Carrie Lofty

 Born in California and raised in the Midwest, Carrie Lofty met her English husband while studying abroad–the best souvenir! Since completing her master’s degree in history, she has been devoted to raising their two precocious daughters and writing full time. Her latest historical romance, Portrait of Seduction, is available now. Later this year watch for her new Victorian series from Pocket, as well as her “Dark Age Dawning” romance trilogy from Berkley, co-written with Ann Aguirre under the name Ellen Connor. “Historical romance needs more risk-takers like Lofty.” ~ Wendy the Super Librarian

Portrait of Seduction

Greta Zwieg forges masterpieces. With her copies on their walls and the original paintings safely hidden, the noble families of Austria can rest assured their treasures will survive Napoleon's advances. But now Greta’s uncle is changing the rules, selling her counterfeits as originals. Greta abhors the deceit. Anxious for her family's safety in a perilous time, she is nevertheless determined to put things right.

Oliver Doerger is living a lie of his own. Acting as valet for his aristocratic half brother, Oliver thwarts an attempt on Greta's life and is overwhelmed by the forbidden passion that flares between them. Although he's not truly a servant, he is a bastard and a spy--certainly no match for a woman of such exquisite quality.

Though both fear discovery, they cannot resist each other. When the truth comes out, and the city falls into chaos, Greta and Oliver will be forced to choose: love or duty?  

CAT:  What’s your favorite “love” word?

CARRIE:  “Adore” is my favorite love word! It can be sexual, romantic, sweet, platonic, caring, while also implying a level of obsession and exclusivity.

CAT:  What’s your favorite cartoon character?

CARRIE:  My favorites when growing up were split between Jem and Cheetara from “Thundercats.” To say I was a girl in search of strong female role models would be an understatement!

CAT:  Is there a playlist you’d recommend for reading your latest release?

CARRIE:  Absolutely! I always, always write with music, and I include the playlists in a jukebox on every excerpt page of my website. The playlist for Portrait of Seduction can be found here: Portrait of Seduction excerpt

CAT:  Die Hard or Die Harder?

CARRIE:  Die Hard! I watch it every Christmas. I can’t imagine choosing to go without Alan Rickman!

CAT:  What’s your favorite movie of all time?

CARRIE:  Aliens! Again, the female role model thing, yes? Ripley is still my hero. In fact for our pseudonym, Ann Aguirre and I chose to combine Ellen Ripley and The Teriminator’s Sarah Connor to form Ellen Connor (http://www.ellenconnor.com). Our homage to the toughest women in film! Nightfall, the first of co-written “Dark Age Dawning” trilogy of hot-n-dirty apocalyptic paranormal romance, comes out in June from Berkley Sensation.    

CAT:  What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

CARRIE:  Of course it depends on my mood, whether I go for lush or playful, but I always need depth of character. I love tortured, deep protagonists who mend the little hurts in one another. That’s the essence of a romance to me, and it’s what I seek out when I want a story to take me away.

CAT:  What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

CARRIE:  Shower. Generally those last couple chapters are killer-fast. It’s like barreling downhill toward the finish. So things like housework, personal hygiene and sleep all go by the wayside. After that first draft is finished, I come out of my writing cave to clean up, sleep for 48 hours, and catch up on emails!

CAT:  What is something that not a lot of people know about you but you WISH more people COULD know?

CARRIE:  I used to compete as a Latin ballroom dancer in college, and I took up bellydancing after seeing U2’s “Mysterious Ways” on their ZooTV tour. Oh, and I danced with Bono on his 40^th birthday!

CAT:  Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

CARRIE:  My husband keeps a Google alert on my name and book titles. He forwards me the good reviews and random positive mentions. I’m convinced there’s never seen a bad review, right? Heh. It saves my sanity, frankly. Bad reviews have a way of being tattooed on my brain, so I don’t need that criticism hanging around forever. As with most writers, I have enough negativity to deal with on my own!

CAT’S GOTTA ASK:

If you were a t-shirt, what color would you be and why?

CARRIE’S GOTTA ANSWER:

Purple, because it’s the best of all colors.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?

I know it has nothing to do with books, but I tend to get too focused on reading and writing. Let’s step out of our little corner of creativity and look at the world of music. So…what’s your favorite song of all time?

Carrie has offered to give away a copy of PORTRAIT OF SEDUCTION as PDF or EPUB format.

Find Carrie at:

www.carrielofty.com

also: www.ellenconnor.com

Twitter

Facebook