Synopsis
When Sydney Morrison learned the dark truth about who she
really is, her whole world turned black. Tormented by her identity and deeply
depressed, she confides in no one, not even her hot and adoring best friend,
Henry.
Henry doesn't know the horrible secret of Sydney's past, but he does know about
the epic crush she has on her famous writing teacher, Professor Sparling.
Convinced she doesn't stand a chance with the professor, Sydney is shocked when
he takes a special interest in her. The two begin a torrid online affair that
pulls Sydney out of her shell and makes her feel desired and daring. And as
Sydney tumbles into a journey that's erotic beyond her imagination, her
relationship with Henry gets complicated.
Then Sydney's darkest secret begins to hunt her down just when she thinks she's
escaping it. Suddenly nothing is what is seems to be and Sydney finds herself
torn between truth and love.
Excerpt
Professor Sparling is so out of my league. What he could he possibly see in me? But he sees something, obviously, because he
reached out to me, and I don’t want to lose his interest. What I feel for him is pure passion and I’m
exploding with it. Of all the intense
emotions I’ve experienced in life– rage, fear, depression and frustration –
this passion is the only one that’s felt impossible to contain.
My hands are shaking as I type: Professor Sparling, I wanted to impress you because I’m drawn to you.
If only I could write just how drawn I am to him. But that would come across either way too
romantic, or way too forward. It’s not
like I can just write to my professor that I spent half of the time in his
classes thinking about either kissing him for two hours straight, or unzipping
his pants. I can’t even say that I’ve been waiting fourteen weeks for him to
really notice me. But most of all, I can’t tell him that he’s the one I believe
can lead me out of the dark places where all I feel are shame and grief. I want to end my internal ache, push the pain
away, and live the life of a normal college student. College years are supposed to be carefree,
but I haven’t gone to any parties. I never even go out for dinner unless the
Harts invite me over to Ottawa Estate, or Henry drags me somewhere. All I’ve wanted to do at Addison is be at
home alone with my cats. My most social
activity is watching movies with Henry.
This little online flirty exchange, though, is giving rise to the part
of me that has been totally shut down.
Apparently along with the sadness inside my body lives a full-fledged
diva, and these emails are waking her up like a kiss from Prince Charming. The diva’s voice is nothing like that of my
withdrawn, anti-social persona who always dresses in gray and thinks she can’t
compete with the Melanies of the world.
I stare at my computer screen waiting for a reply. It comes within seconds.
Sydney, Please call me
Paul. And tell me, to which part of me
are you drawn?
Call him Peter? No way. I can’t think of him as Paul. Not yet, at least. Part of the appeal, after all, is the fact
that he’s my professor. I bet he’d like
it if I dressed up as a schoolgirl in a teeny pleated, plaid skirt. I’m sure he would teach me a lesson or two!
I
can’t believe this is happening. I am
flirting with Professor Paul Sparling, man of my dreams, or at least man of my
sexual fantasies. I wished for this a
million times, but I never expected it to come true. And I never imagined it would begin with
email.
A Conversation With
EMMA LAUREN
Author of
WHEN IT’S LOVE
LOCATION: THE
WORLD OVER
When It's Love is contemporary new adult fiction like you've never read it
before. Sexy from page one, this book follows college student Sydney
Morrison as she tries to break away from the dark truth about who she really
is. As she unexpectedly tumbles into a torrid online affair with her professor,
she exposes herself in ways she never imagined.
Then Sydney's darkest secret begins to hunt her down just when she thinks she's
escaping it. Suddenly, nothing is what is seems to be, and Sydney finds herself
torn between truth and love.
This book contains explicit content and adult situations. 17+
*****
What was
your main inspiration?
I had the characters of
Sydney and Professor Sparling rolling around in my head. I thought I’d write a short story about them,
but I quickly realized I could weave a much longer story around them. When I decided to write a novel, I knew I
wanted to write a book that people could connect to and that had the elements I
love in a book: romantic, sexy, funny, and moving.
