Cynthia Eden says It’s All in a Day’s Work

Hi, everyone! I am so excited to be back here with the Romance Vagabonds! It’s always a pleasure to visit this site.

When I asked Manda if she’d like for me to blog about a specific topic, she told me that she was curious about release days. Or, more specifically, just what is a release day like for an author?

While I can’t speak for other authors, I can give you all my take on the big event known as release day. J And in one word…Relief!

There is always a flurry of activity leading up to a release. There are mailings to organize, contests to run, ads to place. Suddenly, all of the months and weeks that you thought you had to prepare for the release are gone, and you’re staring at the calendar and realizing your book will be on store shelves very, very soon.

My latest release, MIDNIGHT’S MASTER (the third book in my paranormal Midnight trilogy for Kensington Brava) just released on Tuesday, so on Monday night, I definitely had one of those Oh-Wow-My-Book-Is-Out-Tomorrow moments. One of those moments when everything seems a bit surreal. A book in stores. Yes, even after my other books, I still get the excited rush the night before a release.

Just like a kid on Christmas Eve.

Some authors have told me that they become incredibly nervous on release day. They worry about sales. About reviews—good and bad. They worry about readers and expectations.

For me, well, I try not to worry once the book hits the shelves. I figure by that point, I’ve done everything I can to promote my story. The hard part is over for me when the book is out. It’s time to sit back and relax.

Ah, yes…relief.

But, wait, everything I’ve just described is release day from an author’s point of view. From a reader’s point of view (a reader who often eagerly anticipates the release day for romance books), I have an entirely different perspective. As a reader, the one word I use to describe release day is…Happiness.

Now, whether you are a reader or a writer, how do you describe book release day? Leave me a comment and you could win an autographed copy of MIDNIGHT’S MASTER.

Have a great day!
Cynthia Eden
www.cynthiaeden.com
MIDNIGHT’S MASTER—Available now from Kensington Brava
Sometimes the demon you want…is the only man you need.

Tags: Cynthia Eden, Kensington Brava, Midnight's Master, paranormal romance, release day

Visiting Vagabond: Mary Jo Putney

The Vagabonds are thrilled to welcome best-selling author Mary Jo Putney back to the caravan. MJP, as she is affectionately referred to on romance boards and blogs, has written more than thirty books, including the RITA-winning The Rake and the Reformer and Dancing on the Wind. Her latest, Loving a Lost Lord, released yesterday, earned a coveted starred review from both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal.

I’ve been reading MJP books since the days when she was writing traditional Regencies, so interviewing her gave me a fangirl moment. It also gave me a chance to ask questions real questions, questions for which I, as a fan, wanted answers.

Janga: Many fans are rejoicing that you are returning to straight historicals with the Lost Lords books. How do you feel about the return?

MJP: I love history, I love romance, I love torturing heroes for their own good—what’s not to like? However, several years ago I had written so many consecutive historicals that I was on the verge of burnout, and the Muse was demanding a change. That’s why I tried my hand at contemporaries and historical fantasy, but now that I’ve had time to recharge my batteries, it’s good to return to my historical romance roots.

Janga: Redemption seems to be a recurring theme in your books. Is this theme something you use consciously, or is it your “core story” that is just organically there in your work?

MJP: It’s my core story. Everyone has trauma in their lives—how we rebuild is far more interesting than writing about people who’ve never had much struggle. I like to study how people rebuild their lives and become ‘stronger in the mended places.” Innocence is usually just lack of temptation.

Janga: An AAR reviewer ranked your Fallen Angels among the top five series in all of romance, an assessment with which I heartily concur. How does it feel to have created a series that is among the most beloved in romance?

MJP: I didn’t know that about the AAR reviewer! But while it’s certainly gratifying that so many people have enjoyed those books, I don’t think about that part much. Mostly I’m obsessing about whatever book I’m working on now—and I’m always working on a book.

