from Mia Marlowe...

Today, I’m turning the Jaunty Quills over to romance reader and blogger extraordinaire, Kim Lowe. I first met Kim online when she hosted me on one of my many blog tours. Then when I visited Hawaii with my family last year, our online friendship blossomed in real life! Kim met us the day before we boarded our cruise ship and took us on a wonderful, behind-the-scenes tour of Pearl Harbor and Hickham AFB. Then after our cruise, she met us at the dock with a rental van and drove us into the fragrant hills overlooking Honolulu for a tour of Queen Emma’s Summer Home. Kim was so knowledgeable and such fun, she was the highlight of our vacation!

And true to her giving spirit, Kim is here today to share a great read with us all. Ok, Kim. The Jaunty blog is now yours.

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Mahalo, Mia, for hosting me today at the Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills.   I love the name of this blog – the sisterhood.  Blogs like Jaunty Quills offer me entrée into a cyber sisterhood of romance readers.  Perhaps this is why I enjoy continuing series – I grow comfortable with the extended cast of characters.   Yet all good things come to an end, including series.

Today I chat about the bittersweet anticipation of Cathy Maxwell’s THE DEVIL’S HEART, the finale of the Chattan Curse.    The series began with a 17^th century curse,

When a Chattan male falls in love, strike his heart with fire from above…

Charles Chattan abandoned his Scottish sweetheart, Rose MacNachtan, for an English heiress, prompting Rose’s mother to cast a devastating curse on the Chattan family.   Fast forward to the 19^th Century where the Chattan family is socially connected in Regency England.  Yet Neal Chattan, Lord Lyon, desires a family in Book 1, LYON’S BRIDE.   He hires society matchmaker, Thea Martin, to find him a bride he cannot love … only to fall in love with Thea.

Neal’s willing to risk his life for love prompts his brother, Harry, to wake up from his drunken stupor to find a witch to reverse the curse in Book 2, THE SCOTTISH WITCH.  He encounters a desperate Portia Maclean posing as a witch, only to fall under her spell.

With both brothers in peril, their sister Margaret, a London lady, ventures into the heart of the Highlands in Book 3, THE DEVIL’S HEART.   She confronts the witch’s descendent, Heath Macnachtan, a sensible laird who cannot understand Margaret’s fear of the curse – a fear that his clansmen also share.   Despite that fear, Margaret is welcomed into the sisterhood of his household, where she sees love abound despite their financial difficulties.   Margaret draws from her brothers’ courage and Heath’s compassion to track down the long dead witch.

As much as I wanted Margaret to find a resolution, that meant the story (and series) would be over.   As hard at it was for Margaret to let go of her brothers so they could find love, it is hard for me as a reader to let go of this series set in Scotland.  In the end, Margaret proved that she, too, deserves her own HEA along with Neal and Harry.  But how did she secure the HEA for all three siblings?  Let me just say that Cathy Maxwell surprised me and satisfied me with the climax.   THE DEVIL’S HEART should be labeled, “Read with a box of tissue”, as Margaret also learns that love is worth the risk.

I would like to offer a print copy of THE DEVIL’S HEART to one commenter here at the Sisterhood of the Jaunty Quills.  Three seems to be the magic number in a series – how many books do you think is “just right” for a series?

About Kim: Kim Lowe is a military spouse and romance enthusiast.  After four years in Hawaii, she is moving back to Baltimore this summer, ready for in person sisterhood with other romance readers.   Check out her travel blog, ALOHA ON MY MIND, at alohaonmymind.blogspot.com.

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Mia here again. Thanks, Kim! The Devil’s Heart sounds great.

Ok, now it’s your turn. What’s the right number of books for a series? (I’d also be interested to know your favorite series!)

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my most recent Jaunty post. My winner is (cue drumroll, please!) …Tanja Haack! She’ll win a copy of Stroke of Genius! Tanja, please contact me through my website so I can send your ebook to you! (For the rest of you, don’t despair. I have a little surprise coming next week. Be sure to check my blog on May 21st & 22nd for a free read!)

