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Louise Hope lives with her fiance and two crazy dachshunds in North of England.
Known best for her Mafia series, The Notorious Five, Louise also writes romantic suspense, action and mystery. Building her portfolio with various short stories, series, spin-offs and stand-alones, Louise maintains the strength in her characters, developing worlds realistic and fictional.
Louise started writing at the age of eighteen, however, never pursued the interest until a few years ago. With seven novels under her belt and more to come, there’s so much more to Louise’s writing talents.
If you want to know where to find Louise when she isn’t writing (which isn’t often), she will be out with her partner, walking their dogs or taking trips to the beach.
We were different in so many ways, polar opposites, stark contrasts; he was night and I was day.
Axel fought the law while I represented it and we could never have been more opposite.
You know what they say about opposites, though, and as much as I keep telling myself this is wrong, everything feels right.
We all have double standards.
But what separates us from the rest?
What does it take for you to realise that your moral compass is nothing more than a mechanical piece of cogs and hands that blur the directions you should be heading?
For me, it was when Axel came into my life, or maybe it was the other way around.
“So…” I tap my pen against the notepad in front of me. “You can’t tell me where you were, or who you were with.” I look up to see Axel watching me intently.
His expression is indiscernible. I can’t tell if he is agreeing with me or reluctant to share anything more. The whole situation is frustrating and impossible. No matter how much I try, Axel isn’t prepared to divulge any information, which only leads me to believe he has more to hide.
“You have no witnesses.” I tick that off my list. “No alibi,” another tick. “No information that can help grant you bail?”
I lock eyes with Axel, who remains silent and brooding, almost contemplating whether to share information with me. It’s sexy as hell, despite how dangerous he might be. His eyes seem to pull me in, no – drag me in. He’s mastered the look of dangerous seduction, and I would gladly surrender to him.
My thoughts snap back when I realize what I was thinking, what I was contemplating, and more importantly, what I was ready to risk.
Refusing to submit to his intense gaze, I redirect my thoughts to the job and heave a sigh, scratching my head for an alternative route.
“Have you got any priors?” It scares me to ask, but it’s a necessary question. Pressing my pen to the pad, I wait for Axel’s response. When I look up, he has a brow quirked, which tells me more than I need to know. “Ok, have you knowingly lied to a police officer or any other law enforcement?”
His expression remains the same. Dark, mysterious, unwavering.
I lean back in my chair, exhaling so heavily that the hair that’s swept across Axel’s face dances briefly.
“How the hell did you avoid jail for so long?” I deadpan.
“Money.” Axel shrugs obnoxiously.
“So why can’t you pay someone off this time?” I scoff, “why do you need me?”
“Because it’s different this time.” Axel’s words hold a sombre tone. His eyes flash with hatred for a brief moment and catch me by surprise.
“How?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me if I did it?” Axel twists his head and speaks with a husky voice that makes my body shiver. Deep down, that dark voice is a turn on. The way it rasps and gravels seductively, whether he means it to or not.
Axel is still waiting for a response, but I can see the intrigue in his eyes as they travel to my lips. I suddenly feel self-conscious, my cheeks feel hot and red under his stare. Every part of my body feels like it’s under scrutiny from Axel, as if he is sizing me up. He can see that he affects me. Whether he knows to what extent is another question. One I need to ask myself too.
I shake my head. The truth is, I don’t want to know and the less I know, the better. Maybe I run a higher chance of getting out alive if I know less. One can only wish.
“They say you’re the best.” He tilts his head at me, contemplating whether his deep words are fact or opinion. “So prove it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I hear the soft click of the door behind me as it’s unlocked from the other side. Collecting my belongings, I hastily retreat.
“Oh, Cassie.”
I turn at the sound of my name from his snarling lips.
“Don’t make me regret this.”
With a silent sigh, I leave the room. His proximity is stifling, to say the least, and his brooding demeanor only emphasizes this man’s potential for danger.
Before long, the black SUV returns to where I was picked up and once again I am facing my office building – only two hours later than I should be.
In between the explanation I give Jada while she waits impatiently by my office, and somehow avoiding her interrogation about what really happened, I manage a semi-productive day.
She leaves me to my own space, giving me time alone to process everything. It’s all too clear that I have too much to get through and not enough time. Axel is asking the impossible of me, giving me nothing to go on. The limited notes I have aren’t helpful either.
Contrary to my meeting with Axel, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve.
I have always been an avid reader. From Kindle to pay per chapter platforms, I always felt like something was missing. So I decided to write my own stories. I started sharing them on a free platform before I eventually ventured onto a paid one. I continued to write stories, gaining great feedback which pushed me to self-publish. Funnily enough, I was terrible at English in school, so I really didn’t think much of my books until someone asked me for a sequel to my first book. That’s where the passion for writing began.
My writing process always starts with a brainstorm. Either an excel spreadsheet or diagram to identify the main characters, plot and turning points in my story. I am a majo pantser, though. So I have a vague outline of my book planned before I let the book and characters write themselves.
When I’m not writing I’m either working as a Data Analyst or spending time with my fiance and two dogs, going on walks etc.
I start writing another! When you have the passion for something, it’s hard to break away from it.
Release day is the worst for me, waiting for the reviews to come in from ARCs, watching the sales. I’ve tried to come away from that now, but I’m always nervous on release day so I tend to distract myself by writing or creating graphics.
A couple years ago, I read a book series on a free platform. It was about six characters, all friends. There were a couple scenes that overlapped in the books and I really liked that. So I decided to take it one step further. I’ve always loved Mafia Romance and Dark Romance books, and I wanted to create something nobody had read before.
No. I tend to match my characters to their counterparts. So if I have an idea for one character, I try to balance that out my Antagonist with my Protagonist and the support characters.
The most challenging part is keeping to the plan. I’m a serial pantser so I literally follow the books lead. But when you have to stick to a plan because of the four other boos in the series, it can be difficult, especially when I get excited about certain parts of the book.
The spicy scenes are always my favourite, but building the tension is super fun!
For serialising, CJ Primer inspired me to take the leap. The Mafia Romance has been done alot, but I don’t think you can ever have too much of it. There isn’t one book that inspired me, just a long list of books that made me want to do something different.
(I don’t have a favourite, but this moment in the book makes me so happy!)
Both our chests heave erratically, hot breath skates over our skin.
“I’ve been living in the darkness,” I whisper to her neck, inhaling her perfume that blends with the coconut and cocoa scent. “But you’re like a beacon. So precious and bright that I want to keep; never let go. I can’t lose that light.” My knuckles scrape across her jawbone, tears welling in her eyes as I gaze into them. “Together or not, I can’t lose that light,” I say to her lips.
It would have to be Axel. He’s the one who started this journey, he’s the first character that spoke to me and said “Let’s do this.” So I guess I would say to him “Thank you and I’m sorry for trying to kill you!”
© Romance me with Books | 2023