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Sara Thornton, just a rookie in the field, has fast-tracked herself to the top of the Ann Arbor real estate market. Her life evolves into a disciplined and focused routine, exactly what she wants. However, as her career takes off, the fulfillment she seeks remains inexplicably out of reach. The one thing she knows for sure, she will not join the Jack Gordon groupies in her company, no matter how tempting that might seem.
A chance encounter, then a difficult transaction, throw Jack and Sara together and the sparks fly high and hot and often. Forced to confront the compulsions that gain momentum with each sizzling encounter, their relationship seems to spiral out of control until Jack finally admits what he needs, and shows Sara what she's been missing.
The Realtors: Life in the House Lane
Love is an easy word to use, a hard one to demonstrate, and sometimes impossible to trust.
The Realtors is a sweeping epic, encompassing over ten years in the lives of two people who know how to love with their bodies, how to please and get pleasure, to control and be controlled. When it comes to the deeper meaning of the one word they both need, backgrounds and personalities get in the way and while their physical connection sizzles they continue to disappoint one another emotionally.
Jack Gordon has it all--money, success, a string of women--but with a deep longing for something more. When e thinks he finds it with Sara Jane Thornton, his world is never the same again. Sara releases his natural Dom, a side of him he'd thought buried out of frustration and unhappiness. Sara knows a true submissive must trust implicitly, something she cannot associate with him, no matter how many times she tries, and he fails.
With a rich cast of secondary characters, including a young man who presents a near-perfect foil to Jack's intensity, and who falls hard for Sara; The Realtors series is a romantic saga with an emphasis contemporary life and love, with a healthy dose of white-hot eroticism. Modern, busy, driven characters living lives of purpose and real-time stress, seek the ever-elusive and highly coveted combination --a friend, lover and trusted advisor who will be there for the long haul.
Also available from:
Sizzlin’ Books (for autographed eBook copies in all formats (ePub and mobi) – no extra charge): http://www.sizzlinbooks.com/floor-time-the-realtor-series-book-1
All Romance Ebooks
Visit Liz Crowe's web site
Read an excerpt from Floor Time
About Liz Crowe
Brewery owner by day, she heads up the marketing charge, finding new places for folks in South east Michigan to purchase her beloved craft microbrewed lagers. She also finds promotional reasons for you to visit her 100-person Tap Room attached to the brewery. And something must be working as after just a few months her company is on track to bust through their sales targets for the first year. As the “A2 Beer Wench” she educates and entertains through her blog:
www.a2beerwench.com
But Liz also writes. Her first published works were with Breathless Press. The Rookie was released in September 2010, XXXMas Ale in December 2010 (on her birthday no less) and Jockey Box in March 2011. In Fall 2011, The Brewing Passion series will be complete with the release of The Tap Room, a “choose your romance” format wherein the reader gets to pick the heroine’s path.
The hot, romantic menage, Vegas Miracle from Rebel Ink came next quickly followed by a trilogy of “1NigthStand” books from Decadent Publishing. The “Turkish Delights” series will have a prequel AND follow up novel later this year. And Liz loves to indulge the soccer player fetish by writing about them. “Caught Offside” was released in December and a follow up: “Man. On.” is planned for 2012.
The Series addiction continued when a new publisher, Tri Destiny, picked up her REALTORS series. Floor Time, Sweat Equity and Closing Costs will all be released in early 2012.
FUN NEWS FLASH: Ellora’s Cave has contracted a hot, brewery based menage novel: LUST ON TAP. More on this when it comes in.
And finally you won’t want to miss: CHEEKY BLONDE a brewery intrigue, mystery, romance coming from Decadent Publishing in April 2012.
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Liz spent several years in the deep South of Brewton, Alabama (yes her family had “help” but this is a theme we shall return to) before settling in Williamsburg, Kentucky. Her father was head of the music department at a small college and sang in regional opera companies. She was able to indulge her inner drama queen at many turns through musical productions at the college and later was (no surprise) president of the Drama Club at Williamsburg High School where she also was in the band and led the drum corps each marching season, and dated a football player, natch.
