New interview with author Rachel Brimble

Romance author Rachel Brimble joins me today. We’re chatting about her new romantic suspense, If I Want You.

During her virtual book tour, Rachel will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. Since 2013, she has had seven books published by Harlequin Superromance (Templeton Cove Stories) and an eighth coming in Feb 2018. She also has four Victorian romances with eKensington/Lyrical Press.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!

Welcome, Rachel. Please share a little bit about your current release.

If I Want You is the first single title romantic suspense I have written for a while and I’m so excited for its release! It’s a little darker than I’ve written before but the sexual tension and mutual respect that simmers between the hero and heroine meant I had to ‘beef up’ the suspense to level things out. It revolves around a child abduction that provokes memories the heroine would rather forget about her own childhood kidnapping. She is on a mission to save the abducted little girl and has the perfect hero on hand to help her.

What inspired you to write this book?
I am a huge fan of crime novels as well as TV dramas where there is some kind of suspense or mystery interwoven into the plot. I have wanted to write something more crime-related for a while, but I also wanted to write a relationship running through the main plot. The idea for If I Want You came from me tapping into the worst thing that could happen to my family and all the emotions that come with it.

Excerpt from If I Want You:
Sensing her discomfort, he stopped and leaned against the bureau. God, did he frighten her? Surely not, or she wouldn’t be here. Or did she sense his attraction toward her and would do all she could to deflect it? He didn’t doubt for one minute his eyes gave away his appreciation whenever he looked at her.

He lifted the can to his lips. “So, what have you been thinking about?”

She tapped a peach-painted nail on the bureau. “This.”

“The bureau?”

“Principal White’s bureau.”

He frowned. “How did you know it was hers?”

“She mentioned you were working on a bureau for her when I was in the school office. I assumed this is it.”

“It is.”

“Good, because that makes it all the easier for me to give you your first assignment.”

“You want me to talk to her.”

She smiled, took a few tentative steps closer to him. “Got it in one, Watson.”

He smiled, pleased to see genuine mischief shining in her eyes. “I’m Watson?”

“Yep.”

“So that makes you Holmes. Not sure I like being anyone’s sidekick.”

Another couple of steps closer until no more than a couple of feet separated them. She met his eyes and his heart kicked. Her V-neck shirt was just the right side of professional. Yet, the way it revealed her collarbones and hugged her full breasts made him want to reach out and pull her into his arms, kiss her, taste her…

“You’re staring, Watson.”

He blinked and snapped his gaze from her breasts, rare heat hitting his face. “Sorry. You look nice.”

“Thanks.” She raised her eyebrows and nodded toward his chest. “So do you.”

He smiled. “Why don’t we go inside? It’s way too hot out here.”

What exciting story are you working on next?
I am currently revising another romantic suspense which I hope will be the start of a brand new series as well as working on the first draft of a new Edward romance which I am absolutely loving right now. I think it might even my best work so far, but we’ll see how it turns out!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When my first book was published back in 2007 – I think it’s very hard to for a writer or novelist to accept that’s what they are until they hold a published body of work in their hands. Of course, you’re a writer as soon as you put pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I’m lucky enough to write full-time and never take that luxury for granted. I work as hard as I would in any other job. During the week, I work from 8.30am to 5.30pm with two dog walks and a short lunch break in between. At the weekend, I try not to work at all but find that impossible when I have deadline looming.

Things were a lot harder when my daughters were young, but they’re now 18 and 16 and don’t really pay a lot of attention to what mum is doing, lol!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t think I have any writing quirks as such – although you might say it’s a quirk that I turn into a savage animal when I CAN’T write!

 
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Write – I always wrote stories for myself and my friends and then around the age of 11, I decided the only ‘real’ writing was journalism. Unfortunately, life took an unexpected turn and I had to go out to work at 16. I worked in a bank for 10 years before staying home to raise my daughters. When the youngest started school full-time, I had a ‘now or never’ moment and sat down to start my first novel. Searching for Sophie was published 18 months later.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I am a social media nut so if you want to know what I’m up to work wise and personally, but sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram etc.

Links:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Street Team - Rachel's Readers | Amazon Author Page | Goodreads

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!

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Interview with Victorian romance author Rachel Brimble

Author Rachel Brimble is here today to chat about her new Victorian romance novel, What a Woman Desires.

