Interview with Author Georgia Rose

(This article first appeared in 2019 and has been updated.)

In 2019, I won an audio copy of Georgia Rose’s Parallel Lies. I really had no idea what to expect, but set my phone to play and dove in. Within the first few pages, I’d become a fan of this author. She wove a complicated portrayal of a character who seems outwardly confident, but I could sense the damaged person just below the surface. I highly recommend Parallel Lies.

J: If you don’t write full-time, what kind of job do you have, or have you had in the past? Does it play any role in your stories?

G: I have my own business providing office administration and bookkeeping services to local businesses. That fills more than full time hours much of the time but the really great thing is that I get to do it from home, so it fits in with the writing well. Although that tends to happen into the night and over weekends.

In the past I have done many things but the most important, for my writing, is that I have always been deeply involved with horses. I rode from a very young age then had my own or worked with other people’s horses as I grew up eventually qualifying as a riding instructor.  Anyone who has read the Grayson Trilogy will know this and if you love horses too then please check them out. Many of my readers absolutely love the setting, I created it as my perfect place to live.

J: Horses are such amazing creatures. You’re fortunate to be able to spend time with them.

J: How long have you been writing seriously?

G: Since 2012. The Grayson Trilogy came to me pretty much fully formed over the course of one week’s holiday. I came back from that and wrote frantically until I got it all down.

J: I love it when that happens.

J: What genre(s) do you write? Why? Is there one you’d like to try?

G: I write the stories I want to tell rather than specifically to a genre so they are always a little cross-genre, however generally romantic suspense. Someone once described them as mysterious and romantic adventure stories, for adults. I like that. I prefer the dark side of romance, my characters have been through too much to be light-hearted.

J: How do you write? Typewriters, fountain pen, dictate, computer or longhand?

G: Definitely computer—I could never deal with all the rewriting to do it long hand.

J: Me too unless I get stuck. Then pen and paper switches how my brain works and I can break out.

J: What do you nosh on (snacks/drinks) while writing?

G: I am a grazer when it comes to food, and I have a sweet tooth, so having any snacks nearby is a recipe for disaster, as there is no such thing as saving any for another day. I’ll look away from my screen to find whatever it is gone, so I try not to avoid getting any out … but …

J: How do you prefer to interact with your fans/readers?

G: Fans!?! That still makes me laugh. No, seriously, any way they want to really but I generally get the most feedback and conversation via my newsletters. With my other commitments I find it very difficult to build up any meaningful interaction on social media although of course I can be found most places, and I get on there when I can.

J: How much of yourself do you put into your books?

G: I put my heart into my books—which is pretty corny but that’s the truth of it. When I’m writing I am very much going through what my characters are going through. This means I spent a lot of time sobbing while writing a particular scene of A Single Step, but anyone who’s read Parallel Lies will be pleased to know I didn’t start to behave as Maddy does … a step too far and all that!

J: And it shows in the depth of your characters.

J: What inspired Parallel Lies?

G: This simple, and short, scene:

It’s three the next morning, and I’m warm though my breath comes out as white clouds, frozen on the icy air. I hear it, behind me, and to the left. The snap of a twig underfoot and a sharp intake of breath at the indiscretion. He’s here, just as I knew he would be, but I allow myself a small smile of satisfaction knowing he’ll be cursing his mistake. I have no intention of making this easy for him so leave him to come and find me. I still, and although my heart is pounding, blood pumping in my ears until I’m sure he’ll be able to hear it too, I concentrate on making myself small and silent. I am one step ahead of him and plan on keeping it that way.

I had this in mind and the rest came from it.

J: Isn’t it amazing how one scene can launch an entire book? I well remember hearing that scene and having the hair on my neck stand up.

J: What was the hardest part of writing Parallel Lies?

G: Simply finding the time to get it done. I am what has been termed a tea-break writer and usually open my manuscript up in the morning then dash back to it as the day progresses to add a few words here and there. It’s a terribly disjointed way of doing things but that is the way things are at the moment.

