Saturday, August 04, 2007

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ashlyn Chase has been a registered nurse for 20 years. During those years, she wrote articles for professional journals and a thesis, but eventually, thank goodness, discovered the joy and freedom of writing fiction.

Ashlyn considers herself lucky. Her degree in behavioral sciences is a combination of psychology and sociology, so she has worked with and studied people most of her life. She never has to write out exhaustive character sketches to understand her characters or predict how they will behave. That doesn't mean they don't surprise her. Sometimes they take her on grand unexpected journeys. For her, it gives "character driven novels" a whole new meaning.

Ashlyn has learned to go with the flow. To enjoy the journey is not only one of her writing goals, but also a challenge in life so she tries to follow where the story takes her. As such, she has lived in 17 different places over the years. At last, she's all settled down and comfy in New England.

Is there a grand design or do we decide our own fates? Perhaps if the powers-that-be have a plot, then they also give us the right to revise it. Ashlyn has certainly made detours on her path, but she thinks she's better for it. She's having fun at any rate and hopes that if she enjoys the journey, so will those around her—including her readers.

Visit her website at: www.ashlynchase.com
Blog: http://ashlynchase.blogspot.com


ABOUT THE BOOK:

BLURB:

Maura Keegan, addicted to vampire romance novels, decides to add a Gothic section to her vintage clothing store in SoHo. What better way to get a tax-deductible trip to Romania—and meet her future vampire mate?

Adrian, a sexy vampire living right under her nose in New York, owns a vineyard in France producing very special wine for exclusive clients. It allows him and others like him to walk in daylight and avoid snacking on strangers.

He’s horrified to learn that the redhead he admires is planning to visit Romania to summon a ‘real’ vampire. Adrian has every intention of being that vampire. Only trouble is, she thinks he’s a wino tourist intent on spoiling her fun. A visit to his wacky Romanian family might help convince her he's for real, or send her screaming into the night.


EXCERPT:

He strolled into the park to see some very tipsy women stumbling out of the woods. Doubtful one of them could have summoned him, he shrank back into the shadows to wait and watch. Hopefully, someone else would walk out behind them.

The tall brunette carried an empty bottle of Scotch and had her arm around the short blond. He knew it was Scotch since he could smell it on her breath a quarter mile away. Heightened senses weren’t always a blessing.

“So, who was designated driver again?” the tall brunette asked.

“You were, Bella.”

“Uh oh. Do we have a plan B?”

The woman with brown hair who trailed the pack, obviously stumbling and weaving more than the rest, called out, “It’s my car. I’ll drive.”

The redhead spoke up, quickly. “Not on your life,” and then she laughed.

I know that voice…that laugh! Could it be the retro-beauty who caught his eye at the bar only an hour ago?

“Better think of a plan C, then,” the blonde said.

“I’m not getting into a car with any of you behind the wheel.”

The owner of the car, Rayne if he remembered correctly, said, “Oh c’mon, guys, I’m not that bad. Just because I forgot where I put my dress…”

“Or that you were wearing a dress, or what day it was, or your own name…” the redhead teased.

“It’s Friday and my name is Rayne.”

That’s it, then. This is the same group of women. The redhead has to be Mona!

All the women chuckled. Suddenly a bat swooped down on them. A couple of the women screamed. The blonde, Holly, pointed at it and yelled,“Hey, Mona! There’s your guy!”

Mona jerked her head in the direction of the bat and stood open-mouthed gaping at it. “Really? You think?”

Bella almost fell over laughing. The smell of Scotch assaulted his nose. When Holly had steadied her, she sat on the grass and reared back, gasping and giggling. “You’re too much. You probably believe in Santa Claus and the Easter bunny.”

Mona set her hands on her hips and glared at the others. “No, but I do believe in the fang fairy.”

Three of them erupted in laughter, creating a loud cacophony. Rayne, at the back fell over. Holly staggered and weaved, then spread her feet apart and placed her hands on her knees to keep from falling.

Stefan sharpened his vision to get a better look at Mona as she made her way down the path under a streetlamp.

Shoulder pads, a nipped-in waist and straight skirt. She possessed the proverbial hourglass figure, as he’d suspected and his mouth watered. The color showed off her glowing peach skin and beautiful shoulder-length strawberry hair. Even at this distance he could see a sparkle in her aquamarine eyes.

But she was mortal. That meant temporary. Still, she sounded like she could be fun for however long…

She turned around and scanned the night sky as if looking for the bat, meanwhile revealing the long seams down the back of her stockings as his cock grew instantly hard. When she returned to face Holly, still doubled over laughing, Mona bent down to talk to her, and he could see her cleavage. Wow…more than cleavage. The suit without a blouse underneath revealed generous breasts and light areolas…what had happened to her top?

“Holly, get a hold of yourself. I thought you were the least drunk of all of us.”

“Me? Hell, no. You’re the one who could drink a sailor under the table, then drive us all to Coney Island without playing bumper cars or running into the ocean.”

“I doubt it. I’ve had more than all of you. I’m just used to it.”

“But your Irish. So you’re practically a professional drinker.”

“Hey, cut the prejudice, Bella. It’s not cool. I could say some things about your being Italian, you know.”

Rayne, now crawling on her hands and knees yelled out, “Yeah. Don’t be anti-semantic.”

“Anti-what?” Two of the women, the ones called Karri and Holly, laughed like hyenas.

Holly spoke as she straightened her posture. “The word your looking for is Anti-Semitic and I think that only applies to people who are Jewish. I don’t think any of us are.”

