Hello! I’m Patty Blount, author of young adult and
contemporary romance novels. But I also have a fulltime job in IT in addition
to my writing career. IT stands for Information Technology. It used to be the
computer department, but as technology advanced, so did the term. My job is to
write the instruction guides people need in order to correctly use their
computer systems. I’ve been doing this work for about twenty years now, so in a
very real sense, I’ve watched the industry grow up.
When I was just starting out, Windows hadn’t been born yet
and the internet was still reserved for government or scientific use. It was
also a man’s world – still is, to a large extent – but most of these guys were
Big Bang Theory characters and not exactly the stuff of romance novels.
Until now.
In A Match Made at Christmas, my first contemporary romance,
I thought it would be cool to make geekiness a hot and heroic character trait,
so I gave my heroine my day job and made the hero an executive in the same
field. Here is a passage from the story based on actual pickup lines once used
on me. In this scene, hero Lucas is quite attracted to heroine Elena, but
trying to play it cool. Except his friends, Al and Debbie, won’t leave him
alone.
Pick Up Line
Pick Up Line
"Oh, you're in IT, too?" Al's
grin got wide and just a little bit wicked. "Luke's head of development at
Burke & Kirk. Lucas, you have to try out some of those software developer
pick-up lines on someone who gets them."
"No."
Elena's lips twitched and she groaned just
for form. Inside, she was grateful for the change of subject. "Okay. Gimme
one. Let's see what you got."
"No."
"Come on, Luke! Don't be such a
dick." Al elbowed him.
"No. And don't call me a dick."
"Please? I want to hear these,
too." Debbie patted the table between them.
"Okay, okay. You asked for it."
Luke rubbed his hands together and gave Elena a smoldering look, dropped his
voice down an octave. "I hope you're broadband, baby, because I really
want high-speed access." He wiggled his eyebrows.
Elena rolled her eyes. "That's terrible."
"Yeah, man, that was awful," Al
agreed.
"I warned you."
"Come on, do another one," Debbie
said.
Elena put out a hand. "Please don't
use the obvious puns on RAM or motherboards."
Lucas looked at her sideways. "Please.
This isn't my first program."
She snorted and let him continue. Luke took
her hand and leaned in real close. "Baby, you overclock my processor but
trust me, there's no part of my body that's micro or soft." He delivered
the final words with his eyes locked on hers.
Elena stared into his dark eyes and felt
herself melting, weakening, and might have leaned over the table to fuse her
mouth to his…
What do you think? Is this a hot
geek? I will admit these lines made me giggle but, no – they did not work on
me!
The sequel to A Match Made at Christmas
was released on June 30th. It’s called His Touch and is about
Elena’s sister, Kara, and her second chance at love. I also have a new young
adult novel coming out in August called NOTHING LEFT TO BURN. It’s about a boy
named Reece who joins the fire department’s junior squad to win his father’s
respect. Pre-order
today.
Dear Dad,
I promised Matt I'd do this-become a Junior Cadet. That I wouldn't let you break me down. I know you hate me. Blame me for everything you lost. But that day I lost my brother and my dad. You could never be proud of me, could you? I was too "different." So, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm saying goodbye. Maybe someday, you'll miss me.
Reece
I promised Matt I'd do this-become a Junior Cadet. That I wouldn't let you break me down. I know you hate me. Blame me for everything you lost. But that day I lost my brother and my dad. You could never be proud of me, could you? I was too "different." So, just in case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm saying goodbye. Maybe someday, you'll miss me.
Reece
Reece's
words make her ache. Amanda understands wanting to belong. As a foster kid, the
firehouse where she volunteers is the only place that feels like home. She
wants to help Reece, but his dad is her boss. And she won't risk her place as a
Junior Cadet-it's all that she has. But when a string of arsons suddenly point
to Amanda, her whole world is about to go up in flames. And the only way to
save themselves is to risk getting burned.
Patty
Blount is the award-winning author of Some Boys, TMI, and SEND, plus
contemporary romances from Tule Group. She lives on Long Island with her family
and lots of books. Tweet her @pattyblount or visit her website pattyblount.com
to read book excerpts.
More than 20 authors will be sharing their best and worst
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