Georgian England was a place and time of excitement and wonder. Lots of changes going. Lots of money flowing around England. Lots of crime and inventions. But, you know what interests me? The little things about daily life during the period of the four King Georges—not *gasp* the fashions. I know. That’s sacrilege for a historical romance reader since most people want the gorgeous gowns. I like clothes, but the day to day goings on excite me more. So, let’s try something. I’ll list 5 Facts About Georgian England (the time period of the Midnight Meetings series), and you tell me which fact(s) are new to you and which are old news: The Royal Academy of Arts was founded in 1768 by 34 artists in Piccadilly. Of those 34 artists, 2 were women: Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman. To celebrate, a group portrait was commissioned to be painted in the Academy’s great hall. But, the women weren’t allowed to stand (or sit) for the group portrait. Only the men. The women were allowed to hang their self-portraits on the wall behind the men. The artist painted their portrait into the group painting. Hmmmm…adds credence to, “Behind every great man, there…

Verity Sinclair looked around the opulent drawing room, drinking in every detail of the decor and the fashionable crowd. She had to resist an urge to pinch herself to prove she was actually here, and not dreaming. It had taken her five endless years to convince her parents that she should have a London season. They hadn’t been able to see the point of it, no matter what advantages she brought forward. Papa and Mama were quietly happy living in a cathedral close and being held up as models of decorum for the whole bishopric. Verity, on the other hand, often thought she’d go mad within those staid confines. She sighed. She loved her parents dearly, but for most of her life she’d felt like a grasshopper reared by ants. Indeed, at age eight, she’d shocked her parents by asking if she was adopted. She hadn’t meant to hurt their feelings or to imply any lack of affection. Their differences had just seemed so marked. Mama and Papa relished routine; Verity yearned for adventure. They read scholarly tomes; she pored over Robinson Crusoe and accounts of the voyages of Captain Cook. They preferred solitude or the company of a few…

Thank you Fresh Fiction fans for inviting me to join you and helping celebrate the release of book #2 in my Rakes of St. James trilogy, TO THE DUKE, WITH LOVE. Usually, I’m thinking about how to thicken my plot with twists and turns, drama, and romance the way I did in TO THE DUKE, WITH LOVE. My main ingredient is a rake of the highest order, add a spoonful of a heroine who took a vow to never marry, and a dash of street kid who sneaks into her life, steals her heart as well as some valuable things and you have a thick plot. But it’s December. It’s damp, and chilly. And time to think about making a pot of my favorite homemade soup. Beef and veggie. Unlike my mother, who was a wizard in the kitchen and could have made Styrofoam taste good, I don’t always, okay seldom, cook from scratch and use a recipe or fresh ingredients. It takes too long to wash all the veggies, peel them, and then cut or dice them. No, I’d rather be writing. So even though it takes a lot of thought and time for my plot to thicken when…

Over the past two years, I have spent considerable time in the company of the inspiring historical women at the heart of my two novels THE THE OTHER EINSTEIN and CARNEGIE’S MAID, and although the women hail from different times and different places, they have taught me countless shared lessons. Sometimes their instruction focuses upon the writing process — the particular conundrums inherent in writing historical fiction — and sometimes their tutelage concerns life itself. Whittling that voluminous list of lessons down to five is a daunting task, but I hope their teachings resonate. Lesson 1 One of the delights and challenges in writing historical fiction is the research material, which can be simultaneously overwhelming and sparse. This might seem contradictory, but if you’ve ever gone down a historical rabbit role in search of a specific answer, only to emerge with an abundance of information about a seemingly fruitful, but ultimately tangential topic and nothing that answers your original question, then you know what I mean. One of my favorite authors — Kate Atkinson — has some excellent advice on this problem, which I’ve adopted with modifications in my own writing process. I begin by immersing myself deeply in the…

When he fixes something When he’s not afraid to model…nude. When he cleans. Or cooks. Or even better…cooks and THEN cleans. When he loves the things you love, and supports your art.   When he makes you laugh Spoiler alert: In A Cruel Kind of Beautiful, Jacob does ALL of these things… A CRUEL KIND OF BEAUTIFUL by Michelle Hazen Sex, Love, and Rock and Roll #1 If you can’t get to the Big O, can you get to the happily ever after? Jera McKnight loves music, swoons for hot guys, but sucks at sex. Jacob Tate is her perfect storm: a pun-loving nude model with a heart as big as his record collection. When a newspaper-delivery accident lands him in her living room, he’s almost tempting enough to make her forget she’s never been able to please a man–in bed or out of it. Sure, he laughs at her obscure jokes, and he’ll even accept a PG-rating if it means he gets time with her, but he’s also hiding something. And it has everything to do with the off-limits room in his apartment. Jera pours all her confusion and longing into her drum kit, which pays off when her…