Janga: As a reader, even though almost all of your books are on my keeper shelves, I have definite favorites—The Rake, Shattered Rainbows, The China Bride, The Spiral Path, The Marriage Spell. Do you have favorites among your books?

MJP: I have to love all my stories and characters to be able to write the books, so picking favorites would be very painful. It’s like picking a favorite child—each one is special.

Janga: Reissues and revisions of earlier books are frequent now, but they were not when you transformed The Rake and the Reformer into The Rake. What led you to change a Rita-winning book?

MJP: My publisher of the time wanted to release my traditional Regencies as historicals, and I wanted to be sure that the reissues met the expectations of historical romance readers. Besides, I like revisiting old friends in earlier books. In revising The Rake and the Reformer into The Rake, I didn’t lengthen the book—I actually shortened it by about 4000 words, removing some of the more leisurely traditional Regency prose, and linking it a bit into the Fallen Angels series. The result was a little tighter and more focused.

Janga: A common criticism of current historical romances is that in an effort to create strong heroines, historical romance writers ignore historical constraints on women. But you create genuinely strong heroines who remain credible women of their time. What advice can you offer those who aspire to follow your example?

MJP: Read history. There have been amazing women in all time periods, so reading the stories of real women like Hannah More, Lady Mary Montagu, Isabella Bird and Lady Hester Stanhope gives a sense of what was possible within the strictures of society. Of course, there were also huge numbers of strong, competent women who weren’t famous.

Janga: I’ve read the excerpt on your web site that sets up the series, and it left me hungry for Ashton’s story. You have used the amnesia plot before. Why do you find it compelling?

MJP: The classical amnesia plot is “a mysterious stranger with no memory appears, and danger follows.” But I’m much more interested in the identity issues. In all three of my amnesia books, the protagonist become more quintessentially himself or herself when no longer constrained by the expectations of friends and family. When the successful merchant returns from India, he is still seen as a bastard relation, not a powerful, successful man. When the young Norman lady is no longer pretending to be an Anglo-Saxon peasant and starts speaking Norman and reading Latin—their real personalities and abilities emerge, to the alarm and amazement of those around them. Fun!

Janga: What can you tell us about the other Lost Lords books? How many books in the series? Whose story is next?

MJP: The series is intended to be open-ended, rather like the Fallen Angels, the seven-book trilogy. I’ve already got about six dashing men lined up, and more may appear. The second book, about Randall, is finished and scheduled for May 2010, though no title as yet.

Janga: I’ve been reading your books since early in your career, and I have followed you from traditional Regencies to European historicals to contemporaries to historical fantasy. I have loved every stage of the reading journey. Are there other genres/subgenres you are interested in writing? (As long as you promise no vampires or serial killers, I promise to read your books, whatever you write.)

MJP: Funny you should mention that. In May I sold a young adult historical fantasy trilogy that I’m really looking forward to writing. Again—history, fantasy, romance. Yum! And trust me—there are no vampires or serial killer lurking in my imagination!

Thanks for having me here today—

Mary Jo

What questions do you have for Mary Jo? Or if you just want to rave about your favorite MJP book, feel free. Mary Jo will be joining us during the day to respond to your comments. And she has graciously offered a free book to one, randomly selected poster.

A Vagabond Special: Q&A with the fabulous Julia Quinn!

Note from Manda: Today’s blog comes courtesy of Vagabond Favorite and Assistant to the Stars, Kim Castillo! Below she interviews two-time RITA Winner Julia Quinn!

Hey Vagabonds! JQ and I sat down together (cyberly, of course.) to chat about her new book, What Happens in London, the other day. This is Olivia Bevelstoke’s book. Remember her, the fun sister and best friend from The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever? Here are some questions I had for Julia:

Kim: Julia! Oh my goodness, I just couldn’t believe it when you told me you were writing Olivia’s book. That’s the one I started begging you for about 10 seconds after finishing Secret Diaries. A book just for me? You’re far too kind!

