Love Painted in Red
by Cristiane Serruya
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Crystal: Today I am so thrilled to host Cristiane Serruya. Welcome! I'm so excited to have you visit with us today Cristiane.
Cristiane: Hello Crystal, and thanks for hosting me. I’m so happy to be here with you and your readers today.
Let’s start with the good news. All my ebooks are on KindleUnlimited, so after you read my interview, visit Cristiane Serruya's Amazon Page and read them for free!
Crystal: Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?
Cristiane: I am a part-time lawyer, an almost full-time writer, a full-time mother of 2 teenage daughters and wife of a six-foot-six husband. But when I find it, I read, of course. Don’t ask when I sleep, because I don’t know that myself.
Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?
Cristiane: I have many! *smile* But if I had to choose just one, it would be the first time Laetitia stopped Tavish from using a condom (not the one when he forgets it).
I can’t really tell you why she did it because it would spoil an important moment of their love story. Despite it being a sex scene, it has much, much more to it. This scene has such significance and impact on their relationship and it is that heart-breaking moment when the characters would share promises of endless love—the famous I love you—yet I realize it just now: neither Laetitia, nor Tavish say those three words in the whole 470 pages!
Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for your latest release?
Cristiane: From my TRUST Series. *grin*
Tavish Uilleam MacCraig appeared on my first release Entwined Fates, TRUST Series #1. He grew so much as a character during the series that I had to write his story.
A war hero, a billionaire hunk, a lonely and tortured Highlander, whose heart no woman has thawed yet, he was POW for 6 months in the hands of the Taliban while serving as a doctor in RAF. After returning to civil life, he forsakes his medical career and assumes a position on one of his family business. But the scars in his soul—and body—are such that in spite of being surrounded with beautiful things, he sees nothing but darkness.
He was a great character to write, especially because I wanted him to be a believable veteran dealing with PTSD, so I interviewed many veterans online and it was an enlightening and heartbreaking experience. He came out beautifully—or so I like to think—with his physical and psychological scars and yet full of life strength and vigor.
Crystal:What are you currently working on?
Cristiane: The Diaries Series, from which FROM THE BARONESS’S DIARY: The erotic escapades of Baron Beardley’s wife is the first installment, is a 20th century romantic erotica and it will be released on September 13th, 2016.
It started with a single diary entry I wrote and was supposed to be a bonus scene for the print version of my contemporary romance Love Painted in Red, where Laetitia, the female lead character, who is a painter, used the late Baroness’s diaries to develop a series of erotic paintings. I realized I would be doing a disservice to my readers if I didn’t develop Lady Chloé Beardley’s own story.
Crystal: Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?
Cristiane: Not really. I need a bottle of ice-tea by my side during the summer months (almost the whole year) and hot tea during our 2-week winter season. I like to write at night, after my family has gone to bed, but it is not always possible because of my six-foot-six husband who is very jealous of my books—or should I say jealous of the male lead characters? *grin*
Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?
Cristiane: I always research hard and in depth the topics I am writing about even if I am familiar with them.
There were very difficult scenes to write in Love Painted in Red. It was an emotional experience writing of the lead characters’ pains, especially Tavish’s, who is a war veteran. I did online interviews with veterans and POWs and struggled to capture some of that pain in a meaningful way, trying to translate all the heartbreaking impact of war on soldiers in such a way that showed all they have sacrificed for a greater cause.
Love Painted in Red is my homage to those who dedicate themselves to make this world safer.
Crystal: Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?
Cristiane: Favorite? I'm kind of obsessed about books. I read in traffic, in the doctor's waiting room, and a few hours every day at home. I have very eclectic taste. When I was young, I loved Barbara Cartland, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte. As I grew, Kafka, Becket, Victor Hugo, George Orwell, the Greek classics, and many others made their way into my library. I read what my daughters read, so we can talk about it: Rick Riordan, JK Rowlings, and even Stephanie Meyer. And of course, lots and lots of contemporary romance, Gena Sholwalter, Kresley Cole, Tessa Dare, and many, many others.
Crystal: Is there a genre you haven't written that you would like to try?
Cristiane: I’d love to dip my pen in dystopian young adult! But I haven’t found my way though it yet. Maybe, one day.
Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts here and helping me promote my work, Crystal.
