What are your five favorite books, and why?
My list varies depending on what I'm reading but excluding my own books which I do actually like re-reading - this is my list for today and in no particular order of preference
:
Making Bridey by Mike Newton I love this books because Bridey is just so lovely everyone must surely love her. Great plot, great romance. Great erotica
The New Bottoming Book by Dossie Easton and Janet W Hardy. It goes hand in hand with 'the New Topping Book' And together they provided a lot of the information as part of my research for my own books. Cheating maybe having two in one - but really on this subject you can't really have one without the other.
The Pet Shop by K D Grace - such a quirky, humorous book but with a journey of discovery, a twist in the tale and of course romance. Loved this.
Carved in Stone by Donna McDonald. All her books are delightful. But this was the first one I read. The first book I usually read from an author is usually my favourite. I love this book because it has characters that are from my peer group as 'older' and not many books have that or rather didn't until indie authors started publishing. Her books give everyone hope of finding love and romance again regardless of age.
Somebody's Angel by Kallypso Masters. Emotional, tear jerker, but absolutely fantastic story of love, heartache, the fear of developing of relationships and making commitment, showing just how far someone will go to try and overcome obstacles from their past. The third book I read from this author and though I loved the others this one out of all the series did it for me against my usual like the first one best theory.
How do you approach cover design?
For my first two books I searched ready made covers and purchased them. For my third book which is the first in a new series, 'Lots of Spice', I decided to create my own. I summarise in a few sentences the main plot of the book and some items it may contain. For example 'Vanilla Spice' has a scene where one character is dresses sexily in jogging bottoms, much of the action takes place in and around a rugby club and there is a mild BDSM erotic content. So the cover has a woman's lower half in jogging bottoms and a picture depicting a rugby pitch. There is also a pair of handcuffs hanging off the last 'E' in Spice, which will be a signature running through the series. In the next book, 'Red Spice' there is a scene about a submissive's black coat with red buttons, the content is more with regards to the D/s side of BDSM, scenes and the action is mainly in kink clubs so will have a cover representative of that.
Read more of this interview.