Mona pointed at each one in turn. “Let’s see, I’m one hundred percent Irish, Holly’s English with some Scandinavian tossed in, Bella’s ninety-nine percent Italian and one percent pit-bull…”

“Hey!”

“And Rayne’s…” Mona peered over the other’s shoulders. “Rayne’s dead!”

They gasped and spun toward their friend who had stopped crawling and lay face down in the middle of the path.


INTERVIEW:

1) Please tell us about your featured work, Heaving Bosoms.
This is one of my favorites. It won loads of contests and attracted the notice of one of the final judges, Raelene Gorlinsky, now my publisher! I’d call it chic-lit, except that the heroine isn’t snobby or bitchy. LOL. It’s about Tonia Fuller, ex-trophy wife of a Las Vegas mafia don. It’s about Raphael Beauchamp, a medical student who decides to take care of her after an accident. It’s about courage when the don’s mistress and right-hand man come searching for Tonia in Boston where she’d hope to start a new life.

2) Where did you get the idea of your top heavy but beautiful heroine?
I can give you three different answers. They’re all part of it. When I was a psychiatric nurse, I worked with two women ‘married to the mob’ as they say. One divorced her husband when he went to prison (as my heroine did) but she had to live the rest of life in hiding or wearing disguises. The other woman stayed married, despite horrible psychological and physical abuse when her beautiful face and body began to age. She felt safer on the locked unit. Can you imagine? I remember hugging and crying with her. I rarely did that.
The other two sources for my ideas came from friends. They’re both acknowledged in the front of the book. I’d love for readers to get the book and find out how ‘regular people’ contributed a piece and made it a comedy.

3) What do you like best about your hero?
Raphael is every medical student I knew when I was a nursing student. LOL. He’s obsessed with learning his craft and someday being a real-live hero. His someday comes sooner than he expected.

4) What sort of research did you have to do for this particular work?
None. I’d been to the Cayman Islands, Las Vegas and, of course, Boston—my home planet. LOL. I’ve spent time talking to mafia ‘members’ and mafia wives. I’ve been tattooed (but not where my heroine and the ex’s mistress were tattooed, heh heh,) and I’ve taken care of people with severe concussions. I’ve never written a book I didn’t have to research before—but what does it say about me that this is the one I didn’t have to research? Eek!

5) What are you working on now?
By the time this is published, I’ll have finished and submitted a novella that my editor was interested in. It’s called Demolishing Mr. Perfect and is about a hunky demolitions expert and a sperm bank nurse. Intrigued? Stay tuned! After that, I’ll be writing another comedy (of course. Comedy is what I do,) hopefully for Cerridwen. It’s called Love Potions #1 through #8. It’s about all the disastrous attempts before the famous, Love potion #9.

6) Where and when do you do your best writing?
I have a morning schedule. My dh and I rise early, have coffee, and watch the news. When he leaves for work, so do I. I commute all the way up a flight of stairs and get working around 6 am. By noon, I’m ready to do errands, laundry or whatever else needs to be done.

7) What’s your writing space look like?
One of the perks of ‘empty nest syndrome’ is gaining another room in your home! My daughter’s bedroom is now my office, but we keep a daybed in there if she ever wants to spend the night. I have my bookcases, a small bistro table, and plenty of hidden storage. I love the way it’s set up. I learned a bit about Feng Shui, and it feels warm, comfy and inviting. There’s even a tree in the corner! The only clutter is on my golden oak desk—and it’s a sign of needing to take a deep breath and simplify.

8) What’s your idea of a dream vacation?
What a great question! My husband had never taken a vacation before he met me. No kidding! Can you say workaholic? I got him into the habit of a regular yearly getaway, though. Now we love to visit new and interesting places different from what we’re used to. New Orleans, Las Vegas, and Maui come to mind as some of our favorite vacations. The ‘dream’ vacation for me would be New Zealand, Australia, New Caledonia and Figi. Of course, it would have to last a month or so to make it worth the jet lag! I’d dearly love to visit my Aussie author friends, Rebecca Williams and Maggie Nash.

9) Where can readers and fans find out more about you and your books?
I’m all over the web. LOL. Check out my website blog, MySpace, the League of Amazing Writers (a yahoo group I share with several awesome authors) Ellora’s cave chat loop, Cerridwen Press chat loop, and you’ll find me. Track me down! I love to hear from readers!


REVIEWS:

"Action, suspense, hot love scenes, humor, wit, dysfunctional families, vampires, extra paranormal characters, and just plain great writing make this story a must read. I really liked this book, Ashlyn Chase had me laughing in all the right spots and holding my breath in others, the chemistry between her characters was perfect."
-- Catherine Smith, ParaNormalRomance.org


5 hearts: "Ashlyn Chase has written a vampire romance with her tongue firmly in her cheek… Although full of fun and laughs, this is a story with a great plot, some hot sex scenes and characters that leap from the pages. The reader will enjoy all the surprises Ms. Chase pulls out to entertain and give the story a lot of pep and sizzle. Go get this story right away, you will not regret it."
-- Valerie, Love Romances and More


5 hearts: "This story is a very enjoyable read and the secondary characters of Adrian's family are highly amusing. I found myself laughing out loud throughout this enticing read. The sexual aspects enhance the overall story and are presented in a very tasteful way. I would recommend this story to anyone looking for an enjoyable, sexy satisfying read!"
-- TJ, The Romance Studio



Vampire Vintage by Ashlyn Chase
ISBN #9781419908460
Genre: Vampire
$6.49 from Ellora's Cave



Purchase Vampire Vintage by Ashlyn Chase HERE!!