During her virtual book tour, Rachel will be awarding a signed paperback copy of What a Woman Desires and a tote bag to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win these prizes, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too.

Bio:

Rachel lives with her husband and two teenage daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK. After having several novels published by small US presses, she secured agent representation in 2011. In 2012, she sold two books to Harlequin Superromance and a further three in 2013. She also writes Victorian romance for Kensington--her debut was released in April 2013, followed by a second in January 2014 and the third is released Jan 2015.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, and was selected to mentor the Superromance finalist of So You Think You Can Write 2014 contest. When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family and beloved black Lab, Max. Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England.

She likes nothing more than connecting and chatting with her readers and fellow romance writers. Rachel would love to hear from you!

Welcome, Rachel. Please tell us about your current release.
What a Woman Desires is the third book in my Victorian series with eKensington/Lyrical Press––although all the books can be read stand alone. Set in Bath and the Wiltshire village of Biddestone, What a Woman Desires is a reunion story between upper-middle class heiress turned actress, Monica Danes and her family’s groom, Thomas Ashby. Not happy at home, Monica fled to Bath to pursue her dream of becoming an actress five years before the book opens - a family tragedy means she has to return home…whether she wants to or not…

What inspired you to write this book?
During the writing of the previous book, The Temptation of Laura, Monica pushed herself forward even though I only ever meant for her to remain a secondary character. I heard her voice so strongly and knew her history and story were worth telling. I plotted most of What a Woman Desires while writing the preceding book, it was most inconvenient!

Excerpt from What a Woman Desires:

Thomas clenched his jaw as Monica tightened her arms around his waist. He longed to feel the weight of her head on his back, too, but knew well enough she would not lean on him considering the dark cloud under which he left Marksville the night before. He purposely kept Jake at a slow walk, wanting this closeness between him and Monica to last as long as possible. He’d been foolish enough to wake this morning, thinking the night apart had strengthened his resolve and he would be strong enough to accept her as his employer and nothing else.

Now he was with her, the notion was laughable—but one he must adhere to.

He needed to play nice and convince her staying at Marksville wouldn’t mean the future she dreaded. If he could do that, he would keep his father’s legacy intact and maybe, one day, his son would take the reins and become a groom to the Danes family as two generations had before him. She had to understand positions like his and Mrs. Seton’s weren’t just jobs, they were a livelihood, a lifestyle, and treasured way of life.

He’d come out of the stable yard astride Jake, and as soon as he had seen Monica standing alone, her head back and her breasts thrust forward, nothing of his job entered his mind. Only pure, unadulterated attraction had surged through him. The sun glowed on her dark hair like a million dancing lights and, with her hands on her hips, her delicate figure taunted him with forbidden possibility that had lingered in his subconscious forever. Even in mourning, the woman was beautiful.

What exciting story are you working on next?
I have just finished the fourth and final book in the series and sent it to my agent. Once she has read it, I will send to my editor and pray he likes it! This story is Jane’s story (younger sister of Monica) and focuses on her need to sever the bonds of the unrequited love of Biddestone’s squire, Matthew Cleaves…things don’t go quite as she planned.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I would like to say it was when the Wild Rose Press published by first book, Searching for Sophie in 2007, but I still couldn’t tell people confidently that I was an author. It wasn’t until I signed with Harlequin Superromance in 2011, that I truly believed in myself and started to imagine a life doing what I love. Since then, I have gone on to sign five books with Harlequin and four with eKensington. I am a very happy lady!

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I am lucky enough to be a stay at home mum to two teenage girls – I pretty much write from 8.30 to 5.30pm (with an enforced lunch hour) during the week and then as much as possible on the weekend. Writing is my oxygen, I can’t function without working.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I’m not sure that I have one! I need silence to create but can edit with background noise. As for where I write, I can write anywhere – at my desk, the garden, cafes, coffee shops…

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I didn’t know it for many years, but in retrospect, I always wanted to be an author. I was avid reader as a child and used to write stories where I would bind the pages together with ribbon. As I got older, I decided I wanted to be a journalist but personal circumstance at home meant I left school and got a ‘proper job’ as an insurance broker. It wasn’t until my youngest daughter started school that I had my ‘now or never’ moment. I haven’t looked back since.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
Yes! Look out for my next Harlequin Superromance, Her Hometown Redemption, coming in September. LOVED writing this book!

Links:

Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Street Team - Rachel's Readers 

Thank you for being here today, Rachel!

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