Hi Marie! I am so thrilled having you here and for the chance to learn more about you and your latest release Queen of the Desert - I am completely in love with the cover, by the way! Let's get started with my questions...
Thank you so much, Rachel for welcoming me on your blog today to talk about my writing and my latest historical romance, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, which was recently released by Choc Lit UK.
1.)
What do you wish you’d known before you started
writing?
That it takes ages for a book to be published and that an author needs to learn patience and have a good, trusting relationship with their editor. There is a lot work to be done after the book has been accepted for publication, and a lot of editing and rewriting are often necessary.
2.)
Is there one subject you’d never write about as
an author? What is it?
I wouldn’t able to write anything with horror, child cruelty or violence. I can’t even read anything with graphic violence or where children are being abused or hurt.
3.)
Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Definitely a pantser. The extent of my planning is to decide on the setting, the main characters and a plot line or two. As for the rest, it all depends on chance, on my mood and on where my imagination takes me.
4.)
If you could be the original author for any
book, which book would it be? Why?
It would have to be Marcel Pagnol’s two autobiographical novels My Father’s Glory and My Mother’s Castle. I read them in French so I don’t know if the English translations do justice to the original novels, but Pagnol’s writing is beautiful and full of emotion and humour, and so evocative of Provence you can smell the lavender, the aniseed and the wild herbs on the sun-parched hillside.
5.)
What are you working on at the moment?
I am trying to complete a Christmas romance set in the Lakes – a kind of follow up from BLUEBELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC, but I think I left it too late for this coming Christmas. It is very strange to write about snowy mountains, Christmas trees and mince pies as the sun is shining, the air is lovely and mild and there are daffodils everywhere!
6.)
Do you work on one book at a time? More?
I usually work on a couple of ideas at the same time and like to switch between stories when I get bored or stuck, which happens quite a lot! Taking a step back and leaving the manuscript for a few weeks usually help me get back on track later.
As well as my Christmas
romance, I have started two other novels but it has been really hard for me to
put aside time for writing these past few months on top of my full-time job. My
husband passed away suddenly last year, and there has been – and still is – so much
sadness, trauma and turmoil at home for the children and I that writing has
been pushed right back. However writing has always given me a space to dream
and escape from my worries, and I hope I can soon carve enough time to get back
to it properly.
7.)
Do you have a favourite character in your
latest release/
I would find it hard to
choose between Harriet Montague and Lucas Saintclair as they are both equally brave
and strong. I
wanted to write about a heroine who refuses to be bound by the constraints and
conventions of Victorian society, and who loves nothing more than working on
archaeological sites alongside her father and sketching their finds in her
beloved sketchbook. Harriet knows her own mind, and she definitely isn’t made
for sipping tea, making polite conversation, or doing her embroidery in the
drawing room of her father’s London house. And then of course, there is Lucas
Saintclair – the bad boy who seems to care about no one and nothing, apart from
money, women and pleasure, and who in fact hides a broken heart and a broken
soul... They really are the perfect pair for a dangerous and exciting North
African adventure
Blurb for QUEEN OF THE
DESERT
Sometimes the most precious treasures
exist in the most barren and inhospitable of places …
Harriet Montague is definitely too much of a
gentlewoman to be frequenting the backstreet taverns of Algiers. But her father
has been kidnapped whilst on an expedition to the tomb of an ancient desert
queen, and she’s on a mission to find the only person who could save him.
It’s just unfortunate that Lucas
Saintclair, the man Harriet hopes will rescue her father from scoundrels, is
the biggest scoundrel of the lot. With a bribe in the form of a legendary
pirate treasure map, securing his services is the easiest part – now Harriet
must endure a treacherous journey through the desert accompanied by
Saintclair’s band of ruffians.
But on the long, hot Saharan nights, is it any wonder that her heart begins to thaw towards her guide – especially when she realises Lucas’s roguish façade conceals something she could never have expected?
QUEEN OF THE
DESERT is available as ebook from Amazon and Kobo
Author Bio
Originally from Lyon in France, Marie now lives in Lancashire and writes
historical and contemporary romance. Best-selling LITTLE PINK TAXI was her
debut contemporary romantic novel with Choc Lit. A PARIS FAIRY TALE was
published in July 2019, followed by BLUEBELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC in November 2019
and bestselling romantic suspense ESCAPE TO THE LITTLE CHATEAU which was
shortlisted for the 2021 RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense Award. HAPPY
DREAMS AT MERMAID COVE is her latest contemporary romance. QUEEN OF THE DESERT
is Marie’s second historical romance, following on from ANGEL OF THE LOST
TREASURE which features another member of the Saintclair family.
She also writes short stories for the bestselling Miss Moonshine anthologies, and is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association and the Society of Authors. Her novels are available as ebooks and audiobooks on Amazon and various other platforms.
Website
and/or Blog: http://marielaval.blogspot.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/marielaval1
Facebook
page: https://www.facebook.com/marie.laval.9/
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