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Welcome Military Romance Writer Dahlia Rose

I am thrilled today to host military romance writer Dahlia Rose. See below for information on free drawing.  
Welcome, Dahlia Rose. Tell me how you got started writing military
romance? How many books have you written?
Dahlia: I started writing military romance for my
husband when he was stationed in Iraq. Then he was just my fiancée and he and
the platoon he commanded was one of the first into war when Iraqi Freedom
began. He was almost killed twice, Once in Najaf and in Fallujah by IEDs. We
still have the helmet where a bullet creased it in a firefight.  He and his friends were my heroes and I
began writing them little stories to keep their spirits up. They were printed out,
passed around, kept in packs became wrinkled and torn then stuck back together with tape. Each week I’d send them a new short and they would download
the file and print when they could. By the time he came home I told him I
wanted to quit my job and take up writing full time. He supported my decision
and when that first acceptance letter came, not only did my family celebrate
but my soldiers did as well.
So far I’ve written over eighty books both novella
and novels. They are primarily military contemporary or paranormal.
Outstanding. What a story. I’m so happy you first wrote for our fighting men and women before you released them to the general public. Perfect. Why do you think these Alpha military heroes (and
heroines) are so popular? What makes them heroes?
Dahlia: It’s because they keep fighting and
surviving, not just in war but when they come home. A lot of people think that
after the war is over they can come home and go back to normal. They can’t. The
adjustment period is long and a lot of relationships do not survive. The happy ending
we give these hero and heroines I think actually gives readers hope that they
can make it.  A lot of my readers
have military backgrounds or are married to military personnel.  I had one reader approach me at a
convention and she embraced me in a big hug. She looked at me and said
thank you, “because in your books they aren’t drones, they aren’t forgotten, they
are heroes and they are happy.” I came to find out she lost her husband in the
war and she started to read my books because she heard I wrote military
romance. So it’s not just the war that makes them heroes, is the constant fight
and never giving up that really leaves a mark.
Well said. My heart goes out to that woman. How do you compliment the heroine to a strong alpha
military guy? Do you write them strong? Compliant? Kick-butt?

Dahlia: Yes I do, my heroines are strong because I
cannot write a weak woman. In my opinion women in general are not weak but a
woman who takes on a relationship with a military man has to have an extra dose
of strength.  My heroines are
sassy, yet soft when they need to be. Watching your man walk away carrying a
50lbs pack and knowing he will be gone for months has to be the hardest
thing. Knowing he may never come home, but they do it with such strength and
pride, it’s breathtaking to watch. But just wait until you see them coming home, see how
they embrace their men, watch the love that passes between the reunited couple, with the
children between them. Trust me, I don’t think anything can compare. My first
kiss with my hubby when he came home was in the middle of Penn Station with a
bunch of soldiers around. Memorable and magic, it still makes me breathless to
this day. I’m not a compliant woman, I kick box and can kick butt (laugh). I
think my women are the perfect combination of sweet and spicy.
  
Sounds like the perfect combination. Do you like writing in series, or single? 
Dahlia: I like them both, Honestly all my books start out as single titles, but then I see a way to add more and they become part of a
series. The Army Beasts series was meant to be one book and we’re up to about
seven now. My dragon warriors were meant to be the same. Now I am working on
number five of a series of twelve. I let the muses take me where they may but
sometimes I have to rein them in. There are so many ideas I have jotted down
that have the potential to be series. If I don’t draw the line somewhere each
book would be at least a three-book trilogy. 

