Posted by Janga on Sep 2, 2009 in
The Things I've Read... 
There was jubilation in all corners of Romancelandia a few months ago when the news broke that the long awaited next book from Laura Kinsale would be published in 2010. Her last book was Shadowheart in 2004, but Kinsale was not forgotten. Flowers from the Storm routinely showed up on lists of all-time favorite romances, and every month or so a thread would be started on some romance blog or bulletin board asking for news of Kinsale and wishing for a new book by her. I’m as thrilled as anyone about Lessons in French, the new Kinsale, scheduled for release February 1, and I relished removing her name from my list of authors from whom I desperately want another book.
Maggie Osborne and Lvyrle Spenser retired, so I don’t really expect another book from either of them. But there are others from whom I still hope for a new book. This is my wish list of the authors whose new books I most want to see at a bookstore near me soon.
Diane Farr announced just last week on Facebook that she has signed a contract for a YA novel Wicked Cool. I’m sure Wicked Cool will be great. I certainly plan to read it, but I do long for another Farr Regency-set historical. All eight of her novels and her Christmas novella are on my keeper shelves. I especially want the third book to complete the Star trilogy. But I guess I’ll just keep rereading Under the Wishing Star, Under a Lucky Star, and The Fortune Hunter and sending Regency vibes Farr’s way.
I started reading Tracy Grant when she and her mother were writing traditional Regencies as Anthea Malcolm. Some of the Malcolm books are still among my keepers, and I love Grant’s historical romantic suspense books, Daughter of the Game/Secrets of a Lady and Beneath a Silent Moon. Charles and Mélanie Fraser are such rich characters, and Grant’s creation of their world is so skillfully layered that I find something new to appreciate with each rereading. I recommend these books every time I have the opportunity, and I long for the other books in the series that Grant has written to be published.
Candice Hern has long been an autobuy author for me, from A Proper Companion (1995) through “From This Moment On” in the anthology It Happened One Night (2008). But it’s been more than two years since we’ve had a new novel from Hern. I reread the Ladies Fashionable Cabinet trilogy recently and A Garden Folly is on my reread shelf now, but I still long for a new book from one of my favorite writers.
Nobody else writes like Judith Ivory. Her prose is lush, her characters complexly human, and her love scenes sizzling. When asked to name my favorite Ivory book, my response goes something like this: “The Proposition. No, wait—it’s Beast. Or is it Black Silk? Maybe Untie My Heart.” Each is so special, so unforgettable that I can’t choose a favorite. How wonderful it would be to take an afternoon and spend it luxuriating in a new Ivory book. Angel in a Red Dress (2006) was a reissue of her first book Starlit Surrender, so it has been more than a decade now since Ivory has given fans a new book. But I still dream of reading an announcement that promises a new book by this extraordinary writer.
Just last week I reread all of Marsha Moyer’s Lucy Hatch books: The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch, The Last of the Honky Tonk Angels, Heartbreak Town, and Return of the Stardust Cowgirl. It was the first time I had read them consecutively, and it was such a wonderful experience. Lucy Hatch’s world feels so familiar to me, and Lucy, Ash, and their families are like people I know. Moyer announced on her website that Return of the Stardust Cowgirl was the last Lucy Hatch book. No word on when or if she’s working on anything else. But I’m wishing.
Where in the world is Julia Ross? She announced in 2007 that she was suffering “creative exhaustion” and taking a break but expected to write a new novel “when the muse cooperates.” The Seduction, The Wicked Lover, Night of Sin, My Dark Prince—even the titles hint at the dark, passionate stories she tells. She is another wonderful stylist too. She was the first writer I thought of when the Kinsale news broke. Waiting for Kinsale paid off, so perhaps waiting for Ross will too. Meanwhile, I will keep the faith, rereading my keepers by Jean Ross Ewing and Julia Ross, recommending her books whenever I have the chance, and dreaming of a new book.
For now I’ll have to be content to rejoice over the new Kinsale. Take a look at the cover. If it doesn’t make you eager for February, what Elizabeth Hoyt has to say about the book will: “Funny, sad, witty, and deeply sensual, LESSONS IN FRENCH is an exquisite romance and an instant classic. Laura Kinsale’s writing is such a pleasure I know that I’ll be rereading LESSONS IN FRENCH for years to come.”
Have any of your favorite authors disappeared from publication lists? Are you a fan of any on my list? Who is on your wish list?
