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| Author Elizabeth Hoyt |
Today author Elizabeth Hoyt visits the Riskies to share her wisdom and insights with this sedate and proper set of ladies and readers.
We sat down to a virtual tea at which I served delicious petit-fours and my best gunpowder black. Then I asked her a few polite questions and she was gracious enough to answer them.
One lucky commenter will win a copy of her latest release, Wicked Intentions. To get your name in the running, leave a comment in which you answer the question at the end of this post. Yours truly (that would be Risky Carolyn) will choose a winner next Wednesday. You have have until Midnight Pacific Tuesday August 24 to leave a comment!) Void where prohibited.
Before we get to the interview, here’s a bit about Elizabeth Hoyt, let it never be said you weren’t properly introduced! This is a respectable blog.
Miss Hoyt is a New York Times bestselling author of historical romance. She also writes deliciously fun contemporary romance under the name Julia Harper. Elizabeth lives in central Illinois with three untrained dogs, two angelic but bickering children, and one long-suffering husband.
And now, A polite Risky Welcome to Elizabeth!
The Interview
Q. Tell me about your book.
A: Back copy:
A MAN CONTROLLED BY HIS DESIRES
Infamous for his wild, sensual needs, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, is searching for a savage killer in St. Giles, London’s most notorious slum. Widowed Temperance Dews knows the area like the back of her hand—she cares for its children at the foundling home her family established. Now that home is at risk. . .
A WOMAN HAUNTED BY HER PAST
Caire makes a simple offer–in return for Temperance’s help navigating the perilous alleys of St. Giles, he will introduce her to high society so that she can find a benefactor for the home. But Temperance may not be the innocent she seems, and what begins as a cold bargain soon falls prey to a passion neither can control—and may well destroy them both.
Find out more about Wicked Intentions
(Temperance. I may steal that name for a heroine of mine. Thanks, Elizabeth!)
Q. Your name is Elizabeth. Do you ever wake up thinking you’re QE1 or QE2? Why or why not? Would you want to be? Why or why not?
Dear God, at first I thought you were calling me a CRUISE SHIP. Yes, I think I ought to be QE2 because she’s always color-coordinated and wears such interesting hats. Also, she has a pack of Corgis and I would totally be into a pack of Corgis had I footmen to walk them.
(Oh yes. Without the footmen, what would be the point of anything? But now I’m wondering, do you ever wake up thinking you’re a cruise ship? Because that would be weird.)
Q. What’s a few of your favorite things about writing historicals? Is it the clothes? Exciting history? Gender roles? The cool shoes? Or something else?
Clothes. Definitely the clothes. Big wonking skirts, some of them worn by women. Also, wigs. Why aren’t wigs worn by men anymore? We’ve entered into a very boring time for men’s fashion in general.
And I happen to write during the Age of Enlightenment (which merits Capital Letters) when people were making all sorts of discoveries, both mechanical and mental. Very interesting times!
(Good point there about the wigs. And men’s fashion. I miss the periwig.)
Q. Do you have a favorite scene or line from your current book and would you be willing to share that that is?
A:
Caire took her arm and escorted her roughly out the door. Temperance blinked as he began hauling her back down the passage. As they neared the ballroom, the sound of the crowd inside grew.
She attempted to withdraw her arm from his grasp. “Caire.”
“What the hell were you doing going to a dark room with that ass? Have you no sense?”
She glanced at him. There was a reddened spot on his jaw, and he looked livid. “Your hair has come undone.”
He stopped suddenly, pushing her up against the wall of the passage. “Never go anywhere with a man not of your family.”
She arched her brows up at him. “What about you?”
“Me? I am far, far worse than Sir Henry.” He leaned close, his breath brushing against her cheek. “You ought never to be near me again. You should run right now.”
His bright blue eyes blazed and a muscle in his hard jaw ticked. He was truly a frightening sight.
She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips against that tic. He jerked and then stood still. She felt the muscle jump once more beneath her mouth and then subside. She slid her lips toward his mouth.
“Temperance,” he growled.
