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Thursday, December 19, 2013

Interview with Isabel Cooper & Giveaway

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I would like to welcome Isabel Cooper to Royal Reviews

1—Tell us something about yourself, so that we can get to know you a bit better…

Isabel: I currently own at least twice as many formal dresses as I do pairs of pants, for no particularly good reason. I miss road trips, and would like to take one in the future now that I can drive, but my dad is convinced that I’ll end up as a taxidermied head on someone’s wall. I used to be able to skate pretty well, and got up to a brown belt in Tang Soo Do, but that was many years ago.

2—Your paranormal romance novel, Legend of the Highland Dragon, is out now—congrats! Could you tell us about it?

Isabel: First of all, of course, shapeshifting dragons: more specifically, Stephen MacAlasdair, a Scottish lord whose whole family can turn into dragons, but who has to transform involuntarily because of a curse. Due to the same curse, there’s an evil sorcerer hunting him and his friend Professor Carter, which brings Stephen into closer-than-he’d-like contact with Mina Seymour, Carter’s secretary who has her own ideas about how matters should go.

3—What inspired you write a novel about a sexy Highland dragon set in the Victorian era?

Isabel: The draconic Highlander thing was an idea from my editor, Leah Hultenschmidt, and I thought it sounded cool—a number of my published works have started with me saying, basically, “What the hell, why not?” I also like the Victorian era: there’s a lot of change and innovation, but you still have enough distance from the present that it’s pretty foreign. Plus, the clothing is great.

4— Do you do anything special to get into the right frame of mind for writing?

Isabel: Caffeine! Usually in the form of a cherry Coke. Otherwise, nope—I write at work, on trains, whenever. (I try not to write sex scenes when I’m vacationing with my parents, though, schedule permitting. They’re not reading over my shoulder or anything, but it just feels awkward.)

5— What inspired you to become an author?

Isabel: I’ve been writing down stories as long as I knew how to write, and telling them for longer than that. (My sister and I used to get into some seriously Law & Order-style plots when we played Barbies: I recall a lot of jet-ski tampering.) When I was in seventh grade, my teacher read an essay of mine out loud, and everyone seemed to enjoy it: that was the first time I thought I might want to actually do this thing for an audience.

6— What can readers expect next?

Isabel: The story of Colin MacAlasdair! He’s Stephen’s younger brother, and considerably less responsible, as readers of Legend will see. On a whim, he goes to visit a haunted house, and meets his host’s sister, an energetic girl with unconventional sensibilities and strange powers.

7— Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring authors?

Isabel: Have fun with what you do! I mean, work hard and everything, but find a concept that intrigues you and fool around with it. Don’t feel like you have to take everything seriously. That’s pretty much my philosophy of life, too.

Legend of the Highland Dragon CoverLEGEND OF THE HIGHLAND DRAGON BY ISABEL COOPER – IN STORES DECEMBER 2013

He Guards a Ferocious Secret…

In Victorian England, gossip is often as precious as gold. But the Highlanders are a more mysterious bunch. And if anyone found out that Stephen MacAlasdair really was, he'd be hunted down, murdered, his clan wiped out. As he's called to London on business, he'll have to be extra vigilant—especially between sunset and the appearance of the first evening star.

Mina just wanted to find out more about the arrogant man who showed up in her employer's office. Some might say it was part of her job. She never thought the stranger would turn into a dragon right in front of her. Or that he'd then offer her an outrageous sum of money to serve as his personal secretary. Working together night and day to track a dangerous enemy, Mina comes to see a man in love is more powerful and determined than any dragon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Isabel Cooper is the author paranormal historical romances No Proper Isabel CooperLady, a Publishers Weekly and a Library Journal book of the year in 2011, and Lessons After Dark. Both titles were also nominated in the RT Book Reviews Reviewers Choice Awards. During the day, Isabel maintains her guise as a mild-mannered project manager working in legal publishing outside of Boston. For more, visit www.isabelcooper.org.

To Purchase Legend of the Highland Dragon
Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Books-a-Million

Chapters/Indigo

IndieBound

iBookstore

Sourcebooks

Discover a New Love

 

I would like to thank Isabel Cooper for stopping by!

 

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Sourcebooks has kindly allowed me to giveaway 1 print copy of Legend of the Highland Dragon.

To enter, please leave a valid email address along with a comment telling us what types(s) of shape shifters you would like to see in romance novels.

US & Canada only

Giveaway ends:

December 31

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Your book "Legend of the Highland Dragon" seems very captivating to read! I am addicted to stories that mention the word "Highland". I would love to read it! Thank you for offering this great giveaway. nlaverdure88@videotron.ca

Barbara E. said...

I like all kinds of shape shifters, but I'm really fascinated with dragon shifters for some reason. I'll always be happy to read a story with dragons in it. :D Throw in the Highlands and I'm definitely hooked.

Barbed1951 at aol dot com

Martha Lawson said...

More Dragons!! Love them, will read anything with them in it. Thanks for the chance to win this one. Looks like an awesome book, putting it on the wish list in case I don't win it!

mlawson17 at Hotmail dot com