herding cats & burning soup: #AtoZChallenge-- *Today's Interview w/ Jeanette Murray is brought to you by the letter F*

It's the A to Z Challenge!

We're blogging the alphabet along with 1000s of other bloggers.

There's a specific letter for each day and then you pick your own theme.

Our Theme: herder of cats, burner of soup
Basically...a day in the life of and all the things I love

*today's interview is brought you by the letter F*

Fabulous to see you Jeanette!! Fancy a bit of fudge? I went all domestic goddess this week and made some from scratch! Figured we'd nosh a bit while chatting Below the Belt (and I'll so try not to make that sound dirty heh) I had a total #TwitterFail in that regard lol

*passes around some fudgy goodness* Alright, if you had 10 seconds to have someone frantically running to one-click the hell out of the first First to Fight book...what would you tell them?

Friends finding flirtation in fortuitous places. (Hey, I can play with F-words, too!)

Yay F-words! They really are fantastic! Can you tell us 3 fun/sexy/fabulous behind the scenes facts about Below the Belt? Think Pop-Up Video style.

This series was inspired by the last cover of my first trilogy (the Semper Fi series, The Officer and the Secret). I thought that cover screamed “military fighter” and it spun me off to this series.

A friend from flight school helped me with some of the technical aspects of playing in the All-Military games (though she played for the Navy volleyball team). I still took liberties though, so all mistakes/inaccuracies are my own.

I based Nikki (secondary character) off one of my friends (not named Nikki). No, I won’t say which one. You’ll see why I won’t say which one when you read the book. ;)

Nikki!!!! Heh. That's too funny. Alright. So. Your guys. They turned me into a total floozy! I was reading along going Oooo I want one of him...and him...and ooo them too! What's YOUR favorite thing about the men in this series that just has you fanning yourself and going all girly?

I love that it’s sort of like their time to play. They have deliberately chosen careers that are very demanding, very rigid, very needy. And they have earned this moment in time to let their hair down (so to speak) and compete for something that isn’t life or death or survival (unless you’re Brad, because he’s just that serious) and play a little. It’s like when you have a big badass German Shepard who is a kick ass police dog, and he’s out there doing his job and catching criminals, and then he jumps out of the squad car at home, and his handler takes his halter off, and the dog sprints to the back yard to go roll around in the grass with the family’s toddler. That sort of stolen moment of freedom and joy. Despite this being an intense program, despite them still being required to uphold certain standards of the Corps and work their asses off and sweat and bleed for it…this is their break. It’s their “roll in the grass” after long hard day’s work. And that’s fun to write. Because they’re probably just a little bit different here than if we met them while attached to their actual platoons. Different situation, different needs.

Aaaand now I'm seeing a bunch of burly Marines rolling around shirtless (of course) in the grass. ::snort:: And what a view! First thing that pops into your mind about Marianne?

Goals, goals, goals.

LOL definitely sounds like her. What about Brad?

Fierceness in everything he does. Training, career, his relationship with Marianne, if he’s in it, he’s totally in it.

Mmms love that about him.  If you had 24 hours to hand out with any of the characters in Below the Belt...what would yall do? And would you need bail money by the end of the night?

I’d go hang out at Back Gate (a fictional bar I created for the series) and get my drink on with the entire gang! (Brad can drive us home. He’s a lightweight anyway. ;) )

I am SO coming! Friday Night. Fantasy date night. What are Brad and Marianne going to get up to?

Brad is taking them out to eat for a nice, lean steak and baked potato, then Marianne’s taking him to a sporting event of some kind where she gets to go behind the scenes and check out the trainer’s setup.

LOL That totally sounds like them. Favorite Fighter (or Marine) Man Candy?

It might be a bit too racy for your blog but I’ve been drooling over this one for a bit…

Oh. Noms! And heh you are too cute. Too racy for The Herd? Bwahaha. Let me introduce you to our tumblr page. Heh (yall this is super NSFW. This is where all my naughty comes out so don't click unless you wanna see nekkid bits *grins*)

Favorite Fried Food?

French, of course! (Fries, I mean. LOL)

I'm completely freaked out by??

Things that crawl and have more than four legs. Fuck ‘em all.

Favorite F word?

Fuuuuuuuuuuundamental (I don’t know, it just sounded funny.)

Fantasy Vacation Spot?

Florida (No seriously. We love Disney World. We’re suckers for the Mouse.)

Marines are fucking awesome because....

Fucking A…you even have to ask?!

Ever had a Pink Flamingo?

Uh, the lawn ornament? Because no…

Annnd before you flee #TheHerd...what's up next for ya?

After this, my next book in the Santa Fe Bobcats book comes out (FOOTBALL! F-YEAH!) sometime this summer…maybe. Or fall. I don’t know. I should have an assistant that trails around behind me wherever I go cleaning up the messes my sieve-like brain creates. But all releases are listed on my website the second I find out about them. (Or, you know, like, within 48 hours. I’ve got stuff to do, ya know.)

Fuck-yeah, indeed! I love those footballers! Thanks for coming by Jeanette! Always fun hanging with ya! Fudge for the road?

Don’t mind if I do. :D Thanks for having me!!!

Athletic trainer Marianne Cook is ready to do whatever it takes to turn the men of the Marine Corps boxing team into fighting machines. After all, her ultimate goal is to land a job training professional athletes. But when she notices a certain hard-bodied marine trying to hide an injury, Marianne realizes that she’ll have to use covert tactics to get him talking.

First Lieutenant Brad Costa has waited years for the chance to fight for a spot on the Marine Corps boxing team, knowing he has to push twice as hard to get half as far as his younger counterparts. Brad tries to downplay his injuries to the attractive trainer who has his dreams in her hands, but Marianne isn’t buying it. Maybe it’s time to deploy some targeted flattery.

As Brad and Marianne’s attraction turns red-hot, there’s more than one person having a hard time keeping their eyes on the prize…

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