Okay, maybe not just for me but this was a much requested book from your fans. Did that have any impact on you making Olivia your heroine?

Julia: Well, of course it was for you!

Kim: No, seriously…

Julia: I knew that I would write a book about Olivia, but I didn’t necessarily know when. Requests from fans definitely played a role in my deciding to do it sooner rather than later.

Kim: The proposal scenes in WHIL is one of the sweetest and most memorable ever. Did you have an inspiration for it?

Julia: I actually had no idea I was going to write it that way until I got to the end. And then it just seemed like the only way Harry could possibly propose. (I am trying very hard not to give anything away here…)

Kim: When did you know you wanted to write to sell? That this was the career you were meant to have.

Julia: I’m not sure. I do know that when I was working on Splendid, it never occurred to me that I wasn’t going to try to sell it. I’ve talked to writers who say that they wrote their first books just to see if they could do it, that they never even thought about selling. That is definitely not me.

But at the same time, I hadn’t yet realized that writing would be my career. I thought it was something I’d do alongside something else. I was still planning to attend medical school. It took me a while to realize that I could make an unorthodox career choice, that I didn’t have to pursue something with a clear-cut path. It’s hard to become a medical doctor, but there is only one way to do it, which makes it seem like a good choice for someone as goal-oriented as I am. I like to figure out what I want to do and then figure out how to get there. With writing there are many different paths to success, which makes it a lot scarier.

Kim: Do you have any rituals, objects or tools that you must have to write?

Julia: Not really. I do like my morning coffee, though!

Kim: What’s coming up next from you? Do we have any 2nd epilogues to look forward to in the near future?

I just finished up 2nd Epilogues for An Offer from a Gentleman and To Sir Phillip, With Love, both of which will be released in September. I really enjoy doing these because I get an opportunity to try play around and try new things. The 2nd Epilogue for To Sir Phillip, With Love is written in the first person!

Other than that, there is still the anthology with Eloisa James and Connie Brockway that we have been working on for what seems like forever. I’m not sure when that one will finally get done, but in the meantime, I’ll be writing a story for Sebastian, which should be out next July.

Okay, Gypies, Manda again–So what is it about these secondary characters that drives us to want their stories? Some people call it sequel baiting, I call it giving the people what they want. In honor of great secondary characters who have gone on to tell their own stories, who are some of your favorites? Mine is a certain petulant Earl who ended up wrapped around the little finger of the youngest Essex sister

A Trio of Triumphs

Don’t Tempt Me, Loretta Chase

Loretta Chase is an autobuy author for many, many romance readers. Fans are sure to be delighted with this stand-alone book that features the daughter of an English lord returned to England after twelve years as second wife to a Pasha’s son and a jaded duke whose status in the Beau Monde can save the reputation of the “Harem Girl.” Reviewers are already raving about the book. Book Smugglers called it “fresh, witty, full of wonderful, typical lorettachaseness.” The excerpts that I have read reveal Chase’s trademark rich characterization, subtle humor, and exceptional dialogue.

You can read the first three chapters here.

Bound by Your Touch, Meredith Duran

Meredith Duran’s debut novel, The Duke of Shadows, was one of the big buzz books of 2008. Bound by Your Touch promises to be another riveting, unusual story. This one focuses on the relationship of an intelligent spinster and a scandalous viscount, tangled family relationships, and the danger surrounding a certain Egyptian artifact. The book has won high praise from early reviewers, receiving an A from both Dear Author and AAR.

You can read an excerpt here.

