The Jaunty Quills are excited to host Kate Noble for Bring a Friend Friday. Kate’s new book, Let It Be Me, is the next book in the Blue Raven series. Keep reading to find out how to win one of Kate’s books.

Shana: I have serious cover envy whenever I see your books, Kate. Do you have much say in your covers?

Kate Noble:  I have always been so lucky with my covers. I am lucky too, in that my editors allowed me in on the process a little bit.  They ask me in advance of their cover conference about the book, the characters, and what is important and should be featured.  And they take what I say into account when creating the cover.  (I actually wrote a blog about it a little while ago.)

Shana: Tell us a bit about the Blue Raven series and Let It Be Me. Why did you set the new book in Italy?

Kate Noble:  Bridget Forrester has long lived in her sister’s shadow (Sarah, from If I Fall), and earned a reputation as something of a shrew because of it.  I knew I had to get Bridget out of London and get her a fresh start. Venice is a city that exists like a dream to me – an island bisected by canals, literally living on the water.  A perfect place to fall in love.

Shana: Your heroine, Bridget, is a musician in Venice to study piano. Music is an enormous part of her life and a major part of the book. Do you play? Did you do any research or listen to any period music when writing the book?

Kate Noble: I took piano lessons growing up, but then quickly moved onto something more my speed (the trumpet, only three keys).  But I am nowhere near the musician that Bridget is, and so I did a ton of research on playing techniques, on music from the period – I must have listened to Beethoven’s piano sonata no. 23 about six hundred times while writing this book.

Shana: You were one of the writers for The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. Are you sad that it’s over? Any similar projects in the works?

Kate Noble: Of course I’m sad it’s over, it was a wonderful project to work on the fan response was so fervent, it was such a rush.  I feel like every generation gets their Pride and Prejudice and I just feel so lucky that I got to be a part of this one.  I am also going to be involved in the Gigi spinoff Welcome to Sanditon, coming later this summer.

Shana: Very exciting! Tell us what you coming soon.

Kate Noble:  I’m hard at work on my next historical romance trilogy, the first of which will be out in 2014.  And of course, there is Welcome to Sanditon.  I’m also working on a comic book with Javier Grillo-Marxuach of the Middleman fame, and artist Kel McDonald.  I have another couple of pet projects that I can hopeful make see the light of day.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Do you enjoy novels set in romantic locales like Venice or do you prefer authors to stick to London or the USA? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Let It Be Me. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.

London weather is chilly—and the social scene even more so. Luckily, Bridget Forrester is just getting warmed up…

The Jaunty Quills are excited to bring back veteran author Heather Snow. Heather’s new book, Sweet Madness, is the third in the Veiled Seduction series. Keep reading to find out how to win one of Heather’s books

Shana: Welcome back, Heather. You’ve been our guest before, but I’ve never interviewed you, and I’m excited to have the opportunity. Tell us about Sweet Madness. I love the tagline: There is a fine line between love and insanity…

Heather Snow: Hi Shana! I’m thrilled to be here. The Jaunty Quills is one of my very favorite places to be…oh, and please tell Jaunty that Armando the Cravat-Wearing Armadillo says hello, too.

Unlike my first two novels, which featured a lady chemist and a lady criminologist/mathematician who reveled in pushing Society’s boundaries, Sweet Madness is about a young lady who is Society’s darling. She’s always been perfectly behaved. She has the perfect husband. And she’s perfectly content to live the privileged society life she was born to…until her husband’s tragic death changes her forever. It drives her to study the maladies of the mind and leads her to a traumatized soldier who needs her help…and her love. But she also finds that healing is a two way street. To be able to follow our hero to the dark places she must go to reach him, she has to open up wounds of her own. It’s really a story about the healing power of love, with a little mystery and some racy bits thrown in!

It was great fun helping Penelope discover her inner genius and learn that she, too, was brilliant…just in a different way.

Shana: I’m not currently speaking to Jaunty, Heather. I hope armadillos are nicer than porcupines–or at least not as interfering.

Gabriel Devereaux suffers from what we call now PTSD. I did some research on this condition when I was writing If You Give a Rake a Ruby and found there wasn’t a lot out there. What drew you to write a wounded warrior and how did you research Gabriel’s “episode” scenes?

Heather Snow: All three heroes in my debut series served in the wars in some capacity, and their experiences changed each of them. But I knew from the moment this series was planned that this third book would be the darkest. I sort of backed into how I handled Gabriel’s “episode” scenes. Luckily, there is a lot known about PTSD today, even if there was little available back then. I read texts, medical journals and firsthand accounts from today’s soldiers, pulling the signs, symptoms and effects I used to depict Gabriel’s struggles.

