In the Author Spotlight & Contest

JUNIPER BELL

CONTEST: Since I just came back from RWA, I’ll give away a gift pack of fabulous books, hardcover and paperback, including books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Madeline Hunter, and Meg Cabot. I’ll throw in a few other goodies from the conference too. All you have to do is leave me a comment!

AL: Hi Juniper! Welcome to Blog Bites.

Juniper: Hi Ann, it’s great to be here, thanks so much for having me!

AL: So, tell us what’s happening with you.

Juniper: At the moment I’m roaming the East Coast visiting family. I just attended the RWA conference in New York, which involved meeting tons of amazing authors, drinking gallons of coffee and getting no sleep. So now I’m catching up with family in Rhode Island and Maine, trying to squeeze in a nap here and there. I’m calling it the Sleep Deprivation Tour. It’s been lots of fun, but I’ll be glad to get home to Alaska.

AL: Tell us about a current or upcoming release.

Juniper: My current release is Restraining the Receptionist, which came out on June 14 from Samhain. It’s a follow-up to Training the Receptionist, which began the adventures of Dana Arthur and her two sexy bosses. This book takes their steamy three-way relationship even further, but you can enjoy the second book without having read the first.

AL: What other works are you deep into?

Juniper: My next book, ironically, is called Go Deep. It’s set during a winter festival in Alaska with the motto, “Anything goes, nothing counts.” An amateur hockey coach and his wife seize the opportunity to break through some barriers into a much deeper intimacy. And once they do, they find out all sorts of things about each other. Go Deep is coming out from Ellora’s Cave, but I’m not sure when.

AL: When was the defining moment when you realized you wanted to be a writer?

Juniper: I’ve always expressed myself best through writing, but I didn’t try to be a fiction writer until about four years ago. I was going through a terrible time in my personal life and, as always during stressful moments, I turned to romance novels. In the middle of a Susan Elizabeth Phillips book it clicked that if I loved romance so much, I should try writing one. Shortly thereafter I realized it’s not as easy as she makes it look.

AL: What do you like best about writing? What is your least favorite thing?

Juniper: What I like best about writing is the writing. The real world so rarely matches what I think it should be. But when I’m at the computer writing, I can do something about that! I love creating a different world to spend time in for a while. And I love my characters. My least favorite thing is the worry about whether other people are going to like my creations.

AL: Who is your strongest/sexiest/most lovable/hottest - hero/heroine? Why?

Juniper: My favorite heroine is Dana Arthur from my Receptionist books. She’s a street-smart survivor who relies on her sense of humor to get her through life. She’s also deeply vulnerable, though she’s learned to hide it and rely only on herself. She has to learn to let down her barriers in order to find pleasure and joy.

AL: It’s time to get personal! Do you have a favorite sport, &/or team that you follow? I love football and my Missouri Tigers.

Juniper: I have an obsessive personality, and after an especially intense season of following the New York Mets baseball team, I quit cold turkey. I decided that my blood pressure couldn’t take it. I transferred all that obsession to the Olympics because it only comes around every couple years and only lasts two weeks. That’s my sports fix now. I tune out everything else. Does that sound crazy?

AL: Best movie you've seen recently?

Juniper: I loved Easy A. I loved her attitude, in fact she reminded me of a younger version of Dana. I put that movie in the same category as another of my favorites – Clueless. Easy A is a light, contemporary retelling of the Scarlet Letter, Clueless of Jane Austen’s Emma. Putting classic novels in the context of modern-day high school is a genius idea. I’ve found that high school keeps repeating itself over and over again, no matter how old I get.

AL: Where would you like to travel if you had the chance?

Juniper: Just about anywhere. I live in Alaska where the quiet and isolation is great for writing, but it can turn you into a hermit. I’m pretty much willing to go any place that isn’t cold and buried under six feet of snow. The tropics are at the top of the list.

AL: Do you have a top 5 actors list? You know that list of men that make you go yum, yum that would be inevitable, if only….

Juniper: In no particular order, Daniel Craig. LL Cool J. Bradley Cooper. Ewen MacGregor. George Clooney. George Clooney is on the bubble. His confirmed bachelor act is getting old – I’m ready to see him settle down. On the other hand, Daniel Craig broke my heart when he got married recently. Bradley Cooper is new to the list. But I don’t think I’ll ever let Daniel or LL Cool J go. They just do it for me.

AL: If you could have any car in the world; would it be a slow rider, or one that the wind has to hurry just to keep up with you?