College days were spent in Louisville, Kentucky where Liz developed her some would argue completely rabid addiction for all aspects of Cardinal sports. A member of the Chi Omega sorority for three years, she was (again, not a shocker) the social chairman for two. A Bachelor of Arts in English Literature clutched her hot little hand, Liz went to work learning her ultimate trade: sales, at the United Way of Williamson County having done one of those crazy life full circles and returned to Nashville, while the DH went to MBA school to learn how to become Primary Bread Winner for their eventual family.
Graduation day from Vanderbilt mean the first of many (many) moves that lead her first to Oxford, Ohio (where the proverbial knot was tied in Cincinnati), then to Owensboro, Kentucky (where the proverbial first born son made an appearance) and ultimately to Ann Arbor, Michigan. But the adventure did not end there. After a brief stint as marketing director for a large Art Center, the Mister passed our heroine in the hallway and lo and behold baby number two made an appearance, followed fairly quickly by two life altering events: baby number three (Oh My God Seriously? I’m pregnant again?) and a job offer for the Bread Winner: In Japan.
January 1998-August 1999 was spent in Hiroshima, Japan and the family increased by one.
August 1999-August 2000 was spent in Overland Park, Kansas (where culture shock REALLY set in! Holy Suburbia!)
September 2000-September 2002 was a Turkish adventure in every sense of the word (and the “help” returned in the form of a lovely Philippine woman named Lowin who is still sorely missed). Yes, we were in Turkey on 9/11/01 and for many days after that.
September 2002-July 2004 we adopted our Essex Girl accents, in the East London suburb of Billericay and all three kids wore the most adorable uniforms every day to school. This last adventure proved plenty for all, and by August 2004 things were back to somewhat normal in Ann Arbor.
Three kids, two standard poodles, a real estate license, ownership and marketing responsibility for a craft microbrewery and a few publishing successes later, Liz continues to write, blog, sell, market, event plan and attempt to stay up with laundry and housekeeping (the latter with limited success).
Five publishing houses are home now, Ellora’s Cave, Decadent Publishing, Tri-Destiny Publishing, Breathless Press and Rebel Ink Press. There are several Works in Progress headed out soon. And, of course, more laundry to fold.
Also by Liz Crowe
Breathless Press:
The Rookie, Sept. 2010
XXXMas Ale, Dec. 2010
Jockey Box, Feb. 2011.
All are short stories serving as "missing chapters" to the Brewing Passion novella:
The Tap Room, Sept. 30, 2011. It is a "choose your romance" format wherein the reader will choose my heroine's ultimate path from three different potential heroes and story endings.
Specific Gravity, Nov. 2011, the final "missing chapter" from the series.
Rebel Ink Press:
Vegas Miracle, Oct. 3, 2011, a m/f/m 47,000 word novella.
Player Conference, Oct. 15, 2011, a 12,000 word "cougar story" as part of their Claw Marks Anthology.
Decadent Publishing:
Caught Offside, late 2011, a 12,000 word short as part of their One Night Stand series.
Turkish Delights, Blue Cruise, Tulip Princess: November 2011 (trilogy)
The Diplomat’s Daughter, Prequel to the Turkish Delights Series
Cheeky Blonde, early 2012 45,000 novel of sabotage, intrigue and romance set in the craft beer world
Tri-Destiny Publishing:
The Realtors: A Trilogy of Novels about Life in the House Lane
Releasing winter/spring
An Interview with Liz Crowe
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Liz, thank you for talking with us at TRS. Your featured book is Floor Time and it's the first in The Realtors series. First, where did the idea for this clever series originate?
LC: The Realtors is one of those long-running projects that captured my fancy about three years ago. I was a very successful realtor myself for 6 years, even during the downturn. I loved the high energy, type-A personalities of the truly successful sales professionals. So I took a couple of guys I knew in the profession and imagined THEM as HIM…and he became: Jack Gordon. He needed a foil so I took myself, knocked off a few years and pounds and imagined how I might have worked had I started in the business as a single woman. She became Sara Jane Thornton. The 2 people were destined to meet, conflict, come together, fall apart and complicate each other’s lives, and a series was born.
HH: How does Floor Time kick off the series?
LC: “Floor Time” the phrase itself is an industry insider thing. It’s what we call the 3 hours you spend each week as the Realtor on call available to take phone calls, incoming emails or walk ins (which never happens any more so I dreamed up a new style of downtown office for Sara where it WOULD happen). You are assigned these 3 consecutive hours randomly according to a schedule so that all the realtors in the office get more or less the same amount of opportunity to connect with new clients.
