By: Annie Seaton
Congratulations to "Jonetta", the winner in Annie's giveaway. Thank you to all who participated!
Well, it’s the twenty sixth of June!
And today is my birthday...if anyone
had told me ten , five or even three years ago that I would be spending my
fifty ‘somethingth’ birthday writing a
blog for Just Contemporary Romance, I
would have shaken my head in disbelief!
Over the past two years, I have undertaken the most amazing journey and achieved my lifelong dream of being not only an author...but a published author.
I took one of those side roads that
beckoned and left a career as a high school principal to try my hand at writing
romance novels. Within a year, I had a bestseller on the Amazon virtual book
shelves!
I’ve dipped my toe in the waters of
contemporary romance, paranormal romance, steampunk romance and now romantic
suspense. And I’ve loved every minute of it.
Over the way I’ve made some wonderful
friends both , fellow authors and readers and appreciate the contact and
talking to them virtually every day as writing can be a lonely occupation. One
of the questions I often get asked is ... where do I get my inspiration and I
can answer that easily.
Everyday life! I love watching
people...in the supermarket, on the bus, walking on the beach and I love
imaging their stories. Sometimes stories come to me in my dreams and I try to
get them down as soon as I wake up before they disperse like gossamer threads.
Brianne Ballantine, the sexy,
vulnerable heroine in Italian Affair came to me in the beauty salon! My secret
weakness for pampering myself is having a facial—it does wonders for the
stiff neck from sitting at a keyboard all day and when you have had a few
birthdays...it is an essential! As I lay back with gunk on my face
and cucumber on my eyes, my beautician told me how she had discovered her
birth grandfather on Lipari Island.
My eyes flew open, the cucumber went flying and Brianna Ballantine was born in that moment. Free spirited and with an urgent need to find a husband in four days, she meets Tom on the plane on the way to Italy. And that is where their story begins.
My eyes flew open, the cucumber went flying and Brianna Ballantine was born in that moment. Free spirited and with an urgent need to find a husband in four days, she meets Tom on the plane on the way to Italy. And that is where their story begins.
I loved writing their story and I have
been delighted with the wonderful reviews and the reader response.

“Excuse me. Oh, sorry.” She pushed past the
few passengers who remained standing and were loading their luggage into the
overhead compartments. Her laptop bumped the seats all the way up the aisle and
she apologized, hitching it higher on her shoulder. She cursed softly when she
reached her seat at the very back of the plane and opened the hatch above her
seat row to find it was already crammed full with bags.
I
hate it when that happens. Next time I’ll be on
time, she promised herself.
She
handed her laptop over to one of the cabin staff to stow it in another
compartment. Glancing down at her boarding pass, she smiled when she saw she’d
been allocated the window seat. No matter how many times she flew, she
preferred sitting near the window so she could see the ground approach when the
plane landed on terra firma.
“Excuse
me.” She smiled at the man sitting in the middle of the three-seat row. The
aisle seat was vacant. “I need to get past.”
He
ignored her.
“Excuse
me.” She stood with her hands on her hips as the fasten seat belt sign came on and the flight attendant
gestured for her to be seated. She shrugged her shoulders and pointed to the
man who was ignoring her, and then she realized he had earphones in. She
reached out and tapped his shoulder, and when he looked up, she grinned at him.
It was the sleaze who’d been checking out her ass in the coffee shop.
“Sorry,”
she said pointing to the window. “I’m in the window seat. I need to get
through.” He closed the laptop and slid his legs to the side so she could get
past. Settling into her seat, she reached over and held out her hand.
“I’m
Brianna. I hate flying and I talk too much when I’m nervous so I’ll apologize
in advance.”
Annie lives with her husband, and ‘Bob’ the dog and two white cats in a house next to the beach on the east coast of Australia. She sits in her writing chair, gazing at the ocean and writing stories. Their two children are grown and married and she loves spending time gardening, walking on the beach and spoiling her two grandchildren. She has always been fascinated by all things romantic and has found her niche in life writing romance novels, ranging from contemporary to paranormal with a foray into steampunk!
Her debut full length novel, Holiday Affair, a contemporary romance set in the South Pacific was released as part of Entangled Publishing’s Indulgence line in March 2012 and has been a best seller on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The sequel Italian Affair was released in early June and will be followed shortly after by Outback Affair. Annie has more books being released in 2013 with Entangled Publishing in the Bliss, Entangled Suspense and Covet imprints.
Buy links:
http://www.amazon.com/Italian-Affair-ebook/dp/B00CNTTEAI
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/italian-affair-annie-seaton/1115375432?ean=9781622661374&isbn=9781622661374
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/italian-affair/id645263903?mt=11
Annie loves to hear from readers at: annieseaton26@gmail.com
Her website is
http://www.annieseatonromance.com/
and her blog is at
http://annieseaton.blogspot.com.au/
You can find her on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/AnnieSeatonAuthor
and
https://www.facebook.com/annieseaton26
and Twitter
https://twitter.com/annieseaton26
I loved The Italian Affair. It made me giggle! Wold love to read the first book in the series.
ReplyDeleterluken05atyahoodotcom
Happy Birthday!!!! I have The Italian Affair and would love the first book! Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteJonettaallen77 at yahoo dot com
What a fun way to celebrate your birthday! And I also talk to much when I'm nervous. Hell, I talk too much regardless! *laugh*
ReplyDeleteHi Annie!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday! It's so fun to share a special day with you--and what a great dream you've realized. Congrats on all the success your "Affairs" are having! I love the excerpt from "Italian Affair" -- and I'm Abigail's twin talking sister (among other traits, it would seem). I just plain talk too much, so I relate to Brianna.
It's wonderful to meet you here--I wish you all the best with your writing! Sounds to me as if you made the right career switch!
I love your 'affairs' and am so glad you made the transition from teaching to writing! Looking forward to the yet to be released books you've mentioned.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday! We're almost time twins! Mine was yesterday.