Jo Rees may be more familiar to you as Josie Lloyd, one half of the hugely successful writing couple Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees. She's now written a book alone - Platinum - and it's another of those modern bonkbusters. In an exclusive guest blog, Jo tells us how and why she wrote it.
About three years ago, I was going on holiday and wandering around an airport bookstore searching for a book to take to the beach.
After writing seven romances as Josie Lloyd with my husband and writing partner, Emlyn Rees, I felt like a change. I certainly didn't want to read anything remotely chick lit and having just had a baby, couldn't stomach yet more mum lit. I realized what I was hankering after was the kind of book I'd last read when I was a teenager, like Shirley Conran's fabulous 'Lace' and of course, the queen of them all, Jackie Collins. I wanted what every modern girl wants - a deliciously illicit piece of escapism about sexy, glamorous people. Scanning the shelves and not finding what I was after, I decided there and then that I was going to write it. And Platinum was born.
So what's the recipe for a modern bonkbuster? Here's some essential ingredients:
Start with a big juicy plot - the kind of action-packed page-turner that keeps readers glued to their sunbeds. Every chapter has to end on a cliff-hanger, the action moving a break-neck speed. It helps if you chose a theme. Mine is revenge - you can't get more juicy than that!
Add, carefully, one by one a cast of interesting characters. I didn't want to write about normal people like me, I wanted my characters to be the kind of people you read about in 'Hello' magazine: rich, good-looking, moving and shaking in the world of the dazzling party jet-set. It's this ingredient - the characters - that is what makes the modern bonkbuster so irresistible. My heroines are ballsy multi-talented modern women who start off fulfilled and in charge of their lives. Frankie Willis is a blonde twenty-five year old computer hacker and gym instructor, who's on a mission find adventure as a stewardess aboard the mega-yacht Pushkin; Peaches Gold is a risk-taking, tough-talking knockout brunette, who, at nearly forty is LA's, most influential madam; and Lady Emma Harvey is a fiery red-headed aristocrat, who is happily married to the most handsome man in England.
Remember to sprinkle liberally with hand-picked international locations. The more exclusive, the better. After all, if your characters are hoping on an off private jets and mega-yachts, you've got to put them in the most fashionable places.
Now, slowly and sensually stir in the love interest, one hot drop at a time. He's got to be every girl's fantasy.
For extra spice add in a truly evil baddie. Pitting a maid, a hooker and a lady against each other in Platinum seemed a recipe for friction, but what unites them is their hatred for the billionaire, Yuri Khordinsky. He's a ruthless Russian Oligarch who is desperate for acceptance in society and will stop at nothing to get it.
Finally mix it all together with lashings of raunchy, naughty sex. Now turn up the heat, indulge and enjoy.
And the secret ingredient? Well you'll have to read Platinum and find out for yourself.
