Casting Call & a Giveaway for As You Wish
Thanks, Lime, for having me on your blog!
I’ve recently released my self-published, debut contemporary romance, As You Wish. It has a rock star hero and a florist heroine and is set around Christmas.
Here’s a longer description:
Love doesn’t always follow the sheet music . . .
This Christmas, Portia Jackson needs a miracle to save her family’s generations-old florist shop. What she gets instead is a car that breaks down during a blizzard. Help arrives unexpectedly when the infamous Aubry Riley pulls over. She only expects him to drive her to the gas station . . . she never expects that kiss. But Portia lives in the real world—she knows this is only a holiday fling for Aubry. Except it doesn’t feel so temporary, and the last thing she wants is a broken heart.
Sometimes you have to sing some different notes . . .
Rock star Aubry Riley has no secrets. Thanks to the media, everyone knows about his troubled past. Six years have gone by since his world crashed, and now he’s ready for a comeback. But first he needs to reconcile with his family—starting with his six-year-old daughter. A month-long vacation at a Vermont lake house affords him the perfect opportunity to take a step in the right direction. He doesn’t need any other emotional entanglements, especially not with the bright-eyed florist he can’t stop thinking about. But no matter how hard he tries to resist her, he can’t. Now all he has to do is to convince Portia that there is nothing temporary when it comes to love.
One of the things I like to do when writing is to mentally cast the characters for my story. Now, I know when people read they form their own image of who the character looks like, and there’s always the danger that you could say oh, my hero looks like Tom Cruise and then Tom Cruise jumps the couch.
So, I hope none of the celebs I’ve chosen pull a Tom. 
And to make sure I don’t get Lime in any trouble with copyright issues, I’m just going to give links to said pics.
Aubry Riley is my jaded rock star hero. He’s described as: “He had long, sun-streaked brown hair to his shoulders, sea-green eyes, and deep slashes of cheekbones that made his face seem harsher in the dimmed light. His skin was a warm golden color from the California sun, and there were tight brackets lining his firm mouth.”
Now, confession, I searched a while for Aubry’s name. His name actually started off as a different one, but we both didn’t like it. I wanted something unusual for his name—something that felt rock starish. I actually got his first name from someone’s last name. I came across this picture of Gabriel Aubry, which just screamed Aubry to me.
http://impatientchick.com/2010/07/02/random-pic-of-gabriel-aubry/
Portia is my florist shop heroine. She’s got long, wavy, golden blonde hair and hazel eyes. She’s on the short side and soft-looking. She’s got a very optimistic attitude and can say things that are . . . unexpected. Her name comes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. For Portia, I thought that Portia de Rossi (and I swear that this time the similar name is just a coincidence, lol) might be a good fit.
http://www.popcrunch.com/portia-de-rossi-will-play-lily-munster-in-nbcs-mockingbird-lane/
Laura is Portia’s best friend. She’s brown-haired, brown-eyed, and a librarian. For Laura, I picture Ginnifer Goodwin.
http://topnews.in/ginnifer-goodwin-hes-just-not-you-world-premiere-arrivals-2120289
And then there’s Finn, who’s Portia’s oldest brother and a math professor. Finn is very . . . contained. Dark hair with threads of silver and blue eyes, and I had Dermot Mulroney in mind when I wrote Finn.
http://www.celebs101.com/image-197746–3373–Dermot+Mulroney+Picture+Gallery.html
As you can see, I had some fun with this. Such a hard job to look for pics.
Who would you want to play a hot, damaged rock star? I’ll giveaway an ebook copy of As You Wish to one commentor.
About Elyssa Patrick: Elyssa Patrick is a former high school English teacher who left the classroom to write fun, sexy, and emotional contemporary romances. Besides being slightly addicted to chocolate, she loves cupcakes, classic movies, and Shakespeare. She is a member of RWA. Elyssa lives in New York, where she is currently working on her next novel. (Website, Twitter: @elyssapatrick)
Nice post. Colin Farrell would be a nice choice as a rock star.
Ohhh, I love Colin Farrell. Good choice, BN100! And it’s nice to see you yet again.
Oooh, great post!! I love that pic for Aubry and I LOVE his name!
JK! xoxo For those who don’t know, JK is one of my fabulous critique partners and writes FABULOUS books. In fact, she wrote a rock star hero, too, in her paranormal, FALLING HARD.
Tom Hardy’s got the goods and an air of vulnerability that would make him perfect for this.
Hi Kate! That’s so funny as I was looking at pics of Tom Hardy last night for…research. Yes, that’s what we’ll call it. And…oh! I think I saw a deal in PM for you! Congrats on that! Your series sound fab, and I can’t wait to read them!
Oh, yes…research. Thanks for the deal congrats. I’m still floating on cloud eleven!
The book sounds interesting! I like it when authors include pictures giving us readers some idea of their inspirations!
Hi Patricia! I like it, too, but can understand why some readers don’t like to know as it can interfere with what s/he had in mind for characters.
OMG Bless you for not using a celebrity to describe your hero. I love SEP’s Heaven Texas but it drives me crazy that she says he looks like Christian Slater! Also, stuff like that can date a book soooo fast – and since we hope yours will be read for years to come, way to plan ahead!
I’d forgotten that about Heaven Texas! I think there can be a danger in saying character looks like a specific actor, especially since you run the risk of people going OH HELL NO. And I agree it can date a book, which you already have to be careful in a contemp to not date it already. Since I’m a big pop culture junkie I really have to make sure I don’t go too over the top in current buzz. (For example in current book, I had started it months ago when Ann Curry was still part of The Today Show and referenced that, and I had to delete those references.)
I also don’t like when authors “name” names that are real actors, actresses etc. but just paint us a picture. Besides dating the book if a reader doesn’t particularly like that person it could leave a bad taste in their mouth. Therefore I won’t be giving a name for the hot rock star.
Love the premise of the book – look forward to reading it.