Please welcome Mary Eason to the blog, author of Forbidden Passion. Thank you for agreeing to answer my nosy questions and share them with everyone visiting today.

Q: To begin, please share which genre(s) you write in…
A: I’m kind of a jack-of-all-trades author. I love writing contemporary romances, such as Forbidden Passion, but my first love has always been romantic suspense. I have three romantic suspense novels currently out through Cerridwen Press. And recently, I’ve started writing Inspirational romances, which is such a challenge as well as being extremely rewarding.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: Seriously, about a year, but I actually started the writing process as a pre-teen. I wrote my first romance, filled with the typical clichés and corny romance. It’s still in a drawer somewhere. I didn’t seriously consider writing until much later. My first published book was a paranormal romance.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: I’d have to say I have two favorites. The Things You Think You Want, a romantic comedy published through Samhain Publishing has a lot of me in it. The story is about a small town girl going to the big city but she never leaves her small town roots behind. There are some very tender, touching moments from my life in there. My second favorite story is Don’t Close Your Eyes, a romantic suspense thriller that has a touch of paranormal. I love this story because it reunites two lovers who had thought they’d lost each other forever.

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?

A: No, I can write just about anywhere. Usually on my couch with my laptop. But the story itself simmers for a while in my head before it comes to life.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story?
A: Lots of authors say this, but I still think it’s odd that most of my ideas come to me in dreams. Weird.

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be?
A: This is a hard business, and it is just that a business. Due to the economy, publishers are becoming more picky about what they publish. There’s no more grooming a promising author anymore. If you want to be published, bring you’re A-game. Make sure you submit the best that you can and don’t give up. Rejection is just part of the game.

Q: Do you have an evil day job or do you write full time?
A: I’m blessed to be able to write full time.

Q: Name one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you.
A: That I’m a grandmother. I have a three-year-old granddaughter and another one on the way. They’re so precious.

Q: What’s your favorite dirty word?
A: I have lots of them, mostly, “what’s for dinner?”

Q: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
A: Naw, I’d say I’m the proverbial, good girl.

Q: If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you spend the money on?
A: My kids, grand kids and helping those in need.

Q: Which household chore do you abhor and why?
A: Cleaning the blinds. I HATE cleaning the blinds. I don’t know why. It doesn’t take all that long, but I just put it off as long as I can.

Q: What’s your favorite comfort food?
A: Reece’s peanut butter cups and Starbucks Breakfast Blend coffee. Soothes the weary soul.

Q: Do you have a favorite book or movie?
A: I’d have to say my favorite book right now is HIDE, by Lisa Gardner and The Still Of Night by Kristen Heitzmanan.

Q: If you don’t mind sharing, would you tell us about your latest work in progress?
A: My latest is an Inspirational romance entitled, Almost Home. It’s about a woman who was married briefly and the man she loved ended the marriage because he thought it was what was best. She left town and never told him he had a child from their marriage because she thought he wouldn’t want any reminders from that time. Now, the boy is ill and she must come back home and ask for his help to figure out what is wrong with their child. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of conflict and drama involved.

Q: In closing, tell us a bit about your latest release (& share a yummy excerpt for those who aren’t yet familiar with your work)
A: It’s called, Forbidden Passion and it released January 10th through New Concepts Publishing.

She was unforgettable to him the first moment that he met her and just as “off limits”. Sophie McGraw was taken. How contemptible do you have to be to fall in love with his best friend’s wife?That was the same question that Erik Sebastian had wrestled with for more than eight months now since meeting Sophie McGraw. But now everything had changed. Everything that he believed to be true about her, about Kevin, about their so-called perfect marriage was as dead as his friend.

At twenty years old life should only be just beginning but for Sophie twenty felt far too old and far too over. Living through eight months of a nightmare marriage that ended as violently as it began made it clear to her that she had never truly been in love with her husband Kevin. There wasn’t any such thing as fairy tales and happily ever after as far as Sophie was concerned. The one thing in her life that has any meaning anymore was her growing friendship with Kevin’s boss and close friend Erik Sebastian. And it is quickly becoming the most important thing in the world to her.

Erik Sebastian is a very successful advertising executive who has taken the firm he started after graduating from college straight to the top in its field in one of the most demanding cities in the world–New York City. At thirty-five Erik is wealthy, powerful and devastatingly attractive. One of the city’s most eligible bachelors. He has everything–except the one thing in the world that remains unattainable to him. The woman he loves.

One night both Sophie and Eric’s lives are fatefully thrown together in a split second when Sophie’s husband runs the red light that ends his life and leaves Sophie alone to face allegations about her involvement in her husband’s death and the drugs that are found in Kevin’s car that night.

With no job and very little money not to mention no place to live after her father-in-law throws her out of the apartment she shared with Kevin, Sophie is forced to turn to the one person who is willing to help her by offering her a place to live and a job as his assistant. Erik is the only person who believes in her innocence.

Living with Eric–being close to him each day Sophie discovers the man behind the handsome, polished business exterior. Erik is gentle and strong, compassionate and so caring. Everything that a friend should be.

As their relationship grows stronger it becomes harder for Sophie to keep the truth about her abusive marriage to Kevin a secret and even harder to keep from telling Erik that her husband never touched not once during all the time they were married.

There is an attraction between Erik and Sophie that cannot be denied. The first time they make love together, Erik is certain that he has found his soul mate. All of his anticipation of their first time together is nothing compared to the reality of loving Sophie. After that first night he knows she is the one that he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Each night as he holds her close Erik wonders if he is revealing the one thing that Sophie is not ready to accept from him. His love. Sophie is still holding onto the past and Erik is convinced she is hiding something very important about her marriage to Kevin. The one thing standing in the way of her returning his love.

As they move beyond friendship to become lovers, Sophie realizes that somewhere between her respect and admiration for Erik she has fallen in love with him. But she believes from all the things Kevin told her about Erik that he would never want any type of permanent relationship with a woman. Erik is far too devoted to his career.

Sophie is terrified that she won’t be able to keep her love secret from him much longer and that once he learns the truth he will only resent her for falling in love with him. Sophie does the one thing she believes is left for her to do. She waits until Erik is gone away on business before she leaves him.

When Erik returns to the apartment they share together and discovers that Sophie is gone he knows that he must find her then find and force her to tell him the truth about what she has been keeping from him.

He realizes that he has made a mistake by not telling her how much he loves her and just how important she has become to him. Erik cannot imagine his life without Sophie in it.

When at last the truth about Sophie’s marriage to Kevin finally comes out, Erik learns what a monster his friend truly was to her and just how badly he hurt her. But another secret is learned that Sophie doesn’t even know she has revealed. It is clear at last what Erik has believed in his heart all along. The woman he is in love with was untouched the first time that he made love to her.

Erik can’t hold back the truth about his feelings for her any longer. He tells Sophie how much he loves her and needs her in his life. Then at last Sophie is able to let go of her doubts and misunderstandings about Erik and accept the future that they have together without fearing the ghosts of her past any longer.

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To learn more about Mary Eason’s books, please visit www.maryeason.com