Interview and Giveaway with Lydia Dare

Q: You started with the fascinating trilogy of the Westfield werewolf brothers, now there’s a new werewolf in town- What can you tell us about your newest book The Taming of the Wolf?

Jodie/Lydia A: Well, the new werewolf in town – Dashiel Thorpe, Earl of Brimsworth – isn’t so new if you read The Wolf Next Door. But he might seem new as you get a different spin on our reformed villain. Until meeting the Westfield brothers, Dash had no idea there were other creatures like him in the world. And that little piece of information (since Lycan men sire Lycan children) means that the man Dash always assumed was his father, isn’t.

Q: Which wolfman has been your favorite to write ?

Jodie/Lydia A:Well, that will depend on which one of us you ask. Tammy and I tend to see a lot of things very differently, so we better both answer these questions. Of the Westfield brothers – Benjamin was my personal favorite. But when I start looking all of our wolfish men…? I really am partial to Dashiel Thorpe. He was such a complicated character that peeling back each of his layers and getting to know him was a wonderful experience as an author.

Tammy/Lydia: My favorite wolf absolutely and completely was Simon. He’s powerful, jaded, and he’s more than a little overwhelming. He also has an amazing ability to love and protect those around him. But, there’s something about someone as lost as Dashiel Thorpe that makes you fall in love with him. He was a fun character, and I like him for a completely different reason than I liked Simon. Dash is wild and untrained, but he wants to be more.

Q: Which of the witchy or wild women from the first three books was your favorite to write?

Jodie/Lydia A: This is such a hard question, because they’re so different from each other and each one had various aspects that spoke to me. In real life, I think I’m the most similar to Lily; but as far as writing dialogue – Prisca would win hands down. She was witty, confident, and never put up with anything from anybody. She’s my hero.

Tammy/Lydia: I really enjoyed the character of Elspeth. She has such charm, and her powers are massive. But the witch I REALLY love the most doesn’t make another appearance, although she was in Tall, Dark and Wolfish, until she gets her own book. I won’t spoil it for you, but she can control the weather. 

Q: Have you been to Scotland either before or during the writing of Westfield books?

Jodie/Lydia A: Ugh! No, I haven’t been yet. I’ve been to England, but didn’t make it that far north. My ancestors are Scottish, however – so I do feel a strong bond with that part of UK.

Tammy/Lydia: Unfortunately, I’ve never been outside the US. But I do have plans to visit in the future!

Q: Did you have to do a lot of historical and geographical research while writing the books?

Jodie/Lydia A: We did both historical and geographical research while writing the books based in Edinburgh. And now that that I think I finally have a great grasp of the city, our days in Scotland have come to an end.

Q: I see 2011 will be the year of the vampyre for you. Any more werewolf books in the future or are you strictly concentrating on vampyres right now?

Jodie/Lydia A: Gasp! Abandon our wolves all together? Never! They’re so much fun to write. Actually, we are in talks about a doing a new werewolf trilogy for 2012. Those wolves will have a connection to The Taming of the Wolf.

Tammy/Lydia: I love writing the wolves! And I hope we get to write more of them!

Q: Are there three books, a trilogy, planned for the upcoming vampyre series?

Jodie/Lydia A: The new vampyre series is a trilogy. The three heroes are related in that one of them is the maker of the other two. So they aren’t brothers like the Westfields were, but they do share a familial bond in a way.

Q: Is the vampyre series in the same time period as the Westfield werewolf books? Will there be any vampyre/werewolf encounters?

Jodie/Lydia A: Oh, absolutely! To both questions! Since I pretty much live in the 19th Century, the vampyre series is set in the Regency era, as well. Actually, The Taming of the Wolf connects the Westfield series to the new vampyre series. And Benjamin makes an appearance in each vampyre book. There is a bit of a rivalry between the two groups and their interactions crack me up.

Tammy/Lydia: I love the vampyre/werewolf encounters! There are a lot of them in the next few books. I also like to go back and see what old characters are doing. There are some feuds between the vampyres and Lycans that take some time to resolve. I’m pretty happy to get to see how those encounters play out.

Q: Would you like to tell your readers anything about the newest book or perhaps share an excerpt?

Jodie/Lydia A: The Taming of the Wolf picks up right where The Wolf Next Door left off. Under the light of the full moon, Dash has been captured by the brothers Westfield. Since he now knows what he is, Dash makes a vow to learn about his Lycan heritage and to be properly trained. What he hadn’t planned on was encountering an enchanting Scottish lass while still under the power of the moon.

