Chat with Maxine Sullivan

My guest series continues this week with fellow down-under Desirabelle, Maxine Sullivan, the second Australian contracted to write for Desire and already a three-time Waldenbooks bestseller. Maxine's 2007 trilogy Australian Millionaires was an outstanding success and she is set to please her multitude of fans with her fourth release, Mistress & A Million Dollars.

Welcome, Maxine. It is such a pleasure to have you here to talk about your latest book, which is the third installment in the Diamonds Down Under series and a March release in America and India, and April in Australia/New Zealand. I must say I love that cover!

Maxine: Bron, thanks so much for asking me here. I love talking about the Desire line and especially about the Diamonds Down Under series. As for my cover, yes, it's gorgeous! I love that the art department not only captured the glitz and glamour of our characters but of our series as well.

Did you have any visual image in mind when writing your gorgeous Jarrod and Briana?

Maxine: In my mind my heroes are always tall, dark and handsome, and my heroines are usually blonde and stunningly beautiful. What can I say? I'm a sucker for classic characters.

But I guess you want more than that, huh? :) I didn't use pictures until I sold my first book and it was recommended I send pictures to help the art department get it right for the covers. For this diamond book, I searched high and low and eventually found one of how I imagined Jarrod to be. And Bron, you were the one who found a fabulous picture of Briana. Both those pictures are on our Diamonds Down Under blog this week under 6 Things About Mistress & A Million Dollars.

Speaking of Mistress and a Million Dollars, I love the "indecent proposal" storyline... Is that something you've wanted to write for a while? What was your inspiration?

Maxine: I've wanted to write an indecent proposal storyline after being intrigued by the Indecent Proposal movie. Only, I wanted to write a story that was about two people whose desire for each other didn't hurt anyone else. In the movie, either the husband or the lover had to lose and that wasn't such a feel-good ending for me. It's great that I can write my own happy ending.

That's the best part about writing romance. This book is set in your home town of Melbourne, right?

Maxine: Sydney is actually my home town but it's been many years since I've lived there. And since Sydney has got the most glorious harbour in the world, I used that setting for a very special wedding in the opening of my book. (Sssh, I can't say who got married.) (Bron blinks innocently.)

Then I moved my characters to Melbourne, which is a wonderful place to live. Melbourne has a magnificent casino so I took the opportunity to use that as one of the settings. We also have the Moomba Festival and the Melbourne Grand Prix in March, so I definitely had to make use of those exciting events for Jarrod and Briana to get to know each other.

Melbourne has a reputation as the festival/events capital, and March definitely has its fair share. Great that you were able to share these snippets of your adopted city (I'd forgotten you're a transplanted Sydneyite!) with your readership around the world. I know they'll love the colour and the glamour.

Now, onto Diamonds Down Under... What did you enjoy most about working on the series?

Maxine: As you know, it was really hard work for all of us to put the series together because it was so involved, but I thoroughly enjoyed working with all the other Down Under authors. Getting to work with you, Tessa, Jan, Paula, and Yvonne and getting to know each of you has been a real blessing. I think it's created a strong bond between us that will always be there.

Absolutely. What can fans of the series look forward to in Mistress and a Million Dollars?

Maxine: This past month 'Mistress' was listed in eHarlequin's Top 10 Sexy Stories, so if you like a sexy read with lots of emotion, then hopefully you will enjoy my book. There's also the chance to revisit main characters from the first two books, not to mention intrigue as mystery continues to thread its way through the series.

A couple of fun one-liners to finish:

What I love most about writing romance is...
taking two people who are meant for each other, putting them through the hoops, then banging their heads together until they realize they love each other.

I can't write without...
peace and quiet. Give me a week alone on a desert island when I'm in the middle of a book and I'm happy.

In my next life, I want to come back as...
one of my pets. I'd enjoy being treated like a princess.

My next release is...
"The CEO Takes a Wife" and comes out in July 08.

Thanks, Maxine. It was a pleasure to have you as my guest blogger for this week.