscles. His hands went to the front of his shorts, and a part of Lily’s brain told her to look away. As a married thirty-year-old mother of two, she had no right playing voyeur. But held captive by the moonlight, the night, and the glorious sight of this emerging Adonis, she looked on.

The moonlight focused on his completely naked, magnificent form, like a spotlight would a performer on the stage.

Lily forgot the sleeplessness that had chased her from her bed. Seeking only the open air and a chance to dip her feet in the pool on this steamy August night, she’d instead been given a visual erotic temptation.

Lily’s nipples beaded beneath her simple cotton nightshirt. Ryan stretched, slowly turning right and then left, performing warm-up exercises that warmed Lily inside and out. Clenching her legs together, she tried to stem the flow of moisture dampening her panties.

She’d been married more than a decade and had never been this aroused.

Ryan stretched his hands overhead, bending backwards slightly. Lily’s eyes zeroed in on his cock. Fully erect, proud, it called to her, a forbidden call of lust and need. She couldn’t help but compare it to Reg's, her husband. How could a sixteen-year-old young man have a larger, more beautiful penis than a fully grown man? But he did, and she found herself wondering, for the first time in her life, how a cock would taste. Her entire body shivered as she could almost imagine herself on her knees before him, ready to worship that stiff rod with lips and tongue, eager to taste, then to lie back, spread her legs, and…

The sound of a splash pulled her from her sensuous haze. Ryan had dived into the pool, leaving Lily alone and bereft, and more than a little embarrassed. Feeling her face heat in shame, certain the entire world would see her shocking behavior, she slowly crept backwards until, safely around the corner of the house, she could escape. Silently on bare feet, she stole back to her room, closing the door softly behind her. Flinging herself on her bed, she closed her eyes, as if she’d been asleep all along. As if what she had just witnessed had been only a dream, after all.

But it had been real, and the arousal that so recently flooded her didn’t abate. Instead, it cried out for release. With hands that trembled, Lily pulled her nightshirt to her waist, and then higher. Her nipples, hard buds, throbbed, and Lily’s hands moved over them, caressing, pinching harder. Until that moment, she had no idea her breasts connected to her womb. Her hips surged and her sex burned with hunger. Shocked at her own actions, but unable to stop, her hands wandered down, then under the waistband of her panties.

The first touch of her fingers on her pussy had her clit stiffening and seeking more. Whimpering, Lily pictured Ryan, naked, preening. Imagined him, ready, rising over her. Masturbating for the first time in her life, she gave herself the most delicious orgasm she’d ever experienced.

As she willed sleep to take her, Lily promised herself that, come the dawn, this night’s embarrassing activities would only have been a misadventure, now over. She promised herself in the light of a new day, the yearning and lust she’d felt for that young man would be dead and gone.

But it didn’t die. It merely lay dormant.

Waiting.


INTERVIEW:

Why did you become a writer? Was it a dream of yours since you were younger or did the desire to write happen later in your life?
Being a writer is the only dream I’ve ever had. I think I was 8 when I wrote my first piece of fiction, an ‘episode’ for my favorite TV show at the time – Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea.

What do you love about being an author? Is there anything you dislike?
I love writing. I’m not crazy about the promotional side of things, because the truth is, I’m shy. But I just plain and simply love to write. I love writing fiction, and I love writing essays, which is where ‘Wednesday’s Words’ come in.

How do you balance your personal and writing time?
I guess you could say that my personal time and my writing time are one. My children are grown and gone. I have grandchildren, 8 in all ranging from 15 to 5. In the last year, since the death of my younger son, I’ve spent more time with his two kids, who are 5 and 6. So the balance is, when I’m needed I go, when I’m not, I’m usually writing.

