| Warning: This book includes sex on a washing machine, a make out session ala From Here to Eternity, sex between best friends (F/F), double penetration of a female (oh, baby!), and the best blowjob in the world (M/M) all within the confines of the hottest ménage a quatre the Darkworld has ever seen.
Visit Lex Valentine's web site
Read an excerpt from Common Ground
About Lex Valentine Lex has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. When she posted snippets of work on her personal blog Sunlight Sucks, author Jennifer Leeland encouraged her to submit her writing to publishers. That led to her first contract in October 2008.
An award winning, multi-published PAN author, Lex is a member of EPIC and Romance Writers of America. She belongs to several RWA special interest chapters: Passionate Ink, Rainbow Romance Writers, PAN Authors, and Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal.
Her list of publishers includes: Ellora's Cave, Pink Petal Books, MLR Press, Liquid Silver Books, Noble Romance, Freya's Bower, Wild Child Publishing, MSF, and Cobblestone Press. She is published in both ebook and print.
Born and raised in Salinas, California, Lex moved to Southern California in 1992. She lives in Orange County with her daughter Nikki and Rott, her long haired tattooed DH. She loves loud music, builds her own computers, and has a propensity for having very weird vivid dreams about Nikki Sixx. Lex works full-time at a cemetery as the network administrator and has a love of all things tech.
Lex was a blogger before she was an author. Add that to her love of technology and art and it means you'll find her all over the internet. The domain she's had for 15 years has become her graphics site Winterheart Design. She blogs regularly at Flirty Author Bitches and Avoid Writer's Hell, and writes "Valentine Reviews" on her own author blog.
Backlist
Tales of the Darkworld Books 1 - 4: Shifting Winds, Hot Water, Fire Season, Ride the Lightning
Tales of the Darkworld Christmas: Holiday Hearts
Where There's Smoke - The Phoenix Prophecy Book 3
Insolence
The Pixie Prince
Love Me Dead (Rousing Caine)
The Wise Guy
Mating
Runaways
Christmas Cowboys series: Christmas Hookup, Christmas in Hell, Christmas Catch
Weirdly III (Ain't Nuthin' But a Hellhound)
Thrilled (Silver Lining)
Extras
All my trailers and trailers I've made for other authors are at: http://www.youtube.com/user/lexvalentineauthor
Readers can sign up to be on my mailing list to receive author goodies (promo items): http://www.lexvalentine.com/freebies/
Readers can also check out my "Valentine Reviews" of the books I've read and liked: http://www.lexvalentine.com/blog/
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, Common Ground.LV: Thank you so much for having me, Holly! Common Ground is the fifth book in the Tales of the Darkworld series. It's the mid-point in the 10 book series and it features one of the three key characters who meddle in the love lives of their friends and families. It's also the introduction of the werewolves to the series. I've mentioned the werewolves in the first four books, but this is the first time we get a good look at one and the first one to be featured as a main character. The hero of this story is Marius Granville, brother to Elysia from Shifting Winds and Colin from Hot Water. His mate is Sair McCallan, a werewolf who is sister to Ruan McCallan the mate of Diandra Antaeus, the dragon who left her family. Sair arrives in Marius's life already involved in a menage a tois with a mated couple, werewolves Weylyn and Keir Randall. Marius must learn to loosen up and Sair needs to learn that being bonded doesn't mean you have no freedom. It's a tale of compromise and finding common ground in order to build a life together.
HH: This is the latest book in your highly acclaimed Tales of the DarkWorld series. How did the series itself come about? LV: The series is entirely my publisher's fault! LOL She had a call for dragons and I wrote Shifting Winds, but something about Elysia's brother Colin called to me so I wrote his story, Hot Water. Then I decided I really liked these families and the meddling best friends. I plotted out a couple more stories and the next thing I knew... I had ten.
HH: How did you go about creating this extraordinary world? LV: The Darkworld started out in my head almost thirty years ago in the 80's. It was first the Dark Realms and really it still is. The Darkworld is one of the Five Realms which are in truth, dark realms. I had this idea about a world just like our own where dragons and mages and werewolves and vampires all lived amongst humans. It's just evolved over the years in my head, my own personal world that I daydream about! If people are interested in the other realms, you'll get to see them starting with book seven of Tales and there's information about them at talesofthedarkworld.com.
