A Week to be Wild by J C Harroway Blog Tour

This was my first dance with your good self, are all your books like this or is this one different?

I write steamy contemporary romance—what can I say! I’m addicted to the Happy Ever After, both writing them and reading them. I have four other contemporary romances published with Escape Publishing—Recovery, Entwined, Devoted and Exposed—but A Week To Be Wild is my first Mills and Boon and I’m so excited to writ for this iconic brand.



What research do you do for your books?

Well I live in New Zealand, so I have to do a fair amount of research about London, as many of my books are set there. Other research mainly revolves around my characters’ professions and I’m always searching for answers to fun questions like ‘Can you take a helicopter flight over Central London’, ’list of UK wineries’ , and ‘What is the helicopter flight time between London and Oxfordshire….



Are the characters based on anyone you know, if not what inspiration do you have for them?

No! Absolutely not. I usually start with a visual, run an image search for brunette women in 20’s etc. When I have an image in my head, I plan out the personality traits depending on where the plot is going and what conflict I want to give the characters. So Alex, for example, is wealthy and rocks a Savile Row suit, but he’s an IT giant. He would have grown up passionate about all things computers/gaming, so I also have him dressed down in jeans and nerdy graphic t-shirts as a nod to his geek past.



Libby, by her own admission is normally not a swoony woman ruled by her hormones, what made you switch this for her?

I wanted her to be completely thrown by meeting Alex. At the start of the story she’s in a rut. Her love life is non-existent, she works too hard and steers clear of anything that triggers painful memories from her past. Meeting Alex brings out something in her she didn’t know existed or thought long dormant. Of course this loss of control freaks her out, which is why she’s determined to play Alex at his own game—if she’s suffering, she’s taking him down with her…



Sex and erotica are huge themes and focus for the book, however there are other issues and depths to both characters. How important was including this for you?

DARE is a passionate line, the heat level graphic and explicit, but at the heart of any romance novel, is a good love story, and that’s vital. I don’t write erotica. Without too many spoilers, by the end of A Week To Be Wild, I want the reader to have travelled an emotional journey with Alex and Libby, a journey to their happy ending—I’m all about the fall and the rush of endorphins when a couple overcome the obstacles to be together.



Who are your favourite authors to read and or that inspire you?

I’m currently loving reading the other DARE titles by my fellow DARE authors Clare Connelly, Jackie Ashenden, Lisa Childs and Anne Marsh and I’m planning on working my way through all the Dares, because they are exactly the kind of stories I like to read. But I love romance in all it’s forms so I read widely and voraciously! If it’s a love story with a HEA, I’m there.



What’s next for J C Harroway?

I’m currently working on my 4th and 5th titles for DARE—my Faulkner Brothers Series—three English bachelors running a hotel empire based in Chelsea. So it’s safe to say writing more sexy romance is in my future! I love my job…



Where can fans connect with you?

I love to connect with romance fans- we need to stick together, right? I can be found at www.jcharroway.com, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, where I post pics of my cute fluffy white dog, amongst other things. And for fans of DARE, there’s a fan group on Facebook aptly named DAREdevils, where we talk about all things DARE! Come and join us.



Anything else you want to add I haven’t asked? I strive to bring diversity and representation into my stories, so will often touch on disability and mental health, as normalising these common aspects of life is important to me. Everyone faces real life issues, big and small. A characters journey should be a reflection of real life, with a large dollop of escapism thrown in for entertainment. That’s what I love about reading and writing romance.



There are only a few days left on the blog tour, please be sure to check them out, see the picture below for the rest of the stops.







And if a Q&A isn't enough, we really are spoiling you now, you can win a brand new paperback copy of A Week to be Wild. Open to all, just use the Rafflecopter below to enter. I am sure by now you all know how it works, the more entries you complete the more times your name goes into the draw. Good luck!



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