Welcome to Day 11 of #RomancingSeptember
Our guest today is Adrienne Vaughan
Where is your home town?
I’m very lucky to have two home towns, Dublin and Leicester. I was born in Leicester and brought up in Dublin. Having trained at the Dublin College of Journalism I working Dublin before moving to London to work on magazines, ending up editing local newspapers in Leicester. Isn’t life like that sometimes? I live in the middle of England yet can be at my parents’ home in Dublin in a couple of hours, and I’m equally happy in London, Paris or New York, as I write longhand, aeroplanes and airports suit me perfectly.
How long have you been writing romance?
I wrote my first (still unpublished) romantic novel 30 years ago and have been writing short stories and poetry before publishing my debut novel The Hollow Heart in 2012.
What is your favourite sub-genre of romance?
Definitely romantic suspense, a gripping tale with a love story at its heart hooks me every time.
Tell us a little background of the Heart Felt series.
I dream vividly and the idea for The Hollow Heart came to me in a dream while we were on holiday at the coast. The stories are a blend of heart-warming romance and gritty drama, dealing with some big issues. I like to think they evoke something of Ireland and the warmth of the people, the sort of books which bring a taste of home for those with Irish roots.
Where do you envisage your Island of Innishmahon to be?
I know exactly where it is, it’s a couple of miles in the Atlantic Ocean off Westport in County Mayo. Although it is fictional readers often send me pictures of the island they think it is based on, these are always different, yet each one could easily be my Innishmahon.
What faces the two main characters in this book?
Marianne and Ryan have both lost out in love, putting their careers before relationships and making some bad choices. Returning to the island forces them to face their fears, discover what really matters to them and makes them fight for the right to be together. The underlying theme is ‘love will find a way’ and I believe if you open your heart, it will.
Tell us how the people of the island band together.
The island has a mystical charm, as do most islands, and Innishmahon has had to face more than its fair share of trauma throughout its history. Tourism is the main source of income and when a massive storm destroys the bridge to the mainland it looks like everyone will have to migrate to survive if the bridge cannot be rebuilt. They villagers decide to do what they have always done, take the situation into their own hands and, with the help of Marianne and Ryan, organise a massive fundraiser that shines a spotlight on the island and its assets.
Which of your characters shows much of the traditional Irish charm?
So many! Father Gregory is a real, solid hero; Sean Grogan hates outsiders but sometimes he says what everyone else is thinking; Oonagh is warm and caring but besotted by celebrity and my readers tell me Kathleen MacReady, the eccentric, straight-talking and highly intelligent postmistress is a huge favourite – and even she finds true love in the end.
Tell us what you are working on at the moment.
I’m very excited to reveal I’m working on a new standalone novel called Scandal of the Seahorse Hotel.
A fast-paced romantic suspense, with Irish-American connotations, ‘Scandal’ is set on the east coast, where my heroine, a dresser to the stars, has spent much of her childhood. Her mother, a fabulous actress, has never revealed who her father is, so when a series of events bring her back to the home of her adopted family – the eccentric Fitzgeralds – things start to unravel. Secrets are revealed that not only lead to her father’s identity, but force our heroine to come to terms with what she really is, and more than that, who she wants to be.
Where can readers find out more about you?
You can find everything from just one link;, social media and book buying.
Rosie Amber 