Author Interview and Giveaway: Liz Harris

Today's interview is with Liz Harris. There is also a giveaway of her new book at the end (and I will review that one on Monday, so stay tuned)

Welcome!

1. Tell me about yourself?
I was born and brought up in London.  

After getting a Law degree, I spent six years in California, living in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. There I did a variety of jobs, from looking after children to returning hired cars to distant locations; from waitress in a top restaurant to cocktail waitress on Sunset Strip; from secretary to the top dog in a large Japanese trading company to ‘starlet’ at MGM Studios. It was all brilliant! 

Real life eventually intervened, and I came back to England, did an English degree and went into teaching.

My hobbies include travel, particularly to Italy, France and the US; reading books of every genre; cinema and theatre, and doing cryptic crosswords.

I’ve two sons, a husband and the most comfortable computer chair that I’ve ever sat in.


2. And your new book, Evie Undercover?
As a matter of urgency, hunky Libel lawyer, Tom Hadleigh, must visit the 14th century house he recently bought in Italy on a whim. Alas, Tom has a teeny problem: he can’t speak a word of Italian; his Italian surveyor can’t speak a word of English, and his regular interpreter isn’t available to accompany him.

Enter auburn-haired Evie Shaw, ostensibly an agency temp, in reality the newest reporter on the gossip magazine Pure Dirt. Through the manipulation of her editor, Evie, who’s half Italian, is sent to work for Tom as an interpreter. 

For Tom, his house is going to be his sole focus for their week in Italy. But for Evie, it isn’t! Her focus must be the exposé she’s got to write about Tom, or lose her only offer of a magazine job after months of searching.

But the path for the investigative journalist is seldom smooth, as Evie is about to find out.

3. What made you want to write a rom com?
It may sound weird, but the location asked for it. I was in Umbria, lying by the pool, and I looked back up the lavender-covered slopes to the grey stone walls of the fabulous house which inspired the novel, and I knew I just had to set a book there. In that moment, too, I knew that the sun, the scenery, the chilled prosecco and the yummy Italian food, were the ideal ingredients for an entertaining and lively rom com. With the right hero and heroine, too, of course!

4.  Tell me a bit about Evie?
Evie is both determined and enterprising. Only someone as resourceful as Evie could play the trick on Tom that she plays at the start of the novel. She’s not about to let a little thing like the sheer impossibility of the task she’s been given to do in so short a time, deter her. No, failure’s not a word in Evie’s vocabulary, and nothing is going to stop her from getting her story. It can’t—keeping her job depends upon her success

5. And then we need to know about Tom!
I think the sexiest characteristic a man can have is a sense of humour. When good-looking Tom walked into my head, with amusement playing across his lips, I knew I’d found my witty, sexy hero.
And being a highly successful lawyer is pretty attractive in a man, too. Yes, Tom’s got it all.

6. What are you writing right now?
I’ve had to pause in writing my next novel  in order to answer the call of the edits! I’m editing Golden Tiger at the moment, which comes out in the autumn. Set in the American West, Golden Tiger is the story of a Chinese girl and an American man at a time when love between Chinese and Americans was strictly forbidden.

Thanks!
Many thanks to you, Book for Life, for your questions. I’ve really enjoyed answering them.

To find out more about Liz Harris: 
Follow: in order to answer the call of the edits! I’m editing Golden Tiger at the moment, which comes out in the autumn. Set in the American West, Golden Tiger is the story of a Chinese girl and an American man at a time when love between Chinese and Americans was strictly forbidden.

Giveaway

1 e-copy of Evie Undercover

1. Open to everyone, Pluto included! ;)

2. Ends July 22nd

3. Enter by commenting here

To find out more about Liz Harris:

Follow: @lizharrisauthor

Visit: www.lizharrisauthor.com

Evie Undercover Blurb:

When libel lawyer Tom Hadleigh acquires a perfect holiday home, a 14th century house that needs restoring, there’s a slight problem. The house is located in the beautiful Umbria countryside and Tom can’t speak a word of Italian.

Enter Evie Shaw, masquerading as an agency temp but in reality the newest reporter for gossip magazine Pure Dirt. Unbeknown to Tom, Italian speaking Evie has been sent by her manipulative editor to write an exposé on him. And the stakes are high – Evie’s job rests on her success.

Buying Links:

Amazon UK: http://goo.gl/fIQAIG

Amazon US: http://goo.gl/EZXsb6