Guest Author: Lexi Blake


Today’s guest is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who writes quite a variety of novels and says that she believes “in happy endings no matter how odd the couple, threesome or foursome may seem.” 

Her Masters & Mercenaries Series has been enormously popular, and of course she’s written a couple of titles in the Rising Storm series (along with other bestselling authors), the Courting Justice, Lawless, Masters of Menage Series ...and the list goes on!!


I first met this lovely author at a RT Convention some years ago and have been to some fabulous events that she has sponsored.

Icaught up very briefly with her again at the inagural Booklovers Convention in New Orleans this year. She’s both a warm and vibrant lady who impresses as having a terrific sense of fun.

Joining me from North Texas, it’s my pleasure to welcome Lexi Blake as my guest today.

Lexi, thank you for joining me. I’m catching you hot on the heels of your two latest releases (Once Upon a Time in Bliss was released on July 16th and Lost in You will be released on August 6th). Would you mind telling us a little about these two stories and whether either of them posed any particular challenges to you?

 First, thanks so much for having me! Once Upon a Time in Bliss is actually a re-release. It originally came out in 2013 under my first pen name, Sophie Oak. I got the rights back and I’ve been working on folding that world into my Lexi Blake universe. It’s been interesting to see where I was back then and how I deal with the same situations now as a writer. As for Lost in You, it’s the third book in a five-book cycle, so it’s kind of when everything explodes. It’s a fine line making sure I pay attention to the couple as well as the overall external storyline.

I have read that you started your writing in journalism and writing plays. Your novel writing has been very successful filled with so many high points. Are there any particularly special moments you’d like to share with us?

Obviously seeing that first book in print is a huge deal. Making a list for the first time is something you don’t forget. I was in London the day I first made the Times. I remember vividly waking up and getting the text. I walked around London in a fog all day because I couldn’t believe it had actually happened. There are quiet moments that are meaningful, too. How can any author forget the readers who come to meet you and tell you how your books helped them? That makes everything worthwhile.

I hope you emerged from the fog and did something extra special to celebrate making the NY Times Best seller list!!

You have written At the Pleasure of the President and Smoke and Sin with Shayla Black. That must have been really fun to do together. How did you manage the process of writing together?

We plot the entire book together. Often we’ll go somewhere and hole up in a hotel or a B&B and spend several days working out the plot and characterizations. There is usually a whole lot of wine involved in these sessions! Once we know how we want the book to go, I write a first draft. Shayla then takes that first draft and edits and adds in layers. It’s what works for us.

  

You have written the Texas Sirens series as “Lexi Blake writing as Sophie Oak”. Can you tell readers why you chose to brand yourself slightly differently for this series?

Sophie Oak was my original brand. Because of my contract at the time, I couldn’t indie publish under that name and I didn’t think The Dom Who Loved Me really worked at the publisher. So Lexi was born. I’d always wanted the Texas Sirens and Bliss series to be part of my Masters and Mercenaries world, but I couldn’t connect them for years. Now that I own the rights to those books, I’ve been re-editing, updating, and writing new scenes for each book. I kept the Sophie Oak name on the books so we can avoid confusion for people who read them back in the day.

  

I'd love to hear about your current writing project. Can you tell us a little bit about it please?

I’m actually working on my urban fantasy series. The new book is called Stealing Summer and like Lost in You, it kind of blows up that universe. I guess it’s my year for that. The Thieves series is kind of the series of my heart. Writing those books got me back into writing after a long break, so I’m always happy to jump back into that world. It’s going to be the first to have more than one POV, too.

Sounds interesting - and challenging to write, too, with more than one POV.

Thank you for joining me today, Lexi! I hope to see you at Nashville next March for the Booklovers Convention.

Thanks for having me and I look forward to seeing you and everyone in Nashville!

If you’d like more information on Lexi, please visit her website: www.lexiblake.com




Thank you all for joining me today on the blog with Lexi. 

It seems a very busy time of the year for authors, and I'm not sure whether I'll be back with another guest interview next Saturday or the Saturday after...depends on the writing commitments of my invited guests! Rest assured, it will be soon.

Also, I've had several subscribers ask me to respond to some questions about my own releases and works in progress, so I am planning to answer these questions in a post in October. If you have any particular questions you'd like me to answer, email me with your question(s) at alyssaj.montgomeryromance@gmail.com and I'll add it to those I have received. (A note for Lyn W - yes I am working on the third medieval title!!)

Take care and Happy Reading!!
Best wishes,
Alyssa

www.alyssajmontgomery.com


 _________________________________________________________________________________




About the Blogger:
Alyssa J. Montgomery is an Australian contemporary romance author who is published by Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises, Australia). She also 
writes medieval romance as Alyssa James.



 

Latest release: Seduced by the Enemy (April 4th, 2019) Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises, Australia)

Next releases: Seduced by the Stranger (October 4th, 2019); The Magic of Christmas (November 12th), Seduced by the Billionaire (April, 2020) - all published by Escape Publishing (Harlequin Enterprises, Australia) 














Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guest Author: Tina DeSalvo

Image
Today’s guest author’s career in journalism spanned twenty-five years, and she had a huge variety of roles—covering floods and hurricanes with national broadcasts on major national broadcasters CNN, NBC and CBS, as well as being a play by play sports announcer for basketball and football! I met Tina DeSalvo briefly at my first RT Convention in New Orleans back in 2014, but it was at a post-convention soiree in Las Vegas, hosted by Kathryn Falk, that we had a chance to chat and connect one-to-one. Tina is one of the warmest and most generous ladies you’ll ever meet. Along with Cherry Adair and Stella Barcelona, Tina set out to raise funds for the fight against breast cancer. All the profits of her first story, ‘Elli’ go to the Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center, and Tina even organised a breast screening bus at the RT Reno convention. It’s lovely to have Tina as my guest on the blog today. Welcome Tina! First, would you tell us about your next release “The Fathers of Victori
Read more

Guest Author: Jane Porter

Image
My guest today is an American romance author who’ll be in Australia again very soon and is to be a guest at an Australian Romance Readers Association Romantic Rendezvous on the 16 th   of August.  Now, although she writes fiction, she shares her name with a major fictional character from Edgar Rice Burroughs series of Tarzan novels! I’m speaking, of course, about Jane Porter! Having sold her first novel to Harlequin in 2000,  Jane writes both romance novels and women’s fiction and is a NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author with over 12 million books in print, in twenty languages and in twenty-five countries! Her novel "Flirting with Forty" was made into the Lifetime movie of the same name and starred Heather Locklear, and she founded Tule Publishing in 2013.  In 2014 her novel, “Take Me, Cowboy” won a RITA Award, and this year she’s a RITA Finalist again with her story “Miracle on Chance Avenue”.  (Congratulations Jane!) She’s no stranger to Australia a
Read more

Guest Author: Madeline Hunter

Image
My guest today is a New York Times best selling author from Pennsylvania who has a Ph.D in Art History and who has taught at college level. She has a very frank article on her website titled “My First Sale” where she details her journey to securing her first contract. Like many published authors, she faced numerous rejections from various publishing houses saying that “I wrote a million words before I sold”. However, her resilience and tenacity of spirit has led to her having over 32 historical romances published in sixteen languages and with over six million books in print. I can only imagine that all those books and all those satisfying hours she’s given her readers over the years since her first book was published in June of 2000 must give her a tremendous sense of fulfilment.   But, her achievement doesn’t end there. She has also been deservedly recognised by being a seven time RITA finalist, and she has won the coveted RITA Award twice!         It is my pleasure to welcome M
Read more