Today I am so excited to welcome author Katharine Ashe to the blog. Katharine is currently on tour promoting the release of her new book
In The Arms of a Marquess. Also, Katharine is my very first guest to the blog and I hope you all will give her a very warm welcome.
Katharine Ashe: Danielle asked me to say something about how I came to write a second chance love story for
IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS. I'm excited to!
But first, with the utmost respect to my lovely hostess, may I alter the term a bit? May I instead call this a "love lost" story? It sounds more dramatic.
You see, I like drama in books. No, I don't like it. I
adore it. Like Danielle, I am a complete sucker for a delicious love story. And I'm especially fond of a certain kind of love story, the kind that tears your heart out as you read and hurls it about the room then returns it to your chest with a big
crash! while you weep tears of sorrow, fear, laughter and -- ultimate -- joy. Then it does that all over again. A bunch of times, until you're a soggy heap of gratitude for the delectably torturous roller coaster ride you've been on. Graphic, I know. Apologies for that. But I wanted to make sure we're all on the same page, the page that paints a story of love so deep and powerful, and so beset by forces that seek to keep the lovers apart, that there's no reading it with dry eyes and a heartbeat slower than the gallop of an Ascot contender.
That is my favorite kind of love story, so that is the kind I endeavor to write.
IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS turned out to be impossible
not to write like that. You see, it's about a girl and a youth who tumbled into first love...passionate love...
forbidden love...only to be torn apart. The details of that tearing apart destine their reunion seven years later to be fraught with misunderstandings and mistrust, but also unquenchable desire, and -- this time -- danger.
But how exactly did I come to write the second chance story of these young lovers?
I first met Miss Octavia Pierce at the age of fifteen sitting in a chair with her long legs thrown over the arm like a thorough hoyden, reading and Atlas of the World. Immediately I knew she would travel. So travel she did, to the East Indies, a land of wonder and magic that fed her adventurous soul.
Shortly thereafter I met Lord Ben Doreé on a snowy night in the corridor of a country greathouse that I was writing. In that scene in the first book of my Rogues of the Sea trilogy (
SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS), that hero told his lady that the work he did upon the sea saving others -- noble, honorable, perilous work -- had a wealthy patron. And (here's where it gets weird) there was Ben standing behind me while I wrote, telling me
he was that patron,
he the powerful man of mystery behind that noble work. And he said he wanted Octavia -- a girl whose heart matched his perfectly -- to be his heroine.
Yes, romance authors are nuts. But I swear to yo that is how it happened.
Well, I told Ben in no uncertain terms that Octavia was only fifteen and he had to wait for her to become a lady. He wasn't even twenty anyway, far too young to think of a life-long love (Oh, how naïve I was!). He suggested they meet upon the verge of her womanhood, three years later. (Impatient man.) So I told him if he met her too soon, he would lose her for a while after that. That's just how I do things. He glowered. (I'll admit I cowered a little. He's the dark and dangerous type, you know.) Still, I don't think he believed I was really going to do it.
I did it. Because when lost love -- powerful, passionate, undying love -- is re-found -- gloriously,
crashingly -- the very stars collide.
I do love drama.
Do you have a second-chance story in your past? Young love rediscovered, or a change to a more satisfying career, or simply starting a gray day over again so that it ended up sparkling?
She had never forgotten him...
Miss Octavia Pierce is witty, well off, and shockingly unwed. Still, she is far too successful in society to remain on the shelf forever, and her family has hopes that Octavia will finally make the perfect match. What they do not know is that years earlier Octavia was scandalously tempted by the one man capable of sweeping her off her feet-the man now known as the Marquess of Doreé.
A third son, never meant to inherit, Lord Ben Doreé has abandoned his past and grown accustomed to his illustrious new position of wealth and power. But he has never forgotten Octavia, and now she desperately needs his helps in a most dangerous, clandestine matter. Although she claims she has put the memories of the passion they shared behind her, Ben is determined to once again have her in his arms-and in his bed.
**Giveaway**
Thanks Katharine for such a wonderful post. Everyone, Katharine and Harper Collins will be giving away a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour. So make sure to check out all of Katharine's
tour stops to increase your chances of winning.
*Must answers Katharine's question above
*Must leave and email address
*You don't have to be a follower, but it is appreciated
*Open until August 26th
