Spoiler alert: I’m about to seriously date myself. When I was in college, all my girlfriends were crazy about the movie Somewhere in Time, starring Jane Seymour and the late Christopher Reeve. In case that film was before your time, it’s about a modern-day playwright named Richard Collins, who travels back in time to meet, court, and win the heart of Elise McKenna, a turn-of-the-century actress whose image and mysterious story have captivated him. Just as it appears that love will win the day, Richard reaches into his pocket and pulls out a forgotten 1979 penny, which immediately yanks him out of the past, away from his soul mate, and literally “back to the future.” My own stories are set in my native South, and I feel as if I spend a big chunk of my writing time dodging The Dreaded Coin, working as hard as I can to skirt my way around anything and everything that might yank a reader out of the story. It doesn’t take much. One factual inaccuracy (like putting the Brazos River in Mississippi) or one line of dialogue that sounds nothing like authentic Southern speech (“I’m mad about you! Mad I say!”), and the…

I’ve written over thirty romances set during the Regency period in England. I love the Regency, but lately, I’ve wanted to explore a different time period—the French Revolution. I get varied reactions to this announcement. Some of my readers are excited. Others are not interested in reading a book set during that time period. I hear, “Guillotines are not sexy” and “I like my British dukes, thank you very much.” You know the great thing about my books? As Marie Antoinette said, “You get your cake and can eat it too!” Okay, she didn’t say that, but she never said “Let them eat cake either.” But you will get everything you love in a Regency in one of my French Revolution-set books, especially To Tempt a Rebel, which releases March 12. 1. Page-turning Suspense The guillotine may not be sexy, but when my hero and heroine face the National Razor if they are caught out after curfew, it certainly makes those midnight rendezvous a little more tense and meaningful. With all the turmoil and unrest during the revolution, Alex and Tristan are always just one step ahead of the guards, and I promise you’ll keep turning pages to see if…

I’ve explored many themes over the years while writing historical romance. In doing so, I discovered the potential obstacles to two people falling in love and being together were pretty much the same in the periods in which my stories are set as they are now—family issues, economic/class disparity, job demands, etc. I’ve written about all of those. Another, perhaps stickier challenge when writing period romance is tackling societal approval for a so-called “unconventional” love. Except…it’s not an issue restricted to period romance. It’s an issue for romance, period. Although humanity has (generally) made great social progress over the last three hundred years, there are still some big societal hurdles to be leaped—for some, hurdles that have existed for millennia. I address one of these in my new release A Wicked Reputation. A Wicked Reputation features not one, but two romances, one revealed in the back cover copy, the other more subtly implied. Without spoiling too much, I can tell you that while both couples encounter immense challenges to achieving their happy ever after, the danger for one of these is far greater. For this couple, because of societal intolerances of the period (which, unfortunately, haven’t yet been entirely eradicated),…

Prologue Once upon a time—in May 1785, to be exact—Angus MacTaggert, Earl Aldriss, traveled from the middle of the Scottish Highlands to London in search of a wealthy bride to save his well-loved but crumbling estate. Aldriss Park had been in the MacTaggert family since the time of Henry VIII, when Domhnall MacTaggert, despite being Catholic and married, declared publicly that Henry should be able to wed as many lasses as he wanted until one of them got him a son. Aldriss Park was the newly minted earl’s reward for his support and understanding. For the next two hundred years Aldriss thrived, until the weight of poor harvests, the ever-intruding, rule-making Sassenach, and the MacTaggerts’ own fondness for drinking, gambling, and wild investments (including an early bicycle design wherein the driver sat between two wheels; sadly, it had no braking mechanism and after a series of accidents nearly began a war within the MacTaggerts’ clan Ross) began to sink it into disrepair. When Angus inherited the title in 1783, he realized the old castle needed far more than a fresh coat of paint to keep it from both physical collapse and bankruptcy. And so he determined to go down among…

So many wonderful books to read and not nearly enough time! My TBR pile continues to grow exponentially. Amazing books are releasing every week. Some by long-time favorite authors and some by new-to-me authors I’ve been dying to check out. But every now and then, when I get an opportunity to grab a book to read, I veer away from the TBR and head toward my collection of old favorites. Consisting mostly of Old School Romance from the 90s, my favorites are currently residing in large Tupperware bins in my basement. My Johanna Lindsey’s fill one bin all on their own. There is just something about going back over and over to reread these stories that initiated my love of Romance and Historical Romance specifically. Over the years, these books have inspired me, thrilled me, comforted me, and even surprised me when on occasion, a reread will unexpectedly provide a whole new perspective on a story I thought I knew so well. Today, I’m going to share some of my all-time favorite rereads. Maybe some are your favorites, too! Since I already mentioned Johanna Lindsey, I’ll start there. Like so many other Historical Romance readers, I adore the Malory family…

