Where did you get the idea for your new novel, Taken as Theirs?
I love to read and belonged to a literary group. We read Margret Atwood’s Handmaiden’s Tale. and it got me thinking. I loved the idea of a world most women were infertile. That made them either commodities or treasures. Then the what if’s started.
What if the same disease that made the females of species infertile almost wiped out humanity?
What if the vampires, werewolves, and demons really lived among us?
What if the paranormal species became the dominant species?
And how would people cope in a post-apocalyptic world?
That was my starting premise for Taken as Theirs. It shows how three species survive and treat their women. That sounds very highbrow, but my book’s a hot, sexy action / adventure full of dominant werewolves and wicked vampires. I’ve never had a book in the Amazon top fifty twenty before, and so far, the reviews have been amazing. I’m very proud of Taken as Theirs.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read your book, Taken as Theirs?
I want Dane and Eli, my werewolf heroes, to be the reader’s best ever book boyfriends. I loved the characters with their mix of kindness, compassion, and sexual dominance. My heroine’s sassy and full of fun, she’s submissive only to the werewolves she loves. She’s tiny but full of spirit, a natural problem solver. Most of all, I want readers to think, “That was a great story.”
Did you always want to be a writer?
One of my friends claims I wanted to write a book when we were at school. I didn’t want it badly enough to do more than talk about it until my heart valve collapsed eighteen years ago. It was unexpected and potentially deadly. Fortunately, a wonderful surgeon gave me a bionic one. That’s when I reached for my dreams, picked up a pen, and started writing.
Do you have any words of advice to beginning writers?
Keep going and read Stephen King’s book, On Writing. Whatever genre you read, it will help.
How did you get started writing romance?
I never wanted to write anything else. I read romance novels of any genre. Like Marilyn Monroe, I like mine hot. That’s certainly what I write. The more I write, the sexier my stories get.
Do you write in the same place every day or do you like to change it up?
In winter, I write at the computer desk in the front room. In summer, I write in the garden shed. My wonderful husband has fit it out with a computer desk, blankets and rugs. It’s a little haven of quiet surrounded by tubs of flowers.
Tell us a bit about you. Where do you live, and how long have you been writing?
I retired to England’s Yorkshire coast three years ago. I spend time each day with my husband walking on the beach. In between, I love to cook. I’m pretty good at it, but I still have the odd disaster. I think that can be said of my first draft writing too. I spend forever editing and polishing a manuscript before it goes to my publisher. After that, my husband reads it. Then my lovely beta reader, Wendy checks it. You’d think it would be perfect, but my editor always finds bits I’ve missed. The one thing I’ve learned is never to be precious about my writing. I’m always grateful when a publisher accepts it.
If writing is your first passion, what is your second?
My husband and my family. We celebrated our ruby wedding three years ago, and I’d marry him again tomorrow. I have an adult son and daughter who I'm inordinately proud of. One’s something mysterious in international finance and one’s a head teacher. Thanks to them I have three grandchildren. Two boys I don’t see often enough as they live over 200 miles away and an eighteen-month old granddaughter.
What are your hobbies away from the computer?
I quiz with my husband and two good friends twice a week. A local bar has entertainment twice a week, and I can usually be found on their dance floor.
What did you want to be (occupation-wise) when you were a child?
At four, I wanted to be a gypsy. I loved that they had horses and dogs. Afterward, I wanted to be a rocket scientist. I have the physics A level to prove it.
How do you choose the names and physical characteristics of your characters? Do you base them on real people?
I have a fondness for sparky red-headed heroines. That said, they can’t all look the same. be red heads. I work out how they look before I start. My heroes often have scars, either physical or mental – as in PTSD. They are always muscular warriors who can hold their own in any situation.
Names are the hardest part for me. I often change them halfway though the story. In Taken as Theirs, Dane was going to be Cain until HE insisted on something better. Other times I look though lists of popular names from the year my character would have been born.
Cassie, in Taken as Theirs was different. I wanted her and her two younger sisters to have the names of ancient queens. (That’s for the possible follow up, though, so please don’t tell.) She’s named for Cassiopeia, the vain queen from Greek mythology. Later, I learned it’s also the name of a species of jellyfish! All I can say, is she’s made of steel not jelly.
