I fell in love with fairy tales and romance stories as a little girl watching Walt Disney movies on the big screen. I had imaginary mouse friends I’d modeled after Cinderella’s pals Jacques and Gus, and I created my own stories of handsome princes coming to rescue me and sweep me off to their castles. Is it any wonder I became a romance writer? To this day, I get choked up when the music swells at the end of a Disney movie and the narrator speaks those magic words…”And they lived happily ever after.” Dreamy sigh.

When I sat down to write TRUST IN ME, I didn’t intend to draw parallels to the Cinderella story, but fairy tale references crept in, just the same. Soon I realized what I had, and the story really came to life for me. While not a strict retelling of Cinderella, I call the story my ‘Cinderfella’ book.

Kevin is a small town guy, working a blue collar job and struggling to get by. Claire is the wealthy and sheltered girl, searching for independence and a fresh start. More than once, Kevin rides to Claire’s rescue, much to her dismay, since she wants to learn to handle little crises on her own. Yet through his good deeds, Claire begins to see Kevin as more prince than pauper, more white knight than frog. For example, when Claire’s car won’t start, Kevin takes her home on his trusty steed…er, motorcycle. Here’s an excerpt:

He pulled up next to her and killed the engine. Tugging off the helmet, he extended it toward her. “Here, you wear this. I only have one, and I’d rather you wear it.”

She gaped at him a moment, unmoving, numb with trepidation.

“A m-motorcycle?”

His chestnut eyebrows whipped together. “Is that a problem? I guess I should have explained … I don’t have a car.”

“Is it safe?”

He grinned. “As long as we don’t crash.”

Her pulse jumped, sending adrenaline scampering through her blood. Her face must have reflected her doubts, because Kevin sobered quickly and raised a hand toward her. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t joke about it. I’ll drive slow, and you’ll be safe. I promise.”

The warmth and concern in his gaze reached deep inside her, calming her nerves more than his words could. Her soul seemed to know instinctively to trust Kevin. She accepted the helmet with a trembling hand and drew a slow breath for courage. Pulling the helmet on, she fastened the chin strap and lifted her gaze to Kevin for assurance she’d put the protective gear on correctly. 

He grinned, then slapped the seat behind him. “Swing a leg over and hold tight to me. On turns, lean with me.”

She nodded and took another deep breath, inhaling the aroma of sweat, leather and soap inside the helmet. The intoxicating blend of scents spun her senses in new directions, all centered around Kevin. She clambered onto the motorcycle, self-conscious over her lack of finesse. If Kevin noticed her fumbling, he had the courtesy not to comment. Thank goodness she’d worn slacks today, a concession to comfort her mother would have never approved of, but which now proved a good choice.

Kevin started the engine, and Claire wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing herself close to his broad back. The rumbling engine echoed the thrum of her pulse, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

As he prepared to drive away, Kevin shifted his weight, and the bike rocked. She gasped and clutched his shirt tighter.

Placing a hand on her leg, he gave her knee a quick squeeze and turned his head toward her. “You can trust me, you know. I’d never let you fall.”

I was tickled to learn that Romantic Times Book Reviews called TRUST IN ME “a thoroughly delightful romance.” I hope you’ll agree! TRUST IN ME is available for download from Amazon here: http://amzn.to/t2XHkr

Now it is your turn. Tell me why you love fairy tales and which fairy tale is your favorite, but hurry, the spell …okay, the comment period …only lasts until midnight ET on May 13. I’ll choose one comment at random on May 14 to win an ebook copy (so international readers can play too!) of either my award winning romantic suspense UNDER FIRE or REYN’S REDEMPTION (winner’s choice). Thanks and happy reading!

Beth Cornelison

Award winning author Beth Cornelison received her bachelor’s degree in Public Relations from the University of Georgia. After working in public relations for about a year, she moved with her husband to Louisiana, where she decided to pursue her love of writing fiction.

Since that time, she has won numerous honors for her work including a final in the Rita contest sponsored by the Romance Writers of America. She made her first sale to Silhouette Intimate Moments in June 2004 and has gone on to sell many more books to Harlequin/ Silhouette. She has also published with Five Star Expressions, Samhain Publishing, and Sourcebooks.

