The Winning Bid is the debut novel (book one in the series) from author Michelle Windsor. Michelle puts out sexy, mysterious and exciting prose to capture a weekend between Dominant, Drew Sapphire and new submissive, Hannah.
Michelle stopped by the blog to give us a little more insight to her writing process, the characters and a more about who she is! See below!
Synopsis:
Hannah is on a mission to purchase a flower shop from the current owners. The only thing missing is the money for the down payment. Hannah takes on a submissive role as Scarlett at a BDSM resort called, Baton Timide to come up with the cash in time.
Her first duty? To be auctioned off to a stranger for the weekend! With little training under her belt she is confident she will not disappoint. That is until her eyes meet Drew Sapphire’s while waiting for the first bid. Yikes!
Drew Sapphire, multi-millionaire hotel owner, is looking to escape the pressures of running his business. He takes a “no interruption” weekend at his favorite resort to participate in a submissive auction.
No complications.
No seeking out a match.
Just bid on a beauty to make his stress go away.
Simple.
That is until Scarlett’s desire is made aware by her flushed cheeks at his gaze. Interesting. Drew is immediately taken by her beauty in return and has made his decision. The only problem…she is new and he was looking for experience. But there was something about her. Something he refused to deny…
Drew successfully wins the bid and is taken with Scarlett immediately when returning to his bungalow. He desires to know more about this mystery woman but she is tight lipped about who she is.
Will she give him more?
Will she expose herself him?
What secrets is she hiding that she refuses to let him in….
INTERVIEW
Hi Michelle! Thank you for agreeing to do this interview! I am excited to have you to discuss your NEW book: The Winning Bid!
PS: The Winning Bid realeased today - October 4th….Buy Links at the bottom of this page. ;)
Let me start by saying – I truly enjoyed your debut novel and was amazed that this is your first book! I loved it and cannot wait to read the next one in the series.
MW: Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Nicole. You have no idea how much it means to hear that you liked the book. While it is my first, I’ve been writing stories down for years and years. I just finally got up the nerve to publish one!
NFG: That is so great to hear. And quite an accomplishment to publish a first book. So onto the Winning Bid…
MW: Yes! Let’s talk about the book!!
NFG: How did you come up with your story? What spurred the idea for a sexy auction? And where were you when it happened?
MW: So, there’s a little bit of a funny story around this. I was actually at an auction at my local library. There were the usual items up for bid; signed books, sports memorabilia, booze… you get the picture.
I was pretty surprised at how low some of the bid prices were for the items. There happened to be a pretty good looking gentleman at one of the other tables, and I casually whispered to my friend that if they really wanted to make some cash, they should auction him off cause I would pay top dollar, (ps. Don’t tell my husband!) And an idea was born, and the next day I started writing…
NFG: Without getting all spoilery….My favorite part of the book was Hannah’s mystique. We know really nothing about her (Except her role as Scarlett)….this is VERY different than what I am used to as a reader. How did you come up with the idea?
MW: I happen to really love these billionaire type romance books, but I found that it’s usually the billionaire that has the secret or some sort of turmoil that needs to be overcome. Or it’s that the woman falls in love with the billionaire, but he’s unattainable for whatever reason. I wanted to put a twist on the typical, and so I flipped the tables and made the woman in the story the one with the mystery…
NFG: Who inspired you to write? In other words – what author or book made you think…"I can do this!”
MW: This answer could take me days and days to write, but I’ll try and keep it short. Bottom line is that I’ve been reading for as long as I can remember. Have a love for stories; all different genres and it could be books or movies.
I probably started acting on my love of stories and began writing in high school. But I never ever finished anything I started. Life got in the way I guess.
About six months ago, I picked up a Colleen Hoover book and fell in love with her stories. I became of fan and learned more about her and how she became an author. I was so surprised to learn that she had only started publishing her books a couple years ago. And prior to that, she was just a working parent, struggling through life like the rest of us. But she gave it a shot, and it worked out well. When I saw that, I just thought, I can do this..
NFG: How long was your writing process from start to finish? What was the hardest part?
MW: This book took me about six months, start to finish. I will say that I wrote the first half of the book in about three days. Then I put it down for three months! Then I picked it back up again and finished the last half in about three weeks.
Writing is actually pretty easy for me. I just sit down and the book almost writes itself. Editing was total hell for me!! I did have the most lovely editor, and she was brilliant to work with. It’s just that it was my first book, and I made a lot of novice writing mistakes and had to fix them. It was a learning experience for me that I hope will make book 2 much easier to edit!
NFG: People say that an author pulls from experience – Are there parts of Hannah/Scarlett that resemble you? What are some things….if you don’t mind sharing?
