Our recent books

Georgian Health & Safety

In today's safe world it is hard to credit the risks our ancestors were prepared to take in their day to day lives. In the eighteenth century very few streets in major towns had street lighting, making travellers easy prey for footpads and highwaymen. Of course the very rich could hire link-boys to precede them as they made their way around town, or they could be accompanied by footmen, while if they were making long journeys then outriders would be employed. In The Belles Dames Club the dastardly captain of a slave ship has only hired his outriders to accompany him on the most dangerous part of his coach journey from London to Bristol, and when the ladies learn this they set their trap for him.

The poor had no one to look after their safety, but even the rich and fashionable were at risk – chalk was added to the milk to make it whiter, expensive tea was adulterated - the leaves of elder, hawthorne or ash were added, to say nothing of sheep's dung, while green tea was often coloured with copper carbonate and lead chromate to produce the right colour. Such adulteration was partly responsible for the rising popularity of black tea by the end of the 18th century. The ladies in my books often drink tea, and it is to be hoped that it is purchased from a reputable tea-seller.

Looking good was certainly not a healthy option. For part of the eighteenth century at least the use of lard to keep the ladies' enormous hairstyles in place attracted plenty of vermin, including mice! Face powder contained white lead - one recipe calls for the lead to be steeped in vinegar and rested on a bed of horse manure for three weeks! Rouge was no better, containing lead-based carmine. I have no doubt that Lady Gaunt, the most fashionable of The Belles Dames Club members used both these products. Not that the medical fraternity were much help – until the middle of the 18th century physicians did not advocate washing - they feared that water would enter the body through the pores and contaminate the internal organs, affecting the humoral balance!

Writers have to tread a very fine line between portraying history as it really was, and writing a story that a modern audience will enjoy, let's hope we get it right!

Melinda Hammond

The influence of Georgette Heyer, Part 5 - Fenella Miller

Here Fenella Miller talks about her love for Georgette Heyer.

"I was about eight or nine and had read through the children's library and was starting on the adult shelves. A helpful librarian told me to try Georgette Heyer and Lesley Charteris (The Saint). This must have been in the early '50s and Heyer was producing new books all the time. I read them avidly - as well as Lorna Hill and any horsy stories I could find.
I've loved Georgette Heyer ever since and although some don't read as well as they did, I have most of them on my bookshelves. It was reading her books that begun my love of things floaty and romantic! I like to think of my books as a mixture of Heyer/Austen andCornwall- all my heroes are written with Sean Bean as Sharpe in the back of my mind."

Fenella's latest Regency is Lord Thurston's Challenge.
When Charlotte Carstairs and her young sister and brother are orphaned by the death of their mother she has no choice but to seek out her estranged grandfather, Lord Thurston. However, Major Jack Griffin, a disfigured and dissolute Napoleonic war veteran, has inherited the title and is determined not to allow Charlotte and her family to remain at Thurston. Not wishing to appear uncaring he issues an impossible challenge. Charlotte can remain if she is able to improve the dilapidated house and poor estate, which are in ruins because all the money was lost in a shipping disaster. Charlotte is determined to stay and equally determined to persuade Lord Thurston to mend his ways and take a proper interest in his property. But it is not her intention that he takes an interest in her as well and as they grow closer sinister forces are working to ruin their plans. Can they unmask the murderous plotters before they lose everything?

Guest Blogger of the Month - Gail Mallin

The name of Gail Mallin will need no introduction to Regency fans. Here she talks about her books, her break from writing, and her new book.



"Thanks for inviting me to the blog! I am really excited to have a novel out again after a long period away from writing, but I must confess that "The Eccentric Miss Delaney" isn't reallya new story. Way back in 1990 my editor at Mills & Boon, a lovely lady called Elizabeth Johnson, came up with an idea to celebrateValentine's Day with a four in one title to be called "Regency Quartet". This was the first time a multi-volume had been done for the Mills & Boon Historical line and I was one of the authors Elizabeth approached.

Lots of ideas were tossed around on how to link the four novellas together, but the schedule was tight and in the end it was decided that each story should stand alone. Each of the four heroines featured would find love in a different way and I was asked to write about a girl who was looking for security. I came up with idea of the daughter of a charming, well-bred wastrel, who, when her father proposes to drag her off to Vienna to help him run a gambling hell, decides enough is enough.

Miss Athena Delaney is twenty-four years old and, determined to manage her own life from now on, seeks refuge in the small seaside resortof Parkgate. Athena's beauty attracts numerous suitors, but she is more interested in restoring the run-down tavern owned by a relative of her formergoverness, a redoutable dame who has accompanied Athena to Parkgate to act as her chaperon. Athena's success as an inn-keeper brings a measure of financial security and a reputation for eccentricity, a reputationLord Nick Verlaine thinks deserved when he finds her dusting the inn'scoffee-room. Thinking her a chambermaid he ventures to steal a kissand is astonished when the furious Athena boxes his ears and berates himfor his impudence. Nick finds Athena's unattainability a challengeand he accepts a wager that he can make the eccentric Miss Delaney fallin love with him...

