I'd been scheduled to appear on the blog to discuss Star Crossed Seduction and had already written my post, so rather than let it go to waste, I'm going to share it with you here.
Setting: London in 1820s.
Subgenre: Regency Historical Romance
Hero: Captain Miles Trevelyan, nicknamed Trev
Heroine: Temperance Smith
One sentence summary: In this Scorpio-themed book, a war-weary Cavalry officer, who is looking for a night of dalliance, rescues a beautiful pickpocket from arrest, but their casual encounter leads to a no holds barred battle of the sexes that threatens their very lives--unless they can heal their wounded hearts.
Scene you like most and would never cut: The scene that ensues when Trev, hoping to get the heroine out of his system, makes an assignation to meet her at a location she has let him believe is a brothel. It isn't.
Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: God save the King! Temperance's whole life has been shaped by the republican ideals that brought her to London in the wake of a rabble-rousing revolutionary.
Tell us one quirky thing about your hero? Trev is fluent in several of the languages of India and has earned a reputation as being an expert in the interpretation of Sanskrit manuscripts--including the Kama Sutra.
What is your heroine’s occupation: After the death of her lover, the revolutionary, Temperance and two young girls have supported themselves by picking pockets. Their only alternative was to work for the local bawd, Mother Bristwick.
What is your hero’s occupation: Trev, who grew up in a military family, is a cavalry officer recently returned from fighting in India's Third Maratha War. But his real love is the "little jobs" he undertakes from time to time for the scheming head of India's Political and Secret Department.
What do you think readers will like best about this book: The intense battle of the sexes Temperance and Trev engage in as they pit their well-honed seductive talents against each other in a futile struggle to avoid the obsessional attraction that draws them together.
How does Star Crossed Seduction connect to Lord Lightning? Lord Hartwood and Eliza make a brief, but important appearance in this story when Eliza attempts to rescue Temperance from her chosen way of life by inviting her and her fellow pickpockets to become inmates at her new Refuge for Unfortunate Females Conducted on Strict Astrological Principles. Temperance, as you might imagine, doesn't take well to being reformed.
What’s next: My next book in the Lords of the Seventh House series, which is not linked to the first two, will be the Pisces book, Perilous Pleasures. The hero is a Scottish lord with a tragic past who has taken a vow of chastity after falling under the sway of a mysterious mystical master. I've paired him with a cynical Virgo who is the ugly daughter of a beautiful courtesan--the same courtesan the hero believes sent his sister to her death during the French Revolution.
About Me:
1. What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in? I love long, beautifully written, complex emotionally wrenching stories where we get deep into the head of a masterful man who must go through painful growth before he can win our--and the heroine's--hearts.
2. What’s the first book you remember reading? The first picture book I remember loving was If I ran the Zoo. The first chapter book was: Mara Daughter of the Nile. Or was it Johnny Tremaine? I've always loved stories with a historical setting.
3. What would your occupation be if you were no longer a writer? If reality was no bar? Fronting a heavy metal band. But if we have to stick with the possible, the sad truth is that I've been a writer for so long I'm not fit to do anything else.
4. What do you do to unwind and relax? Read.
