Swansea – Z. Elizabeth

Happy Easter with a deal on top

Posted on March 24, 2016March 19, 2016 by Z. Elizabeth

Hiyyyya 🙂

As an Easter present from myself, The Deal will be 99c on Amazon US from March 24th – March 31st. I wish I could make a deal for Amazon UK, but I’m only allowed one. But UK will be coming in a few weeks time and it’s only £1.99 at the moment 😉 If that persuades you to buy my sexy, dirty-mouthed but sensitive Craig Thomas, who would be more than happy to introduce himself to you.

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
US: http://www.amazon.com/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
CA: http://www.amazon.ca/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/
AUS: http://www.amazon.com.au/Deal-Z-Elizabeth-ebook/dp/B00QEIVS2G/

I also want to say thank you to those who are patiently waiting for book two. It’s taking longer than I wanted (Nearly two years) but it’s been hard getting back into writing and I’ve been willing Matt and Mal to speak to me. And they do….sometimes. Just not at the moment.

The Deal Easter.jpg

My Book

I don’t want to stop writing….

Posted on May 8, 2015 by Z. Elizabeth

Matt’s book!

So the past couple of days, I’ve been so inspired. Matt and Mallory – Yupp, I’ve decided to let you know my heroines name – have been speaking to me. Like constantly. And all this week I haven’t stopped with their story.

Last week I lost my job, but thankfully, I went to an interview on Tuesday the boss quite literally offered me the job there and then, so I start on Monday. Which is why I am cramming in as much writing as I can at the moment. It’s an exciting new opportunity, with more money in which i can start saving again for a house, less working hours (Mon – Thurs: 9 – 5pm and Fridays – 9 – 4pm) and an opportunity to grow and be trained up with the company.

But anyway…

I finished my job last Thursday and haven’t gone a day where I haven’t written Matt’s book, even if its been a few hundred words a day. I’m currently at 8,000 words right now. I have their story in my head but at the end of the day, it’s their story to tell, so we shall see what they say.

I’m hoping book two will be darker, deeper and more emotional than The Deal was, mainly due to the issues in this book which you will find out on the first page. That is, unless when it goes to Betas and they tell me to keep it quiet until a few chapters in. But other than that, all the gang will be in book two, they may not have great big parts but they will grace you with their presence somewhere along the lines.

For now though, I’ll leave you with who I picture Matt and Mallory if you haven’t seen my inspiration on my Facebook page yet!

So please welcome Lucas Gil and Hayley Williams!

My Book

Character Highlight: Matt from The Deal.

Posted on October 9, 2014October 8, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

So you’ve met Jamie – Zili’s favourite character and now it’s time to meet Matt – Mallory’s favourite.

Mallory has become a really good friend throughout writing. She was my writing buddy as I wrote The Deal and she was writing her book! You all need to bully her into doing her edits because she needs to release the book and give me Knox 😉 Of course, she was also my beta reader and along the way we would send scenes to each other until we both had finished and we could read the full book of each other’s work. Mallory fell in love with Matt and so, as Jamie had a character highlight, Matt definitely deserves one too.

I thought The Deal would just be a standalone and then I would move onto the next project, but whilst writing it, I fell in love with Matt. He’s special to me and throughout The Deal, snippets of his back story were coming to life on the page and the more scenes Matt was in, the more I knew he had to have his story told and his happily ever after.

Matt’s character doesn’t believe in love so he sleeps around. He’s uncomfortable around the idea of love and expressing his feelings so instead he uses sexual innuendos and comments when he is in uncomfortable situations. He’s the joker of the group, the one who will make you smile and laugh and also the one who will tear at your heartstrings; He’s loyal and protective. He has a comeback for everything and the gang, especially Nic, love him to pieces, but as mentioned, he brushes it off.

You will most definitely see this throughout The Deal, but there is hope for him, I will make sure of it. He will change his perspective of love by the time I am through with him. I’ve already got around 8000 words of his story, and it is going to be a bit deeper than The Deal as both Matt and the heroine have some obstacles to go through. Matt doesn’t believe in love and the heroine doesn’t want love. What better way than to put them together 😉

Here is a line from Matt:-

“Almost as good as porn.” He shouts into my ear, earning a punch on his arm in return, “You just need to do that without clothes on now and I would spend money watching that on pay-per-view….actually I could definitely film it for you.”

And this is who I (and Mallory) envision as Matt: –

His name is Lucas Gil and he fits the description of Matt perfectly. So say hello to Matt !

My Book

Character Highlights: Jamie from The Deal

Posted on October 4, 2014October 2, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

The last post about The Deal was a week or so ago now and since I have been on holiday (or vacation to many of you) and only just coming home on Tuesday morning, I haven’t been able to write any more posts until now.