Suddenly One Summer, Barbara Freethy

Library Journal called SOS an “intriguing, suspenseful romance” and implicitly identifies the quality that keeps Freethy on my autobuy list even though I read little romantic suspense. Freethy never forgets that she is writing romance. The relationship is never overshadowed by the suspense. SOS introduces Freethy’s new series, Angel Bay, which sounds as if the author has ventured into the Debbie Macomber/Susan Wiggs/Robyn Carr community-centered romance territory to which she has added a suspense element and a touch of the paranormal. Jenna Davis is a woman in hiding, Reid Tanner is a journalist with tragedy in his past. Angel’s Bay offers the miracle they both need. PJ at RomanceNovel TV gave it 4.5 stars.

You can read an excerpt here.

Are any of these books on your TBB list? What qualities make an author “super” for you?

Super Tuesday Redux

Every week new romances are released, many of them on Tuesdays, but occasionally an extraordinary number of Vagabond faves have releases on the same day. We call such days Super Tuesdays, and June 30 certainly qualifies as a Super Tuesday. Seventeen romance titles (that I know about) will be released on that day, eleven of them books that the Vagabonds have been eagerly anticipating.

Join us this week as we celebrate the June 30 release of these eleven books.

Monday we will spotlight new books by Loretta Chase, Meredith Duran, and Barbara Freethy.

Tuesday we welcome Julia Quinn to the caravan to celebrate the release of What Happens in London, the much anticipated story of Olivia Bevelstoke.

Wednesday we have an interview with Mary Jo Putney in which she talks about Loving a Lost Lord, the first book in her new series.

Thursday Cynthia Eden returns to celebrate the release of Midnight’s Master, Book 3 in her Midnight Trilogy.

Friday we will conclude our celebration with a look at new releases by Lorraine Heath, Anne Mallory, Karen Rose, and a quintet of great authors who have given us a new anthology.

Please join us each day for information, fun, and a chance to win some great books along the way.

The Best of the Best: January-June 2009

Since January 1, I have read 167 romances/women’s fiction novels published between December 30, 2008 and June 23, 2009. Most of them have been books that I’ve enjoyed; a fair number (just under 25%) have been keepers, books that have been B+-A reads for me and that I expect to reread at some point. Selecting the best from among these books I have loved is not easy, but I persevered. Here are my Top Ten of 2009: Part I. (This way I get to pick another top ten for July-December.)

Tempt the Devil, Anna Campbell (December 30)
Sophisticated characters well beyond youth with scarred souls and heavy baggage—how often do we encounter such characters as the heroine and hero in romance? In Olivia and Julian, Anna Campbell gives readers characters who are complex mixtures of strengths and vulnerabilities. Such wonderfully rich characterization and the redemption theme make this one AC’s best. I expect to see this one winning more awards for the warm and witty Ms Campbell.

The Lost Recipe to Happiness, Barbara O’Neal (December 30)
Chefs are popular in contemporaries these days, but there is nothing “trendy” about Barbara Samuel’s first novel under the name Barbara O’Neal, despite its chef heroine. TLRTH is about the ways people survive, the ghosts they carry with them, and the passions that define them, and it includes recipes that will delight the heart of any foodie. Samuel may be writing under a new name, but she has not lost the emotional punch that has always characterized her work.

Smooth Talking Stranger, Lisa Kleypas (March 31)
I love Jack Travis! Yes, this book has a lot going for it. Ella is a heroine who grows into strength, the heartbreak she survives is rooted in credible experience, and baby Luke is more than adorable. But it is Jack, an idealized version of men I know, a real guy with a tender heart and a genuine goodness, that makes the book for me. Kleypas is one of the best in the business at creating memorable heroes, and her contemporary heroes are as wonderful as Derek Craven and Ross Cannon.

The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, Jennifer Ashley (April 28)
Nine books on this list are by authors whose books I buy routinely. This one is evidence of the power of internet buzz. I bought this one solely because I wanted to see what all the talk was about. I loved it—the time, the place, the intelligent heroine with a sense of humor, and especially the atypical/typical hero. I won’t wait on the buzz to buy Mac and Isabella’s story next year.

