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1725, Williamsburg.
No more English tea parties with her father’s medical colleagues for Gilda Griffiths. She left those behind for the open Virginia plains and plans to leave the East Coast too before a violent figure from her past catches up with her. When Williamsburg bully, Emmett Lawson assaults an elderly Shawnee chief however Gilda feels compelled to use her medical background to nurse him, despite the vocal protests of his embittered yet devastatingly handsome son.
Blue Sky knows his destiny is written in blood. If his father dies it will fall to him to keep the Shawnee people alive and safe from the cruelty of the white settlers who slaughtered his mother. Nothing can distract him from his duty until Gilda hustles her way into his life. How can this woman penetrate the armour he spent so long constructing with a single glance? And why is he tortured by thoughts of making her his?
While Gilda and Blue Sky grapple with their forbidden attraction, the dark threat Gilda fears most moves ever closer across the Atlantic. Can Gilda and Blue Sky put their pasts behind them and ride together towards a future neither of them believed could be theirs?
10% of all profits from this book will be donated to the Native American Heritage Association on an annual basis.
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Q&A
– When and where do you prefer to write?
We finally bought a house by the sea in Sunderland last year. Most of our friends bought their bricks and mortar in their twenties or early thirties but we turn 40 this year and have only recently got around to getting into that amont of debt with the bank. As such, I now have a writing desk in an actual study. If it’s a warm day, I’ll take my laptop down to the sea front for a bit and write there, the view is always inspiring. Writing is now the top professional priority in my life so it’s always job one and spend the mornings writing. Over the years however I have written on buses, in bars, and on trains, in whatever scrappy notebook I had on me, for ten minutes during my lunchbreak or for an hour before bed. I don’t think it’s too healthy to get attached to the image of sitting at the perfect writing desk – definitely not in the beginning. If we want to write, it’s prudent to just go for it whenever the opportunity arrises.
– Do you have a certain ritual?
I like to be surprised by myself, my writing and my life. So I don’t have any particular ritual. Just that I’ll reach whatever wordcount I’ve set that week by the end of the week. I’ll still write anywhere and anytime if the mood takes me and I get the opportunity.
– Is there a drink of some food that keeps you company while you write?
I have been a self-confessed Diet Coke head for many years now. So if I’m still writing a bit later in the day, there will definitely be a Diet Coke on the go. But I started intermittent fasting at the beginning of the year to improve digestion. It’s worked like an absolute charm but it also means no snacking until my eating window is open. So, I guess the short answer is not usually. But if I’m on deadline for a book chocolate is a life essential.
– What is your favourite book?
The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I’ve read it every year since I was 21. I think I will read it every year until the day I die.
– Do you consider writing a different genre in the future?
I’m always open to writing in new genres because I love a new challenge but I’d probably do it under a slightly different pen name. I write mystery under Helen Cox and romance under Helen Louise Cox because I wouldn’t want my mystery readers picking up one of my romances and being uncomfortable with the sex scenes. Several have told me they would be and have thanked me for differentiating the books. I am currently dabbling in a bit of fantasy adventure behind the scenes. Not sure if that story will get finished but it’s great craft practice and, most importantly, fun.
– Do you sometimes base your characters on people you know?
Not really. And not just because you can get into quite a lot of trouble for that! I know people are very focussed on ‘realism’ when it comes to fiction but that’s always baffled me because it’s fiction. It’s supposed to be a fictive dream. So as far as possible I always make my characters and situations a flight of the imagination. The realistic element is the emotional and intellectual responses to what’s happening, which are based on my own experiences and the different kinds of reactions I’ve seen from other people over the course of my life. I do believe fiction needs that emotional heart to hook a reader. But when it comes to the actual situations and characters, I keep challenging myself to make bigger leaps in terms of inventiveness and imagination.
– Do you take a notebook everywhere in order to write down ideas that pop up?
At least one. And several pens. In different coloured inks. Writers are not well-known for travelling light and I’m afraid on that score I absolutely bow to stereotype. Once or twice I’ve left the house without a notebook and dashed into the nearest corner shop to buy whatever scrappy bits of paper they can sell me.
– Which genre do you not like at all?
Hmmm. Wow. I don’t know if I have one. I don’t read hard horror because I am a total wuss. But if something has a horror element, like Frankenstein for example, it still completely stirs my imagination. The key thing for me is that a story gets going as fast as possible. I am so terribly impatient and there are so many books to read. I can’t wait seven chapters for things to rev up. I need the action to start in the first chapter. Even better if it’s in the first page or the first line, unless the writer is setting up a long-running series, in which case I understand that the need for a bit more exposition.
– If you had the chance to co-write a book. Whom would it be with?
I would really love to work with Ursula Le Guin and get an insight into her writing process.
– If you should travel to a foreign country to do research, which one would you chose and why?
Trips to America have inspired much of my fiction in the past but if I was choosing one right now I’d choose Crete. The history of the Minoan civilization is so rich and full of stories. I’m already scribbling a little something in the background and hoping to visit there once the pandemic has been thwarted.
Thank you, Helen Cox and Rachel’s Random Resources
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About the author
Helen Cox is a Yorkshire-born novelist and poet. After completing her MA in creative writing at the University of York St. John Helen wrote for a range of publications, edited her own independent film magazine for five years and penned three non-fiction books. Her first two novels were published by HarperCollins in 2016. She currently lives by the sea in Sunderland where she writes poetry, romance novellas, and The Kitt Hartley series alongside hosting The Poetrygram podcast.
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Author Links
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Helen-Cox-Author-1626798034237466/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/Helenography
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/helenography/
Readers wishing to sample my writing for free can also receive a free ebook copy of my steamy pirate novella Surrendering to the Gentleman Pirate by signing up to my mailing list here: https://www.subscribepage.com/helencoxbookclub
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Book Links
US – https://www.amazon.com/Disarming-Wildest-Warrior-historical-romance-ebook/dp/B087ZR3WDM
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disarming-Wildest-Warrior-historical-romance-ebook/dp/B087ZR3WDM
Universal Link – https://books2read.com/u/4DgdzP
B for Bookreview 