What is your favorite chocolate confection?
I am a self-proclaimed chocolate snob, so anything decadent,
dark, with a soft center works for me. Wait a minute…I like that in a man, too!
What is your favorite Godiva chocolate?
It’s a toss up between the Double Dark Chocolate Truffle and
the Chocolate Lava Cake Truffle. But truly, I’ve never met a Godiva that I didn’t
like.
Could you go a day without chocolate?
I do when the good stuff is not around. But when it is, look
out! My hubby calls me a Godiva junkie, and he’s not wrong.
What was your inspiration for Fat Girl?
Growing up with insecurities about my body, I wanted to write a
sexy romance involving a real heroine with real issues. A woman I thought other
women could relate to on some level.
Whether a size 6 or 26, most of us have a fat girl whispering
untruths in our ear. She’s the voice that tells us we’re not good enough,
pretty enough, skinny enough, perfect enough. She compares us to the
unrealistic version of perfection and tells us that we don’t quite measure up. That
somehow we are less desirable, less worthy, less lovable. And for far too long,
just like my character, Dee, I listened to her. Seeing what was wrong with me,
instead of what was right.
Fat Girl is a provocative
romance about the tumultuous and passionate relationship between former lovers;
the secrets that ripped them apart and the family ties that re-connect them.
But it is also the story of a woman’s journey to find what we all want and
need, unconditional love and self-acceptance.
I found inspiration among the pages of Dee and Micah’s story, and
I hope readers will too.
Why do you think that most novels feature the media “ideal”
of what a woman should look like, when it comes to heroines?
I am starting to see more diversity in body types amongst heroines.
Real bodies. However, there have been few mainstream breakout novels that
feature such characters. I surmise it’s because as a society we are body-ideal
obsessed, so that’s what sells.
This isn’t a new phenomenon. A curvy Marilyn Monroe was once
the epitome of beauty and skinny was considered unattractive.
Either way, it’s a problem. Both promote one body type as
being better than the other. I would like to see women empower ourselves to
feel healthy and beautiful in our skin, no matter our size. We do not need to
be cookie cutter versions of each other.
As an author, I have the chance to feature diverse female
characters and promote body acceptance over body perfection. It’s a great
platform and one I strongly believe in.
Can you give us a teaser on your next book?
Sure, I loved to. A Naked Beauty, coming soon, is the
conclusion to Fat Girl. In part 2, Dee
and Micah are dealt another curve ball that threatens their second chance at
happiness.
Just as they are moving forward, Micah’s fame
comes back to haunt them. Thrust into the media spotlight, having her privacy
exposed and the body she is struggling to accept photographed, tweeted about
and publically criticized is worse than Dee expects. Torn between the man she
loves and the life she doesn’t want, Dee must make a choice.
Will she finally find the self-confidence to feel
comfortable in her own skin and fight for her heart or is she destined to do
what Micah fears the most—walk away again?
Fat Girl
by Leigh
Carron
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Years
after fleeing small-town Springvale, Illinois, Deanna Chase has picked up the
pieces of her shattered heart and built a new life for herself as a child
advocacy lawyer. Her food addiction is quasi under control, her secrets are
buried, and she has even made a tenuous peace with her plus-size body. Until…
Micah
Peters—the very sexy and now famous man she fled— walks through her office door
and sends Dee reeling. His demand that she help a young boy caught in a custody
battle will reunite her with the past she left behind.
Torn
between duty and self-preservation, Dee isn’t easy to convince. But when
obligation wins, the former lovers get more than they bargained for—a searing
passion that burns hotter than ever and startling revelations about what really
happened the fateful night she left.
Will
the truth set Dee free to love again? Or will past hurts and lingering
insecurities destine her to walk away from her heart again, this time for good?
Fat
Girl is the first book in this provocative two-part series about love and
self-acceptance.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
“Hello, Deeana.”
His voice, deeper with age, packs an unfair sexual punch. Just
like the rest of him.
As handsome as he was at eighteen, it didn’t come close to
his appearance at thirty-three. People magazine has called it right. Micah
Peters is the Sexiest Man Alive. No amount of shock or disdain could deny him
that.
Partly Brazilian, on his mother’s side, he is blessed with
exotic good looks. Short black waves carelessly styled, caramel skin that
doesn’t pale even in winter, and espresso-brown eyes fringed with the darkest,
thickest lashes I have ever seen.
Like his body, his facial structure is harder—more
masculine, more defined. And the inky stubble framing his strong jaw and full,
gorgeous mouth only adds to the instant, powerful impact.
But I’m not that naive girl anymore. I’ve taken my knocks
and know all too well that the quality of a man’s character doesn’t lie in the
quality of his looks. The fact that time has been unjustly charitable to him
only fuels the resentment I’ve kept secret and locked away for fifteen years.
It takes every ounce of my trained composure to push
civility past the bile rising in my throat. I lean against the wood frame for
support and manage to say, “This is a surprise.” The fake calm of the words
burns my tongue.
If he’s affected, it doesn’t show in the easy strides that
move him toward me. The delicious aromas of leather and earthy cologne fill my
senses. As he comes closer still, I struggle not to breathe him in. Mustn’t let
him think he has any effect on me either.
Without smiling, his dark gaze slides over my every feature,
studying them one by one, as if comparing them with his memory. “It’s been a
while,” he says.
Not nearly long enough to forget or forgive. “Several
years,” I reply.
Now he smiles. A mocking grin that tells me he knows I
remember just how long it has been. That I remember the very night I left
him—and everything else that mattered to me—behind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
About Me: An
American living in Canada. Chocolate snob. Recovering yo-yo dieter. Devoted mom
and wife, blessed with a brilliantly witty daughter and unintentionally
humorous husband. My wacky family feed my creativity and fuel my passion. Most
nights, you will find me either curled up with a great book or, more often,
sitting at my computer, tapping out the countless visions in my head.
To me, there is
nothing better in a narrative than perfectly flawed but strong characters and
intense romance that is sexy, deep, and sensual. Mm…I liken such stories to a
box of Godiva. Decadent and delicious! You can’t stop at just one. In fact, I’m
now hard at work on my next novel—A Naked Beauty, the conclusion to Fat Girl.
Stay Connected
at:
Twitter:@LeighCarron
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