A lover of witty Regencies and dark paranormal romance, Brooklyn Ann combines the two in her new vampire series. The former mechanic turned author lives with her family in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho. She can be found online at http://brooklynann.blogspot.com as well as on twitter and Facebook.
Goodreads.... I don't know the link and I'm kinda slacking on that one.
What books are you currently reading?
WHEN YOU GIVE A DUKE A DIAMOND by Shana Galen
...and lots of assigned reading for college that's really cutting into my pleasure reading. :(
What are your favorite books?
THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH, by Ken Follett
IT, by STEPHEN KING
INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, Anne Rice
THE COLOR PURPLE by Alice Walker
JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte
ALMOST HEAVEN and UNTIL YOU by Judith McNaught
TEMPTED, UNDONE, and A WOMAN OF PASSION by Virginia Henley
Everything by Shana Galen
What books would you recommend to your readers?
Everything listed above as well as many by Johanna Lindsey, Grace Burrowes, Maggie Shayne, and JR Ward.
BARELY ALIVE by Bonnie R. Paulson
and the soon to be released, GARGOYLE by Shelley Martin.
Any message to your readers?
If it weren't for you, my stories would have no meaning.
What is your book about? Please provide a description.
BITE ME, YOUR GRACE takes place in London in the midst of Western Europe’s vampire craze spawned by the publication of Dr. John Polidori’s The Vampyre.
Angelica Winthrop plans to ruin her reputation so she may avoid marriage and become a gothic authoress like her idol, Mary Shelley. Unfortunately, her schemes always backfire and the wedding noose tightens with every escapade. To find inspiration for her next story, she breaks into the home of Ian Ashton, Duke of Burnrath.Ian is the Lord vampire of London and because of Polidori’s story, tongues are wagging and wagers are being made about his nocturnal proclivities.
The duke destroys Angelica’s plans by publicly proposing marriage to her in order to save his reputation and to keep her from revealing his secret.Sparks fly as she attempts every impropriety to dissuade him and he retaliates with his skills of seduction.
After a quirky courtship and a tender wedding night, their tempestuous marriage is played out before the scandalized eyes of the ton. When Angelica writes a vampire novel, Ian is infuriated and threatens to abandon her by leaving for the continent. She learns that literature can have dangerous effects when she faces a vampire hunter and a pair of misguided kidnappers to save her love.
How long have you been at work on this book?
I wrote it in the late summer/ fall of 2009 and then played with it on and off until 2012.
How did the idea originate?
When telling people that I wrote paranormal romance, I heard, "Oh, like TWILIGHT?" for the umpteenth time and grew vexed. I ranted about Anne Rice and Bram Stoker but I suspected that vampires in literature began further back. I did some research and discovered that the first vampire story in English was written by Lord Byron's physician, Dr. John Polidori, in the regency era.
Regency romances have long since been a guilty pleasure for me, so I was delighted beyond measure. I got to thinking....why was this vampire craze never mentioned in regency novels? Or Mary Shelley's work, for that matter?
I did a little more digging. How far had feminist literature progressed by then? In Georgian times, a famous work was: A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN, by Mary Wollstonecraft. She was none other than MARY SHELLEY'S MOTHER!!! It was too delicious for words.
Imagine a regency heroine idolizing those women and wanting to write horror novels of her own. Then I got to thinking again about vampires. Wouldn't Polidori's story piss them off? Especially one trying to pose as a member of London Society?
An idea began to formulate.
I wanted a delicious dichotomy. A heroine trying to ruin her reputation so she could write horror stories. A hero trying to save his reputation because of horror stories. I wanted to watch the sparks fly.
Did the book entail any unusual writing habits or places?
My mother passed away unexpectedly on Valentine's Day of 2009. She was my best friend, my inspiration, and my biggest, and often only support in life. Naturally, this was a cataclysm from which I shall never recover, especially given the realization that she died miserable.
I don't want to die miserable.
So I utilized my small inheritance to take a year off and research the publishing industry and hone my craft. I failed to find a home for a previous novel, but then I got the idea for BITE ME, YOUR GRACE.
This novel was completely different than my previous work. Reading regency romances has always been an escape for me and I guess I sought the ultimate escape in writing one of my own. It was like living in another world. I still threw in my beloved paranormal elements, but the romance aspect was definitely sweeter and had more humor. I made the heroine naive so I could watch her grow. Also the mother character in this book was the complete opposite of mine.
I finished the first draft in three months.
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