The "Eccentric Miss Delaney" is a frothy romance, but getting the facts right is important to me and I do a lot of research for every novel. I also like to choose more unusual settings for my stories if I can and Parkgate seemed perfect since it was close enough to where I lived at the time for me to visit often and gather all the information I needed.

Although the sea has receded since Regency times and the promenade now overlooks a grass-filled marshland, I enjoyed imagining the town in its heyday with its sea-bathing machines and balls at the AssemblyRooms. It was great fun trying to bring that long-lost world back to lifeand if the original reviews are to be believed readers loved the story -can I do a little boasting here and tell you that mine was voted thebest of the four novellas in a survey Mills & Boon conducted after publication? Sorry, couldn't resist mentioning that, but it is a story I'm proud of and I'm absolutely thrilled that it's been given the opportunity to reach a new generation of readers."

The Eccentric Miss Delaney is available from BBC books by clicking here

The Carstairs Conspiracy

You might think that writing a book of over 70,000 words is the hardest part of an author's lot, but there are any number of other things involved with the process that this writer finds challenging.

The copy that goes on the inside cover is one such example. In not much more than a hundred words you're required to tempt and tantalise prospective readers without giving away too much of the plot. If the jacket designer has done his job well then readers will be attracted by his efforts and will pick up your book. You then have a few seconds of their time in which to persuade them to carry your tome to the checkout.

Here, after much agonising, is what I came up with for my latest Regency romance, The Carstairs Conspiracy, to be published by Robert Hale in January 2008.

Abigail Carstairs suspects that someone is trying to kill her. As sole heir to the late Duke of Penrith's vast estate she can only surmise that her fortune is her aggressor's objective but cannot accept that any of her relations are culpable.

In desperation she turns to the notorious Lord Sebastian Denver. Unable to deny a lady in distress, Sebastian inveigles his way into Abby's hunting lodge, where all the prime suspects are gathered but, distracted by his growing attraction towards Abby, is unprepared when a further attempt is made on her life.

Sebastian, putting aside his own feelings, must now delve into Abby's past and lay a daring trap to in order to outwit the culprits. But time is not on his side so can he really hope to succeed?

Would this little taster make you want to read the book, I wonder.

Wendy Soliman

The influence of Georgette Heyer, Part 4 - Lynne Connolly

Heyer and me

Georgette Heyer was the first modern romance writer I read, and there's a lot to be said for starting at the top.
I really can't remember what the first book was, but once I'd started, I read as many as I could get my hands on. When I got to "Frederica," I thought I was in heaven. So funny and Alverstoke is one of the best heroes I've ever read.
Even today, umpteen books later, the suave, aristocratic but oh-so-human Marquis of Alverstoke has my heart. Heyer had a marvellous gift for the right words and the appropriate ones and her turn of phrase was concise and witty.
We rarely see that kind of wit these days, and to be truthful, we didn't then, either. When I started reading Heyer, she was a "trashy writer," something that was a direct result of the snobbishness of the literary establishment. It's only just started to relax. If you're popular, you can't possibly write anything of literary merit!
But I believe that Heyer did. True, she doesn't aspire to the truths you find in Jane Austen, the deep knowledge of human society and the way it behaves, but she wrote in a different age, with different aims. And her kind of light, witty banter was just what I needed.
And still do.


Lynne Connolly

Milestone Book

No Place For A Lady, out this month, is my 20th title for Mills & Boon – which seems impossible until I count them all lined up on the shelf!

I've blogged in the past about the fun I had taking carriage driving lessons in preparation for this one, and how useful it was to be able to get inside a real drag – the boy racer’s vehicle of choice in the Regency – to see if it really was possible to have a passionate encounter in one. It was, and Bree and Max take full advantage of my research in the course of their rather rocky romance.

Bree is a woman with a foot in two worlds –she runs a stagecoach company and her half brother is a viscount. Max falls heavily for Bree – but he has a dark secret of his own, and one that takes a very Gothic twist before the end of the book.

My most recent research involved obtaining the accurate measurements of a bathing machine to see how suitable that would be for a romantic rendezvous. Not very, was the answer, not because of the size but because apparently the floor would have been covered in very soggy carpet. Faced with that, my hero and heroine have taken to the sea under cover of the umbrella-like canopy invented by a Quaker gentleman to preserve the modesty of lady bathers. I doubt he would have approved.

Anyone interested in bathing machines, or the history of seaside life, will love Margate museum where the wonderful Terry and Peter helped me delve into the archives. http://www.margatemuseum.org.uk/

That trip was for The Outrageous Lady Felsham, book 2 of my new series of six books – Those Scandalous Ravenhursts –about seven cousins and their intertwined lives and loves. The first, The Dangerous Mr Ryder is due out in the UK in March next year and in North America in July. Lady Felsham is due out here in May and in North America in August.

