Have Me… Hold Me… Who named these books?!

Book Titles

Some authors are really, really clever at the whole book-naming thing. There are geniuses like Penelope Bloom–her Objects of Attraction series has me wishing I was smart enough to come up with those genius, funny, oh-so-dirty puns (and hey–they’re all free in Kindle Unlimited if you’re curious). Spoiler alert: not only is banana a fabulous euphemism, but the hero has an actual banana that he’s very possessive of. And that the heroine eats. You’re welcome for that mental image 😉

And believe me… you really REALLY want to go check out Her Bush.

I am not that kind of evil genius. For Have Me, I originally proposed Two Little Words. The hero has a problem with saying I’m Sorry. As in: he never, ever says it–he just makes it up to you with cash and actions because those are just two little words, right? My editor argued it sounded too sweet.

So then we kicked around some title suggestions by email because this is how publishing works. Plus we had to do it quickly because Harlequin was gearing up to make the cover and the art department seriously prefers to know the title before they do that for obvious reasons. It’s a duet of bad boy billionaires, so I loved Bad Boy and Bad Boss–but welcome to publishing… Jackie Ashenden had already snagged the second title. She’s a lovely author, but I’d seriously fight her for the guy taking off his shirt on that cover. I liked Off Limits and No Limits but I couldn’t figure out the hyphenation there (I wish I was joking but I consulted Merriam-Webster and gave up).

This duet follows two bad boy billionaires who accidentally get married at a California sex party (and yes, those parties are actually a thing, although the getting-married part not so much). So why not make a play on the wedding vows to have and to hold and tie it into the emotional journey of the heroes? And thus, Have Me and Hold Me were born.