Update: My winner is (cue drumroll, please!) …Tanja Haack! She’ll win a copy of Stroke of Genius! Tanja, please contact me through my website so I can send your ebook to you! (For the rest of you, don’t despair. I have a little surprise coming next week. Be sure to check my blog on May 21st & 22nd for a free read!)

from Mia Marlowe…

I’m in Boston. My mom is in the Midwest. We keep in touch through frequent calls and on Facebook, but it’s so not the same as being in the same town and being part of each other’s lives every day. However, I did get a chance to see her for a few days before the RT convention last week and took her for a pedicure for Mother’s Day. It was a nice, relaxing girl time for us.

But that wasn’t the gift she was most excited about. I gave her my old Kindle. I hesitate to even call this a gift since it was used, but my DH gave me a Kindle Fire for my Bday and it seemed wasteful to have two of them. I worried that she’d be able to use it since she’s only recently jumped into spending time on the computer. Once I showed her how she could control the size of the font, she was thrilled and soon learned how to choose from the library of books. It’s loaded up with all my romances, my DH’s techno-thrillers and a few mysteries tossed in for good measure.

That Kindle is still attached to my account, which means when I buy a new book, Mom can read it, too. Since she put the first romance novel in my hands years ago, this seems fitting. I love this. When you share a book, you share a whole world. And even though we’re still miles apart, we’ll have plenty to talk about. The distance between us shrinks as we share the same books and live through the same love stories.

Click to order!

Do you have someone with whom you share books? Are you part of a book club or a circle of reading friends? What are you planning for Mother’s Day?  Leave a comment for a chance to win my Stroke of Genius for your Kindle.

Georgette Heyer with ripped bodices!
“Crispin Hawke is awkward, dashing, self-assured, rude, everything you’d expect from Georgette Heyer, or even Jane Austen. Grace Makepeace is American. She’s tall, beautiful, and knows what she wants. But she falls for Hawke in a big way and decides that she wants him above everything else. Mia Marlowe is the mistress of saucy historical romance, and Stroke of Genius is pure delight!”
~ Booksmonthly

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Mia loves to connect with readers! Find her at MiaMarlowe.com, Twitter & Facebook!

from Mia Marlowe…

I’m in Kansas City now for the Romantic Times Convention. It’s a crazy week of workshops, mixers and parties. I was one of the hosts for Rosy Gulch’s Saloon this evening. As you can see I was wanted for “encouraging dangling participles!”

My fellow JQ, the lovely and talented Shana Galen, was also a host for the event. Not sure her wanted poster read, but this is a bit of a different look for her!

One of the perks of being here is the literal suitcase of free books you can bring home. However, not everyone can make it to KC, so I’m bringing a bit of RT love to you.

My latest release, Stroke of Genius, is now FREE for your Kindle. I’m so excited to share Crispin and Grace’s love story with you and hope it will give you as much joy to read it as I had writing it.

Click to order!

Crispin is not your typical Regency hero. He’s a self-made man. Brilliant, brash to the point of rudeness, he’s an artistic genius who knows his own worth when it comes to his work, but is still struggling with the scars of his rough childhood. Grace Makepeace is an American heiress, and while she’s never known want as Crispin has, she still longs for someone to see her instead of her father’s bottomless pockets.

Here’s the link: FREE Stroke of Genius!

If you don’t have a Kindle, please don’t despair! You can download a FREE Kindle app for your PC, phone, tablet, etc. I’ve done it with my phone and I love having my library in my pocket! Check it out here: Free Kindle Apps

This free offer is only good till May 5th, so please hurry. I don’t want you or any of your reading friends to miss out.

Happy Reading,
Mia

from Mia Marlowe…

We got to see our oldest daughter on Monday because she’s in New Hampshire for her work. She’s with a quilting machine company and is working the MQX Quilt Show in Manchester. When she was a kid, she was a total tomboy, more at home catching crawdads than playing with baby dolls, but now she’s a terror on a quilting machine. We’ll be heading back up on Saturday to view the display of “art quality” quilts and see her in action on the Statler machine.