Who is your favorite character you’ve created? Why?
Dahlia: My favorite character of all my books is
Lieutenant TJ Taggert in Paradise Found. I loved his character, I loved the
alpha in him and the sassy back and forth that Kelly gave him. They complimented
each other perfectly and he was the first military hero the readers fell in
love with. He was as unique as his name and I re-read my own book just because
I fell in love with him.
Do you find it easier to write the bad boys or the
good boys? I’m assuming both are heroic, but which ones are more fun to write?
Dahlia: I think my heroes all carry a bad boy trait
but honestly it’s the bad boys that make me shiver. I have to redeem them and
it turns me on watching them develop and learn to care about these
heroines. In the end that bad boy trait helps them save their women. 
What about the heroines? Do you find it easiest to
write the bad girls or the good girls?
Dahlia: My bad girls are usually skanks, (LOL) someone for the readers to dislike and for the heroine to one up. I love my
heroines to be good girls, a little prissy to blend with the sass. I always
like them to have to be taken down off that pedestal just a little bit by the
hero. It usually leads to an amazing first kiss and the heroine knowing that
she is in trouble when it comes to her attraction for the hero.
If you could have a date with one of your
characters, which one would it be and why? Where would you go?
Dahlia: Oh man I can only pic one? Ok fine, It
would be Nate from the book Black Gold. He’s sexy and strong. He doesn’t take crap from anyone, especially his father who thought money bought entitlement.
Nate was down to earth, ready to get his hands dirty and just be a guy. Not to
mention he was military and if you go look at the cover, that’s how I see him
in my mind. We’d go to some little Honky-Tonk in Oklahoma right outside Fort
Sill where the food is not the greatest but the drinks are made well and the
beer is cold. We’d play some Shania Twain on the jukebox and dance the night
away. Then just before it closes we’d slow dance to You’re Still The One. Yes
I’ve thought about that one a lot (Laugh)
If you could go to a desert island with two
companions, who would you bring? What would you do there? What would you bring
if you could bring anything?
Dahlia: I would go to the island with Kalv from my book, A Dragon’s Heart and Vampire Eric from True Blood. Ha! I know you weren’t
expecting that. One for the daytime and one for night. There we would keep each
other’s company doing things that we only write in books. Of course they’d be
cheesecake there and other decadent treats and when we do finally get bored and
want some excitement. We can fly to the closest city then return to our
seclusion anytime we want. But since this is a fantasy, in real life I’d have
to bring my husband because he can McGyver anything.  Romance with him on a desert island is worth ten times any
fantasy.
Sounds like you married a keeper, Dahlia Rose! Pretend you have just sold your 100,000th copy of
one of your books. What will you do to celebrate?
Dahlia: That’s easy, Vegas party with me and a few
close friends and VIP tickets to the Thunder From Down Under Show. Seriously
have you seen those guys?
As a matter of fact, yes. They are intense, just the way I like them. Tell us something about you that most people wouldn’t
know or guess about you?
I can be reclusive…people see me in person and on
social networks and they think I am very vivacious and I am, but in a true Scorpio
fashion, I can be moody and stay in my own space for days.
Who are your favorite authors/books?
I Love JD Robb’s In death Series. To Kill A Mockingbird
is one of my all time favorite books. I love to give in to a good thriller or
horror novel. Dean R Koontz and Stephen King grace my bookshelves along with
Kay Hooper’s Bishop series. I read avidly anything about the criminal mind, and delve into the mind of serial killers. I know, I know– Creepy but I also do have to feed my dark side. I don’t like writing a book
without my research being as accurate as possible.
What are you working on now?
I am working on my Holiday releases for 2012.
Army beasts Christmas (Dahlia Rose Unscripted)
Yule Tide Mischief (Amira Press)
Seal of Honor (Sugar and Spice Press
Christmas Three (Dahlia Rose Unscripted)
My newest book will be released on October 13th
2012 with Sugar and Spice Press. And Baby Makes Three is the follow up book to
Baby on Board. In this book Lieutenant Brody Gillis and Nurse Marie Watson get
the chance to have their happily ever after.
 
