Thursday, January 31, 2019

Meet the Author: Rosalind Abel, Author of Lavender Shores Series


LAVENDER SHORES SERIES by Rosalind Abel,
M/M Romance

Lavender Shores is a charming little California town enclosed by the Point Reyes National Seashore. It has forests, wildlife, cliffs, beaches, and ocean views. At the center of it all is a fancy downtown of picture perfect restaurants and shops, surrounded by Victorian mansions and craftsman cottages.

The town was designed to be a safe-haven in the 1940’s by five families. The series follows the descents of those five founding families as they discover romance, redemption, passion, adventure, and love. Like all small towns, everyone always knows everyone else’s business. And when you’re ‘founding family royalty’ all eyes are on you, and that can make things… interesting.

While each novel is guaranteed to have you laughing, crying, sighing, and fanning yourself as you reach every happy ending, there will always be twists and turns along the way. Lavender Shores is pure storybook quality (of the grown-up variety) and the ultimate place to fall in love.


Title: The Palisade
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 230
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Garden
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 264
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Veranda
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 258
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Shipwreck
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 292
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Hideaway
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 258
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Glasshouse
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 304
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Alcove
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 312
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Wilderness
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 298
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Title: The Victorian
Author: Rosalind Abel
Publisher: Wings of Ink, LLC
Pages: 336
Genre: Gay Romance, MM Romance, Gay Fiction

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Rosalind Abel grew up tending chickens alongside her sweet and faithful Chow, Lord Elgin. While her fantasy of writing novels was born during her teen years, she never would have dreamed she’d one day publish steamy romances about gorgeous men. However, sometimes life turns out better than planned.

In between crafting scorching sex scenes and helping her men find their soul mates, Rosalind enjoys cooking, collecting toys, and making the best damn scrapbooks in the world (this claim hasn’t been proven, but she’s willing to put good money on it).

She adores MM Romance, the power it has to sweep the reader away into worlds filled with passion, steam, and love. Rosalind also enjoys her collection of plot bunnies and welcomes new fuzzy ones into her home all the time, so feel free to send any adorable ones her way.

Amazon author page: http://amzn.to/2qoiuLC
BookBub Page: http://bit.ly/2E5fgUe
(Read by Kirt Graves)
Facebook Author page: http://bit.ly/2rH8C4o
Rosalind Abel Website:  http://www.rosalindabel.com
Rosalind Abel Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2v6iuXI
Lavender Shores Website:  http://www.lavendershores.com
Twitter: @rosalind_abel

We welcome you to My Bookish Pleasures! Can you tell us how you got started writing fiction?

Thank you so much for having me! I’m honored and thrilled to be here!

I started writing fiction when I was fifteen years old, a sophomore in high school. School had never been easy for me,  constant studying, tutors, help from teachers before and after school, on on and on. During my sophomore year, Ms. Hungerford assigned some stories to write during our English class. I loved it.  And though, looking back, I would imagine the stories weren’t very good, she bragged on them and loved them. She didn’t worry about that I couldn’t spell or the billions of other things I did wrong,  she simply highlighted the good parts of what I turned in and encouraged me to keep going. Twenty-five years later, I still am.

Describe your writing process. Do you plot or write by the seat of your pants? When and where do you write?

I am a plotter. I have family trees, timelines of characters lives, town events, countless outlines, notebooks filled up with details, questions, backstory, all of that. Much of it doesn’t end up in the books,  but I believe it can be felt. By the time I sit down to write a book, I know the characters in and out, why they do what they do, why they make the choices they make, why they have their strengths and weaknesses, etc. even with all that planning and outlining, the character still will go off on their own tangents sometimes and surprisingly, which is always my favorite. Of course, when they do, it only means I have to sit down and do a whole new outline to figure out where they’re taking me. I might be a slightly type A personality, LOL!

I’m also a structured writer. I have a set work schedule and write every single day for assigned hours.  Writing is my passion, and the only thing I want to do, but I most definitely treat it like a job. And I love it! It doesn’t hurt that I get to write from home, with my puppies by my side, and, of course, an endless supply of too much coffee.

Can you tell us about your most recent release?