I have never tried to link more than two books before and I am finding this fascinating – but rather like three dimensional Fair Isle knitting! What do you think about series, either as a writer or a reader? I’d love to hear your views – and tips on staying on top of the constantly entwining plots!

Louise Allen

Buy No Place For a Lady from:
Amazon on http://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Place-Lady-Historical-Romance/dp/0263851877/ref=sr_1_2/026-8710534-1502847?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186751754&sr=8-2
or Mills & Boon on http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/cgi-bin/millsandboon.storefront/EN/Catalog/1031?month=August2007

ARE AUTHORS PSYCHIC?

Many of you will know that my current release, Bride of the Solway, features characters from my 2004 story, My Lady Angel. When I was writing Angel, I had created a best friend for the hero. The best friend was one of those characters who appear in my mind more or less fully formed – looks, character, the lot. It’s almost magical when that happens. This one came with a name, too: Ross Graham. And he hinted that he had a slightly mysterious past.

Ross doesn’t feature all that much in My Lady Angel. He appears at the start, and again at the end. But he is such a lovely fellow that he deserved a story of his own. Especially as he had ended up with a broken heart. So I started thinking about Ross’s story and decided that he should go to Scotland to search for the truth about his roots.

Until I’d actually started working on Bride of the Solway, I hadn’t thought much about Ross’s mysterious Scottish family. But in order to start writing, I obviously had to find out all about them. I then realised that, although Graham is a fairly common name in Scotland, I did not know whether it was common in Dumfries and the Border country where my story was set. Even if it proved to be wildly inappropriate, it was too late to change it. I was stuck with Ross Graham as my hero’s name, since My Lady Angel was already in print.

So imagine my shock when I discovered, in my 1806 edition of Cary’s Itinerary of the Great Roads of England and Wales (and Scotland), that the coaching inn at Longtown, the last English town on the main road to Scotland, just 4 miles from the border, was called The Graham Arms. To be honest, I wouldn’t have believed it if it hadn’t been written on the page in black and white. It gave me a really spooky feeling, but it also convinced me that my first Scottish story was definitely meant to be.

Later, on a research trip to the Border country, I was even more surprised to find that The Graham Arms is still there, on the main road in Longtown, apparently very little changed from Regency times. It’s a fine Georgian building, and much too solid to be spooky, as you can see.

When I was taking the picture, the sky was grey and it was starting to rain. But I was so pleased with the omens for the world I was creating in Bride of the Solway, that I couldn’t stop grinning from ear to ear.

Coincidence? I leave it to you to decide...


Best wishes
Joanna

Bride of the Solway is available, at a 25% discount until end September, from the Mills & Boon store
http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/cgi-bin/millsandboon.storefront/EN/Catalog/1031?month=August2007

Also available from Amazon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0263851885/joannamaitlan-21

The influence of Georgette Heyer, Part 3 - Amanda Ashby

Georgette Heyer's influence was far reaching. Not only did she inspire historical authors, but contemporary authors as well.

Here Amanda Ashby, author of You Had Me At Halo, talks about her love of Heyer. Over to you, Amanda!

"I'll never forget when I was a 19 year old University
student and was complaining to a friend that it was
very annoying that Jane Austen was dead because I just
loved reading her books so much. Anyway, my friend said that if I liked Jane Austen I might like one of her mother's favourite authors, someone called Georgette Heyer.


My friend and her mother then consulted and quickly decided that Arabella might be a good place to start. It was, and from there I quickly made my way through their entire collection before I lovingly started to gather together my own set of books so that I could re-read then again at my leisure.
Twenty years later and my books have travelled from Australia to New Zealand to England and back again. I've discarded furniture, clothes and just about everything else during that time, but never my Georgette Heyers and despite the fact that I write paranormal romances, she's definitely been the author who has most influenced me the most (oh, and in case you're wondering, my favourite GH is Grand Sophy!!)"



Thank you, Amanda! I'm sure The Grand Sophy is a favourite choice for many people!
Amanda's paranormal romance, You Had Me At Halo, is a witty, fun read and it's available from books shops as well as online fromAmazon UK and Amazon US. This is what Romantic Times had to say about it:

"This book has a delightfully quirky concept that develops into a fun and interesting story. Peopled with a fascinating variety of characters, it also has an intriguing mystery and a charmingly different type of interaction between the hero and heroine. Expect a delightful tale with a wonderfully distinctive ending."

Our recent books

A DEBT OF HONOUR

I am pleased to announce that recently I sold a sixth Regency romantic adventure to Robert Hale.This will be published early in 2008. This book is set in Dedham, Constable county, in north-east Essex. As you can see from the pictures it's a lovely place.

