Guest blogger of the month - Trisha Ashley

We are delighted to welcome Trisha Ashley to the blog, talking to us about her new Regency novel, Lord Rayven's Revenge.

Although better known for writing contemporary romance (with my latest one, Sweet Nothings, out now), my first published novel, way back in the eighties, was actually a Regency. I was a perfectionist even then, so not only did I read every bit of primary source material I could lay my hands on, but I built up a collection of actual newspapers and almanacs from the time, which I have always kept - I love dipping into them. I think you really do need to hear the voices of the people who were alive at the time you are writing about; to read their novels and diaries, their newspapers, their history books; to understand the social mores of the time, the world in which your protagonists lived and breathed.



Alys, my heroine, is constrained by her class, by the society she moves in and, most powerfully, by the fear of poverty once her widowed father has drunk away her tiny inheritance. But she is a typical Trisha Ashley heroine - quietly strong-willed, intelligent and opinionated, so she finds a way to forge a new and better life for herself through the Gothic novels she writes.
Along the way she has a disillusioning early encounter with Lord Rayven and, although he comes off worst, it rather puts her off the idea of marriage. Years later she meets him again in London and he makes it clear he hasn't forgotten her. In fact, he seems to be dogging her footsteps, though whether for revenge or some other reason remains unsure right up to the point where her very life could hang on the answer.

It was great fun to dip my toe back into the Regency world again with Lord Rayven's Revenge - and it's lovely to have books out in two different genres at once! I love to get reader's comments, and you can contact me through my website by clicking here



Thank you, Trisha, the book sounds great! Lord Rayven's Revenge, ISBN: 978-0-7090-8334-4, is available from UK bookshops, from Amazon or from Hale Books by clicking here

Trisha also sends out a quarterly newsletter, Skint Old Northern Woman, with prize draws for books and other goodies, and she is always happy to welcome new visitors to Trishaworld.