If you follow my blog regularly, you are most likely aware that the vast majority of the books I read and review are Young Adult books. But before I read YA, I shopped library book sales to score my next read (or reads for the next year, rather). That is how I came upon Catherine Coulter in what was probably my sophomore year of high school.
I had never really been a fan of romance novels. But I recall the moment when I picked up Warrior's Song and looked at the cover, not quite sure what it would be about. I read the back and realized it was a romance novel, but ultimately decided to take a chance on it. Keep in mind that this was back before Goodreads and smartphones (high school was a long time ago) so I truly was taking a chance! And it definitely paid off!
That was the beginning of my Catherine Coulter collection/obsession. In the years since I have collected many (not all, admittedly) of her historical romance novels and have consistently enjoyed every one of them. And my very favorite part of her books? Fabio is not on the cover!
Over the years I emailed back and forth with her a couple times, but recently I worked up the courage to ask her to sign a couple books for me and she graciously obliged. Not only did Mrs. Coulter sign the books I sent, but she signed and mailed back a copy of The Maze, one of her FBI Thrillers which I had to admit I had not read.
I also feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to ask three questions of my favorite author, which was quite a daunting task!
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
- How did you celebrate publishing your first book?
I celebrated the sale of my very first book with two bottles of champagne -- Moet et Chandon -- and tacos -- what could be better?
- Many of your historical romance heroines are presented as very witty and even stubborn. Do you identify with any of the female characters in your books? Do you have a favorite?
Yes, of course my heroines reflect my personality, impossible not to, although, and this is rather a surprise, my own personal favorite of all my books is Beyond Eden, and the main female character is nothing like me. Go figure. But usually, yes.
- What inspired you to move away from historical romance and towards your series of FBI thrillers? They seem so different!
What happened is that I wrote nine straight historicals -- three trilogies -- and found I was burned to my heels. Was at a family reunion and my sister (whose never done this before or since) walked up to me and asked, "Have you ever heard of a small town on the coast of Oregon, called The Cove? They make the world's greatest ice cream and bad stuff happens." I went en pointe, told my publisher and wrote The Cove, which turned out to be the first of the FBI series. Isn't serendipity a wonderful thing?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catherine Coulter is the author of more than 70 novels, including 66 New York Times bestsellers, occasionally, after exhaustive prayers, hitting #1. She earned her reputation writing historical romances to pass the time while aboard the ark. Over a decade ago she added suspense thrillers to her repertoire-- with great success. The Cove, the first book in her bestselling "FBI Suspense Thriller Series" spent nine weeks on the New York Times list and has to date sold over 2 million copies. Since then, she has written 18 more bestselling thrillers in the series. Coulter is now working on a new suspense thriller series -- A Brit in the FBI -- co-writing with bestselling author JT Ellison. The third book in this series, The End Game, will be released in September 2015. You can visit Catherine at her website!