As far as figuring out how Penelope would help him, that part was a bit harder. Since little was known about “battle fatigue” at the time, I had to look at the remedies that help today and choose only those that could have been determined or intuited through what Penelope might have known or experienced in her life and her own common sense.

I am glad you brought up the PTSD aspect of my book. As I’ve said, Sweet Madness is a story of the healing power of love, and just as important, of hope. Gabriel is a fictional war hero but there are many real life heroes and their families suffering today. Therefore, my husband and I have decided to donate a portion of all royalties earned from the sale of Sweet Madness to Hope For The Warriors®, an organization dedicated to “restoring a sense of self, restoring the family unit, and restoring hope for our service members and our military families.” You can find out more at http://www.heathersnowbooks.com/Hope_For_the_Warriors.ht

Shana: You’re known for heroines who are smart and scientific, and I know you have the science background to make them authentic. Do you think you’ll keep writing scientifically minded heroines?

Heather Snow: I would love to, and maybe later on I will, but right now there’s a new series percolating in my mind that I’m itching to get started on. I can’t share until all of the details are finalized, but it will certainly feature the smart strong heroines readers have come to expect from me, if not scientifically minded ones.

Shana: What’s it like writing with two small children? How do you manage to get anything done? Is there a magic spell or secret password, and if so, please share with Emily, Robyn, and me!

Heather Snow: Ha! I was going to ask YOU that! You always seem to have it so together.

Let’s see…Bose noise canceling headphones and the infinite patience of my poor husband? Really, I don’t know how women do it. I don’t know how I do it and stay sane (which is debatable, really, my sanity). The last three years have been like running on a giant treadmill and trying not to go flying off of the back and crashing into the wall. I guess I just keep telling myself that the boys will be in school soon enough and then I’ll have more time. And yet, just typing that, I feel horribly guilty for wishing their toddler and preschool years away…

I guess the answer is there is no answer. We just all have to do what we can when we can do it, and rely on our families to pitch in when we’re down to the wire. I do, however, have a fortune from a fortune cookie taped to the top corner face of my laptop screen…it says “Focus your attention.” I look at that a lot when I’m working to remind myself I only have so much time to accomplish what I need to.

Shana: That all sounds very familiar to me. I’m glad I have you fooled!

Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Heather Snow: Vacation! Sweet Enemy sold when our eldest was still in diapers, and the second was written right after the birth of our youngest—while my husband was finishing up his masters on top of his full time career! He graduated right after I finished Sweet Deception and we’d barely had time to enjoy a breather before I jumped into Sweet Madness. My family and I are looking forward to a couple of weeks on the beach together during the month of May—our first real vacation in three years. Then I’ll get started on my new series…

Readers, now it’s your turn. Do you enjoy historical (or contemporary) romance novels where the characters deal with real life issues like PTSD or miscarriage or a cancer diagnosis or do you prefer books that take you away from real life tragedies? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win their choice of Heather’s first two novels, Sweet Enemy or Sweet Deception (which just won the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence for published historical romance and was named a finalist in the New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Awards!). This giveaway is open internationally.

Ever since her husband’s sudden and tragic death, Lady Penelope Bridgeman has dedicated herself to studying maladies of the mind, particularly those of soldiers returning from the Napoleonic Wars, but Gabriel Devereaux’s unpredictable episodes are like none she’s ever seen. Even though she knows the folly of loving a broken man, she can’t help herself from trying to save him, no matter the cost…

Read the Prologue and First Chapter HERE…

Rainy Day Books (my local indie)
Amazon (Kindle Edition)
Amazon (Mass Market Paperback)
Barnes and Noble
Books-A-Million
IndieBound
Ibooks
The Book Depository (Free shipping worldwide)

Walmart (online only)

Heather Snow is an award winning historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she preferred creating chemistry on the page rather than in the lab. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys, and one very put upon cat. Mr. Snow recently promised the boys they could have a dog when the family returns from their beach vacation. The cat is not happy.

The final book in her Veiled Seduction series, SWEET MADNESS, hit shelves April 2, 2013. RT Book Reviews Magazine gives it 4 ½ stars, saying “In this emotional, compassionate romance…the powerful love story will sweep readers away.”

Find out more at www.HeatherSnowBooks.com or connect with Heather at www.facebook.com/AuthorHeatherSnow , www.twitter.com/HeatherSnowRW or at her blog, Heather’s Historical Reader Salon at www.heathersnowbooksreadersalon.blogspot.com

I have always loved to read. I remember holing up in my bedroom for hours and hours when I was in high school. My mom would check to see if I was okay because I was often happy to read all day.

One aspect of becoming an author I didn’t anticipate was how much my reading time would be cut (and part of that cut is from being a mom to a young child too).

When I was trying to think of topics for this blog, I asked my friends on Facebook for ideas. Miriam Clarke Phillips said, “With so many romance novels being published every month, how do you keep up and/or decide what to read?”