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BLURB:
Tavish MacCraig, thirty-three-year-old Highlander, forsook his medical and military career, after being a POW for 6 months in Afghanistan, to run his family’s internationally renowned art gallery in London, The Blue Dot. Despite being surrounded by wealth and beauty, Tavish’s days are bleak, his nights, living nightmares, and his heart, an empty shell. But when he meets Irish painter Laetitia Galen, a powerful and sizzling attraction ignites between them.
Laetitia, who fled hell on earth when she was sixteen, now works as a well-paid housekeeper in a forsaken country manor in Warwickshire and sells her paintings in an obscure gallery. To preserve her new life and recently found peace, she resists Tavish and The Blue Dot's fantastic offer of an exclusive contract.
Laetitia becomes Tavish’s obsession; Tavish, Laetitia’s unattainable dream.
Meanwhile, a man with a burning grudge plots his long-awaited revenge, which could destroy them all over again.
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EXCERPT:
The unusual sound of a motor rumble coming from the security system broke Laetitia’s concentration, making her frown at the new stencil.
On the camera she saw a car, its license plate unknown, coming down the lane toward the house.
Damn! I forgot to close the gates and turn on the alarm. Again!
Her carving knife clattered on the ground of the studio as she ran out. Pulling off her gloves, she entered the house by the kitchen and hurried to the hall.
A man was crossing her pebbled driveway and entering the front garden.
Laetitia knew that there were things in life that took their attraction from intricate symmetry, delicate structure, and innocent nature: rare orchids, unbroken seashells, and icy snowflakes; and those that were irresistible for their great power, refusal to be tamed, and dangerous potential: active volcanoes, huge waves, and craggy precipices.
And there were things that were simply too immense, too savage, or too intense to be contained in a single image or explained in mere words, even if there were a thousand of them.
The tall, powerfully built giant of a man walking toward her door belonged in the latter category, she was sure.
Wearing a tailored charcoal three-piece-suit, a baby-pink shirt, and a dark-gray tie, he was frighteningly male, terrifyingly beautiful, and vitally imposing.
His skin was an exquisite shade of the lightest coppery-gold. His mane was made of the darkest midnight-black silky locks, which shimmered under the soft sun. Wind-blown strands brushing against his forehead and wraparound glasses did nothing to diminish the sharpness of the man.
Who are you? By his firm strides, he wasn’t lost, which in her suspicious mind was not a good thing.
A funny flutter began in her stomach when he climbed the three steps to the double doors. His forehead creased for a moment, his ink-black brows going down, as if he was carefully weighing his next move.
Laetitia didn’t move but held her breath, waiting for him to leave, as she did whenever people came probing for information—when and if they came.
She didn’t know if she was afraid or excited, when, using one of the old iron lion knockers, he banged twice and called, “Ms. Galen?”
Even muffled by the old oak-carved doors and thick brick walls, his voice was a deep baritone, rich and sensual. It seemed to wash over her like warm rain on a summer night.
Damn. He knows me. She frowned and walked stealthily to the front door.
Cleopatra entwined around her calf, purring as if approving of the man outside.
Laetitia debated with herself: she had been careful ever since she had left Ireland in the dark of night, and she’d never had contact with such masculine power, yet there was her matured, innate sense saying that the danger he posed was not the one she feared.
Cleopatra tilted her head at her and lazily walked back to the kitchen, giving her a last look, encouraging her to open the door.
“Traitor,” she whispered, yet agreeing with her in some measure. She wanted an opportunity for a bit of unruly emotions to let her unthawed heart beat again.
He knocked again and called louder, “Ms. Galen.”
There was a quiet command in his deep voice. It compelled her.
Laetitia opened her door. “May I help you?”
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Cristiane Serruya is Brazilian and lives in Rio de Janeiro, with her husband, two teenage daughters, and Loki, her Shetland sheepdog. She has studied in England, France, Italy, and Switzerland and graduated in Law, with a Master’s in Business Law, and a BA in Fine Arts. In 2012, she published her first romance, and is proud of the awards her novels have received.
She still works as a lawyer, but writing has become an essential part of her life, and a fulfilling adventure, as it allows her to make friends all over the world.
Links:
![So Much More by [Serruya, Cristiane]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51OQH8mRbUL.jpg)
I live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with my six-foot-six husband, two teenage daughters, and Loki, my Shetland sheepdog. I'm a writer, a lawyer, a reader, a woman, a mother, and a wife. Not necessarily in this order. Or in any order... 
![Entwined Fates (TRUST Book 1) by [Serruya, Cristiane]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51euEnC8n-L.jpg)