Zili, from Zili In The Sky book blog was one of my beta readers and she has been a big help in ripping apart The Deal and helping me better it…well duh.

You all know there are nine friends and although some are bigger than others, one character that Zili took a liking to was Jamie. Now, Jamie hasn’t got a massive part in the book, but he does work with Nic and there is a part with him and Nic where he is kind of the Agony Aunt and is giving her advice. I loved writing that part as I felt that was who Jamie was. He’s a bit of a joker, he’s confident and a bit cocky too, but he’s friendly, and protective and he’s there with advice whenever Nic asks for it. Also, as the last one to befriend the group, he is welcomed warmly by everyone…well he starts off rocky with Craig, but you will see why when The Deal is out.

This is how Nic describes him: –

“With his caramel eyes, messy sexed-up hair, thick, black rimmed glasses and from what I can tell, a ripped body, he is the definition of geeky and chic rolled into one…our very own Clark Kent”

And here is a line from Jamie: –

“It’s to gag your woman. I know she’s a chatterbox and it will do her some good to have something constantly in her mouth other than your dick.”

When Zili told me she liked him, I was surprised. I hadn’t given too much thought about Jamie, my mind being on Nic and Craig and of course, Matt, who book two is about, but Zili told me she would love Jamie to get his own book or even a novella. Although I don’t have a book story for Jamie, it would be nice to delve deeper into him. I loved writing the parts he is in, and I think a small novella about him and a certain someone would be a great idea. Perhaps sometime in the future, after book two is written and complete. I’ll make your dream come true, Zili, don’t worry 😉

So, Zili asked me to revive Mancandy Monday for Jamie, and it took a lot of hard work stalking pictures of guys to find Jamie…I had a vision of him but it was difficult to find him…until now.

Here is my Jamie, just for you: (Ignore the tatts and the nose ring, just focus on the hair and the glasses and you have Jamie!)

His name is Mateus Verdelho and if you google him, he is a fucking badass. I love these two photos of him though as I feel it’s Jamie, so just picture Jamie as this and not the other half naked, tattooed up photos of Mateus 😉

My Book

Those pesky English sayings in The Deal

Posted on September 13, 2014September 11, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

As a welsh girl and someone who lives in the UK, The Deal is ultimately going to have some sayings that some of you won’t understand. It’s been brought to my attention that perhaps I should be nice enough to write a list of the sayings in my book before you get your pretty little heads in a tizzy over just what the hell they mean.

I’ve gone through The Deal, and really, there aren’t that many welsh words (There is one – my favourite!) or English sayings that haven’t been mentioned in thousands of books before…but just to ease my and your worries, here are the ones that I think may confuse many a reader.

University:
College to you Americans.

Cwtch:
It’s the welsh word for ‘Cuddle’. It’s so much bloody better than the word ‘cuddle’. It’s cuter and a word I use all the time. You pronounce it as ‘Cutch’.

Pissed:
My beta highlighted this saying (she’s American). It basically means ‘Let’s all go out and get drunk’ in this sense anyway.

Pissed off:
Angry.

Note: We use Pissed, as you can see, in two separate ways.

Shag:
You probably all know this one, but just in case, it means ‘sex’

Knickers:
‘Panties’ to all you Americans.

Roast dinner:
I had to google if you did this, and it seems you do, but not as often as us UK’ers. Basically a meal with meat, veg, gravy and cannot forget, Yorkshire puddings!

Football:
Soccer to all of you.

Clubbing:
I did google ‘Do Americans use ‘clubbing’. It didn’t give me anything. Anyway, clubbing is when you go to a nightclub.

Bunk- off:
Basically means ‘skip/skive’ a certain activity. eg. Let’s bunk off school today and go shopping.

Wanker:
Can be used as someone who ‘jacks off’ haha, but in this case, I used it as someone who is an idiot/dickhead.

Bubs:
A term of endearment, bit like ‘babe’

Bugger off:
‘piss off’

Bollocking:
Getting told off

Mingers/minging:
Ugly

Underwear:
Knickers and bra.

Primarni:
It’s a fashionably cheap shop we call Primark. We try to make it sound cooler than it is by calling it Primarni.

Cool your tits:
Calm down.

Advent Calender:
A Christmas calender with numbers windows counting down the days until Christmas Day. Chocolate are behind them.

Pig out:
Eat everything in sight.

Smashed:
Another word for drunk.

Peachy-Keen:
All good

BOF:
My word for ‘boyfriend’

JLS:
A British boyband, whom are no longer together.

