Love Under Two Outcasts: An interview with Cara Covington

Charlotta Carmichael is mostly not ashamed of the way she paid for her college degree. Mostly. As an exotic dancer at a gentlemen’s club, she earned enough to get her degree in psychology.

But sometimes the scorn she’s suffered in the past comes back to haunt her. She fears a similar reaction from Jesse and Barry Benedict. Will they still think she’s good enough for them if she tells them the truth?

Jesse and Barry know all about past mistakes and regret. Feeling like outcasts, they left their Montana home and headed to Lusty, hoping to make a new start. Once they understand that Charlotta is their soul mate, they confess their sins of the past—because they want their relationship to have a solid foundation.

As Jesse and Barry rush to save Charlotta from a stalker, they all soon learn that moving on is easier said than done—and requires a bigger leap of faith than they’d ever imagined.

An excerpt from Love Under Two Outcasts

Once she reached her open office door, she stood back inviting the men to enter first. She’d originally planned for them to have their meeting in the more comfortable seating area comprised of a love seat and two chairs around a small table located against one wall. She reconsidered now.

Charlotta freely admitted to herself that the only thing that made her stick to her original plan was her own stubborn pride. It wasn’t Jesse and Barry Benedict’s fault that she seemed to be having an extremely physical reaction to them.

You are such a liar. That’s not the only reason. You want to sit as close to them as possible.

Charlotta hated that her inner voice was such a nag—and that it was almost always right. As the gentlemen made themselves comfortable on the love seat, she mentally sighed. She did want to sit as close to them as decently possible. She had never had this kind of a reaction before. It had been several months since she’d felt any kind of sensual stirrings, period. What was wrong with being open, at least a little, to the possibilities? These men were going to be volunteers in a program she helped oversee, not clients. In short, there was no moral reason she couldn’t… what?

You want to jump their bones.

She told her inner voice to shut the hell up. Who asked you anyway?

Buy Links

Amazon / Siren-Bookstrand

An interview with Cara Covington

How long have you been writing erotic romance, and what inspired you to get into this genre?

I’ve been writing erotic romance since 2005, when I first learned of the genre. Before that I wrote romance. The first erotic romance novel that I ever wrote was also the first one published: Made For Each Other, which was published by Siren in March of 2007.

What gave you the idea for your latest book?

The latest book is the next one in my Lusty, Texas series and is a cross-over novel (Crossing Heather Rainier’s Absentminded Angel). The heroes were introduced in a previous book, members of the Montana branch of the Benedict family; the heroine was a secondary character in Heather Rainier’s Divine Creek Ranch series. Heather gave me this heroine, as well as the challenge of redeeming my heroes, from the storyline of her book in December 2013, Awakening Veronica. The theme of both our cross-over novels is redemption.

Who are some of your favorite erotic romance writers or other literary inspirations?

I’m a huge Heather Rainier fan; I also love reading D. B. Reynolds (her Vampires In America series is fabulous), Emma Wildes, and Kelley Armstrong.

Describe your typical writing routine. Where do you usually write? How many words/pages per day? Do you keep set hours? What does your workspace look like?

I treat writing as a full time job. So everyday, after my devotionals, I get to work. I have an office, and my desk faces a window but I really can’t see around my monitor unless I wiggle. I do try to hit 1,000 words a day. Some days I go way beyond and inevitably some days I fall short. Set hours? Not really. Generally, I’m at my desk by 8 a.m., and my “writing” part of my day is done by 4. But sometimes, the muse moves me and I am working into the night.

Do you have any favorite foods or beverages that help keep your creativity flowing?

Not really. I do have to have my morning coffee, and it is full strength. The others are decaf but I truly need that first high-test one to get me going. I have to remember to break for meals. This is not an option as I am diabetic.

Do you have any writing superstitions or rituals when starting (or ending) a new book?

I have a few routine things I do. When beginning a story, I open a document and call it “basic concept.” This is a very loose outline. Mostly it is me just rambling about who these characters are, and what their history is, and that leads to what the need and want. I keep writing this document until I have the first sentence. I do that with every book. As to the ending, I do actually write those two words: The End.

What do you think makes for a good erotic erotic romance story?

Characters. The best stories revolve around characters. You need to make them real, and you need to make the reader fall in love with them and therefore care about what happens to them. This, by the way, is true with every kind of story that you would call fiction.

After characters, you need to give them challenges that are relatable, that the reader can say, “oh my goodness, I so know how that is!” I am so very blessed to hear from readers with every book who tell me that they really identified with what my characters were going through.

What’s your favorite euphemism for genitalia?

Favorites? I don’t have any favorites. I use no purple prose, I call things what they are. So if you want to know what those words are, for women: feminine folds, slit, pussy, and cunt. For men, I use cock and dick. Men have told me that while “penis” is correct, they never think of their man parts that way—so I try not to use that too often, unless of course it fits the situation.

About the Author

Morgan Ashbury, also writing as Cara Covington, has been a writer since she was first able to pick up a pen. In the beginning it was a hobby, a way to create a world of her own, and who could resist the allure of that? Then as she grew and matured, life got in the way, as life often does. She got married and had three children, and worked in the field of accounting, for that was the practical thing to do and the children did need to be fed. And all the time she was being practical, she would squirrel herself away on quiet Sunday afternoons, and write.

Most children are raised knowing the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. Morgan’s children also learned the Paper Rule: thou shalt not throw out any paper that has thy mother’s words upon it.

Believing in tradition, Morgan ensured that her children’s children learned this rule, too.

Life threw Morgan a curve when, in 2002, she underwent emergency triple bypass surgery. Second chances are to be cherished, and with the encouragement and support of her husband, Morgan decided to use hers to do what she’d always dreamed of doing–writing full time.

Morgan has always loved writing romance. It is the one genre that can incorporate every other genre within its pulsating heart. Romance showcases all that humankind can aspire to be. And, she admits, she’s a sucker for a happy ending.

Morgan’s favorite hobbies are reading, cooking, and traveling—though she would rather you didn’t mention that last one to her husband. She has too much fun teasing him about having become a “Traveling Fool” of late.

Morgan lives in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a mysterious cat, an eight pound Morkie dog who thinks he’s a German shepherd, and her husband of forty-two years, David.

You can find her online on Facebook, Siren-Bookstrand, and at her website, morganashbury.com.

Giveaway

Cara will be awarding a $25 Bookstrand gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Don’t forget to follow the rest of the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning! All tour dates can be found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway