Hidden Paradise Blog Tour~ Interview and Giveaway with Janet Mullany

United by Books is pleased to be a part of the Hidden Paradise tour put on by Goddess Fish Promotions . Join me in welcoming Janet Mullany today on the blog ........

1 ~ Can you please share with us a little about yourself?

I was born in England but I’ve lived in the US for years without losing my accent much according to people on this side of the Atlantic, and totally, according to people over there (although I think they really mean I’m loud). I started writing to see if I could fairly late, which I think gave me an advantage—I’d read a lot and my daughter was old enough to survive benign neglect.

2 ~  Please tell us a little about your newest release (Hidden Paradise 10/2/12) 

(if you want something other than the blurb)

It’s about a journey of discovery a woman makes after losing the love of her life, set at a resort where guests dress in authentic Regency clothes and engage in historically correct activities such as dancing, riding, drawing and lots of sex. There’s a Jane Austen connection and quite a bit about paint restoration.

3~  Would you like to share an excerpt from Hidden Paradise?

 (via Goddess Fish)

4~ What's in store next for your readers?

I’m going to return to historicals which are my first love, and I have ideas for some novellas. I’m currently writing an erotic historical based in an alternate world which is quite challenging, although when you think about it the Regencyland of romance is pretty much imaginary too!

5~ What's the weirdest thing you've ever done in the name of research?

Had an authentic Regency corset made which I wear at reenactment events. So every time I visited the seamstress for a fitting, the first sentence out of my mouth was “Hi Joyce, how are you, should I take off my bra?”

6~ What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

Nothing! I don’t particularly like Klondike Bars.

7~ What is something people would be surprised to know about you? 

Other than my age and shoe size—I swear, my feet are getting bigger and they were already huge!—that I really, really like Baroque music.

8~ What do you like to do when you're not writing?

I used to claim that I liked gardening but when I look out of the window I obviously don’t. I like cooking, especially baking bread. It’s very satisfying and yeasted dough is so sexy.

9~ Describe yourself in three words?

Funny, thoughtful, curious.

10~ Tell the readers in two sentences why they should check out Hidden Paradise.

It’s funny, sexy, and if you like hot contemporaries, Jane Austen, or even historicals, you’d probably like it. There’s also some m/m, a threesome,--no, two threesomes—and at least three love stories.

11~ How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?

I had a critique group meeting that day and I shared the news with my friends and squealed with joy.

12~ Is there anything special you would like to say to your readers while we have you here today?

Yes, please spread the word about this blog post and the virtual book tour, because as well as the usual sorts of prizes (free backlist books) it’s in aid of a good cause. For every comment I’m pledging $1 to http://heifer.org/ up to $250. Why $250? Because that will “buy” a water buffalo, and as you know, nothing says hot romance like a water buffalo. Thanks

CALL IT SENSE AND 

Sensuality... 

Louisa Connelly, a recently widowed Jane Austen scholar, needs some relief from her stifling world. When a friend calls to offer her a temporary escape from her Montana ranch, she is whisked into a dizzying world of sumptuous food, flowing wine...and endless temptation. 

 She's an honored guest at Paradise Hall, an English resort boasting the full experience of an authentic Georgian country-house weekend. Liveried servants tend to the every need of houseguests clad in meticulous period costume: snug breeches, low-cut silken gowns and negligible undergarments. 

It's Mac Salazar, a journalist immersing himself fully, deeply, lustily in the naughty pleasures of upstairs-downstairs dalliances, who piques Louisa's curiosity-and libido-most. He's a dilettante straight out of a novel: uninhibited, unapologetic and nearly insatiable. But Lou's not romantic about this much, at least: Paradise Hall is a gorgeous fantasy, nothing more. A lover like Mac is pure fiction. And the real world beckons....

********** EXCERPT *********

Hero and heroine]

Mac handed her a glass. “Should we be discreet and pretend our first meeting didn’t happen?”

“It’s certainly not the sort of meet cute Austen wrote about.” He might talk of discretion but his eyes shone with mischief and energy. An attractive man, she thought, and not only because she’d seen him half naked and lustily enjoying sex.

He grinned. “Chris and Peter told me a lot about you.”

“Yes, we’re good friends. Where are you from?”

“Chicago by way of London. I got this commission to do an advance piece on the house, so here I am. What are you doing in…Montana, I think Peter said?”

“Oh, long story.” She sipped her champagne. “My husband and I lived on a ranch and we taught at a school a couple of hours away. He died suddenly last year.” She could say it now, the short version, stark and matter-of-fact.

“I’m sorry. Do you think you’ll stay there?”

“I don’t know.” Her glass was empty. “Don’t you want to ask me about historical authenticity at Paradise?”

“I guess so. After you’ve settled in, we should set up a time for an interview. It’s an interesting concept, time travel with no chance of getting stuck in the past, or treading on a bug and changing the course of history.”

“It’s a very sexy period.” She was halfway down another glass now and the room was beginning to take on a subtle, mellow glow that was half sunset, half alcohol. “Mainly because of popular culture, of course. People say there’s no sex in Austen. They’re wrong. Her books are full of sex, but it’s all subsex. Subtext.”

“That’s the champagne talking.” He took her glass from her hand.

Author Bio: Janet Mullany, granddaughter of an Edwardian housemaid, was born in England but now lives near Washington, DC. Her debut book was Dedication, the only Signet Regency to have two bondage scenes (and which was reissued with even more sex in April 2012 from Loose-Id). Her next book,The Rules of Gentility (HarperCollins 2007) was acquired by Little Black Dress (UK) for whom she wrote three more Regency chicklits, A Most Lamentable Comedy, Improper Relations, and Mr. Bishop and the Actress. Her career as a writer who does terrible things to Jane Austen began in 2010 with the publication of Jane and the Damned (HarperCollins), and Jane Austen: Blood Persuasion (2011) about Jane as a vampire, and a modern retelling of Emma, Little to Hex Her, in the anthology Bespelling Jane Austen headlined by Mary Balogh. She also writes contemporary erotic fiction for Harlequin, Tell Me More (2011) and Hidden Paradise(September, 2012).

Website: www.janetmullany.com

Twitter @Janet_Mullany

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Janet-Mullany-Author/144530775580812

********* GIVEAWAY *********

 

Janet will pledge $1 for every comment made on the blog tour to Heifer International (which has absolutely nothing to do with the book but is one of her favorite nonprofits), up to $250. 

 Additionally, she'll award the choice of the following eBooks from her backlist to one randomly drawn commenter at every stop:  Forbidden Shores (erotic historical romance w/a Jane Lockwood), or Tell Me More (contemporary erotica) or The Rules of Gentility (funny sexy Regency).  To one randomly drawn host, she'll award their choice of either a 1 lb. box of Leonidas chocolates (US only) or a flock of chicks in their name from Heifer International.

  

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better their chances of winning. The tour dates can be found HERE: