Please welcome author Theresa Romain. She is joining us for an interview as she promotes her book, It Takes Two to Tangle. Enjoy it after my thoughts about the book!
Author: Theresa Romain
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Date of publication: September 2013
Wooing the Wrong Woman...
Henry
Middlebrook is back from fighting Napoleon, ready to re-enter London society
where he left it. Wounded and battle weary, he decides that the right wife is
all he needs. Selecting the most desirable lady in the ton, Henry turns to her
best friend and companion to help him with his suit...
Is a Terrible Mistake...
Young
and beautiful, war widow Frances Whittier is no stranger to social intrigue.
She finds Henry Middlebrook courageous and manly, unlike the foppish
aristocrats she is used to, and is inspired to exercise her considerable wit on
his behalf. But she may be too clever for her own good, and Frances discovers
that she has set in motion a complicated train of events that's only going to
break her own heart...
My thoughts:
As I have said on this blog before, I always love a flawed hero. Henry is such a dear man. I really loved his character. He genuinely loves his family and wants to see them happy. The touching scene between him and his friend Bart at the end was very endearing. Having been injured in the war, he is back and trying to get back into society. Not an easy thing to do when he only has one functioning arm. He finds an ally in Frances and recruits her to get on the good side of her cousin, Caroline. Of course, the two start to fall for each other instead. Their love story was wonderful. Frances sees beyond the injury to the man that Henry really is inside. Mis-communication and a bit of deceit cause a lot of angst between the two, so I was rooting for them through the end. The book also features some great side characters. I loved Bart and Caroline. It looked like there might be a hint of romance between them. maybe? I hope they show up in the next book.
Kari&
Autumn: What inspired you to become a
writer?
Theresa: My earliest
inspiration was my family. Both of my parents have written books, so as a kid,
I knew being a writer was possible. I’ve always loved to imagine stories; my
sister and I used to make animals and people out of modeling clay and conjure
up elaborate tales for them. I never wrote anything down until I was in
college, though. First I started messing around with journaling, then I decided
writing about other people was more interesting than writing about myself!
Kari&
Autumn: Where do you come up with the
ideas for your books?
Theresa: Some grain of the
story usually comes from a tidbit of history or a work of literature. From
there, writing the story is a bunch of, “What if…” and “Then what?” For my
newest historical romance, IT TAKES TWO TO TANGLE, I wanted to write about the
end of the Napoleonic Wars and the transition to peacetime. What if there was
an ex-soldier who was wounded, and he didn’t get better? What if there was a
war widow who had truly loved her late husband? How would they react to
peacetime? How would they admit they were falling for each other? I love the
Cyrano story, and having my stubborn hero and heroine work out their feelings
through secret letters seemed like a natural fit.
Kari&
Autumn: What exciting projects are
waiting in the wings?
Theresa: IT TAKES TWO TO
TANGLE is the first book in the Matchmaker trilogy. The second, TO CHARM A
NAUGHTY COUNTESS, will be out next May. That was such a fun story to write,
because the heroine is the rakish character!
But before
then, my third holiday historical romance will be released. SEASON FOR SCANDAL
is out next week. It’s a marriage of convenience story with a nice-guy hero
(with secrets!) and a heroine who won’t be satisfied with anything less than
his whole heart.
Kari&
Autumn: Who is your favorite literary
character and why?
Theresa: Can I only pick one? Ack, I can’t pick only
one! I admire Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple for the way she quickly understands
character and sees parallels between situations. Agatha Christie was such a
master at quickly sketching out a character and building plots. I also love Elizabeth
Bennet for her wit, honesty, and willingness to (eventually) admit when she’s
wrong. And among modern romance characters, I adore Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons.
I come from a big, loud, silly family, and all those Bridgerton siblings ring
true to me.
Kari&
Autumn: Just for fun, if you could be
any animal, what would it be and why?
Theresa: How about a parrot? I could fly, I could learn to talk, I could eat
almost any kind of food. I’d miss being able to read, though. If I could be a
magical reading parrot, that would be best of all.
About the author:
Historical romance author Theresa Romain pursued an impractical education that allowed her to
read everything she could get her hands on. She then worked for universities
and libraries, where she got to read even more. Eventually she started writing,
too. She lives with her family in the Midwest and is working on more Regency
romances.
Please
visit http://theresaromain.com/ for more information.
* Author photo courtesy of Britt Bradely
To Purchase It Takes Two to Tangle:
Thank you so much for hosting me today--and for the review! These were fun questions to answer.
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