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Welcome, Louisa! It’s such a pleasure to host you today. I
think I’m almost as excited about your debut single-title novel as you are.
Please share what our readers can expect from Lost in Love.
Lost in Love is my Regency version
of the worst first date possible. How many women can say a gentleman drove them
into a sinkhole and ended up trapped with him in a cave overnight on their
first date?
Perhaps the back cover blurb says it
best!
I love that blurb! When I first read it, it made me want to grab the book, head for the nearest comfy chair and get lost in the pages of this story.
You and your heroine share a love of animals and a
deep-seated determination to rescue those in perilous circumstances. Please tell
us about the four-legged rescues who share (or have shared) your life.
I have been involved with the animal
rescue community for nearly thirty years. I’ve been so lucky to have some
wonderful rescue dogs come in and out of my life. They’ve taught me so much
about the power of love and forgiveness. I had a terrifying looking rescued
Rottweiler named Pyscho who came to me at the age of two from a domestic
violence situation. He hated men, but adored women. I had ten wonderful years
with him. I had a gorgeous six-year-old blue Doberman named Phantom who was
pulled out of a junkyard after being starved and shot with over 100 BB’s. He
had a congenital heart condition and I was told he would not last six months.
Nine years later he left us, surrounded by family and friends.
I currently have a number of rescue dogs. Boudreaux, my basset hound, was rescued from a home in the 9th Ward of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He is still terrified of storms and because he nearly starved to death, I tend to overfeed him so he is a bit portly. He insists I run a window air conditioner no matter what the weather. And he bays if I turn it off!
I have a little miniature dachshund named Spanky. He and his brother, Chester, were rescued from a meth house that burned down. Their living in a meth lab caused them to develop a seizure disorder. We lost Chester to that disorder several months ago, but Spanky, in spite of occasional seizures, is doing well.
And, of course, there is the legendary Frodo the Horrible Chihuahua. I have had him since he was four weeks old and his mother attacked him and nearly took his eye out. Perhaps that accounts for his disposition. He has been banned from several vet clinics and even chewed his own tail off! He is twelve years old now and he has not mellowed in the least.
You are an earthly guardian angel for those animals, Louisa. I know you say you are fortunate they found you but they are also so blessed to have been found by you.
Though I ultimately fell for him, for
much of the book I alternated between wanting to jump Marcus’s bones and whack
him upside the head with a shovel. (typical man, right? 😉)
What do you want readers to understand about this character?
I am laughing, PJ, because I wrote
Marcus and I wanted to whack him with a shovel too, on more than one occasion.
I hope readers come to understand Marcus is a man who had this ideal life and
had it suddenly torn away. And everything he trusted in and believed in was
suddenly proven wrong. But more than that, he was a man who learned in a devastating
way, that regret can be a terrible thing, especially when it involves those we
love most. We say things in anger and if we are lucky we get the chance to take
it back, to make amends. Marcus did not have that opportunity and it colored
his relationships with everyone, especially with Addy. He was so afraid he’d do
something he’d regret, he decided to keep her at arm’s length. He told himself
it was to keep her safe. It was really to keep himself safe from more heartache
and worse, regret.
I adore Addy. If I could live in the pages of your book, I’d
want to be best friends with her. Who are some of your favorite fictional
heroines?
I love heroines who do the unexpected. I love Jessica from Lord of Scoundrels and Evie from Devil in Winter. I love Maddy in Flowers from the Storm. Eloise Bridgerton from To
Sir Phillip, With Love is another of my favorites.
Lost in Love is set in regency England. What is it about
this era
that calls to you?
I have been in love with Regency
England since I was nine years old and read Pride and Prejudice for the first
time. I was living in a small English village at the time, as my father was
stationed at a nearby Air Force base. I love the manners, the gowns, the horses
and carriages. I love the rules and the ways young men and women found to break
them. I love the elegance of the era and the bravery of the young men who went
to fight Napoleon. And I must confess, I love men in boots and breeches!
Readers meeting you for the first time may not be aware of
your previous career. What was it like singing in the grand opera halls of
Europe? Any stories to share?
It was wonderful! My voice made it
possible for me to travel the world and to share the music of my favorite
composers with people from every walk of life. It was exciting and thrilling,
crazy and tiring, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. And the
adventures I had! One of the best parts of singing in opera houses in Europe is
seeing your photograph in the shop windows as advertisement for the opera. It
can also be a bit shocking. One night in the middle of the opera the young
baritone playing Don Giovanni split his tights. Once he was off the stage he
had to be sewn back into those tights quickly because he had to make his next
entrance. I was waiting to make my entrance as Zerlina and the costumer recruited
me to hold the baritone’s… equipment in place so she did not turn him into a
tenor in the process of repairing his tights! We laughed about it the next day,
but it was not funny then. At least it wasn’t funny to the baritone!
LOL! What a great story! You never think about those backstage crises when you're sitting in the audience.
You’ve populated Lost in Love with a very intriguing
secondary cast. Will we see any of them in future books?
The next book in the Road to Forever
Series, Lost in Seduction, will feature Addy’s friend, Dylan Crosby, and a trip
to the family home of Bennetton Tildenbury aka Tillie. The house, Wicken End,
is home to the most eccentric family in England, thus, it is usually called
Wicked End. Crosby will meet his match there!
The Earl of Creighton, one of
Marcus’s friends, has already made an appearance in my novella Stealing
Minerva, which is actually the beginning of a spinoff series entitled The Many
Brides of Lord Creighton. There will be full length book out in this series in
Spring, 2018.
And Addy’s cousin, Anne, along with
her furry companion Percival the rabbit, will appear in the third book in the
Road to Forever series, Lost in Desire.
And as readers have asked, Addy’s
sister, Clementine will be featured in a book as well.
You have made me a very happy reader!
What’s next?
I hope to have Lost in Seduction out
before Christmas. And I will have a novella, A Perfectly Unforgettable
Christmas, in Christmas Revels IV, which should be up for preorder soon. My
novella A Perfectly Dreadful Christmas was in Christmas Revels and my novella A
Perfectly Unregimented Christmas was in Christmas Revels II. I love Regency
Christmas novellas so this series continues to be fun to write!
Where can readers find you online?
I do have a website -
louisacornell.com - but it is being revamped at the moment! Keep
checking back!
But I am all over the web!
Thanks for visiting with us today, Louisa! Would you like to
ask our readers a question?
I would love to know if any of your
readers have a rescued pet and if they think they rescued the pet or the pet
rescued them!
