Archive for the ‘Honey Trap’ Category
August 27, 2008 | Honey Trap, reviews
I’m loving this 4.5 star review from Singletitles.com, which I’m going to put up in its entirety because the plot summary is so good:
When Sophie Tennant decided to become a private investigator, she had dreams of making the world a better place – she certainly never expected to spend most of her working days –and nights – kitted out in ghastly revealing outfits chatting up sleazebags! Rather than solving unresolved cases or saving the world, Sophie spends most of her time proving to embittered wives that their husbands are being unfaithful! After she is nearly assaulted by a vengeful cheater, Sophie decides to pack it all in and to become an aromatherapist. But her honey trap past refuses to remain buried…
Opening up a clinic in the sleepy town of Stoneguard, Sophie realizes that she still hasn’t found the fulfillment which she had craved. Sick of hearing her customer’s sordid confessions and of trying but failing to make ends meet, Sophie decides to look for pastures new, and as luck would have it, Eighties rock star Max DeMilo asks Sophie to go on tour with his band, the Venusians, as their aroma therapist. Sophie is absolutely delighted, but her delight soon turns to shock when she realizes that Dominick Steele has just joined Max’s band!
With a legion of adoring fans, a loving wife and critics worshipping the ground he walked on, in his heyday Dominick Steele had been the king of the musical industry. But when his wife deserted him and he’d sought solace in alcohol for one time too many, Dominick found himself all alone with nobody to turn to. Shunned by the musical industry, Dominick had found himself lurching from one financial crisis to another – until Max called him up and asked him to join his band. Dominick sees this tour as his last chance to climb back on top again, but when he sees Sophie again, he’s absolutely livid!
Five years ago, Sophie had been engaged by his wife as a honey trap and had cost him his marriage and subsequently his career. The last thing he wants is for Sophie to ruin his last chance for him. Dominick is determined to make the best out of this situation, but the more time he spends with Sophie, the more he realizes that she has hidden layers; layers which he is keen to explore!
As the two get closer, they realize that they are falling passionately in love with one another. But can they ever learn to trust one another? Or will their sordid pasts prevent them from moving forward and finding the happiness which they both deserve?
Julie Cohen is simply fantastic! Sexy, spellbinding, feel-good and absolutely impossible to put down, her latest novel, Honey Trap, is a beguiling and compelling romantic comedy that will tug at your heartstrings and make you laugh out loud! Written with flair, charm and panache, this engrossing contemporary romance is a must-read for readers looking for smart, sassy and intelligent romantic comedies.
Sharp, witty, funny and as sexy as sin, if you haven’t discovered the magic of Julie Cohen, then rush to your nearest book shop and get ready to indulge in her incredibly delicious romantic novels!
Thank you, Julie at Singletitles, for such a fab review. You made my day.
Honey Trap is available on Amazon.co.uk, and of course at your nearest book shop.
June 30, 2008 | Honey Trap
Hee hee hee…Honey Trap is in stock on Amazon.
Tags: Honey Trap
June 22, 2008 | Honey Trap, contests
What a fantastic time I had! Thank you, everyone, for visiting my new-look website and for commenting on my posts and joining the party. I was knocked out by how many people visited and what fun and intelligent comments you all left.
I’m happy to announce that the winner of a signed copy of Honey Trap, which hasn’t actually been released yet but will be out in a couple of weeks, is Fran, whose name is actually Lara but whom I call Fran for reasons rather embarrassing to myself.
Anyway, Lara-Fran, I’ll be emailing you to ask for your address and I’ll send you a book as soon as I get them myself.
And tomorrow I’ll be back to my normal non-party blogging. Probably about hay fever, which is really kicking my ass right now.
Tags: contests, Honey Trap
June 20, 2008 | Honey Trap, contests
It’s Friday, everyone! Yippee-yi-yay!
And that means it’s the day I get to give away a copy of my brand-new, not-even-released-yet novel Honey Trap to a lucky partier/commenter on this post!
In actual fact, I’m spending this afternoon doing research for my next book, which involves me going on a tour of Highgate Cemetery in London. This is all far too gloomy and gothic for a party, though, so I’m going to choose a different venue for the last day of my party.
Honey Trap is about Sophie Tennant, a private detective turned aromatherapist, who goes on tour with a rock band, only to find that the bass player is the ex-alcoholic, ex-womaniser, ex-rock god Dominick Steele, the man whose marriage she ended.
The novel’s climactic scene takes place at Blackbury Festival, a sort of mini-Glastonbury, where the band is playing and there’s a shadowy person in the crowd who’s been threatening Sophie. Here’s an excerpt from the book (based, I must say, on my extensive experience of rock festivals, except for the having someone there trying to kill me part):
The sun beamed down on ten thousand smiling people and Sophie, who stood with her back to a Chinese food stall and her front to a group of teenagers smoking pot.