Beth has presented workshops across the country to numerous chapter meetings, conferences, online classes and book clubs. She lives in Louisiana with her husband, one son and a fluctuating number of cats who think they are people.

It has made me really think about a question I’m being asked at signing events for Paris in Love.  “Given the title, who exactly is in love?”  The simplest answer is: me.  I fell in love with the city, and so I paid it the same loving attention that we give a new, adored person.  But I also fell in love with my children (again).  Given the time to really listen to them, I discovered that they are growing up into fascinating, complex, and very funny individuals.  I fell in love with my husband (again): we found each other again during the year, in an unexpectedly delightful twist to the year we ran away from home.  And finally, Paris in Love describes a romance we watched throughout the year, which ended with a romantic twist that even I—author of over twenty romances—couldn’t have dreamed up.

But let’s get back to marriages and their possible demise.  Not everybody can sell their house & cars, as we did, and simply fly away to a foreign country.  But almost everybody can arrange, somehow, to spend a day and a night away from home—perhaps by trading babysitting/house duties with friends who have kids.  I think it’s deeply important to run away from home, every once in a while, taking your partner with you.  I’d say that’s the best advice I can draw from Paris in Love.

What’s some advice you’d suggest, for friends who may be heading toward marital disaster?  What’s worked best in your life?

The story idea for A Lady’s Revenge came from a scene that flashed through my mind of a young woman chained to a wooden table in a dungeon. What sparked the image is a mystery, but it intrigued me enough that I wrote it down. Thus, the beginning of my writing career.

Then came the hard part—answering the multitude of questions needed to create a story. What was her name? Why was she in a dungeon? Who held her captive? Where were they holding her? When I set out to answer these questions, I had no idea they would lead me to the Nexus, my fictional group of international spies. I thought it would be fun for us to meander through the process I took to create this elite group of spies, which eventually resulted in a three-book deal.

Now about those questions…

My heroine’s location: I couldn’t come up with a good reason for her to be held in an English dungeon, so I turned my eye toward England’s enemy—France. That was one of my easier questions to answer. Next, I had to determine why she was a prisoner in a French dungeon. My story takes place in the year 1804, which turned out to be perfect fodder for an English-French political conflict. This revelation eventually led to the realization that my heroine needed to be a spy. Perfect! Then all I had to do was make the small connection of her getting caught doing spylike things by the villain.

As you can see, each step took me deeper into a world of espionage. A world I knew nothing about. I spent hours researching and collecting a good deal of valuable information about the political unrest of the time, but I eventually plateaued. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a single reference to a spy network operating in the Regency period. Finally, I broke down and contacted a researcher used by one of my favorite historical authors. Within a few days, she found an article by Elizabeth Sparrow in The Historical Journal titled The Alien Office, 1792–1806. From there, she located Sparrow’s book Secret Service: British Agents in France, 1792–1815.  Ever heard the term “gold mine?”

In these two resources, I found a wealth of research on an administrative office of what would eventually evolve into Britain’s secret service. The Alien Office’s origins were decidedly not glamorous—unless you think post offices are adventurous. The British government—fearful of a civil uprising that would match the revolution in France—established the “foreign letter office” to open mail sent to and from foreign embassies and their governments. The mail was opened, copied, deciphered and then resealed before being forwarded onto its proper destination.

Where did the Nexus come into all this fabulous research? Sparrow’s investigation revealed that the Alien Office had a connection to both the Home and Foreign Offices. This bit of information was music to my ears. It gave my network of spies a home base. So I created the Nexus, a division of the Alien Office, which took its direction from the Foreign Office. Convoluted? I agree. Positioning the Nexus legitimately within the British government took a great deal of time, ingenuity, and a wonderful research assistant.

But I’m really happy with the result and so glad I sought professional help with the research. It was well worth the money.

Has your research led you to a wonderful and unexpected discovery? What was the most interesting thing you’ve ever learned while doing research for your story?

