April 8th, 2014 is Kristen Ashley's new release day of THE WILL. What a perfect occasion to make a good presentation of this amazing author who I love so much!! I discovered her one day while wandering on Goodreads and she caught my attention, thank God for that! She's a very productive writer, publishing three or four books a year, and has more than 30 books available in the US bookshops.
Even though we can find a common fiction structure, she likes to change genre (romance - fantasy - thriller). In this way she keeps us reading interesting, wonderful characters, and the dialogues are funny, moving and hilarious! Her flawless style is the key to her success; it's very fluent in English and the entertaing plots have a considerable amount of action and the perfect quantity of love. Any girl who has a basic English knowledge can read all her works. Unfortunately, she is not translated in Italian yet (I still can't believe it) so you guys have to read it in English to appreciate her beauty - but we’ll see if there's a way to change that!
There are a lot of reasons why I love her so much, in particular for the important topics we find in every novel and in a different ways: sisterhood, loyalty, relationship intimacy and sexuality.
Women have the leading roles in her novels. She tells tales about broken women who find strength from the kind people around them; women dreamers who don't want stop looking for what they want for themselves, tired women who work 24/7 but still smile because they're happy and thankful for what they have. These leading women create a bond or a posse (I love this word!!) and you can’t help but to want to be a part of it with them. You want to have that bond in your life, to have friends who really care for you, who call you for no reason other than “just because”, who listen to you when you have a problem and, most importantly, who want to spend time with you while laughing, talking and shopping!! Family is not always who you were born with, but people who you choose for yourself.
Compassion and loyality are the best qualities you can find in her characters. Bad things happen to them because life is not always happy and breezy, and they meet evil people and suffer so much. They try to see good in everyone while dealing with the pain, and they fight with claws to move on while being grateful for love, friends and all the good things life brings to them.
I'm very fond of her kind of romance and especially her hot sex scenes; they amaze me and also inspire me. She really helped me with finding my own sexuality.... Because, let’s face it, sometimes girl talk is not enough! It was liberating reading about a delicate matter that can be confusing when not explored in the right way.
I'm overwhelmed every single time by the deep connections she creates between her characters, not just exclusively for the main couple, but also with the other people intermingling within the same story. She writes beautiful relationship bonds between friends, families, and even pets! She's awesome!!
I'm convinced her wordwhile success is due to how easlily women can identify with her female characters. KA knows women so well – she knows what we're looking for and how exposed we are when we dream. But in her world we feel protected. Because she makes us feel like part of her fictional posse.
Now, we don't want to leave behind the male badass hot alpha man charaters, do we??
They are hard, possessive, rough and basically just sex-on-a-stick! They’re so handsome that you can’t help but to think “they wouldn’t have anything to do with a girl like me” (average girl - casual), but as the stories go deeper, you find common men instead (just really hot ones!). Men with dreams, who have their own sets of rules, who want to work hard to give a good life to those who they love. In a nutshell, KA’s alpha males are drop-dead-lovable.
Another fantastic quality of KA books are her epilogues. Sometimes it's hard to let the charactes go and you still want to live their story over and over again, so you need closure and she gives it to you in a very special way. Every time.
"the Magdalene series was inspired by the germ of an idea given to me by a number of my readers who contacted me telling me they liked that some of my heroes and heroines were over forty but asked for them to be just a tad bit older. That stuck in my mind and out sprang Magdalene." Cit. KA
In this post, we present a finished and incredibly successful series: Dream Man.
Gwendolyn Kidd has met the man of her dreams. He's hot, he's sexy, and what started as a no-names-exchanged night of passion has blossomed into a year and a half-long pleasure fest. Sure, it's a little strange that he only appears in her bed at night, but Gwen is so sure he's the one, she just can't turn him away...
Hawk Delgado knows more about Gwen than she could ever imagine. She's gorgeous, headstrong, and skittish about relationships. But Hawk is facing his own demons, demons that keep him from connecting with anyone. Yet when Gwen is drawn into Denver's lethal underground scene, Hawk's protective nature comes out full force. The problem is, when Gwen gets a dose of Hawk's Alpha attitude in the daylight, she's not so sure he's the one anymore....
While filling the display case in her bakery, the bell over the door sounds and Tessa O'Hara looks up to see the man of her dreams. Within thirty seconds he asks her out for a beer. But after four months of dating, she discovers he's an undercover DEA agent-and he's investigating her possible role in her ex-husband's drug business. For Tess, this means their relationship is over.
Brock disagrees. He's committed to his anti-drug mission, but he's fallen in love with the beautiful woman who's as sweet as her cupcakes-and he'll do anything to win her back. Standing between Tess and Brock are their own exes, one of them a drug lord who's determined to get what he wants. Now as danger threatens, can Brock break the rules he's lived by and let loose his wild side to protect the woman he loves?
Sweet, shy Mara Hanover is in love with her neighbor. For four years, she has secretly watched her dream man from afar. Handsome police detective Mitch Lawson is way out of her league. She's a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, and there's no way a guy like Mitch would want anything to do with her. But when Mara has a leaky faucet that she can't fix, it's Mitch who comes to her rescue.