Westfield Hall, Hampshire
January 1817

Caitrin Macleod vowed never to step foot in England again—or at the very least, to keep her distance from Lycans in the future.

She stopped mid-pace to look out the bedroom window, her breath fogging the pane. She wiped it away with the flat of her hand and stared out into the darkness. She’d stayed in her bedchamber all day and now most of the night.

It was safer for everyone that way.

The visions had started days ago, wild visions where she saw wolves and their mates together under the light of the moon. There were several of them, all part of a family of Lycans. She was quite familiar with those Lycans, because her coven sister, Elspeth, had married into the family. Most days, they were simply the Westfield family. But one night each month, the male members walked on four feet instead of two under the light of the full moon.

Those visions weren’t troublesome; she was quite used to them. But lingering around the edges of her visions was a wild wolf, an outsider. A danger. The Westfields were aware of the threat and had, indeed, prepared themselves to handle it.

She’d begun to see visions of a golden wolf, the wild one, earlier that very day. She knew what mischief he’d cause before the night was over. But she couldn’t tell the others what she’d seen, or she’d risk affecting the future. And she didn’t want to be the one to disrupt the natural order of events. The results could be disastrous.

To avoid breaking that unspoken rule, she’d locked herself in her guest room at Westfield Hall and refused to come out. She’d not set foot out the door and had only opened it briefly to take her meals. She’d wished several times for something to help her pass the time. At the rate she’d been pacing, she would wear a hole in the duke’s Aubusson rug before long. That thought made her smile.

Caitrin closed her eyes tightly and tried to will the vision of the Westfield wolves into her mind. She sighed with contentment when she realized all was well. The danger to them had passed, and she was now free to leave the prison of her own making. None of them would return until the sun rose in the sky. The estate was empty except for her and any servant who happened to be still awake. No one would know if she donned her silk wrapper and sneaked downstairs to retrieve her book while everyone was away. Maybe then she could try to get a few hours of sleep.

She crossed to the chamber door and opened it quietly. On bare feet, she padded along the hallway and down the main staircase. The last place she remembered having her book was in the duke’s study.

Cait turned the corner into the study and stopped short. Standing behind the duke’s desk was a tall man, one she’d yet to meet. Most of him was hidden in shadow, but his face was lit by the moonlight that filtered through the drapes. He was a blond Adonis, tall and lean. A vague memory of him, maybe from one of her visions, created unease within her.

A small gasp escaped her throat when he turned his amber gaze her way.

“I’m sorry. I dinna ken anyone was up at this hour.” She turned to leave.

“Don’t go,” he said. Then he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. “You needed something in Blackmoor’s study?”

“Aye, I left a book in here yesterday when I came ta find Her Grace.” She glanced quickly around the room, though she didn’t immediately see her copy of Maria Edgeworth’s Patronage. “Perhaps I left it in the library.” Perhaps I should run as fast from this room as my legs will carry me.

“Having trouble sleeping?” he asked, his tone amazingly familiar. As though he’d known her for a lifetime.

“Aye. At times, I canna get thoughts out of my head.” Why had she told him that? He probably didn’t care to hear how her visions played in her mind at all hours of the day and night, preventing her rest.

He walked around the desk and perched a hip on it. His hips were narrow, his shoulders broad. Stop ogling the man’s body, Cait. His eyes narrowed at her, as though he knew she had a secret. She closed her eyes and tried to get a vision of him, something to tell her who he was. But her mind was blank, which was more than disconcerting. Her mind was blank? That had never happened before.

“I canna tell yer future,” she muttered under her breath.

“Pardon?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ah, there’s my book,” she said, smiling at him, hoping he’d believe she hadn’t a care in the world. She picked up a small, black leather book that lay on the desk behind him. It wasn’t hers, but it would have to do.

Before she could turn around, he reached out and grabbed her by the waist. She couldn’t even utter a gasp as he drew her body flush against his. Her breath stilled.

“What are ye—” she began, but he covered her mouth with his, his lips hard and urgent.
She shouldn’t let a man she’d never met before take such liberties. But he smelled so good. Felt so good. Tasted so good.

Her tongue rose to meet his as a whimper of pleasure left her throat. Her heart beat wildly as he tilted his head and deepened the kiss.

