December Joyathon: Interview + Giveaway with Katharine Ashe

Meet Katharine:

coming 2012

The American Library Association’s Booklist named Katharine Ashe among its “New Stars of Historical Romance.” She is a two-time nominee in the Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Awards, and her novella, A Lady’s Wish, launched Harper Collins Publishers’ new Avon Impulse imprint to rave reviews.

Katharine lives in the wonderfully warm Southeast with her husband, son, two dogs, and a garden she likes to call romantic rather than unkempt. A professor of European history, she has made her home in California, Italy, France, and the northern US. She loves hearing from readers! Please visit her at www.katharineashe.com or write to her at PO Box 51702, Durham, NC 27717.


Where To Find Katharine: Twitter | Facebook | Author Site | The Ballroom Blog

Kati R: Who is Katharine during the holidays? (author, gift giver, last minute shopper, baker)
Katharine Ashe: Baker! Cookies, cakes, pies, tea breads… anything that gives me an excuse to mix butter and sugar and then curl up on a cozy sofa in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea, a slice of warm yumminess, and a novel. Also, I give cookies or tea breads to my neighbors as holiday gifts. (yum!)

click to learn more

Gift-giver! Giving gifts is the best part about the holidays. One of my favorite gifts is an animal from Heifer International. In the name of one of my loved ones I donate money for a goat, dairy cow, pair of chickens, or what-have-you, and Heifer International sends that domestic animal somewhere in the world to a family that needs it to survive. I write romance because spreading love is the thing I enjoy doing most. So this kind of gift is just another way of spreading my love for my family and friends further. (Oh em gee! My dad does that every year. It's always a water buffalo.)

KR: What is your favorite thing about the holidays?

click for an excerpt

KA: Celebrating the birthday of the Prince of Peace. On the material side, it’s the Christmas tree! Picking out and trimming the tree with my family, and then cuddling in its sparkly glow is my Favorite holiday fun.

KR: Do you write more or less during the holidays?
KA: Depends on the year. Last year I wrote my novella A LADY’S WISH over the break between semesters (I’m a professor). This year I’ll be in research mode for my next book, so I won’t be writing.

KR: If you’ve written a holiday themed/titled book, what is it about? If you have not, would you write a holiday themed/titled book in the future?
KA: Two of my books partially take place during the holidays. The first, SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS (which I’m giving away today!), begins during the summer on the high seas. But the second half of the story takes my lord and lady to a country house party over the Christmas holiday. Amid merrymaking and revelry they share a steamy mistletoe kiss… and then some.

My next book, WHEN A SCOT LOVES A LADY (coming February 28, 2012), begins at Christmastime when a sophisticated London spinster finds herself trapped by a snowstorm in a tiny village with a roguish Scottish lord. The holidays heat up quite nicely in that little roadside inn. Quite nicely indeed. (Looking forward to this one. The cover is gorgeous!)

KR: Which of your heroes would you go on a sleigh ride with? (with permission from the heroine of course)

click to read an excerpt

KA: I’d like to go on a sleigh ride with the hero and heroine together, just so I could revel in how in love they are! I would probably choose Ben and Octavia from IN THE ARMS OF A MARQUESS, since that sort of deep, lifelong love leaves me positively breathless. On the other hand, the seductive sparks between Leam Blackwood and Kitty Savege in WHEN A SCOT LOVES A LADY are pretty enticing. A sleigh ride with these two reluctant lovers -- who try so desperately not to succumb to every dark corner and fail completely -- would be just too good to miss. So I’d want a ride with them too. May I take two rides? Pretty please? (How about y'all just pile into one giant sleigh? lol)

KR: What is your favorite Christmas story, book or movie? (Mine is White Christmas)
KA: White Christmas is fabulous! I have two very favorite Christmas movies: It’s a Wonderful Life and While You Were Sleeping.

KR: Real tree or fake tree?
KA: Real, fresh cut from a farm. Up when I lived in Michigan there was a tree farm every other mile and we’d have the most beautiful Douglas Firs and Spruces. Down south here, though, unless you buy a tree brought from the mountains, farm trees are usually long-needle pines. One year we waited really late to get our tree, and the only one left on the lot was so skinny, tall and twisted that it looked like a pickle, I kid you not. It was adorable!

Good grief!

KR: Specific gifts or gift cards?
KA: Specific gifts or gifts to third-party organizations like the one I mentioned above. I also love giving (and getting hint hint!) food baskets, like from Harry & David.

KR: Fruit cake or gingerbread?
KA: Gingerbread. Reminds me of my childhood.

click to read an excerpt

KR: Just enough decorations or “every tree lighted, blow up snowglobe, snow man in the yard” decorations?
KA: Somewhere in between. I adore lights, sparkly colors, gold and silver, but especially those homemade ornaments that some beloved little person made and look really awful but are full of love.

KR: Home for the holidays or visiting relatives?
KA: Home. That way I can be with my pups. And my husband and I travel so often for work, home is the best vacation.

KR: What are you looking forward to in the new year?
KA: My new series! WHEN A SCOT LOVES A LADY will be out in February, heading up my Falcon Club series. It’s more of the intrigue, adventure and hot, emotional romance I love to write, and several minor characters from my Rogues of the Sea series are coming back for their own books in it. Also, it looks like my mom might be moving to North Carolina sometime in 2012, and I can’t wait for that. She is a very special lady.

KR: Author’s choice.
KA: What is your favorite special way to treat yourself over the holidays?

KR: Thanks for participating in the Joyathon!
KA: Thank you, Kati. It’s such a pleasure!

SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS:

A Secret IdentityWhen pirates storm Lord Steven Ashford’s ship upon the high seas, it brings him closer than ever to the nefarious criminal he seeks to ruin. Only one seductive detail threatens his victory: the scandalous beauty imprisoned with him, Lady Valerie Monroe. Temptation has never been so intoxicating or so forbidden, for Steven is disguised as a French priest. If they make it off the ship alive, to protect her from his enemies, he must never see her again…

An Undeniable LoveBack in England, and under the ton’s scrutiny for a reckless past she hasn’t escaped, Valerie dreams of the breathtaking “man of the cloth” with whom she shared her greatest adventure. Then he reappears in society under his true identity, Viscount Ashford, but despite the danger their consuming passion cannot be denied. Now standing in the way of their desire are Valerie’s wounded heart, Steven’s lone destiny, and a villain that will stop at nothing to crush them both.

Where To Buy: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Nook | Book Depository
Book Extras: Read an Excerpt

Well there you have it. Katharine is giving away a copy of SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS to one(1) lucky reader. Here's how to get your hands on a sexy priest that's not really a priest(intrigued you have I?):

• Leave a comment answering Katharine's question along with your email addy, ninja style: yourname at gmail dot com
• Fill out the rafflecopter form. You must answer Katharine's question. All other entries are optional. I recommend you follow her on Twitter. Lots of twittah goodness & sneak peeks. :)

Easy peasy right? Don't forget to enter for the awesome super secret prize here.

A huge thank you to Katharine for participating in the Joyathon and for giving away a copy of SWEPT AWAY BY A KISS.