Posted by Janga on Aug 28, 2009 in
Uncategorized 
For many women, their favorite memories of childhood play center around dolls. If you’ve even been caught in a conversation about a particular doll–Betsy Wetsy, Chatty Cathy, Mrs Beasley, or the most popular of all, Barbie–you know how dear memories of these dolls are. I always feel ill-at-ease in such conversations because, while Santa brought me a doll every Christmas until I turned twelve and requested a doll-free holiday, I never played with dolls. But I dearly loved paper dolls. First, there were so many choices. They were inexpensive, and so were not limited to holiday gifts. Even my meager allowance was sufficient to buy a book that would provide hours of play. The variety was appealing too. Paper dolls allowed me inhabit the world of a glamorous movie star, a bridal party, a career girl (as professional women were called then), or a perfect family. They allowed me to travel back in history to the American Revolution or the Old West and to travel around the world to Germany and Japan. Then there was Betsy McCall, who arrived monthly.
Paper dolls had another attraction. My mother loved them too. And since it took sharp-pointed scissors to do a clean cutting job of all the clothing, she usually yielded to mine and my sister’s pleas to play with us when we got new paper-doll books. She’d also tell us “olden-day stories” about the paper dolls she and her mother had played with. My best friend, a much indulged only child, had an even larger collection than I did. She had all the movie stars, and we wove countless stories of their glorious lives that required dozens of changes of clothing. We had no idea as we played with all those paper dolls that we were learning history and geography as we played. Looking back, I think I may have created my first romance fiction as I played paper dolls.
The 1950s may have been the “Golden Age of Paper Dolls,” but little girls have been playing with manufactured paper dolls since the first decades of the 19th century. Ballerinas were the first celebrity paper dolls, and Queen Victoria paper dolls were popular in the 1840s. Before paper dolls were children’s toys, they were used to display fashions or to satirize well-known people. Paper dolls used for these purposes have been found in Vienna, Berlin, London, and Paris from as early as the mid-18th century.
I actually do have a purpose in all this musing about the history of paper dolls and my history with them. Eloisa James commissioned from artist Laurie Manifold a paper doll and costume based on her just-completed Desperate Duchesses series . Eloisa and her daughter had a great time decorating the doll (pictured right). In her fabulous new contest, EJ is inviting fans to join the fun. She’s offering terrific prizes in several categories. The lucky and talented Grand Prize Winner will receive the entire set of Desperate Duchesses books signed by the author, “something fabulously Parisian” (EJ and her family are spending this year in Paris), and have the grand prize winning dress featured on EJ’s holiday greeting.
The ten-year-old grand and I have a date to play paper dolls. I have gathered quite a collection of gorgeous scrapbooking stuff to help us decorate a duchess dress, and I plan to slip in a history lesson as we play. I expect to have a great time. We’re having rainy days in Georgia, and I think EJ’s contest will brighten up a gray day.
Did you play with paper dolls as a child? What were your favorites? Have you checked out Eloisa’s contest? Are you entering?
Posted by Janga on Aug 27, 2009 in
Uncategorized 
Join us in a toast to Romance Vagabonds own Lindsey Faber, who has just been named Managing Editor at Samhain Publishing. Success couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
Today we celebrate Lindsey! (I’ll be back tomorrow with a regular blog.)
Posted by Janga on Aug 20, 2009 in
The Things I've Read... 
This week (August 16, to be exact) marks the 107 anniversary of the birth of Georgette Heyer. In A Natural History of the Romance Novel, Pamela Regis identifies Heyer as the “mother” of the Regency romance novel. Heyer’s plots and language were heavily influenced by Jane Austen, but it was Heyer with her meticulous research of the Regency period who created the fictional world of London ballrooms and country estates, of muslin dresses and starched cravats, of curricle races and sketchbooks that served as the setting of thousands of historical romances. As Diane Farr, author of several excellent Regency-set romances noted in a comment at All About Romance: “Heyer’s Regency is now the Regency that exists in the popular imagination, and if your Regency miss behaves in any other way than the Heyer way, she won’t ring true.”
Heyer wrote her first novel at seventeen. The Black Moth was published when she was nineteen. For more than half a century, she produced one to two novels each year. Although she wrote historical biographies, a dozen mysteries, four contemporaries, and historical novels set in various periods, including the time of Henry IV (Simon the Coldheart) , Elizabeth I (Beauvallet), and Charles II (The Great Roxhythe), her greatest legacy is her Georgian/Regency novels. It is difficult to think of a theme (marriage of convenience, twins, cross-dressing, eldest brother as controlling head of family, runaway, London season for a poor beauty, well-born fallen on hard times, marriage in trouble, etc.) or a character (highwayman, scandalous female, plain Jane, disguised protagonist, spoiled beauty, arrogant lord, sensible governess, reformed rake, unexpected heir, selfish mother, fop, bore, Bow Street runner etc,) that has become standard fare in Georgian and Regency-set historical that Heyer didn’t use first.