Good question, Miriam.

And now I have a confession to make: I have a really hard time keeping up. I want to read all the new books and all my friends’ books, but there is no way I can do so.

Giving this tote filled with books from the RT convention away on my website

It’s not that I don’t read. I do. But I don’t get to choose what I read a lot of the time. I read books for contests, like the Rita contest, where I have to read anywhere from 5-8 novels in the space of about 8 weeks. I judge contests for unpublished authors too. I often have to read 5 or so entries and comment on the author’s strengths and weaknesses.

I read books from other authors who would like me to give them a cover quote. I’ve had a steady stream of those requests lately. I love reading debut books. It’s fun to get a sneak peek, but in the meantime, my personal TBR pile languishes.

Giving this necklace away on my Facebook page

I read research books on topics related to themes in books I’m writing. I read blogs. I read RT magazine and the RWR, which is the journal for the Romance Writers of America. I have to stay up on the industry and what’s new.

I have about 30 to an hour a day to read (sometimes more, sometimes less), and now you know where that time is spent. I read quickly. I’m lucky that way, but I still can’t manage to keep up.

I can’t really give Miriam a very good answer. I suspect neither of us read as much as we’d like. What about you? Can you help Miriam out?

I knew I would cry when I saw the film version of Les Miserables. I wept at the play when I saw it in London. I cry half the time I listen to the soundtrack.

What I didn’t expect was to be moved beyond the sad stories of Fantine and Eponine and Jean Valjean. I didn’t expect for Victor Hugo’s theme to hit home.

Sometimes I think classic literature is wasted on the young. I’m a former high school English teacher, so I have led many young students through the perils of Shakespeare, Dickens, and their kin. I read the same books when I was in school, and what I found was that I appreciated and understood them so much better when I read them as an adult.

This is the way it was for Les Miserables as well. I read it in high school or as an undergrad in college, and I didn’t get it. I mean, I got it enough to write an essay about it. I got an A too, but I might owe that more to my writing ability than my insights. To me, the book was about a guy imprisoned for no good reason and the cop who seems to have nothing better to do than harass him.

But after I saw the movie a few weeks ago, I re-read the book, and I saw Hugo’s novel differently. It wasn’t a story about a convict. It was a story about revolution. Not the student revolution because those guys have it all wrong. The revolution was one of kindness and love. What really made a difference in the life of Jean Valjean, and subsequently Cosette and Marius and even Eponine, was the kindness shown to Valjean by that bishop. One man’s magnanimous gesture inspired another man to do the same for others.

I wish I had understood that as a young adult. I understand it now, and I often write about the poor and miserable (as much as one really can in a romance novel). In my forthcoming If You Give a Rake a Ruby, the heroine is from the slums of London and she would have had a life very much like the poor wretched souls on the streets of Hugo’s Paris.

Were there any novels you read as a young adult that you re-read later and experienced differently? Do you think forcing high school kids to read the classics turns them off to reading in general?

It’s the beginning of a new year and time for all those Best Of lists. My Jaunty Quills want to let you know some of their bests from 2012. These recommendations are not to be missed. Add pine nuts to each, and they’re even better!

Terri Brisbin has a suggestion for Best TV show of 2012—IMHO “Once Upon A Time” is the best TV show of 2012. It draws on familiar mythology and fairy tales, tweaks and twists them, makes characters come alive and shows the power of true love, too. How could a romance author not love a series that does all that?!

Robyn DeHart says, Okay I’m probably jumping on the proverbial bandwagon here, but the best new website of 2012 was Pinterest! I love being able to have a visual collection of recipes and ideas for my house and my biggest obsession, organization ideas! Long before this lovely website came along I used to cut things out of magazines and put them in photo albums, having a way to store ideas of cool things to do. This makes it so much easier and everything is in one tidy location and I can sort to my heart’s content.

Personally, I like to pin pictures of pine nuts.

For Best Book of 2012, Shana Galen recommends THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass–romance, mystery, intrigue, royalty…what more could you want?

Best chocolate of 2012. Okay, I say this as a professional chocolate taster (or as close as one can get to being a professional chocolate taster). I love Lindt, Ghiradelli, Godiva. I love me some of the Whitman’s Sampler, and I love Hershey. White chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, malted chocolate balls, chocolate Santas…I think I probably eat chocolate every day, and I have no intention of stopping. But the best chocolate I tasted this year was in Seattle at Fran’s Chocolates. A salted milk chocolate caramel that tasted like angel tears and unicorn kisses. Try them. I command you. And happy new year! –Kristan Higgins

In 2012 Cindy Kirk discovered J D Robb’s In Death series and was hooked! If you like a suspenseful tale mixed with a health dose of romance, Cindy recommends you check out this series.

