Lucy King's first...book that will never see the light of day!

Next up in my "You never forget your first..." party, is the fabulous Lucy King, writer of gorgeously sexy books I adore.  

Congratulations, Ally, on ten years of awesome books (amazing achievement!) and thank you so much for having me here to join in your fabulous celebrations.  (AB: Pleasure!)

Ten years ago I’d just finished the first book I ever wrote. I’d had some time off work and thought hey, I used to devour these books, I’ve always wanted to write one and really, how hard can it be?

Yes. Well. Exactly. Pretty hard as it turns out. Not that I thought so at the time. I thought A Conflict of Interest was totally brilliant. Of course, it wasn’t, and it should never have seen the light of day, let alone been submitted to the M&B slush pile.  (AB: Soooo with you there.  My first was entitled 'The Muted Heat' - a god awful Seinfeld reference of a title which was probably the best thing about it!)

Set in the world of high-finance, zipping between London and Barcelona and bizarrely involving an illegitimate evil sister and a kidnapping, the plot was, as the rejection letter I eventually received pointed out, ‘rather far-fetched’. The heroine was spoilt, whiny and generally pretty unappealing. The hero was domineering, boorish and equally unappealing. In short, it was the complete opposite of Ally’s books, whose characters are people you could imagine being friends with, whose plots are gems and whose dialogue makes me wonder why I bother. Like this:

She stopped her fussing and said, ‘One little hint? Next time you’re looking to land yourself a girl, don’t bother with the chair. Props are for amateurs.’

That was from the wonderful The Magnate’s IndecentProposal. See what I mean? Fabulous. Maybe my favourite Ally Blake line ever.  (AB:  Argh!  You've made me blush!)

Lucy

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Lucy is giving away a copy of her latest Harlequin Kiss THE REUNION lie over on my Facebook page!  So head on over and say hi!