First of all I want to say thanks to Wendy for letting me visit her blog. I appreciate your having me!
You're welcome. Can you tell us a little about yourself, Robyn?
I write contemporary romance under the name Robyn Rychards and have two books published with Harlequin’s Escape Publishing out of Australia and recently released two more books in March, a novella called The Professor’s Secret which is a prequel to my full-length novel, Escape to Paradise which hit the virtual shelves on March 18.
Already hatched then? I could do with a bit of paradise, myself.
It seems to me, when someone says the word, ‘paradise’, we immediately think of a tropical island. Lush vegetation, the idyllic weather, sunshine, ocean, gorgeous scenery. It always sounds like the perfect place to escape to when our lives get to be overwhelming. It’s what my hero does in my latest contemporary romance, Escape to Paradise.
Lucky him!
Right! To get away from his life, he goes to St. Barthelemy in the West Indies. When I started doing research on island getaways, looking for a setting for my story idea, I was overwhelmed with the desire to escape to one myself. And the more I researched St. Barth, the more I wanted to go there. A few years later, after the initial search was over, I came into a windfall. Suddenly I had the funds for a pricey vacation.
Woo-hoo!
Did I choose St. Barth, or some other paradise? Hawaii, Tahiti, Bermuda, Fiji? The possibilities are endless and the choice can be overwhelming and difficult. In the end, I chose none of these lovely spots, even though I’m dying to see such places in real life. Instead, I’m going to London, Paris and the French Riviera, which does involve a beach! And when I return, I’ll most likely write a story that’s set in one of the places I visit. I’m longing to do it, and I haven’t even been there yet!
In Escape to Paradise, the heroine, Andrée Bancroft, has grown up on an island, it’s the only place she’s known, so her exotic venture is to the United States. The hero, Maximillian Chanteur, on the other hand, has travelled extensively, as he’s a famous rock star, and wants nothing more than to get away from everything in a secluded spot like St. Barthelemy. Here’s a little excerpt from it I hope you enjoy:
Actually, he was surprised by his gut reaction to her. She wasn’t his type at all. Dark, petite and exotic got him hot and bothered every, single, time. But he wasn’t going to think about her—the other reason for his escape to the West Indies.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he let the soft breeze soothe him. He’d gotten so far off track the last few years his music had suffered. St. Barth was a last ditch effort to get it back. And how he loathed the desperation that brought him to that point. Blowing out a breath, he opened his eyes. He was sick to death of its companionship, so anxious to get rid of it he had travelled a god-awful distance to shake it.
I’d love to hear where it is you’d go to on vacation if you could go anywhere, or what’s your favorite spot, if you’ve been already, and why?
Thanks for coming on, Robyn and for me, I've loved Canada ever since I visited there, many moons ago. I've always fancied New Zealand, but top of my wish list has to be seeing The Northern Lights. What about you?