I also sold A COUNTRY MOUSE to Thorpe Large Print and to Belgrave - where it is about to appear along side THE RETURN OF LORD RIVENHALL on www.regencyreads.com.
I sent a fourth novella to D C Thomson A DANGEROUS DECEPTION this week and I will let you know when I hear from them. The My Weekly Story Collection books are now being sold at Tesco as well as W H Smiths - so I can proudly say 'My books are being sold in Tesco now.' These books are undergoing a re-vamp and will appear from October in a different format and will be called My Weekly Pocket Novels.
Best wishes
Fenella Miller

The influence of Georgette Heyer, Part 2 - Wendy Soliman

In Praise of These Old Shades

This is a terrible admission for a historical novelist to make but until about three years ago I hadn’t read a single Georgette Heyer book. I know, I know! It was just one of those things that I’d always intended to get round to but, well, you know how it is.

And then, quite by accident, a five-book omnibus of her works came into my possession and my life took a decided turn for the better. By the time I’d got to the end of the first page of These Old Shades I was already transfixed. In case you’re not familiar with this particular novel, these are the first few sentences that so captured my imagination.

"A gentleman was strolling down a side street in Paris, on his way back from the house of one Madame de Verchoureux. He walked mincingly, for the red heels of his shoes were very high. A long purple cloak, rose-lined, hung from his shoulders and was allowed to fall carelessly back from his dress, revealing a full-skirted coat of purple satin, heavily laced with gold; a waistcoat of flowered silk; faultless small clothes; a lavish sprinkling of jewels on his cravat and breast. A three-cornered hat, point-edged, was set upon his powdered wig, and in his hand he carried a long beribboned cane. It was a little enough protection against footpads, and although a light sword hung at the gentleman’s side its hilt was lost in the folds of his cloak, not quickly to be found."

Who could fail to be intrigued by such a lavish description? It was impossible not to want to know who this gentleman was and why, when he was obviously rich and well-connected, he was exposing himself to the dangers of the Parisian side streets. Abandoning everything else I soon became embroiled in the world of the cold-hearted Duke of Avon and the mysterious redhead who turned his well-organized life on its heels, bringing to the fore the better side of the duke’s nature, which he had striven for so many years to keep under close guard.

By the time I’d finished These Old Shades I was convinced that by good fortune I’d hit upon Georgette Heyer’s most richly textured novel first time round. After all, how could she possibly improve upon such a beautifully woven and wittily related tale?

Then I started reading Sprig Muslin ….





Wendy Soliman

Wendy's latest book is The Social Outcast, available from Amazon and Robert Hale Ltd

The influence of Georgette Heyer - part 1

To celebrate the fact that Georgette Heyer has recently been classified as a Classic Author by the British library system, we're running an series of posts about Heyer's far-reaching influence.

We begin with some biographical information about Heyer, taken from jay Dixon's excellent article, An Appreciation of Georgette Heyer on the Historical Novel Society Site.

jay, a fan of Georgette Heyer ever since discovering These Old Shades on the classroom library shelf at the age of 12, is currently researching a book on Heyer. She is the author of The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon 1909-1990s (UCL Press, 1999)


Georgette Heyer was born in Wimbledon on 16 August 1902. A consistent best-selling author since her breakthrough novel, These Old Shades, was published in 1926, she wrote 12 crime, four contemporary, and 40 historical novels in a working life spanning 53 years. Her historical novels are set in various periods, but she is best known for her Georgian/Regency novels, set in the period she had most affinity with.




Heyer’s first novel, The Black Moth, set in 1751, was first told to her brother Boris when the 17-year-old Georgette Heyer, accompanying him on a convalescent holiday at Hastings, started telling him a historical adventure tale to relieve his (and presumably her) boredom. Her father encouraged her to write it down and, when completed, sent it to the literary agent Leonard P. Moore, an acquaintance of his. Moore promptly sold it to Constable in England and Houghton Mifflin in the USA, and it was published in 1921, when she was just 19.

The Black Moth was followed by a further two historicals – The Transformation of Philip Jettan (later republished minus its final chapter as Powder and Patch) and The Great Roxhythe.

Heyer married Ronald Rougier in 1925, a few months after her father’s death. After her marriage, Heyer followed her husband, a mining engineer, to Tanganyika in 1927 and Macedonia in 1928, where she wrote The Masqueraders. Unhappy in his career, Ronald left his job, and they returned to England in 1929 where, after a failed partnership venture, he opened a sports shop in Horsham. Georgette Heyer was now the breadwinner of the family, writing one crime and one historical novel per year between 1934 and 1941.

Her first crime novel – Footsteps in the Dark – was published in 1932, the year she gave birth to her son, Richard Rougier. In 1935 she published the first novel set in the period with which she will always be associated, Regency Buck. Meanwhile, Ronald was studying to become a barrister and was called to the Bar in 1939. During the Second World War they lived in a service flat in Hove, where she wrote The Spanish Bride on her knee, but in 1942 the Rougiers seized the chance to fulfil a long-held ambition of Heyer’s and moved to the Albany, where they lived until 1966. They then moved to a flat in Jermyn Street, to move again in 1971 to a flat in Knightsbridge, where she wrote the last of her Regency novels, Lady of Quality, published in 1972.

