First, I want to thank Amy for inviting me to blog at My Overstuffed Bookshelf. When I saw her blog topic, I did a happy dance. After all what author – what woman, in fact, wouldn’t love to choose her own Calendar Boys?
Actually, it was quite hard to whittle it down to just 12 men….
A montage of the members of the real Lake District Mountain Rescue Team who inspired Dating Mr. December. The book isn’t based on any real people but the team’s courage and good humour infused the story. These volunteers risk their lives to save walkers and climbers and are also brave enough to answer weird questions from novelists!
February
This is the birthday month of my husband. He’s six feet two and hunky and has put up with me for almost 30 years (we were childhood sweethearts.) He also put up with my jaw (and my daughter’s) dropping to the floor when we visited the set of “The 12 Men of Christmas,” the Lifetime TV movie based on my book.
March
Gorgeous Stephen Moyer who plays Vampire Bill in True Blood – but without the fangs and pale make-up.
April
Mr. Darcy as played by Colin Firth or Matthew MacFadyen. Darcy’s the archetypal Alpha hero who’s influenced my writing – and thousands of others.
May
Mr. Mike Fosbrook, my English teacher, who sadly passed away a few years ago, well before his time. He inspired and fostered my love of literature. I’d love to know what he’d think of me writing romantic novels. He’d tease me, for sure, but I hope he’d be proud.
June
Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He’s prepared to sacrifice himself to save Rogue at the end of X Men. I’ve replayed that scene dozens of times.
July
Heath Ledger. Another man who left this world too soon. ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ must be my favourite feel good movie ever.
August
Ashton Kutcher in the Coastguard rescue movie, ‘The Guardian’ would be Mr. August – and not just because he spends the film in a tight uniform or swim shorts. I love the dynamic between him and Kevin Costner and the choices the characters are forced to make at the end.
September
Has to be Richard Armitage, star of the BBC miniseries ‘North & South.’ Richard’s mesmerising performance as brooding cotton mill master, John Thornton, had me rushing to my keyboard to write my first ever piece of romantic writing in 2005. Look him up on Google… he’s starring in the new Hobbit movie.
October
Ben Barnes from ‘Dorian Gray’. That hair, the cut-glass English accent, that blend of menace and sensuality in one so young. I went to see him in the West End play, Birdsong, recently and had three hours of being almost within touching distance.
November
Open to offers!
December
Will Tennant, of course, the hero of Dating Mr. December! As the heroine, Emma, puts it, Will is ‘six feet three, dark-haired and disgustingly handsome in a rugged, rough-edged kind of way.” Will was played by the gorgeous Josh Hopkins in the movie but I know readers will have their own ideas.
You’ll notice I’ve left November open and I’d love to hear readers of the blog suggest their own Calendar Boys…
She doesn’t need rescuing, she only needs a change of scenery…
After a disastrous discovery loses Emma Tremayne both her boyfriend and her high-profile PR job in London, she moves to the Lake District to recover her confidence and live a simpler life. She loves her new job with the tourist board, and she’s settling into small town life just fine—until she ends up responsible for a fundraising effort that calls for twelve naked mountain rescuers…
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Phillipa Ashley studied English Language and Literature at Oxford before becoming a freelance copywriter and journalist. Dating Mr. December (called Decent Exposure in the UK) was the basis of last year’s Lifetime TV Movie “The 12 Men of Christmas.” A frequent guest on BBC national, local and independent radio on all matters romantic, she lives with her husband and daughter in Staffordshire, UK. For more information, please visit http://phillipa-ashley.com/, follower her on Twitter or find her on Facebook!
