Showing posts with label Katharine Ashe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Katharine Ashe. Show all posts

10/20/2015

Get Lost in Historical Romance with a Twist from Katharine Ashe

Historical romance… with a twist.

The one that got away…
Six years ago, Tacitus Everard, the Marquess of Dare, made the worst mistake of his life: courting vibrant, sparklingly beautiful Lady Calista Chance—until she broke his heart.

Is the only one she wants.
Six years ago, Calista Holland made the biggest misstep of her life: begging handsome, wealthy Lord Dare to help her run away from home—then marrying someone else.

Now, trapped by disaster in a country inn, Calista has one day to convince the marquess she’s worth a second chance, and Dare has one goal, to steer clear of déjà vu. But when the day takes an unimaginable twist, what will it take to end up in each other’s arms?

EXCERPT from Again, My Lord

    He stood before her, soaked by the sheets of rain that perfectly matched his beautifully intense gray eyes. Still as stone and severe of jaw and stance, he stared at her without speaking as water streamed off the brim of his hat and the cape of his coat. Even with rain washing across his features, he was as handsome as ever: tall and dark and broad-shouldered, with the sort of jaw a woman longed to stroke and lips that stole her reason. And as stiff as a steel rod.
    “I beg your pardon,” he said across the rain. “Is he all right?”
    “Yes, sir!” Harry volunteered. “Grand horse you’ve got there, sir!”
    “Yes, well, he’s a goer.” He looked at her. “Forgive me, madam. I was … That is …” He scowled.
    Calista grasped her son’s slippery hand. “Come now, Harry. We must dry you off before you depart.” She drew him back into the inn as he craned his neck.
    Evelina stood in the doorway. “It’s him.”
    “Who?” Harry said.
    Calista glared at her sister. “No one.” Going to her sodden knees in the foyer she dusted raindrops from her son’s coat, and removed his hat and shook it out.
    “But, Mama—”
    “Harry,” she said firmly.
    Her son’s lips shut tight. “Yes, Mama.”
    Her heart twisted anew. Despite the Chance spirit he’d been born with, he had learned to be docile from necessity.
    Ignoring every lesson about stalwart strength in the face of adversity that she had taught her son over the past five years, she wrapped her arms around him again and pressed her face into the crook of his shoulder.
    “I will miss you, my darling,” she whispered fiercely.
    “I’ll miss you too, Mama.”
    She drew away. “Now, listen to your aunt and Grandmama this month.”
    “And to Cook,” he said.
    “Yes, and to Cook, so she will bake your favorite biscuits and allow you to taste the bread as soon as it is out of the oven,” she repeated the comforting words she had been telling him the entire journey to this tiny inn in this little village where Richard had instructed her to leave him in her sister’s care. She looked into his sober face that had never resembled her husband’s, rather featured the Chance black hair, blue eyes, and defiant chin. Harry would be better off at Dashbourne than at home, free to be a boy. It was she who would hate every day of this month apart. She stroked his cheek, then stood.
Lord Dare filled the inn doorway, his coat dripping, knees and boots muddy, and face inscrutable. A scar now cut across his jaw, lending an air of danger to his male beauty.
    “My lord,” she bit through tight lips.
    His attention shifted to Harry at her hip.
    “Do you know him, Mama?” her son whispered in the comically voluble whisper of the young.
    She reached down and clasped his little fingers. “He is Lord Dare. Bow to him now, darling.”
    Harry cut a neat little bow, his eyes remaining wide.
    “Why doesn’t he come in out of the rain?” His whisper filled the foyer.
    “Because he is a peculiar man,” she said. “Peculiar men who are very wealthy do anything they want.”
    “Even stand in the rain?” Harry asked skeptically.
    “You should see me when it snows,” Lord Dare said, and stepped into the foyer. His voice was as deep and velvety as it had been years ago. Adorned with a caped greatcoat and tall crowned hat, his presence dominated the small space. Were he atop a mountain, Calista thought, he would still seem to command the peaks with his quiet authority and stormy eyes.

