Amy Andrews Will Make You Laugh, Cry and Tingle

Back in 2013, when I became a top 10 finalist in Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write competition, I was assigned a Harlequin author mentor – and I hit the jackpot by landing the ridiculously talented Amy Andrews, who is not only a great writer, but an amazing supporter of the newbies in the industry. I’m understandably ecstatic, therefore, to welcome Amy to Get Lost in a Story. Amy is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author who writes contemporary romance and medical romance. Her books are always sexy, always sassy, always fabulous. Her latest novel, Playing the Player – the third in her Sydney Smoke rugby series, published by Entangled – is just out.

About Amy...

Amy is an award-winning, best-selling Aussie author who has written sixty plus contemporary romances in both the traditional and digital markets. She is a USA Today best-seller who writes books that feature lots of sex and kissing. She likes to make her readers tingle, laugh and sigh.

She loves good books and great booze although she'll take mediocre booze if there's nothing else. At sixteen she met a guy she knew she was going to marry and she did. They’re still together. They have two grown kids who are stretching their wings to far flung shores.

She lives on acreage on the outskirts of Brisbane with a gorgeous mountain view but secretly wishes it was the hillsides of Tuscany.

Connect with Amy via her website, or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads, and subscribe to her newsletter.

After a long history with crappy guys, high school teacher Em Newman is going man-vegan. Four months of revirginization has opened her eyes to her doormat imitation but, baby’s got spine now, and some smooth-talking—even if he is sinfully hot—rugby player, won’t be adding her as a notch anytime soon.

Lincoln Quinn loves rugby, women, and poker. And he likes to win at all three. When his team mates bet him he can’t break through Em’s resolve, he’s more than up for the challenge. But this lady has a shoebox of stipulations before she’ll even go on a date with him, much less use that mouth for kissing instead of giving orders.

Something’s gotta give but this time Em’s not settling. And Linc’s questioning everything he ever knew about matters of the heart.

Read a little, buy the book...

Linc rang Em at the same time he had the day before. Every part of him ached from a morning of gruelling training, but in a good way. The kind of way that made him grateful for his fitness, that made him feel alive. And pumped. 

Pumped to make this phone call. Pumped to hear Em say yes. 

“Hi, Em Newman speaking.” 

She had one of those teacher’s voices. Firm but kind, with just enough fuck-with-me-and-I’ll-send-you-to-the-principal edge to keep a guy in line. That kind of voice that had never really worked on him when he’d been in high school, but then he’d never had a teacher as sexy as Em Newman, either. 

He might have turned up more often if he had. 

“I think I’ve been going about this all the wrong way,” he said, picturing her sitting at her desk, her mouth pressing close to the phone receiver so she wasn’t overheard. 

“I’ve been going for traditional names. But it’s not Ermintrude. Or Emma. Or Emily or Emmeline. So I’m thinking now your parents might be hippies, and it’s actually something like Ember. Or Emerald.” 

There was a long pause then a deep sigh. “Why do you care?” 

“I want to be able to call you by your real name.” 

“Well, the kids call me Miss Newman.” 

Linc chuckled. “Oh. Don’t tempt me.” 

Another heavy sigh. “Are you just going to ring me every lunch hour?” 

“Sure. If I have to.” 

“Don’t you have...push-ups to do? Or something? Balls to kick. Tries to score?” 

He grinned. “Training finishes at twelve, and in case you haven’t noticed, I’m trying to score right now.”

“Linc...” He’d have to have been deaf not to hear the exasperation in her voice. “I have papers to mark.” 

“You are hell on a man’s ego, Miss Newman.” He loved the way “Miss” rolled off his tongue, and a dozen dirty thoughts about naughty teachers with crazy curls bending over to help a student with a problem, their shirts gaping to reveal pretty bras flitted through his head with a predictable effect on his dick. Who knew teachers could be such a fucking turn-on? 

Certainly not a guy who’d spent a good portion of his life avoiding them at all costs. 

She snorted. “I have a feeling your ego couldn’t be brought down with an elephant gun.” 

He laughed, not even bothering to try and dissuade her from the accuracy of her statement. “The Nerd Chicks are in town on Friday night.”

She didn’t say anything for a beat or two. “You know who the Nerd Chicks are?”