Please leave a comment by 9:00 pm (Central) for a chance to win a print copy of A Lady’s Revenge (U.S. and Canada only, please).

* * *

BRIEF SUMMARY OF A LADY’S REVENGE:

A British agent flees her French captor’s torturous dungeon and falls in love with the decoder responsible for her imprisonment.

British agent Cora deBeau has spent the last three years seducing secrets from the most hardened of French spies while searching for her parents’ killer. When her latest assignment goes awry, she suffers at the hands of her French captor until Guy Trevelyan, the Earl of Helsford and master cryptographer, saves her during a daring rescue. Scarred and wary of men, Cora shies away from the one man who could heal her savaged heart.

After rescuing Cora from a French dungeon, Guy discovers it was one of his deciphered messages that led to her captivity. Guy strives to earn her forgiveness while outwitting their enemy. But will he find the scars on her wounded soul run too deep?

* * *

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tracey Devlyn writes historical romantic thrillers (translation: a slightly more grievous journey toward the heroine’s happy ending). An Illinois native, Tracey spends her evenings harassing her once-in-a-lifetime husband and her weekends torturing her characters. For more information on Tracey, including her Internet haunts, contest updates, and details on her upcoming novels, please visit her website at:

TraceyDevlyn.com  |  Twitter.com/TraceyDevlyn Facebook.com/AuthorTraceyDevlyn

LadyJanesSalonNaperville.com

BUY LINKS

Amazon | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository

First of all, thanks to all the Jaunty Quills and especially Margo Maguire, my lovely and talented host, for having me here today. Since I can pick my own topic, I decided to visit with you about the opening few sentences of a novel.

Think about the books you love. Chances are the first sentence is a grabber that sticks with you. The literary pantheon is filled with iconic openers:

1. Call me Ishmael.
2. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
3. There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
4. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
5. In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

Each one calls you into the special world of the story, sets the tone and gives you a sense of what sort of tale you’re in for. Authors only have a few sentences to grab a reader. That’s why I spend more time on the opening sentences of my books than any other because they’re just so important. And even though I’m intimidated about sharing the beginning of Touch of a Rogue with you after the memorable openers above, here is your introduction to the hero of my upcoming release:

The bed creaked out a merry rhythm of squeaks and scritches, like a chorus of tree frogs. The woman buried deep in the feather mattress moaned and gasped at the man’s exertions over her.

Unfortunately for Jacob Aubrey Preston, he was not the man in the bed. Instead, he was under it, tugging his trousers back up, with nothing to show for his evening except a deeper acquaintance with dust balls.

From that beginning, I hope you get the idea that Touch of a Rogue is going to be a funny, sensual adventure, especially once Jacob meets the widowed Countess of Cambourne. She’s a budding feminist who finds men convenient at times, but is reluctant to surrender the freedom of widowhood to one.

Just for fun, run go get the book you’re currently reading and share the opening line with us. Or you can name the book title and/or author of some of the first lines I shared. When you do, you’ll be entered in my drawing. Two lucky commenters are going to receive an advance reading copy of Touch of a Thief. Good luck!

Mia Marlowe’s Touch of a Thief (Feb. 28, 2012 Kensington) was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s Top Ten Romances for Spring 2012! Mia loves to hear from readers, so please pop by her cyber-home at MiaMarlowe.com (Be sure to enter her contest while you’re there!) Or find her on Facebook and Twitter!

Last June my son, Travis, or Son One as I call him (some of you might remember him as RT’s Mr. Romance runner-up from a few years back–tee hee–you cannot imagine how fun it is to tease him about that) got married to a gorgeous young woman from Cameroon. Gorgeous young woman, as it happens, has an equally gorgeous son, who I will hereby refer to Grandson One or G-1. Anywhoo, a few months ago I pried my wallet open and took G-1 to see Untangled. You know the film-spunky heroine, sexy hero, opinionated horse, lots of hair. It was a fun flick and just about right for a six year old…or a romance writer…since it was basically a love story.