Mitch has been eyeing his beautiful neighbor for a long time. He jumps at the chance to help her, and soon their formerly platonic relationship gets very hot and heavy. But when Mara gets a disturbing phone call from her cousin's kids, she gets pulled back into the life she's tried so hard to leave behind. Can the hot law man convince Mara to let go of her past-and build a future with him?
Tyra Masters has had enough drama to last a lifetime. Now, she's back on track and looking forward to her new, quiet life. Until she meets the man of her dreams. The tattooed, muscled biker plies her with tequila-and the best sex of her life. She knows it isn't the tequila and hot sex talking. He's the kind of man she's always wanted. Unfortunately, he's also her new boss . . .
Kane "Tack" Allen has a rule. He doesn't employ someone he's slept with. So when he learns he spent last night in bed with his new office manager, he quickly fires Tyra. Yet when Tyra stands up to him and fights for her job, Tack is intrigued. He tells her she can keep her job on one condition: no more sex. Ever. But as things heat up between them, Tack finds that he'll be the one breaking all the rules...
A little random fact for you: MOTORCYCLE MAN made the final round for the Goodreads Choice Awards 2012 and ended up in the top ten. It continues with the Chaos series, a spin off in which we read about biker adventures, their lifestyles and their wild love stories. I never get tired of those!!!!
I really hope you guys will take my advice and give this author a chance, she will never let you down and her books willl only bring joy in your life. When my girlfriend and I see each other at lunch and start talking about her books, we talk about them so seriously as if they are real people we actually know....and just like that, we start laughing our asses off!! Days like that make me smile for hours. It's a shame for those who can't or simply don't want to read in English to be robbed of that. But hopefully a clever Italian editor will soon decide to make a perfect translation of her books and let everyone enjoy them!!!
It was such an amazing honor to interview Kristen Ashley! Since I met her, bookwise, I was hypnotised by her works, her characters and million of questions popped into my head and I could only dream of a day when I could actually meet her and finally have the chance to ask her everything. It seems a huge part of this dream has now come true and I can’t be more happy for that. Here's my interview with the contemporary romance queen, Kristen Ashley:
First of all, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me your free time. You have no idea how excited I am. This is a major honor interviewing you and I'm also kind of proud of myself for making this dream come true!! So, let's begin!! Would you like to introduce you for the Italian readers that still don't know you?
First of all for me, I’m honored you’d want an interview and I’m so proud of you for going for it with your blog! May you very soon enjoy the attention of thousands of followers!
Now, for your readers, I am Kristen Ashley, romance novelist, dreamer, goofball, and woman who has way, way, WAY too many shoes and handbags!
Currently you live in Arizona but you lived several years in England. Are there some traditions you still miss from that country?
Oh man, absolutely. I had a posse of chicks who went out on Girl’s Night Out once a month and I miss them terribly. Then there’s Pancake Night and mince pies and going to any pub and being able to get a really good dry hard cider. And, of course, wandering public footpaths on the weekend and strolling through National Trust properties when the whim moves me. Not to mention being able to hop a train to London whenever the spirit moved me (or it was time to do some serious shopping). Custard. Sticky Toffee Pudding. Paper Christmas crowns and the jokes that come in the crackers. The friends I left behind. The family I left behind. I could go on forever. England isn’t my home country, but that doesn’t mean it still isn’t very much home to me.
You have lot of devoted fans! They post daily on your FB page and you patiently answer to all of them! I think this is amazing and moving, as your fan when I read your comment on my first post my eyes were glistening ( I'm not kissing your behind, it really happened!! ). What are your feelings about this following and when did it start to be so crowdy?
Aw, Fidi, that’s so sweet and sorry to make your eyes glisten! But honey, I decided I wanted to be a romance novelist when I was about thirteen, fourteen years old. It was hard work getting to the point where anyone would even want to communicate with me. So the people who read my books, told their friends and family (and anyone who would listen) and guided me to my dream mean a great deal to me. I wish I had time to reply to every email, every tweet, everything but I think folks would rather I find my ways to communicate, to give a little love back, but reserve some time to write. But I do what I can. That’s how I start my morning every day, going to Facebook and communing with my Rock Chicks. It sets me up for the day to keep on keepin’ on creating these worlds for you all.
For most of self-publishing writers at their first steps on this career you are a model, your success is inspiring. How was your life as a beginner author?
I’ve been writing for over a decade and we’ll just say that it wasn’t exactly fruitful back in the day. I lost track of how many submissions to agents and publishers I made (and how many rejections I received, and more, how many people just ignored them). It was soul destroying.
I didn’t so much keep plugging away as I simply made writing my hobby because I liked doing it. Honestly, there were years when I didn’t do anything about getting published...I just kept writing.
This was how I learned to write for myself. To write what I enjoyed reading. To tell my stories in an honest way, infuse them with passion, break the “rules,” let everything go except the tale I was telling and be true to the story, the characters and myself as it came.
