Happy Monday readers.
Please welcome author Celia Lucente as she stops by for a chat and shares her new book, Dream Man, Book
1 of the Executive Women in Love Series
Tell me three words that describe
yourself starting with A, B, and C.
A= amazing B=bountiful C=crafty
What are your three favorite things?
Socializing, Working-Out, Reading
Are you self- published or with a
publishing company (if so, which one?)?
I’m with
two very nice publishers: Soul Mate Publishing and The Wild Rose Press. I’d
like to fan out to a Big 5 someday.
What
for you is the best part of writing? What is the worst?
The best is creating
people, worlds, settings and plots. The worst is
other people’s criticisms, much of which is subjective
and sometimes helpful, but mostly just another opinion.
How much is your character like you?
There are attributes of myself probably in all of them.
What is the ultimate goal you have
for your career?
To be a mutiple-published bestselling author
As the holidays approach, what traditions
do you have?
Finding the perfect treasures for the
people I love.
When not writing, what can you be
found doing?
Working and making money. Be nice if
writing made money, but then we all wish for that.
If you could spend the day with any
celebrity, who would it be?
Andy Cohen AFTER being
featured as a main guest and his promoting my favorite penned book ----which is
coming soon so stay tuned for it: Having Fun with Mr. Wrong.
Book
Blurb:
Felicity Burgess is no stranger
to tough breaks in business and in love. And she deals with them very well on
her own. She has no choice. After the sudden death of her parents, Felicity
must support herself and her sister. She fights her way up the ranks at a local
television network and directs her own-inspired teen reality show. Despite
raving reviews, the network won’t give her the title or the pay of director. Or
a shot at running with her new show.
Her sister is a trouble-bound
teen and lands in a hospital due to a weather related car accident. While in
the emergency waiting room, Felicity’s idol, Hollywood’s notoriously confirmed
bachelor, film star, and entrepreneur walks in: Maxwell Marx. Felicity pitches
her new reality show to him. Little did she know her life-long heartthrob would
become her supervisor. Working close with Max, she sees a side to him no one
knows. She wants to break down the barriers and reveal the man Max truly is but
denies exists. She’s determined to break through, only she doubts he’d ever let
her.
#
Max is happy with his carefree
existence, much as the tabloids portray. He plays up to the role of the
unattainable lady’s man better than any script he agrees to take. The façade
works just fine until he meets Felicity who wows him with her new reality TV
show proposal. So much so, he convinces his network executive buddy to take on
the project. But Felicity also taps into something deeper in him. A place he’s
purposely protected from any woman to penetrate. He enjoys Felicity’s company,
and hopes to keep her at bay, yet she threatens to unravel his protective
cocoon he spun out of the pain from his past. A pain he doesn’t intend to face
again.
Should he stay in his safe world of single
living or risk losing the one girl who could complete his life?
Book
Excerpt:
“Wait. I
thought you looked familiar. I just read about you in The Hollywood Reporter. Nice article about your work.”
Felicity
felt her face burn with embarrassment. He’d read about her! “Yes. That’s me.
I’m flattered you saw it.”
“I like
to see local talent get ahead. I’m impressed with your tenacity in fighting
against the brass in Hollywood. What was it the article said? That’s right,
you’re a savant.”
Heat flashed
in her chest. “Yeah, I had to look that one up myself.
But, I’m not exactly playing in the big leagues.”
“You’re
getting there.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Felicity
could feel the flush run to her cheeks. “I do have an idea for a new reality
series . . .”
“I read a
little about it in the article. Tell me more.”
He seemed
genuinely interested.
“I have
an idea for a new show. It’s a step-up from the usual gossip, drama-ridden
stuff.” Felicity took a deep breath and waited for the right words to formulate
in her mind. “What if there were a series played by executive women who were on
the fast track building their careers while juggling family responsibilities or
a vivacious social schedule with a super-charged sex life? I envision the show
to have just enough edge to give today’s hard-working professionals a chance to
escape from their daily challenges.”
“Sound
interesting. Have you pitched it to Applaud!?”
“First,
they don’t think I’m seasoned enough to have my own show. Second, they’re fully
booked. The established franchises have taken all of the prime TV slots.
There’s simply no room.”
“Yeah,
but I’m sure each franchise has a certain shelf life. Like everything else in
television.”
“Maybe.”
Max
seemed to be contemplating something.
Guilt
pulled at her heart as her thoughts returned to her sister in surgery. The
timing is way off. Too bad, she’d met Max under such unfortunate circumstances.
Then the
dratted interruption occurred. “Sir, the doctor would like to see you about Ms.
Hernandez.”
Max stood
but took a moment to slip Felicity his card.
She
scrambled to locate her own and pressed it to his hand.
“Why
don’t you give me a call? We’ll meet for lunch.” He scurried to the awaiting
attendant and glanced back. “Hope your sister’s okay.”
Then he
disappeared behind the open door.
Did she
just have a chat with Maxwell Marx? Did he really give her his business card?
She stared at it and read it repeatedly:
Maxwell Marx, Actor, Entrepreneur.
She’d
love to take their discussion further—professionally and personally.
Her
dream!
Relax, girl. He was probably just being
polite.
Question
for You Dear Reader:
If you’ve already met your Dream Man: How and where did
you meet? And if you haven’t: Who would you imagine to be your Dream Man and
how would you meet him?
Buy Link
Social Links
Next up in the Executive Women in
Love Series: Designed by Love:
If you liked Dream Man you’ll
love Designed by Love, Book Two of the Executive Women in Love series.
Margo Spamozzi is tired of someone
taking artistic credit for her fashion designs. She decides to venture out on
her own, despite having signed a non-compete agreement, and having no money or
credit. She blames the last two things on her extravagant social life. Although
she so enjoys it. One man at a time. Leaving them before they leave her. It’s
her foolproof plan to protect against the betrayal, abandonment, and sexual
abuse she associates with relationships, thanks to her past.
Her carefree existence appears to
work—until she meets Doug Spenser.
Doug continues to pay the debts,
emotionally and physically, from his divorce. His hectic work as a national
television network executive doesn’t crush his need for love. But he fears he’s
a beacon for the wrong kind of woman, like his self-absorbed ex-wife who plays
his weaknesses for her gain.
He finds himself in bed with an
amazing, sexy, independent woman. She leaves him the next day without a word
but he discovers she’s going to appear in one of his reality shows. He invites
her for a drink afterward and soon finds out this damaged woman presents more
of a challenge than he can handle. But can he let that stop him from his second
chance at love?
Author
Bio:
Celia T. Lucente is a retired
CPA and semi-retired banker. Her work experience includes nine years as a
public accountant and an internal auditor and seventeen years as a senior loan
officer for a national bank. She’s currently a licensed mortgage banker and
insurance agent as well as a writer of contemporary romance and women’s fiction
aka what she likes to call “relationship fiction”. She is publishing her
finished works under the pseudonyms of Celia T. Rose for contemporary romance
and Celia T. Franklin for her contemporary relationship fiction. Her first book
Having Fun with Mr. Wrong, in the
contemporary women’s fiction series, Fun
with Mr. Now, is under contract with The Wild Rose Press and will soon be
released. Her contemporary romance, Dream
Man is published with Soul Mate Publishing. She is a member of the RWA PAN
alliance, Contemporary Romance, and the RWA Romance Critique Group. She enjoys
working on her craft by helping fellow writers.