So after the credits were rolling away and the popcorn salt had been licked from every finger I turned to G-1 and asked what his favorite part of the movie was. Now remember…he’s a boy…he’s six…he’s being raised by macho 6’3” Son One. So what do you think his answer was? Anybody? No?

Well I’ll tell you…he didn’t pause, didn’t bat an eyelash, didn’t take time to breathe. He just said, “When they kissed.” Huh? I did a double take, did another take, then stared at him agog, because when he asked what my favorite part was I had to tell him the truth; It was when spunky heroine hit sexy hero with the frying pan…which by the by was quite often. I don’t know if you remember the film, but sexy hero spent about half the movie catatonic and I was more thrilled each time cast iron met skull.

So (note clever segue here) when I began writing Uncorked, my 7th Chrissy McMullen mystery, I wasn’t exactly sure how to begin. I mean, Chrissy is one of my favorite people in the entire solar system and she really deserves to be happy. She really deserves to be happy with the guy who makes her crazy…Lieutenant Jack Rivera. But where’s the fun in that? I mean…you can’t start out all cozy right? Where you gonna go from there?

With that thought in mind, I opened the book with a knock down drag out fight. In fact, in chapter one, Chrissy’s dating another guy. Granted, she can rarely remember Other Guy’s name when Rivera is within shouting distance, but she assures the good lieutenant that‘s she‘s crazy about…about…what’s his face. It made for tons of sexual tension. And if there’s anything I like better than seeing a guy hit in the head with a frying pan, it’s sexual tension.

So what about you? What’s your favorite part of a romance, the fighting or the flirting? Or do you need both to make it work?

To celebrate the online release of Uncorked, my 7th Chrissy McMullen novel, I’m giving away a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings to one much appreciated commenter.

Visit Lois’s website for news and information on her newest release, and a chance to win an Amazon gift card and be sure to check out Uncorked! You can follow Lois on Facebook and keep track of the Chrissy McMullen series here. Follow LoisGreiman on Twitter, too!

Sir Justin Fiebvre

My daughter has a terrible case of Bieber Fever. Just in case the details of this notable illness have passed you by, here are the symptoms:

1)    Her room is painted in three shades of purple, since that is Justin Bieber’s favorite color.

2)    There are three bulletin boards over her sofa, all covered with pictures of Justin torn out of Tiger Beat, occasionally with his beloved, Selena Gomez, and in one notable example, bare-chested (my husband disapproves of this one).

3)    To the right of the bulletin boards is a full-length concert poster of the Bieb.

4)    To the left of the bulletin boards is a black-and-white canvas close-up of…yes! Justin’s face.

5)    Over her desk?  A quote in vinyl lettering from one of his songs (it took her father and me a full hour to figure out how to transfer the letters to the wall).

Have I forgotten anything?

Well, there is the Justin nail polish (not that she uses it), and the Justin toothbrush, and the Justin singing doll…

Now you know why Sir Justin Fiebvre appears in The Duke is Mine:  because if your beloved daughter spends approximately 20 out of 24 hours of the day talking about Justin, at some point a writer has no recourse but to stick the fellow in a book.  He wears purple velvet, in case you’re wondering… and all the girls scream when he sings.  I think he’s going to be a literary hit;  Julia Quinn wrote me and said that he was her favorite character in the book (Sorry, Olivia and Quin!).

So if you could take any star from pop culture and shape him into a character in a romance, who would it be? Eloisa will be giving away a signed copy of When Beauty Tamed the Beast to two lucky commenters.

New York Times bestselling author Eloisa James writes historical romances for HarperCollins Publishers. Her novels have been published to great acclaim. A reviewer from USA Today wrote of Eloisa’s very first book that she “found herself devouring the book like a dieter with a Hershey bar”; later People Magazine raved that “romance writing does not get much better than this.” Her novels have repeatedly received starred reviews from Publishers’ Weekly and Library Journal and regularly appear on the best-seller lists.

December is a big month for me.  After writing 30 books for Harlequin, my first mainstream novel BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD is releasing into the big, wide world.

I love the colour, the vibrancy, the magic of Bollywood so what better way to indulge my interest than write a contemporary romance/romantic comedy/chicklit/women’s fiction novel.  With Bollywood as the star!

