Aurelia B. Rowl – Giveaway and Interview about CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED, her debut novel

ANNOUNCEMENT:  The giveaway for a copy of CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED was won by Aline Tobing

1. Aurelia, I remember meeting you online just over a year ago when you started your writing career. In that extremely short time, you’ve just had your first novel published. In a world where rejections outnumber acceptances, you are what is commonly known as phenomenally successful. How does it feel? Surreal! No other word covers it. I feel both incredibly lucky and thankful that it has happened so soon for me. It has happened a year before even I had hoped, and has given me a great boost of confidence and sense of belief that I can write.

2.  CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED is a Christmas story but it’s releasing very late at Christmas, isn’t it?  What do you think? I agree, it is very late, but it is how the publishing schedule worked out, with Christmas being the theme of the month. Christmas is Cancelled was originally scheduled to come out after Christmas, so I am thankful it came out when it did.

3. Aurelia, I’m scandalised to learn that you have a raunchy alter ego by the name of Allie A. Burrow. What’s the main difference between Allie and Aurelia?The biggest difference is the heat level and the detail with Allie being more explicit and graphic. After seeing a submission call-out, I decided to push myself out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to write a more erotic romance. More like a dare, I did it and it turned out so well, my short story got accepted into an anthology. I knew it couldn’t go out as Aurelia, with the heat level being too high considering I intend to write YA as well, so an alternate pen name was required.

4. Do you have a problem with keeping up with your two writing identities separate? It hasn’t been a problem at all, as they are both romance authors. In fact, I’ve started a couple of stories and not known at the outset which name it would go out under, but it soon became clear. To be honest, I can’t see Allie getting out much, maybe concentrating on shorter stories and anthology calls, but it’s nice to have her in the locker, waiting in the wings if I need her.

5.  Tell us something about your two main characters in CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED. Tilly has had it tough; estranged from her parents and living far from her hometown, she has spent the last ten years trying to deny her true nature and be somebody she isn’t. But even that falls apart. Dean’s past is even tougher, but instead of becoming bitter and resentful, he still strives to overcome the obstacles that have hindered him his whole life.

6. How long did it take you to write the book? I started it on May 30th and finished it on September 1st but I also took a month off and wasn’t working on it all the time. I only get two hours to myself on a daily basis, when my youngest is at nursery school, and then I may carry on in the evening and at weekends too. I can’t start writing seriously until September, when my youngest starts school full-time, but I have my office ready and waiting, so that I’ll actually be able to ‘go to work’ each day.

7. Did you set out to write a Christmas book? Yes, most definitely. I was in the middle of another story when I saw a submission call for Christmas themed short story, and I just knew I had to give it a go. I didn’t make that particular call, as my story was too long, and I actually put the story aside as summer took hold, but the characters wouldn’t leave mealone and I just had to finish their story.

8.  Do you have a work in progress at the moment? Can you give us an idea what it’s about? I have so many works in progress that it is sometimes a struggle to know which one to prioritise. My mission for the first half of 2013 is to finish Their Last Goodbye, the story I was in the middle of when the Christmas fairy stuck, and then I want to finish Bye Bye, Black Sheep which is book one of my Peer Pressure series that I intend to self-publish and already have four further books planned for. Busy and exciting times ahead…

ABOUT AURELIA….

Aurelia B Rowl is a contemporary romance author but you can also find her masquerading as Allie A Burrow, her raunchier alter-ego.

She lives on the edge of the Peak District in the UK with her very understanding husband and their two fantastic children aged 5 and 3, along with their mad rescue mutt who doesn’t mind being used as a sounding post and source of inspiration. They are all used to her getting too caught up with her latest writing project… or five!… and she is guiltily counting down the months until she has both kids at school full-time.

To find out more about Aurelia, or to check out what projects she’s working on right now, you can visit her website

You can also find her hanging out on:

Blog
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ABOUT ‘CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED’…

Could Tilly’s day get any worse? Even Christmas had been cancelled! Will Dean succumb to temptation as he endeavors to make Christmas better for both of them?

Excerpt:

Tears welled in her eyes, clouding her vision. She turned and wandered blindly toward the exit as the first tear escaped, forging a track down her cheek for the rest to follow. Tilly took in a lungful of air and then another. Having made a spectacle of herself once already, she really didn’t want to be the cause of yet another scene.

The crowds swarmed around her, with students and family members heading home for the holidays only adding to the usual rush-hour melee of commuters. They jostled past, threatening to swallow her whole, as they rushed en mass in the opposite direction, using their briefcases and suitcases as a battering ram.

It was suffocating. She had to get out of there. Breaking into a run, broken heel or not, she raced through the doors and out into the biting December chill. Her waterlogged eyes struggled to adjust to the dark, dreary sky after the bright station lights, but she didn’t dare slow down, desperate to escape the throng of festivities and merriment.

Carol singers assembled outside burst into a jovial rendition of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” full of joy and happiness. Didn’t they know Christmas had just been cancelled?

“Ooof!” Tilly smacked her shin against the edge of a low bench, too dark to see as she tried to dodge the growing audience. She ended up sprawled across the bench, dropping the handle of her suitcase with a loud clatter.

At least the pain shooting down her leg gave her an excuse to be crying. Unfortunately, it meant she had to stop running too. Not good. Whenever things got too tough, too intimate, or too confrontational, you could rely on her to make a run for it. Running away was what she did
best…

A tall figure loomed in the edge of her vision, something vaguely familiar about the man’s loping gait. In an effort to see him more clearly, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, then cringed inwardly at the black streaks now etched all over them. Great. She could add impersonating a panda to her day from hell as well then.

The mascara stung her eyes, rendering her unable to focus properly. She blinked furiously as the man strode past her, talking into a mobile phone in a deep voice that resonated throughout her body and made the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. A surge of adrenaline rushed to her legs, numbing the pain as her subconscious told her to run. Now!

The cloaked figure stopped mid-stride as if he’d heard her gasp. “Mike, I’ve gotta go,” he barked into the phone, hanging up instantly. He backtracked until he was standing right in front of her, his tone changing from a growl to one of surprise. “Basmati?”

Great. She hadn’t heard the nickname for years—nine years, four months and…sixteen days, to be exact—and even then, only one person had ever actually used it. She screwed her eyes tightly shut, shaking her head from side to side. No. No way. There was absolutely no way this could be happening to her. Not now. Not today of all days… Talk about kicking a girl when she was down

BUY  LINKS:

Breathless Press
Amazon
Amazon UK
All Romance Books
Bookstrand
Goodreads
Barnes & Noble – coming soon
iTunes – coming soon

Aurelia has very kindly agreed to give away a copy of ‘CHRISTMAS IS CANCELLED’ to one lucky commenter.  Thanks Aurelia!