Boss Chick’s Bodacious Destiny…
A multi-genre collection of eclectic reads from BundleRabbit
Featuring….Outbid by the Boss!!!
A contemporary romance by yours truly (Anne Stephenson) & Susan Brown writing as Stephanie Browning!
Seven books in all, this box-set of Bodacious reads is available on Kindle, on Kobo, iBooks & Nook,as well as BundleRabbit, for $9.99, and we’re thrilled Outbid by the Boss was invited to the party!
And what a journey it has been!
From the euphoria of writing together as Stephanie Browning to the decision to become “indie authors,” the past few years have been the writers’ equivalent of a Grand Prix. Full of twists and turns as we developed the Stephanie Browning brand and learned how to navigate the world of online publishing.
And now with the ink barely dry on Making Up is Hard to Do, our sexy new beach read, Outbid by the Boss is hitting the big time with a group of no-nonsense ladies who know how to turn up the heat on life and love.
Compiled by Petite2Queen.com, the online virtual mentor for women, the Boss Chick’s Bodacious Destiny is a multi-genre collection that will inspire and entertain you while we put the finishing touches on In Debt to the CEO, our next Stephanie Browning Romance.
(And if you have a hankering for drop-dead gorgeous movie stars, you won’t want to miss the second in the “London” trilogy, Undone by the Star, when our American film star falls for a strong-willed independent woman who refuses to settle for anything less than the real deal.)
Now that’s a motto to live by!
As well as Outbid by the Boss, this seven-book box set includes:
Practical Wisdoms@Work by Petite2Queen; Love Magic from Ariana; The Glass Slipper Project by Dora Girard; Diana Deverell’s Help Me Nora; My Rebel Dreams by Tikiri, and Linda Jordan’s Living in the Lower Chakras
How to stall like a pro…
Eighteen months earlier…
This was the morning I was planning to print out a partial first draft of my romantic thriller. I’m 25,000 words in, and feeling good even though I know I need to cut at least 5,000 words before moving on. Some scenes start too late, others ramble, and I have one secondary character who is so strong, she needs to be cut down to size. The good news is…my main characters are riffing off each other well, the emotional tension is building, and my convoluted plotline is, at long last, beginning to make sense.
So then why am I writing this piece?
Because there’s another manuscript out there sitting on an editor’s desk waiting to be read, and it’s driving me crazy. And while I know I should be plowing ahead on my work-in-progress, I’m starting to get antsy. Checking my inbox, messing about on the internet, doing the laundry….
It’s a pattern I’ve never outgrown.
And probably never will, so, here’s the plan. I’m going to take little miss bossy from my WIP and give her a book of her own because, when it comes to romance, three’s a crowd. And if the aforementioned editor, the one who’s going to call any minute now, is interested in one book, she may be interested in three.
Okay, now I’m thinking series. And, unlike mystery and detective stories, in the world of romance, the main characters only get one book. They may play a secondary role in another, but a new hero and heroine will take centre stage, and then they, too, will move on.
The rules apply whether it’s a contemporary romance set in a small town like Cedar Cove (see Debbie Macomber’s award-winning series), or a Regency-era quartet like Sarah Maclean’s “Rule of Scandals.” Because, when it comes to relationships, the possibilities are endless!
As for me…I think my new plan has potential, the laundry is done, and those 5,000 words I need to lose from my WIP may just find their way into another book…with little miss bossy in the starring role.
And with a little luck, my phone will ring tomorrow.
That was two books ago, and while the phone didn’t ring for that particular manuscript, Making Up is Hard to Do, our latest Stephanie Browning romance, is a finalist in GSRWA’s inaugural “Open the Book” contest for the best back-page blurb!
Winners will be announced next month at the Emerald City Writers Conference 2018!
Restroom, bathroom, ladies’ toilets, loo!
Call it what you will, “the necessary” is the perfect setting!
It’s true; everything Susan and I have written together invariably features a bathroom scene. It is the most versatile of locations, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether our heroine is twelve or twenty-nine, sooner or later, she’ll have to go. Not that she actually ever “goes,” although in Outbid by the Boss, we had to give Samantha Redfern a break because…
“She really was bursting for a pee. And a little privacy because this, she fumed as she locked the cubicle door behind her, was probably her last chance for either.”
And it was. Sam never did get another chance to relieve herself in the entire book, at least not on the page. But she did get time for a frantic call to her friend Mia while her boss waited impatiently to whisk her away to his ancestral home where they, of course, fell in love.
Not all bathroom scenes end that way. From films to novels and series television, characters surreptitiously hook up with one another in public toilets, hide from villains in the one room in the house with the smallest window, and often meet their end in the most gruesome ways.
Nonetheless, taking refuge in the rest room is a time-honoured tactic.