HH: How does this story continue the series and will there be more? LV: Marius and Sair's tale brings the werewolves of the McCallan clan fully into the series. The epilogue is about Sair's cousin Seth Dylan whom she raised. Seth's story is the next in the series, Sunstroked which is due out in early fall at Pink Petal Books. Common Ground also gives us the answers to why Marius has been seen as unlucky in love up to this point. After Sunstroked is Fire Storm where I address the cliffhanger that I left in the epilogue to Fire Season. Readers will finally discover why there was a woman with the dragon mark on her spine just like Holden and Garret's at the end of Fire Season. Originally, Fire Storm was to be a ménage a tois, but it's not any longer. Instead, we have a deeper tale of love and loss and of course, more Holden and Garret. ;)
In book 8 Thunder & Myth, I address the stormy relationship of Diandra Antaeus and Ruan McCallan. Book 9 Rain of Tears is Magia Alfred Stone's story and readers will see more of the other realms. In book 10 Force Majeure, I finally tell Sean Antaeus's story.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers? LV: Besides the Tales series, I have a new book coming from Ellora's Cave, Rock My World about a rock star who falls for her opening act. I also have another Christmas Cowboys story coming in the winter. It will be set in the fictional town of Heil (based on my hometown of Salinas, CA) just like the other Christmas shorts were. I also have a novella coming from Pink Petal Books. Unbreak Me is set in a shared world. It's part of a series called Spellbound Treasure featuring Pink Petal Books authors. And I'm working on a full length M/M novel about guardians and the Magia for MLR Press.
HH: What do you think today's readers are looking for in the romance genre? LV: Escape. They want books that will pull them in and make them forget that the dog puked on the carpet, that their tires need rotating, that the boss just dumped another project on them at the last minute, and that their kids and their husband need feeding. They want well written stories about strong heroes and heroines defying odds to find love. They want the happy endings that bring tears to your eyes and remind you again why you're human and have a heart. They want a moment out of time to reconnect with all the reasons we let ourselves fall in love.
HH: What changes do you see coming in the genre and how will it affect you? LV: I think most changes in publishing have to do with the increase in popularity of ebooks and the falling prices on ebook readers. I think that affect all genres, but in particular romances which keep increasing in sales. I think the majority of ebook publishers are romance publishers so this is a significant impact on publishing in general. As for me, it mostly affects the lack of space on my Nook. LMAO Seriously, I think the way it will impact me most is that there will be increased pressure for more books as sales increase. I'd love to do this full-time but I'm sure not at that sales level yet. When I can confidently replace my current salary with royalties on a regular basis, I'll retire to the Eastern Sierras and just write and write and write.
HH: What do you enjoy most about being a writer? LV: I love the fans and seeing their enjoyment in my work. That is such a rewarding thing for me. I can't even properly put it into words. The fan mail I get keeps me going. My Inbox is always open to people who have questions or just want to say hi. I also have a mailing list fans can sign up on my website. I send out author goodies whenever I get new stuff. And I have a contact form on my site as well. Feedback is what keeps me going. The readers' love for my characters is what fuels the next story and the next and the next.
HH: Do you read print books, ebooks, or both? LV: Both, but increasingly, more ebooks. My aforementioned Nook (named Nookie) is filling rapidly. I love being able to take it anywhere. If I go to the carwash, I sit and read. If I go to the doctor, I can read. Waiting to pick up my kid at school…I'm reading! It's a lot more convenient to cart around than a paperback. (I hate broken spines and sticking it in my purse always leads to a broken spine or tattered pages.) I can start and finish a short story while waiting or pick up where I left off on any one of several books I might be reading. It's versatile and convenient.
HH: Any big plans for the fall? LV: Well, I have a birthday coming on Halloween and it's a biggie. I should have Sunstroked out by then and Unbreak Me too possibly. I usually reassess my writing plans for the next 6 months right around my birthday so I may have new ideas cropping up. Oh, and Rott and I are debating buying a manufactured home so if that happens it will be right around then that I'd be moving probably. Fall is my favorite time of year, weather is cooling off, and I tend to get lots of writing done.
Thanks so much for having me at the Romance Studio, Holly! I always enjoy coming here. =)
HH: Happy birthday early and thank you!
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