Flames, Besties and Inspiration
I want to thank Ofelia for letting me take over her blog today. She is truly the loveliest of people. Currently, I am living vicariously through photos of her baby chicks, and they’ve been one of the highlights of a pretty lousy year.
I had just planned to hop on here and tell everyone about my newest release—and we’ll get to that—but then I had a call from my closest friend. It’s been mostly text conversations since the pandemic, and after a year, we’re looking forward to grabbing lunch together once we are both fully vaccinated, and judging each other’s choice of fashion. He will no doubt be wearing a suit—but what kind?!—and I’ll be wearing something adorned with skulls. It will be like nothing at all has changed!
As of the day I’m writing this, his birthday is tomorrow. So, happy birthday, J! ❤
During our call, the talk drifted to the inspiration behind our stories. He’s a writer as well, and our conversations inevitably gravitate toward writing. Story inspiration is also the most common question I receive from readers.
As a writer of romance, I’m pretty sure the things that spark my ideas will only make sense to me. They might even scare off some readers. LOL Still, inspiration plays a huge role in the birth of a story, and it can come from the oddest of places.
I’ve written a story born of personal tragedy, a story inspired by a friend’s deathtrap of a log cabin, and even a romance series shaped by my love of pre-1970s horror movies. The first book in my paranormal romance series Club 669 was inspired by two things—the rain in Ofelia Gränd’s Jaeger’s Lost and Found and reading the Dalai Lama’s Freedom In Exile in a comparative literature class in college. The combination doesn’t scream romance. LOL
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned to Ofelia that, despite all the snow, in my head Club 669 takes place in her world. Though maybe in an angstier part of town? 😀
My new release from JMS Books, Big Flames and Small, is the first contemporary romance in a very long while. It was inspired by some words of wisdom from my father. If you knew how little time someone spent thinking about you, you’d probably be offended. Something meant to remind me not to waste time worrying about what other people think of me, and words to live by! It was also inspired by a house fire that forced a very pregnant me to live in a hotel for the entirety of my 8th month of pregnancy.
I originally wrote the idea for the book—a man who is thrown together with his best friend’s brother after a house fire—five years ago. And I picked it up again last year when a scene idea popped into my head, a scene I loved so much, I felt it was worth writing an entire book to bring it into existence. I bet Ofelia can guess which one! LOL If you’ve read the story and think you know, drop me a note. I’m curious if anyone else can tell. I’m guessing that anyone who knows me , or has read enough of my books, could probably guess what scene I’m talking about. LOL
Check out, Big Flames and Small.
Big Flames and Small
Oliver Stoll’s life has gone up in smoke. Literally. Escaping an apartment fire, he’s made it out with little more than the clothes on his back and his best friend and downstairs neighbor, Mia. With few other options, he agrees to stay with David Elliston, Mia’s older brother. David was Oliver’s first crush, first kiss, first everything. That is, until the day they broke up five years before. It hadn’t been pretty.
David Elliston is back in town. Offered the chance to oversee the Kellmen Group’s newest magazine acquisition, he isn’t going to let a years old heartbreak stop him. But being thrown together with Oliver is harder than expected. And the flicker of hope he’s long tried to bury becomes even more difficult to contain.
Ex-lovers, best friends, and angry parents don’t make the best backdrop for rekindling a romance. But it’s the lies from the past that might just extinguish any chance they have of starting over.
Interested in reading an excerpt? Or want to pick up a copy? Check out the links below.
You can also read a excerpt at JMS Books
Bio:
Amy Spector grew up in the United States surviving on a steady diet of old horror movies, television reruns and mystery novels.
After years of blogging about comic books, vintage Gothic romance book cover illustrations, and a shameful amount about herself, she decided to try her hand at writing stories. She found it more than a little like talking about herself in third person, and that suited her just fine.
She blames Universal for her love of horror, Edward Gorey for her love of British drama and writing for awakening the romantic that was probably there all along.
Ofelia Grand 