On Tap with Christine Donovan

What a treat. I’m excited to introduce a new historical author I met through the Marketing For Romance Writers loop, Christine Donovan. Christine will be giving one lucky respondent a $25.00 gift certificate to Amazon. So make sure to leave a comment to enter the drawing. In addition, I’ll be giving a copy of the The Wronged Princess – Book I.

Now!!! About Christine…

klw:  What author had the most influence on your life?  

cd:  We are going back in time. As a teenager I hated to read and I did not read well, until I found historical romances. I read everything I could get my hands on. The one author who stays with me to this day is Kathleen E. Woodiwiss and her beloved “Shanna.”  The book “Shanna” was the first romance I read and began my lifelong love affair with romance novels. Without that love of romance novels I would not be the author I am today. I still read “Shanna” once a year.

klw:  When did you first consider yourself a writer?

cd: After I completed my first novel. It took me eight months to write and the only one I told was my husband. For Valentine’s Day that year he gave me “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Your Romance Published.” It introduced me to RWA. I still say it was the best gift I ever received from him. It changed my life.

klw:  I’m lucky like that as well, my husband is very supportive of my writing. How would you describe your writing space?

cd: I have a nice office/library with a cathedral ceiling and a large window with a round top. It is truly a pretty room. Too bad I seldom write in it. Most days I can be found at the kitchen table. I like to be where the action is. My stereo must be on and tuned into my favorite country station.

klw: What are you reading now?

cd: I hope I don’t disappoint. I’m not currently reading a romance. I’m reading Lee Child’s “The Affair” I love his Jack Reacher Novels. Give me a good ex-military man who solves mysteries singlehandedly any day.

klw: Oh nooooo….just kidding. I write Contemporary and Historical too. Do you have a preference?

cd: That is hard to say. Contemporary comes easy to me, so that is what I first wrote. Historical is difficult to write, but terribly fun. Although I must admit, now that I am writing my third Historical, it is getting easier mostly because I do not have to look up everything. My mind is retaining facts and the language.

klw: Research…the time suck! I totally understand. Do short stories come easy for you?

cd: Yes. I have written a few. Maybe someday I’ll compile them together. It would be a mishmash as the genres are all different.

klw: How many books have your written?  Which is your favorite? 

cd: I have written a total of nine. My favorite is “Sunset Beach.” Someday I hope to have it published. It holds a special place in my heart because it revolves around nine friends who spent their summers together at Sunset Beach. (fictitious place) I based it on my own memories of my summers spent at our family beach house. That is where the similarities end. This is a romantic suspense. It begins in 1979 as they are entering their senior year of high school and ends fifteen years later when they get together for a reunion.  All my books, including my historicals, have a small amount of suspense in them.

klw: What comes first, plot or characters?

cd: I would have to say my characters. They introduce themselves first then let me know what plot they want to be a part of. My characters can be, at times, hard to control!

klw: Control is overrated, don’t you think? Do you ever suffer from writer’s block?

cd: I suppose I do. When I first started writing, characters and stories bogged down my every waking moment. Some nights I couldn’t sleep because my brain would not stop. One day it all vanished, like someone flipped a switch. I did not panic, well I did at first. To continue with my craft I polished up what I had written. Then one day I decided I needed to start something new. It made me become more of a plotter. I’m happy to say, while I’m not inundated with characters demanding my attention as before, they have come back to me.

 klw: We sure seem to have a lot in common. Tell me, what do you like to do when you’re not writing?

cd: I have a busy home life with four sons and one granddaughter.  However, I make time for myself. I spend time at the gym. I love to read. I was an artist long before I began writing, so I love to paint. During the spring and summer gardening is my passion. I love to attend concerts. I attend several each summer with my high school friends. We never miss Toby Keith!

klw: That’s very interesting, because I feel the same way about Chicago, the band. Tell us about The Reluctant Duke.

cd: “The Reluctant Duke,” Book One in “A Seabrook Family Saga” Is the first Regency I wrote. I had the most fun. It was a nice change and a challenge from writing contemporary.

klw: What’s next for you?

cd: The next book in the series, “The Lady and the Earl,” is at my editor and will be available come spring. I have started the third and hope to have that out in the fall. After that I would like to publish some of my previous contemporary works.  I will continue to write in the historical genre.

 Well, Christine, it was very nice to meet you. I hope we can meet up at Nationals, if not in Atlanta, perhaps San Antonio. Thank you for stopping by.

Now, let’s get to the good stuff and learn more about The Reluctant Duke.

Thomas Seabrook, the penniless Duke of Wentworth, walks into White’s for night cap.   He leaves no longer in need of coin. In fact, he has become a wealthy man and owner of Hamilton Whaling Industries of New Bedford, Massachusetts and guardian of a seventeen-year-old girl. Thomas travels to Boston intent of bring his ward back and marrying her off to the first eligible gentleman who requests her hand. Except the first gentleman to ask for her, is his own brother Sebastian. Thomas refuses, because bloody hell, he wants her for himself.

Emma Hamilton is not happy with her new situation. Her papa brought her up to be independent and assertive. How dare this stranger, this moody noble, dictate what she can do and not do? When she finds herself thrown into a London season, being introduced from one gentleman to another, looking for a husband, she realizes only the duke will do. How can she break through the duke’s hard exterior and find the loving, caring gentleman she knows he hides from everyone.