By Sophia Nash

02.23.09

Sophia, let me begin by saying what fun it is having the chance to interview one of my fellow Avon authors, especially since we’re both from the Washington DC area and coincidentally share the same literary agent. But enough preamble, since I know what readers are really dying to hear about is Love with a Perfect Scoundrel, the third installment in your enthralling Widows’ Club series.

1. Can you give us a little taste of what we can expect in Grace’s story, due to hit bookstore shelves on February 24th?

A Taste? How about: A rugged, wildly attractive mysterious stranger tempts twice-jilted countess to unleash her hidden reserves of desire while snowbound in the wilds of Yorkshire …

Michael Ranier is definitely my very favorite hero to date. He gives Luc St. Aubyn (from A Dangerous Beauty) a run for his money in more ways than one. Aside from the intense chemistry between the hero and heroine, I really enjoyed writing the interactions between the three male characters in this book. They reminded me of all my handsome, cocky male cousins trying to outdo one another on every level. And the ladies in the club grow even closer as more bits of pieces of their pasts were revealed.

This is a stand alone book (just like the other books in the series) which means you don’t have to read them in order. In fact many people have written to say they prefer to read them out of order!

2. Each of your books in this series feature widows and the club formed by the outrageous Dowager Duchess of Helston. What attracted you to the idea of writing stories about widows? And why do your widowed heroines keep changing the name of their club? Can’t these ladies make up their minds <g>?

The idea for the series came during a luncheon with a group of my friends when someone asked how all our lives would change if our husbands suddenly were taken from us. The responses were startling. Some said they would never recover. Others said they would survive and make a new life. And most shocking was one who admitted she would be relieved. I was intrigued that one question revealed so many different answers—and a series was born.

Soon an image formed in my mind of a mysterious dowager duchess who comforts a bevy of women left alone in the world and the gentlemen whose fates intertwine with the ladies’ own. I set the first two books in Cornwall, England — truly one of the loveliest places I’ve seen in the world. But with the third book, I moved the location to London and Derbyshire.

And no, just like me, these ladies can not arrive on a suitable name for their club. The Widows Club sounds just like a bunch of old crows. Merry Widows is a bit overused. They tried Barely Bereaving Beauties, and now The Wicked Ways of Willful Widows. Who knows what it will be by the end of the series…

3. I know I’ll be savoring every page-turning moment of Love with a Perfect Scoundrel and be left wanting more when it’s over. To tide us avid readers over, can you share a few hints about the next book and how long we’re going to have to wait until we can read it?

There is a novella (see below) to break up the lull between books. But I can give this hint: The working title for the fourth book is “Four Weddings & a Scandal.” This will probably not stick given the title of the anthology! But it does give you a feel for the content… A huge secretwill be revealed in the last book (and one of the weddings might surprise you!)

4. You have a novella coming out this summer in the Four Dukes and a Devil anthology. Will the story feature another willful widow or an entirely new set of characters?

Tracy, I am so excited to be in this anthology with you, Jeaniene Frost, Elaine Fox, and Cathy Maxwell. I have always wanted to savor the challenge of a short story. It was so much fun that I am hoping we get to do it again! And yes, the novella, “Catch of the Century” is a spin-off story from the series. It is completely stand alone but readers will also catch glimpses of the Duke of Helston and the outrageous Dowager Duchess as well as two other characters (including the heroine) from the series.

5. And lastly–because enquiring minds want to know–what is your favorite movie? Favorite book? Favorite food? And if you could go anywhere in the world all-expenses paid, where would you go and why?

Ack, I LOVE movies…and have so many favorites. I just finished watching “Intolerable Cruelty” again yesterday, which I love. The plotting and repartee is priceless. Favorite book? Now, I know you’re joking. There are too many to list. But the book I reach for the most? The DICTIONARY! Favorite food? Sushi and French desserts. Fave dream trip? Lately, I’ve had a hard-to-ignore hankering to go to Australia. I keep waiting for Anna Campbell to step up to the plate and invite me, but alas, I think she is secretly afraid I will eat all her Tim Tams and never leave. Scotland and Ireland are a close second and third.

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TAGS: Love with the Perfect Scoundrel, Sophia Nash, Tempted By His Kiss, Tracy Anne Warren