Reader praise and book deal for writer
A PRIMARY school teacher is celebrating the publication of her second book by a world-famous name in romance fiction – and a new book deal.
Claire Lackford was awarded a two-book deal by Mills and Boon publisher Harlequin in 2013 after beating off competition from hundreds of fellow writers to scoop bronze in their ‘So You Think You can Write’ contest.
Her first book ‘Falling For Her Captor’ scored rave reviews on Amazon, with readers calling it ‘gripping’ and ‘unputdownable’.
Now Claire, who writes under the pseudonym Elisabeth Hobbes, has seen her second book ‘A Wager for the Widow’ also get a similar reaction.
Harlequin has now offered Claire another two-book deal.
The latest book is about Lady Eleanor Peyton, a woman widowed on her wedding day, who has chosen a life of independence.
Living alone on her rocky coastal outcrop in Cornwall, she’s cut herself off from the world of men – until William Rudhale saves her life and makes a bet with her brother that he can kiss her by mid-winter’s feast.
The 40-year-old mother-of-two, of Bond Street, Macclesfield, said: “When I wrote the story that became Falling for Her Captor, I was really pleased with it as an idea. I had to be because it was the only one I had.
“When I got offered a two book contract I had a bit of a panic about whether I could actually write another book or whether that would be my one and only idea.
“Fortunately I had stuck on a chance comment by one of the characters about the hero’s parentage. This gave me an idea for a second book.”
For updates see elisabethhobbes.co.uk.