Category Archives: Grace Marshall

March 28, 2013 · 1:59 am

Blog Tour Stop, Guest Post & Excerpt: Grace Marshall’s Identity Crisis

Thanks so much for having me over on Book Reviews and More, Kathy. It’s such a pleasure to be here to talk about my new novel, Identity Crisis, which is book two of the Executive Decisions Trilogy.

Do men believe in romance? Do men even DO romance? And if they do, how much does a man’s version of romance differ from a woman’s? I asked my husband that question, and he assures me that men are, indeed, romantic (In all fairness, he certainly is). But, he informed me, they just tend to be a lot more subtle about it than woman. And at the end of the day, he added, who doesn’t hope to find someone who’s not only a partner but also a soul mate? (He’s good … really good)

Of course in the crazy world we live in now, it’s hard not to be jaded and just take what we can get. In Identity Crisis, I wanted to twist the idea of romance and the way men and women look at romance and see what would happen if matters of the heart were turned upside down and even less clear-cut than they usually are.

Garrett Thorne is a man who most definitely believes in romance. Not only does he believe in romance, but he writes it, and he writes it very well. No one knows that, of course, because he writes under the pen name Tess Delaney. The rest of the world thinks those fabulous and sexy romances that keep flying off the bookstore shelves are written by a brilliant and mysterious woman who values her privacy so much that no one has ever actually seen her. The rest of the world thinks that Garrett Thorne, on the other hand is just the unemployed, ne’er do well younger brother of business tycoon, Ellison Thorne. Garrett can live with that. In fact he’s kept his secret for a long time. Then Tess Delaney is nominated for the coveted Golden Kiss award for romance writing and Garrett’s secret is in danger of being revealed.

Enter Kendra Davis, PR person extraordinaire. Kendra doesn’t like Garrett. Kendra doesn’t believe in romance, and Kendra thinks there’s probably something a little strange about any man who writes it. But Kendra’s the best at what she does, and her specialty is those tricky PR situations that are best kept secret. Not able to turn down a challenge, Kendra agrees to be Tess Delaney for the award ceremony, with Garrett going as her date. It should be a simple job. It should be over right after the ceremony. But chocolate mousse dumped in the lap of a respected literary critic, an angry press camped on Garrett’s front lawn, a twisted stalker and Garrett and Kendra are stuck with each other. If the two don’t kill each other first, Garrett just might convince Kendra that romance is as much for her as it is for him and Tess.

Title: Identity Crisis by Grace Marshall
Publisher: Xcite
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 224 pages

Summary:

PR rep extraordinaire, Kendra Davis, is elated when she gets the chance to work for her hero, reclusive, romance novelist, Tess Delaney. Her elation is short-lived when she discovers that Tess is none other than Garrett Thorne, the bad-boy brother of business tycoon and eco-warrior, Ellison Thorne, who is engaged to her best friend, Dee Henning. Kendra blames Garrett for the comedy of errors that nearly destroyed their relationship. Garrett doesn’t like Kendra either, but he’s desperate. His alter-ego, Tess has been nominated for the prestigious Golden Kiss Award. No one knows who Tess really is, and he needs Kendra to play Tess for the awards.

When Tess is stalked by a rabid fan, the two unite to protect her identity. With Kendra, the body and Garrett the soul of Tess Delaney, is there room in this strange ménage for romance? Can a woman who doesn’t exist understand their hearts even better than they do?

Purchase Links: Amazon UK * Amazon US * Barnes & Noble * iTunes * Kobo

Excerpt:

She cocked her head and looked at him in a way that made him think she was expecting to find something, something he was hiding. But just when he was beginning to feel defensive, she shoved her iPad back into her bag and stood. ‘Alright then. That’s all I need today.’

‘Wait a minute.’ He said following her to the door. ‘Don’t we need to … I don’t know … Practice? I mean I barely know you and you said we need to be comfortable with each other.’

She turned so quickly he nearly ran into her. ‘You don’t have to be comfortable with Kendra Davis, Garret. You have to be comfortable with Tess Delaney, and I promise you will be.’ She looked up at him with a smile that might have been teasing, might have been a smirk. Whichever it was, the small alcove where they now stood suddenly seemed even tighter fitting than it actually was. ‘If it’ll help,’ she said, ‘you can kiss me good-bye.’

