Welcome to Wicked Wanton Wednesday. My guest author today is the wonderful Dinah McLeod. Dinah is a multi-published author of romance and spanking fiction with a keen personal insight into domestic discipline which shines through brilliantly in her work.
I have gotten to be good friends over the course of the past year with many late night FB chats, several beta reads and two boxed sets together. It's been fun!
I thought I would test out my new authors corner interview format with her and she graciously complied. Stayed tuned after the promo of her newest DD/spanking romance, Sir, Yes Sir.
Ah, a military hero... <sigh>
Big, strong, handsome and ripped. Works for me! No wonder a man in uniform makes me melt.
Today, in the authors spotlight:
Sir, Yes Sir
By Dinah McLeod
The Blurb:
Shelby Davies has been the perfect Army wife for almost two
decades. When her husband, Dean, decides to retire early it throws their world
into chaos. Suddenly, she is the one supporting the family financially and
every day she wonders where her take-charge solider went to.
Dean can see the pain in his wife’s eyes every time he looks
at her. He knows he’s the cause of it, which is why he can’t ever tell her what
really happened. He’s afraid of how she’ll look at him once she knows.
Can they find a way to salvage their marriage out of the
wreckage of broken dreams?
Excerpt:
He was slamming cabinets and I winced every time I
heard one bang shut. When I heard his muttered curse I jumped to my feet and
hovered outside the door. “Honey?”
“I’m
fine,” he grumbled, sounding anything but. “Go back to whatever you were
doing.”
“I’m
going to take Morgan to school in a little bit, just—are you OK?” It was a
loaded question these days, but I asked it anyway.
“Fine!”
he snapped at me, poking his head out the door.
He
was scowling at me, an expression that I feared might soon become permanent; it
had been months since I’d seen him smile. I took in his snapping gray eyes, his
dark blond hair dripping wet and spiked on top. Come to think of it, he hadn’t
had a haircut in a while, either. “Is something wrong?”
“It’s
this damn shower! It only has two settings—freezing cold and burning hot!”
I
tried to look sympathetic, but his constant stream of complaints had begun to
wear me down. “I’m sorry, honey. Maybe in a few months we can afford a—”
Dean
waved an irritated hand at me and went back into the bathroom, slamming the
door shut behind him. It was what he did these days when the subject of money
came up. With a sigh, I shook my head at the closed door before reaching up to
push my chestnut bangs off my forehead.
Dean
and I had married young; in the last eighteen years we’d grown up together and
had weathered just about everything a couple could go through. Or so I’d
thought. For years, he had been the person I told everything to. The first few
years of our marriage, we used to play a game at bedtime. Every night we’d lay
facing each other, trading secrets back and forth in hushed voices. If you
could have any superpower, what would it be? Do you believe in reincarnation?
I’d
thought I knew everything there was to know about Dean, but he had been giving
me cause to wonder. He had been so moody and grouchy, so completely not the Dean
that I knew that I had to question my earlier assessment. Of course he had
cause to be upset. I knew it and so did he—boy, did he! I knew that he was having a tough time, but he kept
shutting me out, and I didn’t know how to get in again. It felt like he had
locked himself in a secret clubhouse with a “No Girls Allowed” sign on the door
and I didn’t know the password. I’d never had this problem before and I was at
a loss. What did you do when the person who told you everything could barely
say good morning anymore?
Maddie's Intimate Authors Corner
Today's Special Feature:
An Interview with Dinah McLeod
MT: It's great to have you on my blog again Dinah. Your Old Fashioned Husband's series for Blushing Books is really great. I find your books quite moving and intensely emotional. How much of your books are realistic?
Dinah: Aw, thanks, Maddie! That means a lot coming from you. I didn’t start doing it intentionally, but in each of my books there is something hiding within that is a direct personal experience. Now that’s kind of my signature, even if I’m the only one who knows it. In a way, for this book, I was imagining what my life might have looked like if my husband had stayed in the military.
MT: How same/different are you from Shelby, your main character?
Dinah: I think I’d be friends with Shelby, but I’d be envious of how strong she is. She supports her family when her husband is having difficulty doing it and she “soldiers” (so to speak) everything like a pro. I am not that patient and loving, though I wish I was.
MT: We have a couple of things in common Dinah, not the least being our interest in similar kind of men. Funny that our hubby's both have the same first name. LOL. In Sir, Yes Sir, Dean's character is certainly HOT, but he has a lot of emotional baggage, understandably so. What is the trait or characteristic you find most appealing about your own husband?
Dinah: His sense of humor! And his sexy….never mid. I’m not telling! Anyway, we both think we’re funny, which is double-funny to other people because I don’t always think his jokes are funny and vice versa. So, whatever audience is lucky enough to have us is usually rolling on the floor because we’re goofing up together but each of thinking we’re the best stand up. J
MT: Does he read your work?
Dinah: He has, if I ask him, but frankly, he prefers not to. It used to really bug me. Like, how can I get anyone to read my books if my own husband won’t? And again, he will, but I have to ask and I usually have to remind him. He likes to read fantasy and in a large capacity what I write is more real life than what he likes. Especially this book—he has too many “what ifs” from his former military days, he didn’t want to read a book of a character that was more or less based on him.
However, that said, he is my absolute best sounding board. Sometimes he’ll even suggest scenes and those end up being my best ones. But this is also where our differences come out, because honestly, he thought it would be a great idea to write about multi-generational spanking and seriously, that conversation got awkward. But again, I don’t always think he’s funny, so it was lost on me!
MT: Last question... What is your biggest guilty pleasure, for which you are willing to risk a spanking.
Dinah: OK, my answer is going to be boring here, because since doing domestic discipline, I decided that absolutely nothing is worth getting a spanking for—for me, anyway. Not because they’re too hard to take –though, some of them, OUCH!—but because I don’t like disappointing him.
However, my guilty pleasure which he doesn’t entirely approve is my obsession with Pretty Little Liars. (The show, not the books. Been there, done that.) He doesn’t approve because since we don’t have cable I have to get them on Amazon at 1.99 an episode. Yikes! But I reward myself with one every now and then, don’t worry. ;)
MT: Hm... Interesting, risking a spanking over Pretty Little Liars. I think there is some irony here, especially if there is a cover up happening to get your fix. LOL
Great answers Dinah! Thanks for being the first to try out my new format. What do you think readers? I love learning little tidbits of personal information about authors. Gives me a little insight into where they are coming from.
Drop by again next week when my guest will be Jaye Peaches. I am acquainted with Jaye only through FB so I am looking forward to finding out what makes her tick. See you all next week!