Always a Scoundrel, Suzanne Enoch (April 28)
I’ve enjoyed the other Notorious Gentleman books, but this one is the best in the series. In fact, it’s my favorite Enoch since England’s Perfect Hero. I have a particular affection for redemption stories, and Bram’s transformation is wholly credible. I usually scoff at the villain totally given over to evil, but Cosgrove is disturbing. And unlike many reviewers, I understood Rose’s struggle with duty. It had more to do with how she viewed herself than with the merits of her family.

To Beguile a Beast , Elizabeth Hoyt (April 28)
I have been fascinated with Hoyt’s Legend of the Four Soldiers since I read a description well before the first one was published. The first two books in the series were both A reads for me, and I think TBAB is even better. The beauty and the beast treatment is innovative, and the children add another dimension to the story. And Elizabeth Hoyt could write a book on how to use highly sensual scenes that are integral to the characters and the story.

Vision in White, Nora Roberts (April 28)
I am delighted that Nora Roberts has returned to the straight contemporary—no bells and whistles and no crazed killers or creatures from another dimension, just traditional romance. Hurray! I liked Mackenzie with all her baggage. I laughed out loud at the advice of math teacher Bob. I loved the realness of the female friendships, and I adored Carter, the smart, funny, bumbling beta hero.

Not Quite a Husband, Sherry Thomas (May 19)
If you hear anyone claiming that European historicals are too much alike, give her NQAH. Set mostly in the Swat Valley and centered on a prickly heroine who is committed to her career as a doctor and a hero who is a golden charmer with heart and courage, this is an extraordinary book. Thomas uses conventions (a reunion plot, an older woman/younger man pairing, a journey motif), but she makes of them a story as original as it is unforgettable. Sherry Thomas’ prose, which I find as addictive as the best chocolate and just as rich and luxurious, is a bonus.

One Reckless Summer, Toni Blake (May 26)
One Reckless Summer is the first in a series set in Destiny, a fictional small town in Ohio. I’m a fan of Toni Blake and of small-town series, so this one started with advantages. But it is Jenny Tolliver, the good-girl, people-pleasing, self-abnegating heroine that places this book on my list. I have the feeling that a lot of other good-girl readers share my jubilation when Jenny happens upon a bad boy from her past and starts breaking the rules. This is a funny, sexy, tender read that made me laugh and cry and left me eager to return to Destiny.

This Duchess of Mine, Eloisa James (May 26)
I think one of the most difficult things for a writer to do must be to sustain the power of a series. Eloisa James always does it beautifully. The fifth Desperate Duchesses book is the best in this stellar series. At more than one point in the first four books, I feared that EJ was going to do the unthinkable and let Elijah die. I’m happy she didn’t. I love Jemma and Elijah’s HEA. I’ll never look at chess the same way again. And those bath scenes! And the lyrical passages that moved me to tears.

The next couple of months will bring a bonaza of books for the romance lover. Next week alone will see new books by Julia Quinn, Mary Jo Putney, Loretta Chase, Barbara Freethy, Karen Rose, and several others. And Eloisa James’ A Duke of Her Own (Villier’s book) and Tessa Dare’s Goddess of the Hunt arrive in July. What riches still await us!

How many of my favorites have you read? What would you add to the list?

Ready for Battle

English writer Elinor Glyn created a sensation in 1907 when she published Three Weeks, the story of a clandestine affair between Paul Verdayne and a mysterious older woman in black whom he meets while on vacation. Mild by today’s standards, Three Weeks was panned by critics and eagerly consumed by readers. The most famous scene, which took place on a tiger skin, inspired a popular rhyme:

“Would you like to sin
With Elinor Glyn
On a tiger skin?
Or would you prefer
To err with her
On some other fur?”

The book was banned in Boston where the grand jury found the novel’s language unfit to be placed in court records. A 21st-century reader would be more likely to find Glyn’s purple prose offensive than to agree with the Boston jury’s conclusion that the prose was designed to appeal to the reader’s “animal instincts.”

