Presents week continues with another of my favourite people and writers, the mega-talented
Trish Morey who is a three-time #1 Waldenbooks Bestseller AND a winner of RWA's prestigious Romantic Book of the Year award (affectionately known as the RuBY.) Trish is popping in to chat about her 11th Harlequin Presents title,
The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin.
I first heard the storyline for this book while walking along a Victorian beach last March. Trish and I were part of a group of authors at a writing retreat and on that morning walk, Trish was nutting out some details of her book-in-progress and I just knew by her passion for the story and her vivid descriptions of characters and setting that it would be another classic Trish Morey.
The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin is a March release in America and already a Waldenbooks #3 bestseller, so I've invited Trish in to chat about sheikhs and linked books and the appeal that makes Presents the world's bestselling category series.
Mea culpa, Trish, I haven't read your latest sheikh. Can I make it up to you by offering to share this bottle of Dom Perignon?
Trish: Only one? LOL! Thanks Bron, for the warm welcome, it's lovely to be here!
I loved your Stolen by the Sheikh (half of a closely linked duo with The Mancini Marriage Bargain.)
The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin is also part of a duo--with last December's hugely entertaining The Boss's Christmas Baby--so I'm looking forward to another fab read. Let's start by talking about that link. My guess is you planned this as a duo from the start?
Trish: I did! Like most people, I've always been fascinated by sister swap stories like The Parent Trap--or even identical cousin stories (showing my age here, but who else remembers The Patty Duke Show?) (Bron: me, oh yes, I do.) So I started out with twin sisters, Morgan and Tegan, and took it from there. The first story is a sister swap story and was a lot of fun. The second, The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin, sees the second sister find her own HEA, but it really doesn't matter what order you read them, as they're both stand alone titles.Morgan and Tegan... Those names sound vaguely familiar...
Trish: Funny about that... I wanted the sisters' names to be close, and as luck would have it, a very wonderful mutual friend of ours has girls with those names and because they were so perfect, I asked if they'd mind if I borrowed them. They were thrilled and The Boss's Christmas Baby is dedicated to them both. (I had to dedicate The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin to my own girls, who were demanding equal time.)As they should. Now, about that sheikh... This is your second (no longer a sheikh-virgin, hehe) -- what do you love about writing and reading the sheikh hero?
Trish: I love how there's a timeless appeal about sheikh stories--did you know it's almost a century since EM Hull penned her classic "The Sheik" and still there's this fascination with the desert prince, something forbidden about this untamed man in an untamed, exotic wilderness. I love all our Presents heroes, but I really think sheikhs represent the quintessential, alpha male, maybe more educated than a century ago but still so much a product of their isolated and harsh desert kingdoms.
Oh, yes, the untamed alpha in his own exotic kingdom. That taps into quite a few fantasies, doesn't it? You mentioned loving the Presents hero in all his guises -- is he the key to the Presents worldwide popularity?
Trish: Oh yes! Presents offers readers the ultimate get-away fantasies with the ultimate alpha heroes, the most wonderful heroes who get turned inside out by the love of one very special woman, because for all his wealth, power and status, it's that woman, and only that woman, who can make him whole. It's wonderful to see these rich, powerful men brought to their knees by love. Just wonderful!
Love your alphas, Trish, because they're always masterful and determined to have their way and a tad wicked (which is sexy as all get-out.) What do you love in a fantasy hero?
Trish: Thanks Bron! I love a hero who is all those things and who I can fall in love with myself. He's strong, passionate and a wonderful lover. And while he's forceful and powerfully motivated and gives the heroine no end of grief as she in turn is rattling his chain, at his core he's a man of integrity. Compelling masculine good looks and a lean hard-wired bod don't go amiss either.:-)
A couple of fun one-liners to finish:
What I love most about writing romance is...
making up gorgeous men all day and calling it work
My favourite books are...
by Candice Proctor and Tom Sharpe.I can't write without...
checking what's in the pantry. Regularly. Even though I know what's in there down to the barcodes (so, so sad...)
I'm looking forward to...
my next reader letter. Just love getting those.In my next life, I want to come back as...
a well-loved cat
My next release (book) is...
The Italian Boss's Mistress of Revenge, out Aug US/Sept UK and Oct Downunder.The Sheikh's Convenient Virgin is in stores now in America and available at your favourite on-line store (incl Amazon and eHarlequin) as a print or eBook. Tell Trish and I what you like best about sheikh heroes and romances and you're in the draw to win a signed copy of The Boss's Christmas Baby.
(Prize drawn March 8.)Labels: giveaway, Guest blogger, Harlequin Presents
posted by Bronwyn Jameson @ 9:48 AM