These Old Shades (1926) is sometimes considered to be her “breakout novel”; it’s certainly one of her best known. But her books sold well from the beginning. Indeed, without ever granting an interview or making a public appearance, Heyer produced books that consistently sold impressively. Most of her books were still in print at her death in 1974, and the more than three decades since her death have seen no diminishment in her popularity. Her books continue to be published in new editions. Sourcebooks, with their gorgeous covers, is only the most recent. Romance authors who have spoken of their debt to Heyer are too numerous to list, but writers as varied as Judith McNaught, Mary Jo Putney, Leigh Greenwood, and Robin Schone are among them. Even more have been influenced indirectly. Her books remain popular with readers too. Check almost any romance group’s all-time top 100 romances, and you are sure to find Georgette Heyer titles on the list.
If you asked ten Heyer fans to identify their favorite book, you would probably get ten different responses. I make no claim that the following list is representative. It is my top five Georgette Heyer titles, and the reasons for my choices, I admit, are idiosyncratic.
1. Frederica
I love the family dynamics in this book. I understand the responsibility Frederica feels for her siblings and the genuine affection that exists among them. I love that the affection is balanced by teasing, irritations, and even disappointments that characterize real sibling relationships. I love that all of the Merrivales, even Lufra, the famous Baluchistan hound, are distinct personalities. Most of all I love that Alverstoke, who has little use for family, finds himself entangles with all the Merrivales. Finally, I never tire of watching Frederica and Alverstoke fall in love. Their fall is a process during which they come to know one another, and the reader realizes what is happening before the characters do.
2. The Grand Sophy
While there is much I like about this book, I can explain why it is #2 in one word—Sophy. There is no one like her. Many have created heroines who imitate Sophy, but she is an original. Only Sophy combines compassion, intelligence, humor, and an enviable confidence with a joy that brings her off the page into the reader’s heart. Other heroines have shot their heroes, but only Sophy shoots someone else’s hero to ensure others’ HEA.
3. Venetia
All of Heyer’s romances are “sweet” by today’s standards, but this one is her sexiest. There is minimal physical contact between the virginal Venetia and Damorel, the rake with a damning reputation, but the chemistry between them is delicious. From their first meeting where they banter by exchanging Shakespeare quotations to the reunion scene at the end where their intelligence and humor are as evident as their love for one another, their relationship is a delight to behold.
4. Arabella
The wealthy, arrogant aristocrat, bored with life, and the innocent vicar’s daughter with spirit and conscience are clichés of the genre now, but they were fresh when Heyer created Arabella and Robert Beaumaris. The love story is sweet, the humor is rich, and Beaumaris’s conversations with his confidant, the mutt Ulysses are endearing and unforgettable.
5. Cotillion
I think my affection for the twist in the expected plot line stems from my first reading of this book. One of the characters is the epitome of a romance hero—handsome, arrogant, and a bit dangerous, and yet it is not this wonder who wins the hand of the heroine. Rather it is the kindhearted beta Freddy Standen who emerges as the true hero. His proposal is a gem: “You don’t feel you could marry me instead? Got no brains, of course and I ain’t a handsome fellow, like Jack, but I love you. Don’t think I could ever love anyone else. Daresay it ain’t any use telling you, but– well there it is!” I adore Freddy!
Other favorites include Sylvester (a writer heroine who makes the hero a character in her book), The Masqueraders (the best cross-dressing tale ever), The Unknown Ajax (a very large hero with a large heart, great intelligence, and a wicked sense of humor), The Nonesuch (older lovers and a spoiled brat who is not redeemed), and The Quiet Gentleman (the title says it nicely).
One critic called Heyer a “writer of adult fairytales in a credible historical setting.” Just writing about my favorites has made me eager for yet another rereading of these fairy tales. It seems a fit tribute for her 107th birthday.
Have you read Heyer? If you have, what are your favorites? If not, you don’t know what you’re missing.
Posted by Janga on Aug 13, 2009 in
The Things I've Read... 
From time to time, a single voice or a chorus will be lifted in Romancelandia pleading for books that are out of the ordinary in both style and content, books that are not about dukes or billionaires or feisty maidens or virginal widows, books that prompt a reader to say, “Well, that was something different.”
I will be honest and admit that I like Regency dukes and bluestocking heroines, and I have a sneaking fondness for an occasional hero who is incredibly wealthy, especially if he has a Southern accent. I am addicted to connected books and have been known to write authors begging for books that feature favorite secondary characters.
