trueromance

Anthea Lawson is the pseudonym of a husband-wife team writing spicy Victorian romance. Their second novel, ALL HE DESIRES, has just been released. Their debut novel, PASSIONATE, was nominated for a Best First Book RITA in 2009. Visit their website, http://www.anthealawson.com for all their latest news (and to find out how they manage to happily write romance novels together)!

ALL HE DESIRES – Anthea Lawson

Setting: early Victorian 

Subgenre: Historical 

Hero: Alex Trentham 

Heroine: Caroline Huntington 

One sentence summary: A self-exiled doctor with a mysterious past meets the one woman who can break through his isolation and bring him out of the shadows and into the light. 

Scene you like most and would never cut: The hero and heroine are trapped in a place where it’s pitch black.  Fearing that this is their last opportunity, they know they must pack a lifetime of love and desire into their time together.  It was an excellent challenge to write without using the sense of sight, and setting this scene in absolute darkness ended up giving it a lot of emotion—and heat. 

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: “Certainly dear, whatever you say.” She is a woman who knows her own mind and follows her dreams. 

Your hero, is he a boxer or brief kind of guy: In Victorian times briefs were not an option.  The stretchy elastic that puts the tighty in the whities wasn’t available.  Alex would wear “drawers” –or nothing at all.     

Ancillary character you had the most fun with: We enjoy our villains and the terrible things they get to do and say. Cousin Reggie is such a plotter.  Trouble always springs up in his footsteps. 

Your heroine’s favorite hobby: Teasing the dour doctor whose care she has fallen under, and swimming with him in the Mediterranean in scandalously inadequate clothing. 

Your hero’s favorite hobby: At the start of ALL HE DESIRES, his favorite hobby would be walking alone on the upland trails of Crete and staring moodily in the direction of England, the home to which he can never return.   

What you think readers will like best about this book: The chemistry between the heroine and the hero and the way love finally compels him to piece his life back together and confront his past.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: The hero and heroine of the next book we are working on, of course!  We are really excited about our newest project and can’t wait to share it with our readers.

Thanks for having us here at Border’s True Romance! To celebrate the release of ALL HE DESIRES, we’ll be giving away a copy of the book, plus a copy of our RITA-nominated debut, PASSIONATE, to one lucky commenter. But if you don’t win here, you have more chances – check out our November blog tour listings on our website www.anthealawson.com.

Question of the Day:  Tell us – who’s your favorite brooding hero?

Turning up the Heat with Jill Sorenson and Bella Andre

Jill: Hello everyone!  Thanks so much for having us at Borders True Romance.  We’re talking about our new releases, and giving away fifteen books to celebrate.  Yay!!

Bella and I have a few things in common.  We’re both California girls (Northern and Southern, respectively), we share the same wonderful editor, and we write sexy romantic suspense for Bantam Dell.

Here’s my latest release, Set the Dark on Fire:

In a southern California town ablaze with sordid secrets, a free-spirited biologist and a straitlaced sheriff join forces to investigate a suspicious killing—and find themselves getting a little too close to the flames… 

Bella’s newest is Hot as Sin:

Sam MacKenzie is a wildland firefighter with few peers. He’s utterly fearless - there’s no one waiting for him at home, no reason not to risk it all. Out of the blue, the only woman he’s ever loved - the same one who ground his heart to dust ten years ago - shows up begging him for help. Dianna’s sister is in big trouble somewhere in the rugged Colorado Rockies, and he’s the only person Dianna knows with the skills to track her sister down.

Working together on their quest to find Dianna’s sister, they soon realize there’s a killer on the loose and his true target isn’t Dianna’s sister…it’s Dianna herself. Using his extreme outdoor skills, Sam needs to track down the killer, before he loses the woman he loves forever. 

Jill: When I asked Bella if I could interview her for Sue’s blog, she graciously accepted.  Hi Bella!  Would you like to tell us about your romantic suspense series?

Bella: It’s so great to be here, thanks, and I’d love to tell everyone about my Men of Fire series. A couple of years ago I found out about Hotshots – they are incredibly brave wildland firefighters who put out the huge fires everyone else runs from – and knew instantly that I had to write about them! I love alpha heroes and these men are alphas through and through. Of course that meant I needed to find strong women to face off against them….and love them forever.  I’ve had a wonderful time writing these books and from the reader letters I’ve been getting, it seems that readers are really enjoying them too!

Jill: Should we read the books in order, or do they stand alone?

Bella:  While all three books are connected (Logan, Sam and Connor are in all three), they definitely stand alone. The first book in the series, WILD HEAT, was about Logan and Maya, the arson investigator who thinks he lit the very fire he’s trying to put out. In HOT AS SIN, which will hit shelves in a week (October 27th!!!), Sam and Dianna are brought back together after ten years apart because her sister has disappeared. And in NEVER TOO HOT (May 25, 2010) we will finally get Connor’s story. I’m putting the finishing touches on that one as we speak! For anyone who wants to read the full back-of-book blurb and see all the covers, they’re on my website at www.BellaAndre.com.

Jill: I’ve read and enjoyed some of your erotic contemporary romances (Game for Anything was hot!).  How does this series compare to the Bad Boys of Football series, as far as heat level?

Bella: Thanks so much, Jill! I’m thrilled that you enjoyed them. They were a lot of fun to write – what isn’t fun about pro football players? They’re sexy, cocky, and (ahem) large. As for the heat level in my new firefighter series, well, I’d say they’re still pretty darn hot. Not quite as many love scenes as some of my previous books, but the ones that are there are sizzling! My editor always encourages me not to hold back with my love scenes and, as anyone who’s ever read one of my books knows, writing hot comes very naturally to me.

Jill: I can attest to that.  Thanks Bella!

Bella: Thanks Jill. This was fun! And if anyone has questions about my books, I’ll be popping in all day to check out the comments. ~ Bella

GIVEAWAY:   Bella Andre is giving away five copies of Wild Heat, the first in her romantic suspense series, and five copies of Game for Seduction, from the Bad Boys of Football series, & Jill has 5 of Set the Dark on Fire  — winners will be chosen randomly.

Q of the Day:  Do you read books that are connected series as they are published? Or save them to read them back to back?