Mari Carr interview

This week’s inspirational author is Mari Carr, one of the fabulous authors I read who inspired me to write my first story – one of those I dedicated my first book to. Over to you Mari…

Hello! Thanks for having me, Jen. I’m Mari Carr and I’m an erotic romance author. I’ve been publishing since 2008 when my first novella, Erotic Research, came out with Samhain Publishing. In addition to my writing, I’m a fulltime high school librarian. I was struck by the romance bug early in life—devouring such scandalous stories as Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret and Forever by Judi Blume when in middle school. In high school, I discovered my father’s stash of Jackie Collins books and—woo boy—I never looked back!

(I’m intrigued by the fact that it was your father’s stash of Collins’ books and not your mum’s!)

About You

So, Mari, what do you do when you’re not writing?

I enjoy reading, listening to music, and watching romantic comedy movies or sitcoms on TV.

What’s your guiltiest pleasure?

My guiltiest pleasure is lying on the couch all day, drinking wine and watching the Harry Potter marathons on television.

(Love the image that conjures up!)

Name three people you would like to be shipwrecked with (and why)?

I would definitely choose to find myself stranded with Eric from True Blood, Jamie Fraser from Outlander and Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. For obvious reasons, of course!

(What an interesting set of shipwreckees!)

Your Writing

How did you start writing?

Writing began as a hobby, but over the years, it’s sort of become a second fulltime job. As such, most of my free time is spent writing.

Tell us about your latest book(s)

I’m currently working on several exciting projects. I just finished my next Big Easy story, Rough Draft. This book follows yet another of that crazy Lewis clan from New Orleans. This story is about Jett, who finds himself in possession of two tickets to paradise, aka the island of Eden. This story is also part of the Invitation to Eden, a really cool collection of books in which 27 authors (Carly Phillips, Joey W. Hill, and Eden Bradley to name a few) have taken characters from their current series and sent them to Eden (think kinky Fantasy Island—lol). Anything and everything can happen in Eden.

(I want a ticket!)

What are you currently working on, or what’s on the horizon?

Now that Rough Draft is finished, I’m moving on to Say Something, which is the final (sob) book in my Second Chances series. In each of the books in the series, I’ve tried to find happy endings for the “wine girls,” a group of friends who’ve been beaten down by life. Each of them is dealing with something different—anything from cancer to divorce, infidelity to loneliness, weight issues to commitment issues. These books are very near and dear to my heart. If you haven’t had a chance to pick them up, I hope you’ll consider giving them a look. The first in the series is Fix You.

(Sounds terrific).

Quick Fire Round

Tall skinny men or short but muscular?

Short and muscular

Hawaii or Norway?

Hawaii. What the heck is in Norway?

(Haha!)

Turquoise or mauve?

Turquoise

A juicy grilled steak with garlic butter or vanilla & raspberry cheesecake with white chocolate?

STEAK!

Historical or sci-fi movie?

Historical…if I have to. Unless it’s Outlander…then I WANT to.

George Clooney or Brad Pitt?

Clooney. No contest.

Flogging or paddling?

I have to choose? Really? What if I just continue to be really, really naughty?

(If you are naughty you might get neither! LOL)

Bouquet of roses of bunch of wild flowers?

Wild flowers—daisies are my favorites!

(Nice J)

Finally

Links of how fans can find you on the internet?

You can visit my website at www.maricarr.com. I am also on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

Excerpt from Full Position, Big Easy, book 3. Available now!

“Okay. I give. What’s going on?”

Justin took a strand of her hair in his hand, enjoying the soft texture of it, the sweet scent of strawberries assaulting his senses. The smell was so Bella. It reminded him of long summer days filled with sunshine and picnics. “We’re playing, Bells. Getting into the spirit of the club. Going with the flow.”

“I thought tonight was just going to be a tour.”

Ned ran his finger along the top of Bella’s open shirt, letting his finger slip lower, stroking her cleavage. “Consider it the grand tour, complete with demonstrations.”

“Demonstrations?”

Justin playfully tugged on her hair. “We want it all, Bells.”

She blinked rapidly, trying to digest what they were saying. Then practical Bella made it to shore. “We?”

“You, me, Ned. A bedroom. A few thousand sex acts—some of them illegal in various states.”

Ned rolled his eyes at Justin’s attempt to lighten the request, but Justin forged on. “You can’t deny you want that too, can you?”

Bella didn’t reply immediately. Instead, a crease formed in her brow as she contemplated his offer. In the end, common sense reigned supreme. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I’m pretty sure kinky threesome sex with your bosses ranks right up there as number one on the no-nos for workplace behavior.”

Ned chuckled. “I’m sure it does. But we’re not stopping.”

She frowned at Ned’s easy dismissal of her concern. “Do you two do this often?”

Justin understood the seriousness of her question, but he tried to make light of it. “Seduce employees?”

She bit her lower lip nervously and Justin cursed his wayward tongue. She was obviously terrified about losing her job and that concern was real. While he and Ned knew their intentions were good, in Bella’s mind, she was risking her livelihood, her “dream job,” as she called it.

“No, Bells. We don’t seduce our employees. Ever.” Justin wanted to stress that to her, didn’t want her to think this was just a game they played.

“But you’ve shared women before?”

Justin wouldn’t lie to convince her to stay with them. “We have. Quite often.” However, while he and Ned had participated in threesome sex, that wasn’t all they wanted from Bella. “But it will be different with you.”

She gave him a smirk. “Yeah, right. I bet you say that to all the girls.”

Ned leaned forward. “No. We don’t.”

Bella swallowed heavily, clearly sorry. “I didn’t mean to insinuate that you were playing me.”

Ned didn’t give way. “You weren’t insinuating that at all. You said it very directly.”

“You’re right. I did. I’m sorry. You guys are kind of throwing me for a loop here. If this has something to do with me insulting you at the bar last week…”

Justin laughed. “You did throw down a challenge, Bells.”

She narrowed her eyes, however, he continued speaking, “But that’s not why we’re here tonight.”

They’d come here to capture Bella’s heart, to convince her they wanted a shot at a lifetime with her. Her inexperience with threesomes and BDSM didn’t change that fact at all. If anything, it made tonight even more special. They would be her firsts. Her only. Justin looked at Ned and knew his friend felt the same way. Ned gave him a subtle nod.

“What are you offering?”

Justin ran his finger along her cheek. “We want the chance to prove to you that not all guys are narcissistic bastards. We want to show you what it means to be the center of someone’s universe.”

Full Position is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Google Play and ARe.

Thank you for being interrogated, Mari. No interview next month as I am on holiday! But watch out for future interviews.
 

Jen