I am so pleased to today have author Lily Temperley (that’s her pen name) on the blog, sharing her writing inspiration behind her novel, FIX: Sex, Lies and Banking – an exciting, fast-moving novel about the banking industry and those who work within it (and what it takes to work in this kind of world!)
It’s all part of Clink Street’s Blogival, which runs from 1- 30 June; find out more here!
Please read on to hear what she has to say 🙂
“My motivation for telling this story was to put the lessons that life had taught me into prose so that it may be helpful to others. It demonstrates that we lie to each other and ourselves with sometimes devastating consequences.
Based on my own real-life experiences Fix: Sex, Lies and Banking delves headlong into the high-octane world of international banking to reveal the warped personalities, the selfish passions and the thirst for success at any cost that help make London the banking centre of the world. Given the personal nature of the plot, and as a fully fledged member of this highflying business community for over a decade, I decided to write under the pen name, Lily Temperley, and the book is inspired by what I have witnessed and experienced, both in and out of the boardroom and on numerous first-class business trips. Through the eyes of my protaganist I reveal how greed can pervert our sense of right and wrong, how people and relationships can be used solely for gain and how those with power can easily be corrupted.
I wanted to provide female readers with escapism but through a lens of actual events so they could relate to the romance, sex and love while also seeing how much impact sex and money has on some relationships. That living the high life may look good outwardly but that what really matters in an intimate relationship beyond physical attraction is truth and love. That giving yourself over to lust and infatuation is a chemical fixation and quite different to a loving relationship built on attraction but also friendship and love. I wanted readers to identify with the self-esteem highs and lows to make them laugh, rage, have a view-point and ultimately relate it to their own circumstances.
I chose the word Fix as the title for three reasons, one it can be interrupted as a means of satisfying an addiction, two it is a position from which it is difficult to escape, and thirdly it means to repair or mend. This story can be read through all three meanings. Sex, Lies and Banking as the sub-title gives a snapshot of what the book is about.
Fix is the ultimate high-fliers diary, set in London, against the backdrop of banking. It details the ins and outs of lust, infatuation, and sexual fantasy quite literally. It shows how greed can pervert a sense of right and wrong, how people and relationships can be used for solely for gain and how people with power can be corrupted by it.
Alexandra Fisher is in love. The all-consuming, can’t eat, can’t sleep, lose-yourself- completely kind of love. A turbulent upbringing, the tragic loss of her father and a limited romantic history leaves her wearing her vulnerability like an autumn coat in the winter, with little protection from the vicious elements. A condition that the dashing and enigmatic Patrick Harrington is happy to exploit.
An intense relationship develops between the cautious Ms Fisher, and Harrington, the calculating tactician. Patrick pushes Alex far out of her comfort zone, pulling her into his world of deception, depravity and excess. Correspondingly, Patrick finds himself off-kilter as Alex teaches him that love doesn’t have to fit the fairytale mould that most women have tried to force him into. As they spend more time together, at increasing risk to both their jobs, they learn that all is not as it seems. People close to you can hurt you the most.
Patrick has received an envelope full of damning photographs along with a threat. It’s not blackmail. The sender hasn’t asked for money. They simply wish to ruin him and the life he has worked so hard to build. Patrick is unable to determine who it is that wants to destroy him. Surely, it can’t be Alex, the only woman with the exception of his beloved mother, that he has let get close to him. The question remains, can their relationship survive?”
FIX: Sex, Lies and Banking by Lily Temperley (published by Clink Street Publishing, RRP £7.99 paperback, RRP £2.99 ebook) is available online from retailers including amazon.co.uk and can be ordered from all good bookstores.
For more information please visit www.lilytemperley.com