Category: Give-Aways

SERIES: LOVE THEM OR HATE THEM?

Hi Cindy and everyone! Thanks for having me on the Muse Interrupted blog. I’m excited to be here and look forward to a good discussion. Since RESCUE ME, the first book in my back-to-back trilogy just came out a couple of weeks ago, and the second book, RETURN TO ME, comes out on May 19 and the third one, RUN TO ME, is out on June 23, I thought I’d blog about series. Why we love them or hate them. I have to admit, I’m more in the ‘love’ category. And not just because that’s what I’m writing, though that does help.

Here are the reasons I love them:

1. The continuity of a storyline or theme: If it’s a storyline I love, I want to know what happens next. If the series revolves around one particular person, I love sharing their adventures. Or if there are different characters each time but have some kind of link, I love the familiarity of knowing other characters and their storylines. It’s like a good television series. You get close to a character or characters and want to visit them frequently. You can do that in a series.

2. Secondary Characters: I don’t know how many times I’ve read a book and have fallen in love with a secondary character and wished I could read his or her story. Creating characters can be hard work and making them interesting and likeable even harder. So when an author creates a secondary character that captures my attention, I feel a bit cheated when I don’t get another story.

1. 3. Saying goodbye hurts: I have to admit, when I love a book and its characters, I often don’t want to let them go. That’s one of the reasons I love epilogues. I want to extend my happy ending as long as possible. I don’t have epilogues in any of my upcoming books, but I think that’s because most of my characters make an appearance in the next book in the series. If they weren’t so closely connected, I’m sure I’d be tempted to write an epilogue. It’s just so hard to say goodbye, but with a series, you don’t always have to.

4. Predictability: And I mean that in a good way. When I read an author I’ve read before, I have certain expectations of what the book will be like. I recognize the author’s voice and know what type of book they write, so I’m rarely surprised by a completely different kind of story. However, with a series, there’s no doubt. If the book is connected, whether it’s through a relationship, an event or in my case, an organization with a common purpose, you have an assurance that even though it will be a different story, there will be similarities to the previous books. If you liked one, more than likely, you’ll like the others.

5. The anticipation: This kind of goes back to the first point of falling in love with secondary characters. I love looking forward to a book of a secondary character I’ve liked. There’s just something about the excitement it generates. Will it be as good as the book before it? Will it be better? Will it live up to your expectations? Will you be glad that character got their own story? Will you be happy with who the character ended up with? And if it’s by one of your favorite authors, the anticipation blooms even bigger.

6. Back-to-Back Trilogy: Okay, I admit, this one’s a bit different, but it does often apply. More and more publishers are putting out back-to-back trilogies. And I love that they are. Of course, since that’s what I’m doing, I’ll admit I’m a bit biased. However, I love reading back-to-back from other authors and here’s why. Almost immediate gratification. How often have you read a book you’ve loved and found out that indeed there’s another one coming out in the series but you have to wait months, perhaps a year or more to read it? The wait can be agonizing! That’s the great thing about back-to-back releases. Almost no waiting. How cool is that?

So what about you? Do you love or hate them? Why do you feel that way? What are some series that you absolutely adore? What are some upcoming series books you’re anticipating?

Thanks again, everyone. Now let’s talk series!

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Please leave a comment to enter to win a copy of Christy’s RESCUE ME. Entries accepted until midnight PST.

To read Christy’s bio and the back cover for RESCUE ME, please see yesterday’s post. To learn more about Christy and her books, please visit her website.

SPRINGTIME HAPPINESS AND…LOVE

The scene on the cover of my May release, THE DOCTOR’S SURPRISE FAMILY, 3^rd installment of my “Home to Firewood Island mini-series,” makes me think of summer.  A little boy fishing, a lake in the background, trees fully leafed out. No doubt about it, I love summer, and we’re almost there if we look at the calendar.

But in truth, it’s still springtime. It’s also the season that evolves in THE DOCTOR’S SURPRISE FAMILY.

Over the past few years, I’ve set a number of books on the cusp of springtime. I wondered if that held any significance to the stories and/or my characters. I didn’t have to look far to get my answer. Gazing out my window, I knew.

Springtime is a sign of hope.

And hope is what romance novels are all about.

So what is it about springtime that’s so unique? What makes springtime a season of, well, happiness and love?

Off the cuff, there are several reasons spring makes me smile more, laugh more, and just…feel good.

For one, springtime is warmth. It’s sunshine and milder temperatures. It’s about chasing off cold and cloudy days and being able to go for walks without shivering.

Two, springtime is alive. Growing things are edging out of the earth. Trees turn mint green. Forsythia shrubs showcase their yellow bell-shaped flowers. Rebirth is on the horizon.

Spring is melodious. Songbirds fly up from the south and sing in the backyard. They tug worms from my garden. With a sense of urgency, they flash color here and there among shrubs and trees where they build nests. Where life moves forward.

During spring the skies offer shades of blue and cottony clouds. Eagles and hawks hang against them on the breeze, searching the ground below for food to offer their young.

In the greening woods, does hide fawns. In my backyard, squirrels chatter with gusto. Babies appear.

Everywhere I look I see spring hosting one key element: new beginnings. That evolution grew into the backdrop of THE DOCTOR’S SURPRISE FAMILY. Hero and heroine, Dane and Kat, endured a great deal of heartache. In the end, they needed an omen, a sign. So I gave them nature’s forecast that love waits just around the corner.

I gave them springtime. 🙂         

Tell me about your favorite season—and win a chance to choose a copy of your choice of either THEIR SECRET CHILD, AND BABY MAKES FOUR or THE DOCTOR’S SURPRISE FAMILY.  

