AUSSIE MONTH: Cassandra Samuels

 

AUSSIE MONTH with Cassandra Samuels

 

Describe yourself in one word:
Persistent

 

What is your background with regard to writing?
I always wanted to write a novel and when I asked my career adviser at school he advised I do something that pays, like journalism. I went and did a diploma in Journalism but my heart wasn’t in it. I worked in a few different places before having a bit of a midlife crisis at the grand old age of 30 and decided if I wanted to do this writing thing I better do it. I joined RWAust and became a member of the Breathless in the Bush group and later I became the moderator of the RWA Historical e-loop. The things I have learned and the people I have met during this time have helped me craft my writing and develop enough confidence that I submitted my ms to Escape Publishing earlier this year and it was accepted for publication (ASW was released on November 8^th).

 

Tell us about A Scandalous Wager your latest novel:
It’s a Regency Historical Romance set in London in 1816. The heroine has the nickname the Black Raven – bringer of bad luck and death – due to the fact that all of London thinks she killed her husband despite being acquitted in a court of law. The hero takes on the Black Raven Wager and then things turn interesting for both of them. J

 

What inspired this novel?
The folklore of the raven first got me thinking and then I played the, what if? game and came up with Lisbeth and her plight to prove her innocence.

 

What are you reading right now?
I’ve just finished reading Lick by Kylie Scott (it was stolen from me by my daughters and so I am only now getting to read it. It’s fantastic.)

 

Number one thing to do on your bucket list?
To go to Paris and see a show at the Moulin Rouge.

 

Best thing about being an Aussie?
Our let’s-get-this-done attitude when it comes to helping people.

 

What you want readers to know about the romance genre?
That emotions are good and stories about emotions and love are not horrible and bad. In fact it is joyous, uplifting and, inspiring.

 

What have you got in store for your readers in 2015?
Hopefully I will have a new release out. I am working really hard on finishing my current ms right now.

 

What were your big achievements of 2014?
Getting published is definitely a huge thing. It’s been a dream of mine to write and publish a historical romance since I was fifteen. I don’t plan on stopping for a long time. I have a heap of story ideas just begging to be written.

 

 

 

A Scandalous Wager
Cassandra Samuels

Notorious Widow Lisbeth Carslake, Countess of Blackhurst was acquitted of her husband’s murder, but no one believes in her innocence. Known as the Black Raven, bringer of bad luck and death, she is eviscerated by the gossips and mocked in the clubs. She’s also the subject of London’s most scandalous wager.

Oliver Whitely, Earl of Bellamy, needs money, but it takes more than a few drinks to take on The Black Raven Wager. He finds himself drunk, at her house, and – more surprisingly – inside, and agreeing to a business proposal at the end of a fire poker. She will let him win the wager, and he will help find her husband’s killer before the killer finds her. But business agreements don’t mean trust, and Lisbeth certainly doesn’t trust Oliver, her body’s reaction to him, or her heart.

Love may be the biggest gamble of their lives, but is it a wager their hearts can afford to lose?

Escape Publishing

 

 

 

Find Cassandra online:
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