But I too sometimes yearn for a book that defies conventions, that moves me out of my comfort zone, or sends me metaphorically soaring to new heights. Here are some books that I’ve read this year that qualify.
Not Quite a Husband, Sherry Thomas
Actually anything by Sherry Thomas qualifies, but I’ll limit my comments to her most recent book. (Those of you who know me know what a sacrifice it is for me to limit my comments.) Not Quite a Husband is a road romance set in British India against the Swat Valley Uprising of 1897, and Thomas makes her readers experience the dirt, the stench, and the fear. No wallpaper setting here.
Four years older than the man she marries, the Hon. Quentin Leonidas Marsden, Bryony Asquith is no prim miss nor half-hearted bluestocking. She is a surgeon, serious about her work. When her marriage breaks up, she travels to Germany, the United States, and India, where she and Leo meet again. Leo is a brilliant mathematician, a world traveler, a playwright, and a golden charmer, but he’s not a duke.
Their relationship is just as different as they are. Bryony proposes marriage, misunderstandings for which both bear responsibility blight their marriage, crises render both vulnerable and display their strengths, and their HEA is accomplished without either heroine or hero changing essentially who they are. They are both deeply human characters who make mistakes, and those mistakes have consequences.
The non-linear structure (Flashbacks reveal Bryony and Leo’s history) and the gorgeous, near flawless prose that is one of Thomas’s strength contribute to the extraordinariness of this book.
The Madness of Lord Ian MacKenzie, Jennifer Ashley
Emotional baggage is not uncommon in romance fiction, but when is the last time you read a romance in which the hero has spent much of his life locked up in an asylum? Unable to look people in the eye, unable to follow general conversations, unable to function “normally” within his world, Ian Mackenzie has real problems. Institutionalized as a boy by a barbarous father and tormented by the “treatments” forced upon him, he gives the term “tortured hero” new meaning. Ashley balances the cruelty of his father and his keepers with the deep love of his three older brothers. It is Hart, the eldest (who is a duke) who has Ian released upon their father’s death. Ian’s suffering might have evoked pity and still have left readers unwilling to accept him as a hero, but she also shows us his quick intelligence, his love of beauty, and his directness. The reader falls for Ian as surely as does the heroine.
Beth Ackerley may not be as unusual as Ian, but she is anything but a typical romance heroine. The daughter of an alcoholic father and a sickly mother, Beth overcame poverty and its limitations to emerge as a woman of strength and compassion. She is also that rare creature a widow who loved her vicar husband and enjoyed a healthy sex life with him. Through Beth’s diary, the reader can follow her uncensored thoughts about Ian. She is fascinated by him from their earliest encounters, but she is also sufficiently frightened by him to flee to Paris. (Thus, London, Paris, and Scotland provide settings for the story.) Ashley shows Beth’s movement from attraction to fear to doubts to love in rich detail. The love scenes sizzle, but they also are integral to the characterization and story arc.
If this book is not a contender when the 2009 award finalists are announced, my confidence in the judgment of the romance community will be seriously undermined
Make Me Yours, Betina Krahn
This Harlequin Blaze Historical shows what a category romance can be in the hands of a gifted writer. Make Me Yours is a lighter in tone and slighter in length than the novels of Thomas and Ashley, but it is no less satisfying on its own terms. Mariah Eller, another widow with a happy marriage (to a country squire) runs a country inn. When the Prince of Wales (Albert Edward “Bertie,” son of Victoria—not “Prinny” who became George IV) and his posse threaten to wreck the inn, Mariah proves her resourcefulness and pragmatism by using rowdy songs and strong drink. She ends the evening by claiming a kiss from Jack St. Lawrence, the only man in Bertie’s group still sober.
Jack is more typical and less sympathetic in the beginning, but changes are in store. I ended the book thinking he almost deserved Mariah. Romps can be delicious fun or blatantly ridiculous. Make Me Yours, with its marvelous banter, sensual moments, and generous touch of tenderness is definitely delicious. Krahn left me hoping she writes more in this vein.
The Shape of Mercy, Susan Meissner
I almost blogged about this book shortly after I read it, but I was still too emotionally engaged with it to do it justice. The Shape of Mercy is not just a good book; it’s also an important one. It left me in love with the book’s heroines, determined to search out Meissner’s other books, and caught up in long, long thoughts about my own life and how I form opinions of others. Meissner has a book due for release in October. White Picket Fences will be released by Random House. I hope ir receives more mainstream coverage. This is a writer who deserves to be widely read.
