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What can you tell us about your new release, The Price of Scandal?

It’s hot and hilarious! The Price of Scandal is a female billionaire romantic comedy with a badass, science nerd mogul heroine, a swoony crisis-managing hero, a free-range St. Bernard, drag queen brunch, and all the fun and heat of Miami.

It’s the first of the four Bluewater Billionaires books written by my talented, beautiful, hilarious author pals Claire Kingsley, Kathryn Nolan, and Pippa Grant. Four female billionaires written by four contemporary romance authors!

What books are currently on your nightstand?

Right this second I’m reading Maya Hughes’ Shameless King and Michael Connelly’s The Burning Room.

What advice would you give your teenage self?

Be who you are, not who you think others want you to be. Also, buy better hairspray and wear more sunscreen.

If you had an extra hour each day, how would you spend it?

I should say writing, but I’d definitely spend those sixty minutes reading!

What makes your world go round? Why does it bring you joy?

Besides tacos and romance novels? Good people. I get to work with Mr. Lucy and every single day I also get to interact with a positive circle of author friends and amazing, generous readers. It’s such a supportive, happy community. It’s kind of the best thing ever.

What scene in The Price of Scandal was your favorite to write?

I have so many favorites in this book! But the whole story started with the “meetnude” scene when Emily comes home from a very bad day and finds a naked stranger in her tub. While she’s hurling insults at him and calling security, he’s suavely promising to make all her problems go away... and drinking her scotch. Every time Emily and Derek are on the page together, the ereader screen starts to steam up.

Then there’s the drag queen brunch when our four, female billionaire BFFs are eavesdropping on the table full of romance novelists plotting books next to them. I was snort-laughing out loud writing that scene.

Lucy Scoreis the author of the new book The Price of Scandal.

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What can you tell us about your new release, Bad Love?

I've always wanted to write a story about a super sexy bet - so Logan and Kendall's hot office-y romance was perfect. A reckless player with a heart of gold, a single mom with dirty fantasies, and the wager that makes their chemistry explode...it checked all the boxes for me as an author and a reader! Plus as my readers know, I love writing smart banter, electric tension, and characters you wish were your friends IRL. This book has ALL of those in extra doses.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

I've loved reading indie romance since the early days of new adult angst lol. Those raw, emotional books got me through a lot of tough times. I fell in love with the stories from authors like Ilsa Madden-Mills and Penny Reid and Kendall Ryan, but I also loved the freedom to do things any way I wanted. Five years in, I'm even more obsessed with the writing AND the business side of the journey.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

Oooh, I have so many favorites across genres. My fave romance books are the co-written series by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen, but especially Him. I cannot read that enough times. Also, anything by Christina Lauren. For YA fantasy, which is my go-to when I'm not reading romance, I'm obsessed with Sarah Maas' Throne of Glass series. I just finished it this summer and am gearing up for a binge re-read... 😉

What is a typical day like for you?

Most mornings I get up about 7, make coffee, then work out. Some of my best writing ideas come from that time! Then I try and get my words in before lunch but if not, they spill over into the afternoon. That's the most important priority, always. I try to keep marketing pretty tight--it's usually an hour or two in the afternoon. I'm not a huge social media person so I find it pretty easy to stay focused.

What scene in Bad Love was your favorite to write?

Either Logan and Kendall's first kiss - which is the most ridiculously sexy first kiss I've ever written - or the scene where he follows her into the bathroom at work after their meeting, which I won't explain for spoilery reasons! I loved their chemistry and how totally opposite they were, but how they taught each other so much.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

"Do all things with love." It's hard to go wrong with that.

Piper Lawson is the author of the new book Bad Love.

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What can you tell us about your new release, The Plus Ones?

The Plus Ones is a standalone steamy romantic comedy story, but it features characters from three of my previous books (Tonight You’re Mine, Come Back to Bed and Rebound with Me). When I published Tonight You’re Mine earlier this year, I was surprised that so many women asked me if Keaton would get his own story. Keaton was the hero’s best friend and a source of conflict in Tonight You’re Mine, so I didn’t write him as someone the reader was supposed to fall for.

For over a year, I’d been saving an idea for an enemies-to-lovers fake relationship story about the two single friends in a group of friends where everyone else is married and then they have to pretend to be a couple so they can hang out with their friends at a couples-only resort. I realized that I could make that book about Keaton and Roxy (the heroine’s best friend from Tonight You’re Mine) and that their friends would be all of the other characters I’d written about in books that were set in Brooklyn.

I totally overcompensated for Keaton’s behavior in Tonight You’re Mine and made him really funny and charming. It ended up being my favorite book (of mine) so far.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

Circumstances! I was a professional screenwriter (under a different name) for fifteen years. Studios paid me a lot of money to write PG-13 family comedies and romantic comedies, but they never ended up turning my scripts into movies. It was a fun career, but I got tired of only having people in Hollywood reading my writing and I got really tired of the creative limitations of comedy scripts. The next logical step was to move to a more affordable city to write and self-publish romance novels. I completely changed my life and as soon as I’d started writing the first novel, I realized that novel writing and being an author is literally the opposite of screenwriting and being a screenwriter. It was humbling. I decided to take my time learning about the genre and the business while quietly building up my backlist and hopefully getting better with each book. Now, I’d have to say that my readers inspire me to continue being an author. It’s so rewarding to hear from fans.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Just Kids by Patti Smith
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

JK Rowling. “Does it bother you that I’ve referenced Harry Potter in every book I’ve written? Because I can’t help it.”

What's your favorite thing about writing?

Being able to describe and re-live the feeling of falling in love, over and over again, and sharing it with readers.

What is a typical day like for you?

When I’m in writing mode: Feed adorable animals, write obsessively while forgetting to eat, compulsively respond to readers as soon as I get the notification, apologize to the people in my life for spending more time with imaginary people than with them, obey my Fitbit when it reminds me to get moving.

When I’m in-between novels: Do every single thing that I had put off doing for the last month or two…I’m always trying to get better at the work-life balance thing. Maybe next year.

What scene in The Plus Ones was your favorite to write?

When the six friends are at the couples-only resort in Antigua they participate in a Game Night three nights in a row. All of those scenes were fun to write because it was an entertaining way to show who these characters and couples are, but my favorite to write was the final Game Night. They play The Newlywed Game and Roxy realizes just how well Keaton knows her, even though she thought they’d hated each other for years.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

“Work hard and be nice to people.”

Kayley Loring is the author of the new book The Plus Ones.

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