1--What is the title of your latest release?
AN ARTFUL DECEIT - book 1 of a new 5 (or maybe 6) book series “The Art of Love”
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
What happens at a house party when a Duke is mistaken for a Viscount? Add two Michelangelo sketches, hidden passages, vanishing and reappearing art, threatening messages, conniving art collectors, arrogant academicians, a Bow Street agent, a lovelorn couple, and an elderly prankster. It’s enough to give a Duke a headache.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I wanted to take my hero “out of his element” to shake him up a bit. Plopped him down in a house party he couldn’t simply ride away from.
4--Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Yes! She is the embodiment of the phrase “still waters run deep”.
5--What are three words that describe your hero?
Creative, polite, determined.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
Trust my unconscious mind. I practiced telling my unconscious mind to work on the next scene for me. I had ideas suddenly come to me while in the shower, folding clothes, pushing a shopping cart through the grocery story, it was amazing! Well, the grocery store not so much as I didn’t have any paper to jot notes on, but the idea stayed with me until I got home so that was good.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do light edits as I draft, about 2/3 the way through the edits get heavier, and then there is a heavy edit before I write the epilog.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I like to make English Trifle. I even bought a special footed trifle bowel to assemble it in.
9--Describe your writing space/office!
A mess. It’s kind of a catch-all room. Don’t know where to put something? “Throw it in Holly’s office until we figure out what to do with it.” I’m slowly getting the room to be more what I’d like it to be, but it is not a writer’s ideal retreat.
10--Who is an author you admire?
Grace Burrowes
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
I think the book that changed my life as a writer, or I should say coalesced in my mind how I wanted to write, was “Message From Absalom” by Anne Armstrong Thompson. It’s an old, old cold-war era novel. It showed me it is possible to write a novel full of sexual tension without the two characters even holding hands until the end when there is one kiss. It showed me what is possible with just words. No sex, but you feel the heat. I loved that.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
N/A
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Historical Mystery/Suspense/Romance
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Romancing the Stone
15--What is your favorite season?
Spring. I love the colors of spring.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Out with friends or family for dinner, then finish the night at home with a bottle of champagne.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
Bridgertons, of course!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Japanese Sushi
19--What do you do when you have free time?
HaHa! Free time? I like to read, I like to garden (translate that to pull weeds), and I like to color. I have several coloring books and colored pencils. That activity is relaxing and helps to get me centered. It’s also nice because it is easy to put away. I’d love to paint, but space and time cramp my style a bit.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Book 2 in “The Art of Love” series is AN ARTFUL COMPROMISE. My hero and heroine each have something the other wants, but there is the little problem of a long-lost painting and the emotions tied up with that artwork. But the cat and dog like each other, even when their humans are at odds.
The Art of Love #1
What happens when a Duke is mistaken for a Viscount—on purpose?
Add that to two Michelangelo sketches, hidden passages, vanishing and reappearing art, threatening messages, conniving art collectors, arrogant academicians, a Bow Street agent, a lovelorn couple, and an elderly prankster.
It’s enough to give a Duke a headache.
Miles Wingate, the Duke of Ellinbourne, was not supposed to be at the Dowager Duchess of Malmsby’s house party. He was supposed to be in London preparing for the spring opening of the Royal Academy of Art, yet here he was, a stand-in guest for his injured cousin, Viscount Redinger.
This was taking family loyalty too far. The only rational person at the house party was Miss Ann Hallowell, the Duchess’s granddaughter, and as his luck would have it, his cousin’s intended!
Thrown together when he’s mistaken for his cousin, Miles and Ann join to unravel the house party mysteries. But every time they pull one mystery thread free, another appears, for seemingly everyone has a hidden agenda—including the Duchess!
Romance Historical [Oliver-Heber Books, On Sale: June 28, 2022, e-Book, ISBN: 9781648392573 / ]
Holly Newman is the pseudonym for Holly Thompson. She lives in Bradenton, FL with her husband Ken and six cats. She became interested in the Regency period while in high school when she volunteered at her local community library to re-shelve returned books. Every week there were Georgette Heyer novels to be shelved. Curious, she checked one out and became immersed in the world of the regency. Ten years later she became involved in a regency historical re-creation group complete with the mode of dress, manners, and dancing. It was no wonder that when it came to writing a novel, regencies were high on the list.
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