Black Widow Bride - Tessa Radley / Interview

Full disclosure - Tessa is a good friend of mine so when she gave me a copy of her first book, I opened it with the hope that I would enjoy it, especially since I'd been asking her for an advance look at it ever since I first heard the title!

Well, guess what? Black Widow Bride wasn't good. It was fabulous! I read it from cover to cover in one sitting.

Here's the backcover copy.

She Wore Red To His Wedding...

Her attempt at seduction the night before his marriage had nearly been his undoing. Wealthy businessman Damon Asteriades had pushed aside all thoughts of brash Rebecca Grainger for years, until circumstances forced him to bring her back to his family's estate. There was no reason for him to become further involved with the woman society had dubbed the black widow bride—save the intense passion that still burned hot between them.

That, and the three-year-old secret she was protecting.

Sounds intriguing, no? Trust me, the book delivers. It had me on my toes throughout as I tried to figure out the secret and what was going to happen next. Damon is a very alpha hero and yes, I had some violent urges toward him but that's because he was such a strong character. What I really liked was that Rebecca was tough enough to take him on, and she was smart.

As for the plot - lots of twists and turns. I was completely hooked. I think if you like your love stories intense, dramatic and intriguing, you'll enjoy this book very much.

Now, since Tessa is my friend and I can pepper her with questions whenever I feel like it *g*, I did a mini-interview with here. Here it is:

Question 1: I was really impressed by the realism of your Greek characters. How did you research that?

It was more a case of writing what I knew about. I spent my high school years at a co-ed school for expatriate Greek children. Growing up lots of my friends were Greek—there were a lot of Italians there too :). The Greek people are very warm and welcoming and I learnt to speak a smattering of Greek (which I have lost!) and travelled a fair bit around Greece. I enjoyed writing about Damon, his mother and his brother Savvas and hope I managed to convey some of the warmth that overflows in Greek families. The Greek guys are pretty hot too!

Question 2. Did you come up with the title? Because I was hooked the first time I heard it!

Let’s just say I have a seriously twisted mind *g*. I was amazed Desire went with it, I thought it might be too dark! But seriously, that’s how my hero, Damon, viewed Rebecca, the heroine. So it worked.

Question 3. So, how are the first book jitters going?

Awful…but I have a deadline for 13 April so that’s keeping my mind off the release date a little. But it’s also very exciting. I’m starting to get emails from people who are Harlequin subscribers and have the book or who have read the eBook—and that has been such a thrill. I’m finding that being an author is so much more rewarding than I ever expected.

Here's the link to Tessa's website. Go have a squiz - it's very pretty.