Meet Katharine
Katharine Ashe is the bestselling, award winning author of historical romances that reviewers call “intensely lush” and “sensationally intelligent,” including 2015 RITA® Award Finalist My Lady, My Lord. A professor of history, she writes romance because she thinks modern readers deserve grand adventures and breathtaking sensuality too.


Where you can find: Again, My Lord
Amazon Kindle: http://amzn.to/1VweZRr
Amazon paperback: http://amzn.to/1FFKOA1
B&N paperback: http://bit.ly/1QSiFX8
Book Depository: http://bit.ly/1RFzsxs
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1LeoXf8

E.E.: What’s your favorite cartoon character?
Katharine: Flynn Rider from Disney’s Tangled. He’s a rogue with a heart of gold, my favorite sort of hero.

E.E.: What’s your favorite movie of all time?
Katharine: Moonstruck. 

E.E.: Who’s your favorite villain?
Katharine: It’s a tie between Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, because he’s so spectacularly funny and tragic, and Angelus from Buffy Season Two because HE BROKE MY HEART.

E.E.: Be honest, when reading...do you put yourself in the heroine’s role?
Katharine: Yes. And also in the hero’s role. I fall in love – hard -- every time I write a novel, but with the couple. He’s perfect for her, ideally fashioned to be the other half of her heart. And vice versa. When I fall in love it’s with them together. I think I actually fall in love with their love.

E.E.: What’s something you’d like to tell your fans?
Katharine: That I love them. That I’m grateful for them. That their appreciation for my stories allows me to do the work I love to do the most--every day--and I cannot thank them enough for that gift.

E.E.: If you couldn’t be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?
Katharine: Sitting in the corner of a dark room and weeping. Wait, that isn’t a profession. Could I make it one? WHY HAVE YOU ASKED ME THIS QUESTION!?! Actually, I used to be a full-time academic, and I still teach history part-time at university. Teaching is a delight and infinitely inspiring.

E.E.: Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it?
Katharine: Tea when it’s rainy or cold or late at night or I have the sniffles or when there are petit fours and tiny sandwiches nearby. Coffee with heated milk to open my eyes to the day, and with a pastry later in the morning. (Pastries loom large in my daily reality.)

E.E.: What is your hero’s “kryptonite” – in other words, what will bring him instantly to his knees?
Katharine: The touch of Calista’s hand.

QUESTION FOR OUR LOVELY READERS
What would you do with a single day if you could live it over again and again until you got it right?

GIVEAWAY
Two winners, Kindle copies of My Lady, My Lord.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

8/29/2011

Katharine Ashe

Get Lost in The Arms of a Marquess…

She had never forgotten him…

Miss Octavia Pierce is witty, well off, and shockingly unwed. Still, she is far too successful in society to remain on the shelf forever, and her family has hopes that Octavia will finally make the perfect match. What they do not know is that years earlier Octavia was scandalously tempted by the one man capable of sweeping her off her feet—the man now known as the Marquess of Doreé.

A third son, never meant to inherit, Lord Ben Doreé has abandoned his past and grown accustomed to his illustrious new position of wealth and power. But he has never forgotten Octavia, and now she desperately needs his help in a most dangerous, clandestine matter. Although she claims she has put the memories of the passion they shared behind her, Ben is determined to once again have her in his arms—and in his bed.

Excerpt from IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS

Ben pushed to his feet in the gin-soaked pub. His clogged head spun.

Styles laid a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll take you to Hauterive’s. Why you came in here when the company there would welcome you, I haven’t the slightest.”

“No. I’m for home.” He started toward the door.

“You disappeared from Lady Ashford’s party so swiftly I hadn’t an idea of it until you were gone. If I’d have known you were heading here I would have dissuaded you.”

