ELIZABETH HOYT-Interview and Giveaway with the Author

Elizabeth Hoyt is the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of historical romance, including reader favorite, The Raven Prince.

Elizabeth was born in New Orleans but grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was fortunate to be able to travel extensively as a child, visiting St. Andrews, Scotland; Germany; France; and Belgium. She spent a year in Oxford, England and was a summer exchange student to Kawasaki, Japan.

Elizabeth has a BA in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and, as a result of having no clue what to do with her life thereafter, a career history as a barista, a (terrible) sales clerk, a Wisconsin Revenue Service data entry slave, and an archeological field work grunt. Fortunately, Elizabeth married relatively young and produced two children who kept her busy until her mid-thirties. At about this time, when her youngest was entering Kindergarten, Elizabeth’s mother hinted that perhaps Elizabeth should get a Real Job.

Sadly, Elizabeth was so delusional she thought writing a romance novel might qualify as a Real Job.

But! Five years later, to everyone’s surprise, she actually sold that romance novel (The Raven Prince) and began a rather successful career as a Romance Novelist. This was most fortunate since Elizabeth is singularly unqualified to do anything else but Make Up Stories.

Since then Elizabeth has written eleven books to critical acclaim: The Prince Trilogy (The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince); the Legend of the Four Soldiers series (To Taste Temptation, To Seduce a Sinner, To Beguile a Beast, and To Desire a Devil); and the Maiden Lane series (Wicked Intentions, Notorious Pleasures, Scandalous Desires, Thief of Shadows, and the upcoming Lord of Darkness.) All of Elizabeth’s books are set in eighteenth century England and all feature a fairy tale story that serves as a foil to the main story. Elizabeth lives in central Illinois with a trio of untrained canines and a garden in constant need of weeding.

Let’s begin!

TRC: Hi Elizabeth and welcome to The Reading Café.  Congratulations on the February release of LORD OF DARKNESS-the fifth installment in your Maiden
Lane series.

Elizabeth: Why, thank you! 😉

TRC: We would like to start with some background information.  Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Elizabeth: I live in Illinois with my husband, two teenaged kids, and three dogs. I enjoy gardening, traveling, and reading. I started writing late, at the age of thirty-five, when my youngest went into kindergarten. Five years later, I sold The Raven Prince, which was released in 2006. Since then I’ve published eleven more historical romances, including Lord of Darkness, the last six of which have been New York Times bestsellers.

TRC: Your books and series are all set in 18th century England and all feature a fairytale story that serves as a foil to the main story (site info).
What was the motivating factor or catalyst behind this type of storyline setting and premise for your series?

Elizabeth: I was fascinated by the difference between the very rich and the very poor in London at this time period. This essential struggle seems to be embodied by the gin wars. Gin was very cheap at this time. It was made from grain being produced by rich landowners, so the aristocrats were making good money off the sale of gin to desperately poor people in London. Because of this, it took decades for the government to pass effective laws to combat the problem. So, to sum up, we have poverty, wildly rich aristocrats, greed, money, people to be saved, corruption, and a very interesting moral dilemma.  All nice fodder for a historical series.

TRC: Have you considered publishing your ‘fairytales’ (as a collection) that are featured in each of your novels and series?

Elizabeth: It’s a good idea—something to think about in the future.

TRC: All of your storyline covers are very beautiful.  Do you have any input or say in the design of the covers?

Elizabeth: Very, very little, which is just as well since they do turn out so well. Book covers are a science in and of themselves and I firmly believe that the author may not be the best person to design her covers. I usually give my editor the physical stats for my hero and heroine, and a few key scenes that are probably going to be in the book (often I’m asked for cover info when I’ve just started to write the book.)

Having said that, I’m very pleased with the cover and particularly the stepback for LORD OF DARKNESS. The garden and the apple blossoms play an important role in the story. 😉

TRC: LORD OF DARKNESS is your most recent release in the Maiden Lane series. Would you please tell us something about the premise?

Click HERE for our review.

Elizabeth: In the last Maiden Lane book, THIEF OF SHADOWS, Lady Margaret’s lover was murdered and shortly thereafter, while Megs was still in shock, she realized she was pregnant. Fortunately, she has a loving—and determined—brother who blackmails Godric St. John, a lonely widower, into marrying her.

Fast forward two years. Megs lost the baby shortly after the marriage and ever since has lived separately from Godric. At the opening of LORD OF DARKNESS, Megs has come to London for two things. First, to kill the Ghost of St. Giles who it’s believed murdered Megs’s lover, and secondly to seduce her husband in order to have a baby. What Megs doesn’t know is that Godric is the Ghost of St. Giles. Meanwhile, Megs has turned Godric’s lonely life upside-down and he can’t figure out how to get her to leave—or even if really wants her to go.

This book, at its heart, is about unexpected love and how it can heal the scars of the past.

TRC: There is a two year gap between Thief of Shadows and Lord of Darkness and your fans can find out what happened in those two years by signing up for
your newsletter. Have you considered writing a novella about the missing two years?

Elizabeth: No, but I’m quite pleased with the letter exchange. Megs and Godric don’t actually physically meet in those two years, so I can’t see writing a novella—it wouldn’t be exactly romantic. 😉

TRC: DUKE OF MIDNIGHT will be your December 2013 in the Maiden Lane series. Would you please tell us something about this particular storyline?