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Buy links:
Amazon USA https://amzn.to/2AB4Z3l
Amazon UK https://amzn.to/2s95Q6O
Amazon Canada https://amzn.to/2GZLI1f
Amazon Australia https://amzn.to/2RvViwV
Publishers Blurb:
As a breeder--one of the few fertile women left in a ruined, plague-ravaged world--Cassie would fetch a handsome price at auction, and selling her to the highest bidder was exactly what her captors had in mind... until two fearsome beasts decided to take her for themselves.
Eli and Dane have chosen Cassie for their mate, and when she makes a foolish attempt at escape she quickly ends up tearfully promising obedience as her bare bottom is soundly and shamefully punished. Her body's response to their stern dominance cannot be denied, however, and it isn't long before she is screaming out her intense, helpless pleasure as she is roughly and thoroughly claimed. But will Eli and Dane's pack accept a human girl or will Cassie be an outsider forever?
Publisher's Note: Taken as Theirs includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Excerpt:
Goosebumps covered Cassie’s flesh. Tingles raced between her legs, tiny electric sparks that warmed her blood. One kind word and her good intentions would crumble—just like her sisters’ chance of freedom if she told this drop-dead gorgeous pair about them.
What with the vampire auction and that nightmare descent of the cliff, she couldn’t take much more. Cassie had been a fool to think she could escape. Completely drained, she was at the werewolves’ mercy.
Her imagination worked overtime. Wolves were pack animals. Suppose they decided to share her around the crew? The vampires certainly would have, and she didn’t expect werewolves to behave any better.
She cowered when Eli pulled a knife, but he sawed through the wet rope binding her to his brother. Her legs folded, and only Dane’s strong grip kept her upright. Sheaving his knife, Eli swept her into his arms.
He gave her his best Pepsodent-white smile. “Foolish little princess, so eager to return to the vampires who will abuse you. You’re safe here, despite the unconventional start to our friendship.”
Like a half-drowned kitten, she dripped water onto his trousers. He smelled of summer breezes and crops ripening in the fields. So cold her teeth had stopped chattering, she let go of her fears and let Eli take charge. Heat flowed from his chest to hers, but it wasn’t enough. She felt like an ice cube lost at the back of a freezer.
He carried her through a narrow galley, and into the captain’s cabin. She’d expected twin bunks and a tiny space. Instead, this room reminded her of Nelson’s cabin on the HMS Victory. The back wall consisted of window panes, giving her a view of the distant cliffs. The view fascinated and delighted her but the cabin’s four-poster bed terrified her. It covered more than half the room and had enough room for three if not four.
Dane pulled towels from a trunk then tossed her one of his brother’s jumpers. “Get dry, princess then get into bed and warm up. We’re going to lock you in while we get underway in earnest, but we’ll be back with hot stew and a hot coffee soon.”
After living on half rations for a week, her mouth watered at the thought of a decent meal. That these dominant werewolves cared for her welfare stunned her. Then they offered her a coffee. Utter luxury.
Emotions set in, and tears filled her eyes. She broke into a cold sweat that turned her forehead clammy. She’d never felt so weary in her life—not even when she’d swum marathons.
Dane lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes. “Don’t cry, little human. You’re safe now.”
The intensity in his gaze felt like a shot of energy for her soul. It made her feel hot and tingly inside. She craved his touch, and maybe his kiss. A fresh set of shivers beset her. This time, they were more about her forbidden attraction for the werewolves than the cold.
About Kryssie Fortune:
Kryssie lives by the beach and loses track of time when she writes. Her days are full of dashing regency rakes, former soldiers so handsome they make her drool, and the sexiest werewolves ever. The odd vampire makes it in there too, but when he does, he’s drop dead gorgeous.
Her pet hates are unhappy endings and cliff hangers. She guarantees you won’t find either in her books. Her books sizzle with sensual heat, but story always comes before sex. Even when part of a series, her books can be read as stand-alone romance.
Thank you for letting me drop by. It was great to chat.
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