Author Interview: Grace Burrowes
Thanks so much for allowing me to interview you, Grace.
Thanks for having me here. It’s always fun to talk about my books.
For our readers who haven’t heard about your book (The Heir), can you sum it up for ‘em?
It’s tempting to say it’s about a lonely, beleaguered earl falling in love with his lovely, secretive housekeeper, but on another level it’s about love healing all wounds, wounds between a man and a woman, between a parent and child, between siblings—all wounds.
Regency England: what drew you there?
I’ve gobbled up Regencies since I was in junior high (back when there was a junior high). I read in other genres, but Regencies were my first book love, and they have a wide and devoted following. Something about a fellow who can manage witty repartee in the middle of an elegant waltz, drive to an inch, put his life on the line for a woman’s honor, and take Very Good Care of His Lady Under All Circumstances appeals to me just a little more than those other guys who get all furry and fang-y. I am in awe of those authors who can do a good paranormal Regency. Talk about multi-talented!
Can you tell us a bit about your writing ritual?
There’s nothing so structured as a ritual, though I like to write my new copy best in the morning. I swill a lot of decaf tea, and it helps if there are cats cuddled up against the computer’s heat exhaust vents. Later in the day I’m more prone to revising, and I take walks when I’m stuck. When I am really, really casting around for a plot, I’ll drive from Maryland to the West Coast in my trusty truck. The Midwest is a great place to think up a book.
Do you have any specific authors who inspire you?
There are loads and loads of talented authors on my keeper shelves: Sophie Nash, Loretta Chase, Carolyn Jewel, Laura Kinsale, Joanna Bourne, Mary Balogh, Meredith Duran, J.R. Ward and Julie Ann Long, to name a few, and my all time best most fave forever: Judith Ivory.
When can we expect your next book?
The sequel to The Heir, is The Soldier, (Devlin St. Just’s book) and it’s due for release early next summer (Sourcebooks Casablanca). I really like The Heir, but The Soldier knocked my socks off with its tenderness and charm. Valentine’s book, The Virtuoso, comes out in Fall 2011, and my current WIP is Lady Sophie’s Christmas Wish, which deals with a Windham sister and is intended for seasonal release in 2011. Fortunately for me, the Windhams are large family.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I love to write, just love it. Sitting down at the computer to play “let’s pretend” is more fun than almost anything else I do, and to write for publication is a gift. I hadn’t realized what a pleasure it would be to create a story then be offered the backing of an interested editor and an entire team of people at the publisher’s—copy editors, productions editors, artists, PR experts, marketers and more—and then to share the book with readers. People say writing is a solitary occupation, but in some senses it isn’t solitary at all. It’s a wonderful process whereby “my” book becomes “our” book—the publisher’s, the production team’s, and the reader’s. I hope to write “us” a lot of books!
THE HEIR BY GRACE BURROWES – IN STORES TODAY
An Earl Who Can’t Be Bribed…
Gayle Windham, Earl of Westhaven, is the first legitimate son and heir to the Duke of Moreland. To escape his father’s inexorable pressure to marry, he decides to spend the summer at his townhouse in London, where he finds himself intrigued by the secretive ways of his beautiful housekeeper.
A Lady Who Can’t Be Protected…
Anna Seaton is a beautiful, talented, educated woman, which is why it is so puzzling to Gayle that she works as his housekeeper.
As the two draw closer and begin to lose their hearts to each other, Anna’s secrets threaten to bring the earl’s orderly life crashing down—and he doesn’t know how he’s going to protect her from the fallout…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Burrowes is the pen name for a prolific author of historical romances whose manuscripts have so far won, finaled, or garnered honorable mention in Romance Writers of America-run contests in Georgia, Virginia, Indiana, New Jersey, Texas and Florida. Burrowes is a practicing attorney specializing in family law. She lives in rural Maryland and is working on her next book, The Soldier, set to release in summer 2011. She can contacted through her website graceburrowes.com.
