Brian Marshall & The ROCK 108 Morning Show - "Lasairiona McMaster"

Brian Marshall and the rock 108 morning show.

You never know who you're going to meet, especially in an Iowa tailgate.

So I went to the Iowa, Wisconsin game with my friend, Mike, who's from Wisconsin.

We go back and forth every year to each other's games and trade the trophy back and forth.

Well, this year he comes down to Iowa city.

We park it, think, buy and have a couple of beers.

And I said, you know what?

You haven't had the chance to walk down Melrose to experience the tailgates as we're walking towards the stadium.

So as we go along, Mike's this type of guy who will, he doesn't care.

So somebody yells at him, Hey, Badger fan stadiums the other way.

Hey, give me a beer.

Okay.

So we go into one tailgate, grab a beer there.

And then as we're walking along, we're getting a little closer to the bridge that crosses over Melrose, closer to the stadium and somebody else grabs us.

Hey guys, come on in.

and drags us into this tailgate.

And it goes pretty deep and several TVs.

They've got some grills going on and she hands us these two beers.

Well, as we're drinking the beers and kind of talking to each other about, well, where's somebody else's tailgate?

This woman walks up to me.

Please introduce yourself.

My name is Lacerita McMaster and I am a steamy romance author,

steamy romance author, but you don't, you're not based in the States.

You're based where?

I am in Ireland.

I am coming to you today from Larn.

It's a harbour town up north of the border.

How often do you have to explain that to Americans?

Most of my American friends know by now, but it's frequent, yes.

La Serena, what does it mean?

It

means fire and wine in Irish.

Interesting.

Is that a family name or...?

No, it's not.

It took my parents about a month to actually come up with a name for me.

And I think by the end of a month of baby girl, Curran, they had to come up with something exceptional.

So they came up with Lazarine.

All right.

So let's get at it.

You had told me when we were at this tailgate that you were an author.

Give me kind of an elevator pitch on what your books are about.

You mentioned steamy romance.

So what are we talking about here?

I write hockey romance.

So basically all of the heroes in my books are they play on a hockey team.

I tend to write things that society thinks aren't really okay.

So I write like male mental health.

I write like realistic romance.

So, you know, people bump heads, they trip over their fate, you know, this stuff that happens in real life but doesn't actually end up on homework movies or, you know, in other books.

And I do write

on the page sexy times.

So there's no fade to black or closed doors in my books.

What made you or what inspired you to write this way?

So I've always written.

I actually recently pulled out my school reports from when I was younger and the teachers write about my creativity and my writing.

And so I've written from a very early age.

And then when I was about 19, I was in college.

I met a guy online back when the internet was, you know, all new and shiny.

And I fell in love with him.

He was an American and he played on a hockey team and he inspired my very, very first book.

And I wrote and wrote and wrote until I could like I couldn't sleep or eat until this was out.

And when it was out, it was done.

It was put on a shelf and I kind of left it to language for 10 years.

And then when we moved back to Ireland from India, we were going through all of our

prize possessions because we had like an American sized house full of stuff to fit into this teeny tiny apartment.

I found this book on the shelf and I transcribed it and I sent it to a friend who was indie published and I said, do you think there's something here?

Or is this just like the flights of fancy of a 19 year old?

And she was like, no, you need to edit this and publish it.

So that's what I did.

Tell me a little bit about your new series of novels.

You've got the series out now.

Tell me about that.

And two for interference is book one in my current series that I've just completed a month or two ago.

And it's a six book series of interconnected standalone and it's from a different team.

So do characters go from one book to the next?

You said it's kind of interconnected, but they're standalone.

So how does that work?

So if you want to read book four or five by itself, you can read book four or five by itself.

But there are characters in each book that cross over.

So it's a team.

And one of the things that I am kind of known for is the kind of fine family concept.

So all of these guys are they all become really good friends and all of their girls become really good friends too.

So there's definitely a sense of camaraderie and

you know, find friendship and that kind of stuff.

So I do recommend that people start a book one and get kind of the context and, you know, the, the layers of friendship and relationships that go through the whole series.

So let's put a pause on the book stuff for just a second.

You said found friendships.

How did you find your way to enjoy, to become a part of Eastern Iowa Cedar Rapids more specifically?

Please.

I mean, you're in Ireland.

Lauren, did I

say that?

Yeah, learn.

All right.

But then you get to Cedar Rapids and there's it's something that's a little bit different, I would assume, right?

Just a little bit.

Yeah.

So back at the same point where I met my like first online boyfriend, I met somebody who.

lived in Cedar Rapids, or lives in Cedar Rapids, as she says, she's actually now in Keystone.

So I met her on a website called Live Journal.

I don't know if you've ever heard of it, like online journaling, yeah, put all your emotions and feelings onto the page.

So she kind of commented on my friends only post and she was like, let's be friends.

And we have been best friends, like sisters, family ever since.

And it's what almost

18 years now, I think we've been best friends.

So that is why my next series is going to be set in Cedar Rapids with Cedar Rapids University and hockey team.

