8 questions for: Alice Coldbreath

Alice Coldbreath
Alice Coldbreath
Alice Coldbreath grew up in a small village in England and likes to day-dream about medieval warlords and lively heroines. In every day life she is devoted to her geriatric cat, her vegetable garden and watching cosy murder-mysteries on the TV. She loves to read steamy romances, preferably with a heavy dash of humour. Romance.io is very happy that she was willing to answer our little questionnaire to celebrate the release of her new medieval romance book 'The Favorite'.

Let’s play a game of 'Kiss Marry Kill' with your own book heroes

Ooh this is tough! I love all my heroes but I will steel myself to the task. I’ll stick with the Vawdreys for this question.

Kiss – I think I’d have to go with Oswald but I’d be far too scared of getting embroiled in his schemes, so I would have to wait until he’d over-indulged in the mead and hope he would have brain fog on the morrow. That way, I would get away scot-free from the dalliance.

MarryRoland Vawdrey. For me, Roland is the sweetest and most straightforward of husbands. He’s a bit like a puppy dog for his wife, is all in from the get-go, and aims to please.

KillMason Vawdrey. It’s crazy to write this about the first hit hero I ever wrote but here goes! Mason’s high-handedness would drive me nuts, and the way he keeps changing his stance on things, yet insisting he said it all along. One day you can visit the neighbours, next day, absolutely not! First it is only one son and heir he wants, then he wants three! I’m not as sweet-natured as Linnet and I’d end up strangling him…

Your heroines, which one is most likely to  a) bring world peace b) rescue a puppy c) wake up not quite knowing where she is d) couldn’t be bothered to fill out our questionnaire?

Mina is definitely the best candidate to bring about world peace. She’s so organised, fully focussed on her work and is also a formidable multi-tasker. She takes it all in her stride. Plus, she can be diplomatic when the mood takes her that way. As long as no-one sets her back up that is!

Lizzie would certainly be the puppy rescuer. Both she and Una rescued dogs in their books and are lovers of justice and dogs in equal measure. I love dogs and so do a lot of my heroines. My favourite historic portraits are the ones featuring folk with their pets and do not even get me started on tomb effigies which feature dogs for footrests! They’re the best!

Theodora would most likely wake up confused as to her whereabouts. She’s a bit of a dreamer and a creative type with lots on her mind. There are always lots of potential plays and characters rattling around her brain. She’s also fond of napping in her sitting room after reading a script. On waking she can be quite disorientated to find she’s not in some pastoral dell.

Lenora would be most likely to set the questionnaire aside, fully intending to return to it and then forgetting about it completely. Her cat Grizelda would probably sit on it and cover it in cat hairs. To be fair to her, Lenora is very busy these days with her new baby and attending Garman’s tourneys, and she was never the greatest correspondent as her cousin Eden will testify.

Which secondary character of yours really deserves their own book, but was done dirty by you?

Ummmm, well, I have lots of emails from people asking if Jeremy, Lord Faris will get his own book. Looking back, he did seem rather lonely and wistful at the end of ‘A Bride for the Prizefighter’.

Funnily enough, this past week I have been scribbling away a potential story for Jeremy, so that might be my next project. It might be good to have a break from Karadok before I plunge into another medieval. A return to Victorian England might be just the ticket.

What would you like to see more in romance books?

Ooh, I love a good grovel! Recently I discovered Aydra Richards, and her heroines are fantastic at holding firm when their heroes finally see the error of their ways. The angst, the suffering of the repentant hero when the full horror of his wrongdoing dawns is just exquisite, and I love to see it. Cate C Wells also writes an excellent grovel, so much so, that I let go of all the righteous indignation I stored up over the book and am fully invested in her happy ever afters.

If you could retire one romance book trope once and for all, which one would it be?

Hmmmm. Let me think. I personally am not a fan of love triangles. I like to feel sure of who the heroine should belong with. Even if he’s the classic ‘last person on earth she’d ever marry’, I love it when you can tell he’s the one. It’s the worst feeling when you’re torn or invest too much in the loser and feel bad for him. (Even worse of course, when you feel like the heroine made the wrong choice!) Quite often, I will check to see if the author went on to write the unsuccessful wooer a HEA and it’s nice when that’s the case.

3 romance authors you are secretly upset with because they are so darn good?

Hahah! There are soooo many excellent writers out there, I am a huge fan of the oldies and for me, they are still my comfort reads that I will return to time and time again, as I know they will deliver. I would say my top three back in the day were probably Julie Garwood, Lynsay Sands and Lynne Graham.

Which one of your books would you recommend to a new reader?

I’d probably recommend starting at the first book I wrote that is set in the world of Karadok, “Her Baseborn Bridegroom”. Crazy to think there are now nine Karadok books released when you take the Vawdreys Brothers and the Brides of Karadok series into account. Wow.

Alternatively, if Victorian England is more their thing than medieval, they could start with ‘A Bride for the Prizefighter’.

Describe you latest book in a 3 word alliteration

Teasing, tormenting, true-love. Ahhh, Viscount Bardulf, how I love thee!


The Favorite by Alice Coldbreath

Thank you so much for your time! The Favorite is available for purchase now.

The Favorite

The Favorite by Alice Coldbreath

Alice Coldbreath

Alice Coldbreath