WELCOME TO THE BLOG, ERICA! :)
Erica Taylor is a mother of two and military wife married to her high school sweetheart. Raised in the mountains of Colorado, she holds a BA in History from the University of Colorado. Erica has been writing stories since she can remember, picked up her first romance novel while on a beach vacation as a teenager, and fell in love with falling in love, with sexy heroes and the feisty women who challenge their lives.
A self-confessed geek, Erica loves anything Harry Potter, Doctor Who or Star Wars, can spend hours in Target with a Starbucks, and truly believes a cat makes a home. Currently living in South Africa, Erica can often be found writing during soccer practice or piano lessons and is not afraid to let dinner burn if it means getting the story out of her head.
Where to Find Erica:
TBQ: Hi Erica! Introduce yourself – perhaps in the form of 3 unique, wacky, or fun things about yourself?
Erica: Hello! I am a military wife and mom of two. I'm from Colorado but I live in South Africa right now. I love to travel and I love movies. Three crazy things about me:
- I've traveled to fifteen different countries, thirteen of those in the last two years!
- I love football (Go Broncos!). Like a weird amount. I follow the off season trades and the draft, through training and the opening days of the season. I get weirdly into fantasy football.
- I grew up in the mountains but I don't ski or snowboard.
TBQ: Oh, wow, you've seen a good amount of the world, that's awesome! :)
Your debut, A Suitable Affair, releases on June 6th. Congrats! Can you tell us a little bit about this book, and why readers are going to love it?
E: A Suitable Affair is about a story about redemption, and accepting the good things in life with the bad. It's about not letting your choices define you and about finding a way to be yourself, despite your circumstances. I hope readers will respond Ian and Susanna because they have real problems and react to things in not always the most perfect way. But they learn ands other beat they can, and despite their issues, they are worthy of love.
TBQ: All good things to read about -- and even apply to one's own life, to be honest. I'm in!
Why do Ian and Susanna fit together so well?
E: Ian is a man who takes himself very seriously, even though his sarcastic exterior would suggest otherwise. He's deeply wounded, blaming himself for his sister's death. Susanna somehow sees past the jokes and sarcasm and doesn't let him shy away from hiding who he is. And he responds to that, craving interaction with her without even realizing it. She makes him want things in his life that he'd never thought possible. Susanna has toed the line all her life, pushing the rules and boundaries where she can but longs to be free of the Regency era's bindings. Ian's disregard for the rules is a breath of fresh air in Susanna's stuffy proper existence. She wants to scold him for doing as he pleases, but she enjoys it, enjoys the freedom she feels around him.
TBQ: Aw, they do sound perfect -- and I so love that dynamic, too.
In 5 words or less, describe Susanna for us. And let's not forget Ian -- what's he like?
E: Susanna is generous, she is intelligent and strong. She is goodness and loving.
Ian is clever and observant. He is charming, and bold but also stubborn.
TBQ: Oh, gotta love those stubborn heroes!
Did you have any particular actors/models/etc. in mind for these two?
E: In my head, Ian was always Stephen Amell even though that's not quite how he's described. He certainly has Amell's face and cheese ball grin. Susanna was never really anyone specific. She changed often, I never settled on anyone who was just right.
These I had taped on my wall during writing ASA for "inspiration."
And
TBQ: Oh, hello!
Do you have a favorite part from A Suitable Affair?
E: My favorite part is probably in Ian's study when Susanna basically calls him on his crap. He has a tendency to be hard on himself and she tells him to snap out of it and stop blaming himself for everything that has gone wrong. I like that she doesn't coddle him or let him sulk. It's an emotional scene, but also a bit of a breakthrough for Ian.
TBQ: Ha! That's always the best part; I love heroines who do not take the hero's garbage! These two sound great, I cannot wait to read their story.
Have you always wanted to write? Were you inspired by certain authors or people in your life to start your first novel?
E: I have always wanted to write. I was that fifth grader who turned in a thirty page story when everyone else wrote two. In college, I took a creative writing course and our end of year project was a short story. Everyone else wrote ten, twenty pages and I submitted eighty three. My classmates were not too happy with me. I never really thought about writing for real, really writing a book and pursuing this as a career until my daughter was born, my husband deployed and I got super bored. I read a crappy romance novel and thought, "I could write better than this!" And so I set out to do that. When I told my mom I wanted to be an author, she said, "yeah, I always knew that." And when I told my husband, he said, "you told me that on our first date." So apparently everyone knew this is what I was going to do, except for me!
TBQ: Sometimes it just take a bit longer for you to see and reach for your dream, right?
I know many romance authors are also big readers first. What
are a few of your all-time favorite books and/or authors?
E: Julia Quinn had me hooked early on with her Brigertons. I knew from then I wanted to write a family series. Gaelen Foley, Tessa Dare and Sarah Maclean are important to me. And of course, though not romance, JK Rowling had a huge impact on me.
