Tell Me a Story...

I'm so excited to have Ms. Eileen Dreyer as a guest on the blog today.  We're talking about Drake's Rakes, her historical romance trilogy centered around the Napoleonic conflict. 

I was just amazed by Olivia's story in Barely a Lady.  The twists and turns -- my goodness!  Did you have each one of those plotted or were some pleasant surprises along the way?  

Thank  you so much. I'm really delighted. Actually, I have a problem when I write. I call it Toilet Tank Syndrome. I'm convinced that somebody somewhere is going to be reading my book on a toilet and think, "When I get to the end of the chapter, I'll stop for now," leave the book on the top of the tank, and just forget it, because it wasn't that interesting. So even after I have my plot laid out, I'm compelled to twist it a couple more times along the way. In fact, when I started the book, there was no Jamie. He just kind of showed up.

We're introduced to Grace Fairchild in Barely a Lady, and she takes center stage in Never a Gentleman.  Yet Diccan Hilliard is not who I would have pictured her with in any kind of entanglement. (I pictured her with Kit, truth be told.)  I'm interested to read about Grace and Diccan's squabbles; if the excerpts I've read are any indication, I'm sure they will be doozies!  Is that kind of I-hate-you-but-I'll-soon-love-you banter difficult to make believable? 

I know. I first thought it would be Kit, too. Don't worry. Kit gets his own book. But I realized that for Grace I needed her exact opposite, or she'd never be forced to stand up for herself and come out of her shell. 

As for the  I-hate-you factor, I love writing characters standing toe-to-toe. I grew up on John Wayne-Maureen O'Hara movies.(you want sparks, wait til you read Kate's book). The hard part is to know when to begin easing off. I can't tolerate books where they're hating each other (with the occasional--or frequent--stop for hot sex) until the last two pages of the book. I need to see them figure out how to negotiate better, or I'm not going to believe they have a chance.

As for Diccan and Grace, Diccan is angry, but once he realizes that Grace couldn't possibly have set him up, he focuses his anger on the situation rather than her. Their interaction grows and changes quite a bit through the book as the two of them grow into the marriage and overcome the increasingly harsh interference from Diccan's undercover activities and the villains he's trying to bring down.

(As an aside, and if I can gush for a moment, I finished Never a Gentleman today, and I just absolutely loved it.  LOVED it.)

Oh, I'm REALLY glad. It's been very interesting. I was checking on some of the open reading sites(authors can never stay away from reviews), and for the first time in my career, the reviews were split dead even between 5s and 1s. I think(I hope) that people who came to this book with a more thoughtful attitude got more out of it, rather than just saw the action that might appear to be offensive. Yes, there are places where Diccan is horrible. He has to be. And it hurts Grace. And I know Grace doesn't always react the way some readers want her to. They want her stronger and more self-assured from the outset. But that's the point. She ISN"T self-assured. She's never learned how to expect any better, and in this book she learns. I love Grace to death, much more now that I've written her book. I truly think she's my favorite heroine I've ever done. So I'm delighted that you loved her, too.



In a way, I feel like Barely a Lady, Never a Gentleman, and Always a Temptress should be subtitled "The Graces" since Olivia Grace, Grace Fairchild, and Her Grace, Lady Kate Gilbey are the heroines.  Are more Drake's Rakes in the future?  I would love to see Kit and Chuffy in particular in love while trying to maintain service to God and country.

You discovered my secret. The series was originally a trilogy named THE THREE GRACES. But then I realized that they had to have heroes, and that the heroes were spies, whom I casually called Drake's  Rakes, and the marketing department of Grand Central went wild. So Drake's Rakes it is. As for future books, keep your fingers crossed. I think there are six more books, with Marcus Drake the last hero. He REALLY has secrets. And wait until you see who his heroine is. And I knew the minute Chuffy first mistook Corunna for Cornwall that I had to give him his own love. The funny thing is that it was only last night that I realized who she was, and I've been giggling all day. As much as I love Chuff, he's not a lead hero. But he will have his place in one of the books, I promise. People just have to tell Grand Central they want to see the rest of the men given their stories. ;-}.

Thank you so much, Ms. Dreyer.  I cannot wait to read more about Drake's Rakes! Ms. Dreyer is holding a contest at her website through the month of April.  The grand prize will be  a ruby and emerald bracelet she brought back from India!

Tell Me a Story...

Ms. Lila Dare leapt onto my TBR list last spring (May was the month for writers named "Dare").  I'm not certain where I saw the cover for Tressed to Kill, but once I read the back cover blurb and saw "Southern" and "beauty shop," I knew this book was for me.  Having read the second in the series, Polished Off, I'm so glad I took the chance!  

I'm extremely excited to have her visit and tell a little bit about...