Margo Maguire: My most amazing experience this year was surviving a nasty case of appendicitis, in spite of myself. On December 1st, I overcame my denial (yes, denial that I had a serious problem that wasn’t going to just go away) and went into the ER. Within a couple of hours, I’d had an appendectomy, managed to get past a crash in blood pressure, and a post-operative spike in temperature. I went home the following day and walked a quarter mile – and kept at it until I was up to my usual 2 miles a day. Thank heavens for modern medicine! And Hooray for the timing. I didn’t have to do any Christmas shopping this year!

Emily McKay has a recommendation for Best new recipe of 2012—

This is a great pot pie recipe if you:

a) love pot pies (and I do!)

b) are trying to eat more veggies (and I am!)

c) are trying to eat less meat (and, again, I am!)

or

d) just love ridiculously yummy food (duh, who doesn’t?)

I really can’t stress how yummy this was. The ingredients seem very humble, but somehow the result is amazing. You might be tempted not to make the crust yourself, but I urge you to try. I didn’t roll mine out, so mine looked nothing like hers. I just patted them into big fat circles and plopped them on top of the bowls. They weren’t pretty, but they weren’t around long enough for it to matter.

One question, Emily. No pine nuts?

Best 2012 Smartphone App: Christmas night, Nancy Robards Thompson and her family went to see the Les Miserables movie. While they were waiting in line to get into the theater, they struck up a conversation with the family in front of them. This is where they learned about a phone app called “Runpee.” It tells you the best times to run and er… do your business so you don’t miss anything important during the movie. Among other features, it even has a timer that makes your phone vibrate to give you the heads-up on when you can “go.” It’s available for all smartphones.

Readers, your turn. What’s on your best of list?

The Jaunty Quills are excited to bring back veteran author Vanessa Kelly. Vanessa’s new book is His Mistletoe Bride.

Shana: Welcome back, Vanessa. Tell us about His Mistletoe Bride. It features an American heroine. I love that!

Vanessa Kelly:  Hi Shana!  Thanks so much to you and the rest of the Quills for having me visit.  His Mistletoe Bride is a bit of High Noon meets the Regency.  My heroine is, indeed, an American – a Quaker from Philadelphia.  I grew up in a very historic Quaker town in New Jersey, and I’ve always been fascinated by Quaker history.  I thought it might be fun to take a young woman from that setting and throw her smack-dab into the aristocratic world of the Regency ton.  My hero, by contrast, is a soldier and a war hero.  Lucas is smitten with Phoebe, but he doesn’t quite understand her view of the world.  His world view and her world view really collide after their precipitous marriage—they’re caught in a compromising situation—when they encounter a gang of smugglers on their country estate.  Naturally, Phoebe wants to help the gang while Lucas is inclined to turn them over to the law.  Add in a Christmas holiday with a lot of parties and festivities and you’ve got what I hope is a very fun and sexy story.

Shana: Is His Mistletoe Bride set in the Regency or later? What are some of the historical Christmas traditions you included in the book?

Vanessa Kelly:  It’s a bit later in the Regency period, in 1817.  Although it’s true that many of the customs we take for granted didn’t really bloom until the Victorian era, the Regency folk did enjoy celebrating the holiday.  They decorated their houses with greenery, hung mistletoe, burned the Yule log, and of course they loved the Wassail Bowl—a really strong sort of punch or ale that was usually mixed up by the master of the house from an old family recipe.  Carol singing and games were a big part of the festivities, which concluded on Twelfth Night with a grand party.  Eating Twelfth Night cake and appointing a holiday king and queen were just a few of the traditions observed for that end-of-the-season party.  I’ll say one thing for those Regency folks—they knew how to have a good time, and I brought a lot of that merry-making into His Mistletoe Bride.

Shana: You are also a part of Rock *It Reads. What’s RiR and how can we get your RiR books?

Vanessa Kelly:  Rock*It Reads is a collective or “brand” of traditionally published authors committed to bringing high standards and professional quality to their self-published works. Whenever readers see the RIR logo, they can be sure they’re purchasing a book that is held to an excellent standard of quality.  Members include Monica Burns, Kris Kennedy, Mia Marlowe and Pamela Clare.  Right now there are twelve of us, and we intend to keep growing.  Readers can find our books on the web at:www.rockitreads.com

Shana: What’s it like writing with your husband? What’s your process when working with a partner, and how is it different from when you’re working alone?

Vanessa Kelly:  Those are the contemporary romances and romantic suspense books I write with hubby as VK Sykes.  It’s actually not that different from writing alone, to tell you the truth.  Although we do brainstorm plots and characters in the beginning of the process, we tend to work separately.  Randy always writes the first draft and then I go in and revise—he leaves most of the love scenes and emotional stuff to me!  We keep passing the manuscript back and forth until we’re satisfied with it.  The process really works well for us.  Randy is great at plotting and characterization, and I enjoy writing the more emotional parts of the story.

