Wicked Burn by Beth Kery

About the Book:

He wanted all of her—and did she ever let him have it…Vic Savian knows what he wants when he sees it. And what he wants is his sexy neighbor, Niall Chandler. When he finds her in the hallway of their building being harassed by an aggressive suitor, Vic steps in—and finds himself greatly rewarded…Sleeping with her gorgeous neighbor—when she didn’t even know his last name—was the craziest thing Niall’s ever done. Now, she can’t seem to get enough of Vic—or the uninhibited passion he stirs in her. Suddenly, with his help, she’s opening to sensual pleasures she’s never known before. But when Niall’s past comes back to haunt her, will she and Vic let themselves venture beyond the bedroom and explore the possibility of the love that’s in their hearts?

I was lucky enough to get Beth to agree to an interview. Here's what she had to say:

What do you feel sets WICKED BURN apart from others in the same genre?

WICKED BURN is an extremely, unashamedly sexy book, but it's first and foremost a romance. It's about two people who crash into each other one night. The characters imagine it to be a purely carnal affair, but the reader immediately senses there is something much deeper than just sex going on between these two people. I firmly believe that sex is a form of communication, and sometimes, people use it to speak a wordless language.That's what it's like between Vic and Niall, my hero and heroine. It takes a struggle for them to eventually put what's happening to them into words, but when they finally do, it's very powerful. The emotion between them is very pure, palpable, and I think real.

Do you have any rituals you follow when finishing a piece of work?

Um, let's see. I do write, THE END. Once I do that, I try to have one or two beta readers look it over, because I can't see the most obvious errors. After I get it back from my wonderful readers, I go through it again. Various improvements will occur to me at odd times for the next week or so, depending upon how long I have before my deadline. One annoying regular ritual is that I send it off to my editor, and notice some stupid mistake...like the heroine's underwear never got removed or something.

What are you currently working on?

I'm working on a contemporary erotic romance with suspense elements called RELEASE. It'll be out in February 2010 from Berkley Heat. It's been a lot of fun, and a bit of a challenge writing it, because while the background of it involves spies, secrets and a murder, the core of it is an intense affair between two people who loved each other practically from first glance. It takes place over three days, during a Chicago snow storm, where the couple is trapped together in a penthouse, and finally have to face not only the obstacles between them, but the undeniable feelings they have for each other. All that intimacy, heat and sensual submission leads to the revelation of old, explosive secrets.

What cause are you most passionate about and why?

My marriage and my writing. In that order.

You know the scenario – you’re stuck on an island. What book would you bring with you and why?

I'd bring the romance classic, Pride and Prejudice. It's a cliche to say it, perhaps, but I've loved it since I read it when I was 16. I figure that it's inspired so many people for several centuries, it more than likely would keep me thinking up dozens upon dozens of new romances while I survived in my primitive island world. Besides, it'd be nice to picture all the proprieties and the crystal and the ball dresses while I was drinking out of a coconut.

What's the most valuable lesson you've learned so far?

Probably that you have to not only allow yourself to fail, you have to expect it to happen. If you're so terrified of failure, you just curl into a ball and go nowhere. But if you expect it as part of the weave of the fabric of life, it's much easier to take when it happens.

Not easy, granted, but easier.

Thanks for the thoughtful questions!

For more information, please visit http://www.bethkery.com/