Author Interview - Welcome Donna Gallagher

Please welcome new author (and world traveler) Donna Gallagher to Pick a Genre Already. Donna's first book Caitlin's Hero is available for VIP members at Total E-Bound right now. Caitlin's Hero is the first installment from Donna's League of Love Series which at present boasts five spicy selections all showcasing Donna's love of Rugby League, rugby players and the women who dare to love them.

Let's get to know Donna a little better...

What was your favourite book as a child/teenager?

Wuthering Heights, I was smitten with poor Heathcliff.

 

Who was the first author or what was the first book you read that introduced you to the genre that you most enjoy writing in?

NJ Walters was one of the first and has remained my favourite author ever since. She writes a range of genres including Contemporary Erotic.

 

Is there a particular word you overuse or writing technique that your editor(s) ride you about? Mine is over using the word ‘harshly’.

Hmmm! Yes quite a few. ‘See’ or ‘Look’ does show up repeatedly as well as ‘Wet’.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? (Or do you even believe in it?) If so, how were you able to overcome it?

While I was doing edits the voices in my head went silent, so I guess that was a form of writer’s block. I really just type what the voices tell me too, so I have to wait for them to show up. Usually when I’m in the middle of one book another character starts harassing me to write their story, they can be quite insistent wanting my attention and compete with my own children for my time. Once I was forced to write with pen and paper, while trying to watch my youngest son play hockey, just to keep the peace.

If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?

I love where I live in Sydney, Australia – but if I could move closer to the harbour – maybe where Brodie James (my character in Caitlin’s Hero) lives, that would be nice. Love water views.

If you could bring one of your own characters to life, who would it be and why?

I have a crush on JT, so it would be him – sorry Mandy!

Do you base your characters on real-life people or situations?

Yes and NO. All the characters live in my head, so I guess they are not real but some of the situations they are force to deal with are from my experience or knowledge.

What are you reading right now? 

Well as I write this I have just finished a wonderful contemporary erotic story ‘A Touch of Confidence’ by Aussie author Jess Dee, it made me cry! I’m really looking forward to reading ‘You Found Me’ and ‘Lost Time’ next February, H K.

            Thank you, Donna! :)

 

If there was a movie made of your life what would it be called? Which celebrity would you want to play you?

I love Susan Sarandon so I think I would have to cast her.

           I could so see her playing you! And she's an incredible actress.

What is the craziest, most exciting, or most dangerous thing you’ve ever done?

I left home at 15, so the list is quite extensive. Probably hang gliding would be the most exciting. Craziest was marrying my first husband! And the most dangerous would be moving out of home at fifteen, I ended up living in Kings Cross, it’s a scary place. I guess you could call it the ‘red light’ district of Sydney, not really a place I would recommend for a young girl to hang out. I did learn a lot though and came away unscathed, it does give me a shiver up my spine when I think about all the things that could have gone wrong. Youth! 

           I left home the day I turned 18, that was scary enough, I can't imagine 15!

 

If you were to do a reality show, which one would it be? 

A sports show; I hate reality shows!

  

Name a celebrity, athlete, musician, etc. you’d most like to get naughty with.

I feel a little shy in saying…oh okay I’ll spill, but this is only metaphorically because they are both married. Actor – David Boreanaz (Angel) and a retired footy player, Steve Price. (It’s okay my hubby knows how pathetic I am. He had to live with an Angel poster in my laundry for years, until he renovated! And I used to carry a footy card – you know you get a few in a pack with bubble gum - of Steve Price in my wallet.

P.S. He follows me on twitter…Yay!

Steve Price

David Boreanaz

Steve Price

Ohh! I'm with you, Donna, I see your fascination with Steve Price! Mmmm! But I'm a bit of a sport nut too! :) Hockey players and CFL! (a different kind of football) Is my Maple Leaf showing? ;P 

Favourite movie?

Transformers

   

Dream Vacation? 

Next year’s holiday to the UK and Europe. (I’m going to a wedding in Scotland at Dundas Castle)

I'm jealous, Donna. Scotland is my dream vacation. But my family won't let me. I have promised them if I am ever lucky enough to go, I won't be coming back! (I am determined to find my hero in a kilt!) 

Dream Car?

Mine, I have a little convertible BMW Z3.  It has a story, I wanted to get a tattoo a few years ago and hubby offered to buy me the car if I didn’t. I love tattoos but apparently he doesn’t ;)

Favourite Ice Cream Flavour?

An Aussie brand by Maggie Beer – Burnt fig, honeycomb and caramel, Yum!

Tell us about Caitlin's Hero.

All the books in my series are based around a fictitious Sydney rugby league team, the Sydney Jets. Caitlin’s Hero is the story about the captain Brodie James and Caitlin Walters. Brodie is feeling a bit jaded by life, he is holding onto some emotional baggage resulting from a disastrous marriage breakdown and finds he has lost enjoyment for the game he used to love to play, that is until he meets Caitlin Walters. Caitlin gives Brodie a new lease on life, on and off the footy field. Brodie begins to question his decision to not become emotionally involved in another relationship. For Caitlin, her life having been put on hold, after the death of her parents, to look after her younger brother, Brodie opens up a whole new world - A world that includes a nasty ex-wife an underhanded reporter and some loyal new friends. Brodie also awakens the sensual side of Caitlin that has remained dormant due the pressures her life has yielded - Romance and Rugby League.