Today we are joined by Fresh Fiction Senior Reviewer Miranda Owen: I am a widowed lady, well past the age of innocence. Why should I not kiss a handsome man in a drawing room? A little carnality won’t hurt me.  – THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE by Jennifer Ashley I find stories with a widowed heroine particularly compelling. For good or bad, marriage and living with somebody play a huge role in your life, and how you function every day. In a good marriage, your partner enhances your life – in small ways and big ways. If you have the misfortune to be in a bad marriage, it sours many aspects of your life. In different ways, stories about women who have loved and lost, as well as stories about women who have endured until being set free by a spouse’s death, are equally fascinating. In stories where there was some affection between the husband and wife, an author tries to convey the love that existed and how the wife is left to pick up the pieces. One of the first stories I read with a widowed heroine was THE MADNESS OF LORD IAN MACKENZIE by Jennifer Ashley. In Jennifer…

The women of World War II fascinate us and D-day is one of the most pivotal events in modern history, so I enjoyed exploring both in THE SKY ABOVE US, book 2 in the Sunrise at Normandy series. While my hero flies above the landing beaches in his P-51 Mustang, my heroine runs the American Red Cross Aeroclub at his airfield. Here are some interesting things I learned about the Red Cross in World War II. 1. At a time when the population of the United States was 132 million, 37 million adults and 20 million children and youth belonged to the Red Cross, with 7.5 million serving as volunteers. In addition, 40,000 men and women were paid workers with the Red Cross. 2. Of those overseas workers, twenty-nine women died, primarily in plane crashes, but also due to enemy shelling. 3. Women who worked with the American Red Cross overseas had to be at least twenty-five years old and have a college degree. They underwent an extensive interview process and had to complete training in Washington, DC. The women had the “equivalent status” of an officer, which granted them many officer privileges. 4. The American Red Cross operated hundreds…

Welcome back to the Fresh Fiction Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup! Every day this week, some of our favorite authors will be on the blog chatting about their new books, their main characters, and a recipe for a meal or treat those characters would enjoy this festive week. Today we have the three historical romance authors of the novella anthology, LOVE BY THE LETTERS! Enjoy, and come back tomorrow for more fun! Missed our previous roundup posts? Check them out here! Mystery Authors Contemporary Romance Authors A is for Amorous by Grace Burrowes Ada Beauvais is a spinster in training and an amateur scientist. Her interests range from compost heaps to botany to corrective lenses. The last thing she would volunteer to do is swill tea while politely asking people to donate to a failing orphanage. Lord John Waverly, headmaster of that orphanage, is no better at soliciting funds than Ada is, and he’s too busy managing forty lively children to keep as close an eye on the ledgers as he ought. Lord John’s family despairs of him, and wonders why he can’t take up a country parsonage like all the normal younger sons do. They are a little bit of…

I’m so excited to launch the first book of Outlaw Mail Order Brides, THE OUTLAW’S MAIL ORDER BRIDE. I’ve wanted to tell these stories ever since I wrote Tally Shannon and her band of fugitive women into To Love a Texas Ranger (Men of Legend, Book #1).  Tally Shannon’s stepmother put her into an asylum to get rid of her following the death of her father. A year later she escapes along with other women in the same situation and they take refuge in Deliverance Canyon. Each wears a tattoo on her cheek, put there by the warden for identifying purposes which makes going into town impossible. In addition, Tally has a price on her head. The warden is desperate to get her back. After a year of living in hiding, Tally yearns for a better life for her and her women. Luke Legend and his wife Josie have started a private bride service for people like her who are living in the shadows and she starts corresponding with outlaw Clay Colby. Only another fugitive will know what it’s like to be hunted. Clay is also desperate for change and has decided to make a town out of the hideout where he’s been…

I grew up reading romances. In fact, the first adult novels I remember reading were Victoria Holt’s gothic romances. Full of windswept moors, isolated castles, danger, mystery, suspense, and of course, heart-thumping romances, these books seeped into my bloodstream and I’ve been hooked ever since. My newest book, How to Blackmail a Highlander, book 3 in my MacGregor Lairds series, combines quite a few of my favorite romance-book elements to create a funny, thrilling, and utterly romantic romp through the highlands. These are ten things (in no particular order) that I love in a romance: 1. A good believable conflict – there is always a reason the main couple can’t get together right away, but it drives me nuts if the reason is a simple misunderstanding that a two-second conversation would clear up (though even these can work if done well). I prefer a good, solid “someone will die if we get together” or an “I love you but I’m supposed to hate you” type conflict. A reason to stay apart that has some teeth to it 🙂 2. A flawed heroine – I really love a girl that has some weird quirk…maybe she’s klutzy, or always has her nose…