Juniper: It would have wings so it could fly over traffic, and a paddle wheel for crossing water. It would be Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, in other words. I also really like the idea of jet packs for getting around town.

AL: What do you hope for your writing career in the next few years? Any goals that you have yet to obtain that you have set for yourself?

Juniper: I’m a big believer in the saying, “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”. I want to keep having fun with my stories. I want to keep getting better at writing, keep finding more things to explore and try. I hope that readers will keep enjoying what I offer up.

AL: Thanks so much for sharing with us, Juniper.

Juniper: It’s been a blast, thank you so much for the opportunity!

AL: If you’d like to find out more about Juniper please visit:

http://JuniperBell.com
http://AuthorJuniperBell.blogspot.com

FEATURED TITLE: RESTRAINING THE RECEPTIONIST

Blurb:

Every deal has a loophole …the Receptionist, Book 2

Dana Arthur’s new job with the firm of Cowell & Dirk is going well. Translation: the occasionally kinky ménage with her two bosses, Ethan and Simon, has been several months of politically incorrect bliss.

Except the relationship feels unbalanced. While Ethan is the undisputed master, the partners’ iron-clad agreement stipulates that Simon must be present as she performs her “duties”. And she senses there’s a subtle, powerful tug-of-war developing for more than just her body.

Simon had agreed to share the firm’s fiery, sensually daring receptionist…to a point. With Simon out of town, Ethan plans a feast of erotic temptations designed to have Dana begging him to break the deal. He didn’t realize his heart would be a casualty.

Once she surrenders to his wicked demands, Dana realizes there’s no going back. It’s time for a three-way renegotiation…this time, all or nothing.

Product Warnings


NSFW!! Do Not Try This at Your Job. Contains highly inappropriate workplace behavior including m/f/m, m/m, bondage, creative use of office space and a high-stakes trip to Atlantic City.

Excerpt: WARNING - NAUGHTY READ COMING UP! 

My unpredictable number one boss showed up in a new mood the next day. I’d never seen him light-hearted before. Now that I had an idea about his history, not a big surprise. But that’s exactly how he seemed when he breezed into the office. He wore casual clothes, blue jeans and a light blue open-collared shirt that made his eyes look like summer without the smog.

“I’ve got no pesky clients today, luv,” he told me, without pausing by my desk to check my outfit, which he usually did. “I’d like you to order us a picnic lunch.”

“Huh?”

“Picnic. You have those in America, right? Or are they banned in the great state of New York?”

“We have them, but you can’t even spread out a blanket without kicking aside a stray used needle or two.” As soon as I said it I remembered the heroin. “I…I’m sorry,” I stammered.

But my thoughtless reference didn’t make him miss a beat. “A little local color will add to the experience, I’m sure. Handle the details and we’ll go around noon.”

Did a picnic violate the terms of our deal? Ethan and I would be doing something outside of work, just the two of us, something intimate. Almost like a date. But he hadn’t suggested anything physical. It was lunch. We both had to eat, right? It seemed perfectly harmless.

Since I was working from the company petty cash fund, I called up the neighborhood yuppie café where they served giant organic sandwiches. On my budget, I would have gone for a Subway footlong. But Ethan would no doubt demand something better.

We held our picnic on a concrete bench in a sweltering park a few blocks away from the office. Dog walkers and stroller-pushers, listless from the heat, wandered by now and then, but otherwise we were alone. The humid heat pressed on us like a steam iron. My hair stuck to my cheeks as I bit into my upscale sandwich.

Ethan didn’t comment on the slabs of free-range chicken that had probably been hand-raised and read bedtime stories before being slaughtered and inserted into a sandwich. He did remove the unruly mound of bean sprouts and toss it to a nearby pigeon. The pigeon pecked at the stuff, clucked scornfully and waddled the other direction.

I couldn’t help giggling at Ethan’s wounded expression. “I wouldn’t take it personally,” I told him. “He’s a New York pigeon. He’s used to eating dog crap.”

He chuckled. “Have you lived here your whole life, Dana?”

The sheer ordinariness of the question unnerved me. “Well, except for that semester abroad in Paris, and the year I spent in Fiji with the Peace Corps. I’m joking,” I added, when he didn’t laugh.

“Oh. Well, I’m certainly familiar with your sense of humor, but I confess I don’t understand the joke. You could have done those things.”

I let out a spurt of laughter that startled the pigeon. “I had other things to do.”

“Like what?”

“Like dodge my father’s fists after a drinking binge.”

