Vintage Vonnie : Fender Bender Blues

I've got Niecey Roy here today. Getting her to slow down long enough to answer some of my questions was no easy feat. The woman is like a beautiful hummingbird, flitting here, flitting there. I shudder to think how many calories she burns up in a day. Niecey is also very generous...

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She tells me she knew she wanted to be a writer from a very young age, but her moment of enlightenment came after watching the movie You’ve Got Mail. It was then she realized her place in life and happily parked her butt on writing romance. Her dream was to create sexy vixens, hunky, half naked heroes, and above all, romance; lots and lots of butterflies in the belly, breathless first kisses and happily-ever-afters. Oh girl, now you're talkin'!

When she’s not at her day job where she works as a legal assistant, she can be found at home at a cluttered desk, pounding her tired little fingers away on a keyboard with nothing but black pepper flavored sunflower seeds and Visine as her weapons for mass-romance-novel-creation.

When her fingers need a break, you’ll find her at a table with friends, drinking a few martinis and showing off a new pair of (sometimes ridiculous) high heels. She’s usually the loudest at the table and most often the one snorting with laughter.

1. What is your life like away from the computer? Tell us something about your household.

My house is crazy, crazy, crazy. My husband works rotating 12 hour shifts at the hospital, and I work as a legal assistant for 6 hours a day and do transcription at home after I pick the kids up from school. I have an 8 year old girl and a 6 year old boy, so you can imagine the noise level... ha! I spend any spare minute I’m not working with my kids, and when they’re content playing games or watching a show or reading, that’s when I get some “me” time. Doesn’t happen often, so I savor it!

2. What is your writing schedule like?

Writing schedule??? This is a new concept for me...what is a writing schedule??? But really, I don’t have much of one. The only set writing time I have is over my lunch hour during the week. I steal away from the law office and head down the block to a coffee shop called Barista’s where they’ve been kind enough to put up with me snickering from a corner table while I write my “funny” scenes. Other than that, I just have try and fit it in somewhere between kids, housework and a husband’s rotating schedule. One day, I’d like to say I write from 8:30 to 2:30, because that’s when I’m the most creative.

3. What is the story behind your book title?

Ah, well, I had the book title, FENDER BENDER BLUES, before I even started writing the book! I was leaving a parking lot when this hot guy backed his pickup into my car. I took his insurance information and suddenly the book was in my head.

4. Tell us about your current release…or soon to be release.

Fender Bender Blues is a contemporary romantic comedy. It’s about a 27 year old woman who has never once doubted her career choice until something horrible happens to her while on the job. Suddenly, she’s just not so sure. So she takes a break from social work and goes out to look for a new career, thinking maybe she made the wrong choice. That’s when the hero enters, a man who has never doubted anything about his life, until he meets Rach. It’s a fun ride, and I hope you take it with them.

5. If your new release were being made into a movie who would you cast to play your heroine and hero?

I love this question!!! I see Amy Adams as Rachel. She played in Trouble With the Curve, Enchanted and Julia & Julia. I think she’d be perfect for Rachel and she looks just like I picture Rachel to look!

For Craig, the hero of Fender Bender Blues, I see Chris Pine. He played in Star Trek and People Like Us. When his hair is on the blonder side and with those blue eyes of his, he’s the perfect Craig.

6. Do you belong to a writers group or have critique partners. Do you enjoy their input or do you find it hard to take criticism?

I have an amazing critique partner. Her name is Donna Sturgeon. She is seriously one of the most gifted writers I have ever had the privilege to read. Her prose never fail to take my breath away, so when she tells me something is or isn’t working, I believe her.

FENDER BENDER BLUES

Her life took a wrong turn. He's driven by success. They didn't count on crashing into love...

Rachel Bennett loved her job until the day she finds herself doubting her choices. Now she's hunting for a new career, but starting over isn't easy. Her plan is simple—no distractions until she finds her dream job. She didn't plan on fate throwing her a curveball in the form of a fender bender with a sexy guy in an expensive suit.

Craig Larsen is a wealthy, successful business owner with a plan of his own: survive his current PR nightmare and stay away from his overly determined ex-girlfriend. His need for control and personal success is turned upside down when he meets Rach, a sassy redhead who can't drive.

Soon they find themselves battling with Rach's grumpy old neighbor, toilet-papering the trees of a high school nemesis, and fighting over the last slice of pizza. Can two very different people plus one fender bender equal a chance at forever?

EXCERPT:

“Now what?”

“Nothing.”Rach sniffed.

Craig shifted to eye her warily. “Since when do you answer me with single words?”

“Since I decided I’m not talking to you,” she answered with a shrug, crumpling up the white paper wrapper from her sub.

Craig leaned his face in close to her neck and enjoyed the startled jerk of her shoulders. Her eyes opened wide in surprise. His breath shifted a few strands of hair at the nape of her neck as he whispered, “Why, because you want me?”

“You’re incorrigible,” she said, breathless, her cheeks flushed.

She’s enjoying this. The thought pleased him. Rach was on her back beside him now, her eyes closed. He glanced around the park to see if anyone was watching. No one was. He could swoop in for a kiss and no one would catch him. No one would care, he told himself. She won’t mind…

“I can feel you staring.”

Craig smiled down at her. “So what.”

She peeked at him with one green eye. “So stop it.”

“And if I don’t?” Maybe she’d tackle him, push him down on the blanket and…

She didn’t. She promptly closed her eye and went back to pretending indifference. “I’ll hit you, that’s what.”

“Not if I do this, you won’t.”

He’d only meant it to be a short kiss, but the pleasure of touching his lips to hers kept him there longer. Her tongue was velvet soft and warm against his and the slow mating of their mouths quickened his heartbeat even as he told himself, It’s no big deal, just a kiss.

She nipped his bottom lip and sent heat sliding through his body. The woman could kiss.

She whispered soft against his lips, “Now why don’t you admit that it’s you who wants me.”