Interesting.

And you had mentioned to me off air and kind of when we were at that tailgate that it also included a place that's about a half a block just north of me, Stillwater Coffee Company.

So there's a

setting within one of your books that's, it starts getting on at the coffee shop up here.

Well, they don't get it on at the coffee shop.

I think Elizabeth Von Pressley would be

very mad if that happened because she just doesn't want to have to clean up stuff.

Come on now.

So the last time I was there, before I had met you at the Tealgate, I discovered Stillwater.

So I actually know one of the people who work there, Jake Stack.

He's a local musician in Cedar Rapids.

and I went to meet his mom for coffee and I had already gotten...

Uh, like the idea for a coffee shop in the series, but whenever I went there and saw the pink everywhere and the guitar hanging from the ceiling, I was like, this is it.

And the, the geese, like the window, I just liked the whole vibe.

So I thought, right, this is going to be the inspiration for this coffee shop.

So I ran with it.

La Serena McMaster joining us and you've got a brand new novella that is coming out here soon.

Tell me a little bit more about that.

So my novella is called two for tacos and it is a crossover.

story.

So it kind of bridges the gap between my existing Minnesota snow pirates and my future Cedar Rapids raccoons.

So it's kind of a crossover story that introduces the new team, brings back some of the old players.

And basically the premise of the story is there's going to be a wager between the two teams.

And existing readers will probably be cheering for my Minnesota snow pirates, but I'm hoping that they will also fall in love with my new Cedar Rapids raccoons.

Well, Serena, there's a very particular smell whenever you go to a hockey arena.

If you've been to the Rough Riders, if you've been to the Waterloo Blackhawks, you go in and you smell it.

I imagine the locker room also has a particular smell.

Does that...

Smell.

I'm going to ask this.

I'm going to be, I'm going to be, you and I haven't known each other long.

I'm going to ask this.

Does that smell turn you on?

I have to say, I do get turned on by the smell of ice.

Yes, I do.

That's probably why I write talking romance.

That's right.

You know, right there in the pads, making it happen.

I'm the type of guy who, who, when you said that,

My friend, Mike and I, what, the immediately we went to all of the jokes that go with it.

Are you okay with those kind of jokes?

Or does it just help, you know, that kind of stuff go out?

I mean, stuff about penalty boxes and going and the red line and all that kind of stuff.

I mean,

absolutely.

I'm here for all the hockey puns.

The new one, freezing the puck still involves hockey.

Tell us a little bit more about that.

That's out late February, right?

It is.

So,

My hero in that is actually a self published author.

OK.

And he bumps into a girl in the it's actually called Bitches Brew in my book and the coffee shop.

And this girl hits his guts.

They knew each other in high school.

He cheated on her best friend.

And her best friend actually has a book in my Minnesota snow pirate series and she is based on the person who got me tickets to the Hawkeyes game where I met you.

Her name is Amy and a lot of people know her on Twitter.

She's the Jell-O-Shot Queen.

She is a heroine in book three of my current season series, Two for Roughing.

Wait, wait, Two for Roughing?

Two for Ruffa, yes.

Sorry.

I'm a little bit dialed on that.

That's great.

Okay, go ahead.

That's a brother's best friend romance.

So the two end up coming to Fisticuffs, which is why it's called Ruffa.

But she also likes it rough, but that's neither here nor there.

So Amy, Amy is my inspiration for that one.

So I gotta be careful what I tell you, because I might end up in a book, because it sounds like all your friends are ending up in books and who knows what you're going to write.

Absolutely.

It's kind of a common disclosure when people meet me like, hi, I'm an author.

It actually happened to me last week.

I got stranded in LAX.

I missed my flight.

And they sent me to the customer service place and I was trying to get my way back.

And one of the customer service agents were like, wow, I would love to go to Ireland.

I'm like fair disclosure.

I'm an author.

You will end up in a book.

So she got her phone out and looked me up then and there and downloaded my books and followed me on Instagram.

And she was like, I totally want to end up in a book.

That's

hilarious.

It's just, it's just part of the job.

And I just warn people that if you tell me a fun story or if you're an interesting person, chances are I'm going to write about you in a novel.

Oh, thank goodness.

I'm not an interesting person.

I can just be up

here.

Oh, you're totally going in my Cedar Rapids series now.

So Lesserina McMaster, please tell us more.

Again, the books, where can they get them, the names of them real quick?

This is your time to shine and tell them where they can get it.

So I am on Amazon exclusive book one in my current series is two for interference.

It can be bought on paperback or on ebook.

I don't have audio yet, but that is something I would like to do in the future.

And my upcoming series starts with freezing the puck and it is set in Cedar Rapids.

So I hope everyone picks it up and reads

it.

Lesterina, I appreciate you taking a few minutes out of your day and talking to me today from your home in Ireland.

Thank you very much for having me.

An Eastern Eye were original.

This is no ordinary man.

Brian Marshall in the Rock 108 Morning Show.