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The stories feature wolf-shifter packs in Scotland, Italy, and Russia. There is a crossover between the different books, with marriages between families.
Where did you get the inspiration for the book/series?
Initial inspiration came when I read a newspaper article about the idea of re-introducing wolves to Scotland.
Records show that the last wolf in the country was kind in 1680, but tales persisted well into the 19th century of wolf-sightings.
It got me thinking ‘well, what if some wolves were still here’? I then created the MacDonald pack, which has a proud heritage but is under threat due to their declining numbers.
Paranormal, shifters. I decided to write a wolf-shifter story and the characters soon took shape.
Are you more character or plot-driven?
A bit of both. I like there to be plenty going on in my stories, but there needs to be a clear sense of who the characters are also.
I’m pretty good at storing a lot of information in my head but I occasionally jot down little reminders in notebooks.
Yes, pretty much all of them start to go off on their own path and lead me to places I hadn’t initially planned on.
Not in these books.
They’re not based on one specific person, but I know a lot of feisty women that influence my female characters.
Maddie, in The Alpha’s Mark has a lot of me in her.
Francesca, the spoiled brat in The Alpha’s Prize is based on my good friend, Alys Fraser, who writes historical fiction. She was a pain in the butt pampered princess when she was younger but, as she matured, she developed a more compassionate side and became more concerned with other people than herself.
She’ll probably strangle me when she realises Francesca was influenced by her.
Not really, but in Taken by the Wolves, Neil and Duncan share their mates. In my first draft of the story, their characters were too similar. I’d seen them as being very alike but it didn’t work for the story.
I had to make a few changes to give them more distinct personalities. Neil became the sterner of the two and Duncan the one with the softer heart.
What is your favorite book in the series?
It’s really hard but I think I’ll have to go with The Alpha’s Mark.
I was able to use aspects of my academic career to develop aspects of the mythology and history of the pack. I loved the setting also, basing it on one of my favourite historical houses.
I know that we aren’t supposed to have “favorites” as far as our children, but seriously, who’s your favorite character and why?
My favourite in the series so far is Alessio di Angelo. He’s a minor character in a couple of the stories but people reacted quite strongly to him - they really hate him.
For me, he was fun to write and I can’t wait to give him his own story and, perhaps, redeem him in readers’ eyes.
Who is your favorite couple and why did you decide on their dynamics?
My favourite couple is Francesca and Leonid in The Alpha’s Prize.
They come from very different worlds. Leonid has had to fight his way to the top of his pack, while Francesca was born to it. I like the spark between them and the fact that neither is prepared to let the other walk all over them.
I decided with this couple, I wanted them to really challenge each other and so I made them both strong and determined to have their way.
How do you get inside these character’s heads to find their perfect HEA?
I spend a lot of time putting myself in the character’s shoes, imagining how I would react to the situations they find themselves in. I consider the various ways things could go for them to achieve a happy ending and see what works best.
The scene in Marked by the Wolf where Lisa and Ross are having dinner and end up doing naughty things with a chocolate dessert stands out for me. It’s based on a real-life encounter with very pleasant memories.
None was harder than the others, but there were specific challenges to Taken by the Wolves because it involves a menage.
You have to make sure to let all of the characters express their POV. You also have to think through the sex scenes very carefully - who’s doing what, and where?
That’s a lot of fun but you don’t want to get things muddled.
How long did it take you to write this book/series?
It takes me about six weeks to write each book when I can get around to writing. I’ve been working on this series since October 2019, but have had lots of other things cropping up to distract me so it’s taken longer than anticipated.
How did you come up with the title for your book and (if applicable) series?
I choose titles that reflect some aspect of the book. Often, my publisher suggests a few alternatives and I end up picking one of those instead.
Yes - Maddie from The Alpha’s Mark and Lisa from Marked by the Wolf, work in the same field as I did for fifteen years before I became a full time writer so we’d have a lot in common.
Yes, I knew there would be several characters in the book in need of mates, and that each one would need their own story.
I intended originally, to just focus on the stories of the Scottish alphas, but when I decided Sadie MacDonald would be away from the pack, in Italy, I knew I had to explore the Italian shifters too.
