An Interview with Author Belle McInnes
Today I’m looking forward to talking to author Belle McInnes about Scotland, historical romances and her new book, A Love Divided. Thank you, Belle, for taking the time to chat to me. Please sit down, get comfortable and let’s begin.
About Belle McInnes
A native Scot who lives in the hinterland between Edinburgh and the Borders, Belle loves to write about Scotland and its history.
In addition to writing historical romance, she rides dressage, teaches skiing – and pens prize-winning Sci-Fi, Urban Fantasy and Contemporary Romance as Roz Marshall.
What’s the name of your new book?
A Love Divided
Tell us a bit about your book
Mary Queen of Scots is on the throne, and the frontier between England and Scotland is a powder-keg
More interested in raiding into Scotland with the rest of her clan than womanly pursuits like embroidery or finding a husband, Alexandra Graham is a feisty English heiress who rides and fights as well as any man. But when a daring rescue goes wrong, she ends up in the dungeons of Scotland’s most forbidding castle, prisoner of the notorious Earl of Bothwell and at the mercy of the queen’s justice.
As deputy warden responsible for keeping the law on the queen’s borderland, Michael Cranstoun is a Scottish laird with a reputation for fair-mindedness and the looks of a Viking warrior. But meeting the beguiling Alexandra puts both his life and his honour at risk—not to mention his heart.
If there was a film or TV adaptation of your book, who would you like to see play your characters?
I learned early on (when I wrote a red-haired character who looked a little like Ed Sheeran) that, wherever possible, you should choose the cover photo first before you describe the character – because some combinations (eg a ginger who looks like the guy next door) are very hard to find.
But because of that, the hero/heroine of the book ‘becomes’ that model – so Alexandra in A Love Divided is the raven-haired, feisty-looking model on the cover. Perhaps if she was to be played by a modern actress, Lauren Cohan who plays Maggie in The Walking Dead would fit the bill?
Michael, the hero, is fair-haired and described as looking like a Viking. I think Liam Hemsworth (who played Gale in The Hunger Games) would fit the bill.
For book 2 (A Love Beyond) again the heroine (Libby) is the blond model on the cover, but the hero is totally inspired by Luke Pasqualino, who played d’Artagnan in the BBC series, The Musketeers 
