(from usatoday.com
by Joyce Lamb)
Ophelia London, author of Falling for Her Soldier, and Cindi Madsen, author of Resisting the Hero, chat each other up about shoes, men in uniform, Blue Bloods and other hot guys in hot shows. It's a good day at HEA!
Ophelia: Hi, Cindi, love the boots.
Cindi: Thanks! I have a slight shoe addiction. What's your addiction? Besides men in uniform, of course. We'll get to them later, though.
Ophelia: I'm a shoe freak, too. I just bought a pair of boots to celebrate my new book release. They're olive green and gorgeous, so I thought it was Army-appropriate. And speaking of gorgeous, have you seen Blue Bloods? It's full of so many hotties.
Cindi: No, I haven't, but if there are hotties in uniform involved, I'm sooo there.
Ophelia: And what about that new movie with Mark Wahlberg? Lone Survivor. It looks amazing. What is it about men in uniform?
Cindi: It's hard to explain. It definitely makes dudes look even more dude-ish. And there's an element of safety and protection and a guy who's willing to do that kind of job to help other people and serve his country. Also, a lot of them are physically fit and easy on the eyes. Ophelia, you take a stab at it and see if you can put it more eloquently than I have.
Ophelia: You know I love the military guys. Seeing them in their shiny shoes, tucked in shirts and straight collars makes me feel all tingly inside. It's a pride and confidence thing. They're always standing a little taller and straighter when they're in uniform. And knowing there's probably a slammin' body under all those perfectly pressed clothes is like a little gift to unwrap. I have a huge respect and love for the military.
Cindi: That leads perfectly into my next question. In your new book, Falling for Her Soldier, you wrote about a military guy. Tell us a little bit about Charlie "Big Game Hunter" Johansson.
Ophelia: It was incredibly fun to create my own soldier, Charlie. He's the most comfortable leading his squad and doing his job to a T than just about anything. So what was really cool for me was to take my macho soldier and put him in a situation where he didn't know what he was doing. I made him learn to tango. He had to be guided by his heart instead of his hot body. Cindi, I know you're more about the civil servant guys, like hottie Connor the SWAT cop in Resisting the Hero. What do you love about them?
Cindi: When it comes to heroes, I'm an equal-opportunity ogler. Hee hee. Honestly, I didn't really plan on writing a cop, but one night while brainstorming book ideas this cocky cop who'd just completed SWAT training popped into my head. And then the scene where Faith's furious at him for talking her brother into joining the SWAT team with him immediately followed. I like the push and pull, and I like why Connor is a cop. How it defines him and how much he cares for people he helps. I knew there was a lot more to him. And jokes about handcuffs and being frisked just made it that much more fun.
Ophelia: I totally agree. Nothing like a great handcuff joke. I really loved that scene in Resisting the Hero when Connor takes Faith skinny-dipping. It hit all the feels.
Cindi: Yeah, that was definitely a fun scene to write. And I really enjoyed the dancing scenes with Charlie and Ellie, and the jokes about Michael Bublé. OK, so now I'm gonna get down to the hard question. Ben Affleck or Josh Hartnett in Pearl Harbor?
Ophelia: I'm a Ben girl. Maybe because Jennifer Garner and I were born one day apart. I think that means Ben and I are practically married. If you say Ben, too, we might have to throw down.
Cindi: Phew, I was afraid this might get ugly, but we're safe because I've had a mad crush on Josh Hartnett since high school. Not that Ben's not nice to look at as well. Congrats on your practically being married to him! As for hot uniformed actors, I've also got to give a shout-out to D.J. Cotrona in GI Joe: Retaliation. He was a big inspiration for Connor and pretty much the reason I watched that movie.
Ophelia: Hot heroes in uniform can make any movie awesome. I'll stop down for Band of Brothers every time it's on, just so I can drool over Damian Lewis. But it's the real-life heroes I love the best; the ones out there day in and day out working to protect us. That's where the sexy's at.
Cindi: Yes, I'll echo that and say "yay" for real-life heroes, and thank you to all the men and women out there serving our country and protecting our cities. You all rock!
So, I think that's it for Ophelia and me. We've had a blast talking about the heroes in our books, and want to thank HEA for having us. Happy reading!
Here's the blurb for Resisting the Hero by Cindi Madsen:
Resisting her brother's best friend is futile…
Faith Fitzpatrick isn't looking for a hero. Burned one too many times in the past, she's now sworn them off completely. And when her brother's best friend, Connor, convinces him to join the dangerous SWAT team, Faith has never been more anti-hero. What's wrong with having a safe job? There's nothing safe about Connor. Confident, sexy, and sporting a six-pack that should be illegal, he's everything she doesn't want.
When his best friend's sister moves to town, local cop Connor Maguire knows he's in trouble. Faith is feisty, funny, and talks trash like nobody's business. She's also his partner's sister—and so totally off limits. Working on the Fall Festival together, they agree to a truce and become friends. But the more time Connor spends with Faith, the more he's willing to risk the wrath of her brother. If he could only convince her to take a risk on him, too.
Here's the blurb for Falling for Her Soldier by Ophelia London:
She fell for the nice guy, but will she fall for the real guy?
Ex-ballerina Ellie Bell has twenty-four days left until her self-imposed man-less year is up. No more falling for the wrong kind of guy—charming, sexy, bad. Why can't she find someone sweet like Charlie Johansson, her soldier pen pal? His e-mails meant the world to her, and she can't stop thinking about him…until she meets Hunter, whose muscles and cocky smile threaten to have her relapsing.
Before Charlie "Big Game Hunter" Johansson's last tour of duty, he'd gone through women like crazy. But after connecting on a real, emotional level via letters with his best friend's sister, Charlie's ready for a relationship—with Ellie Bell. But then her brother introduces him as Hunter. Proving he's no longer a player by becoming Ellie's dance partner for an Army benefit seems like it could convince both siblings he's changed, but the harder he falls for Ellie, the harder it is to come clean. Can he convince her to fall for the real him before it's too late?
Find out more about Ophelia at www.ophelialondon.com and Cindi at cindimadsen.com.
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