She breathed in the smell of MSG and marijuana and scanned the crowd. It was between sets, and when she glanced up at the stage across the sea of people she could see Owen and Dempsey changing over the equipment to prepare for the Venusians. Festival-goers strolled around, sat on the ground, lolled in the sun, drank beer, laughed and ate and smoked.
Mostly, they were everywhere, in crowds that blocked her view of everything except for the square metre directly in front of her, or the far-off stage. Blocked her view of her stalker.
The Chinese food stall wasn’t a good vantage point. She began to thread her way through the clumps of people, wishing she’d paid more attention to photographs of crowds when she’d researched the festival. She had the timetable of the day by heart, she had the plans of the entire site memorised, she knew the best quick escape routes from every point, she knew the isolated places where a killer would be likely to drag a potential victim.
But she hadn’t noticed what people would be wearing. For example, hats: there were more silly hats here than she’d ever seen in one place in her life. Viking hats, cowboy hats, tall stripy Cat-in-the-Hat hats. Although so many people seemed concerned to protect their heads against the sun, that didn’t extend to the rest of their bodies: bare-chested men and bikini-topped women sweated and glowed bright red.
Sophie brushed past a man (she thought) dressed as Spongebob Squarepants. Her supposedly inconspicuous outfit of jeans and a white vest top must stick out like a sore thumb. All her stalker would have to do would be to paint himself blue or something and she’d never notice him.
A familiar explosion of drums and guitar on stage told her that the Venusians’ set had begun. Her back was exposed but she couldn’t help glancing up to the stage. Her eyes went straight to Dominick, standing off to the right looking at his bass guitar as he played, seeming not to hear the cheers of the sunburnt crowd.
She knew that intensity he brought to music, because he brought it to her, too.
Now, however, was not the time to think about that. Now was the time to concentrate on the hunt and the chase, which was a good thing because even with all her faults as a detective, she was much better at investigation than relationships. She scanned the crowd again, again failing to spot any villains. She did see somebody peeing into a plastic cider bottle.
“Dominick!” screamed a group of five bikini-topped girls next to her, and again her attention was drawn to the stage. Or rather, to the large screens either side of the stage, where Dominick was magnified dozens of times bigger than reality, and breathtakingly beautiful.
So… what better way to celebrate my blog party and my new book by hauling this whole shebang off to a big rock festival?
The music, the noise, the food, the crowd, the peeing in bottles…but mostly, the music.
C’mon guys, grab a beer from the beer tent and tell me: Who’s on stage?
Tags: contests, Highgate Cemetery, Honey Trap
May 12, 2008 | Honey Trap, covers
For Honey Trap, out this July:
Gorgeous, isn’t it?
Here’s the blurb:
Sophie Tennant is used to sticky situations…
Because Sophie used to be a private investigator, setting honey traps for husbands and giving wives ground for divorce. But these days she’s an aromatherapist–an aromatherapist who’s going on tour with a rock band, baby! Which is all good, until she recognises the band’s bassist, Dominick Steele: her first honey trap, and the man who taught her she has a lethal attraction to bad boys. But her attraction’s not half as lethal as the vengeful spouse who suddenly seems to be following her!
Will there be a sweet ending–or a sting in the tale?
April 8, 2008 | Honey Trap, parenthood
Fecklet and I were in the Lake District visiting with Anna this past weekend, which was great. She has four cats and was very tolerant of my boy running around after them squealing “KITTY!!!!!” She was also tolerant of his favourite game, which was “Remove Fruit From Fruit Basket, Take One Bite Out Of It (Even The Lemons) And Put It Either Through The Cat Flap Or Under The Grill.”
One of my favourite moments was when Fecklet lingered, sucking his thumb, outside the room where Anna’s husband was watching football, wanting to go in and be blokey, but too shy.
Anyway I am hard at work on proofs of Honey Trap, which is out in July. I so, so seriously love the hero of this one. He’s an ex-alcoholic, formerly serially adulterous, ex-rock star. He is sexy as hell. Even reading the proofs with a pencil in my hand is getting me hot and bothered. Oh, baby.
December 27, 2007 | Honey Trap, reviews
Hooray, I just found out that Romantic Times has given my February US release, HIS FOR THE TAKING, four stars!
(This is the book formerly known as Driving Him Wild.)
I had a brilliant Christmas. It is so much fun to give toys to a little kid. We left out cake and a drink for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph and everything. Fecklet ate everything in sight, as did we.
I hope yours was just as good.