My most recent releases The Victorian.  It’s the ninth book of the Lavender Shores series, and while each installment can be read as a standalone, each book features returning characters. Each book also has a different trope that I play around with. This one is an enemies to lovers theme. It focuses on Seth Marino, the sexy, slutty, lovable bartender who is partial owner of the Victorian bed-and-breakfast in Lavender Shores. For nine books we’ve seen Seth and the local Mexican restaurant owner in town, Charley Perez,  absolutely hate each other.  And not that kind of I hate you but you’re so sexy…  I want you so bad and it makes me angry…  kind of way.  No, they actually truly hate and despise each other. In The Victorian,  life twists and turns, and their hatred  comes to a head in a way that leaves them seeing deeper into the other than they ever had before. It’s full of forgiveness,  struggle, hope, and, though it was a little unexpected on my part, the hottest sex scenes I’ve ever written.

How did you get the idea for the book?

I’ll answer that by telling you how I got the idea for the series. Lavender Shores is focused around a fictional town settled with in the Point Reyes National Seashore,  which is located about an hour and a half north of San Francisco, California. (Point Reyes is real,  if you have a chance, look up the images on Google. It’s gorgeous.)  The idea of the town is that five families came together in the early 1940’s and created a safe haven for LGBTQ and people of color,  basically any type of minority who simply wanted equality.  Flash forward to current day, and it shows what has become of this  inclusive, luxurious, beautiful town and the descendents of those five founding families. Each book focuses on different pairings and shows their romance. Again, each book can be read as a standalone, but the fun part is side characters that have been around the edges from the beginning eventually get featured, and as you go along, you get to visit past couples and see how their lives are progressing.

Of all your characters, which one is your favorite? Why?
                                                                   
That’s almost a painful question to answer!  As I write each book, the new characters worm their way into my heart to become my favorites. But as I look back on the series,  Lamont, from The Shipwreck stands out. There’s a lot of me in him, which makes sense as he is the author of the group. I infused him with a lot of my own insecurities and hopes, so can’t help but be thrilled when he finally found the love of his life. I also have an affinity for characters who are sarcastic, gruff, and sometimes use their  abrasiveness as ways of self protection. (Disclaimer: these are not Alpha-Male characters, despite their gruffness.  That is one trope I steer clear from.  Wonderful if that’s a quality a reader enjoys, it’s simply not for me.) I love seeing them find the strength to open up in genuine ways while still keeping the core aspects of their personality,  so for those, I love Gilbert in The Garden and Charley in The Victorian.  There’s also a timid, redheaded bookseller, Jasper, in The Alcove, who simply melted my heart.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing your book?

I’m sure romance authors not supposed to admit this, but for me writing the sex scenes is the hardest. Every book in the Lavender Shores series has a few fairly graphic sex scenes in them. They are steamy, erotic romances, after all. However, I can’t stand when there is sex in a book simply for the purpose of there being an expected sex scene. So for every one that I put in, there’s a purpose, it moves the story along, reveals something new about the characters, lets them discover some hidden truth about themselves--make sure that it’s vital enough that if it were cut, the story would be weaker. All the while, making sure the scene will cause the reader to need to pull out a fan to cool themselves off. That’s a tall order, and not easy to do, but I definitely experience a rush of pride when the writing session is over. And relief LOL!

What projects are you currently working on?

I am mapping out the final two books of the Lavender Shores series, The Lighthouse and The Refuge.  After spending nearly two years with these men and this town, it’s bittersweet to feel it coming to an end.  But there’s been so much growth for the town, the characters, and myself, that it’s thrilling to feel it blossom into something even greater than I hoped, but how I’m going to miss them!

What advice would you offer to new or aspiring fiction authors?

Decide if you want this to be a hobby or a career. There are two very, very different things. I’ll speak to those of you who want it be your career:   Make sure it’s truly what you want. This writing journey has been the hardest, most painful, most challenging thing I’ve ever done. However… it is quite literally the only thing I want to do, and the only thing I can see myself doing for the rest of my life, and during those times when you have no idea how you’re going to pay the bills, that keeps you going. It makes it worth it. And because you’re so passionate about it, because it’s your career, give it the respect it deserves--the time, the work, the planning, the blood, sweat, and tears. If you treat your writing and your craft with the respect it deserves, that will transfer to your readers. Spend the time and the money for as many editors as your writing style requires. For me, as you may have seen at the beginning of this interview, school was never easy, I spend a small fortune on editors because I’m such a poor speller,  but it makes it worth it. When I hit published, I know I’m giving my readers the highest quality art that I possibly can.  Give it everything you have, and love it!


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