How do you write? Do your characters come to you first or the plot or the world of the story?
In most cases, my stories begin with a ‘what if’. What if I had a story about a man and a woman who not only appear total opposites, but have a strange role reversal thing going (Made For Each Other)? What if I write a modern Beauty and the Beast, and reverse the roles again – have the guy beautiful and the woman of a beastly nature (Beau And The Lady Beast)? What if I have an older woman who has never discovered her sensuality, or her self esteem, get together with a much younger man from her past (Lily In Bloom)? What if an older woman says out loud that she believes in Fairy Godmothers, and they hear her (Magic & Love Trilogy)? And right after the ‘what if’, comes the characters…and finally the plot.

What genre(s) do you write? Why do you write the stories that you write?
So far, I’ve written contemporary, and the trilogy I’m working on now is fantasy with some magic thrown in. It’s just where my mind-set is.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
My characters are all products of my busy and sometimes twisted imagination. There might be the odd mannerism I’ve seen that may find its way into someone’s body language, but that is the extent of my plagiarism of family and friends.

Out of all the characters that you've written, who is your favorite and why?
Ok, I have a problem with this one. I don’t have favorites, I love them all. I love Lesley’s determination and Charlie’s smart mouth; I love Beau’s compassion and Isadora’s strength; I love Lily’s sense of adventure and Ryan’s masculinity. I love Hannah’s spunk and Alex’s finesse. I plain flat out love them all!

What would you want readers to take away from your books?
Each novel is a great romance with that extra bit of heat, but I try always to put something more in it. So the reader can feel free to simply enjoy the love story for a couple of hours, escape their cares, and if that reader has had a pleasant break from reality, then I’m happy. But if that reader picks up on something that resonates within their own life—be it fear of commitment, or a searching for self, then I’m thrilled.

Do you have any advice for beginning writers in regards to writing a book?
I absolutely do. Number 1 – remember that every piece you write makes you a better writer, so keep writing. Number 2 – never, ever, ever quit. Because I honestly believe if you keep writing, and writing and writing, and never quit, you’ll eventually succeed.

What are you reading right now?
At this moment, I am reading Catherine Coulter’s Double Take. Next will be Kelley Armstrong’s Exit Strategy. Then Nora Robert’s High Noon.

If you could be anyone or anything that you wanted, who or what would you be?
I’m going to be 53 in July. My husband and I will be celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary in Dallas. Times were tough and life was hard, and our means were spare. But now I’m doing what I love best in the world, and while we’re not rich, we get by just fine. I love who I am and where I am and wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. I am in want of nothing…except perhaps an hour with Robert Redford.


REVIEWS:

5 Angels: F.A.R. Recommended Read: : "Men don't get much sexier than Ryan Kincaid. His devotion to Lily's "blooming" is both heart-warming and heart-stopping. In fact, in her story Lily in Bloom, Ms. Ashbury will has most likely capture the fantasy of just about every forty plus woman looking for the excitement of a younger lover who won't be paying as much attention to the effects of gravity on the outside as the woman on the inside waiting to come out and play. Ryan's willingness to show Lily "everything" she's been missing is honest and doesn’t fall into the realm of a twisted 'mother-son' relationship, although he does admit that his first attraction to her was partially based on his having lost his mother years before having ever seen her. However, his maturity is obvious in all his reactions to her as a man: in his desire for her physically, his respect for her abilities, and his protectiveness of her emotionally when it comes to those who would threaten her new found self- assurance. A wonderful read."
-— Lynn, Fallen Angel Reviews

5 stars: “"Lily in Bloom is a great story about a woman who finally blossoms into the woman she was meant to be. Lilly changes from a meek woman who allowed her mother, ex-husband and children run her life into a woman who stands up for herself. Morgan Ashbury has written another fantastic story that captures the heart with Lily in Bloom."
-— Racine, Ecataromance



Lily in Bloom by Morgan Ashbury
Genre: Contemporary May-December Erotic Romance
Length: Novel (45,000+ words)
Sensuality Rating: SCORCHING
$4.99 from Siren Publishing



Purchase Lily in Bloom by Morgan Ashbury HERE!!