BTS Book Reviews December 2013 | Page 14

| Cover Feature | Sitting by the Fire with Author GRACE BURROWES Tell us a little about your holiday release Lady Jenny’s Christmas Portrait. Lady Jenny is the last Windham sibling to remain unmarried. The pressure of her family’s expectations has her longing to flee to Paris, where her artistic dreams can be developed. At the request of Jenny’s ducal parents, famed portraitist Elijah Harrison comes to spend the holidays with the Windham family, and when he learns of Jenny’s aspirations, he’s torn between making her Christmas wishes comes true, and listening to his own heart. How much time did it take from writing your first book to having it published? A few years. I wasn’t writing for publication, I was writing for the sheer joy of it, until my own family had asked me too many times, “When are you going to get that stuff published?” (Maybe Lady Jenny and I have something in common?) The process from there was quick: The first person I pitched ended of offering me a contract, and I’m still writing for that editor. Are any of your characters based on real people or events? Not specifically, unless you consider that events in my life have informed events in the books. 14 | www.BTSeMag.com