Patricia Rice Guest Blog & Giveaway!

What was your inspiration for this book?

You may as well ask me what inspired me to write my blog (http://patriciarice.blogspot.com) as to ask me what inspired me to write a book. The answer will differ from one day to the next, although most days, insanity comes closest to the truth. I throw crazy topics at my blog because I have something to say and no one else understands me as well as fellow readers. Books—the explanations are as countless as the leaves on a tree.

In the case of THE LURE OF SONG AND MAGIC, voices (and insanity) might be the original inspiration, way back when I first heard the recordings of The Anonymous Four. If you want a soundtrack for this book, check out their recordings or that of Charlotte Church or the young operatic singer Aria Tesolin. Their voices are ethereal, almost supernatural, and what does one do with a supernatural voice? In my case, you make it into a destructive siren, the hauntingly seductive kind, not the fire alarm.

At the time that idea started whirling in my head, I didn’t have much use for it. I was writing Regency historicals and Regency heroines do not go on stage and sing. A wicked voice was the kind of device that would have worked well in my Georgian MAGIC series (Sourcebooks is reissuing these) but due to contractual obligations, I couldn’t write more historicals. But readers were constantly asking if I would do something with the progeny of my magical Malcolms and logical Ives, and the offspring of those characters often played roles in the back of my mind. See? Didn’t I tell you it was insanity?

But one day, my brain apparently exploded, and I decided I could write contemporary Malcolm and Ives. And so LURE was born. What would a siren do in the 21^st century? Become a teen singing sensation, of course. But with a voice that can destroy as well as seduce, Philippa Syrene Malcolm James flames out before her eighteenth birthday. The book starts nearly ten years later, after Pippa has smothered her magical voice and become a children’s author in an effort to be safe and not kill her friends as she believes she killed her young husband. If you want inspiration, that’s the best I can offer!

Of course, I had to add a logical Ives to the mixture because the battle of the sexes is always a fascinating one. In this book, his name is Dylan Ives Oswin and he’s called Oz because of his magical ability to make things happen—in a very literal, don’t-take-no-for-an-answer sense. He’s a successful Hollywood producer but an utter failure in the family department. His wife has been killed in a car crash, and his son has been kidnapped, and he’s desperate enough to follow any clue to find his son. So when he’s lured to find Syrene in hopes she can lead him to his son, he’s not about to let any reclusive author stand in his way. Irresistible force, meet immovable object. I hope you will find the clash of wills as inspiring as I did!

Do you believe in divine inspiration or just the humdrum idle daydream sort? What inspires you to accomplish great tasks? Commenters are eligible for free books!

You can read an excerpt, sign up for my newsletter, follow me on Twitter and Facebook or connect with my blog by stopping by my website at http://patriciarice.com/ . A list of all my books, including e-book reissues is available there. I love hearing from readers, so please feel free to stop by and say hi. And if you prefer DRM-free books, my backlist is available at http://bookviewcafe.com/ebookstore/ and http://backlistebooks.com/ with new volumes going up regularly.

THE LURE OF SONG AND MAGIC BY PATRICIA RICE – IN STORES JANUARY 2012

Her voice was a curse…
When Dylan “Oz” Oswin’s son is kidnapped, the high-powered producer will do anything to get him back. Desperately following an anonymous tip, he seeks help from a former child singing sensation called Syrene, only to find she’s vowed never to sing again. Immune to her voice but not her charm, Oz is convinced she holds the key to his son’s disappearance—and he’ll stop at nothing to make her break her vow.

Only he can make her sing…
She knows the devastation her talent can bring. There’s more than a child’s life at stake, but Syrene cannot unleash her dangerous siren’s voice upon the world, even for a man who is impossible to deny…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

With five million books in print and New York Times and USA Today’s bestseller lists under her belt, Patricia Rice’s emotionally-charged contemporary and historical romances have won RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice and Career Achievement Awards and have been honored as Romance Writers of America RITA finalists in the historical, regency and contemporary categories. A former CPA, Patricia Rice currently resides in St. Louis, Missouri. For more information, please visit http://www.patriciarice.com/ or follow her on Twitter, @Patricia_Rice.

 

I would like to thank Patricia Rice for her lovely guest post! 

I have 2 copies of The Lure and Song and Magic to giveaway thanks to Sourcebooks.

Rules:

US and Canada only.

To enter, please leave your name and answer the questions that Patricia Rice Provided:

Do you believe in divine inspiration or just the humdrum idle daydream sort? What inspires you to accomplish great tasks?