J: I find I’m more of a big block writer. But that applies to a lot of my life. I prefer large swaths of time to go deep into a project.

J: What is the most special thing a reader has said about Parallel Lies?

G: I count myself as fortunate to have received many terrific reviews but I particularly like this line from Barb Taub: “For those who admire character-driven thrillers, who can handle brief but shocking violence, and who enjoy beautiful writing, I can’t recommend Parallel Lies enough.” It tells readers all they need to know in one perfect sentence.

J: She captured the essence well.

J: Favorite quote from Parallel Lies?

G: “Keep the lies you’re going to be telling parallel to the truth of the life you previously led.” Once I wrote that I knew I had my title.

J: I had that same thought when I read it.

J: What are you working on now?

G: I am nearing the completion of the sequel to Parallel Lies, a book that was meant to be a standalone. Anyway, I am meeting with my editor shortly to go through his dissection of it and it’s out with my beta-readers too. I’m hoping to get that out in the autumn of 2019. (The sequel, Loving Vengeance came out in Oct 2019.)

I’m also on the first draft of a novella, which will definitely be a standalone. And I’m outlining a series I have in mind. If the outlining goes well I shall progress that later this year.

Questions of interest to other authors

J: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad ones?

G: I always read my reviews because I appreciate the time and effort it takes for readers to write them and I cherish every one, yes, even those that are harder to read. I am fortunate not to have received that many bad ones, certainly none that have really ripped into a book, I think that would be hard to take, but you simply have to take the content of them on board and move on. We all know not every reader is going to enjoy your work.

J: I read mine also. It tickles me when someone takes time to leave a review, even if it’s just one line.

J: Do you hide secrets in your books that only a few people will find?

G: Oh yes … I love doing that, although it’s less about secrets and more about things only certain people will recognize.

Blurb for Parallel Lies:

A woman with a hidden past. A new love on the horizon. Will the truth set her free or cost her everything?

Madeleine Ross has meticulously organized her world to leave no trace of her criminal past. After creating a new identity for herself, her only remaining connection to her previous life is the security work she does for a small-town insurance company. But when she starts falling for her handsome boss, Dan, she’s worried letting him in will expose secrets best kept locked away…

As their attraction grows stronger, Madeline’s attempts to keep Dan in the dark go horribly wrong when a dangerous ex emerges from her unsavory past. After her former flame gives her an offer she can’t refuse, she has one choice left: ditch her life as a thief to let Dan in or embrace her shady dealings to destroy her only shot at a happy future.

Parallel Lies is the first book in a fast-paced romantic suspense series. If you like troubled heroines, character-driven action, and powerful emotions, then you’ll love Georgia Rose’s thrilling novel.

Buy Parallel Lies to unlock a secret identity today!

Bio:

Georgia Rose is a writer and the author of the romantic and suspenseful Grayson Trilogy books: A Single Step, Before the Dawn and Thicker than Water. Following completion of the trilogy she was asked for more and so wrote a short story, The Joker, which is based on a favorite character from the series and the eBook is available to download for free at the retailer site of your choice.

Her fourth novel, Parallel Lies, encompasses crime along with Georgia’s usual genre blending, and although it was meant to be a standalone its sequel was released later in 2019.

Georgia’s background in countryside living, riding, instructing and working with horses has provided the knowledge needed for some of her story lines. The others are a product of her passion for people watching and her overactive imagination.

Her busy life is set in a tranquil part of rural Cambridgeshire in the UK where she lives with her much neglected husband and dog. Their son, currently at university, comes and goes and their daughter, having delighted them all for long enough, has eventually moved out, married, and will be making Georgia a grandmother later this year.

Links to Georgia:

Website

Newsletter (get A Single Step for free by signing up here, plus this is where you will hear about giveaways and any offers on my books)

Twitter

Facebook

Thank you, Georgia, for spending time with us. Be sure to check out Georgia’s current works.