As part of Australian Romance Month, Romance Specialist Haylee Nash will be interviewing one Australian Romance author per day. Much like a beauty pageant, each author will be using their charm, wit and grace (and the power of social media) to take home the Booktopia Romance Bestseller crown. Booktopia invites bestselling Fantasy and Adventure Romance author Fiona McIntosh to the stage.
1. Describe the perfect date.
George Clooney, Paris, chocolate … need I say more?
2. Which of your books are you most proud of?
The Lavender Keeper. It’s changed my career, allowing me to move into truly romantic, yet still adventure-laden storytelling in the real world and to develop a vast new audience. The main characters are each flawed and I enjoyed crafting them and I held my breath with a lot of the situations they found themselves in. Because I write to no plan I was worried for the lead trio – I really had no idea where their lives were headed during this frightening period in history and I was entirely invested in them, which is a wonderful sign for any author as she writes.
3. What is the hardest thing about being a romance author?
Finding new ways to describe a special kiss so the reader’s heart pounds in tandem with those of the characters.
4. What is the best thing about being a romance author?
Living it while I’m writing it. I am always completely in love with my leading man.
5. Who (aside from a significant other) do you swoon over?
George Clooney…it’s a given Colin Firth, Daniel Craig and even though he’s a tad young, Ryan Gosling – I think that quiet intensity gets me.
6. Tell us something very few people know about you.
I sub-consciously add up numbers – hotel rooms, dates, number plates, receipts. Don’t know why because numbers are not romantic but I like that they never lie…and they do become sexy when counting the number of new winter boots you’ve acquired, or how many chocolates are left in the Haigh’s box, or how much you didn’t have to pay in that sale for a dress or knit or skirt you’ve lusted after for months. 
7. Describe your writing style in three words.
Filmic, emotional, unpredictable.
Click here to buy The Lavender Keeper from Booktopia,
Australia’s local bookstore
8. What is your definition of a good book?
Addictive storytelling with lead characters to fall in love with and a mix of action/adventure with an underlying romantic storyline. That’s what I want when I’m trapped on a plane with hundreds of people for 20 hours.
9. Which author would you invite to a dinner party and why?
Ian McEwan would receive my invite. I would cook such a brilliant meal that it would daunt him straight back and thus help me to balance out the gushing.
10. Finish this sentence: I would do anything for love, but I won’t do_____
…I won’t stop lusting for and acquiring an unnecessary and vaguely obscene number of boots. Don’t judge – it’s a sickness … feel sorry for me.
Fiona McIntosh was born and raised in Sussex in the UK, but also spent early childhood years in West Africa. She left a PR career in London to travel and settled in Australia in 1980. She has since roamed the world working for her own travel publishing company, which she runs with her husband. She lives in Adelaide with her husband and twin sons
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Comments
November 20, 2016 at 5:12 am
That’s an expert answer to an inntsertieg question