‘That’s not very professional,’ he managed, feeling like the breath had been squeezed out of him as he fumbled to help her into her jacket.

Her smile was warm, reassuring. ‘Actually, in our case it’s very professional.’ She rose on her toes and brushed a kiss across his lips. ‘Very professional, indeed.’

And before she could pull away he scooped her into his arms, feeling her little gasp of surprise as he took her mouth. What had only been intended to show her he was up for it, very quickly changed to something else, and suddenly they were clawing at each other, hands grabbing collars and hair and anything else to get closer to each other. Clothing brushed against clothing until friction mounted and body heat radiated through. And God, her mouth was sweeter than anything, full lips so soft one second and so hard and demanding the next, parted to allow him access to her tongue and her hard pallet, to her warm humid breath coming faster and faster as her fist clenched in his hair and her own tongue battled for supremacy. And her body, Jesus, her body was hard pressed and tight and mounded and undulating and he’d never felt so much fire just beneath the surface.

But she was Kendra Davis. And just when he was ready to scoop her up and carry her off to his bedroom. Just when he was ready to hold her captive there for the next three of four or more hours, she stepped back with a little sigh and caught her breath. She raised a hand to her lips, almost but not quite covering her teasing smile and said. ‘You get an A Plus for practice, Garrett Thorne. You just convinced the hell out of me.’ Still breathing hard, she ran a hand through his hair, brushed a quick kiss across his lips and let herself out, leaving him leaning against the wall barely able to stand. For the very first time, he allowed himself to think that not only might they be able to pull this whole charade off, but he might actually enjoy it.

Author Bio:

Grace Marshall lives in South England with her husband and the growing gang of hooligan birds who frequent their feeders. When Grace isn’t busy writing something sexy and romantic, she’s busy digging in her ever-expanding veg garden or walking across the British countryside. She finds inspiration outdoors in nature, and most of her best story ideas come to her while she’s walking or gardening.

Grace is the author of the fast paced, quirky Executive Decisions Trilogy published by Xcite Romance. The first and second novels in the trilogy are out now.

Grace Marshall’s alter-ego, K D Grace, writes critically acclaimed, best-selling erotic romance. Whether it’s sexy romance or romantic sex, between The Graces, there’s a story for you.

Find Grace here: Facebook * Twitter

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Filed under Blog Tour, Grace Marshall, Guest Blog, Identity Crisis

November 20, 2012 · 1:58 am

Blog Tour Stop & Guest Post: Grace Marshall’s An Executive Decision

From an Exercise in Erotica to Hot Romance: The Road to An Executive Decision
By Grace Marshall

I’d like to thank Kathy (it is my pleasure!) for having me on her wonderful site. It’s such a pleasure to be here, and always fun to talk about my new release, An Executive Decision.

Some of my novels and novellas have come straight out of my head brand new and inspired by events or situation that have gripped me. Eighty thousand words or more later, I have a novel. Others, however, like An Executive Decision, have evolved over a long period of time and seen lots of transformations during that time.

The original version of An Executive Decision began its life as a novella-length piece called ‘Leaning the Business.’ I wrote it while I was living in Russia. It started as nothing more than an exercise in writing erotica. I wanted to set up a situation in which a boss hired a woman, who was very highly qualified for the position, but a part of her job was sex on demand for her boss. They affectionately refer to this part of her job as ‘The Executive Sex Clause.’ This was the secret weapon that kept him sharp and on top of his game. No pun intended 🙂

In spite of my best efforts to keep it simply about sex, the two characters fell in love with each other. I should have expected that would happen, since love is an essential element in most of what I write. I also found that the wonderful character who evolved to be Ellison Thorne had his own mind, and he would never have done anything so unethical.

However, the idea of the sex clause, the idea of busy executives needing an outlet for their pent-up sexual energy, needing a no-strings way of keeping their focus, keeping their edge still intrigued me. I would need to keep these two characters, Dee and Ellis, wrong-footed with a sex clause that started out as a joke, a plan made up by a mutual friend. If the implementation of such a clause could happen almost by accident and turn into Dee and Ellis’s own little secret weapon, then I’d have created a wild romp of a story that would be fast-pace, a little bit tongue in cheek and very sexy. Secrets always make for fun twists and turns of a plot, and the Executive Sex Clause seemed the perfect secret.