Shana: Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Vanessa Kelly:  Starting in December of 2013, I’ll be releasing a new historical series with Kensington Zebra called The Renegade Royals.  The heroes are the illegitimate, bad-boy offspring of the sons of King George III.  The stories will be released in two back-to-back trilogies, which I think is great for readers.  I’m really having fun working on this project, and the first book is essentially completed.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Do you enjoy picking up Christmas-themed books this time of year? Do they put you in the holiday spirit? What are some of your favorite holiday books? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Vanessa’s last book, My Favorite Countess, and another reader will receive a digital copy of her VK Sykes book, Fastball.

BLAME IT ON THE MISTLETOE…

When Major Lucas Stanton inherited his earldom, he never dreamed his property would include the previous earl’s granddaughter. Phoebe Linville is a sparkling American beauty, yes, but with a talent for getting into trouble. Witness the compromising position that forced them into wedlock. Whisked away to Mistletoe Manor, his country estate, it isn’t long before she is challenging his rules—and surprising him in and out of bed…

Phoebe has no intention of bowing to Lucas’s stubbornness even though he offers all that she wants. His kisses and unexpected warmth are enticing, but Phoebe is determined to show the Earl of Merritt what real love is all about. And if that takes twelve nights of delicious seduction by a roaring fire, she’s more than willing to reveal her gifts very slowly…

Buy links:  Amazon  Barnes & Noble  Books A Million

Vanessa Kelly was named by Booklist, the review journal of the American Library Association, as one of the “New Stars of Historical Romance.”  Her Regency-set historical romances have been nominated for awards in a number of contests, and her second book, Sex and The Single Earl, won the prestigious Maggie Medallion for Best Historical Romance.  You can find her on the web at www.vanessakellyauthor.com

Facebook; Twitter;

Vanessa’s Blog

The Jaunty Quills are excited to present debut author Valerie Bowman, author of Secrets of a Wedding Night. The buzz around this book is fabulous, and I’ve been looking forward to it. Keep reading to find out how to win your copy.

Shana: Welcome, Valerie! Tell us about Secrets of a Wedding Night. This is the first book in a series, right?

Valerie Bowman: Thank you so much for having me, Shana. Yes! Secrets of a Wedding Night is the first novel in my Secret Brides trilogy. The other two, Secrets of a Runaway Bride, and Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage are based on characters introduced in book one and will be out in Spring and Fall of 2013 respectively.

Shana: Give us all the details about your hero, Devon Morgan. I love books where a character is jilted, but it’s usually the heroine.

Valerie Bowman: Sigh. Devon is TDH—which is my short hand for tall, dark, and handsome: ) He’s a penniless marquis and yes, it’s true that my heroine, Lily, jilted him five years before the story begins. Their reunion takes place in chapter one (the excerpt of chapter is available on my website) and the sparks fly.

Shana: What about your heroine, Lily Andrews? She’s a writer. Did you use any of your own experiences when writing her scenes?

Valerie Bowman: Unlike myself, Lily is sort of a reluctant writer. : ) But one of my favorite scenes in the book is where Lily meets her dog, Bandit. And Bandit’s looks and personality are based on my own dog, Roo, who is featured on my Facebook page! (I try to tell her she’s in a book. She’s more interested in her toy. Shrug.)

Shana: Your book is set after the Regency, which is one of my favorite time periods. Why did you choose to write in this period, and what drew you to historical romance?

Valerie Bowman: I’ve been a life-long fan of historical romance and a total anglophile s

o when I decided to write a novel, there just wasn’t any question. Every romantic story in my head was based in the Regency. Despite the Napoleonic wars, it was such a time of fun and revelry. To me, it’s the perfect backdrop to stories of love and romance.

Shana: What’s been the most surprising thing about being a published author so far? Is it like you imagined?

Valerie Bowman: The most wonderfully surprising thing has been people I don’t know hearing about my book and contacting me and telling me they cannot wait to read it. It’s completely surreal and entirely humbling. My early reviews from Romantic Times, BookList, and Publishers Weekly have been absolutely amazing and that has just been a dream come true from me.

Shana: I saw some of those great reviews. Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Valerie Bowman: Right now I’m working on two novellas based on minor characters from the Secret Brides trilogy. The first one, A Secret Proposal, will be out in February 2013. I write Racy Regency Romps so next, I’m going to be writing a new trilogy based on romp plays. My favorites! The Importance of Being Earnest is the basis for book one in that series.

Shana: I love that idea, and Wilde’s play. One of my favorites.

Readers, now it’s your turn. We all know JQ Kristan Higgins is famous for the dogs in her books. I love that Valerie featured a dog in her book. Do you like books that feature pets–dogs, cats, birds, or others? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Secrets of a Wedding Night (U.S. and Canadian residents only).

