As we move from golden autumn toward winter gloom, there’s nothing I like better than to curl up in my cushy reading chair with a riveting book. You too? Lucky for us, Madison Michaels’ latest steamy romantic suspense title is FREE through November 10th.

If You Build Your Love on Lies, You Better Run Faster than the Truth

Newly appointed Finance Director, Charlotte Roche escaped dangers lurking in Boston by moving to Chicago. A new name, a new beginning – all built on lies. Believing she is safe, Charlotte drops her guard and sets her sights on her ruggedly handsome and wildly sexy running partner, Alexander Gaines. Can she advance their relationship from the track to the bedroom and still maintain her charade? or will Alex’s probing questions pierce her carefully rehearsed story?

Alex, with unrevealed secrets of his own, struggles to hold the irresistible Charlotte at arm’s length. But when Charlotte sustains a suspicious injury, Alex seizes the opportunity to cuddle up to the sassy beauty. Does he dare risk his reputation, his fortune, his friends, and his heart by letting her get close?

How can they build a bond with deceit on both sides? With exposure imminent, their freshly forged relationship is in jeopardy and so are their lives. Can their love survive or are they bedeviled?

Join Alex and Charlotte, in this steamy romance, the third in the five-star rated Beguiling Bachelor series. The suspense builds as the characters you’ve met and loved in “Bedazzled” and “Beholden” help tackle the maze of half-truths and cover-ups threatening the lovers.

Amazon Buy Link: https://amzn.to/321d24H

Excerpt:

Keeping his mind on the topic always took all of Alex’s effort anyway. When Charlotte sat hip-to-hip with him as she had today, he felt the heat of her skin, saw the long length of thigh exposed in front of him, heard her heavy post-run breathing until he was in sensory overload. She smelled so good, not stinky and sweaty like he must. She smelled classy and expensive with all those clean, floral scents. She smelled like a woman he could trust.

More like a woman I want to trust.

Thinking back, Alex recognized that she had been hiding something all along. When he wasn’t lost in a sensual fog, he was able to zero in on where the conversations lagged, when she got testy with his probing or tried to change the subject. It had something to do with her life in Boston before she moved to Chicago and it was something that had been going on for a while. She was practiced at her excuses by the time she used them on him. She was making too many trips back East for ‘Harvard stuff.’ She had met Regan Howe through this same ‘Harvard stuff’ yet Regan went back to her alma mater only once or twice a year, if that.

Oh yeah, Charlotte is definitely up to something and I intend to find out what. I have been patient long enough.

Let’s meet the author!

Madison Michael is an indie publisher, blogger and the author of the Beguiling Bachelor Series as well as the novella Desire & Dessert, from her sizzling B&B Billionaire Bachelor series.

A Chicago native and hopeless romantic, Maddy was raised on Chicago culture, fairy tales, great literature and swashbuckling movies. Maddy employs that history, writing steamy contemporary romance novels set against the sumptuous backdrop of Chicago’s elite society.

After receiving a BA in Journalism from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago, Madison abandoned her writing to find her way in the corporate business world. Daughter of a librarian, it was inevitable that she would return to the world of books.

Maddy writes from high above Chicago where she can stare at its gorgeous skyline or the shores of Lake Michigan surrounded by feline assistants. When she is not writing,, Maddy can be found lost in a book, fighting for the rights of the mentally iil or dining on Chicago’s famous cuisine. Hot dogs and pizza, anyone?

I had a few questions for Madison:

Tell us about your inspiration for this story.

My first inspiration was the prior books in the Beguiling Bachelors. Originally I set out to write one book, but in order to share what my hero was thinking, I gave him friends to talk to. Boom! A series was born. I love these men – sexy hunks with brains as well as brawn, and I gave them increasingly more successful leading ladies.

In Bedeviled, I tried my hand at romantic suspense and my mystery loving friends think it’s my best book because of that.

What do you love about the genre you write in?

I love the happy endings of course, and being able to address some difficult subjects in a light way, subjects like honesty or class structure and discrimination. And with romance I can write sexy or sweet, suspense or humor. It gives me so much scope for my imagination.

Tell us about your journey from aspiring writer to published author.

Oh my, this is a very long journey. As a child I was a voracious reader and my mother was a librarian. My life was all about books. I would read a story and then act out the characters. Of course I wanted to be a writer when I grew up.

Instead I studied communications and business and went to work in the software industry for a Fortune 500 company. I gave up on the dream of writing and never expected to resurrect it.

But then I retired and got a new lease on life, and a chance to learn and write. A short on-line course from the local community college “How to Write a Romance Novel” was all it took. Four years later I am writing more than ever, indie publishing too. I am my marketing team, social media manager and publisher. With the aid of a remarkable assistant it all gets done and the books get to fans who make it all worth it.

What’s your favorite part of the writing life?

Early mornings with coffee and the computer when my brain is full of story ideas and I can’t get them on paper fast enough. And fan mail – I love fan mail!

What does your writing space look like?

I have two spaces – the official one and the one I use. The official one, my office has a desk, a monitor and a keyboard, white boards for capturing ideas on two walls and lots of light from the window.

But the one I end up using is the living room sofa, cushy and mottled with spills, covered in my work in progress. I sit here with coffee, my feet up on the table in front of me and the computer in my lap, my kitten curled beside me,  and create for hours.

I’m not sure why I opted for the latter over the former, but every time I go back to sitting at the desk it is only a matter of days – sometimes hours – before I am back on the sofa.

Do you have any particular writing quirks? A special object, snack, music, etc. that helps you with your writing process?

I like to listen to the soundtrack from “Hamilton.” The words are genius and inspire me to try harder.

Any advice for aspiring writers? 

We are all aspiring writers until we finish something, so my advice is to finish something. Don’t edit, don’t second guess, just finish. It will give you the power to keep going.

Authors always seem to have a teetering To Be Read pile. What’s in yours?  

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Less by Andrew Sean Greer, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

The next books in series from Pennie Reid, Kate Canterbary, Louise Bay or CD Reiss. I can never get enough of their writing.

And one classic. I read at least one a year. This year it is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.  I want to read it again before the premier of the new movie version.

What makes you put down a book without finishing?

Bad editing will stop me in my tracks. I just get slowed down too much by the desire to fix the mistakes. And a plot that doesn’t move. Readers need action. I learned that the hard way, from a 1-star review. Stories need forward movement, so if there is none, I am done.

Follow Madison Michaels on all the socials!

Website: http://madisonmichael.net/

Maddy’s Romance Madness: https://www.madisonmichael.net/maddys-romance-madness/

Maddy’s Blog: https://www.madisonmichael.net/maddys-blog/

Facebook: http://facebook.com/madisonmichaelromance

Twitter: http://twitter.com/madisonmichael_

Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/Madison-Michael/e/B01EVUGG6G/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/madisonmichaelromance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madisonmichaelromance/