Author Spotlight : Abby Green

This week, we're very honoured to have Mills and Boon Modern/Harlequin Presents Author Abby Green, as our guest on the Minxes blog. I first met Abby a couple of years ago when I attended a writing romance workshop in Ireland with Abby, Trish Wylie and Jenny Hutton. It was a real eye-opener, and Abby was full of great advice. If you haven't discovered Abby's writing yet - it's highly recommended. Every one I've read so far has made it to the keepers shelf. Great heroines, and yummy heros. And the book she's talking about is great!

Now, on to the questions...

1. Where were you in your writing career 5 years ago?


I had just received my first letter of feedback from Mills and Boon, it was a rejection of a partial but with notes, and I was determined to keep going and submitting. I sold a year after I got that letter.

2. Where did you get the idea from for this particular book?

It came out of another book - Ruthless Greek Boss, Secretary Mistress which was released in the UK last year. While I was writing that book, I'd created an old man who comes back to Greece after being exiled for many years, and I found myself wondering if he might have a son...and what his son would be like. And that's how the story was born.

3. Where do you hope to be in 5 years time?

Still writing for Mills and Boon and hopefully having completed something else, like a film script, which would be in production with an A-list cast!

4. Which was the last book you read that you wish you'd written?

Twilight!

5. Was there any particular author or book that made you want to be a writer?

I've been reading ever since I was little, so my inspiration and motivation came from all sorts of sources...there was no one epiphanic moment. It was more of a metamorphosis.

6. Do you find writing love scenes giggle-worthy or cringe-worthy?

Not at all, because I think that would come through in the writing. But I do find them harder as time goes on, it's a challenge to keep them fresh and exciting!

7. What's the most romantic moment of your life so far?

I'm still waiting to be surprised..!

8. What do you wish you'd known about being an author before you were pubbed?

Nothing really to be honest, it's all been better than I could have ever hoped for. It's certainly been more challenging than I could have imagined, but in a good way. And the money doesn't materialize overnight, at all. So it's a slow process but I think once you've come to terms with that and settle in for the long haul it's definitely worth it.

9. What's the best writing advice you've ever been given?

To just sit down and do it, and to know the market you're targeting. If you want to write for M&B, or Harlequin Presents, then really read all the current books. It'll be the best education. And try to come up with a fresh idea, or a new twist on an old theme.

10. Tell us about your latest release.

Well as I said, it came out of another book. I personally love it when you can 'see' other characters again and I got to re-visit Ari and Lucy in this book. But this story is very much Angel and Leo's story. Leo has been in exile from his homeland all his life so he's not prepared for the visceral reaction he has to Greece when he arrives for the first time.


His family have one great enemy - the Kassianides family. When Leo meets a humble waitress who he can't resist kissing, he thinks nothing of it, until he finds out that she is from the Kassianides family. Suddenly he's turned from an urbane businessman into a man who seeks vengeance for his family and himself.


But Angel is entirely innocent, in every way. And Leo only discovers this when it's almost too late...

11. What's next for you?

What's next is that my very first Sheikh book is out this summer in the UK, it's called 'Breaking the Sheikh's Rules' and it's out in a Summer Sheikhs anthology, you can read an excerpt on my website. And at the moment I'm writing the story of that hero's brother, so I'm enjoying that...

The Virgin's Secret is available from the Mills and Boon website as print and e-book.
Click here for ordering.

The US presents release of The Virgin's Secret is in July. Click here for ordering. (Not available yet!)

For more about Abby, check out her website: http://www.abby-green.com/

Thanks for the interview, Abby!