Noble Romance author & cover artist, Elaina Lee is here!!

So happy to welcome you to my site today, Elaina! I have heard so many great things about you, your writing and your art work. Please feel free to talk about everything you do in your busy life, I love helping other writers promote themselves. Noble Romance seems to be a publisher going from strength to strength! It was only recently I found out they publish other romance other than erotic.

Okay, on with the interview!

1) Where do you write? I used to write on my laptop in the living room, but since doing graphic design, my mind tends to wander and I find myself looking at pictures instead, LOL! So I write on my iPad now.

2) What is the best & worst part about the writing process for you? Writing those connecting scene's, the ones that get you from point A to point B are the hardest for me. They have to be relevant and worth reading, but at the same time they're not key elements, so they're challenging. The best part is plotting, I love to plot! It's fun and really gets me excited and ready get storytelling, or rather showing. *grin*

3) When did you first consider yourself a writer? When I realized I'd graduated from novice to intermediate/advanced writer. The errors my crit partners were finding weren't grammar, telling or pacing issues, they were plot or character issues. I was like "heck yeah, I'm finally getting there!"

4) What is the best & worst advice you’ve received about writing? The best is how to properly show a reader a room or a person, by slowly dropping visual hints and building the scene/person. The worst? Study other peoples writing for how to do something correctly. I'm not that author, so studying their work isn't going to get me anywhere. That's how THEY write. If I'm personally doing it wrong, then I need to focus on me and how I can personally fix it, not follow another person's style.

5) Which comes first? Plot or characters? Both. Sometimes it's characters, whose lives are the plot. Other times it's a plot that needs characters. Just depends. J

6) What is a typical day for you? Shower, dressed, change the toddler, feed the toddler, check emails, do social networking while he eats. Then while he runs around throwing toys, bringing books for me to read and plays, I design covers. At 5 pm I stop, hang out on the couch with my iPad and my couch buddy (the toddler again) and write when he's not on my lap. Oh… I might feed the starving family too around that time.

7) Where do you see your career in five years? Oh gosh, I have NO idea. Hopefully several more novels under my belt along with a slew of novella's. Preferably with really successful one! That would be lovely.

8) What do you like to do when you’re not writing? Relax.

Lyndi Crisdean is assigned one of the hardest cases in her career as a defense attorney. A serial murder case. Investigating is Alek Trevian, the lead investigator for the district attorney, and a handsome and supremely dangerous man. Lyndi finds herself in over her head when she chooses desire for Alek over common sense. If they're caught, Lyndi will lose everything she's worked for. Circumstances beyond her control pull her toward Alek, for he turns out to be the only one who can help when threats start to mount against her.

Lyndi may be the key Alek needs to bring down a murderous cult running loose in his city. When her beach house is broken into and a man begins to tail Lyndi, Alek can't help but reason Lyndi may be next on the cult's hitlist. The question is, will he discover the identity of the cult, keep her safe, and still win the case against the serial killer she's defending, all while losing a battle against the strong, untamable desire she alone ignites within him?

Here's the EXCERPT -

Warmth and the faint, woodsy notes of his cologne surrounded her as he braced his forearm on the wall above her. She pressed her back into the wall. Her heart pounded. He leaned in, and his mouth brushed against her ear. The moist heat of his breath caused a shiver to race up her spine.

"You know, I don't think I can stop myself from kissing you when I get the chance," he whispered, and Lyndi squeezed her eyes shut as a tremor of desire rushed through her body. "Any objections?"

Words lodged in her throat. All she could manage was to open her lips. Just enough for him to take her silence as the invitation he obviously needed, for his mouth to crash onto hers.

Rational thought fled. Her purse and keys thudded to the floor. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed her body to his. Everything about this was wrong, so, so wrong. Yet she couldn't stop her mouth from opening. Couldn't deny the way his tongue sweeping past her lips brought a tremor of excitement she'd never experienced before.

His mouth slanted over hers, and Lyndi clung to him, her legs weak. With a heavy thump, her body hit the wall as he pressed against her. Cold air brushed her skin, and she realized he'd untucked her shirt. Feather light, his fingers brushed along the sensitive flesh of her side. When his mouth pulled free, she almost welcomed the reprieve. His touch brought a wave of teasing pleasure on the way toward her breast.

Agonizingly slow, his fingers trailed up her ribs. His lips worked their way down her jaw, to her neck, stopping over her pounding heartbeat. Lyndi dropped her head back, and a tiny moan escaped before she could stop it. Underneath the underwire of her bra, his hand finally settled over her breast. Her nipple peaked, and she arched into his grasp. His hand gently massaged and pulled.

"Perfect," he purred against her skin, and Lyndi almost melted to the floor.

Once again, his lips found hers. His tongue teased, exploring her mouth, but never allowing her control. Then his hand slid free of her bra, and she wanted to cry.

His hand slipped out and the cool satin of her shirt settled over her skin, reminding her of what used to be there, bringing attention to the tendrils of longing deep within her. Slowly, his mouth eased away from hers. She knew she should be thankful he stopped, but she wasn't. She wanted more. Lots more.

He bent down and picked her things off the floor. He handed her the keys and purse. "You be careful, and drive to work from now on."

All she could do was watch as he walked down the hall and then disappeared onto the elevator. Resting her head back against the wall, she tried to take a deep, calming breath. The effort was useless. The man was going to kill her long before anyone else would get the chance . . . .

Wow! Great excerpt, Elaina - on a personal level, I know exactly where you're coming from with the toddler couch buddy! Hang in there, it does get easier - I wrote two out of my seven books with one or both of my daughters crawling all over me. Oh, the day is one to remember when they go to school full time! LOL! ;)