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Entries accepted until midnight P.S.T.

To read Mary’s bio and the back cover copy for THE DOCTOR’S SURPRISE FAMILY, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about Mary and her books, please visit her website.

WHY I LOVE THE REGENCY

I write sensual, Regency-set historical romances—and I’m not the only one!  Take a look at any bestseller list and you’ll see lots of Regency authors like Mary Balogh, Eloisa James, and Stephanie Laurens topping the list.  The competition is fierce, and there are so many terrifyingly good historical authors out there, you have to wonder why anyone would be fool enough to attempt to break into their ranks.  Fortunately for me, readers love the Regency period, and are loyal and voracious consumers of romances set in this fascinating period.

So what is it, exactly, that we love about the Regency?  There are some obvious answers, of course.  The glamour, for one.  Aristocrats of the time loved to party, and party large.  The clothes were elegant, the soirees elaborate, and the conversation devastatingly witty.  And when the wealthy weren’t racing from one ball to the next in the city, they were hosting large gatherings at their country estates, where they hunted, feasted, gambled, made love, and generally had a great time until the wee hours of the morn.  These settings are like gold to the writer, providing all kinds of opportunities for color, drama, and comedy amidst the social whirl of the ton.

The Regency was also populated with fascinating characters like The Prince Regent, Beau Brummell, Harriett Wilson, Byron and Caro Lamb, Lady Jersey and the other aristocratic hostesses who dictated the social rules governing high society.  These figures often people the novels of Regency romance, and provide fascinating authenticity to the period we love so much.

But underneath all that opulence and splendour lived another England—one that was violent and dark, and suffered all the evils of poverty and a society on the verge of massive change.  For the Regency author, this gothic underworld is a rich source of dramatic conflict.  It’s especially interesting to explore the subtleties of class distinctions that make English society so unique.  And what better way to do this than by creating a hero and heroine separated from each other by social class and wealth.  Those were huge barriers back in the early nineteenth-century, ones we have trouble imagining today, and it’s so much fun—as a writer—to explore those differences. 

I came to my love of Regency romance like many readers of the genre—by falling in love with the novels of Jane Austen.  So much so, that I went on to study English literature of the Regency period in graduate school.  I specialized in the novels of Fanny Burney, and studied the theme of madness in her books.  Years later, that theme was still rattling around in my head, and when I started writing my own Regency romance, madhouses and conniving relatives, and dastardly villains soon made their way into my book.

MASTERING THE MARQUESS is the story of a woman intent on saving her little sister from incarceration in an insane asylum.  My heroine, Meredith, turns for help to the Marquess of Silverton, a man above her class, and arrogant and powerful to boot.  Meredith has always led a sheltered life in the country, but she soon finds herself thrown into the unfamiliar and bewildering world of London’s high society.  Add in the madhouse and the villains, along with the social snobs, and you have a romance that combines the glittering elegance of the Regency ton with the dark underworld of the Gothic.

So, dear readers, what do you think?  What is it about that Regency that fascinates us so much, and makes it such a great period to read and write about?

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Leave a comment for a chance to win a copy of MASTERING THE MARQUESS. Entries accepted until midnight, PST.

To read Vanessa’s bio and the back cover blurb for MASTERING THE MARQUESS, please see yesterday’s post.

To learn more about Vanessa and her upcoming books, please visit her website.

BALLOON DAYS

Cindy, thank you for having me here. I am so excited. SOUL STEALER, my first book, was released from Samhain Publishing on Saint Patty’s day. And I haven’t stopped celebrating yet. In fact, it’s all been one big party.

The day I got the call from Samhain editor, Deborah Nemeth, (well, really it was an email) felt like my birthday. It was as if I had gone to bed the night before as me, struggling writer, and woke up reborn as the published author I’d always dreamed of being. Okay, that sounds WAY too melodramatic, but anyone who has ever worked at a goal for twenty years will know exactly what I’m talking about. An honest-to-goodness editor from a wonderful publishing house loved my book, SOUL STEALER.  Yep, it was my birthday. To prove it, one of those helium birthday balloons dropped from the heavens and landed in my front yard. Honestly. I don’t know where it came from, or who it belonged to, but I put it up in the entryway and left it there for a month. After so many years of writing and five years of working nonstop to get published—the day had finally arrived. I’ve got to tell you, it was my best birthday ever!

SOUL STEALER started out as a very bad writing prompt. My local newspaper posted a short story contest with the winner receiving a free scholarship to a writer’s conference. I wanted to go, but the writing prompt was about a man who sees a beautiful woman and kills her. Ewww. I didn’t think I could do it. I can’t even read serial killer stories! I’d have nightmares, shoot, I’d never sleep again. I mulled the idea over in my head and came up with a plan. What if I turned it into a love story? What if the man was really Death and the woman he comes to kill is the one woman he can’t live without? Ah-ha! The germ of an idea for SOUL STEALER was born. And no. I didn’t win that contest, LOL. But the idea took hold and I kept writing until SOUL STEALER was a completed book. I truly love it and hope you will too.

Now, tell me, what would you offer Death for a trade for more time?

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Leave a comment to enter for a chance to win an ebook of SOUL STEALER. Entries accepted until midnight, PST.

To read Kimberley’s bio and the blurb for SOUL STEALER, please see yesterday’s post. A link to an excerpt for SOUL STEALER is also in yesterday’s post.

To learn more about Kimberley and her upcoming releases, please visit her website.