Friend and author, Sarah Mallory, joins me...

... on the blog today.  Hi Sarah, and thanks for making time to be here.  Tell me, what is your current release?

SM   My latest book is The Mysterious Miss Fairchild, a romantic mystery set in Regency Bath.  It is also my 30^th historical romance for Mills & Boon, so I am especially delighted to have reached that milestone.

AW   Wow!  Congratulations on that amazing achievement.  But back to the questions, what first got you into writing and why?

SM   I have always wanted to write.  I used to make up tales for friends in the school playground and also created a magazine with a schoolfriend (doesn't everyone?).  I am basically a lazy person, though, so although I wrote down one or two stories I never did much about it.  After all, writing out a full novel takes a lot of work, doesn't it?  It is so much easier to read someone else's novel!  However, I discovered Georgette Heyer's historical novels when I was a teenager and loved them.  Soon I had read them all and when she died in 1974, I realized there was only one thing for it, I would have to write my own!

AW  You write historical romance.  Is it all imagination or do you also undertake research?

SM   I have always loved history and I research a great deal for my books.  However, I like to write about fictional characters so I weave them into the historical backdrop. History gives me lots of inspiration for my plots, too, especially visiting historical battle sites and stately homes or ruins such as Strome Castle.  There is not much to see now, but it set my imagination on fire – but that's for a future book.

AW  I know you write short stories - we've both worked on the Miss Moonshine anthologies.  But what about other types of writing?  Have you ever dabbled with other genres or non-fiction perhaps?

SM   Writing Miss Moonshine was such fun, wasn't it?  I wrote that as Melinda Hammond, which is the name I use for anything other than my Mills & Boon novels.  I have written a few more short stories, all with a historical setting.  I did write a contemporary romcom (Casting Samson), but even that was hijacked by history – I cannot seem to write anything without the past creeping in!

AW  Famous authors, such as Roald Dahl and Dylan Thomas, had a special space for writing.  Do you have a writing ‘shed’ of your own?

SM   I am very lucky that I have always managed to have a room of my own for writing, first of all using the smallest bedroom, then, when the children required the bedrooms, we moved to a house that had an extra room downstairs that I could use as my study but it doubled as a lounge if we had visitors (that also meant I had to keep it reasonably tidy).  Now the children have all flown the nest and I have a dedicated study once again (and, consequently, it is far more cluttered).

A camera-shy Willow

AW  Finally, what would your eight-year old self think of, and say about, you today?

SM  What an interesting question!  I would hope my eight-year-old self would be quite pleased that I have a house by the sea.  And a dog, because I always wanted a dog and at eight I had an imaginary one that came everywhere with me.  Now I can take my beautiful whippet Willow for walks along the coast.

I also think she would be proud that I am a published author, like Enid Blyton!  At that age I was a tomboy, playing pirates, cowboys and Indians or soldiers with the boys in the street, so I hope she would be very pleased that all those games gave me lots of insight for adding adventure into my novels.  I am not sure what she would say about me, though, probably that I should have had some real adventures of my own!

about the book... Natalya Fairchild can't help but be drawn to Tristan Quintrell, Lord Dalmorren, even if he's not her intended bridegroom. But as Tristan helps Natalya investigate her mysterious past, she starts to hope the truth of her conception will not ruin her.

about the author... Sarah Mallory is an award-winning author who has published 30 historical romances with Harlequin Mills & Boon. She loves history, especially the Georgian and Regency periods and when she is not writing she spends her time walking through the Scottish Highlands, where she now lives with her husband and rescued whippet, Willow. She won the prestigious RoNA Rose Award from the Romantic Novelists Association in 2012 and 2013.

Sarah also writes romantic historical adventures as Melinda Hammond.

You can buy the book  Here

You can follow Sarah on Amazon  Facebook  and on Twitter