Five Fun Facts

1. I love Christmas, and it seems like the perfect season for a romance novel.  Snowy sleigh rides, mistletoe, spiced wine, all very romantic.  But I didn’t actually write Duchess of Sin at Christmastime, so I had to dig out my box of Christmas CDs and listen to Celtic Carols until I felt like I was in the holiday mood.

2. I can’t write without a steady supply of junk food. And just like a pregnancy, every book seems to inspire different cravings. For Duchess, a friend of mine had gone on a trip to the UK and sent me a supply of Cadbury Flake bars. I also tested out the Sticky Toffee Pudding recipe featured at the end of the book…

3. Originally I didn’t intend to give Lady Katherine her own romance, even though I’ve always been intrigued by what her back story might be. What happened to her before she was a mother and a widow? Then the hunky French artist walked in, and things just took off between them!

4. Since I like to make “character collages” to help inspire me when starting a book, I had to search for actors or models who resemble the characters in my head.  Anna was easy—she was a tall, aristocratic blonde, sort of like a young Gwyneth Paltrow. But Conlan, the dark, rugged, dangerous Irish duke, was a bit harder to track down. He was sexy, but not “perfect” like a model.  So I turned to my favorite historical drama, North and South, and Richard Armitage.  Even though the stories have very different settings (Northern England in the 1840s and Ireland at the turn of the nineteenth century), he was a perfect inspiration.

5. I also had a hard time even coming up with Conlan’s name. When I was outlining Duchess, I scoured Celtic name websites and old myths but couldn’t find the right name. Then a friend told me her son’s name, Conlan, was a Celtic word for “hero.” It was exactly right for “my” Conlan’s character.  (But the original Conlan is now only three, so it will be a while before he can read this book…)