I’m blessed to have a number of quilts from my grandmothers and great-grandmothers. Some are color coordinated and pieced in recognizable patterns–Lone Stars, Log Cabins, and Wedding Rings. But some are purely utilitarian quilts to be used for warmth, fashioned from old shirts and left over fabric scraps in  haphazard pieces, bound together with tiny even stitches done by hand.  Just looking at them calls back the women in my family tree who worked them and gave them to their loved ones.

I’ve long felt a quilt was a love letter in fabric and thread. Before I began writing full time, I worked at a bank and one time, I organized a quilt show to engage our customers and give them warm fuzzies about where they dealt with their money. They were invited to bring in their quilts to display. Customers voted for their favorites and we awarded prizes in several categories. I’ll never forget one day when a fellow did his banking and then spent about 45 minutes wandering from quilt to quilt. Finally, he came up to me and said, “I feel like curling up in the corner and sucking my thumb.” The display really sent him down memory lane.

How about you? Do you have any family quilts? Are you a quilter? I’m not, but I so admire those who are.  Perhaps there’s another craft that captures your fancy? I’d love to hear about it!

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Mia’s Touch of a Rogue was just named Best Book of 2012 in its category!

“TOUCH OF A ROGUE is a fabulous second installment in Mia Marlowe’s Touch of Seduction series. This novel has a delightful cast of characters that will make you smile and plenty of drama to encourage you to continue turning the pages. Characters from the first book are included here, but reading this book first will not cause any confusion. This can easily be read as a stand-alone and it will certainly make you eager to go back for more. Readers looking for the next spicy, yet dramatic historical romance should turn to Ms Marlowe’s TOUCH OF A ROGUE. This novel captures a love story that is addictive and absolutely fantastic.” ~ The Romance Review

Amazon | Kindle | B&N.com |BAM | Indiebound

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Mia loves to connect with readers. Find her at Twitter, Facebook and at MiaMarlowe.com.

from Mia Marlowe…

Happy Easter Monday!

What? You don’t celebrate the day after Easter where you live? Well, to be honest, it’s not a big deal here in New England either. However, when we first moved to North Carolina years ago, we were surprised to learn that our kids were not expected to go to school and my DH had the day after Easter off. (Of course, we suspected it was more closely connected to March Madness than the holiest of Christian holidays, but a day off is a day off. We embraced Easter Monday with gladness.)

But Easter Monday is not the only unique holiday we’ve encountered in our wanderings. (We’ve lived in 9 different states, all four mainland US time zones.)  Every area has its own special days. For example, in Park City, Utah, Pioneer Day is July 24th. It’s the day Brigham Young declared “This is the place!” and is celebrated with more fervor than July 4th! I couldn’t go to the grocery store in July without being wished “Happy 24th” and being asked about my family’s plans for the special day. Not being a Mormon, I didn’t get offended. in the spirit of their well-wishes, I smiled and wished them a “Happy 24th, too.”

Of course, people don’t need much of a reason to declare a day special. And sometimes this descends into downright silliness. Mark your calendar now for April 14th. It’s National Pecan Day. Now, why a nut needs a national day, I have no clue, but someone (probably a group of politicians with nothing better to do) decided the lowly pecan deserves a day of recognition.

And just in case a single day isn’t enough, National Pecan PIE Day is July 12th.

There’s no end to the silly pseudo-holidays people have come up with. Did you miss Thomas Crapper Day on January 27th? It’s dedicated to the man who brought civilization the flush toilet. Or how about Rubber Eraser Day  on April 5th? After all, what would we do without a way to right wrongs–at least, the wrongs committed with a lead pencil? And it turns out some non-holidays actually merit their own full week. Make plans now to honor National Shampoo Week from June 7-13th!

Now lest you think I’m down on holidays, I do actually have a favorite non-holiday holiday. It’s September 19th, the International Talk Like a Pirate Day. The day is dedicated to pirate lingo and general goofiness. My sort of non-holiday.

How about you? Do you have a favorite unusual holiday you’d care to share? I’ll send a Kindle or Nook version of How to Please a Pirate to one lucky commenter!

