Romancing September #RomancingSeptember – Day 18

Welcome to Day 18 of Romancing September Across The World Tour. Today our guest is E.L. Lindley. Catch up with more from E.L in a few hours with the second part of our tour when Stephanie chats to her.

 

Where is your home town? 

Sheffield – it’s where I was born and grew up and then I returned to live here about 10 years ago and I’m really glad I did.

How long have you been writing romance? 

I’ve been writing officially for about five years. I published my first book, Business As Usual in 2011. I don’t really consider myself a writer of romance per se although my books do have lots of romance in them. However, they could also be categorised as thrillers or mysteries or family drama. One of the nicest things a reader has ever said about my books is in a good reads review, where a lovely lady wrote, “She’s a very versatile author and seems to write very different books each time.” And this is really what I try to achieve, I hope readers get whatever it is they are looking for within my books, be that romance, drama, mystery or whatever.

What is your favourite sub-genre of romance? 

As a writer, I tend to veer towards mysteries and these are the kinds of books I enjoy reading as well. I don’t mind if they are light-hearted fun mysteries in say the Janet Evanovich style or more serious, gritty thrillers but, I do like there to be at least a hint of some romance in there as well. Don’t we all?

Where is Dare to Lose set? 

Dare To Lose is set in Brighton, which is a place very dear to my heart because I lived there very happily for a number of years. It’s a wonderful place to live or visit as it has something for everyone. It’s on the coast but it has a vibrant city life as well. It’s got culture, countryside, family fun and best of all the sea – what more could anyone want?

What are Nicola’s dreams? 

Nicola’s dream is to be in control of her own destiny. She has worked hard in her career as a teacher and always done the right thing but she finds herself at odds with the modern world of education. She has a passion for cooking and always wanted to own her own cafe but never had the confidence to go after what she wanted. When she loses her job, it sort of galvanises her into following her dreams. Part of the appeal for Nicola in owning her business is so that she can be control of her own life. She had a chaotic childhood being moved around at the whim of her mother, who is a bit of a wild one even in her 70s. Nicola just wants a calm ordered life but fate, as is often the case, has other ideas.

Who goes missing? 

Nicola is a very caring person and when she employs a student to work as a waitress, the young woman quickly becomes like part of her family. Jessica disappears and Nicola feels duty-bound to look for her, especially as she’s an overseas student and all of her family live in the USA.

Tell us about the love interest for Nicola.

Eventually Jessica’s father, Jack, arrives in Brighton to search for his daughter. He is a police detective so he knows what he’s doing but, he’s obviously at a disadvantage in a strange country, so he needs Nicola to help him navigate his way around both physically and culturally. He’s divorced from Jessica’s mum and not in the market for romance but, as he stays in Nicola’s home; they inevitably become closer and closer.

Tell us about the criminals that she finds herself involved with.

Nicola has no experience of the seedier side Brighton and finding herself in the company of gangsters is a bit of a shock. Brighton, like all cities, has areas where social deprivation and drugs are massive problems and, in Dare To Lose, criminals from Albania have joined forces with local gangsters to control the drug flow and prostitution. In their search for Jessica, Nicola and Jack find themselves plunged into this world, which proves very dangerous for both of them.

Tell us what you are working on at the moment. 

I’m currently working on the fifth novel in my Georgie Connelly series. It’s proving to be great fun to write and I’m hoping that it will provide just as much entertainment for readers.

Where can readers find out more about you?

All of my books are available on Amazon where I have an author page http://www.amazon.co.uk/E.L-Lindley/e/B006S2GRCE/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1407160410&sr=1-1 (for UK readers)I’m also on Twitter @LindleyE

and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/EL-Lindley/205011402903349?ref_type=bookmark

And http://www.amazon.com/E.L.-Lindley/e/B006S2GRCE/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1369223835&sr=1-2-ent (for US readers)

If readers want to find out more they can visit my website at ellindley.weebly.com where there‘s lots of information about all of my books and I also have a blog.

Find out more about E.L from Stephanie Hurt’s blog and all our Romance writers http://stephanie-hurt.com/