Excerpt: Army Beasts 2042
He
never got to finish the sentence. Sofia slammed her hand against the table and
pointed at him. “Let’s me make this crystal clear… My father does not let me do
anything. I have a stake in this just like everyone else. I live with a primal
animal inside me and I’m being hunted for it just like every other second
natured soul.”
He
held his hands up in mock surrender. “Okay, okay lass, no need to get your
knickers in a twist.”
“Yeah
there is,” she glared at him. “Because while you are wiling away here drinking
and carousing, others are dying. I didn’t get to my last mission in time. The
mother wouldn’t go willingly or let her child be taken. Do you know what the
Cleaners did? They blew up their house with them inside. Called it a gas leak
and blamed it on the mother not using the new stoves that are on the market and
sticking to old fashioned natural gas.”
“Limey
bastards,” he muttered. “Let me guess the sales on that new flash heat stove
skyrocketed.”
She
pointed a finger at him. “Bingo and the automated food module with those pre
packaged meals that aren’t made of anything thing real. Those had a rise in
sales as well. Who ever heard of meatless chicken, meatless hotdog, meatless
sausage and bacon tasting delicious?”
“Please
let me enjoy my meal without thinking about that processed food,” Lachlan said.
“They are planning to open two factories in Scotland, we are one of the last
few countries with farms. Real milk, chickens eggs and so forth not costing so
much that only the rich can buy them.”
“In
New York, things like that cost a pretty penny,” Sofia said. “Where we live, we
get all that and we have our own gardens with vegetables and fruit trees. It’s
amazing there.”
“Don’t
you miss the city life, being around people? Going out shopping doing things
other women your age do?” Lachlan asked.
“I
was never the perky shopping type. I was a tomboy. I grew up around the Army
Beasts. By fifteen I could break down a nine-millimeter and put it back up in
thirty seconds. I fired my first fifty caliber at sixteen and learned hand to
hand combat by eighteen,” Sofia explained. “My mom was a soldier before she met
my father, and she was one of the first to teach me how to take care of
myself.”
“No
boyfriend waiting for you to come home?” Lachlan asked casually. He had to
admit to himself he was testing the proverbial waters of her relationship
status.
“Why
would you ask that?” Her eyes narrowed to suspicious wary slits..
“No
reason. It just seems your life can be very lonesome sometimes, the way you
live,” Lachlan answered. “I’ve been a lone wolf for a long time, I know the
feeling.”
“That’s
you, not me. I’m fine with my life.” Her answer was abrupt. “When can we leave
here? The intel is the Cleaners have to have already notified the authorities
here in East Lothian.”
“I
would prefer the cover of nightfall but if we must leave I know a place,” he
answered.
Sofia
nodded, “I’ll get packed and we can head out. I want to be able to check out
this new place and find some higher ground in case anything happens. I’ll contact
my dad when we get settle in.”
“How
do you stay on contact outside the network?” he asked.
She
eyed him before saying, “We have our ways.”
Lachlan
stood and threw his dish in the sink in frustration. “Eventually you have to
trust me, Sofia Johnson. You come into my home and tell me to come with you.
You want my trust and don’t want to give me yours.”
“That
comes in time. I’ve never had to trust anyone except my family,” she retorted.
That
statement grated on his last nerve and he grabbed her shoulders. “Well then I
suggest to learn to trust me, lass. I tend not to deal well with people who
want a one-sided relationship.”
A
low growl came from her throat and he saw her eyes flash. Eyes of a mountain
lion replaced her human ones. He growled as well, allowing his wolf some free
reign.
“Let
go of me,” Sofia said through gritted teeth.
Lachlan
considered and then released her before stepping back. “You need to consider
this, Sofia Johnson. Until we get back to your so-called sanctuary, we’ll have
to depend on each other. It might be prudent to remember the Army beasts can’t
help you here. I’ll go get my things together. We’ll be ready to go in five
minutes.”
“Lachlan…”
He
didn’t turn around, but kept moving toward the stairs. “I’ll be ready, Sofia. I
just hope you are.”
Being
so close to her just reinforced the fact that he wanted her, his wolf wanted
her. It didn’t take learning about each other over a candle light dinner.
Desire between shifters was almost an instantaneous reaction and he knew she
felt it too. Lachlan hoped she understood that he honestly hoped she was ready.
Because when he wanted something, he sure as hell got it. Sofia was at the top
of the list as of now.
*
* * *
So
this is what it felt like to find someone that makes your heart beat way too fast and the instinct to make a fierce fire in your blood. Sofia was no
shrinking flower. She’d run missions from the time she was eighteen. More than
once she’d met someone in a crowded bar while looking for the next subject,
