AUSSIE MONTH with Charmaine Ross

 

AUSSIE MONTH with Charmaine Ross

 

Describe yourself in one word:
Under-resourced!

Tell us about Take Me As I Am:
I’ve always been intrigued by the Burnham Beeches in Sassafras, in the Dandenongs in Melbourne and have wanted it to be restored to its former beauty. I didn’t have enough time, money or logistical prowess to do it myself, so I wrote about my heroine who was more than capable of undertaking a job like that. The gardens surrounding the Burnham Beeches are absolutely beautiful and would have been stunning in their nineteen thirties glory. I needed a lean, toned, muscular landscaper for that job and so my hero was born.

In this book, I wanted to turn the tables on the rich man / ordinary gal plot and so made my heroine a billionaire’s daughter, having been groomed for luxury and educated in the best schools money could buy, and my hero a sexy, hard-working, yet salt-of-the-earth man. My favourite scene is when my hero strips off his shirt in the summer sun, my heroine can’t ignore the sizzle in her blood or the voice in her head that tells her that what her body wants is a bad idea. A very bad idea.

Add in some sexy spice, some differences of opinion, undeniable physical attraction and you have ‘Take Me As I Am’.

What inspired this novel?
I live in the Dandenongs in Victoria which is a very romantic part of the world. I like to set my romances in the area I love and know and I’ve always wanted the Burnham Beeches to be restored to its former glory.

What are you reading right now?
I like reading the books from my fellow Escape Artists, but am now reading an action thriller – Option to Kill by Andrew Peterson. Not a lot of romance going on in this book, but I’m enjoying it. LOL

Number one thing to do on your bucket list?
To sit all day and read as much as I can without being interrupted.

Best thing about being an Aussie?
Freedom.

What you want readers to know about the romance genre?
I like to explore people’s motivations and have always been intrigued with how and why people fall in love. A romance book to me gets into people’s minds and you can study people in their most complex of decisions.

What have you got in store for your readers in 2016?
OOO – I have oodles going on. I have just been offered a publishing contract by a well-known publisher for my supernatural thriller. Take Me As I Am is being released on Feb 25^th through Escape Publishing.

I’m finishing editing a paranormal romance, Time After Time, as well as a contemporary romance, Bogan Chick.

I also am finishing three rom-com novellas which will be available very soon – Getting Hitched, Getting Preggas, Getting the Snip – about all of life’s little journeys.

In my head which is a very messy place, I have a paranormal trilogy, of which I’ll be writing book three for, and have a fantastic idea for another contemporary romance which I can’t wait to start!

I’ll probably think of more as time goes on. There just isn’t enough time!

What were your big achievements of 2015?
Finishing Take Me As I Am. Escape Publishing also contracted another romance – Your Song.

My paranormal romance – Cursed – was released with Crimson Romance which I have had enormous praise for.

I also overhauled my web site and have chapter downloads, plus free reads – that was a big job, but one I’m now satisfied with.

 

 

 

Take Me As I Am
Charmaine Ross

Forget the whole billionaire tycoon thing: Kate Moore is a billionaire’s daughter, and she knows first-hand that they’re not all romance novel worthy. Her father is brilliant, inflexible, and brutal – and nothing she’s ever done has been good enough for him.  Her one chance to take over the massive Moore’s Hotel Corporation is restoring the run-down Burnham Beeches in beautiful Sassafras to its former glory. To that end, she hires David Wright, a talented landscaper with an unparalleled eye for beauty and an unparalleled talent for distracting her from her goal.

David really needs this job. He needs the contract, the Moore’s name on his portfolio, and the money to pay for his ailing father’s health. Everything he’s worked for is now within his grasp, and he’s going to reach for it with both hands. What he doesn’t need is the diversion, or the temptation, presented by his new boss.

Neither David nor Kate are free to follow their own desires, but they’re powerless to fight their growing attraction. But they come from very different places; perceptions will have to crash, misconceptions will have to collapse, and they will have to face their own personal challenges before they find their space to meet in the middle.

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