This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cynthia Owens will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC or a Sterling silver Claddagh necklace (International) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
I’ve always loved to read historical romance novels. They sweep me away to another place and time and take me out of my normal, everyday life. What’s not to love? So I guess it was natural that I wanted to write historical romance.
What research is required?
A lot! :-) Historical accuracy is very important to me, and I want to make sure I get every detail right! I’m lucky in that I have an extensive collection of research books in my home office—everything from Civil War history to Irish castles and coffin ships to what it was like to live in a 19th Century lighthouse!
The Carousel is set in 19th Century New York City, shortly after the American Civil War. I did a lot of research on the city when I began the Wild Geese Series, but this story required a little more specialized research. My artist hero live in a flat in the Tenth Street Studio Building. The first modern facility designed solely to serve an artist’s needs, it housed some of the most important artists in the United States. The three-story domed building, topped by a glass ceiling, housed more than twenty studios and living quarters around a central exhibition hall. The artists who lived there displayed their paintings in a continuously rotating group show.
I love finding little research gems like this one, and it seemed like the perfect place for Kieran Donnelly to live…even if he did want to give up his art!
Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.
Emily Lawrence taught me that a disability need not define a person. Even though she’s blind, she is perfectly capable of leading a normal life.
Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?
I don’t know if you’d consider it odd or even interesting, but I have a stuffed leprechaun named Seamus O’Reagan, who sits on my writing table.
I found Seamus at a local discount store in March of 2006. Being in love with all things Irish, naturally I couldn’t resist him. Now 2006 was a special year for me. I’d finished the final revisions to my book, In Sunshine or in Shadow, just before Christmas, and I’d resolved to submit the manuscript, either to an editor or a contest, each month. I’d had a couple of rejections already, and there were no interesting contests in March, so I submitted a partial to Highland Press a few days after adopting Seamus. A week later, I got a request for the full manuscript, and shortly afterward, my editor offered me a contract!
It may sound silly, but I’m convinced that little stuffed leprechaun brought me a wee bit of Irish luck!
Are you a plotter or pantser?
I’m a bit of both, but mostly a pantser. When I get an idea for a story, and the characters begin calling to me, I have to just sit down and write. It’s like a compulsion! Most of the time I have absolutely no idea how my characters will get from the first meet to the happily-ever-after. I will do a little plotting, just so I have a general idea where the story is going, but I prefer to allow my characters to tell me their story.
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
Seamus O’Reagan, of course! :-) There’s also a bookcase—several, in fact!—and an open Funk and Wagnall dictionary that belonged to my dad. A largely self-educated man, he loved words and always wanted to know exactly what they meant. I believe I got my love of words from him. Each day, when I come into my office to work, I turn to a different page as a kind of memorial to Dad, in much the same way as a page of the Book of Kells in turned every at Trinity College in Dublin.
Anything new coming up from you? What?
Well, I don’t want to say too much yet, but I’ve begun the first story of a new series. It will be a little bit “darker” than my other stories, and it’s set in the enchanted kingdom of Ceiluradh, which is based loosely on the Irish legend of Tir na nOg.
Do you have a question for our readers?
Have you ever known anyone with a disability, and if so, does it make you feel just a little bit over-protective of them? In The Carousel, Kieran has a hard time getting past Emily’s blindness to realize she’s a grown woman who can cope quite nicely with real life. It takes a shattering experience to convince him she really is an independent woman despite her blindness.
I want to thank you so much for having me here at your blog to celebrate The Carousel!
..Like the Wild Geese of Old Ireland, five boys grew to manhood despite hunger, war, and the mean streets of New York...
The War had left him blind to beauty…
Kieran Donnelly is a gifted artist who has sworn never to paint again. He saw and did too many things during the war to extinguish the ugliness that lies in his heart. But a chance to work with some of the most magnificent paintings brings him close to the world he still loves…and an extraordinary woman who sees his true heart.
Darkness couldn’t extinguish the light in her heart.
Blind from the age of four, Emily Lawrence yearns to experience the outside world. When she hires Kieran Donnelly to catalogue her father’s paintings, he offers her a glimpse at life outside her exquisite home…and a chance for a future.
Can Kieran and Emily emerge from the darkness to find happiness and love?
Read an Excerpt
Emily’s breath caught in her throat. His hard thigh pressed warmly against hers. He smelled of paint and turpentine and cologne. His gentle voice teased her senses, made her heart pound and her body tremble. If she moved her face just a little…
She didn’t have to. He caught her chin in his hand, raised her face to his, and claimed her mouth with such tenderness she almost cried out. “Emily. Sweet Blackbird.” He murmured the words against her lips. He always thought of her that way, although he rarely voiced the words. “I don’t ever want you to be afraid or sad. You should always be happy.” A sigh escaped her as his thumb brushed her lower lip. “D’you know you have the most beautiful mouth, as red and sweet as a wild strawberry?” Another kiss, softer, yearning, as his knuckles caressed her cheek. “And the softest skin…like satin, it is, only warmer, more alive…” His lips brushed over her cheek, oh, she couldn’t breathe! But what did it matter, with Kieran’s lips on her skin, his warm hand caressing her back, the low rumble of his voice twining around her like a tender vine?
“Kieran.” His name felt soft on her lips. She reached out to stroke the hard line of his jaw, feeling him grow rigid. “Kieran…please…”
He pulled her closer, closer still, and his breath came harder. “Ah, sweet Heaven. Emily…darlin.’ Kiss me, love. Kiss me… Emily…Em…”
She could only open her mouth under his and gasped as his tongue slid into her mouth. Hot little sizzles danced over her, even as tiny chills chased over her arms.
Had anything ever felt so exquisite?
About the Author:
A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, I enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. My stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three.
I’m the author of The Claddagh Series, historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and adventure.
I’m a member of the Romance Writers of America and Hearts Through History Romance Writers. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, I still live there with my own Celtic hero. I have two adult children.
Website: http://www.cynthiaowensromancewriter.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCynthiaOwens
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cynwrites1
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Cynthia-Owens/e/B003DQ1V2E
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TXGS4QM/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-carousel-cynthia-owens/1132308194?ean=2940161461914
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