Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Interview with author Christina Phillips

Q ~ Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a Leo and a mad cat lover (just check out my little corner of FB and you’ll see lots of cute kitty memes and pics!) Yes, I’m all about the grim and serious on FB :) I’m addicted to take away coffee and completely hooked on this gluten free lightly salted, slightly sweet popcorn that my daughter introduced me to a while back, a handful is never enough! My not so secret dream is to have a live in chef so I never have to cook again :)

Q ~ What’s something that you never leave home without?
I should say my phone, but unlike my kids I remember a time when mobiles and cells weren’t surgically attached to the ear! Although I have to confess whenever I do forget to take my phone with me I suffer panic attacks that *today* will be the one day when I desperately need to contact someone!

Q ~ List two books you’ve read more than three times.
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel. I read it for the first time when I was 18, and have read it several times since. I just love it so much! When I was eleven I first read Wuthering Heights, and that’s another book I’ve read several times since.

Q~ Who is your favorite literary villain and why?
Okay I’m going to totally cheat here and say the movie adaptations of the Harry Potter books with Voldemort because OMG Ralph Fiennes!

Q ~ What was the first romance novel that you ever read?
I honestly can’t remember. I know when I was eleven I started reading Victoria Holt’s dark gothic romances, but I was also about eleven when I first discovered Barbara Cartland. Then someone loaned me The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss and I devoured many more “bodice rippers” before I stumbled into Harlequin Mills and Boon!

Q ~ What’s the best interaction you’ve ever had with a fan?
I absolutely LOVE interacting with my fans. When I receive an email from a reader, it really makes my day and I always respond. Sometimes readers will friend me on FB or join my fan page, so we can chat there, which is lovely. So it’s hard to answer this question because I really treasure all the contact I have with my lovely readers.

Q ~ What does your family think of your writing?
When I started writing my kids were too young to read my books but even then they were very supportive. As they got older, they actively avoided reading my books because hello, mum and sex, um no thank you!! But they’ve always been incredibly supportive and proud of my achievements, for which I’m very touched. My husband is my rock, and is patiently waiting for me to earn enough so he can retire and become a kept man :)

Q ~ What is one thing that you absolutely need when writing?
Inspiration! Honestly, there’s nothing I really need when I’m writing to capture the muse or force the words to flow. Over the years I’ve learned to write through all kinds of distractions (although when I’m writing the sexy I do like to be alone and have some peace and quiet!) I do like having a lip balm to hand though, although I’m not sure it really helps with the thinking process!

Q ~ How do you decide on the setting of your book?
With The Druid Chronicles the setting was integral to the stories, so it wasn’t a case of me wondering where I’d like to locate my characters. It was the same with my upcoming Highland Warrior Chronicles. However, it’s different with my contemporaries. For my US publisher, they wanted the books set in the US so that’s what I did.

Q ~ Can you tell us a little bit about your latest release and what inspired you to write it?
Tainted is the fourth book in The Druid Chronicles and each book is a standalone with no cliff hanger. However the hero, Gawain, was in Forbidden, and also briefly appeared in Captive before disappearing on a mission for his king. I often wondered what happened to him, and also readers wanted to know if he was going to have his own book, but it was hard finding him his perfect heroine.

Antonia is a wealthy Roman noblewoman and at first glance is everything that Gawain despises. But there’s more to her than first meets the eye and he soon comes to realise that while she isn’t a warrior, she’s the bravest woman he’s ever met.

Q ~ Is anything in your new release based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Tainted is set in first century Britain, so it’s mostly all from my imagination and from my historical research but I think I bring a little bit of my real life experience into every book and character I write, even though I’m not anything like any of them :)

Q ~ Do you prefer to write in a small town or big city setting? Why?
In my contemporaries I tend to go for the big city setting. I’m not sure why, it’s not something I’ve ever sat and thought about but it just seems to come more naturally to me.

Q ~ If you were stranded on a desert island with one of your characters (from any novel you’ve written) who would you choose and why?
This is very hard! I love all my heroes and ideally would like to rotate them! But I think on a desert island I’d pick Gawain, the hero from Tainted, as he’d be able to build a shelter and hunt as he’s a tough Celtic warrior who can survive in the wild.

Q ~ What are you working on next?
I’ve recently regained the rights to Her Savage Scot and Her Vengeful Scot, the first two books in The Highland Warrior Chronicles. Set in the 9th century these books follow my tough Scots warriors and their brave Pictish princesses. At the moment I’m going through the books giving them a light edit, new covers and hopefully a new life once I republish them at the end of the year!

Q ~ If you could give aspiring authors one piece of advice, what would it be?
It’s really important to find your tribe! This business can be tough, and sometimes it’s easy to let things that are out of your control overwhelm you. Surround yourself with a positive, supportive community of like minded people who understand what you’re going through. It’s also important to recognize valuable feedback on your work and be willing to rewrite, revise and polish your book. And of course – never give up :)

About the author:

As a child, Christina always loved reading about far away places and magical worlds, but never imagined that one day she’d spend her days writing about them! Thankfully, when she grew up she decided her brave heroines deserved a gorgeous warrior to share their journey with, and hopes you enjoy the world of The Druid Chronicles as much as she enjoyed writing it :)

Keep in touch with Christina - Website | Facebook | Twitter
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About Tainted:

A dangerous love Rome will never allow…
Driven by the knowledge he failed to protect his king, Druid warrior Gawain abandons his gods and vows to destroy the Roman invaders by any means possible.

Nothing and no one is more important than protecting his fellow Druids from the enemy until he meets the beautiful Roman patrician, Antonia. She is everything he’s never wanted in a woman, yet she fascinates him like no other. Despite the danger of discovery he embarks on an illicit liaison with her, determined to uncover the reason for the infinite sorrow that haunts her eyes.

Newly arrived in Britannia from Rome, Antonia is inexplicably drawn to the cold, tough Celt. His touch stirs a passion she long thought died at the hands of her brutal former husband and his unexpected tenderness thaws her frozen heart. But she hides a deadly secret that could be her undoing, and knows her growing feelings for him can lead nowhere. Yet when a shadow from her past threatens her future Antonia is torn between the Empire of her birth and betraying Gawain, the man she’s grown to love.

Previously published in 2013

Tainted is the fourth book in The Druid Chronicles and this time I mixed it up a little. The hero is a tough Celtic warrior we first met in Forbidden, and although at the time I didn’t know if I’d write his book, readers were keen to find out what happened to him. And so was I! But it was hard to find the perfect heroine for him, until Antonia appeared.

A beautiful Roman noblewoman, she’s nothing like he first assumes and what starts out as a fleeting affair soon develops into something much deeper, and deadlier, for them both.

Read Chapter One

Buy Links - iBooks | Amazon | B&N | Kobo
#1 Forbidden - iBooks | Amazon | B&N | ARe | Kobo
#2 Captive - iBooks | Amazon | B & N | Kobo
#3 Enslaved - iBooks | Amazon | B&N | Kobo


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