Please welcome Victoria Blisse

Today I am thrilled to have fellow author Victoria Blisse visiting my blog.Victoria has a new book out at Total-E-Bound called Tasty Italian and I have been grilling her all about it.

  
Can you tell us a little about your latest release?

Certainly! Tasty Italian is the story of how Fiona meets Carlo at her local Italian restaurant. She falls instantly in lust with the young, handsome waiter and is taken by surprise when that lust is returned. How can their relationship continue though when Carlo has to go home to his home village back in Italy.

    What was the inspiration for this particular piece?

Believe it or not this story originated in a seaside town on the North East Coast of England! When I go to Scarborough in Yorkshire, my favourite town in the whole wide world, one of the places I HAVE to visit is Florio’s.  Florio’s is a brilliant little Italian restaurant that serves the most delicious food.

There also happens to be a rather handsome waiter there but obviously he has no influence on me wanting to go there, no of course not!  However he was the inspiration for Carlo in Tasty Italian!

     What did you love about writing this book?

I’ve created a hot Italian waiter, what do you think I enjoyed? Ha. I also loved writing about the food, finding out about Italy and working out how I could get my gal and guy to kiss! It was all round fun.

     Was anything especially difficult for you in this story?

Research, I’m not terribly good at it and I had to decide on a town in Italy for Carlo to come from and I had to research what it was like and how easy it was to get to.  It was interesting once I got into it but I do find looking something up can be like looking for a needle in a haystack now we’ve got so much information at our fingertips.

     Do you have any routines, quirks, peeves, when writing?

I mainly write in a morning when the house is quiet and I can concentrate also I’m one of these mad morning people and my brain just works better first thing in the morning.

I wonder if I do have any quirks, it’s hard to know if you’re being quirky in something where you rarely experience another person doing it!  So no, I don’t think I have any but you might want to ask my husband, he may disagree!

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

Generally the things that take me away from my writing can’t be classified as pleasures but it is no secret that I love to bake and sometimes I do bake when I know I should be writing. I can’t resist! When I read a new, tasty sounding recipe I have to give it a try!

  Is there anything you find particularly challenging about bringing a story to life?

I find the filling in difficult. You see ideas pop into my head. I’ll have a character or two first, then I will work out when/where/how they meet and I’ll have ideas for their first kiss and how things will develop from there. However, I won’t know precisely the plot from start to finish and the bits I get stuck on will be the bridges between the scenes that I’ve already imagined in my head.

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

I always find this a difficult question to answer because my characters are almost like children and I love them all very much!

Okay, but just between us, I do have a favourite. He’s called Joe and he’s a delicious dominant American who will be making his appearance in a Trio of books to be released by Xcite in the near future. I’m afraid I have no more details as I’ve only just signed the contract. I can tell you that they are Called Naughty, Naughtier and Naughtiest Rendezvous and they contain much romance, generous smatterings of humour and spankings a plenty!

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

Oh now this is a really cruel question! However I do love Death.

No, that’s not as morbid as it sounds! I mean the anthropomorphic personification of Death in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. I adore him. He’s brilliant.

  Do you get hot and bothered when writing sex?

Ask my Husband! *wink, wink, nudge nudge*

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

Well now, funny you should ask that! There is something very specific that you will find in every single Blisse you read. You will find a curvy, cuddly character. Usually it will be a rubenesque lady but there is a cuddly man in Lyrical, just to change things up a bit!

Why, you ask? Well, I got into this erotica writing biz for a few reasons and one of the major ones is that I’d gotten sick to death of reading about ‘perfect’ heroines with perfectly perky boobs and slim figures. I wanted to write about people like me. Because ladies with wobbly bits are sexy too!

  What will people come away with after reading your books?

Now this is what I’d like to think they’d come away with, whether they do or not is completely out of my hands. I write the words, I can’t make people read them in the way I want them too! I hope they will take away that everyone is sexy, that romance isn’t always serious, that it can make you laugh too.  I hope they will take away the desire to read more Blisse stories too!

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

Short nails and a distinct caffeine buzz? Oh, is that not what you meant? I have a sense of relief, a real, deep contentment (for a few hours anyway) that my story is finally done. It’s a really good feeling but I always have a hunger deep inside that pushes me on to write the next story and the next…

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

I offer you a series! My Getting Together Trilogy, available from Xcite is about as Blisse-typical as you can get. It’s romantic, funny and full of hot sex! So start out with Getting Physical and you’ll get to know my style pretty well.

 What kind of stories do you like to read?

I have a soft spot for fantasy and paranormal as you might have picked up from one of my earlier answers. I’m just enjoying reading Sommer Marsden’s Zombie Exterminators series, it’s brill!

 Are you still as passionate about writing as you were when you first started?

I suspect even more so. Before I wrote because I enjoyed it, now I write because I have to.

  What is coming next?

*resists desire to make a dirty comment*

Next, ah next we have an Office sex bet which ends up with lots of exhibitionistic goodness between three hot and horny characters of mine. Temporary Insanity is out on the 24^th October from Total-E-Bound. 

Keep an eye on http://www.victoriablisse.co.uk  to find out the release day for Naughty Rendezvous (containing Joe, my favourite character) and then, when we get to December we have something sweet, sexy and Seasonal called It’s Always Christmas in Lincoln. So there’s plenty still to come from me this year!

 Can you share a long term goal with us in relation to your work?

A fantasy of mine revolves around signed copies of my books selling for lots of money on eBay.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and letting me pick your brains about Tasty Italian. Can't wait to settle down with a steamy espresso and my Kindle and lose myself in Carlo.


Lily x

Blurb for Tasty Italian

Fiona was bored with her life but she didn’t realise that simply deciding to visit the local Italian restaurant for dinner one night would change it forever. When she laid eyes on the fit, young Italian waiter she fell instantly in lust. Carlo returned that ardour but how could their relationship develop when he had to move back to his home in Italy?

Excerpt From: Tasty Italian

Fiona was knackered after another long day at work. She was hungry, it was late and she didn’t want to cook. Her decision made, she walked past her car towards the red, white and green of Roberto’s restaurant sign. The beautiful summer’s evening and the mellow sunlight made even the urban sprawl of Manchester’s city centre seem beautiful and romantic. The hint of pink heralding good weather for the next day brought out the deep rouge of the red bricked buildings that she passed and drew dark swirling patterns on the tarmac below her feet.

From the moment she walked into the restaurant she was enveloped by the warmth of exuberant cooking. She could smell it, almost taste it on the air and could hear the gentle click and clunk of pans being shaken on the hob. She was instantly comforted.

“Ah, mia bella, would you like a table?” a loud voice called and was followed by a striding man. He was round, curly-haired and red-faced. His smile stretched the length of his impressive moustache. Roberto was larger than life and Fiona adored him.

“Ah, Fiona. I have just the perfect table for you, follow me.”

She followed him past tables of laughing, joking people to one in the corner, near the kitchen. He placed an open menu in front of her as she sat down.

“What would you like to drink tonight?”

“Just a glass of water, please Roberto.”

“No vino? That is criminal on a Friday night.”

“I’ve had a long day and I have to drive home. Water will really hit the spot, thank you.”

“Ah, a wise lady, a wise lady indeed. My mama would have loved you.”

“Why, thank you.” Fiona chuckled.

He always managed to make her smile. She was completely charmed by the effervescent man and the homely interior of the restaurant. There were postcards on the walls, sweet tourist ornaments on shelves and a lovely higgledy-piggledy arrangement to the tables. It was like visiting a favourite family member. She felt comfortable dining there.

“It is busy here tonight, mia bella, but I will have Carlo look after you. He is a good lad.”