Desperately Searching For A Complicated Heroine

Congratulations to October’s Corset winner, Darlene…and thank you all for the wonderful suggestions of books and authors. My kindle library has grown by leaps and bounds with all the samples I’ve added. Now if I could just find time to read them!

I’ll be posting November’s Corset in the next few days but in the meantime, please feel free to add further recommendations. I greatly appreciate them all!

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I wouldn’t be an author of Historical Romance Novels if I didn’t absolutely love to read Historical Romance Novels.

I adore it all. Westerns with an outlaw wounded in body and soul. Regencies with spunky heroines and devilish rakes. Gilded tales of American heiresses and fortune hunting English aristocrats. Steampunk stories with vampires. Victorian era fairy tales. Medieval knights saving damsels in distress. Or damsels in distress saving Medieval knights, for that matter. If it’s well-written, the characters multi-dimensional and the story nicely paced, I’ll read it. Sometimes over and over again.

But like any fan of the Historical Romance genre, my mood determines the type of story I crave at any given time. And my moods can be fickle, stubborn and downright impossible to please.

Sometimes I want pure romance, sweet and light and humorous, perhaps even a bit chaste. Other times I look for a story riddled with angst, something dark and seedy and wicked. Most often I find myself looking for something betwixt the two ends of the spectrum.

Lately I’ve found myself desperately searching for a story with a complicated, multi-faceted heroine possessed of a slightly tarnished reputation, a lover or two in her past and a faintly cynical outlook on life.  Oh, and a hero who is enchanted, if a bit befuddled, by this woman rather than determined to reform her character, find a distant connection to a baron which would make her marriageable, or set her up as his mistress.

So, dear readers I am asking for your assistance, for suggestions and recommendations. Have you read a particular author who writes complex, nuanced heroines and the heroes who adore them just as they are? Is there a particular book you’ve enjoyed which might satisfy my sudden, insistent craving for more than a feisty virgin and the rake who stole her heart with little or no effort?

As always I love to hear from my readers so please feel free to post a comment below. Share your your suggestions for my next great read, a bit of news, a notion of any sort, an idiom that’s always struck you as amusing, a regency ideal you’ve found ludicrous, or just a random thought. You’ll be entered to win October’s Floral Denim Corset.

Crystal Young left me a comment in September and won a corset of her own. I’ll be randomly choosing a winner for October’s lovely corset on November 1st. 

Between now and then, specifically between October 19th and 31st, be sure to head over the The Halloween Book Hop on Facebook where more than 130 Authors, Book Bloggers and Publishers representing all different genres will be offering up all sorts of Tricks and Treats.

I’m also running a Goodreads Giveaway through October 26th with a chance to win a Signed Copy of Pretty Poison and a Wine Bottle Corset.

As a writer of Historical Romance novels, I depend upon readers to share their thoughts about my books on those same sites. For a limited time, I’m offering a free ebook copy of Pretty Poison in exchange for an honest review. Simply fill out the Review Form agreeing to post an honest review on Amazon, and other sites where readers will appreciate your reviews and recommendations.

 

 

 

Tickle My Fancy

Have you ever experienced one of those moments when you say something in conversation which makes you laugh hysterically while whoever you are speaking with looks at you as if you’ve lost your mind?

Call me crazy, but I love sharing an inside joke, even if it is just with myself.

Now and again I write a few lines which, when I go back and read them after weeks or months, tickle my fancy or tug on my heartstrings. I thought I might share one such scene on the off chance it might tickle, tug or otherwise touch you, too.

I finished the manuscript of my Novella for the Super-Secret Box Set last week and went back to reread the story from start to finish for the first time in months. When I came to this scene in the first chapter I experienced one of those shared moments with myself and laughed like a loon.

 

   “It isn’t fair.”

   “Life rarely is.”

   As Sissy continue her litany in four alternating languages, Lilith dropped her gaze back to the slim book in her hands.

   My Darling,

   I miss you so dreadfully I am tempted to toss pebbles at your window in hopes you will join me in the gardens for a midnight stroll among the roses and hydrangea. In my absence (are you as monstrously miserable as I?) I hope you will enjoy this little token of my adoration and affection and think of me as you peruse the pages.

   All my love,

   Your Dearest Heart

 

   The penmanship was typical of her mother, elegantly slanted loops and swirls spanning one edge of the yellowing parchment to the next, like ivy left to run rampant, clinging to smooth stone by sheer force of will.

   That her father had held onto the book of poorly rendered and poorer rhymed erotic poetry came as something of a surprise. Lilith doubted the words were lewd enough to hold his attention for more than a minute, and if he had a streak of sentimentality in him he’d buried it deep, in deed.

   As evidenced when the carriage finally pulled into the inn yard of a little village somewhere west of Wiltshire where Lord Dunaway waited in the parlor between his chamber and that the ladies would share for the night.

   “Have I told you lately you are a sorry excuse for a father?” Lilith punctuated the question by tossing the book at his lordship, hitting him square in the chest where, by all accounts, his heart ought to reside.

   Lord Dunaway picked up the slender volume from the table, turned it over and flipped open the cover. When he’d read the inscription he lifted his gaze, peering at her from vivid green eyes one debutant had proclaimed – aloud and in the hearing of a gaggle of gossips – made her think of wicked things like rolling about in warm grass entirely unclothed. “Are you someone’s darling, Lil?”

   “I pilfered it from your library.”

   “Hmm, I suppose that means I am someone’s darling.”

   “You are everyone’s darling,” she replied. “Rather like a communal privy.”

 

As always I love to hear from my readers so please feel free to post a comment below. Share your thoughts about this little excerpt which you may or may not find funny, or share  a bit of news, a notion of any sort, an idiom that’s always struck you as amusing, a regency ideal you’ve found ludicrous, or just a random thought. You’ll be entered to win October’s Floral Corset.

Crystal Young left me a comment in September and won a pretty pink corset of her own. I’ll be randomly choosing a winner for October’s lovely floral corset at the end of the month.

 

As a writer of Historical Romance novels, I depend upon readers to share their thoughts about my books on those same sites. For a limited time, I’m offering a free ebook copy of Pretty Poison in exchange for an honest review. Simply fill out the Review Form agreeing to post an honest review on Amazon, and other sites where readers will appreciate your reviews and recommendations.