Author Spotlight: Julie Destry

I want to welcome a special guest, Julie Destry.  She has a new book out, TOUCH.  Before we start, maybe you could give us a bit of information about yourself and your book?

Thanks so much for having me on Author Rescue today! I’m a Canadian living on the East Coast with my two cats and I work in the finance industry. My first release, TOUCH, is a quick, fun erotic romance novella with lots of heat. It’s set almost entirely in the dark, which I’ll admit was a challenge to write. My characters, Finn and Kass, are each struggling with different aspects of their personalities, but they’re willing to laugh at themselves. Both are a little quirky, imperfect, and relatable.

When did you start writing? Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

Unlike most writers, I was not one to sit and scribble stories when I was younger—I was too busy reading, to be honest. My family would go on a car trip, and my brother and sister would come back with stories about the animals they’d seen on the highway, or weird things that had happened and I’d launch into a description of what happened in my books. It wasn’t until 2 years ago when my mother said “Why don’t you write?” that it sort of clicked. I’ve been obsessed ever since!

What do you love about being a writer? 

I love real characters. Sure, I enjoy reading about the handsome, rich guys who get the beautiful girl, too, but the stories that have normal, everyday people in them are the ones that stick. Putting ordinary people into uncomfortable or extraordinary situations and making the reader connect with them is challenging and rewarding as a writer. Which leads to the next question…

What kind of characters do you enjoy writing the most? 

Relatable. People aren’t perfect, so giving my characters flaws is important to me. Curves in not-quite-all-the-right places, personality quirks (everybody’s got them), insecurities, stumbling during conversations…all the things that people I know struggle with on a day-to-day basis (myself included!). Heroes aren’t always the guy who saves the world—sometimes they can’t even save themselves. And Heroines aren’t always sweet and kind and selfless. But in the end, perfection is totally relative, right? It’s only when people look past the social awkwardness, strange habits or the physical flaws that they find love.

What’s one thing that your readers would be surprised to know about you?

Hmm. I’m kind of a geek. Not hardcore, but I make Star Trek jokes and am addicted to internet memes. I get a lot of blank looks when I crack jokes.

If you could do anything at all, what would you do?(could be a career or something on a bucket list, etc)

Two things: I’ve always wanted to go sky-diving, and I’ve always wanted to take singing lessons. Honestly, I think singing would be the tougher of the two for me. I’m pretty shy most of the time and have a tendency to be a perfectionist when it comes to talent-related endeavors (I’m certainly not when it comes to housework! Ha!). Putting myself out there for criticism is hard.

One last question, what’s your all- time favourite book and why?

Ouf. This is a ridiculously hard question to answer. I guess I’ll name off the books I’ve read most often. The first would be The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I think I love it because it’s escapism at its best. The descriptions are just lovely, and the development of Bilbo through the story really hit home when I first picked this book up in Grade 5—it’s okay if you’re not perfect, so long as you try. I signed it out of the library so often that the librarian actually bought me a copy, which I still have! I try to read it at least once a year, but will admit I’ve gotten a little slack the past 5-6. I also go back time and again to Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (just the 1^st book, although the entire series is stellar) and the first 3 in Jean Auel’s Children of the Earth series. Wait. Now I’ve put these all together, I see a theme: adventure! My God, I’m a closest adventurist and I didn’t even know!

Thanks to Julie for joining us here at Author Rescue!

Excerpt:

He shifted to the side, rising to sit on his heels. Taking advantage of the brief moment while she resettled, he hooked the hem of his t-shirt and yanked it off, tossing it off to the right with a muffled swish. The sheets rustled slightly as she rolled onto her back. Uselessly, his eyes tried to track a new sound off to the left of the bed. Had that been her…bra? Jesus, she was lying there, bare-breasted, expecting him to finish her massage. Hell, yeah.

His fingers trembled as he waited for her to stop moving. She surprised him by hooking her legs over the top of his, her heels tucked close to his ass on the bed. Instead of letting him straddle her, this time, she laid her legs over his, hooking her heels behind him. Getting comfortable, she did some sort of shimmy thing. He sat completely still, unable to move without totally losing any sense of control as she pulled her lower half up onto his lap.

Finally, she was settled, the wondrous confection that was supposed to pass as panties pressing directly against his throbbing cock. Frankly, he was shocked when the denim covering his crotch didn’t sizzle at the scorching heat grinding against it.

“I’m ready for it, Finn.”