The Shape of Mercy was a finalist for the American Christian Fiction Writers Women’s Fiction Book of the Year and a finalist in the Novel with Strong Romantic Elements category for the RITAs. I don’t know if that double status was a first, but I do know it is not a common combination. If you think of inspirational romances as sermons badly disguised as fiction, this is a perfect book to show you how wrong you are.
TSOM is the story of Mercy, a nineteen-year-old in Salem accused of witchcraft in 1692; Abigail, an lonely woman in her 80s whose life has been filled with loss and bad choices; and Lauren, a college sophomore from a privileged background who is struggling to become her own person. It is Mercy’s diary that links the three women. A writer in a time and place that knew few literate women, Mercy pens fanciful stories and records her thoughts about the every days and the special moments of her life—and of her arrest and imprisonment for witchcraft. Abigail, a former librarian, is a descendant of Mercy, and the diary has been handed down in her family for more than three hundred years. Abigail hires English-major Lauren to transcribe the barely legible diary.
Meissner gives the reader romances: one that defines love at its highest level, one that shows the power of love to heal, and one that reveals the first tender shoots of young love. But the book is also about the human capacity to love family, friends, and others who touch our lives. It’s about the lack of love in its largest sense that leads us to perceive others through our own flawed reflections rather than as the persons they are. Publishers Weekly called TSOM “a novel to be shared with friends.” I’m sharing it with you, my friends. I hope you’ll read it.
Do you ever long for a book that departs in some way from your usual reading? What have you read lately that merits the label “something different”?
Note: I tried posting covers of the latter two books, but I had problems with Photobucket. Sorry!
Posted by Manda on Aug 11, 2009 in
Visiting Vagabond 
Thank you for inviting me to talk about I CAN SEE YOU! Through the years, I’ve been asked a lot of questions.
The question I’m asked most frequently – where do you get your ideas?
I get ideas from different places, depending on the book. The ideas that sparked I CAN SEE YOU came from friends, both real and fictitious.
My friend Sonie and I exercise together. We spend some of our exercise time talking about my plots and working through snags. One day Sonie told me about an online game in which one could buy and sell real estate. Real estate, yawn…
Then she told me you could be robbed, and that robberies in the game were being prosecuted in real life! The blurring of lines between fantasy and reality fascinated me, and I began to research. There is anonymity in these games – you can be anyone you want to be and nobody will know who you really are. With anonymity comes a sense of security. Unless, somebody does know who you are. Suddenly, you’re vulnerable. A villain can spot vulnerability a mile away and exploit it for his own evil purposes.
I had a premise! Now… who could the villain terrorize?
If you’ve read my books, you know the characters connect. They are friends, family, or co-workers who pop up in each others’ books. These characters become my friends.
I wanted a character that would know the virtual world, who would crave anonymity. I immediately thought of Evie Wilson. Introduced in my first book, DON’T TELL, Evie was the victim of attempted murder. In fact, she “died” twice on the way to the hospital. The assault leaves her physically and emotionally scarred. She is afraid to show her face in public. By my fourth book, NOTHING TO FEAR, Evie has retreated into the virtual world. She has online friends and takes only online classes for her college degree.
Still, Evie is brave and full of heart, but terrified of the real world. Through the virtual world she interacts with people who don’t see her scarred face. She was the perfect fit with my virtual world plot!
Several other elements of I CAN SEE YOU came from friends – I’ll give more examples as we chat today!
As a writer, where do you find your ideas? Friends, newspapers, snippets of conversation? As a reader, do you wonder how a book is conceived?
One commenter will receive an autographed copy of Karen’s first book, which introduces the character of Evie Wilson, DON’T TELL!
Karen Rose is an internationally bestselling author, her books appearing on the New York Times, London Sunday Times, and Germany’s Der Spiegel bestseller lists. Her novel I’M WATCHING YOU received the Romance Writer’s of America’s RITA ® award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005. Four of Karen’s other titles have been RITA finalists.
Her tenth novel, I CAN SEE YOU, was released in August, 2009. Her books have been translated into seventeen languages.
A former chemical engineer and high school teacher, Karen lives in Florida with her family, a dog, and three cats.
And Vagabond Manda might just be stalking her. (In the nicest way possible!)
Tags: Don't Tell, I Can See You, Karen Rose, Nothing to Fear
Posted by Janga on Aug 6, 2009 in
The Things I've Read... 
