One of the most popular historical romance eras is “The Regency” which runs according to Wikipedia, “The Regency in Great Britain was a period when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son ruled as his proxy as Prince Regent. On the death of George III in 1820, the Prince Regent became George IV. The term Regency (or Regency era) can refer to various stretches of time; some are longer than the decade of the formal Regency which lasted from 1811–1820. The period from 1795 to 1837, which includes the latter part of the reign of George III and the reigns of his sons George IV and William IV, is often regarded as the Regency era, characterised by distinctive trends in British architecture, literature, fashions, politics, and culture. The Regency era ended in 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded William IV.” But Elizabeth Hoyt went earlier, not medieval, but to the time during the reign of George III when he was “fit to reign” or during the fun times, you know, American Revolution, skirmishes with the French and so on. The time periods are distinctly different in clothes, culture and attitides so we asked Elizabeth to tell us…

DUKE OF DESIRE Long Excerpt Iris tasted of red wine—the red wine she must have drunk at dinner—and all the reasons he shouldn’t do this fled his mind. A vital chain broke in his psyche and everything he’d held back, everything he’d restrained with all his might, was suddenly set free. He surged into her mouth, desperate for the feel, for the taste of her, his wife, his duchess, his Iris. She was soft and sweet and warm and he wanted to devour her. To seize her and hold her and never let her go. The deep unfathomable well of his urges toward her frightened him, and he knew that if she became aware of them, they would frighten her as well. But that was the thing—she wasn’t aware of them. She thought she was simply consummating their marriage or some such rot, God help them both. She gripped his naked arms and the beast within him shuddered and stretched, claws scraping against the ground. Dear God, he wanted this woman. But he had to remember—to keep that human part of his mind awake and alive—that he mustn’t seed her. Must never do as his cursed father had done. He…

I leave for a writer’s retreat on Wednesday. It’s a week at a Tennessee cabin with fellow writers Cindy Dees and Elizabeth Hoyt. I’m sure those on FB will see all sorts of interesting #Squidge pictures there. So here are a few interesting musing in (what is to become) my standard format. 1. We found this cabin a) while hiking. Elizabeth Hoyt broke her ankle and Cindy and I carried her to the door and met a god of a lumberjack who nursed her back to health. b) by googling “random cabin somewhere to hide and write.” Also known as drink and talk about fantasy men c) cabin choices are always filtered by superimposing Starbucks locations in a 2 mile radius. No retreat is possible without mochas. d) at the Brenda Novak auction Answer: D In truth, the idea of retreat in Tennessee sounded so good, we just bid without looking too closely at it. We’re not exactly sure how rustic it will be. Fortunately, there is a Starbucks nearby, so at least we’ll have coffee. Also…(A) did happen, but only in Elizabeth’s …um… nighttime musings… (And OBVIOUSLY, the god of a lumberjack was Mr. Hoyt. And she reminds me…

Maiden Lane #1 August 2010 On Sale: August 1, 2010 Featuring: Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire; Temperance Dews 400 pages ISBN: 044655894X EAN: 9780446558945 Mass Market Paperback $6.99 Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com A 2010 Fresh Fiction Favorite Read. “Not to be missed” Wicked Intentions by Elizabeth Hoyt A MAN CONTROLLED BY HIS DESIRES . . . Infamous for his wild, sensual needs, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, is searching for a savage killer in St. Giles, London’s most notorious slum. Widowed Temperance Dews knows St. Giles like the back of her hand-she’s spent a lifetime caring for its inhabitants at the foundling home her family established. Now that home is at risk . . . A WOMAN HAUNTED BY HER PAST . . . Caire makes a simple offer-in return for Temperance’s help navigating the perilous alleys of St. Giles, he will introduce her to London’s high society so that she can find a benefactor for the home. But Temperance may not be the innocent she seems, and what begins as cold calculation soon falls prey to a passion that neither can control-one that may well destroy them both. A BARGAIN NEITHER COULD REFUSE An arousing and…

So my May book is the third in a four book series set in Georgian England. The series is The Legend of the Four Soldiers and the book is To Beguile a Beast. The other three books are about soldiers coming home from war. But To Beguile a Beast doesn’t have a soldier hero. Sir Alistair Munroe is a civilian naturalist. The other three soldier heroes were in the British army when their regiment was decimated by the French and their Indian allies. They volunteered for the army or bought a commission, but in any case, they chose to be there. Sir Alistair just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. And while the other heroines in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series are aristocratic heroines, Helen Fitzwilliam, the heroine of To Beguile a Beast is no aristocrat. Nor is she a lady. Click to read the rest and to comment on Elizabeth’s blog. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

I signed off with that last week and didn’t get a whole ton of feedback, but ah well, it didn’t stop me from reading more stuff. So, because I’ve got a full day including an 8am stop at Central Market Plano for their ‘to-die-for’ pancakes — very very early on a Saturday — I need to buckle down and write. This week was filled with thrillers, weepers, and a little bit of historical romance. First off…finally finished DARK OF NIGHT and was a bit disappointed in the quality of the book. I mean, seriously folks, it’s a f@#ing hardcover and the pages are falling out with one read? And I am NOT a messy reader. No dog earing, no cracking of spines or folding of pages. Geez! That put me off greatly BTW. Even if I got it at Costco and not full retail, a hardcover with pages falling out! What has the world come to? Oh, and the book was good. I wasn’t entirely happy with the reason for all the thrills and chills, but the ride was satisfying. Why did Nash go on all those ‘covert missions’? I didn’t buy the “money” angle. Ah well. Maybe there is…

I’m writing my sixth historical book now—the third in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series—and already I’ve gone off my writing map. Writers generally fall into two groups: ones who plot out their story before they begin writing and those who wing it. I’m in the former camp, but here’s the thing: no matter how meticulously I plot before I write, no matter how much I try to foresee all eventualities, I always end up making detours from my plot. Detours, in writing as in life, are sometimes frustrating (How do I get back on the main road?) sometimes confusing (Can I get back to the main road?) but usually interesting, and sometimes revolutionary. For example. About ten years ago my life took a major detour. I was a stay-at-home mom living in the city where I’d grown up, spending what free time I had volunteering in a non-profit organization. Then my husband got a new job. In a different state. I wasn’t pleased, but my husband was the main breadwinner at that time in our family, so I pulled up my roots, left the non-profit I’d been so active in, and moved away from both family and friends….

So, the other day after my computer blew up, I decided that I needed a break from reality and I stuck a DVD in the player, sat back, and prepared to enjoy a whole lot of bare nekkid male chests. But a strange feeling came over me as I watched the previews to the movie. A feeling that I may have chosen A Really Bad Movie. Herewith is a list of my Ten Clues that perhaps I was not the target audience for the movie 300: 1. The pre-movie advertisements are for violent video games aimed at fourteen-year-old boys. 2. The men are all wearing leather shorts. 3. All the bad guys are ugly or gay or both, and the chief bad guy is wearing gold lipstick. 4. Sacred lepers. 5. Eugenics is a good cultural practice and the only people who are against it are wussy hunchbacks who can’t fight like real he-men anyway. 6. The traitor bad guy has a bad guy mustache. 7. The traitor bad guy tells the heroine that the only way she can save the hero is to have skanky sex with him. And she falls for it. 8. War rhinos. 9. The Deep…