A sample:

“She bent over and kissed him and smoothed his cheek with her velvet cheek, she moved so that his curly lashes might touch her bare neck, and at last she slipped from under him and laid his head gently on the pillow. Then a madness of tender caressing seized her. She purred as a tiger might have done while she undulated like a snake. She touched him with her finger-tips, she kissed his throat, his wrists, the palms of his hands, his eyelids, his hair. Strange subtle kisses, unlike the kisses of women. And often, between her purrings she murmured love words in some fierce language of her own, brushing his ears and his eyes with her lips the while.”

The banning of Three Weeks seems an amusing bit of romance history in 2009. One might think that censorship of romance fiction is an issue of the past in at a time when erotica is popular and readily available, mainstream romances regularly range from sweetly innocent to sizzling hot, and even YA novels routinely are concerned with teen sexuality. One would be wrong. Book banning is alive and well everywhere from the territory of online and brick and mortar giants to retirement communities and local gyms.

The most recent brouhaha occurred in April of this year when Amazon stripped sales rankings from books they considered “adult,” including erotica and gay and lesbian titles. Romance writers affected by the policy included Maya Banks, Larissa Ione, and Jackie Barbosa. The outcry prompted Amazon to claim “There was a glitch in our systems and it’s being fixed.”

Wal-Mart has generated its share of censorship controversy as well. The retailer has refused to sell books based on covers deemed offensive, and in at least one case, Susan Grant’s 2002 title Contact, the company rejected the book after Grant’s publisher Dorchester had refused to make changes to the book’s content. Since Wal-Mart is a leader in mass market book sales, their refusal to stock a book can significantly affect not only the sales figures for a single title but also an author’s next contract.

Censorship can also be found on more limited scales. Back in January Kerry Allen on Romancing the Blog wrote of her experience with a local retirement community where she volunteered. She discovered that romances she had donated were not being shelved because one individual had culled a thousand or more books to a single shelf of those she decided would be appropriate for a population of adults from 65 to 102.

Even Allen’s story did not shock me as much as the experience related by Lynn Spencer at AAR. Spencer was asked to either put up the book she was reading while she was on the treadmill at a local gym or to leave the gym. The book whose cover was considered so threatening to the delicate sensibilities of the gym’s clientele? Jennifer Ashley’s The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie.

I’m angry, and I’m weary. I’m angry with those who want to make choices for me and for other adults. I am weary of the ignorance that leads to comments like this one that I found while checking facts for this blog: “Did you know that a rape scene automatically makes a text ‘relevant’? It’s true. So romance-novel readers rejoice.” How many romances do you think this teacher of college students has read? The ignorance that leads to such an ill-informed, illogical conclusion offends me on so many levels.

Conditioned by years in academia, I have been reluctant to read romances in public places. When I do, I usually use a stretchable book cover. No more. I am staging my own revolution. I intend to flaunt my romance novels in public. So if you read of a gray-haired lady in Georgia who bashed someone over the head with a romance novel when he/she censored her reading, her name will probably be Janga. I’m armed with books and ready for battle.

Do you see Amazon’s and Wal-Mart’s decisions as “just business,” or do you see them as censorship? Have you ever been censored or censured for reading romance?

Get Together Winners!

Thanks to everyone who posted on my blog. Random.org has declared the winner to be Lyoness2009. Congrats! You will receive a copy of the TAILS OF LOVE antholgoy, ONE RECKLESS SUMMER by Toni Blake, and lots & lots of swag from the event.

This giveaway reminded me that I still have a bag of goodies from my trip to the Romancing the Rockies conference in May, so I’ve drawn another winner. Congrats to PJ, who will receive a sack or promo all her own, as well as her choice of two of the many books I got from that event.

Congrats to our winners and thanks to everyone who posted. We enjoy getting together with all of you here on the blog every week.

