Introducing debut Canadian Author ~ Eva Maria Hamilton

Please welcome debut Canadian author, Eva Maria Hamilton, who will also become a regular blogger with us this fall. I first met Eva online and then soon discovered that we lived less than an hour apart!

We met in person when she visited my debut book signing last September, and this past month, we had the fun of doing two joint book signings. So I'm excited to have this opportunity to introduce her to all of you.

Eva, please tell us a little about yourself.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog today! I’m very excited to be here!

I live in Southern Ontario, Canada (halfway between Toronto and Niagara Falls) with my husband of twelve-plus years and almost-five-year-old daughter. I love learning and spent many years in university getting numerous degrees and taking courses in just about every field of study. I homeschool our daughter, and of course, the reason why I’m here today is because I write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Historical line.

Do you have a favourite Genre that you read?

I really enjoy all three of the Love Inspired lines Harlequin offers. I find that whether I’m reading a Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense or Love Inspired Historical the books give me a heartwarming feeling and a new insight into some facet of my life. Apart from that I am still reading a ton of children’s books since my daughter is a voracious reader!

While growing up, did you have a favourite author who inspired you to write?

Highlights for Children magazine was great for getting me to write. They always had story prompts that I wanted to finish. The earliest book I ever wrote (and please bear with me, I was about six or seven at the time) was about a man who shrunk a beautiful girl and locked her up to keep her. I remember writing out the whole story and drawing all the pictures and compiling it into a neat book with a cover and everything. I also remember reading diaries like Laura Ingalls Wilder and Anne Frank and they always made me want to keep a journal. I still have my diaries packed away somewhere. Hopefully my daughter will enjoy reading them one day!


When did you know you wanted to be an author?

In high school I took all the English courses I could and even one on creative writing. I started a novel while completing my first university degree, but never finished it. I didn’t try my hand at another novel until I was pregnant with my daughter. I wrote that novel with no knowledge of the publishing world. It was just a sweet romance my heart wanted to tell. Two years later, in the fall of 2009, I started looking into becoming a writer seriously.

Wow, that's fast work! How did you go about becoming an author?

I started scanning the internet, reading what publishers and agents were looking for, and came across a local library that was hosting a Romance Writer in Residence. I jumped at my chance to join this group and put myself through a crash course of the romance industry. That’s where I was introduced to Inspirational Romance and I’ve been hooked ever since. I tried reworking the first novel I ever wrote from two years prior, but that didn’t work. So I wrote another novel in 2010, submitted it to a couple contests to get some feedback and then by the end of that year I submitted it to Harlequin. I got “the call” in April 2011 and Highland Hearts was set for publication in March 2012!

If you were not a writer what would you like to be?

If I wasn’t a writer now, I would still be homeschooling my daughter and I’m guessing I would also be pursuing my PhD.

When not reading or writing, what do you like to do?

Apart from reading and writing I love spending as much time as possible with my family doing just about everything: hiking, playing games, sports, watching movies, visiting museums, travelling…

Thanks so much for visiting with us today, Eva.


Eva's book, Highland Hearts, is set in 1748 Scotland. Here is the back cover blurb which describes the book:

Logan McAllister survived years of indentured servitude in the Americas to reach this moment. Now he’s returned to Scotland, ready to redeem the secret promise from Sheena Montgomery’s father – that his years as an indentured servant would earn him Sheena’s hand in marriage. But when he arrives home, he learns that Sheena’s father has died, his contract has been lost… and Sheena is engaged to another man.



You can read the first scene from Highland Hearts here.


Visit Eva's website at www.evamariahamilton.com to view her book trailer and find out more about her.

Canadian romantic suspense author Sandra Orchard writes for Harlequin's Love Inspired Suspense imprint, and recently signed a three-book deal with Revell Publishing for a romantic suspense/mystery series that's guaranteed to change the way you look at flowers. Learn more about Sandra's novels at: www.SandraOrchard.com