Friday 17 July 2015

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:

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:



33 comments:

  1. Many thanks for interviewing me, Blodeuedd. I thoroughly enjoyed reading and answering your questions.

    As I write thanking you, I'm sitting in Umbria where my character, Evie, used to sit. And Tom, too! It's a very strange feeling.

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  2. I loved this book and Tom's my sort of hero! Angela Britnell

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    1. Out of the way, Angela - he's mine, too!!

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  3. Thank you Liz :)
    Awww Umbria, I am so jealous!

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  4. I haven't ever heard of this book! So I'll have to search it plus thanks for the amazing interview! :)
    Haniya
    booknauthors.blogspot.com

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    1. Thank you very much for your comment, Haniya. A setting like this is inspirational for a rom com. I hope you enjoy the novel. :-)

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  5. Love the sound of Evie as a character. (not entering giveaway, just stopping by)

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    1. She's fun, Brandi. And so's Tom. I think you'd like them if you got to know them. OK, I would say that, wouldn't I? But it happens to be true!! :-)

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  6. Oooo Italy, count me in!

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  7. What an interesting line of jobs! Love that :D

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    1. I had huge fun coming up with the name for the magazine, Anna. The minute that Pure Dirt stepped into my mind, I laughed aloud!

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  8. Great interview! I love the sound of this book.
    yvone473[at]optonline[dot]net

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    1. Many thanks, Yvonne. It was a joy to set a novel in a place that I love. It's the second I've set in Umbria, but it won't be the last, I'm sure.

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  9. Italy and a man with a sense of humor. Can't go wrong there.

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    1. Absolutely, Heidi! There's nothing more sexy than a sense of humour. :-)

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  10. I do love rom coms and the setting sounds perfect!

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    1. I'm in Umbria now, Melissa, and I've been putting some pics on Facebook, under Liz Harris. The first was of a big fat black scorpion, which had the nerve to locate itself in my bathroom on the night that I arrived. Appropriate for the novel, I thought, given the opening to Evie, but what's appropriate for a novel is not always the ideal! Unlike Tom, I had my hoover-like bugbuster with me, and caught it easily. :-)

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  11. Don't tell me you can't write a good crime mystery or even a horror set in Umbria, Italy. ;p

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    1. I'm sure you could if you wanted, Anachronist. If you waited till the sun had gone down, and then strolled between the grey stone walls of the houses and churches, and through the narrow shadow-filled cobbled alley ways of any of the little medieval hilltop towns, the sort of mood you need for crime or horror story would rapidly descend upon you, I'm sure. In fact, you're giving me ideas!

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  12. Umbria does call for a rom com. Sounds like fun.

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  13. Many thanks for your comment, Felicia. I loved writing the book, and hopefully that comes through. Along with my hatred of black scorpions!!

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  14. Thank you, Mary. They do seem to go together like peaches and cream. Oops! Sorry about the cliché :-(

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  15. Sounds like a well travelled lady and a nice read. Not a bad combo for a post, Linda :)

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    1. Many thanks for your kind comment, Ramona. :-)

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  16. Evie sounds great and I love romantic suspense!

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    1. If you read it, Kim, I hope you enjoy doing so as much as I enjoyed writing it. :-)

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    2. If you read it, Kim, I hope you enjoy doing so as much as I enjoyed writing it. :-)

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  17. Ohhh, I totally agree about a sense of humour being a man's sexiest characteristic. I'm loving Tom. ;) Lovely post, ladies., Thanks for sharing. xx

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    1. And thank you for your comment, Sheryl. :-)

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  18. If/when these ideas take flesh do let me know - I'll read and review our book with pleasure! Black scorpions included!

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    1. That's a deal! In the interim, Happy Writing, Anachronist!!

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