Georgette Heyer died of lung cancer on 4 July 1974. Through her own love for one particular period of British history, in her writing life she forged a new sub-genre of historical novel – ‘the Regency’. And with her wit, her page-turning writing ability, and her genius at bringing characters to life, she still brings new admirers to her novels, more than 30 years after her death.

Daydreaming over the Housework......

Writers are always being asked where they get their ideas from. This came up recently concerning The Belles Dames Club so I thought I would share it with you.

The first germ of the idea for the book came from doing the ironing! I find this such a chore that I have to watch TV at the same time, and by chance it was a programme about a stately home and its owners. One of the portraits in the house showed a gentleman with a squirrel climbing on his sleeve and the narrator exlained that the gentleman was member of a club set up in the early 18th century called The Honourable Order of Little Bedlam. Tts members were leading figures of the day, including the Duke of Devonshire, the Earl of Exeter, Sir Godfrey Kneller etc. Each member of the club took the title of an animal and their portrait was painted with the animal included. The legend goes that the animal titles were supposed to protect the member's anonymity! This started me thinking that ladies probably set up little societies of their own, and the idea began to grow in my mind until I had created a secret club for ladies where they could let their hair down and experience some of the freedoms enjoyed by their male counterparts. I decided to set the club at the end of the eighteenth century and then I let my ladies have their heads: they learned the secrets of the gaming hells, helped each other out of tight spots and also indulged in watching a spot of naked wrestling!

The Belles Dames Club was great fun to write and the characters seemed to dictate just what would happen. So, I suppose you argue that the idea came originally from the ironing (although it is still not a favourite chore!)

Melinda Hammond

News from Anne Herries

I just popped in to tell you that my new Regency trilogy starts this month. It begins with Marianne & The Marquis and is followed in October by Married By Christmas and ends in December with Marrying Captain Jack. It is the story of three sisters in search of husbands and a lot of fun. The Hellfire series was darker, this one is lighter and romantic. I also wanted to tell you that Captive of the Harem comes out in France this week and a kind peson sent me the cover, which I am going to publish here today. As the book also comes out as a double here in October it will be interesting to compare the covers. I am very thrilled with this news as Captive is already my best selling book with HMB and it will do even better now.

I went to Richmond this week to have lunch with my editors and we talked about new books. Forbidden Lady, which came out in America this year should be published as the first of a trilogy next year here. It is actually part of a Dynasty series which will with good luck and a fair wind, as they say in all the best pirate films, go on for several further series. So I am very busy but I do hope to do some more of the Journal of a Regency Lady soon.

Everyone is talking about Georgette Heyer lately. I adore all her books but my favourite is Arabella closely followed by Devil's Cub.

Best wishes to you all, Anne Herries

New Joanna Maitland Release!

You may have thought I’d stopped writing. For a while, I even thought so myself, since my previous book came out at the end of 2004 and I was finding it very difficult to write another. However, after a long fallow period, I’m back in the writing groove. So here it is at last!

It’s called Bride of the Solway. It’s the sequel to My Lady Angel which came out at the end of 2004. If you can remember that far back, you’ll know that the hero’s best friend, Captain Ross Graham, has fallen in love with a French aristocrat called Julie, whom he has rescued from under the noses of Napoleon’s army. Unfortunately for Ross, Julie has been playing him along throughout the months they spent together. She loves someone else and always has.

What should have been a triumphant homecoming for Ross turns into a nightmare. All London is celebrating the victory at Waterloo. Everyone around him seems to be in love and overflowing with happiness; everyone except Ross. So he does the only thing left to him. He wraps himself in the remnants of his shattered pride. Withdraws. And flees.

He persuades himself that he should travel to Scotland and search for his roots. All he knows of his past is that his mother brought him away from Scotland when he was very small and always refused to talk about his family. Ross cannot remember his father at all. And his mother is long dead. So a trip to Dumfries might unravel the mystery surrounding his origins, as well as giving his broken heart a chance to heal. He is resolved to avoid all females. Especially ones who might need rescuing!

But, on the banks of the Solway, he encounters a damsel in distress. As an officer and a gentleman, can he refuse to help her?

Bride of the Solway will be in the shops next week but you can read more about the book and link to an excerpt here http://www.joannamaitland.com/books.html

Best wishes to everyone, and I hope you enjoy the story

Joanna

BRIDE OF THE SOLWAY
Joanna Maitland
M&B Historicals August 2007
ISBN 978-0-263-85188-5

Available from Amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0263851885/joannamaitlan-21

Captain Wentworth - Hugh Jackman

Over on Anne Mcallister's blog she's talking about winning a copy of Mr Darcy's Diary. She also happens to mention Captain Wentworth's Diary, and by coincidence her post has a picture of Hugh Jackman as well. I say by coincidence, because I've always thought that the delectable Mr Jackman would make an ideal Wentworth. And here he is in a towel, having evidently fallen in the sea before indulging in a spot of sword practice!



