Spotlight on Kate Walker & A Question Of Honor

This week's Author Spotlight is on Kate Walker and A Question of Honor. Please welcome Kate Walker...

Kate Walker on the Web:

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Over to Kate now...

Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

I was  in the middle of the year from hell, and quite honestly wondering if I would write again but the idea of my hero, as a man of honor just had to be written so I had to tell his story, and really it just wrote itself..

What was your favorite scene to write?

There is a scene where Karim and Clemmie are snow bound in a small cottage with no  communication with the outside world,  no electricity  - except that between the two of them! – and they find a box of old-fashioned children’s games. I love taking my sophisticated, powerful sheikh and putting him in a scene where he had to  play a game of snakes and ladders before a real fire.

What is your dream cast for your book

There is an Irish actor called Aidan Turner who played the part of Kili in  the film The Hobbit. There is one poster pic of him that I had in mind when writing Karim

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=aidan+turner+in+the+hobbit&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=BpODU_6-F8uY1AXM6oGYBg&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1362&bih=731#imgdii=_

For Clemmie – well,l I didn’t really have anyone in particular in mind when I wrote about her – but the actress Jenna Coleman who plays Dr Who's companion  Clara would be very good in that part.

What are you working on now?

I have just sent in the ms of my latest story to my editor, so I’m waiting to hear from her about this. I expect that she will have some revisions – editors usually do! I don’t have a title for this one so at the moment it’s just ‘Alyse and Dario’s  story’  - but in my mind the working title was Out of The Frying Pan and Into the Fire.

Ball gowns or plain dresses?

Oh I’d love an opportunity to wear a really glamorous ball gown – but the chance of that happening would be very unlikely.  So really I’d have to say plain dresses – I’m looking forward to the sun coming out (it appeared  a week ago and then went and hid again) so that I can get my summer dresses out and wear them

Where is your favorite place to write?

I really just have one place to write properly – and that’s at my desk in my office at home. We bought this house specially because it had a room made out of the former garage so that I could use it for my office.  But I can write anywhere. I love travelling because I can sit in the car and dream (when my husband is driving of course!) and let my imagination wander over the characters and plot I’m working on. And when I’m teaching I often sit in my room after a class and scribble notes down fast – there’s something stimulating about talking about writing that make me want to do it!

Favorite snack to eat while writing (or reading).

I rarely eat when I’m writing but I do drink – firstly a strong black coffee to  get me awake and set my brain working. Then  I always have a glass of water on my desk and sip at it often – I can go through 5 or more glasses each day. 

Hot and Humid or Cold and Snowy?

I wilt in the heat – and if it’s humid then I feel even worse! I love to be out in the snow if I’m walking for fun – it’s so much more difficult if I have to get anywhere important. And if it’s cold and snowy  then it makes me stay in and write – or I have the perfect excuse to settle down by the fire – with a cat on my lap – and read.

What is one book everyone should read?

One book? That’s so difficult  to answer. I know the books that hit me right  between the eyes when I read them – books like Wuthering  Heights by Emily Bronte – and  Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett . But seeing as, sadly, she has just died, I have to say that Mary Stewart’s The Moonspinners was a book that really influenced  me as a writer and as a reader. I loved her ambiguous heroes and I can read and read them over again. (I hope you’ll forgive me for sneaking in a couple of extra books!)

What's next for you?

Next – well, I hope it will be  some light revisions on the new book ( I’m keeping my fingers crossed) and then I’ll need to look for a new story. My editor really wants me to write about Nabil, the official bridegroom in Game of Honor, who didn’t actually marry  Clemmie (I’m not explaining what happens! That’s too much of a spoiler!)  so I keep thinking about how his story might go. And I have a lot of new teaching courses coming up. I was asked to run some more courses in the UK this year  so I’ve just done a new one and there are two more weekend courses (one a writing retreat style weekend) coming up in the second half of the year.

Tell us a little about your book...

When Clemmie was very young, her father arranged for an official betrothal to the young Prince Nabil, the marriage to take place when Clemmie was 23. Now that time has come round and she must meet her arranged bridegroom – but Clemmie has found out a family secret that means she’s run  away to England to find someone very special.  Crown Prince Karim is given the delicate mission of bringing her back without creating an international incident and keeping her safe from the threat of possible danger from enemies who do not want the marriage to go ahead.  He thinks he is going to deal with this task very quickly – but he  finds that his overwhelming attraction to the woman he’s been sent to collect complicates things terribly , especially when she is clearly equally attracted to him.

Buy Link:

Amazon

Amazon UK

Harlequin

 Mills & Boon