MW: Hmmm. Well, we both have blonde hair…
Not a lot actually! I really had to think about this one! There are things in the book that I love that I put in, but I don’t think specific to Hannah. I love, love, love Tiffany’s. I have a lot of it. So, when Drew collared ‘Scarlett’, it was with a Tiffany necklace.
Drew drinks Hendrick’s Gin in the book, and that is my drink of choice. There was a time in my life when I really wanted to work as a florist, so I made that Hannah’s day job.
Also, I love, love shoes and dressing up. So when I had to find Hannah’s outfit for the ball, I went all out and put her in something I would have loved to have worn.
NFG: Baton Timide…Translation: "stick/baton shy"? Sounds like it resembles Hannah’s anxiety over her first auction! Ouch. How did you come up with the name?
MW: You would be surprised at how hard it is to come up with an original name for a sex club… So, I tried to think a bit out of the box here.
The French translation for Baton is Club and Timide can be shy, coy or timid. For me, I picked Coy. So, Club Coy.
NFG: What is it about Drew’s obsession with Bon Jovi? Is this your favorite band?
MW: Well, it’s actually not Drew’s obsession, but his brother Ben’s! Ben loves 80’s rock and turned Drew onto it. You’ll learn a lot more about Ben in book two. I may even do a spin off about Ben in his own book if enough people like him. Stay tuned for that one!
NFG: Authors always read…Where did you pull inspiration for the book? (Other novels specific or authors)
MW: YES! I read so, so much. I probably read three or four books a week. Sometimes more. That may not seem like a lot to some folks, but I have a full time day job, a husband, two teenage boys, (one who is in a very busy rock band), run a blog and my author page, and write!
I probably love paranormal fiction the most. I was reading Stephen King’s The Shining in my closet when I was in fifth grade! Big fan of vampire romances. LOVE JR Ward. I read all genres though; just depends on my mood. You’ll clearly see elements of the FSOG/Crossfire craze in my book.
I tried really hard to pull in some Cinderella moments as well; dressing her up, the ball, the actual love story.
NFG: Authors allow their characters to run a muck in their heads. And sometimes they get out of control…would you agree?
With that said…What is something about Drew or Hannah the reader does not know? In general…what does Drew like for dinner or does Hannah have a dog or watch really bad reality TV? :) Feel free to elaborate.
MW: Well, I don’t want to give too much away about Hannah, as she is very secretive in the first book and I don’t want to ruin the surprises to come in book 2.
But I can tell you more about Drew. He loves sailing. And you’ll find out in book 2 that he plays guitar. No pets for him. He travels all the time, so it doesn’t make sense for him.
NFG: If you could take your favorite “Book Boyfriends” and mash them together to get Drew…Who would they be?
MW: Christian Grey, FSOG, (I know-you love him or you hate him), Sebastian Black from the Billionaire Seal Series by P.T. Michelle, and Jethro Hawk from the Indebted Series by Pepper Winters.
You’ve got rich, naughty, sensitive, total bad ass, and amazing lover wrapped up in a nice package!
NFG: I loved the connection to the wounded vets at the charity dinner. Is this something close to you?
MW: Several members of my family were in the military, but my older sister was active for twenty years. She went through a lot. Thankfully, she came back to us in one piece, but she did and still does suffer from PTSD.
And I am just a big supporter of any person that has served our country in the military. We absolutely do not do enough to support returning or injured soldiers.
My husband, (as well as my sister, my brother and two brother-in-laws) ran in the Tough Mudder. If you aren’t familiar with this event, look it up. The proceeds are used to help disabled veterans. I was a spectator at the race and was absolutely amazed at the brotherhood, the support, the encouragement of the people in this race. I saw one gentleman at the race, who had lost a leg, but now had a prosthetic, run this race better and faster than most with two natural legs. AND he was stopping along the trail to help others. It was inspirational to say the least.
NFG: Anything you would like your readers and potential readers to know?
MW: Oh jeez, I never know how to answer this question. I love making new friends and of course new fans. Please stop by my page anytime and say hi. I’m on just about every day and try to always interact with everyone. I’m on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authormwindsor .
And if anyone would like to know anything at all, please leave your question below or stop by my page and I promise I’ll answer!!
NFG: And LAST but not LEAST! How long must your fans wait for the NEXT book? Any hints you would like to give on what happens next? Pretty please? :)
MW: I promise I won’t leaving you hanging for too long! I actually wrote an outline for book two, (which I usually don’t do!), and I’ve just started the writing process. I’m trying really hard for a January 2017 release; fingers crossed.
You’ll learn SO much more about Hannah in the next book. There is a major connection to her and Ben that you’ll discover, and it will contribute to her continued resistance at a relationship with Drew…. Sorry-that’s all you get!!
MW: Thank you so much Nicole for these great questions! Extremely original. I had to think hard to answer some of these!! I truly appreciate your support.
NFG: Of course! And Thank you for coming by! We are looking
forward to what is next.
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