Do you have
a specific writing style?
I don’t know that I have a
specific style, but I do try to be concise.
I wouldn’t mind being a little more verbose!
Is there
a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
I suppose if there’s a theme
in the book, its identity. What makes
you who you are? That’s the question
Sydney grapples with. And, moreover, are
you the person you seem to be?
Since When It’s Love
is the first thing I’ve written under a pen name, the work was an exploration
in my own identity. Could I have written
the same thing under my given name? I
don’t know. Having a masked identity
allows for a certain freedom…
What
books have most influenced your life?
As far as classical books go,
Wuthering Heights, which I first read
in 9th grade, is as good as a romance novel
gets. But for contemporary influences,
I’d have to say 50 Shades. I say that
not because of the writing or the storyline, but because the 50 Shades books
mainstreamed steamy romance novels.
Suddenly it became okay to say, “Oh, yeah, I was up half the night
writing about oral sex.”
What
book are you reading now?
Teresa Mummert’s Perfect Lie
Name one
entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
My cats count as family,
right? So I’d have to say
Nespresso. What would I have done
without the coffee capsules?!
Do you
see writing as a career?
I work full-time as a writer
and editor in a different genre. I would
be thrilled to be successful enough in the romance world to be able to write
romance novels full-time.
If you
had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
I don’t think so. Perhaps I’d make it a bit longer. I feel like it works as is, though.
Do you
recall how your interest in writing originated?
Since I first put pen to
paper around the age of five, I’ve been writing stories.
Who
designed the cover for When It’s Love?
Regina Wamba of Mae I Design.
What was
the hardest part of writing your book?
The hardest thing by far was
finding peace and quiet to write. I have
a very full and active home life which I’m extremely grateful for. But, since I wrote When It’s Love
in addition to a full-time job, it really came at the expense of family time/sleep/exercise.
As far as the actual writing
went, writing about Sydney’s past was difficult. I wanted readers to really feel her
pain. And if you’ll allow me to be very
frank, it’s hard to write an orgasm.
It’s not just that the vocabulary is limited, but it requires the right
sentence rhythms, otherwise it falls flat.
And no one wants a flat climax!
Did you
learn anything from writing your book and what was it?
I learned the importance of plotting and of figuring out where the book should go in advance. In other fictional writing, I’ve always let my characters guide me to the end. They surprise me, and I don’t know how a work of fiction is going to end. That was still true of When It’s Love. I definitely did not know what Sydney would decide at the end of the book until I got there, but in order to get to that last dramatic scene, I had to do some serious plotting.
Do you
have any advice for other writers?
Get it out as soon as it pops
into your head! And don’t get
discouraged by rejections or bad reviews.
Just keep going until you find your audience. Thanks to the simplicity of self-publishing
and social media, writers really can get their work out there and reach the
people who will be interested in it.
Do you
have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for reading. I kid you not, every time someone buys a
book, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude!
What
were the major challenges in bringing your story to life?
The characters have been
rolling around in my mind for a long time.
I just really had to crack down on myself to make the time to
write. It wasn’t easy, but I did
it! So now all I can do is cross my
fingers and hope that readers enjoy the book as much as I enjoyed writing
it. And, of course, I need to keep
working on the sequel, When It’s Over. I plan to release it in the spring.
Emma loves reader feedback. Contact her at
emmalauren86 [at] gmail.com
Get Emma Lauren’s sizzling romance When It’s Love on Amazon today…but be careful. It may just burn your fingers!
~About the Author~
Emma Lauren has lived in Texas and Michigan. She met the man of her dreams when she was only 18, and 7 years later she married him. They now have three rambunctious kids who keep Emma on her toes. Emma loves animals, romantic stories, 80s music, chick flicks, and cupcakes. When she's not writing she's probably doing laundry.
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