Gypsy Heroes

I’m not generally a fan of pirates or Vikings or bare-chested Celts, although there are exceptions. But I have a real weakness for Gypsy heroes, a strange affection for someone whose favorite heroes are most often intelligent betas. It is one of those inexplicable preferences, but I know I am in good company. The Gypsy hero has been around for a long while.

The Romany people were expelled from Spain in the late 15th century and entered Great Britain thereafter. Their nomadic lifestyle led writers of romance to transform the gypsies, as they were popularly known, into a symbol of freedom and an escape from the mundane. In particular, the dark, mysterious gypsy male who promised danger and passion became a staple in Western literature. At least as far back as the early 18th century, versions of the folk ballad “Gypsy Davey” told the story of a highborn lady lured away from a conventional life of wealth and status, home and family by a gypsy lover. In D. H. Lawrence’s classic short novel, The Virgin and the Gipsy, written in the 1920s and published posthumously, the free-spirited gypsy exercises that same fascination over a vicar’s daughter: “He looked back into her eyes…with that naked suggestion of desire which acted on her like a spell, and robbed her of her will.”

The seductive Gypsy male has been a particularly popular choice with writers of romance fiction. He is the ultimate “bad boy” hero whose appeal is rendered more powerful by the danger he represents. The cover copy of Philippa Carr’s The Return of the Gypsy (1985) describes Romany Jake as a “darkly mysterious” figure who is “intriguing and irresistible to high-born ladies and peasant-girls alike.”

Mary Jo Putney created one of the most beloved gypsy heroes in Thunder and Roses (1993), the first of her Fallen Angel books. Putney pairs Nicholas Davies, Earl of Aberdare, the half-gypsy “Demon Earl” with pious Methodist schoolteacher Clare Morgan in a story that includes social concerns, questions of faith, the meaning of friendship, and a love passionate enough to bridge all differences. When Clare first sees the adult Nicholas, she thinks, “Though not unusually tall, he radiated power. She remembered that even at the age when most lads were gawky, he had moved with absolute physical mastery.” The physical presence of the gypsy hero is part of the seductive fantasy.

Rexanne Becnel’s Dangerous to Love (1997) features another hero with a Gypsy mother. Ivan Thornton finds cruelty and prejudice in his grandmother’s home and in the school to which she sends him. As the “Gypsy Earl,” he is arrogant, angry, and filled with desire for revenge on those who scorn him. This hero knows that though his title and wealth may gain him admission to the ballrooms of the aristocracy, the haut ton views him as a dangerous animal. Becnel, like other creators of Gypsy heroes, emphasizes the untamed quality that is an ineradicable part of the Rom: “He fought down the urge to snarl at them, to send the entire pack of ninnies squealing in fear for the safety of their mother’s bosoms.” It will take his bluestocking bride, Lady Lucy Drysdale, a twenty-eight-year-old spinster who is “not exactly biddable” to teach the Gypsy Earl that love can heal his wounds.

Another Gypsy Earl, Dominic St. Bride, the hero of Samantha James’ One Moonlit Night (1998) is saved physically and emotionally by the heroine, Olivia Sherwood, a vicar’s daughter. The contrast James draws between the fairness of the heroine and the darkness of the hero is another convention of the Gypsy hero’s story. Olivia has skin “the color of Devonshire cream” and hair that is “part gold, part russet.” Dominic’s skin is “golden brown,” and his hair “like darkest chocolate.” Olivia looks at him and knows he is unlike other men: “It struck her anew . . . he did not look like a Gypsy. Yet neither did he look like any gentleman she’d ever seen. He was dressed in a snowy white shirt and cravat, tight doeskin breeches and shining knee-high boots. Yet he possessed a curious roughness that was almost at odds with his elegant clothing. But there was no denying it . . .”

