Release Day Blitz/ Q & A For IF THE DUKE DEMANDS by Anna Harrington

Title: If The Duke Demands

Series: Capturing The Carlisles

Author: Anna Harrington

Genre: Regency Romance

Rating: 

Publishers: Forever

(Feb 28, 2017)

Paperback: 368 pages

ISBN: 978-1455597253

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

A LESSON IN SEDUCTION . . .

Miranda Hodgkins has only ever wanted one thing: to marry Robert Carlisle. And she simply can't wait a moment longer. During the Carlisle family masquerade ball, Miranda boldly sneaks into his bedchamber with seduction on her mind. Soon she's swept into rock-hard arms for the most breathtaking kiss of her life. But when the masks come off, she's horrified to find herself face-to-face with Sebastian, the Duke of Trent-Robert's formidable older brother.
Shocked to find Miranda in his bed, Sebastian quickly offers her a deal to avoid scandal: He'll help her win his brother's heart if she'll find him the perfect wife. But what begins as a simple negotiation soon spirals out of control. For the longer this reformed rake tries to make a match for Miranda, the more he wants to keep her all to himself.

QUICK FIRE INTERVIEW:

• Twitter or Facebook? 

Facebook

• Favorite Superhero?

Spiderman (I’m old school)

• Favorite TV show? 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• Sweet or Salty? 

Sweet! Preferably involving chocolate

• Coke or Pepsi? 

Coke

• Any Phobias? 

None (thank goodness!)

• Song you can’t get enough of right now? 

Hey Louis Prima by Brian Setzer

• Who is your ultimate Book Boyfriend? 

George Knightley from Emma

• What are you reading right now or what’s on your TBR? 

Lisa Kleypas’s Again the Magic

• 2017 Movie you’re most looking forward to? 

 Beauty and the Beast

(me too!) 

Was there anything you wanted to add or had to eliminate from the story? What was it and why? 

I originally had a chapter in IF THE DUKE DEMANDS in which Miranda falls into a duck pond in Hyde Park and Sebastian rescues her…only to end up soaked in two feet of water with a reed sticking off his head! They antagonize each other for the rest of the scene, all the way back to the townhouse, where he accidentally glimpses her undressing. It was removed in the rewrites because it didn’t fit the rising action and was too much physical attraction and not enough emotional attraction. But I love the rapid back and forth in that chapter, how they know exactly how to get under each other’s skin, and the simmering sexual tension underlying all of it.

What is the heartbeat of your new novel?

That love sneaks up on us when—and with whom—we least expect it. Miranda has always been in love with Robert Carlisle and somewhat terrified of his imposing older brother Sebastian, Duke of Trent. But when she gets to know the man beneath the title, she realizes that she’s been in love with the wrong Carlisle brother all along. But in order to save her heart, she has to make him realize that he’s more than a duke, that he’s simply a man worthy of her love.

If you found a genie, what would be your three wishes?

To find my true love, to be able to move to England and have a cute little flat in Mayfair, and to never run out of ideas for new novels.

What do you hope readers will take away from reading this book?

I only hope they have fun. I fell in love with Sebastian while writing this book, and Miranda is a part of every woman who wants to live life to the fullest and find her true love in her best friend. I hope readers enjoy the humor and the sense of energy, the special family relationships that the Carlisles all share, and the slow unfolding of love as the two move from bewilderment, to wonderment, and finally to acceptance of love. (And that they laugh over my shamelessly dirty joke about Mozart’s opera and a very uncomfortable conversation Sebastian has with his mother about how he and his siblings arrived in the world.)

Tell us seven things we may not know about your writing life...

1. I keep a notebook and pen beside my bed in case I wake up in the middle of the night with a good idea. (I’ll never remember it when I fall back asleep.)
2. I’ve worn out one computer per year for the last three years…the keys keep falling off, starting with the backspace key.
3. My favorite part of writing is revising (I am such a nerd!)
4. Whenever I think of an idea for a new book, I start by envisioning the house where the story is set, then create the characters and plot from there. I’m a would-be architect and house historian, deeply affected by a sense of place.
5. I cannot write without a cup of coffee at my fingertips and jazz music in the background.
6. I write in my sunroom, from where I can watch the squirrels shamelessly raiding the bird feeder and yell at the neighbor’s cat when it sneaks into my rose garden.
7. When I’m in the middle of a project, I go for walks around the neighborhood and talk to myself to work out plot problems. (As an added bonus, it keeps the neighbors away.)