Ramblings From This Chick: Interview with Author Megan Mulry and Giveaway

Friday, July 19, 2013

Interview with Author Megan Mulry and Giveaway

Please give a warm welcome to author Megan Mulry. Megan has stopped by to chat about her newest book, If the Shoe Fits.

I write sexy, stylish, romantic fiction. I graduated from Northwestern University and then worked in publishing, including positions at the New Yorker and Boston magazine. After moving to London, I worked in finance and attended London Business School. I've traveled extensively in Asia, India, Europe, and Africa and now live with my husband and children in Florida. You can find me procrastinating on Twitter.

Places to find Megan:

| Site | Facebook | Twitter |

What are you favorite characteristics in a hero and heroine?
I have so many favorites! Mostly, I love flawed characters and the people who love them despite (or sometimes because of) their defects. Favorite flawed female characters include Susan Elizabeth Phillips' southern belle, Sugar Beth Carey from Ain't She Sweet (Thanks to Miranda Neville for recommending that one). A favorite flawed male character is Jervaulx from Laura Kinsale's Flowers from the Storm; what a rat bastard that guy was (...until Maddie-girl). I love the idea of redemption and how the love of a good man/woman can bring it about.

What is a day in the life of one your characters like?
I think Devon Heyworth, the hero in If the Shoe Fits, has the ideal day. He sleeps as late as he wants, because he's up most of night being a genius and/or making love to Sarah James (preferably both at the same time). I've always been drawn to the sexy absent-minded professor idea. While writing Devon, I thought of James Gleick's description of one of those physics geniuses in his book Chaos. Apparently, the sceintist used to go to the laundromat and watch the spin cycle when he was working on his chaos theories. So even though it looked like he was just staring off into space at the laundromat, he was really mapping the universe (or something). After sleeping in, Devon pops into work for an hour or two, then he'd probably meet up with Sarah for lunch at one of their favorite restaurants in Mayfair, like the Guinea Grill or Nobu. And then maybe he'd wander over to the Audley on Mount Street Street for a pint, make a few sketches on a cocktail napkin, that sort of thing. After Sarah was done at work, maybe they'd order in some Indian food and watch a movie. Sarah would fall asleep and Devon would work late into the night creating a new, plant based polymer that would finally replace carcinogenic plastic once and for all. That would be a good day in the life for one of my character.

What are your favorite types of tropes to read as well as write about?
My favorite tropes...are endless. When I first started reading romance novels, about six years ago, I gorged on historicals. I devoured Amanda Quick and Julia Quinn and Eloisa James and Judith McNaught. Especially Judith McNaught. (Where is Judith McNaught, by the way?) Anyway, I think many of the tropes in those books kind of burned into me. I don't necessarily think of tropes like marriage-of-convenience or secret-baby when I think of those writers, but more of how those authors created such memorable heroes and heroines. The heroine is usually independent, bordering on wayward, and maybe from another class or another country. The sometimes arrogant but deep-down-kind hero is used to getting his way until the heroine comes along. I love to read those types of characters. I also love to write those types of characters, but with lots of modern twists. For example, in my first book, I wanted the heroine to have lots of the traditionally historical-male-hero attributes—stubbornness, a flawed relationship with her father, the inability to believe in her own right to be loved. I think Quick does a lot of that type of role-reversal in her books and I really like to gender-bend in that way too, in terms of who is the pursuer and who is the pursued in the relationship. I especially love characters who think they don't need love or don't deserve to be loved. Because, oh, when they fall, they fall so damn hard!

The only thing worse than being in the spotlight is being kept in the dark...

With paparazzi nipping at his heels, Devon Heyworth, rakish brother of the Duke of Northrop, spends his whole life hiding his intelligence and flaunting his playboy persona. Fast cars and faster women give the tabloids plenty to talk about.

American entrepreneur Sarah James is singularly unimpressed with "The Earl" when she meets him at a wedding. But she's made quite an impression on him. When he pursues her all the way across the pond, he discovers that Miss James has no intention of being won over by glitz and glamor—she's got real issues to deal with, and the last thing she needs is larger-than-life royalty mucking about her business...

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