He conveys all the qualities I think Wentworth needs: courage, an outdoor personality, confidence, good looks, and an irresistible magnetism.

He's also very good at conveying softer emotions, and I could imagine him writing 'the letter' to Anne, in which he says, 'You pierce my soul.'

Now that's romance.

New Release!

Well, it's been an exciting week and I can't sit on my hands and not say anything!
First, I have a new release!


Last Chance, My Love is a mid-Georgian set romance, which deals with a dilemma unusual today, but much more common in the past.
What do you do if you are in love, but you can't make love?
Daniel and Miranda are in that position. After two children, Miranda has been told she must not have any more children. In those days childbirth was one of the most dangerous things a woman could do. And after two difficult births, Miranda has reached the end of her childbearing line.
Daniel loves Miranda and in those days of no reliable contraception, doesn't want to risk it. Moreover, Daniel and Miranda married young, and have no idea of the alternatives. So to help them find their own way, Daniel's brothers force him to accept a bet. He and Miranda must pose as an innkeeper and his wife, put in temporary command of an inn in the prosperous market town of Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. Away from society and the pressures of their ordinary life, can Daniel and Miranda find their own way to happiness?
Well, you'll have to read the book to find out!

Read an excerpt, and order the book here:
http://www.lynneconnolly.com/lastchancemylove.htm

or here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/last-chance-my-love

Gosh, I loved doing this book! I do hope you enjoy reading it! Let me know!

Powered by ScribeFire.

First Review of Lord Thurston's Challenge

This is the cover of my second novella for MWSC - it was called A Country Mouse which I preferred. What do you think? Also the hero looks more like a farm labourer than a Viscount. The heroine is dressed in a Victorian gown. Never mind - the inside is more or less the same as it was on my manuscript.

This is a review from Myshelf - for my latest book LORD THURSTON'S CHALLENGE - the first of many excellent ones I hope!!

It is the dying wish of Charlotte Carstairs’ mother that her and her two younger siblings seek out her grandfather Lord Thurston. Although he cast out his daughter when she married a poor soldier, surely he will take in three young orphans? But the old man is dead, and in his place resides Jack Griffin, the new Lord Thurston. He is a distant relative who leads a reclusive life in Thurston Hall, following his disfigurement in the recent wars. He has let the house go to rack and ruin, and has no taste for three young people living under his roof. In order not to appear too hardhearted he issues Charlotte with a challenge – improve the fortunes of the house, or leave.

There are no frothy balls, dashing Corinthians or giggling misses in this story, but there are plenty of other things to enjoy. Sensible Charlotte makes a good heroine, and while Jack can thunder with the best of them, has a tender side which shows itself more times than the other. It is enjoyable to read how the crumbling old house is brought back to life, and as well as the romance there is a fiendish plot afoot – who is trying to kill Jack, Charlotte and the children and why? Pages turn with lightning speed, and I was swept up in it all from the opening sentence. An entertaining romance.

My books can be bought from www.halebooks.com - and the postage is free.
Best wishes
Fenella Miller

A Rational Romance

I have now received the proposed cover for my latest book from Robert Hale Ltd., A Rational Romance. It is very different from previous covers, a little sombre, perhaps, but I think it presents a very tender moment.

The story begins in England in 1803. Elliot Malvern, seventh Marquis of Ullenwood is very content with his bachelor lifestyle, spending his fortune on the pleasurable pursuits of gambling and mistresses. Rosamond Beaumarsh is determined to remain unmarried and independent.

What, then, could persuade them plunge into an adventure that carries them to post-revolutionary Paris and takes them on a headlong flight across France? Only the exercise of logic. The pair embark upon a romantic adventure and learn that rational thought has very little to do with true love……

Melinda Hammond

Lovedays Update

Hi everyone,
I’ve been unable to post much this summer as we are in the process of moving which after thirty three years has involved a great deal of therapeutic decluttering and inevitable disruption to writing.

The hardback of THE LOVEDAY REVENGE sold out in the first month and the good news is that the paperback due out in November will have lots of extra information for the reader, with an interview and background of yours truly and the Loveday family and tips on writing.

ADAM LOVEDAY (the first in the series has now also sold out and will be going into reprint) and can be pre-ordered through Amazon for those interested in reading the series from the beginning. The current latest paperback THE LOVEDAY LOYALTY should still be in all good bookshops and is selling strongly through Amazon.co.

Despite all the upheaval I have managed to write half of book 9 in the series and as usual the writing is keeping me sane.