Eventually, I started to share my work with friends who told me they loved my stories. Obviously I thought they loved me more than my stories. But the thing was, it was what I wanted to do. I had cheerleaders who took my back but in the end, I believed in my work and I figured, even if my audience was tiny, I’d at least have an audience.
So I eventually went after it by independently publishing (something that was not widely available years ago). My goal was to sell thirty books a day. That was all I had to do to stop eating ramen noodles and canned soup and have a decent life doing what I loved to do. I would have been happy with that. Six months later with the help of word of mouth and very kind bloggers who shouted it out, I said good-bye to ramen and hello to a new career, riding the wave of living the dream. And we’ll just say, I’m much happier with it this way. Thirty books a day would have been great. But touching this many lives, reaching out to this many people, meeting folks like you...we’ll just say this is WAY better!
What was your inspiration for this series and what does "Dream Man" mean exactly?
My Dream Man Series, that wasn’t meant to be a series. Gwen and Hawk’s story started as a stand-alone until I met Tack, Mitch and Brock and then the series was born as, obviously, those men demanded their own books!
But the point of that series is that a dream man can take many forms. He can be gentle. He can seem aggressive and be a jerk but at heart and in action be very sweet and protective. A dream man is the man for you, however he comes about. He is not perfect. He makes mistakes. He can act like an ass. But that doesn’t make him any less dreamy!
What kind of researches did you do for these books? I'm referring to Cabe's commando organization ( Mystery Man ) and Tack's Choas Motorcycle Club in particular ( Motorcycle Man )
Cabe’s commando organization is entirely made up! All a product of my imagination.
The Chaos Motorcycle Club sprang from the time I went to Stugis for the motorcycle rally. I was stunned at how kind, generous and protective bikers were. There are a number of stories about how dangerous they are, how dangerous bike rallies are, especially Sturgis (and, back in the day, they probably were and some still are, I’m sure). But when I was in Sturgis, I never felt unsafe. We even had bikers who looked after our purses while we went off and danced! And I had a man be inappropriate to me and that lasted a nanosecond before one of my new biker friends moved him along. With all this kindness, there was a strong vein of respect. Bikers have a terrible reputation for treating women poorly but I saw and experienced none of that. It was the opposite. Thus, Chaos was born!
My most favourite couple is Mitch and Mara., the main characters of "Law Man". She uses a very-complicated-crazy-but-kind-of-funny-way to value people. How in the world could you created such a thing ???!!!
Truth be told, I didn’t! I know it sounds strange but Mara is Mara. She just came up with it and there it was in my head when she was showing me her story. I thought it was a little crazy, but eventually I understood it and why she did it. Although I understood it, I didn’t agree with it and it broke my heart why she did it and where she placed herself on her scale. So I’m glad Mitch sorted her out!
Usually, your series are composed by six or eight novels, but this only by four? How's that?
A series takes on a life of its own and Dream Man was defined by MYSTERY MAN where the four heroes were introduced throughout that book. There never really could be any more...just those four.
I confess I still have some issues understanding the exactly means of the term "Wild" Man. Would you mind explain it ?
In terms of Brock, “wild man” means pretty much anything goes for him when it comes to his mission/career—though this also pertains to how he lives his life. He’ll do anything...he drinks what he wants, wears what he wants, eats what he wants, does what he wants and gets what he wants, and in his career, that went to extremes. He took a lot of risks, went that extra mile, did a lot of things that many of us would balk at. That’s where he’s wild. Wildly protective. Wildly loyal. Wildly loving. Wildly driven. Wild Man.
Denver is a location you often use, not only for this series. Is it a special place for you?
Yes, it is. Absolutely. I lived there for twelve happy years, had a lot of good times there, I still have a family of friends there. So I like to “be” there in my books now that I’m far away. It makes me feel closer to those I left behind (physically, not emotionally) and allows me to remember the fun we all had. This started back when I was in England and I was homesick and, well, I guess Denver and Colorado are never too far from my heart because it keeps on going!
I just wanted to ask you one more thing before letting you go. What most adore of your books is the male/female POV . It's awesome, finally we discover what is there in a man's head!! Have you ever thought about writing an entire male POV book?
Yes, because I actually have! GOLDEN TRAIL of The ‘Burg series is written entirely from the man’s point of view.
Thank you very much, Kristen. It has been a pleasure ( I'm virtually shaking your hands and hugging you!! )
And I’m virtually shaking your hands and hugging you back! Thanks right back to you for wanting the answers to these questions!
N.B. This post is directed for Italian readers who still don't know Kristen Ashley, but I was so honored and proud of my interview that I decided to make an English and an Italian version of it in order to give my national-and-not followers the chance to appreciate it. There’s no such thing as too much KA!!!
Books reviews are in Italian.
Special thanks goes to:
Lyn, my aussi friend and a super KA fan, who dropped anything she was doing and helped me editing this post!
Ely, my dear friend and also KA fan, who spent her time with me deciding which questions would be better to ask to KA while laughing real hard in a heavy packed bar during lunch break!
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