The story behind the story #3 – A Very Rural Affair – Book 1

Continuing with the theme of sharing which of my own real-life experiences have influenced my steamy books, I bring you ‘A Very Rural Affair – Book 1’; the first book in the ‘Village Affairs’ trilogy.

How to introduce this book? Well, it revolves largely around two characters; Patrick and Fen. Patrick is a serious hottie with plenty of secrets in his past. Fen has previously been a little damaged herself, but is recovering. She moves into her new home, in the quintessential English village of Hawksbury Hollow, just as the mother of all snowstorms hits England. The village gets entirely cut off and the community have to pull together, in order to ensure their joint survival. In so doing, plenty of shenanigans occur!

So, which parts of this story are personal to my life experiences?

1. Snow!!!! It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Brits do love to talk about the weather! And we’re proud of it. So it probably isn’t very surprising that I managed to write a set of books, where the weather is one of the main characters! I live in the South of England and we certainly don’t get snow every year. When we do, it causes mass excitement / alarm / national hysteria (please delete as necessary) as those first few flakes cause us all to rush out and stock up on a selection of tinned foods that will probably remain unopened in our cupboards until the end of time.
   
   If we actually do get more than a light covering of snow, the transport system is usually the first thing to suffer. Schools close, motorways grind to a halt, we complain a lot, train tracks freeze, and the media reports shortages of road salt, food, a lack of snowploughs and all sorts of other excitement. And then before we know where we are, all the snow has melted and we turn on the TV to see reports of locations like New York or Canada getting proper snow, and we feel mildly jealous.
   
   
2. Burst Pipes. When I was younger, we used to live next door to a high court judge. He was a really lovely man – quite a character as you can imagine – but he used to pay me to cut his yew hedge during my school holidays, so I was quite happy! He told us a story once about how he went into a maximum security prison (part of his responsibility was reviewing inmate sentences) and sought sanctuary in the library with a well known serial killer (who I won’t name), in order to prevent walking past another, but I digress……
   
   One winter, he went to the Caribbean with his wife and my parents agreed to keep an eye on their home. The property was gorgeous; a seventeenth century beamed cottage with wonky floors and a bowing roof. And it just happened to be a really harsh winter. Well, we went round to check on the house one day and the pipes had burst in the roof. The building was like nothing I’d ever seen, with water running down the walls and pooling on the tiled kitchen floor. They had beautiful silk rugs, tapestries, lovely paintings, immaculate furniture. I wasn’t even ten years old and I remember wheelbarrowing wet blankets out of the house as we desperately attempted to save their beautiful home. Undoubtedly, that experience influenced the burst water pipes which Fen noticed at the Vicarage.
   
   ‘Christ!’ muttered Olly.
   
   ‘Hardly a suitable phrase, given our location, Oliver,’ chided Tim.  
   
   But Fen could understand his reaction.  Inside this beautifully maintained and decorated home, a stream of water was seeping through the ceiling from upstairs, turning the house into a flood zone.  The rug squelched under their feet and was clearly saturated.
   
   ‘Everybody wait here,’ instructed Patrick.  ‘And whatever you do, don’t touch anything.  Water and electricity are a very bad combination.’  
   
   As Patrick ran out of the room, Fen, Olly and Tim exchanged cautious glances, suddenly looking as though they were playing a very serious game of Grandmother’s footsteps.  Fen hadn’t even considered the danger the situation posed.  
   
   
3. Insta-attraction. Sigh, I know all about this which is probably why I often write about it. A dizzy, trembling, stomach-churning reaction when confronted with a guy you really like. Personally, it turns me into somebody I don’t recognise where I’m either lost for words (most unusual), or saying or doing things so outrageous that even I question my own sanity. Most of the time I’m unable to maintain eye contact, but then where else do you look? I remember once I was talking to a guy who was sitting down. No way could I manage to make eye contact, so I glanced down at his thighs, which was a really bad idea because even that ended up being a turn on – hopeless! Fen suffers with a similar affliction whenever Patrick enters the fray. Talk about writing what you know; well this is what I know.
   
   ‘Here you are at last!’ exclaimed Mary, raising her eyeline above Fen’s head.  
   
   Confused as to whom was being addressed, Fen turned around, only to be confronted with three well-built men around the same age as her. The one leading the pack was, without a doubt, the most attractive guy that Fen had ever seen. For the briefest moment, their eyes met.  
   
   Unfortunately for Fen, a moment was all it took and her body started to respond, outside of her control.  As a fluttering sensation overwhelmed Fen’s tummy, she felt a deep flush spread across her already rosy cheeks and neck. Concurrently, her nipples tightened into hard nubs, while her pussy began to throb in eager anticipation. Astonished at the extreme reaction her body deemed appropriate, Fen dropped the box she’d been holding. She couldn’t help but grimace when it landed heavily on her foot.
   
   ‘All the contents of this van need to be taken into the house, please boys!’ Mary ordered. ‘That is right, isn’t it dear?’ she confirmed, noticing the shocked, vacant expression on Fen’s face.            
   
   ‘Ow, um, yes please. That’s right,’ she replied, desperately trying to regain her composure.  
   
   The man had walked past her without any obvious reaction, allowing Fen the smallest glimmer of hope that she’d got away with her temporary absence of control.
          

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‘A Very Rural Affair’ is available from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com.au and Amazon.ca. It can either be purchased, or read via a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Here are the links to sign up to a free 30-day Kindle Unlimited trial on Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com.

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The latest news from Fenella Ashworth can be found at http://www.fenellaashworth.com.
Fenella is a British author of contemporary erotic romance for 18+. All of her stories are available from Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. Her most popular books are ‘One Hot Wynter’s Night’, ‘To Love, Honour and…Oh Pay’ and the Daniel Lawson Series.