The Books at Lila’s House

Somehow it seemed appropriate, when writing for a blog called “My House of Books” to take stock of the books lying around my house and share my findings with you.  In the interest of full disclosure, I will point out that my husband and daughters are all voracious readers with tastes that differ greatly from mine, so be prepared for a wide range of titles!

Bookshelves line every wall in our basement and that’s where we corral most of our probably 2,000+ books.  (If that number shocks you, talk to my hubby who is incapable of demoting a book to giveaway or donation once it has been blessed with a slot on our shelves.)  I confess to occasionally sneaking down to the basement with a box when my hubby’s away and extracting such up-to-date titles as Cobol for Dummies and foisting them on Goodwill.  Tom’s tastes run mostly to non-fiction, including political biographies, everything ever written about the Civil War, U.S. history, world wars and sources of conflict, and enough chess books to start his own chess book lending library.  When I look at his books, I feel inadequately educated.  He’s currently reading the Robin Olds biography, Fighter Pilot.

Several shelves in the basement and most horizontal surfaces in the main living areas are covered with my daughters’ books which they seem constitutionally incapable of putting away.  Of course, this strange malady also affects their clothes, their homework, their art supplies and shoes, so I guess I’m not surprised.  Daughter #1 (thirteen years old) loves fantasy and horses, so she owns all the Harry Potter books, the Warrior series (cat clans, for those of you who don’t know), the Hunger Games books, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, the Inheritance Cycle (dragons) . . . you get the picture.  She knows when the next installment of all her favorite series is coming out and rushes to the local bookshop on the day, gift card in hand.  (Somehow, she always has a bookstore gift card to spend.)  She is currently reading Horses for Dummies.  Really.  Oh, and To Kill a Mockingbird, under duress for school.  Since it has no dragon, talking cats, or magic of any kind and takes place in a boring-as-dirt town with bland characters and no justice, she doesn’t much like it.  (She wrote that last sentence.)

Daughter #2 (eleven years old) reads some of the above, plus Dave Barry’s and Carl Hiassen’s middle grade books, the Peter and the Starcatcher series, Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, and anything featuring a smart/sarcastic/rebellious middle schooler.   Hm . . . perhaps that’s because she is a smart, sarcastic, mildly rebellious middle schooler? 

I have books lining my office, many of which are writing craft books.  I also have a fair sprinkling of classics, left over from my days as a literature grad student (I haven’t read them in years but they make me look intelligent—in a pretentiously literary way) when people scan the shelves.  I have stacks of traditional mysteries, signed books by friends, essay collections (Anna Quindlen, David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, and others), and every Regency romance Georgette Heyer ever wrote.  My mom introduced me to Heyer in my teens and I’ve read them over and over since then; they’re my comfort reads.  

When I visit a friend’s house, almost the first thing I do is scan the bookshelves for titles.  What would I find on your shelves?

Tell Me a Story...

Today, I'm joined by the articulate and awesome Louisa Edwards.  Ms. Edwards first came to my attention with Can't Stand the Heat, and I've been eagerly inhaling reading her contemporary romances ever since. 

What compelled you to write foodie romances? Was it as simple as “writing what you know” or did you stop and wonder why the heck there weren’t more contemporary romances set in the kitchen (things are bound to get hot, you know)?

LOUISA: Both of those reasons played into it, definitely—I’d been reading every chef memoir and kitchen nonfiction title that I could get my hands on, playing around in the kitchen and cooking my way through Julia Child. So when my agent advised me to set aside the paranormal I’d been working on and write something that I felt truly connected to and passionate about, I realized I’d done all the research I needed to write a culinary romance.

And even though I worried it would never sell because there tend to be certain professions we like our heroes to have, and a chef is not a cop, an FBI agent, or a tycoon—still, I thought I couldn’t be the only girl out there swooning over Gordon Ramsay, Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, Tyler Florence, Jamie Oliver, Curtis Stone. . . and it turns out, I was right!

I loved Rosemary from Just One Taste. Her stream-of-consciousness conversations and pop culture references made her so relatable, despite the fact that she’d never properly socialized before. How much research did you conduct for her various scientific hypotheses? They sound absolutely perfect coming from her mouth.

LOUISA: Thank you so much! I had a great time with Rosemary, at least in part because I felt very much like a nerd, growing up. I think she’s relatable because we’ve all had those times in our lives when we feel out of step with what the crowd is doing, as if everyone else in the world is happily doing the Macarena while we fumble along, flailing and looking ridiculous.

All of Rosemary’s hypotheses are either random bits of trivia I’ve accumulated over the years, specific information I looked up (I really should’ve thanked Wikipedia in the acknowledgments!) and completely fabricated, totally made up lies. For instance, in case my other disclaimers aren’t clear—there’s no scientific real life evidence of an aphrodisiac connection between chocolate and strawberries. Unless you count the mood they put you in . . .

One of the things I've enjoyed about your series is the reemergence of secondary characters, particularly Frankie and Jess. I’m sure you’re asked about them often, but any chance they’ll pop up again in future books or in their own novella/free read, a la Violet, the pastry chef?

