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We caught up with the wonderful Modern and DARE author Maya Blake to discuss the inspiration behind her new book, Kidnapped for His Royal Heir.
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I love a good kidnap story. Which doesn’t sound great, I know. Of course, I’m talking romantic fictional kidnapping, where the reader is assured something wonderful will come out of it.
I’d had the idea for Kidnapped for His Royal Heir percolating for a while and needed the right frame to hang it on. I needed my heroine to eventually love not just the hero but her surroundings enough to forgive him for bundling her away (in his private jet, of course!). So that even as my heroine, Violet, was protesting her circumstances, she was slowly falling in love with her environment.
All this fell into place the moment I decided to make Violet an environmentalist. She was crazy about eco-preservation and an avid proponent for climate change. Discovering that Zak, my hero, was building eco-lodges as a means of providing sustainable tourism in Tanzania, Africa couldn’t have been a better incentive for Violet to spending time with him. Plus, putting up the buildings together from the ground up forced a delicious proximity that spices up any romance.
And of course, Africa is close to my heart so where better to start my couple on their proper journey? Because not only did they build beautiful buildings together, they also made a baby there beneath a beautiful waterfall!
Which then led Zak, upon discovering Violet was carrying his child, to kidnapping her to buy himself time to get her to marry him! His prison of choice is a fully eco-minded private island in the Caribbean. Ha! He knew what he was doing, right? When Violet eventually stops plotting to escape, she takes a good look around, and moment by moment, is undone by the island’s magic and environmentally-sound atmosphere. Of course, that only makes her reconsider rejecting tall, strong, conscientious alpha Prince she’s halfway in love with.
This book was a joy to write. I had fun exploring and researching the many ways we can do big and little things to change the world around us for the better. All while falling in love!
I hope you enjoy Zak and Violet’s love story!
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