I went on a month-long trip to Russia to visit
a very good friend, and I had the most amazing time there. The
complex history of the country, not to mention the beautiful
people I met (Yes, there are absolutely gorgeous Russians, before
the lifestyle gets to them), fascinated me. I created a story
of a young noblewoman who is wrongly accused of murdering her
perverted fiancé. To escape being executed, she fakes
her own death and flees to England, where she takes a position
as governess to an aristocrat's daughter. The book stirred up
a little controversy because the hero has a hook instead of
a left hand (having lost it during a heroic rescue of his daughter
from a deadly fire). To me, the challenge was to make the hero
so sexy, smart and powerful that the reader kind of "gets
over" the missing hand. For some readers, it worked, but
others still prefer complete perfection in a hero (and why shouldn't
they? - it's fantasy).
