Thanks for stopping by Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us about your new series, Devil You Know, and the first book, How to Love a Duke in Ten Days?
Thank you so much for having me! In the Devil You Know Series, I wanted to celebrate those fierce female friendships that so many of us rely on. Alexandra Lane, Cecelia Teague, and Francesca Cavendish meet at a boarding school and realize they’re girls who want to enjoy all of the pleasures that men are allowed and women are denied. They form the Red Rogues Society, a club where they sneak away and wear trousers, drink port, smoke cigars, and read newspapers. Their bond is secured by a secret, and they vow they’ll do anything for their life-long sisterhood, including never marry. In HOW TO LOVE A DUKE IN TEN DAYS, Lady Alexandra Lane has lived with a painful secret for a decade. She’s paid a villain to keep that secret safe, and now her money has run out. When she is offered salvation in the form of a marriage of convenience to a scarred, reclusive Duke, she realizes they’ll both have to learn how to trust before they can ever love each other.
Alexandra is a woman with a devastating past - she’s survived some unimaginable atrocities. How does this affect her as an adult, and what challenges did you face while creating her?
You know, my challenge was to balance her trauma with her success. These kinds of things effect so many people in different ways, and Alexandra was the type of woman who used diversion to deal with her pain rather than the numerous other coping mechanisms that people are prone to. She buried her passion for anything but her academic pursuits. She does try to consider how to move on and might have been able to more easily if she didn’t have an enemy who continued to keep the past alive in the most painful ways, by threatening the women who are her pillars of strength.
Piers has his own demons to tackle, but he is always willing to stand up for what is right. What do you think made him so drawn to Alexandra?
I think he loves her earnestness. Honesty is important to him, and he knows she’s mysterious, but loves her blunt and logical mind. He is a hunter at heart, and loves a challenge, and a woman as brilliant as Alexandra will never bore him.
Alexandra’s friends, Cecelia and Francesca, are just as intriguing as the main couple, and their loyalty to Alexandra is unwavering. I also adored that even when Piers thought he was coming to save the day, so to speak, they were managing quite well on their own, thank you very much! How does their friendship support Alexandra? Will they get their own stories soon (wishful thinking, LOL)?
I love how protective and validating they are to each other! Francesca is strong, bold, and quick. And Cecelia is sweet, brilliant, and endlessly patient. Together, they have separate strengths and weaknesses, and can always help each other grow and provide a safe space when they’re struggling. They even bicker like sisters sometimes, and that’s a great deal of fun for me. Cecelia’s book is next entitled ALL SCOT & BOTHERED. As a free-spirit, I (of course) had to pair her with a very stern, surly Scot with an axe to grind against her family.
You’ve written across genres - historical, romantic suspense, a little bit paranormal… Are there any major differences, or similarities, when you switch between them? Is there a genre you’d like to try writing that you haven’t attempted yet?
I think I like to write about redemption. It seems to be a theme I tend to work into every plot. I love to write historicals, though I have a few more contemporaries in mind. However, I’d LOVE to write historical mysteries like Sherry Thomas of Lindsay Faye.
What do you think keeps readers returning to historical romance?
I think we love the romance of the past. There is so much that is missing from our modern day. Some of it is well left in the past, of course. However, escaping into a world of gas lamps and ballgowns, evening suits and waltzes, is so restorative to some of us. A world without technology and sweatpants can really make our imaginations run wild.
What can readers expect from you next?
I am planning on staying in the world of Victorian Rebels for a few more stories, but Cecelia and Francesca’s books will be released in 2020, and after that I’m planning on a little Victorian series with some hot twins and a haunted castle!
Rapid Fire Random Questions
Favorite animal: Sloth
Coffee or tea: Coffee
Favorite book to re-read: Lamb by Christopher Moore
Beach or mountains: Beach
When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?: A Writer
Dream vacation: Irish Castle
Aside from reading and writing, what are your hobbies?: Kayaking, eating, and wine tasting!
Five people you’d invite to your book club (dead, alive, fictional, etc.!): Oscar Wilde, RBG, Arthur Conan Doyle, Margaret Atwood, and Agatha Christie
Favorite movie: Midnight in Paris
You have a totally free afternoon - no deadlines, no obligations, no Twitter notifications! What do you do?: I love playing video games and walking the dogs on the beach. I also love shopping, so don’t give me too many days off or I’ll max out my credit cards or redecorate your house!
Devil You Know #1
The first book in a new and stunning historical romance series by USA Today bestseller Kerrigan Byrne!
These men are dark, bold, and brave. And there is only one woman who can bring them to their knees. . .
Famed and brilliant, Lady Alexandra Lane has always known how to look out for to herself. But nobody would ever expect that she has darkness in her past--one that she pays a blackmailer to keep buried. Now, with her family nearing bankruptcy, Alexandra strikes upon a solution: Get married to one of the empire's most wealthy eligible bachelors. Even if he does have the reputation of a devil.
LOVE TAKES NO PRISONERS
Piers Gedrick Atherton, the Duke of Redmayne, is seeking revenge and the first step is securing a bride. Winning a lady's hand is not so easy, however, for a man known as the Terror of Torcliff. Then, Alexandra enters his life like a bolt of lightning. When she proposes marriage, Piers knows that, like him, trouble haunts her footsteps. But her gentleness, sharp wit, independent nature, and incredible beauty awakens every fierce desire within him. He will do whatever it takes to keep her safe in his arms.
Romance Historical [St. Martin's Paperbacks, On Sale: August 27, 2019, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250318848 / eISBN: 9781250318855]
A tale of psychological suspense with the kind of complicated love story Kerrigan Byrne does best!
Kerrigan Byrne has done many things to pay the bills, from law enforcement to belly dance instructor. Now she's finally able to have the career she'd decided upon at thirteen when she announced to her very skeptical family that she was going to "grow up to be a romance novelist." Whether she's writing about Celtic Druids, Victorian bad boys, or brash Irish FBI Agents, Kerrigan uses her borderline-obsessive passion for history, her extensive Celtic ancestry, and her love of Shakespeare in almost every story.
She lives at the base of the Rocky Mountains with her handsome husband and three lovely teenage girls, but dreams of settling on the Pacific Coast.
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Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager Danielle Dresser is an avid reader, lackluster-yet-mighty crafter, and accomplished TV binge-watcher. Once upon a time, she was a publisher publicist and continues to cultivate her love of books and reading by chatting with the best authors in the business. She lives in Chicagoland with her very own romance hero husband, darling daughter, and two tempestuous cats. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram, @dj_dresser.
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