Today I’m joined by the beautiful and talented Carrie Lomax.
Make sure you read right down to the bottom of the page for a nice surprise!
I suppose this summer is a little peculiar for most people, how will you be spending it?
It is a bit different, for sure. Ordinarily I like to do one big trip a year but we are sticking close to home this summer, with one brief driving trip to visit family planned. We have all been social distancing for months and will be camping outdoors on their lawn. So it will be a weird visit, for sure.
Are you more of a beach person, a tourist destination person or do you prefer to holiday in the countryside?
Why not all three? 😉
I love the beach but not nearly as much as I love international travel. Because of the time and expense we did not have much opportunity to do so in recent years. The instant travel restrictions lift, however, I’ll be looking seriously at Portugal, Australia, Germany, Croatia or Peru. Until then, I’ll be visiting my in-laws at the beach or taking day trips to the countryside.
In previous years have you gone anywhere exciting over the summer?
I’ve been to many places. Not always in summer. For example, I’ve taught English in France for a year, backpacked through Europe for a spring, and otherwise taken every opportunity to go abroad that I can find. The last big international trip we did was to London, with a stopover in Iceland. I would love to go back to Iceland – what an amazing geography!
Let’s go back further in time, did you ever have a summer romance?
Yes – although I doubt Mr. Lomax would appreciate my reminiscence of events from 20+ years ago, so I’m mum on the details. Suffice it to say that it’s a lovely memory which probably would have been spoiled if we had tried to turn it into more than a summer fling.
My kids love going to summer camp, did you ever go to camp for summer vacation?
I grew up as a country girl in Wisconsin. I went to Girl Scout camp every summer and made friends with the daughter of the campgrounds caretaker. Even when I was not enrolled I was hanging around the camp year-round!
What’s will you be reading this summer?
This is a hard one to answer because I am struggling to focus on any particular story ever since the pandemic hit. While I need the escape, I’ve been attracted to Serious Topics which I then have a hard time finishing, i.e., How to Be An Antiracist, Evicted, etc.
Romance-wise, I *loved* Mia Sosa’s The Worst Best Man. I’m working my way through The Rakess by Scarlett Peckham – which is fabulous and scratches my itch for seriousness along with my escape – and next I’ll dive into Sarah MacLean’s Daring and the Duke, with Robin Lovett’s latest Sex Planet release, Forbidden Desire next in the queue. Also on my TBR is Jayce Ellis’s Andre, Alexis Daria’s You Had Me at Hola in August, Victoria Helen Stone’s Problem Child, and I’m really looking forward to diving into the Stacey Adgern book I won at auction. 😀
Do you have any favorite summer romances?
Of course! I love to read Judith Ivory’s Black Silk once a year. Maya Rodale’s The Rogue and the Rival is an underrated gem. I bought a hammock to read in this summer, but my kids have overtaken it. 
Movie-wise, I got to introduce my 9-year-old daughter to The Princess Bride recently. She absolutely adored it.
We are huge Princess Bride fans in this house, I very much approve.
What about food and drink, do you have a favorite summer dish, or drink?
In summer I lose my appetite. I live in Maryland, which is technically the south, and I am not well-adapted to warm weather. I love sour beers (gose) and pink wine, and I can eat a popsicle for lunch and be content.
(Photo by Vincenzo Landino on Unsplash)
I’m posting several cocktail recipes; do you have a favorite cocktail to sip by the pool?
I’m a big fan of the classics. For summer, I like to mix a high-quality gin with fresh-squeezed lime and add a splash of tonic for fizz. Dogfish Head, Hendricks and a local brand, McClintock, are all great choices. I also like Twin Valley Distillery for bourbon – we are lucky to have them down the road from where we live. I like a good Manhattan in colder weather.
And for our final question, what advice would you give to our readers so that they have a great summer?
Sleep a lot, use sunscreen, buy a hammock (and try to keep your kids away long enough to read a book in it, if you have them). And, wear a mask!
You can buy Carrie’s new book, Once Upon a Twelfth Night, here.
The honor of your presence is requested by The Earl and Countess of Stapleton at their house party to celebrate TWELFTH NIGHT. Festivities include: a titillating masked ball, ice skating, a romp in the local village, a naughty treasure hunt, midnight kisses in the garden and the Twelfth Night Ball where holiday magic brings about seven perfect matches.
A Twelfth Night Wager by Christina Alexandra… After spending half her life in service, lady’s companion Adelaide Shipley longs for a modest life of her own making. But a midnight wager with Win Maddox has her dreaming of more. Losing to the silver-tongued barrister would cost her everything, but winning could lead to her dreams coming true forever.
Ruination of a Rogue by Clair Brett… Will Lord Zander Milford find rumination an acceptable outcome if only at the hands of Miss Maria Lightowler?
It Was Only a Kiss by Sofie Darling… Snow falling, the Twelfth Night Ball, a stolen kiss—but no one would’ve expected bespectacled spinster Violet Hotchkiss to be the one stealing a kiss from Bumpstead Hollow’s most eligible bachelor, Will Sinclair. And now that she’s had a taste of passion, she refuses to settle for a life without romance, adventure…or Will.
Christmas Chase by A.S. Fenichel… Sarah Sommers has a plan—find the father who abandoned her and live happily ever after as his beloved daughter. Not even the handsome Lord Monty Witmore with his determination to deliver her to yet another guardian will stop her. Her heart, however, has other ideas about where the chase will end…
Twelve Nights of Ruin by Carrie Lomax… Holly Mayweather was the delight of London society–until her reputation was tarnished by a shocking scandal. Can the spirited beauty find happiness with William Sharp, a stoic former soldier? Or will their wedding vows end with “I don’t”?
What If I Still Love You by Erica Taylor… After a failed elopement ten years earlier, Henry, Earl of Eddington, and Anna, the widowed Viscountess Newcroft, are reunited at his aunt’s Twelfth Night party. As they search the castle for a box of letters left to Henry by his late father, can this star-crossed pair find their way back to each other? Or will fate intervene, again, and separate them for good?
Three Kisses Before Christmas by Tanya Wilde… Wolfstan Robert Ward, the Earl of Wicke and Selborne, lost his head for his best friend’s sister the day he saved her from a frightful bully in their youth. There is just one problem. Rebecca is in love with another man—his cousin. Winning her would take every trick in the book, but what is Christmas if not a time for miracles?
katherine-e-hunt.com 