Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Karen Aminadra



When Charlotte Lucas married Mr Collins, she did not love him but had at least secured her future. 
However, what price must she pay for that future? She once said she was not romantic, but how true is that now after almost one year of marriage? 
Mr Collins is submissive in the extreme to his patroness, and his constant simpering, fawning and deference to the overbearing and manipulative Lady Catherine de Bourgh is sure to try the patience of a saint, or at least of Charlotte. 
As Charlotte becomes part of Hunsford society, she discovers she is not the only one who has been forced to submit to the controlling and often hurtful hand of Lady Catherine. 
She feels trapped and realises her need for love and affection. She is not as content as she once thought she would be. The easiest thing to do would be to maintain the peace and do as she is told. But as Charlotte witnesses the misery around her due to her inimitable neighbour, she must decide to remain as she is or to begin a chain of events that will change not only her life but also the lives of those around her in the village of Hunsford forever. 
But...after all, doesn't every girl deserve a happy ending?


BIO - 

 Karen Aminadra (pronounced Amin-ah-dra) was born in 1973.  That same year Edward Heath was the Prime Minster, Queen Elizabeth II opened the new London Bridge, and Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips watched by 500 million in glorious colour.  
Karen was born in London, England and grew up in Hertfordshire ‘the land of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice’.  She grew up encouraged to read by her bookworm father and grandmother.  But it wasn't until she got to secondary school that her love of writing took flight after winning a writing competition in just her first year.   Her teachers spurred her on, and she has been writing stories ever since.  Her love of mystery and plot twists, that she put into that story, continue today.  Later, she traveled around the world with her job, and thanks to that job she could indulge in what she loves most; reading and writing.  After four years, she settled back in England where she now lives with her husband.
She not only writes Jane Austen Continuation books, but  many other novels with good helpings of modern life, the historical, romance, crime and mystery.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? I don’t know if I can pinpoint that exactly. I’ve
always loved making up tales and writing stories. I won a writing competition at school when I was
11 and I guess that was the beginning of it all for me.

How long did it take you to write your book? It took me three months to write Charlotte – Pride and
Prejudice Continues but it took over ten years to write Relative Deceit. I started that and shelved it.
Then after Charlotte, I just wanted to get on with it and I finished it within a few months.

What genre is your book? What made you choose to write in that category? Charlotte – Pride and
Prejudice continues is a classic historical novel and Relative Deceit is historical fiction based at the
beginning of the 20th Century. My love of all things historical and Jane Austen is the reason I wrote
those I suppose.


What was your work schedule like when you were writing? Oh, it was an absolute nightmare. I still have my day job so I was working nine hours a day on that and then three or four hours on top of
that on my book. Some days I’d work a solid sixteen hour day and then wake in the night to write again because I’d thought of something else to add to the book in my sleep!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? Apart from not sleeping, not feeding my
husband and letting my tea go cold all the time? My husband says I take on the emotions of my
characters as I am writing. I recently wrote a fight scene for one of my projects, and my husband
said that I had a murderous look in my eyes when I’d finished. He said it was scary haha!

Where do you get your information or ideas for your books? I have no idea where inspiration comes
from. I’ve often wondered about that. I read a lot of history and historical fiction. I am a huge fan
of English Literature and the classics. I guess they all get jumbled up in my head and the ideas come
from that.

Are you currently working on another book? If so, is it part of a series or something different? At
the moment I am currently working on Pride and Prejudice Continues Book 2. It overlaps Charlotte a
little in time frame but I continue the series where I left off on the first book.

What do you like to do when you're not writing? Sleeping! Haha I like to read as all authors do.
I also love costume dramas on tv and I am a Sci-fi fan believe it or not. I paint a little and love
rambling in the countryside and mountains.

What does your family think of your writing? My husband is proud to bits. He loves telling people
about my books and is always quizzing me on what I am currently writing. It makes me feel really
good that he feels that way. My sister in law told me today that she is extremely proud and
constantly impressed by my talent and attention to detail. Wow, that is just the loveliest thing to
hear!

What was one of the most surprising things you learned about yourself in creating your books? That I actually had all that within me. I’ve never been very confident and have terrible self-esteem, so
when I see what I’ve created on paper I am overwhelmed. I have surprised myself and perhaps
learnt to appreciate myself more because of it.

Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say? I hear a lot on facebook or
twitter and I love what they have to say. One woman told me to never stop writing and then said I
can stop for food and to sleep! Haha I think that tells me a lot about how much she loves my work.
It’s lovely to hear from a reader and I wonder if readers really ever know how much their input
means to us authors.

As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up? I wanted to be many things. I wanted to
be a nurse, a French teacher and an Archaeologist or Historian. I became a teacher but I still hanker
after archaeology and history. I guess that’s why my preferred genre to write is historical.

Are you self published or do you have a publisher? If self published, what made you decide to
go that route? My ebooks are self-published but the paperback versions are published through
FeedARead. FeedARead is a leading independent publisher, established with Arts Council/Lottery
Arts funding. Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England.

Stalk Karen

Twitter - @kaminadra
To find out more please visit www.karenaminadra.com
a Rafflecopter giveaway

6 comments:

  1. Yes, I enjoy Jane Austin and historical fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I LOVE Jane Austen!! I have every one of her books and enjoy reading the modern variations and continuations of her classic stories. SO excited about this!!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am ashamed to say I have never read any of her books! I guess I am going to have to get them so I can catch up with everyone else!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love Jane Austen and I read everything by the different Jane Austen writers as well.

    ReplyDelete