Holy shit, that voice. Sweet, and rough, and already breathless, it slid into his pores, heating him until he thought his synapses would fry. He couldn’t help wondering how different his name was going to sound pouring from those sweet lips as she came, and… wait. What had she said?

“Ready?” he repeated.

“Yes. For my massage?” She laughed, a low, sexy sound. Like she knew he’d been miles ahead in his imagination, driving into her, instead of half-clothed and sitting here motionless like some sort of idiot.

“Right. Yeah.”

Finn swallowed hard as he groped around for the squeeze bottle of lotion. She wanted to be touched, not groped. Needed a connection. And he needed to patch up his cracked self-confidence just a little more before he could let loose with his wild side. Not every woman could handle it, as he’d found out just over a year ago.

Turned out that Jane, his ex, had liked her sex as plain as her name. Vanilla, missionary, no variations. Oh, sure, she’d moved her hips and made noise at all the right times, but he wasn’t one-hundred percent certain she’d been really with him on the ride. That is, until the day

of their very messy—and very public—breakup when she’d called him an inconsiderate brute in bed. At about two-hundred decibels in a crowded restaurant.

Fourteen months later, and Mr. Aggressive was still Mr. Apprehensive.

That emasculating experience had ensured he’d steered clear of any semblance of a relationship while he’d puzzled out what had gone wrong between them, and he’d definitely stayed out of the bedroom. At least, that had been the plan. Until tonight.

He tried to shake away the past. His ex had no business being in this room.

Kass. Now here was a woman who was a different story altogether. This wasn’t the type of lady who faked anything. He might have to work for it, but any reaction from her would be the real deal, and he didn’t think she’d hesitate to ask for what she wanted.

Even now, she made sure he knew when he’d hit the right spots with small sounds and movements. He could feel his mojo coming back, replacing any awkwardness with a renewed sense of confidence he hadn’t felt in months, maybe years.

“Tell me,” she murmured huskily, as she gave a lithe stretch, moving into the pressure of his hands as he wrapped them around her trim waist.

“Sorry?” For a sick moment, he thought he’d been thinking out loud and she wanted to know more about Jane.

“Your embarrassing story. C’mon. I told you mine. It’s time to share your deep, dark mortification.” Relief mingled with a new dread as his mind scrambled to come up with something.

Good God, how was he supposed to concentrate when she was wiggling like that?

Finally, inspiration struck. “I am a genuine geek.”

She gave a short bark of laughter. “I don’t believe you. From what I can tell, there is nothing nerdy about you.”

“Yup. In school it was all about comics and science, and,” he paused for effect, “I was even in the math club. Sadly, I left comics and calculators behind, but to this day, I still proudly wear my ‘Death Star Tech Support’ t-shirt.”

She sighed, a wistful sound in the black. “You know, I’m not sure this is really embarrassing enough. Personally, I’m rather nuts about nerds and I’ve always loved Star Wars. I was Princess Leia for Halloween when I was in Junior High.”

Instantly, a long-forgotten teenage fantasy of cream and gold and lots of bare skin popped into his head. He thought there may have been chains, too… Yes, there had definitely been chains.

“I would have loved to have seen that,” he said. “I bet you had all the boys drooling. Is that one of your fantasies, then? Being a slave?”

Another chuckle. “Hardly. Although…” She trailed off, letting the thought go unvoiced.

“Although what, Kass?” She didn’t answer, so he pressed the matter. “This is supposed to be a night of fulfilling our wants and desires, right? As long as we were both honest when answering that email, we should be a near perfect match in the bedroom. Which means what you want is something I can give you.”

She shifted, obviously uncomfortable telling him what was going on in her mind.

“C’mon. I’ll be the only person who will ever know and I don’t even know who you really are. There’s no harm. Tell me what you want me to do to you.” He couldn’t help the extra bit of gruffness that leaked into his voice as he deliberately brushed his thumbs along the underside of her breasts.

“I…” She inhaled sharply. Mustering courage, maybe?

“Just tell me,” he commanded, but softly, trying to push her into answering.

“I’ve always wanted to be ruled in bed, you know?” she whispered. “Not S&M dominated or anything extreme, and not even all the time. Just every once in a while…taken control of. But at the same time, worshiped.”

A fresh ache of hunger tightened his balls, and he smiled. Maybe he’d screwed up with Jane, but this? This he could do.

He leaned down until he could feel the warmth of her skin on his lips, then gave a quick, playful lick in the valley of her full breasts.

“Well, Kass,” he whispered. “Welcome to your fantasy.”