It was strange. Another man had just kissed her on the mouth, but this pressing of lips with Caire was entirely different. His mouth was firm and warm, his lips stubbornly closed against hers. She placed her hands on his wide shoulders for leverage and leaned a little closer. She could smell some kind of exotic spice on his skin—perhaps he’d rubbed it on after shaving—and his mouth tasted of heady wine. She licked the seam of his lips, once, gently.
He groaned.
“Open,” she breathed across his lips, and he did.
She probed delicately, licking the inside of his lips, across his teeth, until she found his tongue. She stroked across it and retreated. He followed her tongue into her mouth, and she suckled him softly, raising her palms to frame his lean cheeks.
Something in her shifted, crumbling apart and re-forming into a new and wonderful shape. She didn’t know what that shape was, but she wanted to keep it. To stay here in this dim hallway and kiss Caire forever.
The murmur of voices came from the far end of the passage, drawing nearer.
Caire lifted his head, looking toward the ballroom.
A door opened and closed and the voices stopped.
He took her hand. “Come.”
“A moment.”
He turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised, but she darted around him. His black velvet tie was nearly out of his hair. Carefully, she unknotted it and combed through the silver strands with her fingers before retying the ribbon.
When she came back around him, he still had that eyebrow cocked. “Satisfied?”
“For now.” She took his arm and he led her back to the ballroom.
(Well, now I have to get my hands on this book. Oh, wait. I bought it last Saturday! Score!)
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| Carolyn has Wicked Intentions |
Q. You have pets at your house. Do they like to help you with the writing? Are there any cute pet pictures or stories you’d like to share?
I have three dogs, in descending size: Max (a black lab mix), Fritz (an orange terrier) and Rue (a rat terrier.) All came from the shelter, so their parentage is in doubt. No, they do not like to help. They like to sit by my side and whine at me to go out, even when they’ve just been out five minutes ago–perhaps the yard has changed in that time.
(Rue is VERY cute!)
For more pics of Elizabeth’s cute doggies, go here.
Q: Best writing moment of your life?
The first time someone recognized me (or rather my name tag) in an elevator and was so excited that she missed her floor.
Q: What’s your favorite type of historical hero? Can be personality, physical attributes or anything.
A guy who thinks he knows everything, but is brought low by the heroine who DOES know everything. Also, guys who aren’t too pretty.
Q: I’ve noticed you tend to be very mean to the heroes of your novels. They often have tortured backgrounds. Why are you so mean?
I’m just a mean person. No! Um. . . well, I think it’s more interesting when the hero has an complicated (read: tortured) background. So many fun things to discover! And also a reason to brood in a dark, manly way.
(Brooding. ::sigh:: Dark and manly. . . . Where were we?)
Q: Anything else you want to share or tell us?
Yes! My next book, NOTORIOUS PLEASURES (out in February 2011–PREORDER!) has a hero who is NOT tortured. My first ever! I initially told my agent he was a bit of a wanker, but she said that perhaps that was not the most heroic description for him. Oh, well.
(Not tortured? A wanker? This I have to read!)
The Comment Question
For a chance to win a copy of Wicked Intentions, answer the following question in the comments:
What men’s fashion do you think should come back into fashion?
Oh. Good question! Go!
I am finally starting to get back into the work-home routine, after all the excitement of getting (yay!) married and being on vacation. (And many, many thanks to everyone for the congrats and good wishes! It is so wonderful). First order of business–starting my next book for Harlequin Historicals, which I am actually loving–it’s a Regency set in Brazil! So there are tropical sunsets, beaches (though not too many–Rio was actually not very near a beach then, and it was very hard to reach), but with lovely muslin gowns and Neoclassical art. Fun!!!
My characters are English–the hero is a Naval officer who is part of the convoy assigned to escort the Portugese to Brazil in November 1808 (they departed on November 29, in a scene of immense chaos, but didn’t arrive at their ultimate destination in Rio until March 7, 1809. They didn’t return to Portugal until 1821). My heroine is the daughter of an English diplomat, who has been serving as his hostess for many years. But our hero and heroine have a secret past together! Can they keep it hidden under the warm skies of Rio???