another face on the list that never seemed to end. But she was able to walk
away afterward with no muss or fuss, just a roll in the hay and some sexual
comfort. There would be no way she could walk away from him if they made love.
She could smell the mating pheromone in the air when he grabbed her. It flared
his nostrils and she saw his eyes flash to his wolf. She was in big trouble
because that one action made her panties wet and she wanted to offer him her
neck. A move of submission, one she could not afford. Sofia refused to allow
herself to be that weak, to be mated was for another time when shifters were
allowed to roam free, not now. She was putting the last of her items in her duffel
when Lachlan burst into the room.
“We’ve
got to go, love,” he said. “Company is downstairs and they’re not here for tea.”
He
meant the cleaners of course and she shoved the last of her shit in the bag
quickly.
“How
the hell did they get here so fast?” she snapped. “I thought I was at least a
day ahead of those bastards.”
“No
doubt had some help from Walker,” Lachlan snarled.
“The
rental car is out, luckily the paperwork it was rented under is solid, but I
don’t want to risk the chance of them testing my saliva just because I came out
of your pub.”
“They
don’t have you on record?” Lachlan asked.
Sofia
shook her head. “My father, well all the men in our group made sure that when
they had children no samples were ever taken that could not be destroyed.
Immunizations and all health related issues were handled on the compound by a
trusted friend.”
“It
sounds like you’ve lived a hard, paranoid life,” Lachlan said.
Sofia
gave him a cold look. “My father knew eventually this would happen. Imagine if
all shifter DNA was in the system… You don’t even know how long this conspiracy
has been going on so don’t talk about what you have no clue about. While you
were drinking a pint and trying to get your hands up the lasses skirts, we were
fighting a war.”
“Whatever
you say,” Lachlan murmured.
“We
can’t go out front or back. They’ll be surrounding the place.” Sofia reasoned
out loud.
Lachlan
shot her a grin. “I’ve got this covered. Come with me.”
She
was following him out the door when he turned suddenly and grabbed her neck. He
kissed her hard and winked before saying, “By the way, I didn’t have to try
hard to get my hand up their skirts. They were always willing to lift them for
me.”
“You
need to be taught some manners,” she said as he turned and walked away. “Next
time you grab me without permission, I may just bite your fingers off. Mountain
lions have very sharp teeth.”
Purchase Army Beasts by clicking here.
Author Bio:
Dahlia
Rose is the best selling author of contemporary erotica, suspense and
paranormal romance. She was born and raised on a Caribbean island and now currently
lives in Charlotte, NC with her four kids who she affectionately nicknamed “The
children of the corn,” and her biggest supporter/long time love. She has a love
of erotica, dark fantasy, sci-fi and the things that go bump in the night.
Books and writing are her biggest passion and she hopes to open your
imagination to the unknown between the pages of her books.
Thank you, Dahlia Rose. We are so happy you stopped by today and tempted us with these yummy books. One lucky commenter will win a copy of one of her American Hero Trilogy books. To be eligible, please include your email address in your post, encoded.

So how about military heroes? What do you, the reader, love about them? What do you want to see more of (or less of? LOL). Do you have any questions for Dahlia Rose? Do you have a favorite military branch and why?

This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Dahlia Rose is my favorite author of all times. I just can`t get enough of her books. It`s just a dream come true for me to have been able to connect with her on Facebook and have an insight of who she is as an authors. I have read every single one of her books and although they are all my faves, my #1 is Empathy. I`ve re-read that book at least one a week since it came out! I feel like a kid a christmas when I know that she has a new release coming out.
    If I had any super powers, I`d make sure that she sells 100,000 copies of every books she`s ever written so she can take that trip to Vegas with her friends and get her VIP tickets to the Thunder From Down Under Show.(It`s the least I can do for my favorite author!lol!)

    I am her #1 for life. 😉

    Nathalie EbookLover Bernier

    Nahtally@yahoo.com

  2. Awwww Nathalie, it always makes me feel humbled when you talk about me or my book..I am truly blessed because You are one amazing reader not just for me but for so many authors out there. You rocketh Muchly!!

  3. What an incredible story you have, Dahlia!! Inspiring!! I have not had the honor of reading one of your books yet and I can't wait!! I'm so happy to meet you and read your story 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
    jennyrlowery(at)yahoo.com

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