There is a very significant scene in the book while Jack is “on floor” as we say, when he and Sara have to work to hold their very crucial transaction together.
I’ve woven a lot of actual real estate “real life” into all of these books, based on my experience. I think readers will like to see bits and pieces of the “behind the scenes” at a very successful realty company. “Floor Time” begins the journey, when Jack and Sara first meet accidentally—he’s just been a rumor to her for years but the minute they first lay eyes on each other….well, it’s all over but the sequels.
HH: What do you like best about Sara and why will readers relate to her?
LC: Sara is fiercely independent, although close to her brother who’s only a year older than she. She is trying very hard to be her own woman, identified by her own successes and not by whom she marries, as she seems to believe her parents want from her. One chance meeting, then a series of encounters with the man she’s been “warned” about, nearly ten years her senior and with a rep as deep and wide as the Detroit River changes everything. Her struggle to resist, then actually give in to him in my opinion is a journey many woman take. Hers is full of self-fulfilling prophesy, frustration, extreme highs and lows and ultimately happiness.
HH:What do you like best about Jack and why will readers love him?
LC: Oh Jack….he’s easily my absolute favorite male character and I’ve written a bunch of good ones. He’s compelling, successful but not in a smarmy “salesman” sort of way. He actually has a law degree, ran his father’s construction company for years, and has segued into 100% commission real estate for the sheer challenge of it.
Jack has a natural leadership, dominating style that lead him into life as an actual Dom for a few years. But he got burned, bad, and left it behind. When he meets Sara all the boredom with his very active sex life comes crashing in and he realizes exactly what he’s been missing. She brings out the best and the worst in him. And he does the same for her.
HH:What can you tell us about the books to come in this series?
LC: It’s a sort of “sweeping epic” if you will, encompassing nearly 12 years, includes many fun and endearing secondary characters, including Craig Robinson---“as if the Hollywood casting call had been for smoking hot, surfer type”—who provides Sara with a serious excuse to resist Jack…for a while.
Sara’s brother Blake and his business and life partner Rob Frietag own and run a brew pub (you knew I’d fit that in there somewhere) but he’s conflicted as the woman who was his last female partner still gives him pause. The two of them share some intense moments and a lot of emtion.
And Jack’s friends Suzanne and Trent also provide comic relief and support for the story.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers?
LC: Whew…let’s see. I have this Realtors series beginning with Tri Destiny, a new publisher as a launch for their Sizzlin line of erotic fiction. Then with Decadent Publishing I will have the TURKISH DELIGHTS Prequel “The Diplomat’s Daughter” AND (for all you Blue Cruise Caleb fans out there) “Flower Passage: Tarkan’s Story” will release as a full length novel later in the year. PLUS a really fun brewery based, intrigue, mystery, romance novella called CHEEKY BLONDE will release from Decadent in 2012.
HH: What goals have you set for yourself at this point in your career?
LC: I did not start out with “writing goals” as I have so many “brewery goals” to meet, I figured writing was more like a hobby or release. But I’ve been challenged from so many outlets this year and have achieved several milestones as a rookie I’d be remiss if I didn’t make some for 2012. By January 2013, I hope to have gotten one of those “silver stars” for best sellers on ARe at least once AND to have my first paranormal written and accepted, a time travel set in Germany with a hot turn of the century German brewer and a young woman from today’s world who’s trying to become a successful brew master in Michigan—unheard of in this guy’s day but……you see where I’m going.
HH: What sources of inspiration do you draw from for ideas?
LC: Real life and the ever present “what if?” question that runs through my head nearly constantly.
HH: What's the best book you read in 2011?
LC: Mainstream Fiction: Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Romance/Paranormal: The entire JR Ward BDB series (V baby!)
Romance/Mainstream: Crash into You by Roni Loren
Other: Istanbul—Orhan Pamuk’s memoir
Series: Game of Thrones
HH:What are you most looking forward to in 2012?
LC: I am thrilled to announce that I sold a novel to Ellora’s Cave! “Lust on Tap” is a brewery-based ménage romance that will be part of their Moderne line. I’m very excited about working with my new editor there.
And of course I can’t wait for people to love/hate Jack and Sara as much as I have!
HH: Thank you!
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