Welcome author Kathryn R. Blake to Flavours of Sage!
The business ones
Please give us a short introduction about yourself, I was born and raised in Greenwich, CT, worked at a major television network in New York City after I left college, and in the advertising department of well-known health care company. Moved to the west coast to live with the man I eventually married and worked in Hollywood for a bit. Got married, then slowly moved back east. I currently reside in a suburb of Cincinnati, OH, and I think we will stay here. It's a lot less expensive to work in Ohio than it is in Connecticut.
What genre(s) do you write in and why? I mostly write contemporary spanking romances, which at their heart are traditional romances where the hero's primary goal is to protect the heroine, sometimes even from herself. Why? Because I guess I'm a traditional girl at heart. I love the thought of the man taking care of the woman he loves. I've got a lot more freedom than my heroes give my heroines, which means I can do things that aren't necessarily good for me, like staying up and working all night.
Tell us about your latest release: My latest release is Lessons in Love. The hero is a multi-billionaire who hires a woman recently released from prison. He is certain he can help her regain her self-respect, though he knows his task won't be easy given her past.
Describe your feelings when you learnt that your first book was accepted for publication. Elation, relief, justification, fear. I wrote for many years before my work was accepted by a publisher. Today, I think authors have a lot more options than the "send and wait" method I went through. The adoption of eReaders and eBooks have dramatically changed the industry.
Has the release of your first book changed anything in your personal life? If so, what? I wasn't on the Internet as much with the release of my first book, but today half my time is spent on promotion and chatting on Facebook. Though I'd be lost without it, a part of me believes the Internet is evil. It sucks away your time from morning until you're ready for dinner, then leaves you wondering what it was you did all day.
Where do you find inspiration? I'd say I get most of my inspiration from my rather vivid imagination, though I can get ideas from many different sources. Usually my stories start with a question that the book attempts to answer.
Who is your favourite character and why? Usually my favorite character is one from the book I just finished writing. I love Rob, my hero, though I'm not sure we'd get along. He's a little too controlling for me. Pam, my heroine, has a lot of internal courage and a generous nature. But the one who makes me grin the most is her best friend, Krista. Krista says what she thinks and even tells Rob off despite the fact he could fire her with a mere snap of his fingers.
The nosy ones
How much of the real “you” is in your stories? A lot, though I think I identify more with my heroes, who, for the most part, are even tempered and reasonable. My heroines tend to have tempers that can be destructive at times. Both are flawed. My heroes all tend to be a little too controlling for my personal comfort, even if I do fall in lov with them, and my primary characters tend to push each other's buttons.
Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character? Who was it? I write romance, so I love all my heroes, even if they d make me angry at times, but I had a special affinity for Peter in Acting Lessons. He loved his wife and was determined to win her back even though he felt betrayed by her lack of trust in him. He was an actor/director, so he had a true artistic temperament, but Kate got him to see that not everyone existed to serve his needs, and taught him to be more considerate of others.
What’s the silliest error in a book you’ve submitted? Luckily it was caught before the book got published, but I'd say it was when I discovered I had the word order instead of odor in A Simple Misunderstanding, so the sentence read "Unfortunately, sometimes owners thought it was cute when their doggie scooted or ran in circles snapping at its tail and didn’t realize, until a rather obnoxious order began to permeate the home, that their pet had a serious problem." Makes me wonder what was being ordered. Then again, maybe I don't want to know.
Who is your least favourite of the characters you’ve written? Why? Terrence in Deadly Enchantment is the character I loved most to hate. I don't believe people can be truly evil, but he was as close as anyone can get. He was handsome, eloquent and thought nothing about torturing someone to death merely for his own amusement..
Could you share a steamy scene from one of your books? Sure, this is from "Lessons in Love" where the hero is stretched out on a couch next to the heroine.
His sinful fingers slid beneath her blouse to her bra, so they could remove the barrier and caress her breasts as his mouth recaptured hers in a kiss that drew a sigh of need from deep inside her. He pulled back, his face mere inches from hers. "Open yourself to me, kitten. Raise your leg so it rests on my hip."
Although her breath caught in her throat, Pam did as he commanded. A small tremor of uncertainty wrapped in a blanket of desire journeyed through her when his fingers slipped between her thighs. Moments later, a delicious friction started to build when a rough pad began courting her tender flesh with a suitor's persistence. Her hips jerked as she sought to get closer to the source of delight. Gripping his shoulders, Pam strained to reach the pinnacle of pleasure his touch guided her toward. Then, with an indrawn gasp, she trembled with the force of her climax as her body burst into a symphony of sensation.
The fast ones
Favourite colour? Blue
Favourite pet? My toy poodle
Dog or cat? I currently have an adopted cat, but I'm a dog person.
Coffee or tea? Coffee for everyday, but tea when I've got a cold. I love Earl Grey.
Quickie or candles? I'm a romance writer, it's got to be soft music and candles for me.
Suit & tie or jeans & boots? Both have their place, but I love the look of a man dressed in a well-fitted suit.
Walk in the park or chat over cocktails? Ooh, I like them both. I love to be wooed and I find a candlelit dinner with cocktails and wine to be incredibly romantic. But holding hands and sneaking the occasional kiss while going for a walk through a wooded park also appeals to me on a sensual level.
Promotional info
Lessons in Love is Kathryn R. Blake's sixth novel with Blushing Books, and fifth spanking romance where Domestic Discipline is primary to the plot. Although Kathryn is relatively new to the spanking romance market, she is not new to stories where the hero spanks the heroine. In fact, most of her novels have some sort of spanking in them. However, even in Kathryn's novels where the hero firmly believes in using spanking as a deterrent, he has no desire to cause the heroine injury and takes no delight in hurting the woman of his heart. In fact, sometimes he finds it extremely difficult to follow through on his threats or promises.
To date, all of her heroes are dominant, alpha males who are extremely protective of the women they love. However, part of that protectiveness includes the need for a certain amount of control. They do not suffer defiance or disobedience lightly. Even so, these men aren't infallible, and they do make mistakes, but love and respect will always triumph in the end.
Kathryn has been a member of RWA since the early 1980s and has joined several local and special interest chapters. Besides writing, Kathryn enjoys traveling, reading, attending the theatre, and is a passionate lover of animals, so much so that in 2015 a stray cat adopted her. The stray now sleeps in Kathryn's bed. She has also recently taken up the expensive hobby of making and selling jewelry.
Her personal website, www.kathrynrblake.com, is filled with photos and links to information about her many interests as well as peppered with quizzes, contests, games and lots of other fun things to do and she loves to hear from her readers, so she has an e-mail link at the bottom of every page.
Author’s Social Media links
LESSONS IN LOVE
His management style might not be HR approved, but he was the boss and she was his assistant. So, he set the rules.
Pam Weston didn't have many choices as far as employment went. Her prison sentence saw to that. With limited secretarial skills, and an even more limited budget, she never considered herself executive material. So, when she was ordered to report to the CEO of her company as his new personal assistant, she fully expected to be checking out the "Help Wanted" section of the paper before the day was over.
Robert Peterson knew his management style was not HR approved, but he believed in using the stick as well as the carrot. Employing the tenets of domestic discipline, he helped mold his personal assistants into confident women who recognized their own self-worth. Even so, his unorthodox methods were only one of the reasons many considered the position of his assistant to be a revolving door. To Rob's mind, Pamela Weston was perfect for his purposes, though given her past, he expected convincing her to agree to his program would be a challenge.
Buy Links:
Blushing Books
Amazon-USA
Barnes & Noble
