Nicola Marsh, Girl in a Vintage Dress and a Giveaway!

Today we all are about to meet USA Today Bestselling Australian author Nicola Marsh. So let's welcome her! 

Thanks Nas for having me, it’s great to be here.

You are very welcome! We love chatting to authors and getting to know their processes so we're looking forward to chatting with you!

I’d planned on a much longer post but thanks to sick kids and deadlines, I’m going to make this short and sweet, and hope I can visit again J

Oh, definitely, we shall look forward to chatting with you again!

Over to Nicola Marsh....

I write for Harlequin Romance and Presents Extra series, so when I’d completed my favourite category romance (SEX, GOSSIP AND ROCK & ROLL) I knew the book I wrote after it would be a let down unless it was something special.

Thanks to an article on retro charm schools in a Sunday newspaper magazine, my heroine Lola strutted onto my page!

A curvy heroine who adores all things retro, I needed a hero opposite her in every way.  Enter techno-savvy, entertainment CEO Chase.

I love ‘opposites attract’ stories and have a ball writing them.

Thankfully, I think Lola and Chase have what it takes to match it with their predecessors, Luca and Charli in Sex, Gossip & Rock & Roll.

* How did the title came about?

My working title was Retro-A-Go-Go.  Girl in a Vintage Dress (chosen by Mills and Boon) is pretty descriptive though.  Sums up Lola perfectly!

* How did you choose the genre? ...You write YA as well?

I love writing category romances!  There’s something infinitely satisfying in creating guaranteed happily-ever-afters.  I have a ball choosing a modern setting, contemporary characters and putting my spin on it.

That said, I also enjoy writing longer stories with the chance to explore a plot and secondary characters in depth, hence my foray into YA and mainstream romance/women’s fiction.

I have a contemporary romance, BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD, releasing this December from Entangled Publishing and I’m super excited about it!  Set in Mumbai and New York City, it’s about an Indo-American trying to find herself (while creating chaos along the way!)  BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD is packed with fun, laughs and food, lots of glorious, delicious Indian food. Yum!

* What inspired you to become a writer?

I loved writing at school and always said I’d write a book one day.  Somehow I got sidetracked, did a degree in Applied Science in physiotherapy instead, and ended up working in this field for 13 years before I had an epiphany.  Rather than talking about writing a book one day, I actually did it.

Luckily I sold my first book not long after and haven’t looked back.  I’m so lucky, writing is my dream job!

To celebrate the release of GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS, I’m giving away 2 signed copies of another favourite of mine, OVERTIME IN THE BOSS’S BED.

To be in the running to win, sign up for my newsletter by sending me an email with NEWSLETTER in the heading to nicola@nicolamarsh.com

Thanks again, Nas!

EXCERPT from Girl in a Vintage Dress:

Lola didn’t take kindly to being bossed around.  She’d had enough of it growing up from her Miss Australia finalist mother and catwalk model sister.

Wear the boot cut jeans, not the slim fit. 

Don’t wear the A line skirt, it makes your bum look big. 

Use the coral lipstick, not the pink, you look washed out.

Bossiness never failed to raise her hackles and the moment Mr Tall, Dark and Domineering had strutted into her domain, ignoring house rules, she’d been primed for battle.

Mobile phones didn’t belong in Go Retro for a reason.  Trying to recreate a vintage ambiance was imperative to her business and considering those infernal devices weren’t invented back then, she’d made it a house rule to not have them used in her pride and joy.

She also hated their constant buzzing and ringing and clattering as people tapped at those miniature keypads like their lives depended on it.

How anyone could be glued to a phone when surrounded by all this beauty…she trailed a hand over a velvet 1940s vermillion ball gown, savouring the plush-ness, the timeless elegance, let her fingers skim a floral silk scarf she bet could tell a few stories about the necks it had been knotted around over the years.

She glanced at the diamante shoe clips, the crimson lipsticks in different brands, the fascinators at jaunty angles on the classically dressed mannequins.

Every item had been lovingly chosen in the hope it would bring joy to its next owner in the same way it had brought her joy to discover it.  Surrounded by all these wonderful treasures of the past, how could anyone not be tempted?

“I need an answer.”

Just like that she snapped out of her reverie and glared at the philistine who wouldn’t appreciate vintage at its finest if it slithered off a mannequin and onto his rather impressive frame. 

The same impressive frame that made her want to run and hide out in the back room and let Immy deal with him.  His type scared the beejeebies out of her: slick, smooth, successful.  Guys who had it all and knew how to wield their many god-given talents.  Guys who could use their looks and success to bedazzle a girl like her.  Guys like Body.

     Annoyed she’d let her past creep into the present, and doubly annoyed that she’d showed a glimmer of her fear when this guy had strutted in here like he owned the place, she squared her shoulders.

So he thought he could boss her into accepting his deal by throwing money around and sweetening it with a personal recommendation? 

He had that look about him, the look of a man used to getting his own way: designer, from the top of his perfectly cut chocolate brown hair to the bottom of his Italian loafers and his five-figure charcoal suit cost more than the entire front display.

As for Dazzle, of course she’d heard of them.  Anyone who lived in Melbourne knew of the entertainment company’s formidable reputation.  You wanted something to make your event special?  Dazzle did it, from jugglers to fire-eaters to international rock bands.

So he was the CEO?  Figured.  A guy like him would be used to throwing his weight around and never accepting a knock-back.  Well, there was a first time for everything.

He wanted an answer?  She had one for him, as soon as she phrased it in more ladylike terms than the ones running through her head, something along the lines of stick it.

Her disdain for his high-handedness must’ve shown for he rubbed a hand over his face and when it dropped, his haughty expression had been replaced by a rueful smile.

“Look, I’m sorry for barging in here and blustering.  It’s a sign of a desperate man.”

With those devastatingly blue eyes, charismatic smile and smoother-than-honey voice, she seriously doubted this guy had ever been desperate in his life.

Check out my review of GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS

And my review of GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS was picked up our local newspaper for their The Sunday Times magazine, so I was quite surprised to come across it while browsing the paper on Sunday morning!

So remember folks, to be in the running for signed copy of OVERTIME IN THE BOSS’S BED, see what Nicola says above!

 For more news about Nicola, you can visit her Website and Blog. You can Friend her on Facebook or Follow her on twitter!