Cait had been kissed before, but never like this. Never so thoroughly that she couldn’t think straight. Never so expertly that her legs threatened to buckle. Never with enough passion that she could drown in it.

A tug to her hair sunk into her consciousness. He pulled her head back and looked into her eyes. He gently tugged, guiding her head until it leaned to the side, exposing her neck. She nearly jumped when his lips brushed feather-light down the side of her jaw as he trailed a kiss down her throat. He pulled at the neck of her wrapper and nightrail until they opened, baring her shoulder to his gaze. She shivered.

When he reached the place where her neck met her shoulder, he sucked at the tender spot and then nipped her gently. It was the most sensual thing she’d ever experienced. Light-headed, she heard a moan escape her throat. More. More, please.

He nipped her again, then opened his mouth wide and bit through the tender skin of her shoulder, jerking her instantly from the passion-induced haze.

“Ow!” she cried and smacked his shoulder. “That hurt!”

The pain of the bite broke through the lust-soaked area of her brain, which she’d never known existed, and she smacked him again. One moment, he’d had her warmer than a fire in the grate on a cold winter night. The next, she was raising her hand to her neck to appraise the puncture wound he’d created on her shoulder.

She punched his chest. “Why did ye bite me, ye big lout?” she asked as she rubbed the wound, dabbing at the small amount of blood from the bite, and scowled at him.

“I didn’t mean—” he started.

But she didn’t let him explain as she turned and fled from the study.

“Come back,” he called quietly. She heard him, but she ran down the corridor and up the stairs as fast as her feet would take her.

Cait slammed the door to her room, threw the little leather book to the bed, and ran to the mirror. Baring her shoulder, she appraised the wound, which looked like a crescent-shaped bite mark, the same shape as his mouth. Blast him! He’d bitten her. And for the life of her, she couldn’t understand why.

Well, she wasn’t going to stay around Westfield Hall and let any other guest of the duke maul her. Not even if he looked like a Greek god and smelled positively delicious, like the outdoors and citric shaving lotion rolled together. They were ill-mannered English swine, the lot of them, and she’d had her fill.

Cait’s cheeks were aflame as she remembered standing so close to the man in the study. She’d behaved like a common trollop. It was just another reason for her to leave for Edinburgh as quickly as possible. She was obviously losing her mind.

She’d always prided herself on her comportment, though her behavior in the study was seriously lacking. The man was just so mysterious. In her twenty years, she’d never met anyone whose future, either immediate or otherwise, hadn’t popped into her head. The blond Adonis was like a blank page with nothing written on it. She couldn’t blame herself for being curious, could she?

The bite on her shoulder burned slightly, and she frowned with a fresh wave of irritation. She’d already stayed in England longer than she’d planned. It was time to go home.

Cait stomped over to the bellpull and tugged hard. She probably woke every servant in residence, but at the moment, she couldn’t be bothered to care. She needed to leave Hampshire, leave England, for good and never look back.

© Lydia Dare, Sourcebooks Casablanca, 2010

Well, thank you so much for visiting us today at Fang-tastic Books. We are eagerly looking forward to reading your books.



THE TAMING OF THE WOLF BY LYDIA DARE—IN STORES NOVEMBER 2010
A fresh and imaginative world of noble werewolves, each of whom encounters nearly insurmountable problems in his quest to live a normal life among England’s Regency society.

Dashiel Thorpe has grown up with the sobriquet “The monster of Eynsford.” Each full moon, when he turns into a wild beast, he has been chained to the wall to protect those around him. He has never before encountered a creature like himself, until he goes to visit his university friend and encounters a family of Lycans living just next door.

When the full moon turns the pack of them into wolves, Dashiel’s feral ways bring him to near-disaster, and when he bites Caitrin McLeod he unknowingly sets off a chain of events that could lead to his ultimate destruction.

Banished to Scotland to find a mentor and get trained in how to be a proper werewolf, Dashiel must also find Caitrin and persuade her that she’s his only chance for salvation…

About the Author

Lydia Dare is the writing team of Tammy Falkner and Jodie Pearson. Both Tammy and Jodie are active members of the Heart of Carolina Romance Writers and live near Raleigh, North Carolina. They are working together on their next paranormal historical trilogy as Lydia Dare, which will be released by Sourcebooks Casablanca in 2011! For more information, please visit http://www.lydiadare.com/ .

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1 set of The Westfield Brothers Series—A Certain Wolfish Charm; Tall, Dark and Wolfish and The Wolf Next Door

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