Could tell us about your bestselling romance, The Desert Sheikh in 30 or less words?
It's a 3 part sheikh romance. If I had to summarize The Desert Sheikh in just a few words, I would say: “The desert is an exotic wilderness where anything can happen”
The Desert Sheikh is a series of novellas: Kidnapped By The Sheikh, Married To The Sheikh and The Sheikh’s Son. Here’s what they’re about:
Sheikh
Akbar needs a hostage.
Sarah
Greenwich needs to escape.
But
sometimes what you need is not what you want.
When a
powerful sheikh kidnaps Dr. Sarah Greenwich, she leads him to believe that she
is the wife of the British ambassador, but how long will she be able to keep up
the deception and what will happen to her when the sheikh finds out that she
has been lying to him?
Sarah is
about to discover that the desert is an exotic wilderness, where anything can
happen…
PART 2 - MARRIED TO THE SHEIKH
When
Sarah Greenwich marries Sheikh Akbar, her life is full of wedded bliss in the
arms of a loving, passionate man. However, not everyone shares her happiness
and Sarah soon discovers that when you’re married to a powerful warlord,
problems can come from the most unexpected sources.
Can love overcome the obstacles that are
placed in front of it?
When
Sheikh Akbar manages to track down his long-lost wife, he also discovers the
one other thing that he has always wanted: a son. However, reclaiming what he
wants and loves is not as easy as he first thinks.
Who will
win in this renewed battle of wills and what lengths will Akbar go to in order
to keep his child?
I would just like to add that each book stands on its own and each one is available as an individual
novella for $1.99. However, romance lovers can save money by buying the entire
series in one book, The Desert Sheikh, for only $3.99!
I would love to meet Nora Roberts. She’s such a
prolific romance writer. I also think that lunch with Jackie Collins would be a
lot of fun!
I love books of all sorts (and most genres) and
read books in various formats. Also, because I live in the Middle East, it
isn’t always easy to buy books (we don’t have that many bookshops), so I’ll
read books in whatever format I can get hold of.
I’m currently reading The Shoemaker’s Wife. It’s a
paperback that my husband bought for me on a recent trip to the UK. I’m only
part of the way through, but so far I’m enjoying it very much. It’s a love
story set in Italy in the first part of the twentieth century. So far it’s very
sad, but I’m hoping there’s a happy ending.
Who designed the cover of your book?
I’ve used a couple of different book designers. The covers for The Desert Sheikh series were done by RaeAnn Inc and I love the way they used lots warm colours to suggest the heat of the desert. When I first started publishing, I tried to design my own book cover and it was a complete disaster, so now I leave it to the professionals. By the way, I love your book covers Patti - they are absolutely stunning!
Patti Says - Thank you!!
Do you have any advice for other
writers?I’ve used a couple of different book designers. The covers for The Desert Sheikh series were done by RaeAnn Inc and I love the way they used lots warm colours to suggest the heat of the desert. When I first started publishing, I tried to design my own book cover and it was a complete disaster, so now I leave it to the professionals. By the way, I love your book covers Patti - they are absolutely stunning!
Patti Says - Thank you!!
Write and read, and then write and read some more.
Like any job, or any craft there is always more to learn and I believe that you
learn by practising it. It doesn’t necessarily get easier, and there will
always be days when you have blocks, but you have to work through those and
keep going. Also, don’t underestimate the need to market your books. People
won’t buy books that they don’t know exist.
Do you ever write in your PJ’s?
All the time! Sometimes I wake up full of ideas and go straight to the computer, but only at weekends. The rest of the week, I have to get ready for work and a lot of my ideas just get lost . . .
All the time! Sometimes I wake up full of ideas and go straight to the computer, but only at weekends. The rest of the week, I have to get ready for work and a lot of my ideas just get lost . . .
Coffee or tea?
I like both, but coffee doesn’t like me, it gives
me a stomach upset, so I stick to tea and drink lots of it!
Vanilla or chocolate ice-cream?
Both! I love ice-cream, vanilla and chocolate,
though my favourite flavour is coffee (despite what I said above about coffee not
agreeing with - I seem to be okay with coffee flavoured ice-cream). I bought an
ice-cream maker a few years ago and love experimenting with different flavours,
such as mango.
Your thoughts on receiving book
reviews - the good and the bad -
Reviews are great - good or bad as long as
they’re honest. Obviously I love good reviews, but getting bad reviews are an
inevitable part of the job as everyone has different tastes and opinions about
things. I try to accept constructive criticism and be grateful that someone has
taken the time to write up their opinions of my book. However, a bad review
does hurt. To help ease the pain, I go and read the one and two-star reviews
for my favourite books on Amazon and remember that not everyone has to love
every book that is published.
Here are a few of my favourite 1-star reviews
from Amazon:
“I think I got about a quarter of the way
through it and hoped it would get better. The story is hard to follow, too
detailed about mundane things. The story line is so slow I just gave up. I
enjoy historical romances and I figured a classic, right? Should be good. Nope,
it was a waste of my time.” - 1 star review of Pride and Prejudice
“Boring, pointless story of a pathetic
imbecile whose life seems to be not much more than a bizarre journey through an
insane asylum.” - 1 star review of Great Expectations
“I just read this book. everybody like always
talks about how great it is and everything. but I don't think so. like, it's
been done before, right?? soooo cliched. omg.” - 1 star review of Romeo and
Juliet
“Sleepy. Not much plot. Bad use of
vocabulary” - 1 star review of Harry Potter
Patti Says: I am laughing right now! Thank goodness those reviews didn't work for a publishing company, they would have been given the boot by now!
I’d love to go to the Maldives to one of those resorts
where the guests stay in villas set out in the water accessible only by boat -
so romantic!
I have several. Can I mention more than one? I
especially love Mae West and Oscar Wilde. They were both so brilliant! Tying to
chose just a few of their wonderful quotes is hard, but here are a few:
‘I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.’
(Mae West)
'I can resist anything
but temptation.' (Oscar Wilde)
'I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.'
(Oscar Wilde)
'I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.'
(Oscar Wilde)
An actor or a book character you have
a crush on -
I just love Antonio Banderas, even as Puss In Boots
in Shrek. So sexy!
Black Gold, a sheikh movie set in the Middle East in the first part of the twentieth century starring Antonio Banderas - perfect!
If your book was made into a TV series or Movie, what actors would you like to see playing your characters? Feel free to add pics.
I would love to see Antonio Banderas playing any of
my characters, but he would be perfect as the hero, Paulo, in Her Latin Lover.
He would also make a great sheikh - he was wonderful as one in the movie Black
Gold.
My blog: http://Katheryn-Lane.blogspot.com
My facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/KatherynLane.Author
My Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/KatherynLane
Twitter: @KatherynLane http://twitter.com/KatherynLane
Amazon: http://amzn.to/WvNyo8
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/VbC885
Is your book in
Print, ebook or both? So far, just as ebooks, but that
might change in the future.
The Desert Sheikh
is available on all Amazon sites, for example:
http://amzn.to/VeHMve
(USA)
http://amzn.to/VbCBqA (UK)
It’s also available
from Smashwords where readers can download it in any online format: http://bit.ly/UpIAef
Thank you so much Patti for the great interview questions! It’s been loads of fun!
My pleasure, Katheryn.
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