TBQ: All great authors, I can see why they influenced you!
What have you read recently that you can’t stop recommending to others?
E: Gasp-- I don't read as much as you'd think I would. With two kids and writing my own series I don't have as much time to read as I'd like. And actually the last thing I read that I thought, "Well damn! That was awesome!" was a book I beta read for one of my author friends and I'm sworn to secrecy.
TBQ: Damn life, why must it get in the way of our reading? :) Also: tease! But hopefully we'll be able to find out about the secret book before too long!
What's next-- Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming releases or WIP?
E: A Suitable Affair is apart of a larger series about the Susanna's siblings. The next release is The Perfect Duchess, and its a prequel of sorts, as it is about the Duke and Duchess of Bradstone, Susanna's brother and sister-in-law, who are already married in A Suitable Affair. The Perfect Duchess releases April 2018. Andrew and Clara have a rather bumpy, dramatic path to their HEA and Clara wasn't always keen on being a duchess. After that is Sarah's story, and my current WIP is Norah's sorry, and I am almost finished. After I'm done with Norah, I move on to Luke. There are eight books total in the Macalister series. [Oooh, yay!]
SPEED ROUND:
A day on a secluded island OR a day at the spa?
Day at the spa!! It completely rejuvenates me.
Reading a spicy romance novel OR a sweet “my-heart-skips-a-beat” one?
Either, but the love has to be there. I need the "awwwww!" moments.
Hot summer days OR cold winter nights?
Cold winter nights. I hate being hot. Give me a fireplace and a blanket and I am good to go.
Cover Lover OR Blurb Fan?
Blurb. Covers aren't always accurate and I need the story to intrigue me.
Where would your dream house be (assuming that, you know, money and whatnot isn’t an obstacle, dammit!)?
Somewhere where I could play music as loud as I wanted and no one would complain. So not a city where people are stacked on top of each other. Probably not the middle of nowhere either because I like my Starbucks and Target. So something in between.
Quick—name the one food that you cannot live without!
Popcorn.
TBQ: Thanks so much for stopping by, Erica, and please know that you are welcome back anytime! Do you have any questions for our readers—something to spark a good discussion? :)
Erica: Thank you for having me!!
To celebrate the release of A Suitable Affair I've invited fourteen other authors to celebrate with me! Join us for a three day longFacebook event featuring authors from romance and women's fiction for live readings, Q&As, giveaways and more!
Question: If you could vacation with one person, money and
whatnot not an issue, where would you go? Who would you take?
Publisher: Amberjack Publishing (June 6, 2017)
Genre: Historical Romance
Despite being beautiful and wealthy, Lady Susanna Macalister’s marriage prospects are rather lacking. To avoid a life of spinsterhood, she decides a loveless marriage to the dull and unromantic Lord Riverton is better than none at all. But still, Susanna longs for true, passionate love, the kind she grew up hearing stories about.
Enjoying a quiet walk with her insipid suitor one afternoon, Susanna is nearly trampled by the handsome Earl of Westcott as he rides through Hyde Park. Driven by his own guilt and despair, the earl embraces this chance encounter as an opportunity for vengeance, for Lord Riverton is the very man whom Wescott suspects is responsible for the untimely death of his beloved sister. But is his mission of separating Susanna from Lord Riverton simply a desire to save another unsuspecting lady from his sister’s fate, or something deeper?
As Susanna helps Lord Westcott investigate her future fiance, she realizes she might have found what she was looking for all along. Can the pair keep their budding romance a secret from everyone around them until the investigation is over? Or will the unsuspecting Lord Riverton win Susanna’s hand in marriage before the truth comes out?
Enjoying a quiet walk with her insipid suitor one afternoon, Susanna is nearly trampled by the handsome Earl of Westcott as he rides through Hyde Park. Driven by his own guilt and despair, the earl embraces this chance encounter as an opportunity for vengeance, for Lord Riverton is the very man whom Wescott suspects is responsible for the untimely death of his beloved sister. But is his mission of separating Susanna from Lord Riverton simply a desire to save another unsuspecting lady from his sister’s fate, or something deeper?
As Susanna helps Lord Westcott investigate her future fiance, she realizes she might have found what she was looking for all along. Can the pair keep their budding romance a secret from everyone around them until the investigation is over? Or will the unsuspecting Lord Riverton win Susanna’s hand in marriage before the truth comes out?
Where to Buy*:
More Info:
Remember Erica's question for you:
If you could vacation with one person, money and whatnot not an issue, where would you go? Who would you take?
Enjoy!
Until Next Time,
*TBQ's Book Palace is a member of both the Amazon and Barnes and Nobles affiliates program. By using the links provided to buy products from either website, I receive a very small percentage of the order. To read my full disclosure on the matter, please see this post!
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