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Mia loves to connect with readers! Find her at MiaMarlowe.com, Twitter and Facebook!

from Mia Marlowe…

Slang serves a useful anthropological purpose. It creates a sense of belonging to a unique group, one whose lexicon is mystifying to the uninitiated. In my case, that covers any hip hop song. I am clueless about popular culture. But I do know a thing or two about how the “cool kids” talked during the first part of the 19th century. If you’re a regular historical romance reader, you probably know a few of the more common ones. Here are a few that took me by surprise.:

Jug-bitten: tipsy

Done to a cow’s thumb: exhausted

Friday-faced: a sad expression. (This one seems counterintuitive since in our culture it’s always TGIF! But during the Regency, there was a tradition of Friday abstinence.)

Faradiddle: a petty lie

Cheeseparing: miserly

An Ape Leader: a spinster or old maid. (This charming sobriquet refers to an obscure proverb that damns those who don’t procreate to leading apes in hell. Shakespeare used it in Much Ado About Nothing and Taming of the Shrew.)

Crim. Con: Short for criminal conversation, a coy reference to adultery.

Smelling of April and May: being madly in love

Bran-faced: freckled

A rattle: someone who talks too much

The trick to using slang in a historical is making sure the meaning is easy to guess at based on the context of how the term is used. Sometimes, the meaning has been so lost in time, the word has become a mere linguistic anomaly, interesting, but unusable.

How about guessing at what some of the following might mean?

Gullgropers: a) a bird catcher b) a money lender c) a whoremonger

To pull caps with someone: a) to argue b) to have a tooth pulled c) to fit for a new bonnet

Kick over the traces: a) to have a horse runaway with one b) a Scottish dance c)behave in a headstrong manner

I’ll post the correct answers in a couple days. In the meantime, have you run into any Regency slang that puzzles you? Perhaps we can put our heads together to figure it out. I’d love to hear what Regency cant or slang has caught your ear. Be sure to leave your guesses for the three slang terms!

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Look for Mia’s newest release, Stroke of Genius!

CAN AN ARTISTIC GENIUS…

Crispin Hawke, a brilliant sculptor, is revered by the ton.  His works are celebrated in every fashionable parlor, and tales of his fiery bed skills whispered behind every fashionable fan.

TRANSFORM AN AWKWARD HEIRESS…

Grace Makepeace is determined to wed a titled lord, but her Bostonian bluntness leaves much to be desired among the well-heeled London crowd. So to gain their acceptance, she commissions the incomparable Crispin Hawke to sculpt her hands—and asks for love lessons on the side.

INTO THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER ORIGINAL…

Crispin agrees to school Grace in flirting and the delights of the flesh. But when she catches the eye of a marquess, he realizes he’s done his job a little too well. And suddenly he knows Grace is the one masterpiece he cannot bear to be parted from.

 WITHOUT FALLING FOR HER HIMSELF?

Read an excerpt!

Buy the Book!

As a special treat today, I asked some of the Quills about their most memorable Valentine’s Days. Here’s what they said:

Shana: When I was in high school, there was one Valentine’s Day that I didn’t have a boyfriend, and I felt so sorry for myself. I moped all day, didn’t get out of my pajamas, and didn’t put any make-up on or fix my hair. This was in the days of lots of make-up and big hair. My mom kept telling me to get dressed, but I was having a pity party. What I didn’t know was that a guy I’d dated a few times had called her and asked if it was okay if he stopped over and surprised me with flowers. He showed up, and I was so embarrassed. It was actually very sweet of him to bring me flowers but being all of sixteen I was too worried about how I looked to be as excited as I should have been.

Nancy: I don’t know that I can single out one most romantic Valentine’s Day in particular. That’s because The Chef is a master at making all Valentine’s Days special and romantic. He never forgets and always brings me a dozen red roses, champagne and the perfect card. Usually, he gives me chocolates, depending on how loudly I’ve proclaimed I’m on a diet. Still, calorie counting or not, there’s always a fabulous meal: lobster or filet with cognac peppercorn sauce. Or Lobster AND filet with cognac peppercorn sauce…. One of the best touches is that he also gives our daughter flowers-a bouquet of pink carnations. There’s something extra romantic in him not only being a great husband, but also being such a wonderful father.