Once the story had evolved to romance and to a novel, the rest was easy. I fell in love with Dee and Ellis right from the beginning, and they were both such fun characters to write. I took out a lot of the sex, populated the plot with friends, family and nasty colleagues, polished it up and sent it off under the poorly-chosen name, ‘The Executive Sex Clause’.

Almost a hundred rejections later, disappointed and more than a little disheartened, I decided to give it a rest and try my hand at something else. That was nearly five years ago. A lot has happened since then. I’ve published four other novels. And Fifty Shades of Grey has exploded onto the literary scene, making the time right to revisit The Executive Sex Clause.

One lovely agent, who will always hold a warm spot in my heart, actually took the time to critique the full manuscript before sending back a very apologetic, but encouraging rejection. Her main criticism – too many characters.

Too many characters! That was the key to transforming The Executive Sex Clause into An Executive Decision and the Executive Decision Trilogy. The story was too big for a single novel and it was ahead of its time. Five years ago, the story was too sexy and the plot a little too controversial, but in the post 50SoG era, the novel, rewritten as a trilogy has come into its own. I’ve upped the stakes and broadened the scope. I’ve put the sex back in and tempered the heat to a slow, hot sizzle, and voila! The timing was perfect!

I’ve written An Executive Decision as Grace Marshall rather than K D Grace because the focus of the story is the romance between Dee and Ellis. And though the sex is hot enough to melt metal, it’s a little more subtle. However the chemistry between Dee and Ellis is anything but subtle, even before the two actually meet, and the comedy of errors that results in the two shell-shocked colleagues implementing the Executive Sex Clause. An Executive Decision is a fast-pace romp of big business intrigue, corporate espionage and the ultimate in mergers and acquisitions that happens when the heart takes control. It’s been extremely satisfying to finally be able to share Dee and Ellis’s story with the world, and well worth the wait.

Author Bio:

Grace Marshall lives in South England with her husband and the growing gang of hooligan birds who frequent their feeders. When Grace isn’t busy writing something sexy and romantic, she’s busy digging in her ever-expanding veg garden or walking across the British countryside. She finds inspiration outdoors in nature, and most of her best story ideas come to her while she’s walking or gardening

Grace is the author of the fast paced, quirky Executive Decisions Trilogy published by Xcite Romance. An Executive Decision, the first novel in the trilogy, will be available soon at all your favourite book sellers with lots more romance served hot to follow in the near future.

Grace Marshall’s alter-ego, K D Grace, writes critically acclaimed, best-selling erotic romance. Whether it’s sexy romance or romantic sex, between The Graces, there’s a story for you.

Find Grace here: Website * Facebook * Twitter

Title: An Executive Decision by Grace Marshall
Publisher: Xcite Books
Genre: Contemporary, Erotic, Romance
Length: 352 pages

Summary:

Sex in the contract – it’s the only way super-focused, over-worked CEO, Ellison Thorne, is ever going to get laid. That’s what his retiring business partner and secret match-maker, Beverly Neumann, thinks. She’s convinced no-strings, stress-free sex in certain employee contracts would raise productivity and minimize stress — perfect for a busy executive like Ellis. But she’s joking, right?

Enter her hand-picked replacement, Dee Henning. Young, hungry, gifted, Dee is the queen of no time for sex. When negotiations on a major project break down, and Dee and Ellis end up in each other’s arms, the Executive Sex Clause suddenly becomes more than a joke. In fact hot executive sex just might be the ultimate secret weapon for success. But secrets seldom remain secret, and Dee and Ellis soon learn there’s no such thing as no-strings where the heart is concerned.

More info, excerpt and buy links: http://gracemarshallromance.co.uk/books/an-executive-decision/

Purchase Links: Xcite Books * Amazon UK * Amazon US * Amazon UK (Print) * Amazon US (Print) * Barnes & Noble (Print) * The Book Depository (Print)

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Filed under An Executive Decision, Blog Tour, Grace Marshall, Guest Blog