That then led on to the Russian stories and there are more branches leading off from that for me to cover in future.
The one who stands out most clearly to me would be Michele Morrone for Marco in Claimed by the Alpha.
A reader said that he would make a great voiceover actor for an audiobook of the story and I’ve seen him as Marco ever since.
For the other characters, I don’t have a clear idea of who would play them.
Can you give us a hint as to what we can expect next? Just a small tease?
Alessio di Angelo’s story will be next up.
He’ll get the shock of his life when he discovers, not only has his ex-girlfriend been concealing his son from him, some of his closest family members knew about it.
He’s not the sort of man you want to get on the wrong side of, so it should be interesting.
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Finlay MacDonald is the last alpha of his bloodline, and he is in need of a mate. She doesn't know it yet, but beautiful college professor Maddie MacKinnon is destined to be that mate.
Upon seeing the woman who will bear his pups being accosted by a man with a knife, Finlay knocks her attacker out cold, but it will take more than a display of gallantry to convince Maddie to accept his protection and submit to his demands. She will need to be stripped bare, spanked until she is sore and soaked, and then taken so savagely she is left in no doubt he is her alpha.
She is going to be claimed, marked, and bred, and she will come when he calls her or be sternly and shamefully punished. The only thing up to Maddie is how long she tries to deny her need to be mastered.
Publisher's Note: The Alpha's Mark is a stand-alone novel which is the first entry in the Claimed Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Lisa Hunter knew rescuing her friend from a pack of wolf shifters would be no easy task, but she didn't expect to end up naked, bound, and completely at the mercy of one of the fearsome beasts.
Ross MacDonald had only planned to hold the little human captive until she revealed what she knows about the men hunting his kind, but it didn't take long for the truth to become undeniable. She is his mate--whether she wants to admit it or not--and if it takes a stern, shameful punishment and a sore, thoroughly used bottom to convince her that she belongs to him, so be it.
Publisher's Note: Marked by the Wolf is a stand-alone novel which is the second entry in the Claimed Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Sadie MacDonald left home seeking freedom from the rules of her pack. She ended up broke, in trouble, and over the knee of an infuriatingly sexy alpha who has decided to take her as his mate.
A painful, humiliating spanking in the back seat of Marco di Angelo's car during the ride to his estate--where the brute has made clear she will be staying with him from now on--proves to be just the start of his plans for Sadie. She will be taught to obey, then she will be claimed and bred.
Though Marco's audacity enrages Sadie, her body knows its master, and it isn't long before she is screaming her surrender into the sheets as he ravages her thoroughly and savagely. But when rivals within his own pack threaten his new mate, will Marco do what he must to keep her safe?
Publisher's Note: Claimed by the Alpha is a stand-alone novel which is the third entry in the Claimed Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
When Carolina di Angelo ends up banished by her pack as a result of her sister's scheming, she is sent to stay in the home of Neil and Duncan MacDonald. But the two devilishly handsome Scottish shifters have no interest in a ward or a houseguest. They plan to take her as their mate.
Carolina is given no choice in the matter, and when the feisty she-wolf disobeys the two firm-handed Highlanders they do not hesitate to strip her bare and paddle her thoroughly. But their stern correction leaves her not only sore and sorry but also burning with need, and as they master her quivering body ever more shamefully she cannot help longing to be marked and claimed.
Publisher's Note: Taken by the Wolves is a stand-alone novel which is the fourth entry in the Claimed Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
Leonid Sobakhin has known for years that Francesca di Angelo is his mate, but a Russian alpha claiming an Italian princess would have risked a dangerous conflict with her pack. Until now...
Banished by her pack, Francesca is now an exile, and when selling everything she owns proves insufficient to maintain her lifestyle she resorts to auctioning off the only thing she has left.
Herself.
But Leonid has no intention of allowing other men to bid on what belongs to him by right, and when Francesca defies him and tries to carry out her plan he decides it is time to take what is his. She will be his mate and his queen, but first she will be punished so thoroughly and shamefully that even before he marks and claims her virgin body she will be in no doubt who owns her.
Publisher's Note: The Alpha's Prize is a stand-alone novel which is the fifth entry in the Claimed Mates series. It includes spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don't buy this book.
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