The Laird’s Forbidden Lover : Blog Hop

May 8, 2013 by Pip

“Welcome to the Blog Tour for The Laird’s Forbidden Lover by me – Amelia C. Gormley!  This hot Highland historical M/M romance is now available from Riptide Publishing.  Our gracious tour host has been kind enough to interview me today, since I’m a new(er) Riptide author. If you have any questions for me, or just want to say hello, leave a comment below, and you’ll automatically be entered in a drawing to win $5 in store credit to Riptide Publishing! Just make sure you comment by 11:59 pm on 5/10/13 to be entered. Follow the complete tour schedule here. ” …. Amelia, Riptide Publishing.

Welcome, Amelia! Since this is your first time stopping by at Live Your Life, Buy The Book, tell us a little about yourself. Your new release is an M/M Highland historical romance, which is an unusual combo. Can you tell us a little about it?

“The Laird’s Forbidden Lover” began as one of those weird, fluky things where someone asks, “Do you know of anything like this?” and the answer is, “No, but I can make that for you.”

So what happened was that Mandi, a reviewer at Smexy Books, along with a few others, were having a conversation on Twitter about whether or not there were any M/M Highlander books, and no one could seem to think of many, which led me to the conclusion that I had to write one.

Something a little strange happened in the process, though. The idea that kept speaking to me was an examination of the purity of that sort of untouched wilderness in the Highlands as portrayed in novels and that translated in my brain to the question of what two boys growing up in such a land would know and how they would handle such a relationship. It’s very much about innocence, and about that first blush of love and whether it can stand the test of time and deepen and mature.

A lot of Highlander novels focus on warfare and politics, and that wasn’t where my brain went with this. I’m not sure it will succeed or not. People read Highlander novels for big, brawny, ultra-masculine warriors, but here I was writing about 17^th century twinks. Hopefully it works!

What was your experience like writing one of very few, if not the only, M/M Highland historical?

It was very interesting to write not just a historical romance, but an M/M historical. Some of the usual plots and tropes of the romance genre take on whole new dimensions when you come at them from the perspective of a character who is oppressed by cultural attitudes toward their sexual orientation, who lives with the threat of violence and being ostracized simply for being who they are, and who may have lived some (or all) of their life to that point in denial, or as a lie…there are hundreds of nuances to when one approaches a story from the point of view of a character with kind of experiences and burdens.

Should we expect more historical romances from you? What genres do you usually write/see yourself writing in the future?

Heh, who knows! Mostly, I write contemporary, with a large focus on character exploration and internal conflict. I’m not all that comfortable with world-building and external plotting yet, so developing those skills is one of the challenges I’ve set for myself—with each novel I undertake, I try to add a new writing “tool” to my “toolkit.” One my present projects, Third Wave, is a mystery. An honest-to-God whodunit. So it’s All. About. The plot. I’m 23K into the thing and there hasn’t been a sex scene yet, nor is there much of a romance, and I’m not even entirely certain there will be! Writing it is definitely helping me build on my plotting skills, though.

Amelia’s new release The Laird’s Forbidden Lover is available from Riptide Publishing. (BuyTheBook)

Blurb:  Farm lad Iain Munro knows his love affair with Tavish MacIntyre, future Laird of Creachann-Dubh, is dangerous—discovery could mean disgrace and death. But they’ve been in love since they were boys, and they’ve never been able to resist each other, dishonorable though it is to deceive their families.

Young men now, their sexual explorations have deepened and their love for each other has strengthened. But Iain’s father fears for his eldest son’s future, and Tavish faces dangers and duties of his own: his demanding mother would see him respectably wed, and his interfering sister knows too much—and has schemes of her own.

Facing a lifetime apart, Iain and Tavish must leave their childhoods behind for good as they choose between honor and love, innocence and happiness, and their vows before God and to each other.

About Amelia C. Gormley: Amelia C. Gormley may seem like anyone else. But the truth is she sings in the shower, dances doing laundry, and writes blisteringly hot M/M erotic romance while her five-year-old is in kindergarten. When she’s not writing, Amelia single-handedly juggles her husband, her son, their home, and the obstacles of life by turning into an everyday superhero. And that, she supposes, is just like anyone else.

Don’t forget – just by commenting – you are in the draw to win a $5 instore credit at Riptide Publishing! Names will be collated at 11:59 pm on 5/10/13 … so comment away!

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