Though found not guilty by the wizard’s council and a jury, Dominic Westcroft still didn’t know if the panther he shifted into at moments of stress or danger had been responsible for his wife’s brutal murder. And until he knew for certain whether the beast that claimed a part of his being was innocent of the crime, he had no intention of allowing another woman into his life-no matter how deeply he was attracted to her.
Reviews for Deadly Enchantment
Four Cups of Coffee! ". . . Ms. Blake has written a wonderful story with twists and turns that are certain to please."
Read an excerpt from Deadly Enchantment
Visit Kathryn Blake's web site
About Kathryn Blake
Kathryn R. Blake has been intrigued by the unlikely combination of horror and romance, ever since she read Beauty and the Beast as a child. But for her, romance is the notion of the beast accepting and controlling his nature because of Beauty's love. Having him discard his beastliness for a more princely form or forfeit his life negates all that Beauty has given him.Besides writing, Kathryn enjoys reading and acting in the community and regional theaters. One of her favorite roles is Queen Eleanor in The Lion inWinter. She is a passionate lover of animals, and claims as hers: three four-legged beasties, a winged creature who would rather talk to his own reflection than her, and a tank of small, finned entities that say little and eat much.In addition, Kathryn has been a member of RWA since the early 1980s and has joined several local and special interest chapters such as OVRWA, COFW, MARA, FF&P, ESPAN and HHRW. All of which have been instrumental in helping Kathryn's career. The most influential group on her writing is the select critique group she belongs to that consists of a few very close friends who aren't afraid to voice their true opinions.
If you wish to learn more about Kathryn, please visit her web site at www.kathrynrblake.com or can make her day by sending her an e-mail at krblake@kathrynrblake.com
Backlist:
Back list: Mortal Illusion - a vampire romance
An Interview with Kathryn Blake
By Holly Hewson for The Romance Studio
HH: Kathryn, thank you for talking with us at TRS. Please tell us about your featured work, Deadly Enchantment. KB: Thank you for asking me. Deadly Enchantment is a story about two very powerful brothers. One is the legitimate heir, and the other was born out of wedlock but as a child of love. Terrence has inherited his father's noble title and estates, but Dominic has the one thing that Terrence always sought but could never acquire, their father's love. The story is set in late Victorian England, which, for me, was a world that appeared to have a refined and civil manner, but it was merely a facade that thinly covered a far baser reality. Victorians only appeared repressed; beneath the crinolines and silk they were seething, lusty creatures.
HH: Both your hero and heroine wonder if he has committed a horrible crime. She thinks he could be a cold-blooded murderer. Where did you get this amazing idea? KB: A basic tenant to my stories is that the hero is often his own worst enemy. He is usually overbearingly protective of those he cares for and takes their well being very seriously. So, if something bad happens to someone under the care of the hero, he blames himself for not protecting that individual better. Dominic blames himself for failing to protect Felicity. Adding to his guilt and torment was the fact that he had blood on his hands and no memory of what had happened. But even if he hadn't been the one who ripped his wife's heart out of her chest, he still blamed himself for not protecting her. With Germaine, my hero in Mortal Illusions, he blamed himself for not being able to save his family from the guillotine at a time when he was struggling to stay alive. He probably couldn't have done anything to prevent their executions, but the fact he wasn't there with them continued to haunt him. Such events are life-altering to the point that neither man could go back to the way he was before the event occurred.
HH: How is this work different than any of your previous works? KB: Deadly Enchantment is a historical romance while Mortal Illusions was a contemporary. Deadly Enchantment deals with dark spells and wizardry, while Mortal Illusions deals with vampires that are capable of saving human lives. Both have paranormal events taking place in worlds that prefer to think of magic or vampires as being nothing more than childish fantasies. The villain in Deadly Enchantment is a lot darker than the villain in Mortal Illusions, which in turn makes Deadly Enchantment darker as well.
HH: How did you go about creating the world for this story? Will there be other stories to follow in this world? KB: My worlds' are usually an extension of my characters. By that I mean that I first think of a basic plot idea, like one brother seeking revenge against the other for stealing something he believes should belong to him. Then I imagine the characters interacting in a world that would either complement or antagonize them. Then I establish the rules which place limitations on my characters. Both Dominic and Terrence have the ability to shape-shift and their animals are similar because they are brothers who think alike in many ways. Creating magic that strong can draw the user over to their darker side if they aren't careful. Dominic has been taught to control and limit his powers so that he does not unintentionally hurt an innocent. Terrence, on the other hand, believes that his powers should not have any limitations. He is of the opinion that if innocents don't wish to be hurt, they should stay out of his way. He views limitations as weaknesses, and he refuses to allow himself any weakness at all. As for other stories to follow in this world, I do not currently have a sequel in mind for Deadly Enchantment, but I do have an idea for Mortal Illusions and am currently working on its sequel.
