Featured Interview With JoMarie DeGioia
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Connecticut, but have been living in Florida for years now. I currently have two little dogs, named after characters from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice! Darcy and Bennet are very loyal and loving. They were both rescues, as all of our pets have been. Darcy took a little time to warm up. Hmm, sounds like a certain hero we all know and love?
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I read from an early age, and fell in love with my mother’s Gothic Romances like Victoria Holt and Philippa Carr. I even wrote a book in third grade that my mother typed and had bound for me! It was about a ghost living in a greenhouse, very sad and romantic. Hmm, maybe I should look to that story for an update, lol. I’ve been writing toward publication for over 20 years now, and have published over 40 Romances!
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love the classics, Jane Austen, the Brontes, etc., so my first love is Historical Romance. I also enjoy Contemporary Romantic Comedies. Something else has to be going on in addition to the romance for me, though. A touch of mystery, some angst that the hero or heroine is dragging around, family secrets that come to light. I’ve been inspired by Teresa Medeiros, Julie Garwood, Catherine Colter, Julia Quinn, just to name a few. For Contemporaries I have loved Susan Mallery and Sherryl Woods, and really enjoy a series where characters from past books come back to say hello! I also need a strong heroine who isn’t afraid to admit she needs the hero, and vice versa.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is an Historical Romance, the second in my Gentlemen Undercover series and titled A Hero and a Rogue. These standalone romances have elements of mystery, featuring Regency Private Eyes! Very noir, lots of secrets, and undeniable attraction!
Here’s the blurb:
A gentleman who solves the most challenging cases
A young woman who keeps her own secrets close
Will the threat of danger draw them closer together?
Or will he let his painful past keep him from seeing his future?
Robert Shelby was beaten, betrayed, and held prisoner for months. Now, a year after his rescue, he loses himself in his work. A gifted private investigator, he takes cases of missing persons and missing goods. He turns a blind eye to smugglers who ply their trade close to his estate in Sussex, leaving the matter to the law. He also seeks to ignore the constable’s inquisitive daughter, despite his attraction to her.
Diana Ashley keeps watch over her brother as he works with the smugglers on the River Arun. She made a promise to her late mother to see to his safety and her father, the constable, cannot know of her brother’s involvement or her concealment of it. She is tired of her duty, and longs to convince her brother to give up the dangerous work. One night Robert finds her on the bluff near his home, but despite his probing questions she won’t reveal the true reason for her nightly vigils.
There is more than smuggling going on in Sussex, and when her brother is accused of a horrible crime she goes to Robert for help clearing his name. Mutual attraction swiftly turns to passion, and she suspects that her heart is in more danger than she herself had ever been while keeping an eye on her brother. Robert is drawn to her sweetness, beauty, and quick mind, but believes she is better off without a scarred man like him.
Can Robert make room in his heart for her?
Or will past pain and betrayal drive him to deny the love they share?
Robert demanded a book of his own, after being central to the plot in the previous Gentlemen Undercover book. I loved giving him a heroine who could be his match!
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