Interview with Kate Pearce and #giveaway of Blood of the Rose! Open Internationally

Today we have the lovely author Kate Pearce on to talk about her books from The Tudor Vampire Chronicles.  I recently discovered this series and quickly devoured the first one.  You can check out my review here.  

I liked the book so much that I immediately contacted Kate about having her on the blog.  She's been very fun to chat with.  So I'm excited to share this lovely interview with all of you as well as a giveaway of the second book in the The Tudor Vampire Chronicles,  Blood of the Rose and some soap and perfume she had made up for the books.  The giveaway is open internationally so we have to say a huge thank you to her for the giveaway and especially for making it international! 

And as a disclosure for my younger readers, this series is not erotic, but it is a romance and does have sex and adult themes, so it's definitely for the older readers.
 

Can you tell us just a bit about yourself and the books you have out before we get started any further?

I'm originally from the UK and grew up just outside London. I went to college in Wales, got married and eventually moved over to California 13 years ago when my husband's job relocated over here. I have 4 kids, 3 boys and a younger girl. I write for Signet Eclipse, Kensington Aphrodisia and various other publishers. I think Blood of the Rose is my 15th published novel.

When I saw the cover of Kiss of the Rose it drew my eye immediately. I like historical fiction, I like paranormal and I like romance. But really, I think the cover was what sealed the deal for me. Did you have any input in the covers of either of the books in the Tudor Vampire Chronicles?

Yes, I did have some input. Very early on in the process, I was asked for my thoughts and I sent the wonderful art department at Penguin NAL images of the original Tudors and also some more 'modern' interpretations from the Showtime The Tudors series. They came up with a series of covers that incorporate both old and new and I was absolutely delighted. The only thing I changed was on the cover for Kiss of the Rose, when I asked it they could put a beard on the hero. :)

And that leads to this, do you ever judge a book by it's cover? I'll confess that personally I don't usually like covers of romances. Be it historical, paranormal, etc. They normally have characters that are hanging all over each other and don't look at all like the characters in the book look (wrong color hair, etc). But these ones, definitely not the case! I LOVE these covers!

A great cover will make me pick up a book in a store and at least read the back cover to see if I'd enjoy it. Kiss of the Rose recently took 1st place in the JABBIC contest (Judge a book by its cover) so I have to be glad about that cover! LOL

What inspired you to write historical paranormal romance?

I've always wanted to write about the Tudors, and when my agent made the suggestion to me about combining the two genres, I jumped at the opportunity.

What has been the biggest challenge when writing your characters?

Sometimes it's hard when you expect them to do certain things at certain times and they don't want to, or they go off and do other things and you feel like you are just catching up. I know that sounds weird, but that's how it feels sometimes. :)

When writing the Tudor Vampire Chronicles what kind of research did you have to do? Did you get to travel back in time and experience Tudor Court first hand? Because if so I'm *really* jealous!

I'm lucky because having grown up in the UK, I've actually visited all the places that are in my books-the ones that still exist anyway, so I have a sense of them as I'm writing. Writers also have to thank the Google and the Wikipedia for giving them access to all kinds of information without moving out of their chair. I also love to read research books so I cover all the bases-apart from the time traveling, which would be awesome!

What is one author, or book that you recommend over and over to people?

Probably the Dorothy Dunnett ,Nicolo and Lymond series. They are the best historical novels I have ever read.

If you could have one superpower what would you pick?

The ability to read peoples minds. LOL Especially my teenagers.

If you could be a supernatural creature which would you like to be?

I think I'd like to be a Fae.

Anything you'd like to add?

Well firstly, thanks for having me. :)
And please, check out my website at www.katepearce.com where I have a list of all my books and a great page of behind the scenes information about the Tudor Vampire Chronicles.

The Giveaway:

Kate is giving away one copy of Blood of the Rose (The Tudor Vampire Chronicles #2) and soap and perfume made for the books to one winner.

This Giveaway is open Internationally. You must be 17 or older to enter.  This giveaway ends March 5th, 2011.

To Enter:

Leave a thoughtful comment with contact information.  That's it!