Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Terry Graham interview and new release ~ A Matter of Manners


Welcome to my blog, Terry.
We all have a special relationship with books and writing. Each is different. We’d like to know more about how you developed your relationship.



1-      Were either of your parents avid readers? Did they read to you when you were a small child?

My mother read all the time, or at least as much as someone with six children, a husband, and a job could. I’m sure she probably read to us, though I don’t have any real memories of her doing so. She definitely contributed to my love of reading though, because she handed us Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy books when we complained we were bored, and later, when we ran out of those, she started us on Dame Barbara Cartland. The queen of romance at the time, she kept us reading a long, long time. Lol

2-      Can you remember when you began choosing books to read on your own? What kind of books were they?

My earliest memory of any kind, really, is the first day of kindergarten or pre-k, don’t remember which it was, but I vividly recall the bookcase filled with books and deciding that I was going to learn to read because I wanted to read every one of them. I didn’t really choose my own books until much later, and until I was a teenager, my mom made ‘suggestions’. I was probably in junior high when she started taking us to the library, then early in high school my aunt started giving us books. Those were the ones I devoured. Victoria Holt’s On the Night of the Seventh Moon sticks in my mind as my first foray into the true romance genre. Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers, Johanna Lindsey and all those other authors whose alpha heroes would have been accused of harassment today spoke to me. That’s probably where my BDSM leanings originate.

3-      What kind of student were you in school? How would your teachers and friends describe you then?

I was an avid student and remember finding my first grade report card a few years later. The teacher had written that I was a joy to have in school but that I needed to spend less time with the adults and more time making friends with my classmates. So I guess you could say I was the teacher’s pet, and to this day I gravitate toward people who are older. I married a man thirteen years older than me, and after I divorced him, had a relationship with a man who was fourteen years older. I suppose it was probably because I was more intelligent than most of my classmates. They all wanted to play outside, while I wanted to learn and read.

4-      How many books would you say you read in a month’s time after you left home and before you started writing?

Before I started writing, I’d chew through books at a rate that was too high to sustain. I could finish most books in less than two days. Back then, you couldn’t get books off the internet, so I had to rely on libraries. I grew up in a very small town of less than two hundred residents, so the library was small. I swear I went through every romance novel and most of the general fiction before I graduated high school.

5-      What kind of books did you prefer as an adult?

In high school and college, I went through phases. One year it would be romance, the next science fiction, then fantasy, then spy thrillers. I always liked the classics too, like Dickens, Dumas, Austin and the Bronte sisters, but I always came back to historical romance. After college, when I married and had a son, I couldn’t read as much, so I concentrated on the stories I liked most. At first that was sci-fi and fantasy, but then I gravitated back toward the historical romance and haven’t left it since.

6-      When was the first time you imagined a story you wanted to write and actually picked up a pen?

I distinctly remember I reached a point where I was having trouble finding good romances. Again, it was before the advent of Amazon, so books were hard to come by and I couldn’t afford to spend as much as I would have needed. I don’t remember the name of the book, but I borrowed a Scottish historical romance from the library and was extremely disappointed by it. The writing had been mediocre, and the ending left me gaping in disbelief. I threw the book down, thinking “I can write a better book than that!” That night visions of a Scottish laird and an English woman started forming in my head. I kept pushing them aside, but they wouldn’t go away until I started writing it. It took about four years to finish that one, and of course it was so badly written I couldn’t even find a publisher to consider it, but it started me on the path. Today, I’m working on rewriting that very story. I have a contract for my second story, which I had already re-written, and when my editor heard that it was the second in a series, she said she wanted them both. The book coming out at the end on January, A Matter of Manners, was my third story and completely different. That one took years too because it kept veering into erotic romance, before that was a thing.



Blurb:
Jeremy Wyles believes himself sterile. He's also a sadist and fears no lady would agree to marry him. When a woman shows up on his doorstep, pregnant and claiming to be his wife, he'll do whatever is necessary to ensure his dukedom has an heir. A loveless marriage in name only seems the perfect solution, but his disobedient duchess stirs his desire for discipline...and something more.
Irish rebel Kathleen "Katy" Brennan only seeks recompense from the husband whose cousin married her by proxy and left her with child. The bargain he offers is tempting. He'll claim her baby as his own, and she can become the grand lady she's always imagined. There's just one condition she's not sure she can live with. The delicious-looking duke refuses to touch her...ever.
Can Jeremy put aside the wicked urges that rule his life, or will Katy's rebellious spirit destroy his tenuous control?

What better way to await Valentine's Day than with a red hot erotic romance?

Excerpt:
     A marriage of convenience...or could it be more?
     “Bollocks!” The expletive burst out, unbidden.
     He had to stop using the word before it slipped out
in the wrong setting.
     At least it got her attention. Her moss-colored
eyes widened, and her lips parted in surprise.
     Another flicker of want paralyzed him.
     “I should go.” With a grace that took his breath
away, she rose and turned toward the door. This
time, though, her feet inched forward.
     “Stop!” Try as he might, it came out as a
command.
      She dropped into the chair, her porcelain skin
fading to the pasty white color it had taken on when
she vomited.
      He raked his fingers through his hair. What was
happening? Besides him losing control?
      “You’ve done nothing wrong,” he explained.
“It’s George I wish to thrash.”
      To his surprise, she harrumphed in a very
unladylike manner. “Might I watch?”
      Her hand flew up and covered her mouth.
Wide, emerald eyes with thick, long lashes stared at
him, half horrified. Then she lifted her chin in
defiance.
      Damn, she was pretty. Dark cherries and
clotted cream pretty.
      Footsteps echoed from the hallway, drawing
her attention, but Jeremy continued to stare. He
didn’t care who entered. He wanted to ogle her for a
few minutes.
     “Speak of the devil,” her luscious lips muttered.


Author Bio:
Terry Graham has been imagining love stories since she began playing with Barbie and Ken. In high school, she read Barbara Cartland along with Dickens, Austen, Asimov and everything else she could get her hands on. After two careers, as a chemist and a computer programmer, she retired to try her hand at writing. Terry lives in upstate New York with her cat Amber. She's divorced with a grown son who makes it all worthwhile.

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