It’s also useful if you don’t have an office in downtown Toronto. Back in the day, we used to collate our scripts in a seldom-used ladies’ room at the Delta Chelsea before we began writing romance novels as Stephanie Browning. Worked a treat!
In Undone by the Star, the second in our London trilogy, head concierge Alexis Kirkwood takes a ribbing in the staff lounge at the exclusive Sadler Hotel (we do like posh hotels) after a close encounter with a new guest…who just happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous movie star.
Alex uncapped her lipstick. “What exactly did you hear…not that I’m interested.” She touched up her lips, her face reflecting studied nonchalance.
“Well…” said Kate, “…according to my sources…first, Marc Daniels tricks you into personally escorting him to his suite, and then, mere moments later, the plumber wanders out of the loo to find Mister Daniels undressing you, with his teeth, ripping the teeny tiny buttons off your shirt while you pretend to fight him off…”
“Which you, of course, totally believe!”
“Are you kidding me! What woman in her right mind would fight him off?”
“Actually, I was swooning with ecstasy!” drawled Alex.
“Really?” Kate’s eyes threatened to pop out of her head.
“Nooo… If anyone got caught in the act, it was Bert. You should have seen him. Just as I was telling Marc there was a problem with the toilet, it flushes, and out comes Bert hoisting up the back of his pants!”
“And you’re blushing because….”
She’s falling in love. Alex might not know it yet, but we had it all arranged. Marc and Alec were destined to be together and, as far as we know, still live happily ever after.
Ironically, our first co-authored “toilet scene” was in The Mad Hacker, a juvenile mystery we wrote for Scholastic featuring 12-year-old super sleuths Amber Mitchell and Liz Elliot. Liz is hiding out in the girls’ washroom waiting for Amber when in walks Jane Dobbs, Amber’s arch enemy.
Liz leapt up on the toilet seat and crouched down, praying for balance and Amber’s speedy return.
“If you ask me,” Jane was saying to another girl in her unmistakable whine, “Amber’s hot for Jonathan. Why else would she stick up for him?”
“Amber always sticks up for people,” came the reply. “She’s been doing it since kindergarten.”
That has to be Karen Lee, thought Liz.
“Well I want to know where they are,” insisted Jane. “The police wouldn’t have sent for Jonathan if Liz and Amber had been at lunch. They’re up to something.”
“Probably,” replied Karen. ‘They usually are. But I bet they won’t tell you.”
“Come on,” said Jane. “Let’s go.”
“Just a minute. I have to go to the washroom.”
Liz lost her balance and almost fell into the toilet. Then the door swung open, and there she was, perched on the facilities like a vulture with cramps.
The colour drained from Karen’s face.
Liz grabbed some toilet paper and shoved it at her.
Karen stared back. “I think I’ll go later,” she called to Jane, then she grinned at Liz and shut the door.
We had a lot of fun with that scene, especially when we adapted The Mad Hacker for television — at which point “location” took on a whole new meaning!
Worn by a bridesmaid…Undone by the Star!
The Cover Story…
As soon as Susan and I found our storyline for Undone by the Star, our second Stephanie Browning romance, we immediately started thinking about the cover. We’d been thrilled with the image and design for Outbid by the Boss, and wanted to replicate the look.
But how? And with what? We had yet to write the scene that would riff off the title and give us that double-entendre we had so cleverly come up with. Something to think about, we decided, as we continued writing.
Now I’m not the best sleeper in the world. Conundrums like finding the right image, the right word, or even the right title tend to be my version of counting sheep. (I’ve tried counting money, but I always run out before I nod off.) So there I was thinking about what our drop-dead gorgeous film star might be “undoing” when I remembered the bridesmaid’s dress my daughter Lindsay had worn to her friend Emily’s wedding.
It would be perfect: two-piece, gorgeous silvery-blue peau de soie, and…the bodice had a back zipper! My imagination soared. We could use the same scarf we’d used for the cover of Outbid by the Boss as the backdrop, drape the pearls across the back of the bodice, and with the zipper partway down to add a whisper of intent, we’d have our cover shot!
Lindsay with her husband Chad
Problem solved – I could go to sleep.
But just as I was drifting off, I swear I heard Jane Austen…
“It is a truth universally acknowledged,” she cooed in my ear, “that once a wedding is over, a bridesmaid’s dress is rarely, if ever, seen again.”
Damn the woman.
I closed my eyes and tried to picture the garment bags hanging next to the winter coats in the guest room closet at my daughter’s. As if that would help. It was now ten past three. Lindsay would be up in a couple of hours. All I had to do was wait.
I fell asleep of course. Mothers do that when they’re old…they also hoard bridesmaid’s dresses. I’m sure I’ll give it back one day, but in the meantime…it’s in my cupboard now!
Spoiler Alert: There are no bridesmaids in Undone by the Star, but the bodice pictured on the front cover does indeed belong to my daughter Lindsay.