Romancing the Nose by A.J. Llewellyn

With each new story I write, I try to always come up with fresh new jobs for my characters to do. I had frankly never heard of a “nose” until a friend of mine told me a story about a nose who died. Those were the words he used. The nose died. That’s something you don’t hear every day. Unless you work in the perfume industry, and even then these are words you don’t want to hear.

When a nose dies, the fragrance he—and increasingly, she—creates, often dies with them.

Who knew? 

I sure didn’t, but learning about the people who create the distinctive fragrances we have all come to know and love for my latest book, Romancing the Nose, part of the The Second Time Around AmberPax™ helped explain why some signature perfumes change over the years. A “nose” creates a perfume but no two noses create the same smell or have the same reactions to scents. The story my friend told me involved a brand new perfume that was released and became successful. When the nose died unexpectedly, the brand manufacturers scrambled to find somebody who could reproduce the exact same sense.

Anyone can tell you how impossible that is. So the brand owners came up with the clever idea to release a new version and to sell limited stocks of the original, until they run out. I wondered about the nameless men and women who were hired to sniff and tell.

What did they go through? Who came up with the winning scent in the end? And what exactly does a nose need to do?

This required a lot of research, one of my favorite parts of research. It also required a lot of study on the world’s most successful, and least popular perfumes. Why does one scent smell like paradise to one person and like fly spray to another?

And would two “noses” ever fall in love?

In my world, they do! I had a lot of fun creating the two star-crossed lovers in my story, and jumping in with both feet into the heady, intoxicating world of perfume. I hope you enjoy reading Romancing the Nose as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Romancing the Nose: Synopsis and Purchase Link:

http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/2182-Romancing-The-Nose.aspx

College dropout Kells Beckwith is uncertain about his future. His mother intervenes, giving him an unusual job prospect. Her friend, designer Wendy Hart, has launched her first fragrance. Unfortunately, the “nose”—the man who created her signature perfume—has died. None of the “noses” Wendy hires to duplicate the haunting perfume can crack it. Kells, however, has an uncanny sense of smell that plunges him nose-first into the cutthroat world of high fashion. There, he meets Christophe Morisset, a legendary “nose” and a very sexy man, who can’t—or won’t—reproduce the fragrance called “White Matinee.”

Despite initial friction, the men have a hot fling, but Kells soon learns it isn’t easy romancing the “nose.” Nevertheless, Kells can’t get over the mercurial, sexy Frenchman who teaches him that the sense of smell doesn’t come from the nose but from the brain.

Can Kells ever persuade Christophe to give him a chance, to think with his heart and not his brain? A future with Christophe may be impossible. Though the man never leaves Kells’ mind, he’s always just out of reach until they eventually meet again. Can Kells finally win the love he so desperately wants the second time around?

Genres: Gay / Contemporary / Ménage (M/M/M) / Group Sex / Voyeurism 

Heat Level: 3 

Length: Extended Novella (35k words)

For purchase and for a hot excerpt, please click this link: http://www.amberquill.com/store/p/2182-Romancing-The-Nose.aspx

*_*_*

If you'd like the chance to win the entire pax collection, just leave a comment on today's post. On Saturday, a winner will be picked at random from all the comments made this week on the blog. Comment on all, and that's multiple chances to win!