Sometimes I want ice cream and there is none in my freezer. I might have lemon bars, pecan pie, and peach cobbler in the fridge—and I love them all, but if what I want is ice cream, nothing else satisfies. I’m the same way about books. Sometimes I hunger for a book by a particular author. When I’m hungry for a Jo Beverley book, reading one by Mary Balogh, Mary Jo Putney, or Loretta Chase just does not satisfy, much as I love all these authors. Last week I read several books in succession that were A reads for me—Eloisa James’ A Duke of Her Own, Tessa Dare’s Goddess of the Hunt, Julie Ann Long’s Since the Surrender, Meredith Duran’s Written on Her Skin. Reading so many A’s consecutively nearly always leaves me with a fear that the next books I read won’t measure up. I had books on my TBR shelf that I expected to enjoy, but I wanted a read that I knew beyond the faintest doubt achieved excellence. I was in the mood for a particular flavor. I was hungry for a Maggie Osborne book. Nothing else would satisfy me.
So this week I have been rereading Maggie Osborne books and mourning the fact that she is no longer writing. I have heard people write about unconventional, strong heroines as if they are the creations of today’s innovative writers, but Maggie Osborne was creating such characters before “kick-butt heroine” became a buzz word. She once said, “I like to take women out of their comfortable and safe milieu and place them in challenging situations that will allow them to discover themselves and grow.” She does exactly that.
Louise “Low Down” Downe, the heroine of Silver Lining, is strong, smart, independent, and proud that she can “give as good as she gets.” The circumstances of her life have led her to think, speak, and look like a man in order to survive. At one point, she says of herself, “I’m mean and selfish. I’m cantankerous, stubborn and willful. So don’t go hanging any halos on me.” Not exactly typical heroine material. But Osborne’s characterization is so skillful that Low Down evokes sympathy from the reader who cheers for her success as she overcomes physical obstacles, emotional risks, and deep insecurities on her way to an HEA with a hero who experiences his own learning curve.
Fox of Foxfire Bride is just as atypical a heroine. She too dresses like a man, earns a reputation as a guide for people traveling in the frontier, and proves that she can shoot, fight, swear, and drink any man under the table. The goal of her life is to kill the man who is the father of the hero. The reader watches her become aware of herself as a woman and finally to accept that the difficulties she has endured have made her the woman she is, a woman she likes “just fine.” I don’t think there’s another scene in romance fiction to equal the one where she and the hero shake hands before they first make love.
The heroine of The Promise of Jenny Jones is awaiting death by firing squad when a dying woman offers to take her place on the condition that Jenny take the woman’s daughter to safety in California. What follows is the transformation of Jenny and the daughter in a gritty, funny, touching journey that ends in a totally satisfying HEA.
The transformation of Lily Dale, the heroine of A Stranger’s Wife, is even more dramatic. Her story begins just as she is released in the Yuma State Prison for Women in New Mexico territory, where she has served five years for armed robbery and assault. This is no case of a wrongfully convicted innocent. Lily is guilty of the crime. It’s a measure of Osborne’s talent that the reader is able to suspend belief as she is turned into a lady, and not just any lady. Lily has been released into the custody of a powerful king-maker who is determined to turn her into a stand-in for the missing wife of the leading candidate for the first governor of the new state of Colorado.
These are just the heroines in the books I have already reread. I still have remaining the story of Rosie Mulvehey, a dirty, smelly, perpetually hungover farmer who finds a husband by saving him from a hangman’s noose (The Wives of Bowie Stone), a dozen mail-order brides (Brides of Prairie Gold), and three women married to the same man (I Do, I Do, I Do). A veritable feast still. I love Maggie Osborne’s books. Maybe even more than ice cream.
Do you ever get hungry for the books of a particular author? Have you read Maggie Osborne? Who is the most unusual heroine that you have encountered in romance fiction?
Posted by Manda on Aug 4, 2009 in
Visiting Vagabond 
Big thanks to the Vagabonds for having me here today! I’m thrilled to be here during the release of STOLEN HEAT.
For those of you who don’t know me or my books, I write romantic suspense & adventure for Dorchester Love Spell. STOLEN HEAT is the second book in my Stolen Trilogy, and centers around a missing Egyptian artifact. All of my books have some sort of treasure hunt angle, spine-tingling suspense, and plenty of steamy romance. They’ve been compared to Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone, but at the heart I think they’re just plain fun adventures.
Of course, not everyone is as enthusiastic about romance as I am. Take my mother (my biggest fan, btw.) She’s not really a romance reader. Of course, she reads my books (and loves them!) but her fiction of choice leans more toward mystery than romance. Right now she’s reading an old Jayne Ann Krentz that she found on my shelf because she didn’t have anything else to read. And today, while visiting, she asked me, “Why is it all romance heroes are strong and buff and gorgeous? Don’t women know these men aren’t real?”