Kristan: My first Valentine’s Day out of college, I was alone in a new city, worked for poverty wages and didn’t have too many friends. Boo hoo! Valentine’s Day with a guy? As probable as running into a Saudi prince at the pizza place on the corner. Imagine my surprise when a beautiful bouquet of flowers was delivered to work! “From your secret admirer,” the card said. I called my dad and thanked him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, but I could tell he was smiling. He died that same year. I think of him every day, but I always smile on Valentine’s Day, remembering how dear old Dad made sure I got flowers from someone who loved me a whole heck of a lot.

Kathy: One of my favorite Valentine’s days was when my kids were about 8 and 13 and they got totally into the holiday picking out stuffed animals and chocolates for each other and my husband and I.  They even made Valentine’s for us from our dog.  It was such a fun time for us all.

Mia: This Valentine date was the first time I’d gone out with this red-headed guy I knew from church and it promised to be a lovely one. He took me to a dance at the Surf Ballroom, a place that epitomized romance in my little corner of the upper midwest. And I did enjoy the evening of dancing, but then he ran out of gas (Does anybody ever really do that?) on the way home (which was about 20 miles away). He had to hike back into town for a can of gas while I froze my tootsies in the cold car (February in Northern Iowa is no joke!) To make matters worse, we were cutting things close on my curfew. I’m a railroader’s daughter. At my house, not being on time was regarded as only slightly less heinous than becoming pregnant out of wedlock! I knew I was going to catch it when I got home.

However, my date was not in a hurry to let me out of the car once we got in my driveway. I managed to pull out of his grasp, but he tailed me to the pool of yellow light at my back door and forced a kiss on me. It was our first date and I really didn’t want to kiss him. I wanted to get inside so I could explain to my folks that it was not my fault I was seriously late. I finally told the guy I didn’t think things were going to work out between us and made a break for it. Then he stalked me for the next six months and made creepy phone calls.  So the moral of the story is…beware of red headed men!

Cindy: Worst Valentine’s Day? Most memorable Valentine’s Day? I racked my brains but couldn’t come up with anything. My husband and I have been together since high school. We’re the kind of couple who goes out the weekend before the big day, so we don’t have to fight the crowds. We buy the boxes of heart-shaped Valentine’s Day candy after the big day (when it hits 75% off  )because it’s a better deal. I’d call us practical. You might call us boring. But we’ve been together a
long time and hey, it works for us!

Robyn: Valentine’s Day is one of those I’ve had a love/hate relationship with. As a little girl, I loved it because my Daddy would give me sweet cards and my own (small) heart-shaped box of chocolates. I loved that. But with a series of disappointments through high school and college, I pretty much ignored the holiday for a few years. Then I met The Professor. Our first Valentine’s Day together was actually a month before we got married. I was trying to eat healthily so that I could fit into my wedding dress so he went to a gourmet chocolate shop here and bought me sugar-free candies. I thought that was so sweet and thoughtful. Every year he brings me a sweet card (that I know he spend so much time trying to find the perfect one) and roses. I know that might seem too traditional and not creative, but I love it!

Margo: The absolute best Valentine’s Day gift was from my mom. Our kids were about 2, 4 and 6, and Mom called and said she would take the kids overnight if we wanted to make reservations somewhere. Omg, it was hard to know what to do! Stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet? Go to a Red Wings hockey game, drink some beer and go home? (not)  When it came down to it, we went to a play, had a late, romantic dinner, and then stayed the night at the Ritz Hotel. In those days when it was non-stop kid stuff, that night out was absolutely heaven!

Do you have a Valentine’s Day memory that stands out? Tell us, and we’ll pick three random participants who will each receive a copy of one of our books. Come on – what was your most memorable (good or bad) Valentine’s Day?

from Mia Marlowe…

No, I’m not talking about any of the fictional ladies I’ve read about or even the ones I’ve made up myself. I’m talking about my real life heroine, someone I respect and love very much. At the risk of sounding maudlin, it’s my mom.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing between us. I was terribly jealous of her when I was a chubby pre-teen. At that time she had a successful modeling career and her picture appeared in the Des Moines Register almost every week, demonstrating the correct form for an exercise column. She was so lovely, so slender, so . . . infuriatingly perfect! It was very hard to be a spotty-faced adolescent with such feminine excellence in the house.

