Interview: Debut authors Pamela Sherwood, Anne Elizabeth

Anne Elizabeth and Pamela Sherwood are both celebrating today's release of their debut novels from Sourcebooks — A SEAL at Heart by Anne and Waltz With a Stranger by Pamela. Congratulations! They happily agreed to come up with questions to ask each other about their books.

Q: What's it like having your debut novel release? Please provide a blurb of the story.

Pamela: It's exciting and also satisfying, because it's the culmination of a dream and years of hard work. And it's a little overwhelming too — because you're putting something of yours out in the world and hoping it will do well, but that part's mostly out of your hands.

Pamela's blurb:A man who never expected to inherit. A woman who never expected to wed. A choice that pits their honor against their hearts. One dance will change their lives forever.

Anne: Thrilling! That's the one word that keeps running through my head. I've worked for years, writing manuscripts, putting together proposals, and networking. I am honored and overjoyed that Sourcebooks gave me an opportunity to share three very special SEAL stories. As a Navy SEAL wife and longtime romance fan, I am especially overjoyed by Suzanne Brockmann's gift of a cover quote on my first novel. To this day, every time I read it, I still get a huge knot of emotion in my throat.

Anne's blurb:Being a Navy SEAL means everything to Jack Roaker, but a mission gone wrong has left his buddy dead, his memory spotty, and his world turned upside down. His career as a U.S. Navy SEAL is threatened unless Dr. Laurie Smith's unconventional methods of therapy can help him.

Q: What was your inspiration for the book?

Pamela: Several things inspired Waltz With a Stranger, including The Sisters, a poem by Tennyson about a man who inadvertently falls in love with identical twins; the trans-Atlantic marriage market; and Edith Wharton's The Buccaneers. And the fairy-tale Beauty and the Beast, though I approached it from a reverse angle.

Anne: My husband is my inspiration. He is always my hero! The storyline of the book came to me after a discussion with my husband and a sister romance writer. We were all sitting around the table enjoying a leisurely dinner when my husband brought up the topic of memory loss and injuries that affect the head. He's a licensed MFT — marriage family therapist — as well as a retired Navy SEAL. I started throwing scenarios out, ideas that could birth a book, and this one resonated. Thus, A SEAL at Heart was born.

Q: What excites you about your particular genre?

Pamela: The atmosphere and allure of the past draws me to historical romance, which I suspect is true of many writers in the same genre. But the high-stakes nature of finding love in a bygone era might excite me most. Because love is always a gamble, but seldom more so than when there's no easy way out of a failed relationship. The hero and the heroine have to trust themselves and their feelings absolutely to take the final step of committing to each other, to be able to say, "This is right and real, and worth any risk, any effort, to make it succeed."

Anne: Being able to honor the military really, really excites me! Soldiers and sailors go through so much hardship in their training, jobs and deployments that having a way to thank them and salute them strikes a chord with me. Hooyah, and thank you to all — past, present and future — for your service.

Q: Did you learn anything special or exciting in writing your book?

Pamela: How widespread trans-Atlantic marriages were. From about the 1870s until the 1910s — after the death of Edward VII, a big proponent of such marriages — phenomenally wealthy American heiresses traveled to Europe and tied their futures and their fortunes to financially strapped English aristocrats. They revitalized the social order with new blood and new money. They're credited with sustaining the aristocracy for at least one more generation. Whether that was ultimately a good thing remains to be seen, but it makes for great drama, as the hit series Downton Abbey has demonstrated.

Anne: Heavens, yes! There are a ton of details about being a Navy SEAL that I would have no way of knowing without the help of friends from the community and my husband. I'm grateful for their help, and I also did a ton of research on my own.

Q: What do you love most about your hero and heroine?

Pamela: I love my hero's sense of honor. His determination to do the right thing, to stand by the promises he makes, his belief that his word is his bond. At the same time, it's a trait that causes a great deal of trouble for him, because it hinders him from admitting even to himself what he wants and from going after it full-tilt. It's a strength and a flaw, which is great dramatic fodder for me as a writer.

I love my heroine's resilience. We first see her at a very low point, physically and emotionally: lame, scarred, jilted, convinced of her own undesirability. And she finds a reason to turn it all around — and even when it seems that reason no longer exists, she keeps working to make herself stronger, to reclaim the person she was before the accident that changed her life. She learns to confront her demons head-on, instead of hiding from them.

Anne: The attributes I admire the most about my hero and heroine are their perseverance and their passion. They find unique ways to empower themselves and they don't stop until they reach their goal. Courage and determination can take us a long way in life.

Q: What scene will blow readers away (without giving away any cliffhangers or HEAs)?

Pamela: The first kiss — always a pivotal moment in any romance! And there's another scene when the heroine comes face to face with one of her biggest fears — and the hero is right at her side, helping her to overcome it. I found it deeply satisfying to write, and I hope readers are satisfied by it too.

Anne: One of my favorite scenes takes place in Jack's apartment. Many details of his life are revealed in this chapter as Laurie takes in ... how this sexy warrior truly lives.

Q: What is your next book about?

Pamela: I am currently writing two books: The next one, A Song at Twilight, is a second-chance-at-love story and a loose sequel to Waltz With a Stranger. The heroine is a professional singer, a rising star on the opera and concert stage. The hero is the man she has never forgotten, who comes back into her life unexpectedly and reawakens all these feelings she's tried to hard to suppress.

Anne: I am editing Once a SEAL — book two of the SEAL series — and it begins with a wedding. We see the gritty and romantic side of military life through the eyes of the active-duty husband and his wife. It's bittersweet — experiencing the beauty and raw-edged suspense of this unusual journey.

Q: If you were to change genres, what would you write instead?

Pamela: Mystery — which wouldn't be too much of a stretch, since both of my romances have mystery/suspense subplots. Or fantasy, which was the first genre I ever loved. And I still do love it, even if my imagination is leading me down other paths right now.

Anne: Paranormal — one of my favorite genres! My comic book series, which began with Pulse of Power, is a paranormal world that I've been writing on for decades. There is something wonderful about the magical elements of the genre.

Q: What's your website address and Twitter handle?

Pamela:PamelaSherwood.wordpress.com. Twitter: (@pamela_sherwood).

Anne:www.AnneElizabeth.net. Twitter (@aeanneelizabeth).