Inspiration comes from strange places—especially during the last few years! When I began writing One Night Stand After Another, all I had was Zane, the hero, a minor character from another book. I knew he had an enormous chip on his shoulder and a woman in his past…and nothing else.
Enter 2020. The pandemic. I don’t know about you, but I started falling asleep earlier and earlier every night (It was either that or drink too much—don’t judge!), which meant I was waking up well before the crack of dawn. I couldn’t make any excuses for not writing when I had hours before I had to be at work, so I started imagining a heroine for Zane.
Then my daughter started writing a college application essay connecting her hobby of crocheting with her desire to be an accountant, and Clara came to life, one shawl at a time.
Since I had a twenty-minute drive to work every morning, I listened to music. I discovered I loved “All of Me” by John Legend, a song that mentions curves and edges, and I listened to it over and over again as I dreamed up a steamy cross-country road trip for a very curvy, slightly repressed fiber artist and a daring man with something to prove.
And since I worked in a bakery, I was surrounded by chocolate, which always works its way into my books in some form or another. This one was no exception. Zane tempts Clara to spend another night with him by seducing her with everything from truffles to hot chocolate shots. They also enjoy some memorable Chocolate Chai Chippers at a yarn café in Denver. If you get hungry, you can find the recipe on my blog, along with a lot of other delicious things from my books.
So there you have it: the top five ingredients that were shaken and stirred into One Night Stand After Another, on sale for .99 for a limited time!
Clara Duke lives to crochet wearable art. But right this second, she’s looking at the one guy who has the uncanny ability to unravel her in every possible way. Zane Brampton. He broke her heart in high school and now wants to make it up to her—in a single night. Just being in the same room as him feels dangerously volatile. A whole night with this delectable, gorgeous man would be nothing less than a total sexpocalypse. But oh, what a way to go.
The sight of Clara and her mouthwatering curves might actually kill restaurateur Zane. Ten years ago, their volcanic chemistry exploded, taking their social circle along with it. But Zane hasn’t forgotten the heat—and this feels almost like fate. He’ll be damned if he’ll let her run from their connection again. And he might just have found his chance to prove he deserves more than just one night…
Now Zane is driving Clara to California to meet her professional dreams. But between the road, the chocolate, and the ridiculously hot sex, Clara risks getting tangled up with her not-so-one-night-stand. And worse, Zane might just be the thread that snaps all of her perfectly crocheted plans.
About the Author
Amanda Usen knows two things for certain: chocolate cheesecake is good for breakfast, and a hot chef can steal your heart. Her husband stole hers the first day of class at the Culinary Institute of America. They live in Western New York with their three children, one crawfish, two guinea pigs, a tortoise, and a beagle. Amanda spends her days teaching pastry arts classes and her nights writing romance. If she isn’t baking or writing, she can usually be found reading a book and trying to get out of cooking dinner.
You can follow Amanda on Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and on her website.
About Author
Leave a Reply