Lisa Haselton's Reviews and Interviews: Interview with romance author Sofie Darling

Romance author Sofie Darling is here today to chat with me about her new historical romance, Tempted by the Viscount.

During her virtual book tour, Sofie will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. 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!

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

Tempted by the Viscount is the second book in my Shadows and Silk series.

Jake is new in Town. He’s been a sailor all his life, but he recently inherited an English viscountcy that he didn’t really want. He has two goals: sort out the estate’s finances and find a wife. Well, mostly a stepmother for his daughter Mina. She has a mixed-race heritage and for her to succeed in English Society, she will need a proper stepmother of impeccable reputation to guide and protect her.

With her pedigree, Lady Olivia Montfort might perfectly fit the bill, except she’s a scandalous divorcée and has sworn off men entirely. What she really wants is her own townhouse and complete independence.

When Jake’s past in the Far East surfaces in London and threatens Mina’s future, Jake and Olivia must strike a bargain to help each other. What they don’t anticipate is the temptation of each other.

What inspired you to write this book?

I read a historical fiction novel set in early 19^th century Dejima, Japan and was fascinated by the setting. Before 1854, Japan was closed to all Western trade with the exception of the Dutch and only on the small, man-made island of Dejima located in the Bay of Nagasaki. It wasn’t long before my half-Dutch, half-English sea captain came to me, and his story began to unfold. I love the setting so much that I’m planning on returning there in a later book in the series.

Excerpt from Tempted by the Viscount:

The string quartet struck up the opening notes of a waltz, the crowd raised its voice in a unified cheer, and Lord St. Alban held out his hand to her. “May I have the honor of this dance?”

She should say no. She needed to say no.

She couldn’t. Not without inviting more scandal from the odd curious eye that might be observing them. She’d endured enough scandal these last six months to last her a lifetime.

She stepped a hesitant foot forward and held out her hand, willing herself to look up at him. Most extraordinary were Lord St. Alban’s eyes: arctic blue rimmed in navy. They should be frosty, but they weren’t. They burned with the whitest heat of a blue flame.

She’d never entertained the idea that one could be incinerated by a waltz. But when he took her hand and her pulse jumped, she suspected that she would be lucky to escape this dance entirely unsinged.

She steeled herself and asked, “Shall we begin?”

On a nod, he pulled her toward him and set their bodies into motion. Her gaze remained resolutely fixed over his shoulder in the hope of foiling any attempt at small talk on his part. Her hope was immediately dashed.

“It is a strange sensation,” he began, “to have your body so completely in hand and, yet, the essence of you so far away.”

A shocked laugh escaped her. Words like body and essence could make a lady go speechless. They weren’t words used in polite circles, particularly in the way they’d crossed his lips, as if a promise was located somewhere inside.

Desperate to summon an upright ancestor or two, she said, “You know nothing of my body or my essence.”

What exciting story are you working on next?

I’ve just turned in the third book of the Shadows and Silk series, Her Midnight Sin, to my editor. It’s the story of world-weary Captain John Nylander and feisty widow Lady Calpurnia Radclyffe as they vie for the same Devon country estate. There will be pirates and apple brandy.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Honestly, I still have trouble with that. My first book was published less than a year ago. I keep waiting for the feeling to kick in.

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 consider myself a part-time writer and full-time mom. A typical day for me begins with a pre-dawn run before I start the kid morning routine of packing the school lunch and seeing my youngest off to school. Then I write … until it’s time for school pick-up and after school routines.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I can’t create on a computer. I have to handwrite on a blank sheet of typing paper with a #2 pencil, preferably a Ticonderoga.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I was kind of a dreamy kid who was always reading. I never really thought about what I wanted to be. I think if someone had told I could’ve been a professional reader, I would have jumped on that.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today. I really enjoyed it!