Credit: Winnie-Wonka Cheezburger.com

Valerie Bowman writes Regency-set historical romance novels with a focus on sharp dialogue, engaging storylines, and heroines who take matters into their own hands! Publishers Weekly calls Secrets of a Wedding Night, an “enchanting, engaging debut that will have readers seeking future installments” and Romantic Times Book Reviews says, “This fast-paced, charming debut, sparkling with witty dialogue and engaging characters, marks Bowman for stardom.” And Booklist gave it a starred review! You can find Valerie on the web at www.ValerieBowmanBooks.com and on Facebook and Twitter.

Buy Links for Secrets of a Wedding Night: Amazon    Barnes and Noble    Books a Million

The Jaunty Quills are excited to present veteran author and Romance Bandit Anna Campbell today. Anna’s newest book is Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. Keep reading to find out how to win your copy.

Shana: Welcome back, Anna! We didn’t tell Jaunty you were coming, so this time you can be interviewed without harassment. Tell us about Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. That title alone is intriguing.

Anna Campbell: Hello, JQ sisters! Shhh! Don’t let Jaunty know I’m here. He has such a flamboyant personality and I really want a chance to tell you all about my new historical romance Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed (out 25^th September) without all his flirtatious badinage.

I laugh when people ask me what my new book is about. Um, check out the title – that pretty much covers it! Actually not quite, there’s plenty of angst and drama once our lovers leave the shelter of isolated Castle Craven and brave the real world so really it should be called Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed and a Whole Lotta Trouble After that. It’s a very gothic take on Beauty and the Beast. Brave and innocent Sidonie Forsyth turns up at ruined Castle Craven (in a thunderstorm, no less!) to offer herself in her sister’s place to scarred and ruthless loner Jonas Merrick. But neither gets quite what they expected in this devil’s bargain. You can read an excerpt here: http://annacampbell.info/rogue.html

Shana: Your hero, Jonas Merrick, sounds like the kind of hero readers love—scarred and tortured. Your heroes do tend to be a bit dark in character. Why do you think you’re drawn to those dark tortured heroes? What makes them so sexy?

Anna Campbell: That’s such an interesting question, isn’t it? I think readers (and I include myself in this) love seeing a lone wolf drawn back to the companionship of the campfire. At heart, my stories are about redemption and when the hero is dark and wicked and tortured, the stakes are so high when he sets out on the painful path back to the light. And let’s face it, we all love seeing the beast be, well, beastly as he fights falling in love.

Shana: Your book is set after the Regency, 1826. Why did you choose to write in this period, and what drew you to historical romance?

Anna Campbell: Oh, what a great question. In historical romance terms, of course, anything pre-1837 and Queen Victoria’s accession is considered Regency. I really like the fact that the 1820s into the 1830s are really the last hurrah for Georgian decadence before Victorian mores became the norm. Books set earlier in the century are shadowed by the Napoleonic Wars and I wanted to explore different themes and stories away from the nation being involved in a global conflict. As for what drew me to historical romance, I’ll sound so shallow if I say the clothes, won’t I? Actually I love that historical romance lends itself to larger than life stories and I love writing about people negotiating their happiness against draconian social rules. Like the tortured heroes, it just makes the stakes that much higher.

Shana: Every author I talk to who lives in Australia or New Zealand, and quite a few who don’t, mentions you as being a wonderful mentor and inspiration. How’d you get such a good reputation?

Anna Campbell: Wow! What a lovely thing to say! Because the Australian romance community is fairly small, we’re all very supportive of each other. I think this collegiate approach has paid off in spades as I’m always astonished at the worldwide success of Down Under authors. Just think of Stephanie Laurens or Nalini Singh. And I could easily keep going!

Shana: We’ve spent some time together at various conferences and dinners, and I know you’ve had a plethora of jobs. What’s the most interesting job you ever had, besides that of famous author?

Anna Campbell: Ah, famous author! That’s on my passport now, you know! I worked in an art gallery for a while. That was interesting. I sold Indian perfumes in carved jars at Covent Garden market for six months in my 20s. Eliza Dolittle, eat your heart out! I even had a guvnor, you know waddoymoin? A job that was really useful for my writing was working as a captioner for the Deaf, transcribing films and TV programs. That was a great lesson in showing not telling, how dialogue advances a scene, and dramatic structure.

Shana: Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Anna Campbell: A new passport? Oh, you mean with my writing! I’m just putting the finishing touches to A Rake’s Midnight Kiss, the second book in the Sons of Sin series. Sir Richard Harmsworth, the hero, appears briefly in Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed. Having said dark and tormented, this guy is a Scarlet Pimpernel type who hides his inner demons under elegance and wit. Needless to say, he was huge fun to write. He falls in love with bluestocking vicar’s daughter Genevieve Barrett, a woman who has absolutely no time for rakes. It’s the old irresistible force and immovable object vibe which I always love. That’s out next year. Just before that’s on the shelves, there’s an e-novella linked to Sons of Sin called Days of Rakes and Roses featuring the Duke of Sedgemoor’s sister Lydia.