Gypsy Lover (2005), the third book in Edith Layton’s Botany Bay series, could serve as a classic text for studying the Gypsy hero. Layton introduces Daffyd Reynard, part-gypsy, part-aristocrat, and ex-convict, in the opening line of the book: “He sat in the shadows, waiting.” This man of shadows is described as “a lean, dark, dangerously attractive young man,” and, in a twist of the convention, the golden lady in a light-filled room is the mother who gave him his blue eyes and rejected him. When he joins forces with governess Meg Shaw to find her missing charge, the contrast carries more substance than mere physical differences. Daffyd acknowledges that “his dark gypsy looks had always made females shiver, and men look askance.” Meg first appears as “the woman in gray,” who “looked sober, proper, and apprehensive.” In a wonderful road romance that encompasses both parts of Daffyd’s world, the Rom and the ton, he discovers that Meg is intelligent, courageous, and truly good, and she discovers that he is funny, passionate, and a man of honor. The two fall in love but separate once the runaway is found. It takes being away from Meg to force Daffyd to surrender his conviction that his past makes him unfit for love and marriage.

Lisa Kleypas takes a different approach in her first two Hathaway novels. Mine Till Midnight (2007) revisits half-Gypsy, half-Irish Cam Rohan, a character who captured readers’ hearts in Devil in Winter. Kleypas uses Cam’s hybridity to create complex layers to this hero who yearns for freedom. But like Layton, Kleypas’ distinctive treatment does not mean the absence of Gypsy hero conventions. Cam has a “face created for sin” and an “expression not tempered by warmth or kindness.” Amelia has fair skin and a “rosy-cheeked wholesomeness.” Yet on a deeper level, it is their oppositions that make them perfect for one another. Cam cares tenderly and passionately for the caretaker Amelia, and she offers him the freedom that can be found only with the bonds of love.

The mysterious Kev Merripen, a secondary character in MTM, is the hero of Seduce Me at Sunrise (2008). Even for Kleypas, a champion at creating tortured heroes, Merripen is distinctive. Part of the Hathaway household since boyhood, he nevertheless sees himself as “other,” convinced that his love for Win Hathaway can never be fulfilled. He is large, “exotic,” and “brooding”; she is pink and white and physically fragile. To a greater degree than any other Gypsy hero I can recall, Kev is presented in animalistic terms. The savagery of the tormented child rescued by the Hathaways remains a part of him. As an adult, he is “impenetrably mysterious,” a man who will “never be more than half-tame.” One of the books most revealing moments in the book comes when Merripen understands that in giving his all to Win, he must also give her the “broken pieces.” This realization makes possible the HEA. It means that Merripen has discovered what Win has always possessed, the quality Leo identifies as “the courage to live.”

How do you feel about Gypsy heroes? If you share my fondness for them, who are your favorites? If you don’t like them, do you prefer pirates or Vikings?

Getting Together

Last weekend was the annual Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together in West Chester, Ohio, and I had just as good (and exhausting) a time as I did last year. I mingled with all kinds of awesome authors and readers, old friends and new. I shared a table with fabulous authors Toni Blake, Lori Armstrong/Lorelei James, and Erin McCarthy. I hung out with friends from the Toni Blake Fan Group (including Stacy, who is doing a much more interesting write-up) and Samhain Publishing . I attended a fantastic presntation on digital publishing by Angela James, and an enjoyable luau sponsored by Author Island. I didn’t have any luck in the raffle - which had an amazing selection of baskets this year - but it raised $6600 for One Way Farm, so that’s good enough for me.

All in all, another wonderful event, which I’d highly recommend to any reader or author. And it’s gotten me pumped for RWA and all the friends and authors I’ll be seeing there.

What are your favorite events for getting together - in the industry or otherwise? How did you spend last weekend? Post a comment for a chance to win a prize pack from the event - A copy of the charity anthology TAILS OF LOVE, a copy of Toni Blake’s ONE RECKLESS SUMMER, and a bag from the event full of promotional goodies.