Author: Donna Gallagher

Title: Caitlin’s Hero – Book One in the ‘League of Love Series’

Buy Link: http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=1866

Genre: Contemporary Erotic

Publisher: Total E Bound (pre – order 15^th October)

General Release Date: 26^th November

 

Blurb: 

Falling for him is easy. Dealing with his high-profile life—a life deemed public property by his fans and the press, plus an ex-wife out for blood—now, that’s the hard part.

Twenty-year-old Caitlin Walters was living a normal life. She attended university, socialised a little and had a good relationship with her mother and stepfather. But when her parents are tragically killed in a car accident, Caitlin’s life is forced to change. The once carefree girl becomes sole guardian of her stepbrother. Giving up her university course to support and raise eleven-year-old Riley, Caitlin struggles to deal with her new responsibilities.

Her job, singing at a local Italian restaurant, brings Caitlin some peace. On stage, she leaves her life and its troubles behind. Feeling comfortable and sensuous, she is like a siren calling out to lost souls. It’s on one of these nights that Caitlin begins a romance with Australian Rugby League captain, Brodie James. Brodie, not content with his so-called perfect life and struggling with commitment issues following a disastrous marriage, falls hard for Caitlin.

The relationship does not run smoothly for the self-sacrificing Caitlin, as she learns how to deal with Brodie’s nasty, jealous ex-wife, a muck-raking reporter and intrusive but well-meaning rugby fans. Along the way she makes new friends, and awakens the untapped sensual desires of the woman inside.

 Excerpt: 

“Caitlin did not know how or when it had happened, but her blouse and bra were now undone, leaving her breasts bare to his heated gaze. She loved the way he was looking at her, touching her. She had never gone this far before, and was unprepared for the intensity of her feelings. Oddly, she was not embarrassed at all to be so open to him. She wanted to touch him and tried to pull his jumper up but couldn’t free him of it, so snugly did it fit over his bulging biceps and chest. Brodie pulled the wool garment over his head in one move, and she caught her breath at the sight of his muscled, masculine chest.

Curly, light brown, almost golden hair covered the upper part of his chest, and she couldn’t help notice it tapering down to form a path to his pants waistline and what lay beneath. She explored his chest, getting to know the feel of it, touching the hair and twisting it, brushing her hand across and around his distended nipple. He groaned and before she had taken another shallow breath, she was lying beneath him. He had lifted her off his lap and laid her on the sofa, stretching out next to her with his leg over hers.

Caitlin was unaware of how much time had gone by. All she knew was this man. She wanted to climb right under his skin and needed to feel closer. All the while he touched her and stroked her, and the hardness of his erection pushed into her hip. She wanted to touch him, but he had both her hands held in one of his, lightly pinning them above her head. The other hand was making its way up her skirt—he touched her through her panties. She felt the lips of her vulva swell at his touch. She was so wet she could feel the seep of liquid coming from her body. Unsure, she pulled away from him a little.

“Can I touch you, angel? Feel if you’re all wet for me?” Brodie whispered in her ear, the words both shocking and exciting Caitlin at the same time. “I sure hope you are wet for me. It’ll make me feel so good knowing that you’re as hot for me as I am for you. Trust me, angel, I won’t hurt you. If I do anything that you don’t like or feel comfortable with, just tell me and I’ll stop.”

Author Bio:

Sydney-born Donna Gallagher decided at an early age that life needed be tackled head on. Leaving home at 15 she supported herself through her teen years.

In her twenties she married a professional sportsman, her love of sport -- especially rugby league -- probably overriding her good sense.

The seven-year marriage was an adventure. There were the emotional ups and downs of having a husband with a public profile in a sometimes glamorous but always high-pressure field.

There were always interesting characters to meet and observe and even the opportunity to live for a time in the UK.

Eventually Donna returned home a single woman, but she never lost her passion for watching sport, as well as the people in and around it.

Now happily re-married and with three sons Donna loves coffee mornings with her female friends, sorting through problems from the personal to the international. But she's on even footing with the keenest man when it comes to watching and talking rugby league.
Donna considers herself something of a black sheep in a family of high achievers. Her brother has a doctorate in mathematics and her sister is a well-known sports journalist.

An avid reader, especially of romance, Donna finally found she couldn't stop the characters residing in her imagination from spilling onto paper. Naturally rugby league is the backdrop to her spicy 'League of Love Series' available through UK publisher Total-E-Bound, tales of hunky heroes and spunky heroines overcoming adversity to eventually find true love.  

Buy Link Caitlin's Hero

Donna Gallahger's Website Link

Check out the League of Love Series Books 1 - 5  on Donna's Website for Titles, Release Dates and the all-important Blurbs. And watch for Book 2 Mandy's He-man pre-order release date December 10, 2012

Thank you so much for being here, Donna, you are so much fun! Best of luck with the whole series! Can't wait. Cheers! :)