Thank you for having me as your guest today. I always love to visit you guys. Porcupine for President!

Shana: Oh, no. Don’t encourage him!

Readers, now it’s your turn. Do you love those dark, tortured heroes? What makes them so sexy? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a copy of Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed (open internationally).

The Jaunty Quills are excited to welcome author Zoe Archer. Zoe is known for her versatility. She is equally comfortable writing historicals, steampunk, and intergalactic romance. She’s just released her debut romance, Lady X’s Cowboy, digitally. Keep reading to find out how to win your copy.

Shana: Welcome, Zoe! Tell us about Lady X’s Cowboy. That title piques my interest.

Zoe Archer: The title was inspired by both newspaper gossip columns as well as the John Singer Sargent painting, Madam X, which was extremely controversial at the time.

Shana: Your hero, Will Coffin, is a Colorado cowboy in London. I love that set-up. Why did you decide to pair a cowboy and an English lady?

Zoe Archer:  They’re very different from each other, not just in terms of nationality, but social class, too.  Will is an orphan who comes to London to try to locate the family he never knew. Lady Olivia Xavier is a society widow.  She’s pretty unconventional, especially for someone of her social standing and gender—she owns and runs a successful brewery.  She’s also a secret reader of penny dreadful novels, her favorites being ones that feature cowboys.

But there’s another nobleman that wants Olivia’s brewery, and will stop at nothing to have it.  After Will comes to Olivia’s rescue from a bunch of hired thugs, the two strike up an unusual bargain: she’ll help him find her family if he’ll help protect her brewery. She also moves him into her London townhouse as part of the bargain.

I really wanted to play with the whole notion of “opposites attract,” and couldn’t think of two more opposite people.  But Will and Olivia discover that there’s a lot more drawing them together—society and public opinion be damned.

Shana: You write in a variety of sub-genres and settings. Which is your favorite and what do you feel all of your books have in common?

Zoe Archer:  Honestly, I don’t have a favorite.  I only write books that I want to read, so I’m comfortable writing across all different subgenres and locations.

All my books have action, adventure, strong heroines, and sexy heroes who appreciate the heroine’s strength.   I want to make sure that the hero and heroine like each other, as well as desire each other—that they see themselves as lovers and partners.

Shana: I hear you have an impressive boot collection. Tell us about your boot obsession. What else interests you?

Zoe Archer:  I’d go into my closet right now and count them, but that would take too long, plus I’d have to undo a very delicately balanced tower of boot boxes, like Jenga, except with boots.  For me, boots represent adventure, especially boots with buckles.  If a pair’s got buckles on them, I want them.

I also love to bake.  After a long day of writing and creating something intangible, it’s nice to physically make something. It gets me out of my head.  Plus, the end results are delicious!  But I don’t do it very often because my husband and I work at home and don’t have kids, so we’d wind up eating everything I bake, which is tasty…but not super healthy.

Shana: You’re married to a published romance author, Nico Rosso. What’s it like being married to an author? Do you ever collaborate?

Zoe Archer:  We have an awesome partnership.  We even share an office.  Our desks are eight feet apart (we measured).  We collaborate on plotting my books, plus he’s my critique partner.  Nico plots his books on his own, but I’m the first set of eyes to read his manuscripts and give him notes.

We don’t actually write books collaboratively, but we created steampunk romance series The Ether Chronicles together.  As we were working out the details of the world, we realized it was expansive enough and there were enough stories in it to be able to have us both write in the same world.  He writes the steampunk Westerns, and I write the steampunk everywhere else.  All the awesome steampunk gadgets are his inventions, and it’s fun incorporating them into our different books.

Shana: Finally, tell us what you have coming next.

Zoe Archer: Speaking of steampunk, my next entry in the Ether Chronicles, SKIES OF STEEL, actually comes out October 9 in digital format, and then a few weeks later as a POD book.  After that, the third and final HELLRAISERS book will be released April 2013.  Then (yes, there’s more), I’m starting a new historical romance series for St. Martin’s Press called NEMESIS UNLIMITED, which I’m describing as Leverage/Burn Notice in Victorian England.  It’s straight historical, meaning there are no paranormal elements.  Just a sexy, gritty, dark world.  The first book in the series, SWEET REVENGE, comes out June 2013.

And then I have one more Ether Chronicles book to write.  So, yeah, it’s a little busy over here.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Do you like books with cowboy heroes? What makes them so sexy? One reader who comments will be randomly chosen to win a digital copy of Lady X’s Cowboy (open internationally).