However, there’s another character in the book to rival Bollywood for billing…and that’s the food.

Indian food is sublime and I’ve layered as much spicy richness into the story as possible.

I’d like to share a little bit of that with you. Here’s my BOLLY-BITE for today:

LASSI

(a refreshing yoghurt drink, perfect for cooling down your mouth after a chilli-hot curry.)

INGREDIENTS:

500g yoghurt

1 cup water

2 tablespoons sugar

Few drops rosewater

Few ice cubes

METHOD:

Combine all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.

Pour in tall glasses and serve.

HINTS:

You can increase or decrease the water according to the desired thickness. In summer, I like this as a cooling drink but if you prefer it thicker, decrease the water.

Rosewater is a strong taste so experiment to your liking.

Mango lassi is delicious: fresh is best but mango puree or mango in tins can add a lush sweetness to this drink.

(If you’re interested in more Indian recipes, I’ll be posting dishes taken from the book over the next few weeks on my blog tour. I’d love to have everyone cook up a storm alongside me!)

If you could master one exotic dish to wow your friends at a dinner party, what would that dish be?

Leave a comment to be in the running to win an E-book of BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD.

USA TODAY bestseller Nicola Marsh has written 30 books for Harlequin Romance & Presents series, and BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD is her first mainstream contemporary romance. Think ‘Sex and the City’ meets ‘Eat, Pray, Love’.

Her other current release is INTERVIEW WITH THE DAREDEVIL (Harlequin Riva).

She loves chatting with readers and can be found on her website http://www.nicolamarsh.com blog http://nicolamarsh.blogspot.com Facebook http://facebook.com/NicolaMarshAuthor Twitter http://twitter.com/NicolaMarsh

Oh, hello there! Yes, it’s me, ***********. The new Jaunty in town. And in case you’re wondering, that IS the exact right number of asterisks for my first and last name. Now all you have to do is figure out how many asterisks go where. And figure out the letters, too. But that shouldn’t be too hard. *grins* You guys are romance readers, after all. Intelligent people, we romance readers and writers are.

I have to tell you, I’m so honored and excited to be invited to become the newest member of the Jaunty Quills! And I’m equally as excited to get to know the Jaunty readers, too!

But first, here’s a chance for you to get to know a little more about me.

1. I love all sorts of music. But my favorites are: Frank Sinatra, Sara Bareilles, the Foo Fighters, Jim Croce, Pavarotti, Blessid Union of Souls, Hootie & The Blowfish, Taylor Swift, Michael Buble, Jason Mraz, and Louis Armstrong.
2. As you can see from above, I tend to lean more toward the unusual and the oldies. Maybe this is why my first love will always be to read and write love stories of the past.
3.  I’m from Texas! (emphasis on “from”) This means no other state will ever have good Mexican food or understand the truth that Blue Bell ice cream is the best ice cream in the world. I’ll never be able to completely stop saying “y’all”, “fixin’ to”, or end my sentences with “ma’am” and “sir.” It also means that I have relatives that may or may not be hicks—that depends on whether we’re talking about my cousin who dresses in overalls, owns twenty hounds, and likes to go hog hunting or raccoon hunting for fun.
4. I’m married. I have children. I have a dog. All of this means that I never get enough sleep and the first thing I want to do when I win the lottery is hire a maid because my house is never clean enough!
5. I’m a sucker for romantic comedies and war movies. Yup, I’m a woman of interesting contrasts. My favorite war movies include HBO’s Band of Brothers, Men of Honor, and Defiance. My favorite romantic comedies include Two Weeks’ Notice, Love, Actually,  You’ve Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally, Sabrina, and 27 Dresses.
6. I was born in April, but I have another favorite month of the year during which I go a little mad.
7. I’ve wanted to own a motorcycle and marry a man who rides a motorcycle ever since seeing Top Gun and falling in love with Maverick when I was a child. (Note: Of course, the man I marred is convinced he would die if he ever got on a motorcycle.)
8. I own bookcases filled with nothing but books on studying other languages.
9. I like to write about duchesses and countesses, but I also like to write about commoners, too.
10. One of my favorite books when I was little was Little Women, although I bawled when Laurie didn’t end up with Jo. (Coincidentally, I have plans one day to write a heroine named Jo Laurie.)

