Things You May Not Know About Me

For the last two blog posts I’ve been writing about the “real me.” That’s the Vanessa Kelly who writes sexy, Regency-set historical romance for Kensington Zebra. But I also have an alter-ego—V.K. Sykes, and under that name I write steamy contemporary romances.

But there’s even a bit of twist to my writing alter-ego: there are two of us jostling around under that one pen name. The other is my husband, Randy. Yep. We’re one of a rare breed in the romance writing world – a husband and wife team. Our first book was published last year with Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital first imprint. It’s called CaddyGirls, and it’s a sexy read about a young woman who’s an aspiring pro golfer, who supports herself by caddying for rich guys on the golf courses of Las Vegas. It’s a fun book, and hubby and I really enjoyed working on it together – even though we had the occasional argument about that thing guys really hate to talk about. I’m referring, of course, to emotions, and the need to have them in a romance novel. As you can imagine, I tended to carry the day in those discussions!

I’m happy to say that V.K. released another book this past June. We chose to take a different route from our last book – this time we’re indie published on Amazon, Smashwords, and Nook. The book is called Hardball and it’s another sexy contemporary romance, starring a hot baseball hero and a very serious surgeon as the heroine. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of heat between these two characters when they get together.

Here’s the blurb for Hardball:

After years of hard work and keeping her nose firmly to the grindstone, Dr. Holly Bell has finally achieved her dream: a position as a pediatric surgeon at a prestigious teaching hospital. Children’s lives rest in her skilled hands. That means total dedication to her work and her patients without letting anything or anyone get in the way. And a hot affair with a superstar athlete is most definitely getting in Holly’s way.

Nate Carter, star pitcher for the Philadelphia Patriots, has the world in the palm of his baseball glove. He’s at the height of his game, a west coast team is about to lure him with even greater riches, and the most gorgeous women in town are in full pursuit. Nate has everything he wants, or at least he thinks he does, until he meets the beautiful and brainy Dr. Holly Bell. He’s totally up for a hot affair, and Holly turns out to be the hottest.

But will Holly be willing to play his game? When the lovely doctor starts changing the rules, Nate realizes he just might be playing for keeps.

Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Very sexy fun, if I do say so myself! There’s also an element of suspense in this book, which really ups the stakes for Nate and Holly. To read an excerpt, please stop by our VK Sykes website. While you’re there, you can also have a look at the CaddyGirls excerpt too.

What about you, readers? Do you wish you had an alter-ego? If so, what would you chose to be? One person who comments will win a copy of Hardball.

When she’s not trying to figure out who she is, you can find Vanessa Kelly on the web at www.vanessakellyauthor.com. And when she’s working with her dear hubby, you can find her at www.vksykes.com.