Elizabeth' current book TO BEGUILE A BEAST has just been released this month! You've got to make a point of checking out this woman's excerpts! www.elizabethhoyt.com This one in particular looks yummy as it touches the essence of my favorite fairy tales!! This is the third in the "LEGEND OF THE FOUR BROTHERS" SERIES," with the fourth, TO DESIRE A DEVIL, due out in November of 2009! (Great titles, btw!!)
Elizabeth is one crazy busy woman! And not only does she write sensuous, romantic historical, but she also writes contemporary as Julia Harper!
I'd like to start there with this book as I picked it up the other day and I'm looking forward to finding some down time to read it! It looks like a great summer read! WEelcome to the LIT Manor, Elizabeth!
Amanda: I picked up your Julia Harper book, it looks like its going to make my top "Hammock" reads of the summer. Is this your first contemporary? Please tell us a bit about it. Maybe what inspired it? I absolutely love that title!;)
Julia/Elizabeth: FOR THE LOVE OF PETE (Jan. 2009) is my second contemporary. My first was HOT (Jan. 2009) My contemporaries are fun chase books with a lot of quirky characters. FOR THE LOVE OF PETE has an uptight FBI hero, a
free-spirited heroine, and a kidnapped toddler. Also, a bad guy with anger managment issues and two elderly Indian ladies trying to regain some very important saffron. Romantic Times magazine said that FOR THE LOVE OF PETE was like "Janet Evanovich crossed with The Sopranos."
Amanda: Speaking of nice things being said about your writing...You have got to be walking on air as of late with good news! You've come home recently from the RT BOOKlovers convention with a special award and I hear you are nominated for another this summer! Can you tell us these awards, and what book they are for?
Elizabeth: TO TASTE TEMPTATION just won the RT Reviewers' Choice award for Best Historical of 2008 and TO SEDUCE A SINNER is up for a RITA award this summer. TO BEGUILE A BEAST, my current book, just made the NYT
bestseller list--I'm still shocked!
Amanda: That is fantastic! Congratulations! How long have you been writing, and has writing historical always been your first love?
Elizabeth: I've been writing for about eight years now, and yes, historicals are my first love. The first book I write was THE RAVEN PRINCE. But I do love my contemporaries, too!
Amanda: Just curious, how would you classify the heat level in your historicals?
Elizabeth: Pretty hot verging on scorching. ;-)
Amanda: Woohoo! Lord C.M. will be borrowing that book! Now, of all your books, is there a character that still haunts you? Not necessarily in having their own book written, but one whose character is so strong to you that they linger in your mind? If so, who and why?
Elizabeth: The hero of TO SEDUCE A SINNER was perhaps the hardest to write. On the serface he's a bit of a clown and I wanted to preserve that while also making him a wonderful romance hero. It took a couple of tries, believe me! ;-)
Amanda: Here is the stepback of your new release and NYT's Best seller, TO BEGUILE A BEAST!! *fanning self* This sounds very much like an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Which is one of my favorite tales!(yes, even the Disney version) Do you often get inspiration from fairytales, legends, or lore?
Elizabeth: All of my books have a fairy tale that accompanies the main story, so yes, I am inspired by fairy tales and myths. I think often they have a core of something wonderful which is why they live on for centuries. Often my stories have an element that comes from a myth or fairy tale.
Amanda: I couldn't agree more, Elizabeth and it appears your readers agree as well!! Now just for fun, what do you do to rekindle/refresh your creative well?
Elizabeth: Garden!
Amanda: And with the weather we've had of late, its been a wonderful time to get out and play in the dirt and do some planting!
A little later, Elizabeth is going to treat us to an excerpt from TO BEGUILE A BEAST! We will select a winner from those who offer comment and they will receive Elizabeth's first book in the Four Brothers series, TO TASTE TEMPTATION! The floor is now open to questions!
