Interview with Rachel Lyndhurst

Books-n-Kisses is pleased to have Rachel Lyndhurst on the blog today to chat about her newest book The Spanish Billionaire’s Hired Bride

Rachel, can you please share with us a little about yourself

I live with my daughter, son and The Exec in Fareham, Hampshire, on the south coast of England and can sometimes smell the sea from my back garden.

I write full-time when my children are at school, but am still proud of my law degree and accountancy qualifications. I’ve worked in the space industry, pharmaceuticals, insurance, a supermarket, a bus station, a railway depot, and a lingerie department among others.

I don’t have a lot of time for hobbies these days, but if I get the chance I do enjoy rummaging through antique shops and visiting famers’ markets. I’m also partial to the odd glass of wine and hoarding expensive lipstick.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

Not consciously. I spent my childhood wanting to be many things, including a Concorde pilot, but the writing was always there. I wrote silly stories including my friends and our imaginary adventures in the Maggot Club (don’t ask!), and angsty teenage poems ridiculing boys that I fancied rotten. In my twenties the boring old office job improved when a subversive Viz-style comic came into being – it featured a character that looked like my boss quite heavily. I left that job soon after … During a decade working in as an accountant, I began to think how wonderful it would be to become an author instead.

Can you share with us your typical writing day.  Is there anything you have to have while writing?

I come back from the morning school runs and log on to my laptop while I make tea and toast for breakfast. I then work until about 3 pm slotting in lunch and playtime with our new kitten. I switch from writing to doing promotional copy and social networking as the need arises. And deal with emails of course. Then the children come home and it’s pretty much game over on the writing front. I have to have my reading glasses nearby these days, I’m afraid, but I’ve two very different pairs to wear depending on my mood. I’m currently wearing my purple leopard print Escadas.

Most challenging or rewarding part of writing?

The promotion side of writing is the most challenging for me. I enjoy it and I know it’s an essential part of the job, but it’s extremely time consuming. The most rewarding thing is when people get in touch and say how much they enjoyed reading my book – that’s simply brilliant.

Can you please tell us about your latest book(s)?

Here’s the blurb for my latest book with Entangled Indulgence, The Spanish Billionaire’s Hired Bride:

He bought her with cold, hard cash, but can she stop him from stealing her heart?

Blackmailed to marry against his will, Ricardo Almanza needs a wife before he’s thirty, and time is running out. A notorious playboy, marriage is the last thing he wants, but his stepmother’s sexy, debt-ridden personal assistant is the perfect solution. He makes her a business deal she can’t refuse—one million euros for three months as his wife. He might even enjoy being married to her … if she doesn’t kick the crap out of him again.

Helen Marshall can’t believe she’s considering Almanza’s outrageous proposal, but she must help clear her parents’ debts or they face financial ruin. The small print on the marriage contract changes to read three months as his wife in every way—including in the bedroom. Has she gotten in too deep, or will she need a new contract addendum, extending their marriage forever?

How did you come with the idea for this story?

I saw a spectacular male underwear model on a huge billboard in Marks and Spencers. Nobody in the store (or even marks and Spencer’s HQ in London) could tell me who he was, but we all agreed he looked Spanish. So I had to write a Spaniard, didn’t I? Soon after that I holidayed in Ibiza and fell in love with the White Isle. Watching a very wealthy couple get off their flashy yacht and then dine expensively at a posh harborside restaurant was also a defining moment. I wanted to write about a poor but proud British woman, feed her lobster and champagne, and then plonk a gigantic diamond ring on her finger!

Can you share with us your current work in progress?

Currently I have a few category length projects going on in varying states of completion. I can’t say too much about those, but they have Sicilian, Australian-Greek and American heroes.  I also have a couple of longer novels simmering away and a head full of inappropriate ideas.

Who are some of your favorite authors?

I have so many different favorite writers I’m not sure where to begin but they would include India Grey, Anne McAllister, George Orwell, Salman Rushdie and Howard Jacobson.

Do you feel that any of your favorite authors have inspired your writing style? 

I don’t think any one author has influenced my writing style but a few editors have certainly helped me hone it! I write more compactly these days, less flowery prose, shorter sentences, snappier dialogue. It works better with short category romance. But I still love beautiful words, Salman Rushdie is very good for that sort of thing, reading his prose is like eating Christmas pudding with ice cream ; a sensory feast of contrast,  rich and delicious.

Open your book to a random page and tell us what’s happening.

Ha! Easier said than done with an eBook! I have done a random slither with the mouse on the final PDF and …

Farmer’s daughter, Helen, has just had her bottom affectionately slapped by Ricardo Almanza under the sheets of his massive bed on his superyacht. It’s the morning after their Marriage of convenience wedding night. They didn’t get much sleep …

What is in your To Read Pile that you are dying to start or upcoming release you can’t wait for?

My To Read Pile is massive and that doesn’t include all the juicy downloads on my Kindle! I’m desperate to read every single Entangled Indulgence releases, and the Brazens – but time isn’t on my side at the moment. There’s also a big bag of signed books I brought back from a recent romantic fiction festival which are tempting me very badly. Hopefully I’ll be able to get stuck in over the Christmas holidays.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I’d like to thank you very much for having me here today on Books-n-Kisses. It’s been lovely! I love to hear from readers too, you can find me in the following places:

Website | Facebook | Facebook page | Twitter | Goodreads 

 Amazon | Amazon UK | B&N

 He bought her with cold, hard cash, but can she stop him from stealing her heart?

Blackmailed to marry against his will, Ricardo Almanza needs a wife before he’s thirty, and time is running out. A notorious playboy, marriage is the last thing he wants, but his stepmother’s sexy, debt-ridden personal assistant is the perfect solution. He makes her a business deal she can’t refuse—one million euros for three months as his wife. He might even enjoy being married to her … if she doesn’t kick the crap out of him again.

Helen Marshall can’t believe she’s considering Almanza’s outrageous proposal, but she must help clear her parents’ debts or they face financial ruin. The small print on the marriage contract changes to read three months as his wife in every way—including in the bedroom. Has she gotten in too deep, or will she need a new contract addendum, extending their marriage forever?