Spotlight – Sarah Hegger’s New Release – Sweet Bea

You know, I’m an introvert by nature. The idea of company means I not only have to tidy up, but tuck my wisps of insanity into a vault long enough to make sure said company doesn’t report me.

Well, I take that back. Some company is good. Chippendale dancers and romance cover models are welcome anytime. 🙂

I’ll tell you someone else that’s fun to hang with. Fellow romance writer and critique partner extraordinaire, Sarah Hegger. And today’s an especially fun visit because we’re celebrating Sarah’s latest release, Sweet Bea!

Hey, Sarah! So glad to have you teleport over for a visit! Especially on your big release week. Got any big plans to celebrate or spread the word?

And hello to you, Rhenna. I am all over the internet with my own blog tour to celebrate the release, details of this will be up on my WEBSITE. In addition, I am running a more official type blog tour with Tasty Tours and there are some nice giveaways if your readers want to pop over and see when and where I’ll be on my TASTY VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR. I am giving away Gift Cards of $25, $15 and $10, and 5 eBook copies of Sweet Bea.

I confess up until about four months ago, I hadn’t touched a historical romance for a very long time until you and another of my local writing group came along. What made you gravitate to the medieval sub-genre?

I love the fantasy element of all historical romance. Reading Teresa Medeiros’s medieval backlist reminded me of how much I love reading medieval and that there just weren’t enough of them out there. I decided to give it a crack.

Sweet Bea is the first in a series, correct? I’ll give folks the full-court back cover copy below, but give us the quick Sarah run-down on what Sweet Bea’s all about.

Sweet Bea, is about a girl, Beatrice, who is trying to live up to her rather famous family. She sees an opportunity to ‘save them all’ and runs off to London to do just that. She takes with her, Garrett, the hero. Along the way she gathers a rather assorted band of ‘friends’.

Now, Garrett has an entirely different agenda. Forced into poverty with his mother working as a prostitute to feed them, Garrett is out for revenge. And the man he blames for his misfortune is none other than Beatrice’s father, Sir Arthur of Anglesea. Garrett has a plan to seduce Beatrice and turn her into a whore, just like her father did to his mother.

It’s a story about redemption and about what happens when bitter meets sweet.

Whoa! That’s a powerful change for a hero to undergo. (Though, having already peeked at the book, I have to say, you crafted it beautifully. 🙂 )

I don’t know about you, but book ideas always come at me at the weirdest times. How’d you come up with the idea for Sweet Bea? Did you always know it would turn out to be a series?

I didn’t plan it as a series, but while I was writing it, Beatrice’s sister dropped into the story along with three older brothers and I suddenly wanted to write their stories as well. The second in the series, My Lady Faye, is loosely scheduled for release early in 2015.

As for the idea for Sweet Bea, it came to me when I was listening to someone talk about their ‘man woes’. It suddenly occurred to me that when we are in a bad relationship, not just romantic ones, we look back and see there were warning signs along the way. For whatever reason, we ignored them and carried on. That’s how Garrett came into being and I paired him with the sort of girl who doesn’t believe bad of those she loves and has a huge, trusting heart. Being a romance novel, though, I made him earn his way back into her heart.

For me, there’s always one aspect of a story that leaves me banging my head against a wall. What was that aspect for you? (And if you say it all came easy-peasy, we’re gonna have words.)

The hardest part in Sweet Bea was Garrett. He’s a bastard by name and nature when we first encounter him. I had a bit of push back from early beta readers who struggled to ‘get’ him. In the end, though, I stuck with what I thought was the right way to go. We can all be less that our best at times. It’s part of being human.

Not sure what this says about me, but I write the bad guys the easiest. What part of the story came easy for you?

Beatrice was a delight to write. She came off the page from the first chapter for me. She has a way of disappearing into her head on these flights of fancy that were so much fun to write. Maybe because it’s something I do.

I have a fight with someone. Of I go – scenario after scenario – where they are contrite/regretful/miserable … don’t leave me hanging here, Rhenna. Tell me you do it too. Come on! At least the hospital scenario, you’re lying there (but not fatally injured), they’re weeping by your bedside – No? Nothing?

 Oh, God, yes! I do that all the time. Usually, though, it’s me replaying confrontations where I’m all smooth with witty comebacks and not at all tongue-tied. 🙂

So, tell us…what’s up next in the series?

Next comes, My Lady Faye, which is a whimsical story about a woman trying to come to terms with her past and a man who is confused about what he wants most in life.

Lightning round questions:

 **Ideal romantic getaway?

Bora Bora

**Easy/drugging kisses that go on forever, or the wild, hair-pulling variety?

Yes, please.

**Guilty indulgence go-to romance book when things get rough?

Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas.

Um, yes. Totally agree with you on that one. And thanks for turning me on to it.

**Charlie Hunnam or Jamie Dornan?

Charlie, but can I have Travis Fimmel too?

Oh, God, yes!

**Book you never thought you’d like but ended up inhaling (i.e. pleasant surprise book)?

Goodnight Tweetheart by Teresa Medieros

**Downton Abbey or Sons of Anarchy?

Downtown Abbey

Damn, that’s disappointing. Not surprising given your penchant for historicals, but disappointing if we ever have to share a TV.

**Dessert or Nachos?

Nachos (This is why you and I are perfect dinner companions, Rhenna. I’ll just eat your nachos and you can have my dessert.)

**Actor you don’t even bother to try gawking over?

Robert Patterson – I don’t get it, I really don’t.

Me either.

 

So, there you go! A down-to-Earth, get-to-know-you session from a mighty fine author and the background scoop on her latest release, Sweet Bea. I’ve got my copy already, but here’s the fine print on the back if you still need a nudge. Want even more details? There’s a nice, long excerpt under the MY BOOKS tab on Sarah’s website.

Trust me, it’s a great read.

 Is anything sweeter than revenge?

In a family of remarkable people, ordinary Beatrice strives to prove herself worthy. When her family is threatened with losing everything, she rushes to London to save them. Unfortunately, she chooses as her savior the very man who will see her family brought low.

Garrett has sworn vengeance on Sir Arthur of Anglesea for destroying his life when he was a boy and forcing his mother into prostitution for them to survive. He has chosen as his instrument Sir Arthur’s youngest daughter, Beatrice.

Can Beatrice’s goodness teach Garrett that love, not vengeance, is the greatest reward of all?

 

About Sarah:

Born British and raised in South Africa, Sarah Hegger suffers from an incurable case of wanderlust. Her match? A hot Canadian engineer, whose marriage proposal she accepted six short weeks after they first met. Together they’ve made homes in seven different cities across three different continents (and back again once or twice). If only it made her multilingual, but the best she can manage is idiosyncratic English, fluent Afrikaans, conversant Russian, pigeon Portuguese, even worse Zulu and enough French to get herself into trouble.

 Mimicking her globe trotting adventures, Sarah’s career path began as a gainfully employed actress, drifted into public relations, settled a moment in advertising, and eventually took root in the fertile soil of her first love, writing. She also moonlights as a wife and mother.

 She currently lives in Draper, Utah, with her teenage daughters, two Golden Retrievers and aforementioned husband. Part footloose buccaneer, part quixotic observer of life, Sarah’s restless heart is most content when reading or writing books.

 She loves to hear from readers and you can find her at any of the places below.

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