My first reaction was to tell her that romance novels are a fantasy. Who wants to read about an ugly guy in their romance? But then I thought deeper (it does occasionally happen), and I realized that the beautiful, buff, gorgeous hero is nothing more than a diversion. He looks perfect, therefore, he must BE perfect, right? Wrong. We romance readers and writers know this. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that the most gorgeous heroes are the ones who are the most tortured, the most emotionally unbalanced, the most compelling. And only the romance heroine knows him well enough to understand this.
I love flawed characters, and there’s nothing more compelling than a hero who looks perfect on the outside but is far from that on the inside. I love watching (reading) the character arcs of these guys, seeing how they change. I love rooting for them along the way. I also love the physically scarred, ungorgeous-at-first-site hero (Zsadist comes to mind), but it’s the ones who don’t seem scarred that entice me the most.
So yes, I love a gorgeous romance hero. Do I write them? Hmm…I guess you’ll have to read to find out…
How about you? How do you feel about the gorgeous romance hero?
In honor of the release of STOLEN HEAT, I’m giving away books! One lucky commenter will get a copy of STOLEN HEAT (book 2 in the Stolen Trilogy) and one winner will get STOLEN FURY (book 1, which released in Jan 2009).
Happy Reading!
***
Bio:
A previous junior-high science teacher, Elisabeth Naughton now writes sexy romantic suspense and paranormal novels full time from her home in western Oregon where she lives with her husband and three children. Her debut release, Stolen Fury, was a 2007 Golden Heart Finalist and has been heralded by Publisher’s Weekly as “A rock-solid debut.” When not writing, Elisabeth can be found running, hanging out at the ball park or dreaming up new and exciting adventures.
Visit the author’s website at www.elisabethnaughton.com
To enter her “Big” STOLEN HEAT Release Contest for a chance to win $100 VISA gift card and other daily prizes, go to www.elisabethnaughton.com/stolen_heat_contest.html
Tags: Dorchester, Elisabeth Naughton, Stolen Heat
Posted by Janga on Jul 30, 2009 in
The Things I've Read... 
WARNING: THIS BLOG MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
I am replete with satisfaction. I feel the way I feel at the end of a perfect meal when every sense has been satisfied and I revel in recalling the experience. I have just finished reading an eagerly anticipated book that more than met my expectations. When I read Desperate Duchesses in the spring of 2007, I was intrigued with the cast of characters that Eloisa James introduced in this new ensemble romance. I enjoyed Roberta and Damon’s story, I looked forward to the rest of the series, and I was most intrigued with the triangle of Jemma, Elijah, and Villiers. As I continued to read the series, I found much to admire in each book.
With An Affair Before Christmas, I loved the youthfulness of Poppy and Fletch’s Paris romance and pulled for them to resolve their problems and reunite. With Duchess by Night, I found myself intrigued by Harriet, whom I had found least appealing when the duchesses were introduced. But I adored Harriet and Jem in the cross-dressing plot, the best I’d read since Georgette Heyer’s The Masqueraders. When the Duke Returns was the most entertaining of the series with Simeon, a virginal hero, Isidore, a heroine determined to end her status as untouched bride, and the sewage system problems that had me laughing aloud.
James wove the stories of Jemma and Elijah’s estrangement and Villers’ complicated relationship with the two of them through the first four books, a strong thread in some, almost undetectable in others. However much I liked the central stories, I always found the Jemma/Elijah/Villiers thread the most compelling. At one point I feared James might allow Elijah to die and match Jemma with Villiers. By the time I knew Book #5 was Jemma’s book and Book #6 Villiers’, I knew pairing the two was improbable. Still, when I had This Duchess of Mine in hand, I quickly turned to the ending and read it first just to reassure myself.
This Duchess of Mine was wonderful! I found the developing relationship of Elijah and Jemma completely engaging. The Roman bath scene joined a list of marvelous EJ love scenes that are set in unexpected places. This book also made me appreciate more fully than any other how intricate was the structure of the series with its interlocking parties. I was also struck with how skillfully James answered the question of the simmering attraction between Jemma and Villers. In fact, in the letter I wrote to the author I said, “The recognition of a potential that fades in the light of a greater love and loyalty seemed absolutely right and authentic to me.”
Eloisa commented in her response to my letter that her editor thought A Duke of Her Own was EJ’s best book, and I knew that Kim Castillo, EJ’s assistant, thought so too. But I confess after a second reading of TDOM, I worried that Villiers’ book might be anticlimactic. Jemma and Elijah’s reunion seemed to me the emotional resolution I had hungered for throughout the series. Sure, I wanted Villiers to have his own HEA, but I thought my engagement with the characters had peaked with TDOM. At best, the last book would be pleasant, like an after-dinner coffee–delicious in its own right but certainly not the main meal.
