Get Lost with the Queen of Hearts: Teresa Medeiros

Today, we're delighted to welcome New York Times bestselling author Teresa Medeiros. She's a long-reigning "queen of hearts" among romance writers, and now she's also a publisher.

Last fall she launched Amber House Books, and has already published 32 novels. She has the pleasure of working with such stellar romance authors as Rebecca Paisley, Rebecca Hagan Lee, Jill Marie Landis and of course…Teresa Medeiros.

Here's one of the latest from Amber House Books:

SHADOWS AND LACE by Teresa Medeiros

If a knight captures a lady, can she steal his heart?

   With one careless roll of the dice, Baron Lindsey Fordyce gambles away his beautiful daughter Rowena. Spirited away to an imposing castle, Rowena finds herself pressed into the service of a dark and forbidding knight accused of murder…and much more.

   Handsome, brooding Sir Gareth of Caerleon has spent years waiting for his chance for revenge. But when he seeks to use the fair Rowena to slay the ghosts of his past, he finds himself ensnared in a tender trap of his own making…a trap he can only escape by surrendering his heart.                  

Link to Excerpt

Meet Teresa

New York Times bestseller Teresa Medeiros wrote her first novel at the age of twenty-one, introducing readers to one of the most beloved and versatile voices in romance and women’s fiction. She has appeared on every national bestseller list, including the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly lists. She currently has over ten million books in print and is published in over seventeen languages. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and her “Facebook-famous” cats Willow Tum-Tum and Buffy the Mouse Slayer.

Teresa recently started her own publishing company, Amber House Books, where she’s bringing backlist and brand new titles to an audience hungry for quality romance. 

Her most recent Amber House Books’ releases are ONCE UPON A PILLOW by Christina Dodd and Connie Brockway, A HINT OF HEATHER by Rebecca Hagan Lee, RAINBOWS AND RAPTURE by Rebecca Paisley and updated and revised editions of Teresa's own romance classics SHADOWS AND LACE and LADY OF CONQUEST.

Get lost in a new age of romance 

E.E.: Seeing as you've taken the leap into publishing, what is your hope for the future of romance?

Teresa: This is an incredible time of transition (much like what the music industry went through a decade ago), but also an amazing time of opportunity for writers with vision. What I’d like to see with the success of indie publishing is a return to the variety we used to enjoy as a genre.

I think readers deserve to have a vast array of romances to choose from, not just a glut of whatever seems “popular” in New York at the moment. It’s been such a joy to me as a writer, a publisher, and a reader to see a resurgence in the popularity of medievals, westerns, sweet Americanas, traditional Regencies, etc.

Authors like Rebecca Hagan Lee and Rebecca Paisley are finding brand new audiences for their work. I adore Regency dukes as much as any other reader (and I’ve even written several!), but as a reader I can’t live on a steady diet of them. So I hope the creative boundaries of romance continue to expand and that both the writers and the readers benefit and can help to usher in a new Golden Age of Romance like the one that took place in the 80’s and 90’s.

  

E.E.: Which is easier, the writing or the story-telling?

Teresa: I am a total sucker for writing style so for me they’ve always gone hand in hand. I tend to write prose the same way I would write music and I’m not satisfied unless every “note” of the sentence feels write to me. To me, the writing is an integral part of the storytelling and I tend to gravitate toward writers who have a certain amount of unique “style” in their writing.

E.E.: What’s the first book you remember reading?

Teresa: Would you believe I read THE SHIVERING SANDS by Victoria Holt when I was only seven years old? Obviously it had a very deep effect on my psyche because from that moment on I preferred a hint of romance in everything I read. Other favorites I discovered after that were THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND by Elizabeth George Speare and MARA, DAUGHTER OF THE NILE by Eloise Jarvis McGraw.

E.E.: Any story bloopers you want to share?

Teresa: After I published Rebecca Paisley’s wonderful western romance RAINBOWS AND RAPTURE via Amber House Books, I was horrified to discover that the scanner had turned “arms” into “anus”. So our dashing hero Santiago Zamora was trying to wrap his “anus” around the heroine instead of his “arms”! (And this was after the book had gone through THREE proofreaders, including myself and Rebecca!) Thank goodness for digital and print-on-demand publishing because I was able to fix it with a click of a button. You should have seen my husband’s face when I explained I was going to have to do an “anus search” on all of my future projects.

E.E.: Which movie best represents your writing style?

Teresa: Definitely THE PRINCESS BRIDE! The romance, the tongue-in-cheek humor, the music, Cary Elwes in his prime. That was one of my favorite books of all-time before they made it into a movie.

E.E.: Who’s your favorite villain?

Teresa: Can I have two? How about Spike from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER first? What can I say—I was always a Billy Idol fan and Spike’s droll, self-deprecating humor (and spot-on British accent) was irresistible to me. And my other fave would have to be—Dr. Evil from the “Austin Powers” movies. I just can’t resist a man who makes me laugh! 

E.E.: What is your favorite kind of story to get lost in?

Teresa: The same kind I’m now publishing. I want a story that sweeps you out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary from the very first page. I want to read about two people who literally CAN’T live without each other—at least not without their lives and souls being impoverished because of it. I want passion. I want drama. I want to believe there’s no way things will ever work out between the hero and heroine—until the moment it does. I want a book that makes me laugh and makes me cry and makes me sigh with satisfaction when I turn the final page.

E.E.: What has been your most rewarding publishing moment?

Teresa: Surprisingly enough, it may be happening right now as a publisher. It happens every time I cut a royalty check to an author who may have stopped believing in the dream, who didn’t realize that there were still readers out there hungry for their wonderful stories. And when their newfound success inspires them to sit down at the computer and start a brand NEW story—that’s pure magic!

Where to find Teresa

Website: http://www.teresamedeiros.com

Amber House Books: http://www.amberhousebooks.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/teresamedeirosfanpage

Twitter: @TeresaMedeiros

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/teresamedeiros

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/teresamedeiros/

Blog: http://teresamedeiros.blogspot.com/

Teresa will be giving away autographed copies of two of her latest releases THE PLEASURE OF YOUR KISS and GOODNIGHT TWEETHEART to one lucky reader! Comment and enter the raffle for your chance to win.

I’d love to finish by asking your delightful readers a question—What is THEIR hope for the future of romance publishing?

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