Friday Feature: The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas

Today’s Friday Feature is an interview with Elizabeth Loupas and a spotlight of her latest release, The Red Lily Crown.

Kathy: What book do you recommend everyone should read? Do you have a comfort read?

I have several dependable comfort reads. The Lucia novels by E.F Benson, the Miss Read series set in Fairacre and Thrush Green, the whole list of Angela Thirkell’s Barsetshire novels, anything by Gladys Taber. Hmm, I sense a pattern—peaceful countryside living of earlier days. (LOL-I can relate!)

As to a book everyone should read—well, aside from the Bible, it’s almost impossible to choose one book. A complete works of Shakespeare, maybe, for the richness of the language.

Kathy: What is your guilty pleasure?

Popcorn! Chocolate, of course, in every possible form. The Food Network. And lovely, drowsy naps on a rainy afternoon.

Kathy: Favorite meal?

A homemade (multi-grain crust and all) vegetarian pizza, with tomatoes, onions, red and yellow peppers, lots of mushrooms, chopped broccoli, lots of spicy red pepper flakes, and three cheeses (mozzarella, parmesan, and provolone). Ice cold beer to go with it, and tiramisu for dessert. (YUMMY-I’ll be right over for dinner😉 )

Talk about a guilty pleasure!

Kathy: If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

I would love to have a big farmhouse with plenty of land where I could have a horse of my own and run a beagle rescue organization.(Sigh. Maybe we should buy a place together!)

Kathy: If you could time travel, what time period would you visit?

The sixteenth century. I’d start at the beginning and work my way through, year by year. Think of the riches, the fascinating personages to meet, the mysteries to solve! If I had any further frequent time-traveler miles left after that, I’d visit some of the times and places my own ancestors came from. I’m a first cousin thirteen times removed of Bessie Blount, the mother of Henry VIII’s illegitimate son the little Duke of Richmond, and I’d love to see Kinlet, in Shropshire, which was the family’s home. Perhaps one day I’ll be lucky enough to visit Kinlet in a more conventional, modern-day manner.

Kathy: Thank you so much for chatting with us today, Ms. Loupas. Congratulations on the release of The Red Lily Crown!


crownTitle: The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas
Publisher: NAL Trade
Genre: Historical, Mystery/Suspense
Length: 448 pages

Summary:

Elizabeth Loupas returns with her most ambitious historical novel yet, a story of intrigue, passion, and murder in the Medici Court…

April, 1574, Florence, Italy. Grand Duke Cosimo de’ Medici lies dying. The city is paralyzed with dread, for the next man to wear the red lily crown will be Prince Francesco: despotic, dangerous, and obsessed with alchemy.

Chiara Nerini, the troubled daughter of an anti-Medici bookseller, sets out to save her starving family by selling her dead father’s rare alchemical equipment to the prince. Instead she is trapped in his household—imprisoned and forcibly initiated as a virgin acolyte in Francesco’s quest for power and immortality. Undaunted, she seizes her chance to pursue undreamed-of power of her own.

Witness to sensuous intrigues and brutal murder plots, Chiara seeks a safe path through the labyrinth of Medici tyranny and deception. Beside her walks the prince’s mysterious English alchemist Ruanno, her friend and teacher, driven by his own dark goals. Can Chiara trust him to keep her secrets…even to love her…or will he prove to be her most treacherous enemy of all?

Purchase Links: Amazon * B&N * BAM * IndieBound


Author Bio

LoupasElizabeth Loupas was born and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. She has lived in New Mexico, New Orleans, North Carolina, Chicago, Dallas, and Austin, and now makes her home halfway between Dallas and Fort Worth. Elizabeth loves reading, gardening, baking, and (of course) beagles. Her third historical novel THE RED LILY CROWN is on sale now.

Author Links: Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads * Pinterest * Email

2 Comments

Filed under Friday Feature, Interview

2 Responses to Friday Feature: The Red Lily Crown by Elizabeth Loupas

  1. Timitra

    Great feature

  2. Cindy DeGraaff

    Good interview and book synopsis. Thanks.