Now it’s time to play The Guess the Jaunty contest!

As a reminder, here’s how it works.  I will blog periodically in September, giving you hints as to who I am. Each time I blog, you guys can post a comment guessing my identity.

Everyone who guesses will be entered to win a gift certificate for $50 to Amazon.com. Those who guess correctly will also be entered to win a signed copy of a book from each of us (that’s 12 signed books!). In the unlikely event that no one guesses correctly, the first person who is randomly chosen from our secret Jaunty Quill’s posts will win and get to choose her prize.

My name and the winners’ names will be revealed on Sunday, October 2nd. So visit us all through the month of September, and don’t forget to comment on all of my Guess the Jaunty blogs to enter the contest!

Good luck, and I’ll see you around the blog soon!

What do match.com, speed dating and reality TV have in common with Regency England? On the surface, nothing. But one night while watching The Bachelor, a bizarre idea for a historical romance popped into my head: The Bachelor in Regency England (minus the hot tub and camera crew).

While writing HOW TO MARRY A DUKE, I didn’t stop to consider that if I sold the manuscript I’d have to propose follow-up books with premises that aligned with the first one. That’s because I assumed the manuscript would never sell. After all, it was only the second book that I’d written. So, after I signed with an agent, I found out I needed to come up with short sketches for additional books that had something in common with the first one. So I brainstormed with my agent, and one of those ideas forms the basis of my second book HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL, which is out on June 28th. Here’s the back cover copy:

SCOUNDRELS, RAKES, AND ROGUES BEWARE . . .

Lady Julianne Gatewick is in a pickle. It started when her brother’s best friend—for whom she’s long nursed a secret tendre—agreed to act as her guardian for the Season, only to seduce her with a risqué waltz.

But when the music stopped and the expectant ton waited for the Earl of Hawkfield to claim her as his own, he made his disinterest clear. Rather than succumb to humiliation, Julianne does what any recently discarded, wickedly witty young miss would do. She secretly pens a lady’s guide to enticing unrepentant rakes . . . and it becomes the hottest scandal in London.

Every honorable rake knows that friends’ sisters are forbidden. But suddenly Julianne has a spark of mischief in her eyes that Hawk can’t resist. Try as he might to push her away, he spends his days listening for her laughter and his nights dreaming of her kisses. He’s always avoided innocents and their marriage-minded mothers, but has the man least likely to wed finally met his match?

ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR

Yes, my heroine Julianne writes an anonymous advice pamphlet for single young ladies who are frustrated with all those determined bachelors. Hawk has no idea that she’s writing a scandalous publication called The Secrets of Seduction, a Regency-version of The Rules. But there’s a twist. When Julianne finds trouble, he comes up with his own set of rules for her to follow. Naturally, she ignores his No Flirting rule, but there’s no escaping her guardian. Meanwhile, Hawk is having trouble resisting her. Because he’s her guardian, she’s forbidden to him, but that just makes him want her all the more. Mayhem ensues, however, once Julianne’s scandalous pamphlet is circulated. She mustn’t inadvertently give away her identity as the author for fear of ruining her reputation. But can she continue to hide her true feelings for Hawk?

I had so much fun writing HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL. Part of my preparation involved reading dating advice in The Rules and Cosmopolitan. I recall reading Glamour magazine when I was single, and of course, I discussed guys with my girlfriends. Did you ever read dating advice in books or magazines? Or did anyone ever give you dating advice? What’s the craziest How to Catch a Man advice you ever heard? Share with us in a comment for a chance to win an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL plus a set of Romance Trading cards for both of my books (US and Canada only please).

Thanks so much to Shana Galen and the Sisters of the Jaunty Quills for inviting me to blog. May the Magic Romance Fairies be with all of you!

Visit Vicky at www.vickydreiling.com

(Vicky’s winner will be posted on Sunday!)