February 24, 2010

Cougars and Cubs and Problems...Oh My!

Posted by Helen Hardt

When the lovely Lizzie T. Leaf first approached me about writing a story for Aspen Mountain Press's Cougar Club series, I jumped at the opportunity. Older woman/hot younger man? Count me in, baby! I envisioned a hip story with lots of teasing and good old-fashioned bump and grind sex.

My characters had their own ideas, though. Jack and Holly took over the story, and when The Cowboy and the Cougar was complete, it bore little resemblance to what I had imagined. Except for the sex -- that was there. It's still a Helen Hardt story after all :).

But I wasn't sure it was right for the series. So I conferred with Lizzie who conferred with the Editor-in-Chief at AMP. They decided they wanted to see the story, and within a few weeks they decided to contract it. My editor, Celina, also gave it good reviews, but still I worried. Would Cougar readers want to hear about the issues Jack and Holly faced?

I've been amazed at how well the book has been received. Reviews have been stellar. Terri at Night Owl Romance gave it 5/5 and a Reviewer Top Pick. She said, "...The warm feelings that I got from reading it just didn’t want to go away."

I learned a valuable lesson. Cougars and cubs are hot, hot, HOT, but sometimes they have real problems and need to find real solutions. If you're an author, have you written a cougar story? Tell us about it. If you haven't, are you thinking about writing one? For authors and readers, what appeals to you about cougar/cub relationships?

2 comments:

Lizzie said...

A very rich story Helen and I loved it! Cougars and Cubs are human too. Like the rest of us, they have their problems.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'd get this for the cover alone. and TAG! You're it!