The Story Behind Instant Gratification by Lauren Blakely

By Lauren Blakely

When you’ve written more than 50 novels, you’re always on the hunt for fresh ideas — not only for the stories themselves, but for the characters, the professions, and their situations. That doesn’t mean you need to break the mold and devise some wildly new inventive complication or conflict that’s never been done before. But it does mean a little variation can go a long way.

When I set out to write Instant Gratification I had two very clear things in mind. The hero would be British and he would be a best man for hire. A best man for hire is a bit of an unconventional profession. It sounded fun, fresh and ripe for amusing rom com shenanigans.

Knowing that the hero would indeed rent out his services as an undercover groomsman, it seemed natural that he would be British. Because it’s sort of easy for the grooms who hire him to explain away a British friend no one has heard of before — “Oh that’s just my friend from college. Oh, that’s my friend from the UK who’s here on holiday.”

Crafting the stories of the grooms who hire Jason was important too because I wanted the reasons to be believable so that readers could see the supporting characters as likable and enjoyable.

As readers dive into Instant Gratification, I hope they will be entertained, amused, and delighted not only by the hero’s profession but by the grooms he works for.

And I hope that it will be a welcome change for readers to spend time with a hero in an unconventional profession, who meanwhile has to resist falling madly in love with his best friend’s sister who’s also his very good friend!

Lauren Blakely is the author of the new book Instant Gratification.

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