Today's Guest: Jane Beckenham!

TGIF everyone. And to help you get your weekend off to a great start we have with us award winning author Jane Beckenham! And stay tuned because at the end Jane is going to be having a contest for a special prize.

1: Thank you and welcome Jane. It’s an honor to have you. I think what we’d all like to know is when you began writing in the first place?

Oh, gosh, it seems so long ago now. But in fact only 10 years ago. We had purchased our first home PC and I am a nut about decorating and was chatting on line to a fellow ‘deco nutter’ –who was also a writer. She goaded me into trying. I did, and haven’t stopped. But friends now say that I had talked about writing years ago, but I don’t remember that!


2: What was your inspiration to write?

I think it was because I read so much. Through my youth and teenage years I spent months in hospital and of course with not much else to do, would read voraciously – 5 books in 3 days sort of thing. Then I found category romances. My kids would laugh as I came home with 10-20 books at a time from the library. But since I’ve been writing, I found out that my uncle was a published author and my mother wrote too.


3: Are you currently working on anything?

When am I not? Yes I have several completed manuscripts that need revising, plus I’m into deep revisions with a current contemporary. I also have another Regency up to chapter 3 stage, but really I haven’t touched it in a while – smack my hand. I need to get back to it.


4: What do you for fun and relaxation when you are not writing?

This is something I have to work hard at. Stopping doesn’t come easy to me. I do love reading decorating magazines and can while a few hours on the couch reading those, plus a bubble bath is a joy. My husband is into vintage cars and we do car runs with a group of enthusiasts most months. Excerise...well I’m trying to get back into it. My physio kinda persuaded me when he asked ‘what quality of life (future) did I want?’ – this was after being hospitalized for the 3rd time with a back injury! So now I hit the exercise bike daily – though I wouldn’t call that relaxing.


5: What kind of stories do you enjoy reading?

I love time travel romances, historicals, category.

6: Who are some of your favorite authors to read?

Sandra Hill for her humor and her spunky heroes, plus love her time travel series, and Sophia James (M&B Historicals) for her Regency and Medievals.


7: If you could meet anyone, whom would you want to meet?

I think Florence Nightingale (nurse) to really find out how tough she was to stand up to the male bastion in the medical field in those days. Cleopatra too would be interesting, another strong woman.


8: What’s the one place on Earth you’d most like to take a vacation to?

New York – to go shopping. But I’d go back to Israel in a second. Lived there years ago and absolutely adore the history of the country. We spent 7 weeks traveling in the USA this year, and loved the diversity of it all. The hugeness.

9: Is there anything else about you that you’d like people to know?

Oh gosh, um...that I don’t practice all the sex scenes that I write, unfortunately. That if they discovered a safe way to time travel, I’d be first in line.



10: You have two titles that will soon be released. Can you tell us a little bit about A Traitor’s Heart?

This is my first Regency and is being next year with Red Rose Publishing with whom I already have some wonderful titles. It’s the story of a young woman who must choose between her brother’s life or treason and in the process betraying a man she has come to love. High stakes, which is a test of whether love can survive two socially different worlds.



Excerpt – A TRAITOR’S HEART
“Scrub her till the stench of the slums is erased.”
Lord Lyndsay’s cutting words rang a relentless tirade inside Catriona Fraser’s brain; a constant and biting reminder of the reality of her heritage.
She held no illusions.
She was a complete fake. Yet somehow she had managed to fool everyone these past few days.
Now, as another night heralded another ball, with ever more strangers who held her with unmistakable censure, Cat wasn’t convinced she was up to the charade.
Yet, she had no choice. It was do...or die.
Drawing level with at the head of the grand staircase, her gloved hand gripped the mahogany handrail with a deathly intensity. A hush settled over the sea of faces below.
Every manner of luxury and titled wealth filled the elegant ballroom. Chandeliers glittered with the flicker of a thousand burning candles, the smoky haze misting across the domed ceiling. The flushed faces of the overly perfumed and bejeweled matrons, whose beady eyes never left their protégées unless it was to survey the latest young buck to hit the Ton, turned in a unified wave in her direction.
Whispers.
Whispers, about her.
The hussy. Who was she? Where had she come from?
Their whispered questions and speculation, bestowed in her a sense of power. Tonight, she reveled in that power.
A tempered smile curved the corners of Cat's glossed mouth and she lifted her chin a fraction higher. She could, and would, do this.
“Lady Fraser, can I help you?"
The richly textured male voice jolted Cat back to reality. She lifted her gaze from the melee of the Duchess of Alderman's annual ball, to fall on a black-suited chest.
A very broad, strong, muscled chest.
The man bowed. "The Countess of Holesworth, I presume?"
Cat’s breath stilled and her mouth felt suddenly very dry. She wiped the tip of her tongue across her parted lips, aware of his interested dark gaze as she did so. “You know my name?"
His mouth curved slightly on one side, eyes twinkling with the glitter of mischief. “Everyone knows you, Madame.”
Cat clutched her reticule, and struggled to find her voice.
The game had begun.



11: And what is In Love With The Sheikh about?

This is another of my contemporary sheikh stories. I love those dark eyed men, who need a good woman to set them right, pull them down from their high perches and love them.
I love setting up imaginary kingdoms, thinking what I can create to make them unique and beautiful. Lots of fun.
My heroine Lilly is a fake. Abandon as a baby she has no idea who she is so has made up her past, even her name. But when she outbids Sheikh Kalim Raschid for an antique brooch, believing it has a link to that unknown past, her triumph is short lived. She can’t honor her bid. Accepting an offer to solve her financial embarrassment, Lilly discovers Kalim has every material thing yet spurns what she most desires. Love. Family. A chance to belong.
But for a man born to be king, Kalim now must choose his future, and whether he can create a world where both can accept their pasts..
.

As I write this blog, I’m so excited, I have just received a four star review for my December release – TO KISS AN ANGEL.
To Kiss An Angel is a cute, humorous holiday treat. Filled with sass and wit, you will enjoy Clark and Angel’s story. This is a great gift for yourself or a friend anytime of the year you would like a bit of sweet treat.
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance & More

Blurb: TO KISS AN ANGEL
Angel has a job to do – leave heaven and fix Clark Lannigan’s life, teaching him to live again, and to love. But how can she succeed when Clark is living in the past, a life surrounded by so much guilt that he’s too afraid to let go. Besides, she’s already broken Angel rule 750.2, paragraph A, no canoodling with the client. Plus she’s fallen in love with him. So what does an angel do?
She sets him ten tasks, but neither of them want to obey number ten….NO KISSING.


So I’m a happy gal with that one.

And now it's giveaway time. Below is what Jane wants you to do to enter. You have until midnight tonight EST to enter and then I will have Jane choose the winner. Good luck.


If you’re visiting the blog, comment on the post and be in to win a download of one of my current releases.

If anyone wants to contact me – neiljane@ihug.co.nz And my web site is – http://www.janebeckenham.com/


Happy reading everyone.