BTS Book Reviews December 2013 | Page 15

I’ve fallen off horses, for example. I’ve kissed the wrong, er, footman. I’ve wanted nothing at a big family Christmas so much as to be alone. The emotions and some of the outward details come from my life, but the stories and characters are make believe. What books or authors have most influenced your life? Influenced my life? Ram Dass is the first philosopher I heard coin the aphorism, “Be kind, tell the truth,” which pretty much defines honor for me. In terms of influencing my writing, my keeper authors are Joanna Bourne, Mary Balogh, JR Ward, Carolyn Jewel, Meredith Duran, Tessa Dare, Julie Anne Long, Loretta Chase... in the Regency sub-genre, there are a lot of giantesses, upon whose shoulders a new author stands. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? In any creative endeavor with a commercial fate, fear can be a factor. Will the readers like this? Will the reviewers find anything good about it? Is the writing the best I can put on the page? Is this too much like my previous titles, or too different from them? Did I make the right story decisions for these characters? Is this story ready for publication or does it need major revisions? An author can dither and fret away all of her confidence, if she loses sight of the joy of creation itself, and doesn’t have supportive community around her for the rough patches. Grace Burrowes grew up in central Pennsylvania and is the sixth out of seven children. She discovered romance novels when in junior high (back when there was a such a thing), and has been reading them voraciously ever since. Grace has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a Bachelor of Music in Music History, (both from The Pennsylvania State University); a Master’s Degree in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University; and a Juris Doctor from The National Law Center at The George Washington University. Her debut novel, The Heir, was chosen as a Publishers Weekly Top Five Romances for 2010, and is the first in an eight-sibling historical romance series published by Sourcebooks Casablanca. http://graceburrowes.com December 2013 | 15