For several years I wrote a column for The Writing Magazine., Pauline Bentley’s Twenty Steps which covered all aspects and techniques of novel writing. If any of you would like me to include some of these in the blog I would be happy to do so. There is a section of writing tips on my website click here

Kate Tremayne

Happy News

Hello everyone,

I'm delighted to report that I've just received the draft design for my latest book, Devil's Prize, to be published by Robert Hale later this year. It's always exciting to see the artist's idea of my characters, distilled from the blurb and descriptions I send in so she has an idea of what the book is about and who the main characters are. I'm really delighted with this draft. She has captured perfectly the essence of the characters - especially Devlin Varcoe - the Devil of the title! Now I'm looking forward to seeing the finished jacket in colour.

I expect to receive the copy edits shortly. Then, in a few weeks, the proofs will arrive. Finally, in a few months' time, I will have in my hands not two-inch thick wad of typed pages, but a book that looks like a book, complete with colourful and eye-catching jacket. This is the most marvellous feeling, and even though this will be my 24th published book, the excitement is as strong now as it was the first time.

Meanwhile, I've started work on a new one. And, just as with each of the previous ones, I really do believe that this will be the best yet!
Enjoy your reading.
With best wishes from Jane Jackson.

The Jane Austen online magazine

The excellent Jane Austen Centre in Bath has an online magazine, which is full of interesting and varied articles this month. They include a period recipe for lemonade, Jane Austen’s final piece of writing, a review of Persuasion 2007, a biography of George III, and instructions for making a chatelaine. To visit the online magazine, click here


It also includes Chapter 7 of There Must be Murder, written by Margaret C Sullivan, author of The Jane Austen Handbook
and charmingly illustrated by Cassandra Chouinard.



If you haven't yet discovered There Must be Murder, then start at Chapter 1 by clicking here

Our recent books

Gentlemen in Question

Gentlemen in Question is now out in a large print edition!

In the closing months of 1792, the terror of the French Revolution forces Camille, the young Comte du Vivière , to flee his homeland and seek refuge with his relatives in England. For Madeleine, the arrival of her handsome French cousin marks a change in her so far uneventful existence and she soon finds herself caught up in a dangerous web of intrigue that also entangles Camille. But is he victim of villain?

The cover depicts Madeleine at Rye, where she has gone with her parents to meet ner French cousin. What do you think of the picture? I like to think that the dark and stormy sea in the background depicts the tempestuous times that lie ahead for Madeleine and her family.

Melinda Hammond

Jodi Thomas - RITA award winner talks to the RNA

One of the highlights of the RNA conference was the talk by Jodi Thomas. Jodi’s a bestselling novelist from Texas and a RITA award winner, so we were very lucky to have her as a speaker. Her lively session encompassed her history as a marriage and family counsellor - no wonder she writes about family dynamics with such perception and skill! - and her present career as Writer In Residence at Texas A & M University.

“When I was a child, being a writer wasn’t an option,’ she told us. “All the people I knew had regular jobs. I’m hoping that students will see that being a writer is a possibility. This is particularly important in these days when programs in the arts are being cut in the public schools."

I'm sure that sentiment will be shared by a lot of our blog readers.

Talking of her feelings about being a writer she said, "When I was teaching classes full time, I thought I was making the world a better place. Now I think of a teacher, or nurse, or mother settling back and relaxing with one of my books. I want to take her away on an adventure that will entertain her. Maybe, in a small way, I’m still making the world a better place."

She certainly is! Jodi writes a variety of books, both historical and contemporary, but they share a Texas setting. Some of her books are:


Two Texas Hearts
Kora Adams did not believe in curses, but she had known nothing but bad luck all her life. Then, one night, there was a knock on her door. It was a handsome but solemn stranger with a story to tell.

Winter McQuillen had inherited a sprawling Texas ranch not far from the one room cabin Kora called home. But the only way he could claim it was if he found a wife that night. Winter had but one question for Kora: Would she marry him?

The thought of wedding a man she did not know scared Kora to death. But the security of marriage - - and even the faintest hope of love - - was like a dream come true. Kora knew she needed every bit of comfort marriage would provide. What she didn't know was that Winter needed her even more. . . .

Jodi won the Holt Medallion Award (awarded by Virginia Romance Writers) with TWO TEXAS HEARTS and Romantic Times Magazine gave Jodi Thomas a Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance.

It's available from Amazon by clicking here

The Texan and The Lady
Jennie Munday left her sleepy Iowa home to become a Harvey Girl. On a train bound for Kansas and her exciting new life, she met Austin McCormick, a gruff, abrasive Texas marshal who seemed to be everything she disliked in a man. But when their train is held up by gun slinging outlaws, Jennie is thrown together with the stubborn Texan - - and learns that the law can be deadly and dangerously filled with desire . . .

It's available from Amazon by clicking here



Jodi's 2007 release is Texas Princess. If you've ever dreamt of being swept off your feet by a cowboy, this is the book for you!


