Today I am very excited to welcome author Charlie Cochet to Joyfully Jay. Charlie is the author of the wonderful new historical, The Auspicious Troubles of Chance, a book I reviewed last week and really loved. She has also brought a copy to give away to one lucky reader so be sure to leave a comment to enter.

Hello everyone! First I want to say thank you to Jay for having me, and a big thank you to everyone for stopping by.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Charlie Cochet, and I’m an author of Historical MM Romance, writing mainly in the 1920s and 1930s. I know, that’s a pretty specific time frame, but I’ve always been fascinated by these eras the most. By the movies, music, fashion, art, architecture, literature, and of course the history.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved classic Hollywood films, from gritty noir to screwballs comedies, all of which have had a big influence on my writing. So it’s no wonder that while I’m writing a story, everything unfolds in my head like an old Hollywood movie, and I try to capture that feeling in my writing. I think about what music the orchestra would be playing during what scenes, how the characters would act, and how the dialogue would have been spoken. Sure, fellas back then probably didn’t really talk like James Cagney in one of his gangster pictures, or spout off witty one liners like Cary Grant’s reporter character in His Girl Friday, but I’d like to think some of them did.

My books are very character driven, and although the history is an important part of the story, it’s there to submerge the reader in the period, to help things flow while you follow these fellas on their journey. I try to get the right balance, because above all else, my books are about men falling in love.

My characters range anywhere from Prohibition Agents to grumpy PI’s with lovable cats. During the roaring twenties, they’re either submerged in dens of immorality, playing fast and loose, kicking up their heels to a Jazzy tune, or fighting to stay on the right side of the law as they chase down gangsters, bootleggers, or their own corrupt agents. Some of them are living the high life with plenty of dough, attending apartment parties and sipping champagne, while others are just regular Joes working 9 to 5.

In the dirty thirties, my fellas are either smack in the middle of the Great Depression just trying to make ends meet, or attending glitzy movie premieres at Radio City Music Hall, and dining at the Ritz.  There’s plenty of romance, humor, and even some naughtiness. Nothing like a man in a swanky three-piece suit or a sexy detective in a fedora to get you all hot under the collar. So grab yourself a cuppa Joe and enjoy!

My latest release is called The Auspicious Troubles of Chance and it’s set mainly in the 1920s, when our handsome and troubled hero joins the French Foreign Legion.

Chance Irving is a young man with a gift for getting into trouble – not surprising, as trouble is all he’s ever known. After losing everything he held dear one fateful night, he decides to leave New York and his past behind, and joins the French Foreign Legion. But even in Algiers, Chance canít seem to shake his old ways, and he ends up being transferred to a unit made up of misfits and rabble-rousers like him – unit he finds just in time to be captured and thrown into a cell with
his new commandant, Jacky Valentine.

A highly respected commandant with a soft spot for hard luck cases, Jacky is the kind of guy who would go to war for you, and the three equally troubled youths from his unit he’s more or less adopted feel the same way about him. Suddenly Chance starts to think that his life doesn’t have to be as desolate and barren as the wastelands around him.

But even after their escape, with the promise of a future with Jacky to buoy his spirits, or maybe because of it, Chance canít stop making mistakes. He disobeys orders, lashes out at the boys in Jackyís care, and blazes a trail of self-destruction across the desert – until someone makes him realize heís hurting more than just himself.


Thank you so much to Charlie for coming and sharing more about her book. And don’t forget to leave a comment if you want to enter to win a copy of The Auspicious Troubles of Chance. The contest will close on Tuesday, July 10 at 11:59 pm EST.

  • By entering the contest, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
  • Winners will be selected by random number.
  • If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay and leave your email address if it is not in your profile.
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