“Couldn’t have.” Ben pushed through the lollers at the tavern’s entry and headed toward the mews down the alley with bleary eyes but hound-like precision. If he hadn’t trekked this path hundreds of times in his university days, he would be lost now. Lost in London’s hells and lost in confounded memories, neither of which locations he particularly wished to be.

“Who was that girl you were dancing with, the one that looked like an Irish Athena, all sublime figure and eyes of soft steel?”

Ben blinked to shut out the image of Octavia’s body wrapped in the shimmering gown, her soft lips, pinkened cheeks, and the sensation of her trembling fingers within his. But behind his lids the image was even stronger, and his hand still felt hot where hers had lain.

“Good God, Walker,” he grunted, “you and Constance would make a perfect pair, both of you curious as a couple of magpies.”


“Lady Constance asked about the girl too? Is she jealous?”

“Only of your paramours.”

“Then the lady at Ashford’s is a paramour?”

Ben shook his head, his stomach rolling. “Not mine.” Not any longer.
He moved across the street in unsteady strides.

But why not? No one controlled his destiny now. His life was his own. Why not seduce a beautiful, deceitful woman, a woman whose flavor yet remained upon his tongue? Why not take pleasure where he wished?

Because he could not then and still could not believe in her deceit, although he had tried to convince himself of it again and again. To absolve himself of guilt.

He stumbled into the stable and pressed his face into his horse’s satiny neck. Taking to the bottle tonight had been a mistake. He needed clarity. A pitcher of icy water over his head would do it, just as her smile had earlier, so brief it seemed she didn’t even know she smiled, washing his vision clear for an instant as it always had…


Today, I am thrilled to welcome historical romance author Katharine Ashe to the back to the blog! (Be sure to click the link at the end of her post if you missed Katharine’s first visit for more fun interview questions). I got the chance to hang out with Katharine this summer at RWA’s conference in New York, and I can tell you that not only is she a fabulously talented author, but smart, savvy and wickedly funny! Please visit her at www.katharineashe.com

So let’s get to know Katharine better!


The American Library Association’s Booklist named Katharine Ashe among its “New Stars of Historical Romance” and her debut, Swept Away by a Kiss, was a 2010 nominee for Best First Historical Romance in the Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards. Katharine lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt.

And now, for the Get Lost Interview!

Heather:
How often do you get lost in a story?
Katharine: Always. I adore deep, powerful romances that hurl me up and down through bliss and torture then joy and torment and back to complete happiness in the end. The more roller coaster-y the romance, and the more it makes me feel deeply, laughing and crying on the same page — as long as the conclusion is deliciously satisfying — the more likely I am to get lost in it. Lost In A Story is my middle name: Katharine Lost In A Story Ashe. Honest. Check my driver’s license.

I also get really lost in the story when I write. (see below!)

Heather: What sound do you love?
Katharine: Favorite: The sound of one person saying to another, “I love you.” Second favorite: The ocean breaking on the shore with gull cries above.

Heather: Do you write while listening to music? If so what kind?
Katharine: While writing I prefer silence (or the sound of my dogs snoring, which is, um, kind of inevitable). I do make a playlist for each book, and I listen to it all the rest of the time — in the car, walking the dogs, running, grocery shopping, gardening, rotating my tires. I have a tough time stepping away from a story while I’m writing it. I adore every moment of the lovers’ tangled journey toward their happily ever after. Listening to the playlist is my way of staying in their emotions even when I must be somewhere else.

Heather: If you couldn’t be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?
Katharine: Writer. (I can’t believe you asked that question.) Actually, I’m also a professor of history. But I’d like to be a gardener. Or a dog walker. Or a meteorologist. Or a Shakespearian actor. Or a test driver for Mustang convertibles. Or a professional champagne taster.

Heather: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?
Katharine: Weep and laugh with joy for my hero and heroine. Dance around the living room. Crack open the bubbly. Not necessarily in that order.