I was wrong. A Duke of Her Own is the best book Eloisa James has written. From the opening no-holds-barred exchange between sisters to the final line with the duke carrying his duchess up the stairs, I loved this book.
First, Eleanor is perfect for Villers. She is so much herself and so Jemma’s opposite in many ways that only after I had finished reading ADOHO did I even compare the two characters. In every EJ book, I find tiny but telling bits that reveal characters in important ways. One of the things I loved most in An Affair Before Christmas was Fletch’s request that Poppy call him by his first name. James uses the name device even more potently in Eleanor and Villiers’ relationship. When Eleanor uses his given name, she sees fully—as few ever do–Leopold the man rather than Villiers the duke. His appearance near the end in the guise of an “ordinary” man reaffirms this truth so wonderfully. These two are a match for one another intellectually, emotionally, and physically.
EJ’s books always have memorable love scenes, but I think the sensuality level in ADOHO is several notches above what we have seen in other books by this author. I never thought a kiss on the hand could be so hot, but from that moment (on page 45, if you want to recheck), the chemistry between the two sizzles. Of course, the kiss Villers places on Eleanor’s hand is just the beginning. Beside a stream, on a dark balcony, or in a bedroom, the love scenes between Villiers and his heroine are hot.
Excellent secondary characters are another constant in the books of Eloisa James. ADOHO doesn’t disappoint in this respect either. Sister Anne is great, and even Astley, the “bad guy” deserves some sympathy by the end. But Tobias, the oldest of Villiers’ illegitimate children, and Oyster, the pug, are the ones who won my heart. I thought for a moment Oyster might break said heart.
Add to all of these praise-worthy attributes James’ usual intelligent, lucid writing and the literary allusions that delight my English-teacher’s heart and you have a near-perfect book. And if, like me, you would love a last look at all the heroines and heroes of the series, Eloisa has promised just that in an extra chapter that will be available on her web site in September. That’s only another thirty-four days or so. 
Are you a fan of connected books? Have you ever had fears about the end of a series, only to have it exceed your expectations? Most important, have you read A Duke of Her Own yet?
Posted by Visiting Vagabond on Jul 28, 2009 in
Visiting Vagabond 
Thank you, Vagabonds, for inviting me to blog with you on the release date of GODDESS OF THE HUNT! There’s no other “place” I’d rather be today, considering that my entire writing career grew is almost exactly as old as this blog. Both grew out of an extended network of friendship from the EJ/JQ bulletin board and the Avon FanLit contest.
So maybe it’s only logical that friendship is an important theme in my books. In fact, when I started writing GODDESS, the tone I had in mind for the book was that of “Friends (the TV show) set in the Regency”. I created a group of eight characters, many of whom had known one another for years and years. I delighted in writing scenes where they could ping dialog back and forth, exchanging witty rejoinders and keen insights.
Friendships between the characters are important to the plot, too. The heroine, Lucy Waltham, is determined to win the object of her eight-year infatuation—the divinely handsome Sir Toby Aldridge. Even if she has to steal him straight from the arms of another woman. Well, the plan is going along just swimmingly (or not so swimmingly, in that river scene) until the unthinkable happens. Lucy becomes friends with that other woman. Suddenly, the thought of stealing Toby loses its charm.
Most importantly, there’s no way I could have written this book without the benefit of good friends. My two critique partners, Courtney Milan and Amy Baldwin, were there from the very first draft of the very first chapter. And over the past few years, I’ve been fortunate to have the advice, critique, and encouragement of many other true friends—including each and every Vagabond.
So today, I’m celebrate the release of my very first novel—but I’m also celebrating almost three years of wonderful, life-enriching friendship with the most talented group of women I’ve ever been blessed to know. Here’s to many, many more. (Books and years! Hee.)
Thank you, dear friends!
Let’s discuss. What do you think about friendship in romance, between women? Between men? Between lovers? Which romances have your favorite examples of close friendship?
In celebration of Tessa’a release, there are several fabulous prizes up for grabs: a copy of GODDESS OF THE HUNT, a rare print copy of THE DANGEROUS BOOK OF EXCERPTS, and a copy of Tessa’s (loosely connected to GOTH) ebook THE LEGEND OF THE WERESTAG. Comment or post congrats to Tessa for a chance to win one!
Tags: Goddess of the Hunt, release day, Tessa Dare
