Jacqueline's Reads: Giveaway + Author Interview - Willing Captive by Belle Aurora

Delilah “Lily” Flynn is used to her drab existence. Lily’s been living it for twenty two years.

Her boring life is suddenly turned on its head when she’s rudely kidnapped from her bedroom.

Or so she thinks.

Nox Taylor is far too high up in his field to be assigned a babysitting job.

There’s nothing more he wants than to complete his mission so he can be rid of the smartass tomboy, Lily.

Day after day, Nox watches Lily and her strange ways. She’s unlike any woman he’s ever met.

Getting close to the girl is purely for her own protection…right?

Lily never imagined she’d make her first real friends in captivity.

What lengths would she go through to keep them?

4 Captivating Stars

I didn’t read the disclaimer to this book, so just to let everyone know, this isn’t a dark book. Now, that’s out of the way, I want to say Willing Captive is a light-hearted read and my first Belle Aurora book.

Lily is taken from her home. She’s confused and scared. Nox is the one in charge of her and baby-sits Lily. Lily is a stubborn, head-strong girl and makes it hard for Nox to keep her in check. All of this goes on, while Lily’s life is threaten.

First off, there’s not a lot of pre-BS in this book. What do you mean? Lily is taken in chapter one. I like this. Sometimes when I read kidnapping books and there’s a lot of pre-character development I get a little side-track and bored. It’s a pretty fast pace book that keeps you on your toes.

Lily is a strong girl and I’m starting to like these girls. She doesn’t go down without a fight. And Nox, oh man, I like him. He’s a big burly guy and it’s kind of adorable how he interacts with Lily. Oh they have major banter and there’s plenty of push back on both parts.

That one person everyone looks for. They search and search, and some die trying to find ‘em. And when you finally meet them, something inside of you says 'Oh, there you are. I’ve been looking for you. And I didn’t even know it.'

I even like the side characters, the people who also guard Lily. I laughed at many of the parts and overall the story was interesting. The read isn’t overly steamy, but there are steamy parts. Lily did frustrate me at times. I think it was her “innocence” I kind of had a problem with. Shocking I know. I usually am all for the sweet girl, but maybe I couldn’t mix a strong and sweet girl at the same time.

Not the entire story is about Lily being held as a captive and I liked that. The book shifts towards the end and it adds so much bam to the story. I was kind of shocked by the change of direction, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t gobble it up.

It’s a light-hearted book with a kind of kidnapping theme and if that is your thing, then Willing Captive is for you. I’m a fan of Belle Aurora and I can’t wait for my next book by her.

You are 26, so young! When did you start writing? How old were you when you first published? Were you scared?

Ha! Age is just a number ;)

I was 26 when I started writing. I only started writing in February of this year, Friend-Zoned being my first book. It was funny how it all happened. Nik and Tina were in my head for a long while before they started begging me to put their story on paper. From the second I wrote chapter one, it took approximately one month to write (which I’m told isn’t a lot) but the story was all there in my head. I just needed to tell my version of events.

Publishing is a petrifying thing. I was completely overwhelmed by the process. And once I clicked that little button, streaming my book into Amazon’s database, I’m pretty sure I retched. More than once.

Overall, waiting for reviews to come in is the absolute worst. You feel physically ill. It’s not a nice experience BUT when you get people loving your book, all of the stress and fussing is totally worth it.

Where did you come up with the idea of Willing Captive?

Willing Captive came to me while I was grocery shopping. It’s so stupid but I was actually picking up some pads and the ‘Heavy Flow’ scene came to me… in the middle of a supermarket… with no notebook or pen! So I rushed back home and wrote the scene without character names or any specifics and wondered to myself, “Why is this scene funny? What would make it funnier?” That’s when the idea of having kidnapper’s shopping for pads came to me. The rest is history!

I got to ask it, the cover is a bit serious, but Willing Captive is kind of light-hearted, what made you pick a serious cover? Or was it unintentional?

Well, I loved the picture. That was really it. There wasn’t really any deep thought about it. Being an indie author, we have to scour all the best stock photo sites for our covers and when we find a picture we like, it’s important that we get it. The story was originally going to be a lot darker than what it became. The characters hijacked my thoughts and wrote the story themselves. It was a mutiny!

It seems like a lot of my favorite authors are from Australia, have you ever been the states? If not, what's the one place you would like to visit, if yes, what was your favorite thing about visiting?

I haven’t been to the states! It’s definitely going to happen for me one day. I promise! I’d love to meet the followers of my books and, yes, I like to remain anonymous but I know that one day, I will lower my veil…but not reveal my name.

Don’t ask me why (because I seriously have no damn clue) but I would love to visit Louisiana, baby! It’s on my bucket list so it has to be done.

Can you provide five fun facts about yourself?

1. I have recently become addicted to coconut water.

2. I would kill over sleep. I’m really grumpy when someone wakes me. They usually get something thrown at them or I become violent.

3. I write only at night. That’s around the time my she-devil demon spawn goes to sleep and the house is quiet!

4. I collect signed books! Holla!

5. I am the proud owner of a three piece tea set. One says Whore. One says Slut. And the other says

Bitch…

I wonder which one you would get if you had a cuppa with me… ;)

Belle Aurora is twenty six years old and was born in the land down under.

At an early age she fell in love with reading. Boredom one summer had her scouring the bookshelves at home. She stumbled across Sandra Brown’s Breath of Scandal and fell in love with romance.

Having been brought up in a loud and boisterous family of Croatian descent, she developed a natural love for dramatics and humor. Only some years ago had she discovered a new love.

Humorous romance novels.

Kristen Ashley and R.L. Mathewson had opened a brand new world where she could lose herself yet feel safe and at home in their stories. Belle has been known to become a screeching banshee while anxiously awaiting their newest titles.

Belle never thought she would write. It had never interested her until recently. Friend-Zoned began to form and in February this year Belle typed the words Chapter One. And she fell in love.

With words.

With writing.

With a creative imagination she never knew she harbored.

Friend-Zoned is the first in the Friend-Zoned series. Keep an eye out for this cheeky author.

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