Heather: What do you do to unwind and relax?
Katharine: I build model nuclear submarines and solve calculus equations. No. (Ye-ah.) I walk my pups, hang out with my son, watch romantic comedies, sit on my deck listening to cicadas in the treetops or basketball players in the nearby park.

Heather: What soundtrack or playlist do you recommend for your current release?
Katharine: Here are a few songs from my playlist for IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS:

“You’ll Ask for Me” – Tyler Hilton
“Moonlight Serenade” – Klaus Badelt (from POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl)
“Replace You” – Samantha Moore
“Vulnerable” – Secondhand Serenade
“Animals on Fire” – Kate Walsh (The beat of this song is like a heartbeat. It’s amazing.)
“Fear” – Sarah McLachlan
“Am I the Only One?” – Barenaked Ladies
“I Shall Believe” – Sheryl Crow
“New Divide” – Linkin Park
“Here with Me” – Dido
“Come What May” – Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman (from Moulin Rouge)
“You and Me” – Lifehouse
“Shine” – Rosi Golan

Heather: Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it?
Katharine: Coffee for breakfast, decaf (because when I drink caffeine I start thinking I should become the captain of a tall ship and have perilous seafaring adventures, but that just wouldn’t be practical at this time in my life, you see), with heated milk. I became accustomed to this while living in Rome, taken with a plumcake, a little breakfast treat that, having mentioned it, I am now of course craving. (*opening my browser to search for a store that will mail plumcakes from Italy*)

Tea late at night when all are abed save me and my laptop. Tea when I am in the British Isles where the misty rain at dawn and the lush green hills of Wales and the winding stone walls of Scotland and the clattering streets of London require such elemental comfort. Tea when the sniffles threaten. Tea when a friend comes over to chat. Cream Tea when True Snacking is a must.

Heather: What does it mean to love someone?
Katharine: To give your heart without reservation. To protect the beloved’s heart, body, and precious uniqueness from danger. To inspire the beloved to become the best person possible.

Heather: Have you ever written a character who wasn’t meant to be a hero/heroine but he/she wouldn’t go away?
Katharine: Octavia Pierce, the heroine of IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS. She was the little sister of a heroine I was writing at the time, on the verge of sixteen, a straightforward, shockingly honest miss with an adventuresome spirit. A very minor character.

At first Octavia didn’t actually tell me she must have her own story. Ben did. Her hero. He saw her (from a distance, when I wasn’t paying attention) and he told me quite clearly that he wanted her for his heroine. Since I barely knew him at the time, frankly I didn’t have any reason to trust him — not even twenty and full of confident, tall, dark and handsome lordliness. But he wouldn’t leave me alone about it. He was very certain. And you know, when a mysterious and powerful lord insists on something like this, it’s kind of hard not to buckle under. So I said he’d have to wait until she became a lady, about three years, and then, well, he’d have to lose her after that… for a while. Another seven years. (Remember that torture-bliss thing I mentioned above?) He glowered. I cowered, but I held fast. Come to think of it, when I promised him the billiards table scene, his glower relaxed a little.

And so I wrote their story.
(BTW, nobody actually plays billiards in the book.)

Heather’s GOTTA ASK – Katharine’s GOTTA ANSWER
Heather:
So, Katharine, we know from your last visit that you are a professor of European history. I see that you've lived in both France and Italy. Can you tell us what you loved, or didn't, about living abroad?

Katharine: I loved walking the paths that people I’ve read about walked hundreds of years ago. I loved the food (plumcakes!), speaking in other languages, and the people. I loved all the new scents and living a different texture of life.

It was tough not having an ample supply of English-language novels. They’re expensive in Rome (where I spent most of my time abroad) and I was a (very) poor graduate student. When I discovered a little English bookshop that sold Penguin Classics for $1.99, I was in alt. I read every Jane Austen novel first.

GOT A QUESTION YOU’D LIKE TO ASK YOUR FANS?
Katharine: What do you neglect/ignore/forget/accidentally-misplace-in-your-sock-drawer when you’re lost in a great story?

WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?
Katharine: I'll be happy to give away a set of Romance Trading Cards and a gorgeous "Fight Like a Girl" ocean-glass and silver pendant made for September's Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, related to Avon's KISS and Teal campaign (of which I'm a spokesperson).

Thanks so much for being with us today, Katharine! Where can your fans learn more about you?

Website Facebook Twitter

Want to know even more about Katharine? Take a look at her first GET LOST appearance.
Get Lost Interview

**Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North American addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.

DON’T FORGET to check back daily to GET LOST in your favorite stories! FOLLOW us on Twitter (#GetLostStories) or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join us this week as we host Lisa Kessler, Karin Harlow, Sandra Orchard & Best Selling Author Susan Wiggs.

3/25/2011

Katharine Ashe

Get Lost in This Story…





She would marry no man…

Serena Carlyle dreams of a happily ever after. Firmly on the shelf at twenty-five, instead she’s determined to find the perfect match for her beautiful younger sister. What better prospect than their neighbor, the wealthy, rakishly handsome Earl of Savege? Now Serena can beg his help in halting a local band of smugglers. Then, one night, stealing away from yet another disappointing ball, Serena finds herself trapped alone with a stranger …


Until he captured her—body and soul

His kiss was irresistible, his caress unforgettable, and he hides a devastating secret. A Robin Hood upon the sea, Alex Savege is the brazen pirate Redstone, seizing the yachts of spoiled noblemen to settle an old debt. Serena needs a hero, but her heart is in the gravest danger—for it is soon to be captured by a man as skilled at seduction as he is at plunder.


Today, I am thrilled to welcome historical romance author Katharine Ashe to the blog! The American Library Association’s Booklist named Katharine one of the “New Stars of Historical Romance” and her debut, Swept Away by a Kiss, was nominated for Best First Historical Romance in the Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards. Katharine lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European history, she has made her home in California, Italy, France, and the northern US. Please visit her at www.katharineashe.com


So let’s get to know Katharine better!


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

Katharine: Moonstruck. It has everything: laughter, romance, heart-stopping speeches, gorgeous music, deep philosophical ponderings, cute dogs, New York City, family warmth, and a full moon that makes everybody go wild with love. Perfect!



Heather: How often to you get lost in a story?

Katharine: Often, and sometimes BIG. When I love a story — I mean really love it — I cannot stop reading it. I will stay up all night until it’s time to walk my dogs and get my son to school, and suffer the consequences of exhaustion in perfect bliss. Recently after one of these no-sleep-all-read binges, I wanted to immediately read the book again. Of course I had to go to work. So when I went to campus I actually (I kid you not) thought about taking it up to my lectern to read while my students were doing short projects. I didn’t! But I seriously considered it. Oh, but I did re-read it while walking the dogs and doing the laundry for about a week. Then I wrote the author a page-long fan letter (the first fan letter I’d ever written!) detailing what I loved about the book. That is how deeply I can get lost in a story.


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

Katharine: Any romance featuring a handsome, smart hero with a heart of gold and willingness to laugh at himself, and a heroine daring and delightful enough to win him. J


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

Katharine: I simply adore “adore”. Adore has power and emotion and passion. It also has sweetness and depth and constancy. It is used for the emotion a person feels for another, for the earth’s creatures, for a god. It’s the word engraved on the inside of my wedding ring.


That said


“Love” is exquisite beauty, ecstatic joy, and profound pleasure all rolled into one. When I read a romance novel, I wait on the edge of my seat for the moment the characters declare their love with this simple, sublime word. It is The. Best. Thing. Ever.


Heather: What turns you off like nothing else?

Katharine: Hatred. Intolerance. Clique-ishness. Unkindness.


Heather: Who’s your favorite villain?