HH: What did you like best about Dominic? KB: I like the fact that despite Dominic's surly manner and desire to keep his distance from everyone, he really is a soft touch. He loves his sister and would never do anything to harm her, even when he wants to wring her neck. However, he also knows that because he feels responsible for Regina that she represents a liability to him. He is vulnerable because he cares what happens to her. So when he falls in love with Serena, he knows his feelings represent a danger to her, so he does everything he can to get her to leave him. However, despite his desire to have Serena as far away from him as is possible, he cannot send her away if she does not want to leave. This is for a couple of reasons. One, he does not really want her to leave because he has fallen in love with her, and he is not confident that distance alone will offer her the protection he seeks. And two, if she does return home she would be too far away for him to protect her should Terrence choose to go after her anyway. But it isn't just Terrence's actions that concern him. He also fears what he might do, since he knows that to finally succeed against his brother he will have to embrace his darker side, which could prove equally as deadly for Serena.
HH: How did you get your start as a writer? KB: As a child I used to like to make up stories then have my friends act out the roles with me. I was a theater major in college, and one of our exercises was to write up "autobiographies" for the characters we played. This meant giving the character a past, present and future. The past provided the motivation for the present, and the present provided the opportunities for the future. If the character died in the play, you still determined what happened to her afterwards. This created some interesting story telling. With my love for acting, I thought I'd try writing plays or screen plays. I was even thinking of doing adaptations of some of my favorite works. Then, while doing research on script writing, I read that if you want to do an adaptation, you should begin with something of your own rather than attempt to adapt someone else's work first. So, I started to write stories, and then I joined Romance Writers of America, since all my stories were romances, and finally I joined a critique group. That's when I learned all the mistakes I was making, but I also learned how to fix them.
HH: How have things changed for you since then? KB: I used to write simply to tell a story for myself, now I write to tell a story in a way that I hope someone else will want to read. Getting published or writing to get published changes your focus somewhat. You are no longer writing simply to please yourself, which means you are asking a lot more questions about what you write, like will a reader understand and accept the reasons I have my character attempting to kill herself? Is her motivation plausible? If not, what would make it plausible, etc. I still write stories that interest me, but I do them with someone else in mind.
HH: What is writing time like for you? KB: I am definitely an evening person. Sometimes I write until 5am in the morning (which is still evening to me). Usually I write in the evenings after my nine-to-five. Right now my web site is taking a lot of my time, a lot more than it probably should, but I am learning at the same time. I have a section called "Today" where I search for things that have happened throughout history on a given day and find a picture to represent it. I put the picture on my site and then link it to another site that gives an interested reader more information about the event. It isn't writing, but doing the research alone is giving me ideas for stories. For me, the act of creativity is taking something from yourself (an idea or image or sound) and putting it down so you can share it with others. The act itself can be uplifting or draining, depending on which part you are taking from yourself. Reliving sad or unhappy events in your life and adapting them to your character can bring tears to your eyes. Humorous scenes can make you laugh. But no matter if you are working on a tragedy or a comedy or a romance that has a little of both, sometimes you need to refill the creative well that you are constantly dipping into. Reading can help do that. And history is full of interesting events that create all sorts of "what ifs" in your mind.
there!
HH: What's a good writing day for you? KB: The sort of day I prefer is one that leaves me feeling fulfilled, like I've accomplished something. But even on days where I think everything I write isn't fit to line the trash can, once I've stepped away from it for awhile, I often discover it's not quite as bad as I thought. Then there are days when I think what I've written is great, and when I reread it I wonder what mind altering substance I had ingested that day. I used to think in terms of the number of pages written. Ten pages was a good day, three not so good, etc. But now I measure success by the progress of the story. In other words, I have had a day where I'd written fifty pages only to discover that I had gone totally off track. I do plot beforehand, but then I usually give my characters free reign when I'm doing the actual writing. There are times when the character, or me as the author, want to take the story in a certain direction that is a path to a dead end. I've written a lot of pages, but the story I'm telling isn't working. I usually cut those pages, but keep them in a file in case there's something in them that I want to use later. What matters most is the story and its development. I know if what I'm doing is right, just as I know when what I'm doing is not going to work. Even so, I still need and want an impartial set of eyes to look at what I've written and let me know if what I've created can make sense to someone who isn't living in my mind.
HH: What would you like to tell readers out there? KB: I love to hear from my readers. Writing is a very solitary exercise, and I am grateful for my critique group. They are honest and supportive at the same time, but they know me really well. I am also interested in the opinions of people who don't know me very well. So, I encourage readers to write authors, especially if they feel strongly about a book. Writer's love compliments, but most of us also like to know if something we've written has confused a reader or unsettled them in some way. And we won't know this unless you tell us.
HH: Thank you!
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