A close look at Mike Williams - the love interest in For One Night Only

Both of my romances presently available on Kindle are selling well. I have had mostly good comments on both Vittorio's Virgin and For One Night Only but the most recurrent question seems to be. 'Is Mike based on someone you know?' The odd thing is nobody has asked me if Vittorio Bianchi is based on a real person. I have come to the conclusion that either Mike's character is so convincing that readers can only assume he is a real person OR that he is the sort of man we can all attain and as such, just what we are looking for.


Most of  my characters are loosely based on people I have seen or met at some time or other. I take different aspects from different people to make up a whole. My work is largely inspired by real life experiences, either my own or somebody else's. I like to keep it as real as possible, too much fantasy can result in unconvincing story lines. But, I am sorry to say, Mike Williams is largely a figment of my imagination.

He is very ordinary, the sort of bloke you see everyday in the street or in the supermarket; he may come and fix your boiler or you may even be married to him.
I have read a lot of romance and sometimes I get very tired of super good looking alpha males with some deep seated psychological hang up that can only be put right by a certain woman; the woman made for  him.

I wanted a new type of love interest and so, after some deliberation I decided to try and put a chubby Welshman in the spotlight. Mike is, deep down, a good hearted, ordinary man who has lost his way. He is bored, unhappy in his job and his lifestyle has become stale.  Usually it is the female characters that play this role but I wanted  a different perspective.  I wanted Mike to be the one to realise his dreams. During the novel his character slowly unfolds, the reader is taken deeper into his psyche to discover a man that is surprisingly sensual, funny and who loves his wife and kids without reservation.

When his wife, Nicola, is tempted away from the marriage bed, he is prepared to forgive her everything and, after a heap of trials and misunderstandings, they manage to overcome their problems. Perhaps the truth is that men like Mike don't come along very often after all.

I enjoyed portraying an ordinary man as a lover. After all, how many of us ever get to share a relationship with a stinking rich Adonis? Mike may not have a fleet of Porsches or a Mayfair mansion but he has so much more.  He has his faults and dubious habits but is a family man, the sort of guy that watches sport on a Saturday afternoon with his feet on the coffee table, goes to bed in his socks, eats pizza straight from the box.  We all know, or have known, a Mike Williams, haven't we?  And you'd not swap him would you? Isn't the ordinary, frustrating man snoring on the sofa beside you right now, secretly the man  of your dreams? Shouldn't we let them  know it?

Kindle update

 I have just checked out my author page  Mary Middleton on Amazon Kindle and was most surprised to see how quickly Vittorio's Virgin is selling.  For One Night Only is lagging a little behind. I wonder if I should think up a more intriging title?  Anyway, its still all going very well. If any of you wonderful people are into reviewing I'm sure some lovely reviews will help move things along. The more I sell, the more I can afford to write.  Maybe the dream of being able to earn a living from writing, rather than just funding an expensive hobby is getting closer. Let's hope so.
The Greek Tycoon's Secret Daughter is proving a little more troublesome than the other novels were to write but the plot is more intricate and the characters definitely don't like being told what to do.
Sometimes I just let them get on with it to see where they will take me but there are plot lines that Jonathan in particular needs to adhere to and he is proving a very forceful person. If he wasn't so gorgeous I might get very cross but he looks at me with those dark troubled eyes and I find myself weakening, giving in to his demands.
Many of you, I know, are not looking forward to winter but for writers there is nothing better than a warm fireside, rain lashed windows. A day, uninterrupted by phonecalls or visitors and unhampered  by the guilt of not mowing the lawn is like heaven to me. Once the oil tank if filled, the store cupboard and freezer well stocked, I, for one, will look forward to producing a lot of work over the coming winter season.

New Work in Progress

With my first two novels doing so well on kindle, I thought I would blog about my WIP, The Greek Tycoon's Secret Daughter. I find that if I discuss my work as I write, it defines and hones the characters into shape and  helps me decide where the story is going. I am not the sort of writer that knows exactly what is going to happen before they type the first word. I work from a rough outline and allow  my characters the freedom to make up their own minds - they usually know much better than me what they want.

I am having a lot of fun with this one, Charlotte is certainly headstrong enough to take the reins from my hands and as for Jonathan, well, if mean and moody is your bag, then he has it all. I look forward to updating you on its progress.

The plot so far.

Charlotte Martin's four year old son has cerebal palsy and only an expensive operation can ensure he retains his mobility. But the only place the operation can be performed is in the USA. Charlotte's problem is that she is penniless and has nobody to turn to for help and so is forced to search for her natural father, Greek tycoon, Nicoli Barberis, to ask for his help.

Beyond all her hopes Nicoli welcomes them with open arms and is eager to make up for the lost years. The only fly in the ointment comes in the form of Nicoli's stepson and heir, the devastatingly handsome, John Barberis-Jones, who is not prepared to share either his step-father or his inheritance.  

The Greek Tycoon's Secret Daughter is a passionate story of pride, love and compromise.

Exciting News

I've been away for sometime busy polishing and editing my manuscripts for publication and I'm excited to announce that both Vittorio's Virgin and For One Night Only are now available on Kindle for the affordable sum of £2.09, not much to pay for a couple of nights entertainment.

