Rochelle Alers

Read A Full Excerpt of Secret Agenda: Click Here

Author's Official Website:  http://www.rochellealers.com

Order Your Copy of Secret Agenda:  Click Here

Secret Agenda features Diego Cole-Thomas, current CEO of ColeDiz, and widowed Vivienne Neal who accepts the position as his personal assistant. Sparks fly when Vivienne stands her ground against the powerful businessman with the intimidating reputation. While living with and working for Diego, Vivienne falls under the sensual spell of the man who reminds her of what she’d missed during her marriage to an ambitious politician. A business trip to the lush South Carolina lowcountry is the turning point in their relationship when they are no longer boss and employee, but lovers. However, when threatening letters arrive at ColeDiz, hinting that Vivienne’s late-husband’s hit-and-run was no accident, Diego dares to risk everything to protect the woman who becomes his world.

Urban Reviews:  Where did the inspiration for this novel come from?
Rochelle Alers:  Secret Agenda is the 21st-century spin-off of the prequel Best Kept Secrets. Not only does Diego look like his great-grandfather Samuel Claridge Cole, but his approach in running the company is similar to Samuel’s. Both are single-focused and intimidating. The challenge to writing Secret Agenda was the employer-employee relationship that did not cross the line of sexual harassment in the workplace.

In the prior twelve titles I focused on the sons and their offspring, so I thought it was time to give the daughters and their offspring equal attention.

Diego Samuel Cole-Thomas is the grandson of Nancy Cole-Thomas whom readers were first introduced to in the inaugural title Hideaway. Although they share blood ties, the personalities of Nancy and her sister Josephine Cole-Wilson’s children and grandchildren differ from those in the books chronicling the first generation, daughters and sisters and sons and brothers trilogies. Nancy and Josephine have nine children between them, and that gives me a large canvas from which to draw for future titles.

Urban Reviews:  What motivated me to become an author?
Rochelle Alers:  It began as a challenge after I’d read more than 2,000 romances. Perhaps it was the predictability of the happy ever after ending, or wanting to see how the author resolved a conflict that could’ve been resolved on page 10, but after I finished one I said, “I can do this.” Much to my surprise it is not as easy as it reads. It took many, many submissions and even more rejections before an editor at Doubleday accepted one of my manuscripts, and thereby changed me from an aspiring author to a published author.

Urban Reviews:  What has been the most rewarding part about being a published author?
Rochelle Alers:  The satisfaction of completing a manuscript and the exhilaration of seeing a new title on a bookstore shelf. The other thing I find equally rewarding is reader feedback. I am honored and humbled that readers purchase my books, and then take the time to communicate how much they’ve enjoyed what they’ve read.

Urban Reviews:  What things have you seen over the years that have improved in the AA Romance market?
Rochelle Alers:  Twenty years ago, no publisher was willing to commit to a line featuring AA romance until Kensington launched Arabesque in 1994. Since that momentous year, romance writers are offered a greater pool from which to submit their manuscripts. I believe AA romance is an integral thread in the romance market and will be here for the duration.

Urban Reviews:  If you could change one thing relating to your literary career, what would it be?
Rochelle Alers:  I wouldn’t change anything.

Urban Reviews:  What upcoming projects can we look for in the future from you?
Rochelle Alers:  The third book in THE BEST MEN trilogy, Man of Fantasy will be available August 2009. The first two books, Man of Fate and Man of Fortune, June and July 2009 are now available, as well as a weekly online story, Man of Fame on eharlequin.com featuring a character from Man of Fate that will have his own series late 2010.

Reissues of back-list books from the HIDEAWAY series beginning with Hideaway and Hidden Agenda will be available October and November 2009. This will be followed with an original Eaton miniseries title: Sweet Deception, December 2009. Sweet Dreams, the third book will debut March 2010.

There will be three more HIDEAWAY reissues in 2010: Best Kept Secrets, Vows, and Heaven Sent. An original HIDEAWAY #14 – Breakaway, a Kimani Sepia title Butterfly in August 2010, Eaton #4 October and the Wainwright Family Saga November 2010.

Urban Reviews:  Do you have any favorite authors or books?
Rochelle Alers:  My favorites are as follows: The Alienist by Caleb Carr, Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon, This Side of Brightness by Colum McCann, Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt, The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen Woodiwiss, Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss, Love Remember Me by Jessie Ford, The Proud Breed by Celeste DeBlasis, and Rainbow Season by Lisa Gregory.

Urban Reviews:  What things should every aspiring author learn before jumping into the book business?
Rochelle Alers:  Know your market and your target audience. If you want to reach readers who read women’s fiction, then read women’s fiction, not romance. There is a distinct difference. Read, read and read some more until you’re familiar with the genre in which you want to write. Search the Internet for the names of authors of popular fiction who write mysteries, romance, street literature, horror or paranormal and submit your manuscript to the appropriate publisher.

Urban Reviews:  Is there anything else you would like to share about yourself or your novel?
Rochelle Alers:  After much resistance, I bought a Kindle out of necessity, because I’d run out of room to store my extensive collection of books. I’ve also set up an online bookstore that will be up and running by the beginning of August. Readers will be able to purchase back-list and out-of-print titles at discounted prices. I will continue to write single titles along with family series that include the Hideaway Legacy series, the Eatons, while introducing the Wainwrights late 2010.