LADY X’S COWBOY

Constrained by her life as a Society widow, Lady Olivia Xavier finds escape in two unusual ways: as the owner of a successful brewery, and as a secret reader of penny dreadful Western novels. But Olivia’s beloved brewery is being threatened, and she has no ally in her fight. Until a mysterious cowboy steps out from the London fog, saving her from a terrifying brawl. Suddenly, Olivia isn’t just reading about the Wild West, she’s living it.

Colorado cowboy Will Coffin has made the long journey from his Rocky Mountain home to discover his birthright. While searching for his family, he encounters the beguiling Olivia. Will’s never met a real English lady before—certainly not one as lovely and courageous as Olivia—and he can’t resist coming to her rescue.

Olivia is powerfully drawn to the rough but honorable cowboy. She proposes a most scandalous arrangement: in exchange for helping protect her brewery, she’ll help Will find his family. Even more scandalous is that he’ll be sleeping under her roof. The entire arrangement sets Society’s tongues wagging. Meanwhile, the danger to the brewery, and Olivia herself, keeps escalating. But nothing’s as dangerous, or seductive, as the growing desire between the lady and the cowboy…

Lady X’s Cowboy was originally published by Dorchester in 2006 and is newly revised by the author.

Zoë Archer is an award-winning romance author who thinks there’s nothing sexier than a man in tall boots and a waistcoat. As a child, she never dreamed about being the rescued princess, but wanted to kick butt right beside the hero. She now applies her master’s degrees in Literature and Fiction to creating butt-kicking heroines and heroes in tall boots. She is the author of the acclaimed BLADES OF THE ROSE series and the paranormal historical romance series, THE HELLRAISERS. She and her husband, fellow romance author Nico Rosso, created the steampunk world of THE ETHER CHRONICLES together.  Her steampunk romance, SKIES OF FIRE, is now available from Avon Impulse, and Nico’s steampunk Western, NIGHT OF FIRE, is also available now. Zoë and Nico live in Los Angeles.

Excerpt

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Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk.

Hello! Heather Snow here and I am thrilled to be continuing my blog tour for Sweet Deception here at The Jaunty Quills. Thank you for having me back again! What I am doing for this tour is pulling back the curtain of Sweet Deception a bit, sharing a few of my favorite passages from the book each day while letting you in on the thoughts behind them. You can keep up with the stops (or go back and read ones you missed) either on my website or my Facebook page.

This is one of my favorite bits. Up until this point in the book, Derick has been valiantly trying to keep Emma in the dark, not only about his mission, but about himself. Smart girl that she is, she’s worked quite a bit of it out on her own and confronts him, at which point he decides it is prudent to reveal what he can (while controlling what information he gives her). At the end of that conversation…

“You have my word, your secret is safe with me.” She turned to face him at the threshold, waiting as he retrieved her wrap.

Derick returned with the hooded cape, swinging it around Emma’s shoulders.

Her head tilted to the side and her nose scrunched in thought. “One thing still bothers me, though.”

Derick’s gut clenched. He’d known things had gone too easily. He decided to make light, letting his mouth rise in a half smile. “Only one thing?” he asked silkily as his hands settled upon her shoulders.

Emma raised her eyes to the ceiling, in an abbreviated eye roll, before settling them back on him. “I can understand you not wishing your . . . history to be common knowledge. But why do you keep up the pretense of being . . . well, a useless fop? I assume that is one of the personas you’ve used throughout your . . . career. But why use it now? Why not just be yourself?”

Damned smart woman.

He couldn’t very well tell her he’d acted such because he was currently hunting a traitor and had thought it the best way to proceed, now could he? He searched for an answer. And then the words just came, and they were the most honest words he’d ever said.

“I’ve been pretending to be someone else my entire adult life, Emma,” he murmured, swallowing against the sudden scratching in his throat. “I couldn’t tell you who I truly am anymore.”

That really wasn’t what I had intended to write when I sat down at the computer that day. But as I alluded to during previous posts along this blog tour, Derick had a mind of his own (a tough reality for me to swallow as an analytical, plotting type). When he uttered these words on the page, not only did he break my heart, but it really started to sink in for me just who he was as a character and made me rethink Derick and his journey. And exactly how Emma played into it. What resulted is the old friends to lovers story Sweet Deception became.

I hope you enjoy reading Derick and Emma’s tale as much as I loved writing it!

Please look out for SWEET DECEPTION, available now, wherever books are sold. I’ll be happy to give away 2 copies of my debut, SWEET ENEMY, the first book in this series. To enter, simply leave me a comment and answer the question: Do you like stories where the characters have a history before the tale begins?

Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat. Find out more or connect with Heather at:
www.HeatherSnowBooks.com