I consoled myself with the thought that beauty is only skin deep.

However, I learned in my mother’s case that beauty runs clear to the bone. Unfortunately, it took a health crisis to pound that into my head. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. When the rest of us were threatening to fall apart over it, my mom was a rock.  This was during the time when Walter Payton was in need of a transplant and looking for a donor. As my mother was wheeled off for surgery, she sang out, cheerful as a lark, “If anything happens, give my liver to that football player!”

Then came almost a year of chemo and radiation. She lost her glorious hair, but she didn’t let that stop her. She went out and bought enough wigs to wear a different one every day of the week.  Cancer was no reason to give up her love of bling. She always dressed to the nines when she left the house. Through the weakness brought on by her virulent treatments, she stayed strong on the inside. Her courage and faith gave the rest of the family strength. Even though she was the one whose life was on the line, she was always concerned first and foremost about how we were doing.

And I realized I’d always underestimated her. I thought her physical beauty was her defining quality. Instead it’s her indomitable spirit, her good humor and her will of iron.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I’m thrilled to report that she’s now 14 years cancer free and best of all, today is her birthday! So please send my mom a mental “Happy Birthday!” and make sure you’re current on your mammograms. She’d be the first to tell you to take care of yourself and that early detection is the key to a cure. Her “other-centeredness” is one of the many reasons she’s my favorite heroine and always will be.

Now it’s your turn to share. What woman (real or fictional) has influenced you and made a difference in your life?  Who’s your favorite heroine?

from Mia Marlowe…

I should have had this blog post set to publish shortly after midnight, but I have to confess I forgot I was even scheduled for today till I woke up with morning. This is so not like me! I can only plead Downton Abbey intoxication.

I rarely get wound up about TV shows. It has to be something truly extraordinary. But shortly after Christmas I accidentally happened on about the last 15 minutes of the final episode of Downton Abbey‘s 2nd season. That was more than enough to convince me that I had to discover who these people were. I guess I waffled on about it quite a bit, because my DH surprised me with Seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. So I’ve been wallowing in the world of Downton Abbey since last Thursday and am now “caught up” with the adventures of the upstairs and downstairs denizens of that great house. Thank heaven I’m between book projects right now or I’d be feeling frightfully guilty–not guilty enough to quit, of course, but guilty in any case.

What? You don’t know what Downton Abbey is?

Allow me to lure you into its web. My DH calls it a post-Edwardian soap opera, and I suppose that’s fair from a masculine point of view. It’s actually a slice of a world gone by, all the glittering wonderful things that are some the reasons I write historical romance. It has a large and sharply drawn cast–16 principals! They are caught up in the stratifications of their society, the exaggerated manners, the social conventions that fascinate me as well. There’s the larger canvas of the quickly changing world of Europe as WWI breaks out. And of course, the gorgeous gowns of the ladies and the house itself, which actually serves as a character in its own right.

I promise to get back to writing now. But before I do, I’d love to chat with you about this latest obsession of  mine. If you follow Downton, who’s your favorite character and why? Are there any you’re upset with? Who do you think has had the strongest character growth since the beginning? If you had to sack one of the servants, who would you let go? What’s your favorite Lady Violet (the dowager Countess of Grantham) zinger?

“Nothing succeeds like excess.” ~ Lady Violet

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Click for an excerpt!

Mia’s newest release is a regency romp called WAKING UP WITH A RAKE! RT BookReviews calls it “deliciously scandalous!” Welcome to Barrowdell, a grand house in the Lake District. It’s the setting for Book 1 in the Royal Rakes series, so you’ll want to discover this sparkling world from the very beginning.

To prevent three royal dukes from marrying their way onto the throne, heroic, selfless agents for the crown will be dispatched…to seduce the dukes’ intended brides. These wickedly debauched rakes will rumple sheets and cause a scandal. But they just might fall into their own trap…

Find Mia at MiaMarlowe.com, on Twitter and Facebook!

Leave a comment or question to be entered into the drawing from Sourcebooks for a copy of WAKING UP WITH A RAKE. One lucky winner will be randomly chosen. US/Canada only, please.