Katharine: Tragic villains! — villains who suffer emotionally for their crimes, or commit crimes because of their soul-deep suffering. In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, when Captain Barbossa utters “I feel… cold” and the apple tumbles from his hand, my heart aches for him every time I watch it! Yes, he’s a blackguard. Yes, he has treated the fabulous Captain Jack Sparrow horridly. But he has lost all the beauty of his humanity while still being obliged to live as a human. His suffering is so poignant, I simply love him. (I love Jack Sparrow and Will Turner better, of course, but for rather other reasons.) ;)



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

Katharine: Laugh. Weep in happiness. Shout with joy. Drink a glass of champagne. I actually write a lot like I read – thoroughly engrossed in the dance of desire a hero and heroine engage in while their hearts are gradually intertwining. I savor each moment of their story, which makes those final declarations of love so incredibly satisfying to write. And because my hero and heroine are deliriously happy at the end, I am too!


Heather: If you could interview one person (and it doesn’t have to be a writer) who would it be?

Katharine: Mahatma Gandhi, because he asked only for peace. But if he weren’t available, because, well, he’s not anymore, then Hugh Jackman, because… um… well… ;) (Does everybody know that Hugh starred in the 1999 Aussie film Paperback Hero as a closet, best-selling romance novelist? I’m sure I could come up with lots of fun facts about Mahatma, too, by the way. I’m just saying.)



Heather: What soundtrack or playlist do you recommend for your current release?

Katharine: Here are few songs from my playlist for CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD:


“Talk Show Host” – Radiohead

“This Kiss” – Faith Hill

“If You Were Here” – Thompson Twins

“Brave” – Nicole Nordeman

“Sweet and Low” – Augustana

“In Your Eyes” – Peter Gabriel

“Possession” – Sarah McLaughlan

“Carve Your Heart Out Yourself” – Dashboard Confessions

“For My Love” – Bethany Dillon

“God Made Woman” – Keith Urban


(I post my book playlists on the Exclusives page of my website www.katharineashe.com.)


Heather: What color would you make the sky if it wasn’t going to be blue anymore and why?

Katharine: I cannot imagine the sky any color but blue… or gray, or pink, or flaming orange, or black, or silvery white, or mustard. The heroes of my “Rogues of the Sea” trilogy are lords of Regency England, but they are also sailors. From their ship decks, they have seen skies nearly every color imaginable.


Heather: What’s in your refrigerator right now?

Katharine: Milk. Champagne. Pizza. Strawberries. Blueberry-pomegranate juice. Dill pickles. Champagne. Pimento cheese (forgive me; I live in the south!). Nutella (it moved there from the cabinet because the ants who live in the cabinet took a shine to it). Some vegetables with which I’m sure my husband will do something nice but which are otherwise irrelevant to me. Guacamole. Champagne.


Heather’s GOTTA ASK – Katharine’s GOTTA ANSWER J


Heather: So, Katharine, you are a professor of European History...How have your students reacted to your new career? Any of them dare rib the teacher?


Katharine: I like to keep my two professional worlds apart, so in academia I don’t talk about my fiction writing. But just last week, in fact, I discovered that some of my students do indeed know of my alter ego. I think it’s a lovely mark of respect that they haven’t mentioned it in my classroom (where our work is not about romance fiction). If and when they finally do mention it, I’ll let you know! J


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


Katharine: I could not resist saving this question from my lovely hosts to ask you: If you were given a chance to travel to the past, where would you go and specifically why?


WILL YOU HAVE A DRAWING FROM THOSE LEAVING COMMENTS?**


Katharine: I’ll give away an autographed copy of CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD to one randomly chosen commenter. J


Thanks so much for being with us today, Katharine! Where can your fans learn more about you on the web?






Thanks Katharine! And readers, here's the links to Katharine's current releases :)


CAPTURED BY A ROGUE LORD



A LADY’S WISH






**Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North American addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.


Join us next week when we celebrate Get Lost in a Story crew member, Maureen McGowan’s releases of Cinderella: Ninja Warrior and Sleeping Beauty: Vampire Slayer!!!