“Ah.” Ethan didn’t show sympathy or disapproval or anything else. He chewed on his stack of multi-grain goodness. “And your mother?”

“No clue. My father always said she ran away, but for all I know he has her body dismembered in a freezer somewhere.”

That earned me a sharp taste of Blue Fury.

“I’m kidding. I have a dark sense of humor. My father’s not that bad. And my stepmother would have gone for poison instead.”

A crack of laughter from Ethan. “You really are something, you know that? You fascinate me.”

I filled my mouth with sandwich so I didn’t have to answer that. I was very much afraid the fascination was mutual. We settled into a munching, digesting kind of silence. He had one ankle crossed over the opposite knee, and occasionally his bent leg would brush against mine. Every time it happened, a little jolt of awareness zinged straight to my groin. Did he know it was happening? Was he doing it deliberately?

“Your knee keeps touching me.”

“Does it?” He didn’t move away.

“That’s against the rules.”

“So sorry.” But he didn’t look sorry. He looked entirely unconcerned, even though he moved his knee away. “One of these days we must write these rules down. For instance, is all physical contact forbidden while Simon is away, or only that of a sexual nature?”

Lord, why did he have to say “sexual” with that spark in his eyes and that slant of his eyebrow? It wasn’t fair, damn it.

“Another example. I’ve been longing to tell you how delicious you look today and how the shadow of your nipples through the fabric of your blouse keeps drawing my eyes. But is verbal praise also off-limits, since I’d be unable to keep it G-rated, I’m afraid?”

“You can’t see my nipples through my blouse!” I looked down to make sure.

“Oh, yes, I can. I know what they’re doing right now. They’re just beginning to stir to life. You’re probably feeling a pleasant prickling as they become engorged. I’ve realized something about you, you know. The sound of my voice has a powerful effect on you.”

So right he was. I tried to block out his voice. Might as well try to stop the Hudson River.

“In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if I could bring you to orgasm just with my voice. I wouldn’t have to touch you at all. All I’d have to do is tell you what I wanted to do to you. I’d tell you how much I want to bend you over this bench and take you in the open air. Or how much I’d like to tie you to that birch tree over there, open your blouse and bring you to orgasm with my fist up your cunt. Sure, someone might see. For instance, those three fellows playing Frisbee over there. It’s entirely possible they’d start to notice when I tied your hands behind the tree and ripped off your blouse. Maybe they’d even come running to your rescue.”

His gravelly voice hypnotized me so I could practically picture the scene. My body melted into a shivery puddle of craving.

“And then, of course, I’d have no choice but to invite them to join us, either as witnesses or participants. They look like red-blooded, able-bodied, clean-cut gentlemen, nothing to fear. I’d have to convince them you were willing. More than willing. Eager. I’d have to show them how wet you already were, just from having your breasts exposed. You like being exposed, don’t you?”

“Stop,” I murmured. This was going into an area we’d never touched. Other men had had no place in our games so far.

As soon as I told him to stop, he did. And as soon as he did, I wanted him to start again. After all, what was the harm? He was going there in imagination only.

“Well…” I cleared my throat. “Would you let them touch my breasts?”

“I’d give them a chance, see how they behaved. Not just anyone gets to touch my Dana. Our Dana, I should say.”

I winced at the reminder of the absent Simon. But I was too caught up in Ethan’s hypothetical scenario to be bothered for long.

“Our Dana’s luscious nipples deserve nothing other than sweet tender care. Long, lingering suckles. Perhaps a man to each nipple, and one to jerk himself off as he watches. That should get you started, I’d say. You’d be making those adorable little whimpering sounds. But perhaps I’d begin to sense that you want more, that you need the grip of cold metal on your flesh.”

The image made my belly clench with need. My nipples were as hard as the bench we sat on. I thought I would suffocate if this went on much longer. I turned a pleading look on him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of nipple clamps.

This was way over the line, totally against our rules, but I banished that thought from my mind. I nodded, biting my lip. I didn’t care who watched as he reached inside my blouse and fastened the silver clips to my nipples. The sweet pain of it made me sag against him and sigh. Exquisite relief flooded me. I leaned against him as if he were a boulder. When I looked down, the clips were clearly visible through my blouse. But I didn’t care. Ethan would take care of me.

REMEMBER: Since I just came back from RWA, I’ll give away a gift pack of fabulous books, hardcover and paperback, including books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Madeline Hunter, and Meg Cabot. I’ll throw in a few other goodies from the conference too. All you have to do is leave me a comment!