To learn more about Jodi's books, visit her website at www.jodithomas.com by clicking
here

Our thanks to Jodi for such an inspiring and interesting talk.

Regency Authors at the RNA Conference

The members of the Historical Romance blog are spread far and wide and so the Romantic Novelists' annual conference, which this year was held in Leicester, was an excellent opportunity for us to get together and catch up on one another's busy lives.

Eight of the eleven of us were able to attend this year and were captured on camera.
The front row, from left to right, shows, Kate Allan, Amanda Grange and Fenella-Jane Miller. Behind them, (left to right), are: Wendy Soliman, Joanna Maitland, Melinda Hammond, Lynne Connolly and Louise Allen.

Wendy Soliman

A Debt of Honour

I am delighted to be able to tell everyone that today I signed my sixth contract for Robert Hale. This book, A DEBT OF HONOUR, is a little different from the previous one as the villain is known from the outset. I attended a workshop in London, run by the RNA, on villains and it inspired me to write a character that I'm hoping my readers will really loath. This book will be published early in 2008.
I have also just received the six author's copies of my latest book, LORD THURSTON'S CHALLENGE. This will be available from both Amazon and Hale websites any day now.
Having attended the RNA conference over the weekend I'm home buzzing with new ideas and exhausted from all the networking and driving. At least on the way back we managed to complete the journey to Essex without any detours and in just over three hours - on the way there we went via Rugby (don't ask) and it took us five hours!!
Best wishes
Fenella Miller

Mr Darcy's Diary - review

Mr Darcy's Diary has just been reviewed by Woman magazine, and here's what they had to say:

"Literature's most eligible bachelor is back! A treat for Pride and Prejudice fans, this tells the story from Mr Darcy's point of view. Sensitive to the original but lots of fun, this is the tale behind the alpha male."


I love that last line, 'the tale behind the alpha male.' I wish I'd thought of that!




To order Mr Darcy's Diary from Amazon UK click here

To order from Amazon US click here

Amanda Grange

Settling down.

After the dust has settled, I'm finally sorting out what I want to do.
My publisher closed, but I have other books elsewhere. The trials of being a writer!
I'm in the process of sorting out what I want to do, but really, all I ever wanted to do was write. I'm so sad that Triskelion and all the fine authors there suffered, but it's done, and things have to move on.
Including my career.
I'm talking with various publishers about republishing my books, and I've been delighted by the offers I've received. And surprised, in a Sally Field-Gwyneth Paltrow kind of way. And I'm still writing.
I'm working on two new contemporary paranormal series, and a historical. It's lovely to get back to the historical, nice to go back to the research books and try to bring the era alive. I'm enjoying writing so much, and I always will.
More news soon!

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Historicals for All. Melinda Hammond on the joy of the Historical Novel Society Conference

I love conferences: a chance to meet up with old friends and make new ones. As part of a recent trip to America I attended the Historical Novel Society Conference in Albany, NY. The Conference was held at the beautiful Desmond Hotel, and after getting in the mood with a tour of historic Albany on the Friday afternoon, I joined the crowd of historical novelists and readers registering for the conference. From that moment on it was non-stop action! The two guest speakers, Bernard Cornwell and Diana Gabaldon, (pictured above) not only entertained us with after-dinner speeches but also joined in with the workshops and talks that were held throughout the weekend. It was a wonderful opportunity to talk to other writers, whose fields of interest varied from Celtic Ireland to the Crimea (with, naturally enough, a great deal of American history as well). When we were not listening to or taking part in the excellent discussion sessions, there were the receptions and dinners where we could get to know the rest of the attendees. There was even a talent review on the Saturday night!

The talks ranged from historicals with English settings (I was one of the panellists, along with English editor jay Dixon plus Pat Wynn - pictured right - and Kathy Emerson, two American authors) to an extremely frank discussion of how much sex is too much (this was one of the last sessions of the Conference, and had a kind of last-day-at-school ebullience about it).

The next US conference for the Historical Novel Society is in two years' time, but in the meantime a UK conference is planned for next year in York. Personally, I can't wait!

My thanks to the Historical Novel Society for allowing me to use their photos. The picture below shows Kathy (right) and me during our lively discussion session. You can find more details on the Historical Novel Society at their website, www.historicalnovelsociety.org

Casting heroes

I went to see Fantastic Four at the weekend, and it occurred to me that Iouan Gruffudd would make a very good Colonel Brandon. He's about the right age now and I think he would be convincing both as a military man, and as a man who was deeply in love with Marianne. And whilst it would be understandable for her to dismiss him in the beginning, it would be easy to imagine her falling in love with him in the end.




And then I started thinking about Austen's other heroes. Who would you cast as a new Darcy? My choice would be Richard Armitage. Tall, dark and handsome, and with a wide acting range that could encompass Darcy's arrogance and his vulnerability.

What do you think? Who would you cast as Brandon and Darcy, if any new films were made?