Skank
A derogatory word – kind of like ‘slut’

Off your face
Another saying for ‘drunk’

DILF
*cough* Dad I’d like to fuck

Curvy grip
Hair clip

I’m pretty sure this is everything ‘English’ you may or may not know. I probably missed some so if you have no idea what the word means when you read The Deal, throw me over a tweet and I’ll straighten out the meaning…or go on Urban Dictionary 😉 That website has some unbelievably funny examples of the words.

My Book

Introducing Craig and Nic from The Deal

Posted on September 5, 2014September 4, 2014 by Z. Elizabeth

With my cover now out in the wide world and with The Deal out with Beta’s while they rip it apart for me to make it the best book I can have, I’ve decided to start posting more about The Deal, hopefully getting you excited for 1st December when my little baby will be released for all you lovely lot to read.

So I want to start off with the two most important people in The Deal – Craig Thomas and Nicole Jones.

These two are my babies, my work of art and I have loved every moment of writing their story that I hope you will fall in love with them too. I made both my character Welsh mainly because I’m Welsh and wouldn’t feel comfortable writing about an area I don’t know. And really, there aren’t enough British based books out there. I’d love for that to change because the UK does have some pretty awesome places but I suppose the majority of book lovers prefer to read about the US. Sorry, you’ll have to read about the lush beach of Swansea and have Welsh words and English sayings in my book.

I live about an hour away from where I based The Deal and the reason I didn’t base the book in Newport/Cardiff is because Swansea is gorgeous and they have a beach – which is pivotal in my book, whereas you would have to travel to Barry – about a 30 minute drive from Cardiff to get to Barry Island and I wanted Nic and Craig closer than that, and with Swansea they can be.

Anyway, back to Nic and Craig. Despite Nicole and Craig not being Welsh names, their surnames are. Of course they are, they are like one of the dominant surnames in Wales. I’ve always liked the name Nicole so it was an easy option when I started writing the YA version of this book and when I began the Erotic Romance version, I saw her grow up right before me and I couldn’t change her name. She fit the vision perfectly – kind of the same of Craig. His name exhumes masculinity to me and then when I began writing the grown-up version, I knew I had the perfect names for my characters.

Nic and Craig aren’t your usual NA or Erotic Romance characters. I’m not hating on these storylines because I do read them but Nic isn’t a ‘damaged’ girl or a blushing virgin who tames the bad boy because Craig isn’t a bad boy at all. Craig isn’t a billionaire, an MMA fighter or a drug lord, he’s just a regular guy from Swansea who teaches Geography. Pretty boring, hey?

He’s just a 22 year old who has been in love with Nic since he was 16 and has put determination into making it as a teacher and giving back. He loves his job, loves teaching and really, who cares what the character does as long as you can connect with the character on other levels.

Craig comes across as a cocky bastard when you first meet him, because that’s all he’s ever known to do, but underneath, he’s just a guy who is in love and keeping it a secret. He wants to fix the past so he can have Nic for real. He gets jealous and angry and there is one scene which tore my heart apart and I cried for Craig but he has determination, and he fights for what he wants. He has his sweet sides too. Some of the things he says make my heart swoon and I bloody wrote them! He has his dominating sexy sides as well and most importantly, he can be scared of losing everything, especially Nic.

I based Craig on my boyfriend, (I wish) Leigh Halfpenny. If you don’t know who Leigh is, he plays rugby from Wales and French team, Toulon. He is just the perfect vision for Craig, from his curly hair to his eyes to his delicious body. But I’d love to know who your Craig is!

Nic, as mentioned, isn’t the blushing virgin or someone who is running away from her past life because of some big secret, she’s actually just a regular girl who works as a Digital Marketer and dreams of owning her own business one day. I kind of gave her my job and degree, because I know what I am talking about when you see Nic in work – although you don’t see a hell of a lot of her at work, just mentions of a few things she does.

She’s feisty, sarcastic and loveable, but underneath she is scared and vulnerable and is over her head in love with Craig that sometimes it becomes too much for her. You will see what I mean. There are times when I want to bash her head in and you will want to as well. But I hope you will see her grow up and become into herself. Watch her embrace everything around her. It takes time but she gets there in the end. She fights herself a lot and wants to protect herself, but she finally makes it in the end.

I based Nic on two people. Firstly Emmy Rossum and Danneel Harris. Emmy is who I envisioned Nic to look like (with green eyes, not brown), although I haven’t seen her in anything, she seemed like the calm and cute side to Nic’s personality. And then I used Danneel Harris for Nic’s feisty and sexy side. I loved Danneel in One Tree Hill and I used part of her sexiness to inject into Nic.

So there we have it, my two characters who have loved from afar and are together for a deal. It will be awesome to see who you envision as Nic and Craig and I think, apart from if you love The Deal or not, I want to know who you would pick as them!