Elizabeth: It’s been bumped up to November 2013, actually. I can’t tell you much of the storyline without giving away spoilers, but I will say that the hero is Maximus Batten, the Duke of Wakefield, and the heroine is Artemis Greaves, the cousin and lady’s companion of Lady Penelope.

TRC: How many books do you have planned for the Maiden Lane series?

Elizabeth: I’m contracted for six (through DUKE OF MIDNIGHT) at the moment, but I would like to do at least another three, and maybe indefinitely after that. 😉

TRC: If you could virtually cast the main characters in the Maiden Lane series which model or actor would be represent your idea or image?

Elizabeth: Ha. I suggest you look at my Maiden Lane Character board on Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/elizabethhoyt/maiden-lane-characters/

But in the meantime, Misha Collins for Godric and Amy Adams for Megs.

TRC: What five things would you like to accomplish in the next ten years?

Elizabeth: Oh, I can’t do five things. How about travel to the UK and write another eight books or so?

TRC: Who or what has been the biggest influence on your life or writing career and why?

Elizabeth: Well I suppose all the historical authors I’ve read and loved. Behind every good writer is a good reader who paid attention to what she was reading. 😉

TRC: Thank you Elizabeth for taking the time to answer our questions.  All the best on the new release of LORD OF DARKNESS and we look forward to December and DUKE OF MIDNIGHT.

Elizabeth: Thank you for having me on The Reading Cafe! Readers can learn more about my Maiden Lane series and Lord of Darkness at:

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter/ Pinterest

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LORD OF DARKNESS by Elizabeth Hoyt-cover blurb and excerpt

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository /

Lord of Darkness
Grand Central Publishing
February 26, 2013
ISBN: 978-1455508303

WHEN STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

He lives in the shadows. The mysterious masked avenger known as the Ghost of St. Giles, his only goal is to protect the innocent of London. Until the night he confronts a fearless lady pointing a pistol at his head—and realizes she is his wife . . .

BECOME LOVERS…

Lady Margaret Reading has vowed to kill the Ghost of St. Giles—the man who murdered her one true love. Returning to London, and the man she hasn’t seen since their wedding day, Margaret does not recognize the man behind the mask. Fierce, commanding, and dangerous, the notorious Ghost of St. Giles is everything she feared he would be—and so much more . . .
DESIRE IS THE ULTIMATE DANGER

When passion flares these two intimate strangers can’t keep from revealing more of themselves than they had ever planned. But when Margaret learns the truth—that the Ghost is her husband, Godric St. John—the game is up and the players must surrender . . . to the temptation that could destroy them both.

*******************

“I would be grateful if you stayed away from the Viscount d’Arque,” Godric said as he led his wife onto the dance floor. He mentally winced at his own stiff tone, but in this matter he could not seem to see reason.

She was his wife and he’d damn well not take her straying lying down.

She cocked her head, looking more curious than outraged. “Is that an order?”

He immediately felt a fool. “No, of course not.”

The music began, the movement of the dance drawing them apart before he could explain further. Godric inhaled deeply as he paced, trying to subdue the incredible wrath that had overtaken him at the sight of Margaret with d’Arque.

When the dance brought them together again, he murmured low so the other dancers could not overhear, “I know it’s hard for you, wanting a child, but this isn’t the way.”

“What way do you mean?” she asked carefully. Too carefully.

Nonetheless, he could do naught but answer truthfully. “With d’Arque as your lover.”

For a second her eyes flashed with wild hurt before she could shield the emotion, and he realized he’d just dug himself into a hole.

“You think I’m a whore,” she said.

A very deep hole.

“No, of—”

But she whirled away, caught in the steps of the dance. This time he watched her anxiously, this wife he knew so little about. Had Clara ever thought she’d been so grievously insulted, she would’ve wept. Or perhaps stomped off. He truly didn’t know because he never would’ve gotten into a discussion like this in the first place with Clara. The very idea was ludicrous.

Margaret in contrast held her head high, her cheeks flagged with a becoming rose color. She looked like a goddess enraged. A goddess who might, if they were alone, assault his person—the thought of which unaccountably aroused him.

When the dance brought them together again, they both opened their mouths at once.

“I never meant—” he began.

“You convict me without trial,” she hissed over him, “and on pathetically thin evidence.”

“You were flirting, madam.”

“And if I was?” she asked, her eyes widening dramatically. “If every woman who flirted in a ballroom were deemed a slut, then all but nuns and babes would be thus branded. Do you truly think I meant to start an affair with the viscount?”

He hesitated a fraction of a breath too long.

Her beautiful brows snapped together. “You are the most maddening man.”

They were drawing stares, but he couldn’t let this bit of outrageousness pass.

“I? I am maddening? I assure you, my lady, that you are the maddening one. I’ve never caused a scene in a public venue before in my—”

“And now you’re on your second,” she flung back.

A childish retort, but also deeply annoying, as she managed to get it off just before they were forced to separate. Which, naturally, gave her the last word.

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Elizabeth Hoyt is offering a giveaway PRINT COPY of her latest release LORD OF DARKNESS

1. Please register using the login at the top of the page or by using one of the social log-ins.

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3. Giveaway runs from March 8 to 11, 2013

4. Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY