Cate: Please welcome Rachel Brimble. Rachel, will you please share a short bio with us?Rachel: I am married with two daughters and live in the UK, very near the famous Georgian town of Bath. I started writing toward publication when I became pregnant with my second daughter, eight years ago. My journey started with short stories and articles before moving on to novels in 2006.
When I’m not writing I enjoy reading (everything from the back of cereal boxes to huge biographies according to my husband!), watching TV and spending time walking and talking with my family and our beloved black Labrador, Max.
Cate: Tell us about your latest release and where it's available.
Rachel: My latest release is called ‘The Arrival of Lily Curtis’ and it is published by The Wild Rose Press. It is available directly from their website at www.thewildrosepress.com or www.amazon.com.
It is a Victorian historical romance between a young girl desperate to escape the constraints of an arranged marriage and a Viscount who has an embedded fear of breaking a promise even if that promise is a figment of his imagination…
Cate: Love the title - and the cover's wonderful too. Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Rachel: This is a scene the hero and heroine share near the beginning of the story – the tension between them is palpable…
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The clock ticked like a heartbeat behind him, the fire crackled and spat. Andrew unconsciously held his breath waiting to see what this unpredictable woman would do next. One minute she seemed so full of grace and intellect, the next full of fire and resentment. The two distinctions in her personality shouldn’t have fit but they did— inexplicitly so.“Well, what do you say?” he pressed.
She dropped her gaze and curtsied, throwing him off-guard once again. He felt his jaw tighten as he looked at her bowed head.
“I thank you, sir,” she said. “But I know my place and to sit with you and your guests would be most unacceptable.”
He stared at her. “Unacceptable?”
“Yes, sir.”
Andrew watched her for a moment longer before slowly crossing his arms. “You have a very genteel way about you,” he said. “One would almost suspect you have been educated.”
She snapped her head up, another flash of color darkening her cheeks. “Not at all, sir. I…I try to better myself and the way I speak, that is all.”
He smiled. “Really?”
“Yes, sir.” She paused, a sudden glint in her eyes. “Of course, if it is not to your liking, I can always revert to common speech and bad manners. It comes easily to me either way.”
Andrew felt the burst of laughter bubbling beneath his diaphragm and could do nothing to stop it erupting. It burst from his mouth and reverberated around the room. Uneasy laughter rippled around the table, joining him in his amusement. He ignored them, not caring about anything else but this enigma in front of him. His friends clearly laughed because of who he was rather than their shared delight, Lily on the other hand didn’t seem to care who he was and would say just what she pleased.
“You are quite agreeable just the way you are.” He grinned. “If you wish to continue with your duties, then I will not stop you.”
He walked back to his chair and sat down. “Nicholas, another bottle of wine if you please. I have the distinct feeling a long night is ahead.”
“Of course, sir.”
Andrew tried and failed to wipe the smile from his face as Lily threw him a look of satisfaction before obediently following Nicholas from the room. He picked up his glass and took a long mouthful.
Lily Curtis may be just what Cotswold Manor needed right now.
Cate: Wonderful! Can you tell us why we're going to love your hero?
Rachel: Oooh, because Viscount Andrew Westrop is dark and brooding but also has a deep and naughty sense of humor. With his strong, athletic physique, he is a man easily capable of controlling a sixteen hand horse or lying gently with a fragile woman before he takes her over the edge…
Sorry….yes, he’s quite a nice man. I’m sure you’d like him ;)
Cate: Ooh, I love a naughty sense of humor. :) Tease us with one little thing about your fictional world that makes it different from others.
Rachel: It’s different because it’s Victorian, it’s different because my hero and heroine are different kinds of people living in a time when everything had its place. The are both rebels of opposite kinds – she doesn’t want to be dragged into an arranged marriage, he wants to run his aristocratic home in an alternative way. Together, they would be fantastic, innovative and exciting…if only they could see it that way, of course!
Cate: What's next for you?
Rachel: I have my fourth contemporary romance being released in January 2011 by Lyrical Press but this one isn’t suspense, although it does have a couple of pretty villainous characters in it! Set in the fictional town of Foxton, England, ‘Getting It Right This Time’ is a story of a mother of a young child and the man who has always loved her. This is their second chance at love but will they blow it like they did the first time? Pride is a deadly sin for a reason…
Cate: Congrats! What inspired you to draft your first story?
Rachel: I’ve wanted to write since I was a child but life took over and I never put pen to paper until I was at home with my eldest daughter. I enrolled in a distance learning course and that was it, I haven’t stopped writing since. And now I couldn’t stop if even I wanted to! My need to write is a compulsion and I truly believe I will never stop now – EVER! Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Rachel: I recently started working part-time so my writing routine is no more! I fit it in around work, the house, the kids and everything else that happens during the day. My output is definitely less than it used to be but I have found that even if I make sure I do at least 500 words a day, they soon add up.
That may sound like a lot to some people and nothing to others but to me it’s achievable most days, even if I have to write in 100 words stints! If you have to write, you have to write…
Cate: Exactly - whatever works. :) Where can readers find you on the web?
Rachel: I am usually blogging or interviewing somewhere on the net so feel free to ‘google’ me to find out where I am but my own site is:
www.rachelbrimble.com
My publishers:
www.thewildrosepress.com
www.eternalpress.biz
www.lyricalpress.com
Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Rachel: Yes!! Especially the ones who have read my books! I am struggling to decide what to write next…please, please, please will anyone tell me their favourite book of mine?? I’d love to get an idea of what my readers enjoy the most, that way, that will make the decision of what I write next!
Cate: Very interesting! Readers, Rachel is also giving away a book to a random commenter... so start commenting, and be sure to let her know what you'd like her to write next! She'll pick a winner on August 23rd.
Thanks for being my guest Rachel! Best of luck with all your projects. :)
