Lillian Marek Interview & Giveaway

 

Hello Lovelies! Please help me in welcoming Lillian Marek to Royal Reviews!

1. Welcome to Royal Reviews! Tell us something about yourself, so that we can get to know you a bit better…

Well, I spent a lot of years working on weekly newspapers, doing just about everything but selling advertising. The part I liked best was writing the cooking column. I do like food! Now that I’m retired from that, I write about people having exciting adventures. And I can make sure that the bad guys—the crooks and the liars—get punished.

 2. Your Victorian romance novel, Lady Elinor’s Wicked Adventure, is out now—congrats! Could you tell us about it?

Lady Elinor enjoys the social whirl and navigates it with ease, but she wants something more. She is delighted when her parents propose a trip to Italy to explore Etruscan ruins—especially since Harry deVaux will be with them. Harry is a childhood friend who has long been in love with Elinor but feels unworthy because of his disreputable family. Their adventures, including a dangerous encounter with antiquities thieves, knock some sense into him.

3. What inspired Lady Elinor’s Wicked Adventure?

I like the complexity and variety of the Victorian age, I love Italy, and I once saw a fascinating exhibition of Etruscan tombs. It all sort of fell together.

4. How much research went into the novel? What interesting tidbits stuck with you?

I have a reasonable knowledge of the period in general, but I had to do a lot of research on the details, pinning down just what was happening where in 1856. One of the surprising people I came across was the beautiful Contessa Maria della Torre, who was with Garibaldi a bit later in 1860. Someone described her helping the surgeon after a battle. She calmly held down the limbs to be cut off, and then tossed them away, arms on one side and legs on the other.

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

Delay, procrastinate, put things off, make a cup of tea…

6. What can readers expect next in The Victorian Adventure series?

Next comes Lady Emily. She’s Lady Elinor’s sister, and she and her parents go off to Assyria to visit the ruins of Nineveh. She meets a French adventurer and has some adventures of her own, including an encounter with pirates.

7. What inspired you to become an author?

I don’t know that inspire is the right word. I’ve never wanted to do anything else, and I feel unsatisfied, somehow, if I don’t write. Even if it’s just  jotting down an idea.

8. Do you have any words of wisdom for aspiring authors?

I am a firm believer in the idea that you learn to write by reading, and reading all sorts of things, not just the kind of book you want to write. Reading doesn’t just give you a feel for the structure of a book, the rhythm of a sentence. It gives you something to write about. You know how they tell you to write what you know? That doesn’t mean write about you hometown and your family. Part of what you know is everything you have ever read, and everything you have ever dreamed or imagined.

Harry de Vaux, Viscount Tunbury, has loved Lady Elinor Tremaine for as long as he can remember—but is convinced that his past makes him unworthy of her. He agrees to accompany the Tremaine family to Italy to explore Etruscan ruins, even if it chips away at his resolve to stay away from the delightful woman he loves.

 

The intrepid Lady Elinor is caught up in the Victorian fervor for exploring distant lands. But during her travels she is thrown back into the company of an old friend, Harry de Vaux. Amid the sightseeing and treasure hunting, Elinor comes to realize that she wants far more from Harry than friendship. But when a dangerous discovery leaves them fighting for their lives, it might just be too late...

Buy Links:

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About the Author

Lillian Marek was born and raised in New York City (the center of the universe). At one time or another she has had most of the interesting but underpaid jobs available to English majors. After a few too many years in journalism, she decided she prefers fiction, where the good guys win and the bad guys get what they deserve.

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