Getting to Know Rachel Brimble!

I'm psyched beyond words to have the talented Rachel Brimble with me today, with a guest interview and a peek inside Paying the Piper, her latest release from Lyrical Press! Welcome, Rachel!

Assuming you write in the romance genre, do you stick to one sub-genre or write across lines?

I write across lines - at the moment, I have two romantic suspense, one romantic comedy, one Victorian historical and two straight contemporary romances published. I like to alternate between contemporary and historical with each book. It keeps me fresh, interested and excited. I hope that's true for my readers too!

Oh, that's fabulous - and a really great idea. So, is the bedroom door generally left open or closed?

The bedroom door is most definitely open in my books - I suppose I would class the heat level at sensual to spicy. This is the heat level I like to read, too. The most important thing for me when I am writing or reading a love scene is the emotional connection between the hero and heroine and what they are risking or sacrificing in that moment. Once the hero and heroine make love, everything changes whether they initially realize it or not.

After finishing a manuscript, do you take some time off or dive right in to the next story?

Always dive straight into the next story - while working on one story, I am always making notes for the next so when I come to finish the current one, the new one is alive and running in my mind. I love nothing more than starting a new book! It's so exhilarating when you start that chapter one and have no idea how the book will end up. I am not a complete pantser but often only have a two to three page synopsis and character sketches when I start - past that, anything goes and I love it!

What’s on your nightstand (or downloaded onto your Kindle) right now?

I am usually reading three books at any one time - a hardback for reading in bed, a paperback for the bath and when I'm walking the dog (I kid you not) and a book on my Kindle for when I am out and about, sitting in cars waiting to pick the kids up, doctor's office etc.

I am currently reading:

Close - Martina Cole (hardback)

My Lover's Lover - Maggie O'Farrell (paperback)

Storm's Interlude - Vonnie Davis (kindle)

Favorite cocktail? Cosmopolitan every time! Yum...

Any pets? Yes, my beloved black Labrador, Max, is my third child and my constant companion. He is with me at every possible moment, whether I am writing, reading, ironing or taking a bath (he sits outside the bathroom with his nose under the door, lol!).

As well as Max, my girls have a hamster each who Max likes to traumatize when he thinks no one is looking. We are definitely a pet-friendly family. Love animals!

Buy Link

Nightclub manager, Grace Butler is on a mission to buy the pub where her mother’s ashes are scattered – except the vendor wants to sell to anyone but her. And the vendor happens to be her father…with a secret Grace will do anything to uncover.

Social worker and all-round good guy, Jimmy Betts needs cash to buy a house for three special kids before their care home closes. In a desperate bid for cash, he agrees to a one-time ‘job’ for bad-man Karl Butler. But in a sudden turn of events, Jimmy finds himself employed by Karl’s beautiful, funny and incredibly sexy daughter, Grace.

 

Their lives are so different except for one unifying thread – they are both trying to escape the binds of their tyrannical fathers. But is the key to their liberty each other?

Rachel lives with her husband and two young daughters in a small town near Bath in the UK.  She started writing short stories about eight years ago but once her children were at school, she embarked on her first novel. It was published in 2007. Since then, she’s had several books published with The Wild Rose Press, Eternal Press and Lyrical Press.  She recently acquired a US agent with her second Victorian historical. A member of the Romantic Novelists Association and Romance Writers of America, Rachel hopes to have a further two novels, one contemporary and one Victorian published in 2012.

When she isn’t writing, you’ll find Rachel with her head in a book or walking the beautiful English countryside with her family.  Her dream place to live is Bourton-on-the-Water in South West England. And in the evening? Well, a well-deserved glass of wine is never, ever refused…