​Sweet Temptation: The Agony and the Ecstasy of Passion by Sarah Stuart

Romantic Suspense

Evie Taylor is a highly-paid detective who works all over the world. She has broken off contact with her family, who disapprove of her, and takes lovers who don’t expect commitment. Evie is not one of the “people who need people”. The only gap in the defences around her heart is a secret passion for a sexy superstar as unattainable as the moon, even though she does wear the gold bracelet he gave her and never, ever, removes it.

Michael Marsh, The Diamond Superstar, has retired from show business and is bored and lonely, and he hasn’t forgotten the girl who clinched the case against his beloved wife’s killer. He persuades Evie to move in with him, only to have an attack of conscience about the age gap and a young woman’s natural desire for children.

The stand-off ends when Evie is taken to hospital hovering between life and death and her mother doesn’t want to know. Michael loves Evie and will move heaven and earth to keep her, but if she recovers will she forgive the secrets of his past? Not all Michael’s offspring are what the media, and particularly a journalist known as The Spy, have been expected to believe.

Teenage Greta, jealous of the time her father spends at the hospital with Evie, joins an adult chatroom in search of a boyfriend. The contact she makes is a sex-trafficker, and he offers Greta independence, fame, fortune, and freedom from school bullies. A tempting cocktail of bait for a girl whose life is ruled by an over-protective father and his bodyguards.

5.0 out of 5 stars A love story that will tug at your heart.

“Michael Marsh and his unconventional family have long suffered the consequences of his disastrous relationship with his eldest daughter. Life is complicated further by Evie, Michael’s new love after two lonely years. When Evie falls desperately ill, he is left fighting a media troll who wishes to destroy him and his family, and an evil future mother-in-law, while trying to save the life of the women he loves.”

Sarah Stuart: The IAN Interview

Sarah Stuart

I have a lot of interests and I’ve been very lucky to be able to follow them. Theatre, music, travel, history, and wildlife conservation probably seem an odd mix, but they do come together in the one thing I love most: writing. I was thrilled when my first two novels, Dangerous Liaisons and Illicit Passion, received five star ratings from Reader’s Favorite. Dangerous Liaisons was also a romance finalist in the Independent Authors Network Competition 2015.

IAN: Please tell us about your latest book.

S. Stuart: Illicit Passion: An Erotic Romance Saga is the second book in the Royal Command trilogy, but it’s written to be read as a standalone. Lisette Marsh, a Broadway superstar, is approached by a man from her past who blackmails her with the threat to reveal that she bore a child of incest. Sixteen years later she escapes him and flies to Paris, where she joins her father, and ex-lover, for a concert tour of Europe, and he, with the help of the whole family, puts into action an audacious plan to set her free. Their daughter, Harriet, finds out the truth and vows vengeance on all who conspired to register her birth as the twin of the man she loves but cannot marry. Readers’ Favorite reviewer, Janelle Fila said: “Author Sarah Stuart handles the serious nature of the theme well and readers will love the soap opera quality of this story. The characters are larger than life, beautiful, glamorous and glitzy, but have their demons and secrets. Getting to know those secrets and peeling back the layers that lie beneath the superstar glamour is the fun of the story, and readers will really appreciate this incredible journey.”

IAN: Is your book published in print, e-book or both?

S. Stuart: Both

IAN: Where can we go to buy Illicit Passion?

S. Stuart: viewbook.at/ILLICITPASSION  Is a link that takes potential readers to the Amazon purchase site in their own country, where there is a choice of eBook or print.

IAN: What inspired you to write the Royal Command trilogy?

S. Stuart: Actually, it’s who not what. I’ve been involved with show business for many years but the idea for the first book, Dangerous Liaisons, which underpins the trilogy, was a chance meeting with an international superstar of stage and screen. He told me a very personal story about how long partings affect a marriage, especially when children are involved. It started me wondering “what if” and Lizzie and Michael’s tempestuous love story developed from that.

IAN: Do you use an outline or do you just wing the first draft?

S. Stuart: I start with a rough idea of what is going to happen, and I do a lot of research. Once the characters begin to “live” they take over and I think that shows: a number of reviewers describe my books as character-driven. I’m not sure if the readers realise just how character-driven; once they’re grounded, their actions and reactions turn the plot upside-down and inside-out.

IAN: Do you have a specific writing style?
 

