Guest Blogger: Babette James

Today my guest is Babette James.  Talking about her new release: Clear As Day

Welcome Babette.

Tell us a little about yourself:

Thanks, Marie, for letting me visit here today.

I write contemporary and fantasy romance, and I’ve always loved writing and making up stories, beginning back when I used to act out epic fantasy tales with my dolls. (My Barbies had swords and knew how to use them.) I even have a degree in Literature, but it wasn’t until 2004 that I wrote my first full rough draft of romance novel and began gathering up my nerve to pursue publication. I fell in love with writing romance and have focused on that ever since. Clear As Day is my debut novel and began its life as a short story I wrote back in college. It’s been a story of my heart in many ways, so seeing this story bloom and come to life as a full-length published novel truly has been a dream come true. Receiving the 4 1/2 star scorcher review from Romantic Times and being able to hold my book in my hands have been truly thrilling moments.  I’m also a teacher, and I enjoy encouraging young readers and writers as they discover their growing abilities. My class cheers when it’s time for their spelling test! When not writing, teaching or reading, I dabble with bread baking and painting, and try to keep up on weeding the garden beds. I live in New Jersey with my wonderfully patient husband and our three extremely spoiled cats.

What do like the most and the least about writing?

I love writing the first draft, I enjoy the surprises of storytelling. The first draft is all happiness, seeing that word count grow, finding favorite passages, fun lines.  I enjoy seeing a story grow out of a little idea, plots twist and turn, expand and shift, how one story can spawn into a series, and how the characters grow and reveal their lives and find their happily ever after. I love seeing characters emerge and reveal their stories. Creating characters is like making new friends and rediscovering old friends—always full of surprises. I’m a pantser, so it also can be frustrating as they send the story off on in a dozen unexpected directions. The most angst is definitely in the editing stages. All that lovely word count, those brilliant passages ( lol ), and fun lines now must be corrected, gutted, rearranged, whittled down, tightened up, fluffed, and polished. It seems endless and it’s easy to lose sight of progress when focused at the word and sentence level.

Give us a peek into your latest published work:

 Clear As Day, is a spicy contemporary romance about two friends with benefits facing the fears and uncertainties of their changing relationship and is set against the background of the summer heat and cool waters of Lake Mohave. I hope you enjoy Nate and Kay’s journey as much as I have.

What’s a girl to do when her summer lover wants forever?

Haunted by dark memories of her parents’ volatile marriage, artist Kay Browning keeps her heart locked behind a free-spirit facade and contents herself with the comfortable affair she has every summer with easygoing photographer Nate Quinn.

The only trouble with her plan? This summer Nate’s come to Lake Mohave to claim the lover he can’t let go. He’s done with the endless traveling and settling for temporary homes and temporary loves. Kay’s always been more than just a vacation fling, and now he must convince this woman, who sees love as a course to certain heartbreak, to take that leap of faith and learn how safe love with the right man can be.

What’s next on the writing horizon for you?

I’m currently working hard to finish and submit the next story, currently called Love Burns, featuring two of Nate and Kay’s friends. This story takes off right from where Clear As Day ends. I love this couple’s chemistry, and I’ve enjoyed seeing their story come to life as they work through their personal trials and find their own happily ever after together. I also have a fantasy series that’s simmering on the back burner while I focus on these contemporary stories. Thank  goodness for coffee!

Is there anything you want to tell readers?

Never give up on your dreams. Clear As Day started life years ago as that “story under the bed you love but can’t do anything with.” There were many times I felt like giving up, but I kept on writing new stories. Then, the day came I finally knew what to do with Clear As Day and how to really write Nate and Kay’s story. Because I didn’t give up, now I can share this story I love.

Excerpt of Clear As Day:

If anything could beat waking to the sight of Kay’s beautiful face and breasts, at that moment Nate didn’t care.

She blushed and brushed a curl back from his forehead. “Hi there, sleepyhead.”

“Sorry I crashed on you.” He swept his gaze over her, enjoying how she flushed even deeper and her nipples tightened. Kay was a delicious mix of bashful and bold. “I’ve been seriously jet-lagged and road-lagged for days. Any phone calls or messages while I was out?” Guessing by the shifted shadows, he’d been out cold for a couple of hours. Not the most romantic move, but he felt rested.

His lame joke nudged a smile out of her. “Not a one.”

“One of the sincere advantages of no phone service.”

“You’re a nut, you know?” She leaned over and hesitantly kissed him. “I know I said it before, but I’m glad you’re here.” Kay was always soft-spoken, but the vulnerable note in her voice this time seized his heart hard.

With the I love you he wanted to say straining at his throat, Nate tugged Kay down into his arms and drifted his fingers over her spine. He had to do something about the tension gripping her. She’d stayed with him while he slept. That was a change, a very good one, but he still needed to soothe and distract her before she slipped away and disappeared into her thinking, planning, and painting. He let his hand circle in an easy, undemanding caress.

Why not say it? Doubts? No, no doubts at all. He felt it, he meant it, he’d even typed it into e-mails, but why keep swallowing his I love you now?

“So, you missed me?”

Her elusive grin flashed. “Well, it’s nice having someone else clean the fish for a change.” Soft giggles escaped her, and her tension released under his hand.

“Ah hah! An ulterior motive all along. Here I just thought you wanted my body.” He chuckled and tickled her side, and dove in for the sneak assault of kisses on her sensitive ears.

Want me for more.

Stifling her giggles, she caught his hand to her side. “Hmm…it is such a lovely body. I’m very fond of it.” She made a playful show of ogling him head to toe, her glowing smile making his formerly sated body wake right up and his heart crack with joy. He stroked his thumb over the lush handful of her breast, teasing the pert nipple, smiling at her catch of breath. “I may have mentioned I had some fantasies…” He tugged her over to straddle him and stroked his hands over the soft curves of her bottom.

“Anything in particular?” She leaned forward with her hair spilling over her shoulders, her breasts playing hide and seek behind the silky locks, and she teased her body over his rapidly hardening shaft.

Her eyes filled with laughter, and the sweet curve to her mouth was pure feminine mystery.

He sucked in his breath and arched under her. “Anything you want, babe.” 

You can find Babette:

Website: http://babettejames.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BabetteJames

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/BabetteJamesAuthor

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/babettejames

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/E1ur-avq5YI

The Wild Rose Press– Paperback & eBook http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=952

Amazon.com – Paperback & Kindle http://amzn.com/B007RN9STW

Barnes & Noble – Nook http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1109990576?ean=2940014230902

Come fall in love at the river.

Thanks for being my guest today.