As you know from my blogs, and hopefully my books, location is incredibly important to me. Whether it's a coastal area or mountain locale, or a rambling old house, or a city, I usually find at least one location in every book really 'speaks' to me as I write. That location is as important as another character to the development of my story and the way my characters interact. I've had heroines who've struggled on dairy farms or found themselves in windswept deserts or isolated castles! But sometimes a city location is just right for a story. For instance, my current one, THE FLAW IN RAFFAELE'S REVENGE takes place in New York, as well as in country Australia and the Caribbean. My lucky characters - they really can be jets-setters!
Most of the time I don't deliberately set out to choose a location for a story, it chooses me. That's what happened with New York in FLAW, when I wanted a place as far from rural Australia (where Lily lives when the story opens) as I could get. And with Sao Paolo in Brazil for DAMASO CLAIMS HIS HEIR when Marisa finds herself unexpectedly pregnant to the most dangerous man she's ever met. And the quaint old city of Prague in Europe seemed the perfect place for Flynn and Ava to marry in THE SINNER'S MARRIAGE REDEMPTION.
A VOW TO SECURE HIS LEGACY is about a woman who believes she only has months to live. She decides to experience life to the full, and so of course, she includes Paris on her bucket list, where she meets a suave, charismatic Frenchman who turns her expectations on her head.
When I needed a palatial inner city apartment for a man intent on revenge against his English father, it seemed natural Rafe would move to London in RAFE'S REDEMPTION. I loved the glamour of that city as a backdrop to the tension between Rafe and Antonia, the woman he blackmails into being his mistress.
Some books almost grow from their setting. I knew from the first that SEDUCING HIS ENEMY'S DAUGHTER would be set in Sydney, and that sun would shine on the harbour, making it look it's spectacular best.
Right now I'm considering writing a few more of my HOT ITALIAN NIGHTS novellas and Venice is a distinct possibility for a setting. After all, it's such a romantic city and I was lucky enough to visit in the last couple of year so I have a good feel for the location.
So now it's your turn. I'd love to hear what city or cities you think might make a good setting for a romance. So much the better if it's one I haven't mentioned.
I'm giving away a copy of my first HOT ITALIAN NIGHTS novella: BACK IN THE ITALIAN'S BED to someone who comments. Do come back later to check the name of the winner - I'll post it in the comments section.
