Once he touches her, Aric’s control is overcome by a flood of memories and emotion, and by then he's not even sure it's her submission he wants. A weekend of intimacy with Ainsley shows Aric what he's been missing in his life and he realizes that regardless of whether she's submissive or insolent, all he wants is her.
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About Lex Valentine
Lex has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil, but wasn?t published until 2009. A native of California?s Central Coast, Lex has lived in Southern California since 1992. She works as a network administrator for a large cemetery and mortuary company in Orange County and lives with her long?haired, tattooed rocker significant other and her daughter, an art college student.
Lex loves loud music, builds her own computers, and has a propensity for having very weird vivid dreams about Nikki Sixx. She is an EPIC author and a Covey Associate.
You can find Lex all over the internet. Stop by and say hello!
Backlist
The Pixie Prince, a Twisted Tale from the Darkworld - Cobblestone Press
Tales of the Darkworld: Shifting Winds, Hot Water, Fire Season, Ride the Lightning - Pink Petal Books
Mating, Runaways - Freya's Bower
Sunday's Child: The Wise Guy - Noble Romance
Love Me Dead - MLR Press
An Interview with Lex Valentine
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Lex, thank you for talking with us at TRS! Please tell us about your featured book, Insolence.LV: Thank you for having me here at TRS! I'm so glad you asked me about Insolence because it's a slight departure for me. Insolence is told entirely from the hero's point of view (POV) and never once does it shift to the heroine's. Aric is intelligent and sensitive so this book works and doesn't leave the reader feeling a lack of emotion. The story revolves around Aric and his lifelong friend Ainsley. She shows up at his club asking to be his sub for the weekend. When Aric gives in, he discovers a lot about her, but ultimately, sex with Ainsley has him getting in touch with emotions he'd long buried.
HH: Your hero is a Dom and your heroine is the woman he never could get out of his head. Where did you get the idea for their sizzling story? LV: I'm not sure. After I finished Ride the Lightning, which has light BDSM as well, I read a few friends to lovers stories and kind of melded the two ideas together. What gelled for me was the notion that this big bad Dom had built this multi-layered life for himself, but still continued to be one dimensional in the area of intimacy. When his childhood friend offers him something he'd never even dared to think of, he discovers a lot about her, but even more about himself. So while he embarks on this sexual discovery, having sex with his best friend and introducing her to BDSM, the real discoveries are within him. Then when I began writing and I hit a scene break, it dawned on me that I did not want to tell the story from Ainsley's point of view. Aric was the only one talking to me, so I gave him free rein. In the sequel, which isn't about Aric and Ainsley, but does take place in the club, the story is told entirely from the hero's POV again.
HH: What do you like best about Ainsley and how do you relate to her? LV: I like Ainsley's strength. I like that she hit a wall in her relationships - with Aric and with men in general - and decided she just couldn't take any more. She deliberately put herself in Aric's hands so she could have sex with him. She figured either it would fizzle and her long standing attraction and love for him would change or she would discover that being with Aric was everything she'd always dreamed it would be. She has a lot more guts than I do that's for sure. She's really the woman we all wish we could be, confident in herself and her emotions and abilities despite being fearful and unsure of herself when it comes to love and being loved, but strong enough to overcome her fears to take a chance on achieving happiness.
HH: What unique thing can you tell us about Aric? LV: Aric's a smart guy, unafraid of his emotions, which seems odd considering the fact that he's kept intimacy and women at emotional arm's length. Being in a committed, monogamous relationship doesn't frighten him at all although considering it's possible repercussions on his business and lifestyle it really should shake him up. But it doesn't. His love for Ainsley is so strong that changing his life and even his career for her would be no hardship. Not many men would be willing to walk away from a successful club like Insolence for love. Yet Aric would.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers? LV: I do have an Insolence II plotted. Defiance tells the story of Brandon, Insolence's weekend bartender and a sub. For months he's entertained a Domme at his bar, a woman older than him who never scenes. I also have Where There's Smoke releasing on May 3. This book is the 3rd in a trilogy written by myself, Dee Carney and Mina Carter. Then there's Common Ground and Sunstroked, books 5 and 6 of the Tales series. The next installment of the Twisted tales, a takeoff on the Beauty & the Beast. A new series called Guardians that I'm sending to my editor at MLR Press. And I have a brand new submission out that I'm waiting to hear back on. It's an erotic contemporary romance, a cougar story about a rock star who falls for her opening act.
HH: What's the most important thing you've learned in your writing career since you first published? LV: You have to be true to the story. At least, for me this is true. Forcing a story, contriving it, writing a certain genre or formula because it's what sells currently doesn't work for me. All those authors who state that they write XYZ because it's what sells, well, good for them. Being an author IS a job, a career, so doing what will make you money is fine on that count. But for me its never been about being an AUTHOR. To me, it's all about being a WRITER. I've always had stories inside me that I had to let out. Now, they just happen to make me money and make readers happy. I tell the stories I need to tell. I let the plots and characters out onto paper and strive to weave a tale that sucks the reader in and gives them some escape from their troubles. I love to read HEAs. I love the HEA that makes me laugh or cry. I try to craft each of my books as if I am writing the story for ME. I write what I want and like to read and if it gives joy to readers, then so much the better.
HH: What accomplishment are you most proud of?
LV: Oh, the success of Fire Season by far. Being nominated for a Rainbow Award. Having it win the popular vote. Having Holden win the Summer Hero contest here. Making Jessewave's Top Ten for 2009 was huge. The list of Honorable Mentions featured some of my favorite books of 2009 and I beat them out? I still can't believe Fire Season has done all these things. I'm shocked and amazed and so very very proud of all this book has accomplished.
HH: As an author, how do you meet all of the demands of the industry and the readers and stay sane?
LV: Well, I don't know that I am meeting those demands. I know that my sales and fanbase seem to be steadily increasing which can only be a good thing. This is only my second year as an author so I still feel very new. I have a lot of pressure to continue to put out quality work at the volume I did last year. It's a lot of pressure to continue to put out characters as memorable as Holden Antaeus and Garret Renquist, whom readers and reviewers universally adored. Having a popular, best selling book like Fire Season in your first year means that it then becomes the yardstick by which everthing else you do is measured. All I can do is just try to stay focused on the current project and try to stay true to the plots in my head. Giving in to the pressure would mean turning out cookie cutter shadows of Fire Season all year long. I can't do that. I can only tell the stories I have ideas for. Formulaic writing isn't my thing.
HH: What are you reading right now? LV: Regina Carlysle's shifter series and the newest J. R. Ward. I love Regina's work. I'm reading her shifters, prepping to make a trailer for the series like the one I made for The Phoenix Prophecy. So far everything I've read of hers has been just awesome. As a reader, you can't go wrong with an author who nails it for you every single time.
HH: Any big plans for the summer? LV: Lots of writing. I've had a slow start to 2010 and I need to seriously pick up the pace and build more momentum. I would hate to disappointed my fans. :) And really the seventh book in the Tales of the Darkworld is going to be difficult to do. It's a return to Holden and Garret's world in Fire Storm. The woman who was to have been their mate arrives and instead of her presence solidifying them as a trio, it threatens the bond between Holden and Garret. It's a very emotional story and her part is very sad. I expect it will take a lot out of me to write it.
HH: Thank you!
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