#Blogtour: Take Me, I’m Yours by Lizzie Lamb @lizzie_lamb @rararesources #guestpost

Lizzie Lamb – where do I start?! One of the very loveliest ladies I know and am proud to call a friend, and an author whose books I love. And when I heard that she was taking Take Me, I’m Yours on a blog tour, there was no way I wasn’t going to be part of it. I had the pleasure and honour of being an early reader, and sharing my review on publication day – you’ll find that review again here, and I suspect you might just pick up how very much I enjoyed it. For the duration of the blog tour, Take Me, I’m Yours will be available at the bargain price of 99p – go on, you know you really want to. Here’s a closer look:

India Buchanan plans to set up an English-Style bed and breakfast establishment in her great-aunt’s home, MacFarlane’s Landing, Wisconsin. But she’s reckoned without opposition from Logan MacFarlane whose family once owned her aunt’s house and now want it back. MacFarlane is in no mood to be denied. His grandfather’s living on borrowed time and Logan has vowed to ensure the old man sees out his days in their former home. India’s great-aunt has other ideas and has threatened to burn the house to the ground before she lets a MacFarlane set foot in it. There’s a story here. One the family elders aren’t prepared to share. When India finds herself in Logan’s debt, her feelings towards him change. However, the past casts a long shadow and events conspire to deny them the love and happiness they both deserve. Can India and Logan’s love overcome all odds? Or is history about to repeat itself?

I’m delighted to welcome Lizzie as my guest today – to tell us about holding out for a hero…

To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a romantic author often finds herself in want of a, truly, romantic hero.

At a recent workshop, I declared that until I’d fallen in love with the hero in my novel, the novel was going nowhere. It lacked passion and emotional imagination/intelligence. If I didn’t fancy the pants off my hero, how could I persuade my heroine fall in love with him. They are often at loggerheads, and while we recognise this as Unresolved Sexual Tension (UST), I have to persuade them to stay the course until cupid’s arrow pierces them right through their stubborn hearts. After that, there’s no going back.

So, where do I stumble across these ‘heroes’? Is it all guess work? Or do I track down them down with the dedication of a bloodhound? Dear Reader, the truth is a lot simpler (and more fun) than that. I find them in up-market mail (or should that be male?) order catalogues: Barbour, Crew, House of Bruar, Osprey of London, Joseph Turner et al. I rip the catalogues to bits and save the photos of all the likely candidates who measure up to my exacting standards of what a hero should look like. And those standards are very high.

I also tour Pinterest Boards to see what other women (i.e. potential readers) find desirable in a man, then I ‘pin’ those examples to my own board, Les Hunks for future reference. A great way to while away a winter’s evening when there’s nothing on the TV. And it’s all research; right? Right.

I also have arrangement with Dr Nick Fiddes, co-director of Clan.com an Edinburgh kilt business he runs with wife, Adele, that I can use any of the photos on the website for my book covers. In return I send them a signed paperback of each new novel and give their kilt website a shout out in the acknowledgements. I’m already looking for the cover for #6 and I hope I find it there, because they have been such good friends to me. Of course, it will probably mean my poring over pages of men in kilts via my Ipad.

It’s a dirty job, but . . . etc, etc. And there’s always more research to be carried out.

So what exactly am I looking for?

I’m not interested in businessmen in suits, CEOs of large companies, Arab sheiks or doctors. I prefer photographers/free-lance reporters; action men who have the skills and wit to survive in war zones. Men who can hold their own in the dangerous world they inhabit but have a tender side which the heroine encourages him to reveal as the novel unfolds. I quite like tortured or damaged hero, maybe haunted by the past; a man with demons to fight. I mean, who doesn’t adore Cormoran Strike in the Robert Galbraith novels? I quite like artistic heroes, too: playwrights/authors/artists etc. but not too fey, thank you very much. Above all, I love a laird in a castle, even an impoverished one. Someone who has to consider others; his tenants, employees, family. That gives me a chance to show the reader his caring side and to encourage her (and the heroine) to fall in love with him, too.

He has to care deeply for the heroine – even if, initially, they spend most of the time annoying the bejeezus out each other. They might argue, but the making up will be all the sweeter for that. As the novel unfolds they find common interests which to bring them together rather than pushes them apart. And, just when the reader thinks they’re going to have a happy ever after ending, I lob in another emotional hand grenade which makes that happy ending seem unlikely.

Last but not least, my hero has to be a tender and considerate lover and man enough to laugh (and cry) with my heroine. I think the hero in Take Me, I’m Yours embodies all of those attributes and rides a vintage Triumph motor cycle, to boot. At least, that’s what readers and reviewers tell me. Read the novel and make your own mind up.

As for who is my favourite hero . . . I love ‘em all. Ruairi Urquhart in Tall, Dark and Kilted because he was my first creation. Keir MacKenzie in Girl in the Castle because we all love a laird, don’t we? Rafa Ffinch in Boot Camp Bride – the perfect foil for my heroine, sparky Charlee Montague. And Brodie in Scotch on the Rocks, because he is a man with a secret – and he has auburn hair, just like Jamie in the Outlander series, and who could resist him?

So it just leaves me to find that spark which ignites my imagination and I’m I’ll spend the winter flashing out my new hero on the pc. See you in just over a year when, hopefully, I will publish number six.

And I can’t wait, Lizzie. Enjoy your blog tour…

About the author

After teaching her 1000th pupil and working as a deputy head teacher in a large primary school, Lizzie decided to pursue her first love: writing. She joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s New Writers’ Scheme, wrote Tall, Dark and Kilted (2012), quickly followed by Boot Camp Bride. Although much of her time is taken promoting her novels she published Scotch on the Rocks, which achieved Best Seller status within two weeks of appearing on Amazon. Her next novel, Girl in the Castle, reached #3 in the Amazon charts. Lizzie is a founder member of indie publishing group – New Romantics Press, and has co-hosted author events at Aspinall, St Pancras and Waterstones, Kensington, talking about writing and the research which underpins her novels.

Lizzie’s latest romance Take Me, I’m Yours is set in Wisconsin, a part of the USA which she adores. She has further Scottish-themed romances planned and this summer has toured the Scottish Highlands in her caravan researching men in kilts. What’s not to like? As for the years she spent as a teacher, they haven’t quite gone to waste as she is building up a reputation as a go-to speaker on indie publishing, and how to plan, write, and publish a debut novel. Lizzie lives in Leicestershire (UK) with her husband, David.

Lizzie’s Links

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