Get a behind-the-scenes all-access pass to Chloe Holiday's Desire in Deutschland, book eight in the multi-author series Passport to Pleasure!
***Synopsis***
Each book in the Passport to Pleasure series is a stand-alone, but they all feature an American finding lust and love abroad.
One smoldering look from the sexy American draws Birgitte across the cultural divide into passion she never dreamed of...
What is the sub-genre
and trope? Did your characters lead you
to this genre or was that decided before the story began?
Desire in Deutschland is an erotic travel romance with a German woman and a military policeman hero. It was written specifically for a call from The Wild Rose Press for short novellas about Americans finding love and lust in other countries.
Are you more character or plot driven?
Character-driven, though I do aim for a fun plot.
With many main and secondary characters, how do you keep them separated in your mind? Do you have a story/vision board above your workspace?
I work on a lap desk my husband made, sitting in a recliner with my feet sticking out. I do keep notes in a three-ring binder when I do a series, to be consistent.
I know from previous interviews that characters take on a life of their own. Were any of the characters in this series determined to take their own direction instead of where you initially wanted them to go?
Yes. The heroine’s conflicted as she tries to help her brother.
Are any of the male POVs based on anyone you know?
I knew LOTS of military men, and some were hot alpha types like Lee.
Are any of the female POVs based on anyone you know?
We were stationed in Germany, and my brother was, too. He married a German girl, in fact.
Some of the events were shaped by these experiences—though I never did THAT in a castle ruin!
Was there any one character/scene that was harder to write about than the other?
Birgitte’s ethical conflict was hard, but I’m hoping that people will relate to the urge to help a family member.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
Well, I love a great alpha male like Lee, but Birgitte is so relatable, as she strives to overcome past hurt, and to balance her fledgling career, her family in Germany, and the courage to take a chance on love with a military man.
How do you get inside these characters’ heads to find their perfect HEA?
Growing up a tomboy with three brothers, and spending 10 years in the military gave me an advantage in writing a male POV, and living three years in Germany helped get a feel for the worries of a woman afraid to fall for a foreign guy who might leave.
What scene in this book/series sticks out the most for you? Why?
The scene in the castle ruin and the soccer game, because I’ve been to both places.
How long did it take you to write this book?
Three months to write, and another three for revision. That’s fast for me but most of my stories are longer.
How did you come up with the title for your book?
Wild Rose chose it. I’d wanted Oktoberfest Caress but Oktoberfest is apparently trademarked, but I like Desire in Deutschland, too.
We wanted something that would hint at content and location.
If you met these characters in real life would you get along?
Yes! Lee is a decent, honorable guy and we’d have lots in common with the military background.
I speak enough German that Birgitte would know I was trying, and that would compensate for my sub-par interior design skills.
If your book were made into a movie, which actors do you see as playing your characters?
Aargh! This one’s tough, because what’s a hot man to one person will seem like a baby to another, and it’s hard to separate past roles and reputation from “the look.”
I might stick with my script for my reading preferences, and hire an unknown American man and German woman.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Can you share a small tease?
My current work in progress is No Easy Match, an enemies-to-lovers, forbidden relationship romantic suspense story.
Blurb:
Transplant surgeon Jean, blackballed after filing an ethics complaint against her boss, accepts a job to set up a program for an enigmatic, handsome tech company CEO in a tropical paradise.
Yet secrets lie beneath his request, and hidden dangers await—one of which is falling for him.
Excerpt:
A week passed. It was over before it had begun. She’d been so stupid, so impulsive.
On the ninth day, Jean saw the backwards-hat guy playing Ultimate Frisbee with a group of other men on the green but Carter wasn’t with him.
Heart pounding, she waited on a bench until they took a break, then gathered herself and approached as the guy dug a water bottle out of a backpack.
“Hey,” he said with a smile.
“Hi. I saw you and your friend the night of the Pluto talk—”
“Yeah?” He swaggered closer.
“I was hoping you could give him a message—”
His encouraging smile morphed into a frown. “Nope. Sorry.”
“What?” She hadn’t meant to offend him. Or had Carter instructed the guy to deflect her, like she was some stalker?
“He’s gone. Left the next morning.”
“Gone? Gone where?” That would explain it, if Carter was out of town.
“Back to the East coast. He was only here for some competition. He goes to school at MIT.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered, and Carter’s words looped in her brain: “I’m not looking for a relationship, Jean… I’m sorry. I wish things were different ...” Her chest hollowed out.
The guy lifted a hand toward her. “You okay? You look pale.”
I’m great. I just slept with a man who lives a thousand miles away—probably more. “I’m fine,” she lied.
Unbelievable. She’d have never slept with him if she knew he lived on the other side of the country—and he'd have known that. What a cold, cruel bastard.
Jean turned away, a jumble of anger, shame, and self-recrimination.
“Hey, I go to school here—just sayin’. No?” His voice followed her. “Hey, catch me if you change your mind. I’ll be around.”
Jean trudged toward the dorm. Carter had bailed on purpose—no name, no number. The sooner she forgot about this, the better. She’d buckle down. Stick to her plan and put off entanglements until someday when she had the luxury of time.
She banished the memory of his smile, his scent, to a dark corner of her mind, where he couldn't hurt her.
That’s what I get for being so impulsive. Never again.
Check out all my interviews/reviews for Chloe Holiday!
https://readingbydeb.blogspot.com/2022/12/author-at-glance-chloe-holiday.html
Chloe is a military physician-turned-novelist who writes the things she loves to read: steamy, fun stories about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, smart women and men who aren’t jerks. About friendships, whether it’s close women or a good bromance. She wants all the feels: the thrill of a smoldering gaze or the barest brush of fingertips, the shocked gasp at the underhanded villain, the angst of heartbreak, the joy of reunion, and of course, happily ever after!
Chloe enjoys delivering a sneak peek into intriguing scenarios, drawing from her background (military personnel, medicine, aviation) as well as other cultures like Greece. A bit of danger always gets her going, so many of her Romances have a suspense subplot.
She hates to read the same old thing, with only the names and places changed, so her goal is to bring folks a fresh, fun, new story every time, with NO CLIFFHANGERS!
More than anything, she wants to craft a rollicking, great story readers can’t put down, one where love prevails in the end, one that will whisk people away from their own tribulations.
Connect with Chloe:
But when she runs into a sexy military policeman on the streets of Kaiserslautern, he just might be her ruin.
Just one beer was Lee Klein's plan. Yet when he sees the woman outside the pub, she’s all he wants. Birgitte’s irresistible pull leads him into a steamy rendezvous. He hopes for more until a conflict of interest ignites a culture clash of simmering attraction versus duty, and threatens their affair.
This was so much fun! Thanks for having me!
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