Tuesday Triumph: A Revealing Interview with Lily Harlem

.     Today's triumph is all about the fabulositiy of Ms. Lily Harlem. Ladies and gentlemen, take some advice from one who has read some of her work...


      Get out your asbestos panties and jocks,  cause when Lily picks up a pen, the result is sure to be fiery! I cooked up a few questions for Lily, and she kindly consented to answer them...with the result being the intriguing little Q & A you'll find below.
      Go, read the interview. Then, when you find yourself panting *mind out of the gutter luv* for more of Lily's fabulous brand of steamy, sexy romance--get right on over to Lily Harlem's corner of the world and poke around. There's sure to be something sexy going on.
  
     Can you tell us a little about the story you have coming out today?

    

     My short story Berets and Bras is an action packed military romance. There are only two characters in the whole book and the sexual tension fizzes from the word go and  steams right until the end!
  
     What was the inspiration for this particular piece?

I was thinking of hunky military types one day and just felt compelled to create one of my own- that is how my mind works! Tom came about and of course he needed a love/lust interest. That’s when I decided to give the tale a twist. He wouldn’t have an ordinary woman, not a big macho mercenary guy like him. So Carol, or Carl as she’s known, is a feisty little thing and a force to be reckoned with in her own right.

 What did you love about writing this book?

The way the truth simmers beneath what they are feeling and then the sudden urgency and the unique circumstances in which they come together - its explosive.


Was anything especially difficult for you in this story?

Imagining what it is like to be under fire – fortunately not something I have experienced. And also getting a past, present and future into a short story is always a challenge.


What inspired you to write your first book?

The first piece of saucy literature I wrote was for a competition. It’s called Madam President, and is all about the first female president of the USA having a wild romping affair with the British Prime Minister – they are of course both gorgeous! I was thrilled when their naughty Oval Office shenanigans won me the Love Honey Award for Erotic Fiction. I realized then that I had found my genre! You can read Madam President for FREE on my website.


*waggling eyebrows* 


Any guilty pleasures that steal you away from your writing process?

Walking. I love to walk. I am very lucky and live near the beach so spend a lot of time mooching along the water’s edge with my hyperactive dog - usually dreaming up more spicy stories.

The delectable Mr. Harlem is another wonderful guilty pleasure and is far too distracting for his own good!


Who is your favorite character you’ve written to date and why?

Not one but three favourite characters and the list is growing. I’ve dreamed up my own hockey team called the Vipers. I have three full length novels in my Hot Ice series to date, and Logan ‘Pheonix’ Taylor, The Brick, and Rick ‘Ramrod’ Lewis are just smoke-off-the page, rough and ready gorgeous. I am working on the fourth book now, and Raven is just as delectable, and the woman who catches him every bit as lucky as my other heroines.


Who is your favorite character, full stop? In anyone’s written or unwritten story.

Great question. I thought it would be hard to answer but no. I adore Henry DeTamble from the Time Traveller’s Wife. I completely fell for him and my heart soared and broke as I read the book. I thought Eric Bana was wonderfully cast in the film.


Do you get hot and bothered when writing sex?

No, not hot and bothered, but I type really, really fast when I am getting to the grand finale!! And if anyone interrupts me – not pretty!


Mention one element that readers will find in all your books, and why.

Sex, sex, and more sex. Usually toys and bit of kink too. Why? Because I like to leave the bedroom door open. It is so disappointing if you’ve spent an entire book waiting for your hero and heroine to get it together and then just as they are heading up the stairs hand in hand, lust in their eyes….  The End!!!!!


What do you come away with after you’re finished writing a book?

Usually it is more like what do I get – a really messy house. I am rubbish at keeping up with my chores when my head is in a novel. Everything goes to pot as I frantically get the story down. In a way I hope my readers get an element of that too, that they become lost in the story and forget about mundane tasks, real life, for a little while at least.


What book would you recommend to a new reader that isn’t familiar with your work?

I write a lot of ménage, Shared and Shared Too, being two full lengths. They’re explicit but also romantic. They would be a good place to start. But also my Mattress Music trilogy, it heats as the stories follow a raunchy group of rock-stars finding their girls! Or just try my new release today, Berets and Bras!


What is coming next? (WIP)

As I mentioned I am working on my Hot Ice series, but also on a few short stories and a co-author. I write with the multi-talented Natalie Dae. We have our first novel out in April next year with Total-E-Bound, That Filthy Book, and we are currently midway through writing our second. I also have a Christmas novel, Cold Nights, Hot Bodies, that is waiting for editing. I’m looking forward to re-visiting my characters in that one, its about a girl who is obsessed with reading erotic romance!