Now I’m back to work, hard on revisions for Honey Trap. I’ve added two new chapters to the beginning, in order to deepen the heroine’s character. I think I have about five more new chapters to add, plus layering in information elsewhere. Work work work work.
October 19, 2007 | Honey Trap
Well, my agent liked Honey Trap. So much so that she suggested no revisions (I nearly fell down with shock as this has NEVER happened to me) and I was able to send the ms straight off to my editor. I expect revisions from her, of course.
Fecklet has expanded his sock obsession to also include his parents’ feet, which he will ambush and attack with hoots of excitement.
October 12, 2007 | Honey Trap
On the advice of my critique partners, have revised two of the last chapters and rewritten the final one. I like it much better, though I’m not 100% sure of the last paragraph. It revisits the first time the hero and heroine meet, but will a reader remember that?
Anyway, I’m going to bed.
October 9, 2007 | Honey Trap, first pages
After my first page thread on eHarlequin, and all the crits I’ve done on the poor people taking my classes, I guess it’s time to post my first page and let people have at it. Fiona mentioned doing this herself with the Novel Racers, so if she does, maybe she’ll put a link in the comments.
The idea is that your first page should be a real hook into your book, and should give a clue as to what the main conflict is going to be right away. It should be tight, it should be exciting, and it should be the best you can make it.
So here it is…the first page of Honey Trap.
Any crits welcome, or if you think it works, that’s welcome too. I’ll post in the comments a bit later, explaining why I made the choices I did.
*
Please, at least let him be tall.
Sophie Tennant stood inside the doorway of the bar, scanning the room. She’d never seen her date in real life, but she knew he was brown-eyed, brown-haired, slightly built, and a scumbag.
Also, to her relief, not an early bird. She smoothed down her red dress and rubbed her lips together to make sure her red lipstick was still fresh, both actions unnecessary because she knew she was wrinkle-free and she’d put on the lipstick in her car five minutes ago, after adjusting the adhesive tape beneath her bra. Sophie went to the bar, ordered a tonic water with ice and a slice, and brought it to her preferred table in the corner, facing the door with the light behind her.
It was the third time this month she’d been in Bar 42 and she was beginning to wonder if the bar staff thought she was desperate, a hooker, or both. She didn’t like to be noticed and would have preferred to go somewhere else this time, but Keith had suggested it in his text.
It was a good location, anyway: not too dark, not too light, and just busy enough. Sophie’d had bad experiences with noisy crowded pubs before, hours of work down the drain because some idiot beside her was talking too loudly. And the less she thought about what had happened in the unlit car park of that country pub two years ago, the better.
October 7, 2007 | Honey Trap
Okay, have nearly read through the entire thing now and it doesn’t suck too bad.
Because this story is structured around a rock band on tour, I’ve written out where each show is and what happens around it on index cards, with green for gig dates and pink for days off. This shows me that my three-week tour has taken about twelve days. So I need to a) write one or two scenes to cover a few days, and b) space the events out a little bit.
Also I notice that my band have played Leeds twice. Lucky Leeds.
Other than that, the revisions have been quite minor, which is always a little worrying, especially as I had no clue what I was doing for most of this book.
Oh well onwards and upwards, and tomorrow is the launch of a cool new website, so please come back and check.
October 6, 2007 | Honey Trap
Well, I have finished my first draft, and my agent wants to see the ms when she comes back from Frankfurt. So I’ve got a week to get it into shape.
Yesterday I printed out half of it. I tried to print out the whole thing, but for some reason my printer stopped jobs halfway through and when I started them again, it began all over again on page 1, and I didn’t notice for ages. So I have two copies of the first half of the book. Today I’ll get it together and print the second half on the back of the first half.
Fecklet went to his child minder yesterday so I got through about the first third of the book, editing on paper. I had to cut a lot of the first chapter for pace (always happens). I’m also creating a timeline so I can fix any continuity problems, and making notes about research details to fill in, extra bits I want to add, and the names of characters.
I always forget minor characters’ names as I write, so instead of wasting a lot of time checking I usually either type XXX or I make up a whole new name. In this ms, Irene Martin transformed to Penelope Brandon halfway through, and by the end was Catherine Birkbeck. Don’t ask me how. Often, too, I name several characters the same thing, so I end up with three different Garys or something (for some reason I like to name people Gary).
Usually, too, I’ll try to merge secondary characters if I can in revisions, because it makes everything less confusing.
A lot of the time I know a whole lot more about characters, particularly important secondary characters, by the time I’ve finished the book so a lot of the initial revisions are adding those details nearer the front.
Anyway, I plan to keep on doing my read-through in stolen hours over the weekend (and, as often as possible, in bed because I’ve had not much sleep for the past few weeks).
What are your plans?