For One Night Only is a heartwarming story of ordinary people wrestling with mid-life confusion, marital conflict and enduring love. Nicola Williams is discontented with her lot in life and when she bumps into an old flame and a new door opens offering new opportunites she almost steps through it .  It is not until she is on the very brink of disaster that she realises just how much she has to lose. If you like to read about love, laughter and lovely sex  Click here to buy your copy now

Vittorio Bianchi, abandoned by his mother,  ignored by his father and cheated on by his wife has some serious hangups.  Determined that his siyear old daughter will not grow up to be like her mother, his parenting methods are harsh. Until he meets with the level headed Miss Jennifer Trent who manages to show him that some women can be trusted. If you like to read about foreign locations, alpha males and real women in sumptious settings Click here to buy your copy now

Book Review of Kate Walker's The Proud Wife

The Proud Wife
By
Kate Walker
A Review by Mary Middleton

Think of everything you love about a Mills and Boon and you will find it in The Proud Wife. Kate Walker skilfully creates the sexual tension, mental anguish and tangled emotion that makes a novel sizzle.
Aside from the convincing backdrops and accomplished narrative, Pietro and Marina emerge as free standing, fully developed characters with all the flaws, confusion and complexities of real human beings. The reader is dragged into their world to share their torment and it is impossible to put the book down until their trials are resolved.
It is no surprise that Kate is one of the more successful authors of this genre. She understands people and the barriers that can keep us from achieving personal fulfilment. Because she knows exactly what makes her characters tick they come alive on the page and the reader is personally involved with their happiness and craves the resolution as deeply as they do.
Marina is a fully rounded woman, no swooning, no soppy weaknesses; she emerges as a strong, modern, convincing woman who stands on her own two feet. Pietro is troubled, with some skeletons in his cupboard but he is essentially a good, fair minded man (aside from being stupendously good looking) and as such, is the type of man we can all fall in love with.
When you open The Proud Wife you will become involved in Marina and Pietro’s journey and can expect vivid scenery, sizzling sex scenes and heart wrenching dark moments but you can be safe in the knowledge that it will all come right it the end.
The Proud Wife is a romance that sparkles.

ISBN-13: 978-0263886412
Also available on Kindle

Alpha Males

Well, this is my first blog and I thought I'd ramble on about the thing that, if we are really honest, draws women to romance novels, the alpha male. Critics of romance are quick to dismiss the male characters as unrealistic, plastic people that lack substance and, on the surface, they may be right, there are some undisputable similarites.

They are always handsome, always rich and usually brooding and sexually unsurpassable,often with a flaw that can only be mended by the love of a good woman - a woman the reader can identify with. 
The male characters put the romance into the genre simply because it is most women's dream to be the object of an alpha male's desire.


For many women, after a long day at the office or of wrestling with a couple of cranky kids all day,  there is nothing nicer than to slip into a hot bubbling bath with a broad chested, smouldering hunk of muscle -a fictional one, of course.

But, let's face it, few of us are ever going to meet anyone as handsome or as rich as a romance hero ...or maybe we do, at least once.

Apart from being rich, my own smoulderingly sexy, alpha male fills most of the above criteria or at least he does in my head; which is all that  matters. 

I think romance is a lot to do with your personal outlook.  My man is getting on a bit now, he has grey hair and a few wrinkles and he doesnt own a big yacht to sail me away around the world.  But he does it for me.

What I think I am trying to say is that alpha males are all in the mind. When in a novel, the ordinary girl from the east of London looks upon her wild eyed, Italian billionaire she is looking at him through the eyes of love; eyes that can change the most ordinary bloke into an adonis.  To a woman in love her man is an alpha male, his eyes do have the ability to weaken her knees and his touch does burn her like a brand. 

Most of  us have been close enough to feel the passion at some point, haven't we? So what's wrong with celebrating the feeling?

Women in love

Since I blogged last time about Alpha Males, this time I thought I should turn my attention to the women. I have made quite a study of the characters in the romance novels, both male and female and, although there are a lot of stereotypes, some stand out from the crowd.
The romances with the most developed characters are the ones that work, the ones we remember. It isn't so much the plot or the luxury of the settings but the way in which the characters interact with eachother and the way in which they resolve the problems the author has set them.

There is little point in creating a wonderful world as a back drop for wooden, unconvincing characters.  Women today are forceful, they know what they want and they go out to get it. Would they put up with man who was little more than a moody bully or would they tell him to take a running jump?  I know what I'd do, no matter how darned good looking and rich he was. 

Modern women deserve respect and I hope they don't settle for anything less? I know, as well as anyone, that love can make you do silly things, it can make you blind to a man's faults and there are plenty of us who end up with the wrong man the first time round; but I am not sure it has a place in romance.

If, at the end of a novel, the heroine ends up with a  man who has bullied her and abused his power through out the story then, to me, it doesn't quite constitute a happy ending.  I am too aware that leopards rarely change their spots and am left thinking, is this man going to revert to type? Are they really going to be happy?  The author has lost me because she hasn't convinced me of her male lead's integrity.

If I reach the end of a novel where the male character is fully rounded, even if he goes through a period of seeming to be threatening, because i have been made aware of his good points and can believe that his redeeming features outweigh the bad, then it leaves me a happy bunny with a rosy glow. which is the author's intention, isnt it?