S. Stuart: I use the third person so that I can show the story from more than one point of view. I use four in Illicit Passion: Michael, Lisette, James and Harriet. The ones I use in a specific chapter have their own section and I open it by using their name: after that, only other characters involved in the scene are named, frequently, to ensure it’s clear who is speaking, or doing something.

IAN: What book are you reading now?

S. Stuart: Til Death Us Do Part by Jan Sikes. I read the first three books in the series and bought this one the day it was published.

IAN: If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in Illicit Passion?

S. Stuart: No. I’m happy with Illicit Passion. I made several changes to Dangerous Liaisons, to ground all three books more. Writing novels is a learning curve, even though I had published short stories and articles previously.

IAN: Do you have to travel much concerning your books?

S. Stuart: I travel around the UK; the family settings in all my books to date are London and Scotland, including those associated with the historical thread back to Margaret Tudor, James IV of Scotland’s queen. Otherwise I use places I’ve already visited, as I did for Michael and Lisette’s concert tour of Europe in Illicit Passion. I like to absorb the atmosphere and picture the lives of the people who live, or have lived, in a country or city; my husband is the photographer and leaflet collector.

IAN: Do you have any advice for other writers?

S. Stuart: Employ a professional editor/proofreader. I prefer the freedom of self-publishing but authors are so close to their own work they read what they expect to see.

IAN: Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

S. Stuart: The message behind incest, the central theme in the Royal Command trilogy, is that we should be slower to condemn and more prepared to forgive. It isn’t right, even between consenting adults, and I don’t glamorize or condone it; I show the shame and heartache it causes.

IAN: Tell us about your next book or a work in progress. Is it a sequel or a stand-alone?

S. Stuart: Dynasty of Deceit will be the final book in the Royal Command trilogy: like the others, it will be a standalone. I plotted it over the winter and I was writing the first draft throughout a discussion about Illicit Passion on Goodreads in April. Readers’ comments and questions told me which characters interested them most, and why, and that was very useful information. In a family saga it’s inevitable that older characters will die and new ones either marry into the family or be born. Michael remains eternally popular, but there were many questions about Harriet, Kit, and little-known young Greta. All of them feature in Dynasty of Deceit. 

Sarah Stuart: The IAN Interview

Sarah Stuart

I live on the edge of a quiet English village where wildlife sightings are common. The subliminal theme of my published novels is a plea for animal protection from exploitation worldwide. Many of my dogs are, or were, rescues, and I donate 50% of my royalties to animal charities. 

My passion is the theatre and I’ve been lucky to see so much from the inside out, and to meet so many stars of stage and screen. I’ve watched performances in Europe and the USA in addition to London’s West End and Northern Ballet productions, and it’s fascinating; I know so much about what goes on behind the scenes. 

IAN: Please tell us about your latest book.

S. Stuart: ILLICIT PASSION is the second book in the Royal Command series, but it has been written to be read as a standalone novel. It is set partly in the Western Highlands of Scotland on the Kinloch Wildlife Reserve, and in London, whilst a concert tour of Europe opens at the Opéra Bastille in Paris and concludes in Kraków, a city in Poland. 

Showbiz superstar, Lisette Marsh, is blackmailed with a threat to expose illicit love, a secret that she, and her father, thought safely hidden forever. Michael, touring with her to promote the music of Kit Marsh, initiates an audacious plan to free her from a life of humiliation and pain that puts the whole family in peril, both from the paparazzi and in physical danger from the blackmailer.

Meanwhile, their daughter, Harriet, the new owner of the Book of Hours, deciphers coded entries made by Queen Margaret’s great-granddaughter, Lady Harriet Allanach. Will she too follow her namesake’s example and comply with the queen’s command "I direct and beseech my heirs to find love where they may", or walk away from the twin she loves, and shouldn’t love, before it’s too late? 

I’m delighted that it has been awarded 5 stars by Readers’ Favorite. 

IAN: Is Illicit Passion published in print, e-book or both?

S. Stuart: Illicit Passion is published only as an e-book at present. A print copy will follow in time for Christmas.

IAN: Where can we go to buy your book? 

S. Stuart: Illicit Passion is available at all Amazon sites at viewbook.at/ILLICITPASSION 

IAN: Do you use an outline or do you just wing the first draft?

S. Stuart: The Royal Command books are character-driven: I never knew the end until I reached it. There was a point in Illicit Passion when I didn’t know whether someone would live or die. Dangerous Liaisons began as a love story, which it is: readers familiar with the queen’s command “to find love where ye may” will understand how that grounded Lisette’s reaction to acting lovers opposite her father onstage. The promise to obey the queen’s decree, asked of every heiress, creates a potential minefield.

