MV Ellis knows what it’s like to fall head over heels in love with a badass musician. She followed her heart halfway around the world to be with one. She moved from London to Sydney after a steamy holiday romance with a sexy bass player in sultry Brazil. Twelve years, two children and a dog later, and she’s still smitten. All this with a guy she sat next to on a bus for 36 hours! She has toured internationally as a ‘WAG’, and her experiences inspire her writing.

Your 4th book, Finding Marnie: Rock Star Romance (Heartless Few Book 4), came out on February 12, What was the inspiration for the story?
Finding Marnie: Rock Star Romance (Heartless Few Book 4), is the highly anticipated fourth instalment of the Heartless Few series. Inspired by the previous books, it takes us back to the rock ‘n’ roll world of the Jones brothers, but now from a different point of view. “Quiet twin” Luke has preferred to live life in his larger-than-life brother’s shadow, but when Marnie, his life-long crush, finds herself at rock bottom he’s desperate to save her, even if it means defying Arlo. In this book we see this sexy rock god finally step into the light and become the man he was meant to be, proving to both himself and Marnie that they are worth fighting for.

What is the nicest thing a reviewer has ever said about one of your books?
As I meander through this writing journey, I’ve had consistent positive feedback about a particular aspect of my writing. I’ve been told from various quarters that I have a ‘strong voice.” As writers, our voice is our tone, our attitude, and the feelings we convey and the emotions we elicit with our writing. In a nutshell, it’s how we express ourselves, and it’s fundamental to who we are firstly as people, and then as scribes. To hear that people rate my approach is very validating.
From readers the nicest compliments have been that they’ve been immersed in, and emotionally affected by my stories. That’s really my aim when I write, so it’s great to know that I’ve achieved that.

What misconceptions do you think most people have about writers?
I think a big one is that they are or should be starving artists, because writing is a ‘hobby.’ This misconception happens frequently to other creative professions, also–my husband is a full-time professional musician, and he get this a lot as well. For some reason, jobs where people aren’t necessarily required to go to an office and work 9-5 are viewed differently, and in fact, lesser than ‘normal’ jobs. It’s almost as though because creative people rely on the contents of their imagination for their work and love what they do, it’s seen as a bit of fun, rather than a viable business that also happens to be fun.

What were you like at school?
I loved school from an early age until I left to go to university. I devoured books as though they were likely to become extinct, and a soaked up knowledge like a sponge. I found school both rewarding and a breeze in many respects. I also loved the social and more ‘fun’ aspects of school. Getting to spend time and share a joke with my closest friends every day seemed like the cherry on top of school experience. I also threw myself into extracurricular activities–dance, drama, athletics, hockey, gymnastics, trampolining, choir…you name it, I did it. To top all that I was deputy head girl (I was at school in the UK) in my final year.
I’m so glad to see that my love of school lives on in my two daughters, the youngest of whom started school last week. Currently her most frequently asked question is: “Is it time to go to school yet?”

When did you start writing and what was the catalyst?
This one is hard to answer in a straightforward manner. I’ve always written, but in terms of writing with the intent to publish a book, that’s been much more of a recent thing, and I’ve had a few false starts. Somewhere on an old and dusty hard drive, I have 80,000 words of an opus I started, armed with nothing but a good idea. With hindsight, I really needed a plan for that book, and if it’s ever going to see the light of day, the first thing I’ll need to do is plot it out properly. It’s not going to be a quick or easy task, however! I’ve tried to write novel on a few other occasions, most often when I had dreams of quitting a dreadful job and writing full time.
False starts aside, I completed my debut novel Catching London: A Rock Star Romance (Heartless Few Book 1) in 2017 after deciding that enough was enough, and that I really needed to apply myself and get on with it, as the book was pretty much writing itself in my head, anyway. I think my success that time was because rather than writing in reaction to something external and negative (i.e. a job I hated), the catalyst was internal and positive –it was about me doing it because I wanted to. At that point, I couldn’t not do it, I felt compelled to. The rest as they say, is history.

Blurb for Finding Marnie

He is everything I want but know I can never have.
Every fiber of my being has ached for Luke from the very first moment we met. However, with my parents’ legacy of toxic obsession woven into my DNA, I know love is pain and should be avoided at all costs. I’m unloved and unlovable. Still, in moments of weakness, I allow myself to imagine what it would be like if I was the kind of woman who deserved the love of a man like him.

She is hiding in plain sight, waiting for me to find her.
Marnie has had my heart from day one, and always will. It’s just a shame I couldn’t muster the words to tell her so when we first locked eyes. It’s a failing I will live to regret for years to come. However, I’m determined to make things right, even if it takes me a lifetime. I need her to know she is enough. In fact, she is more than that. She is everything.

Buy it here (Affliated Link): Finding Marnie: Rock Star Romance (Heartless Few Book 4)