“I do now.”Linc had spent a long time online last night trying to come up with something that’d blow Em’s mind. He’d finally found An Evening with the Nerd Chicks. Apparently they were three women with science backgrounds who ran a popular YouTube channel discussing all things science and had taken their show on the road. 

“We should go together.”There was another pause, but he thought he could hear her breath hitch. 

“Top marks for trying, Linc. But it’s sold out. It sold out in about half an hour.”

“Lucky for you I have two V.I.P. tickets.”

He definitely heard her breath this time. Hissing slowly out in a long exhale. “Thank you but...no.”

“No? Did I mention you get to meet them afterwards?”

A soft noise that sort of sounded like a whimper or maybe even a low growl caressed his eardrum. “I said no.”

But it was the most unconvincing no Linc had ever heard. He could practically feel her conflict. “Come on, Miss Newman,” he pressed. “Why deprive yourself?”

“Because, Linc,” she muttered, her voice terse, “afterwards I’ll probably fuck you in your ridiculously sexy car.”

Linc’s pulse spiked at her direct prediction. Even if she had sounded utterly depressed over it. He laughed. “And that’s a bad thing?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. What if I promise to not let you fuck me in my car? Or anywhere else?”

It wasn’t going to win him the bet—but he really didn’t give a fuck anymore. Linc just really wanted to take her to the show. Because she obviously wanted to go. 

She snorted. “I can be very persuasive.”

Buy it on Amazon. 

Let's talk...

Avril: What’s the attraction of rugby?
Amy: To be honest I’m *not* a sports person at all although I had accidentally written a couple of bigger books with heroes who were sports stars. Not sure how that happened really… But anyway, my Entangled editor approached me about a rugby series they wanted me to write. I said hell yes, without batting an eyelid. I knew squat about rugby (other than that weird kind of osmosis we have in Australia for any sports that involve balls and full body contact) but I also knew that sports romance was very popular and writing about buff men in tight uniforms wasn’t going to be any kind of hardship.

Avril: How does being an Aussie influence your writing?
Amy: I guess any writer brings their own life experiences including where they’re from, to their writing. I don’t think being an Aussie influences my writing necessarily, I think I’m the sum of my parts and everything I am influences how I write.

Avril: What are some of the most common comments reviewers make when talking about your books? 
Amy: Reviewers tend to either love or hate my books. But for those who do love them they usually say that I can write funny, hot *and* emotional. Which I love. If you can make a reader laugh, cry and tingle in all the good parts then that’s a huge compliment.  

Avril: How easy is it to switch between contemporary and medical? 
Amy: Not that difficult really. After all, medicals are just contemporary romances set in a medical world. I used to grapple with the medical to romance ratio when I first started but I honestly haven’t thought about it in years, each story seems to find its own balance without any conscious engineering.

Avril: Who are some of your favourite authors and what do they have in common?
Amy: All my favourite authors are women who write funny. If you can make me laugh then you have me for life (which is one of the things I love about Avril’s books!). Writers like Jennifer Crusie, Rachel Gibson, Victoria Dahl, S.E.P. and Helen Fielding from an international perspective. From this side of the pond Kelly Hunter, Sarah Mayberry and Ainslie Paton. Also my sister, Ros Baxter. Yeh, she’s my sister but man her books always crack me up. I’ve also found a couple of new-to-me Aussie authors last year who I adored. Madeline Ash and Eve Dangerfield are awesome writers and know how to bring the funny too!   

Avril: What does 2017 hold for you? 
Amy: A lot! Four more rugby books. A fire fighter and a bull rider for Tule Publishing. The second book in my Limbo series and a bigger medical romance set in a rural locale is in the works too.  

Avril: As a romance reader, what’s your pet hate?
Amy: Women who giggle in books. Grown women don’t giggle. Unless it’s a trait you want to give to a character to demonstrate how annoying they are, then you’ve nailed it.  

Thank you so much for inviting me on the blog Avril. What Avril didn’t mention though, dear readers, is what I told her after I first read her SYTYCW story. I was supposed to give her advice and feedback on the book. Instead I said - this should already be published, you don’t need me! I was not remotely surprised she was contracted soon after! But I was very proud and excited for her.

A question from Amy:
 Are you a sports fan? If so what’s you favourite? 
If not, what would you rather be doing!

Tell us in the comments and enter the giveaway to win an Amazon Kindle copy of the fabulous first book in Amy's Sydney Smoke Rugby Series, Playing By Her Rules.

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