IAN: Do you have a specific writing style?

S. Stuart: Yes, I do. I never use dialogue tags; I see no need for them. Each chapter may be divided into two or three parts: each uses the POV character’s name once and after that everything that is done or said, is done or seen to be done, said or heard, by that character, and all thoughts are theirs. It seems to be fairly unusual: judging by the reviews, it works well. 

IAN: What do you hope your readers come away with after reading Illicit Passion?

S. Stuart: That they will question the morality of killing for fun, whether an animal species is endangered or not. To understand that being a Christian isn’t about being perfect; it’s the ability to recognise one’s wrong-doing, try to make it right, and to forgive.

If that seems a serious answer when my novels tend to be regarded as steamy, it’s because nobody likes being preached at and I avoid doing it. The primary purpose of a novel is to provide entertainment and escapism: I hope my readers lose themselves in a different world. 

IAN: How much of Illicit Passion is realistic?

S. Stuart: All of it. Where I have used actual historical characters, like Margaret Tudor, Henry VII’s eldest daughter, the fiction fits into her recorded life, even to the degree of her being in the right place at the right time. Kinloch Wildlife Reserve, featured first in Dangerous Liaisons, was a working shooting estate: I know a lot about wildlife but I owe an ex-gamekeeper for facts about the running of such an estate, and the financial risk of converting it to a reserve. The theatre, and the basis of many of my characters, comes from my own experience. I was living in Wales when a producer of the musical “Annie”, to be staged at the Arts Theatre that is part of Aberystwyth University, asked for a dog to play Sandy. I had several obedience-trained dogs at the time and I supplied one whenever required for six years. A dog-handler must be present at all times so I had the opportunity to meet countless directors, performers, and all the backstage staff. Some of the musicals and plays were on their pre-West End premiere run and the actors and actresses were truly international stars. Hounding by the paparazzi occurs more in London, and it can be vicious if they scent a story. 

IAN: If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

S. Stuart: I was lucky enough to have a mentor, the late, great, “first lady” of romantic suspense, Mary, Lady Stewart. Some years ago I had an article about the rescue of a stranded dolphin published and in it I referred to the knowledge I’d acquired from reading about a similar situation in “This Rough Magic”. She contacted me, which was a great thrill. She read one of my early, unpublished, novels and told me the main protagonists, the lovers, should meet in the first chapter, not a third of the way through the book. I followed that advice in Dangerous Liaisons, and introduced Lisette and her blackmailer in the prologue of Illicit Passion. If I could choose a writer to replace her it would be Nicholas Sparks; a reviewer compared my writing to his, specifically “The Notebook”, which I hadn’t read. I did, and I’ve been a fan ever since.

IAN: What book are you reading now?

S. Stuart: Screamer by R. E. Wood. It’s a thriller, gripping to the point of being frightening and very well written.

IAN: Are there any new authors that have caught your interest?

S. Stuart: Several: Sharon Brownlie (Betrayal), Bruce A Borders (Inside Room 913), Robert K. Swisher Jr. (A Circle Around Forever), Ica Iova (She Never Got to Say Goodbye), Rebecca Bryn (Touching the Wire), May Panayi (Malbed Mews), Tara Ellis (Bloodline), Bethany Turner (I’ve Loved These Days), and John Fioravanti (A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching). 

IAN: Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.

S. Stuart: My “one entity” includes a vast number of people I have never actually met. It astounded me after I hit “publish” for the first time and asked around on Twitter and Facebook for advice on publicity, how many other authors made practical suggestions. The group spread rapidly to encompass “strangers” from all over the world, many of whom weren’t writers, but all had something to give, and willingly still do. I make a point of doing the same for new authors when I can. “Indie”, to me, means freedom, but it can be lonely too. One example of a friend I haven’t met is a reader fan from Texas who found me on Goodreads and sent me a message quite recently. “I hate you. I’ve read eight chapters, can’t stop, and I should be at work!” Later, she wrote one of my best reviews on Illicit Passion.

IAN: Tell us about your next book or a work in progress. Is it a sequel or a stand-alone?

S. Stuart: Dynasty of Deceit will be the last book in the Royal Command series: another standalone. It is plotted and the first two chapters are complete. I’m also committed to writing a short story for a charity anthology in 2016. However, the Royal Command series is on hold for the present. I’m working on a new novel, still based in show business but with a very different slant.