LOUISA: I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Frankie and Jess are some of my favorite characters I’ve ever written, and now that I’ve moved on to writing the Hot trilogy (Too Hot to Touch, Some Like it Hot, and Hot Under Pressure) I have to say, I’m missing them quite a bit! The Hot trilogy takes place in the same world, so familiar faces will be popping up. But as for Frankie and Jess in particular, I’m hoping to have time to write a short free read for their many fans as a holiday gift. Other than that . . . write to my publisher! If enough people want them to have their own book, maybe they’ll let me write it. Goodness knows, I’d love to have the chance.

Can you dish on your upcoming trilogy? Things still coming together in the mix, so to speak?

LOUISA: It’s definitely a work in progress, but the Hot trilogy, which will be released very close together in late summer 2011, consumes my whole imagination right now. The cast of characters has been such a joy to discover and play with—a whole new group of talented young chefs (more women chefs, this time!) are gathering to throw their knives in the ring of a high-stakes culinary competition. Things are getting hot already . . .

Look for an excerpt of the first book in the Hot trilogy, Too Hot to Touch, sometime in the next couple of months! And if that’s too long to wait, I’ll be posting a new installment in the Violet-the-pastry-chef and Jonathan-the-hot-farmer free read series in the next few weeks. Sign up for my newsletter or “Like” my official fan page on Facebook to stay up to date on all the new, fun stuff posted at my website!

And, remember, I have one autographed copy of my new book for one of you today!


Thank you, Ms. Edwards!  I've got your Hot trilogy on my TBR calendar already -- can't wait!

To be entered to win an autographed copy of Just One Taste, please leave a comment with your name and e-mail address.  Contest is open until 2:00 p.m. EST, Friday, October 15, 2010.   

Tell Me a Story...

I'm so very, very excited to have Tessa Dare here with me today.  She burst onto the historical romance scene in 2009 with the wonderful Goddess of the Hunt and continues to dazzle with her new trilogy featuring the Stud Club. 

All of the heroes of the Stud Club trilogy -- and some minor members, Leo and Peter, respectively -- are surprisingly opposite in their character traits, mannerisms and demeanor. Was it difficult to get into the minds of Spencer, Rhys, and Julian?

TESSA: When I started the series, it was with the idea that I wanted to bring together some very different men, with clashing personalities and drastically different life experiences. And yes, it was difficult to get a handle on each of them! Spencer gave me fits. Julian was like a well that just kept getting deeper and deeper. But Rhys was the hardest, because he was so tortured and abused. Writing Rhys just made me want to call up my family and thank them for making it so incredibly hard for me to imagine what he went through.
 
 

The characters of your debut trilogy were connected via familial relations and friendships. Was it your intent to write something on the other end of the spectrum, where the characters had no distinct ties binding them to one another, other than a horse ... and a murder?

TESSA: Yes, definitely. As I said above, I wanted to bring together three men who normally wouldn't want much to do with one another at all. Part of that is because I wanted them all to be rather strong, aloof alpha heroes, and in naturally occurring groups of friends, you usually find a balance of personalities. Goddess of the Hunt, for example, started with a group of four old friends -- but not all of them could have carried their own books and been true hero material. I mean, no one's ever asked me to write a book for Felix, even though he was an integral part of their group dynamic.

So it seemed to me, if I wanted to bring three alpha men together in a meaningful way, there would have to be luck or tragedy at the root of it... or some of both!
 
   

Do you have a favorite character pairing you've written that you "ship"?

TESSA: Hm. There were times when I felt like I was probably the only person who wanted to see Lily and Julian together! In the first few books, he is rather hard to love. But the response to their book has been overwhelmingly positive, so I guess I managed to convince some readers in the end!

I also get a lot of reader mail about Claudia, asking whether she will get her own book. I would love to write about her, but I think she needs to grow up in my head a bit first. She still feels like a teenager to me, so I need to think about the kind of woman she'd become. And I'd also need some time to invent a really strong, sexy hero to be her match!
 
   

The next question isn't really a question. I have to confess, I love the epilogues included in A Lady of Persuasion and Three Nights with a Scoundrel. It goes straight to the center of my epic-loving historical romance heart where I need to know how many children so-and-so had. So thank you!

TESSA: No, thank you! And you're very welcome. Really, the epilogues are almost just as much for me. I love them, too! Both writing them and and reading them in other authors' books. For my own books, I guess I feel it's important to show my characters not only happy with their romantic partners and children, but part of a loving circle of friends and family. Knowing they have that kind of support network helps me believe they'll be okay for the long haul.
 
   
What's next on the agenda for you? Your newsletter hints at a future series. Can you share any information yet?

TESSA: I am starting a completely new series, which will most likely go by the name Spindle Cove (you heard it here first). It's set about five years before my other books, while the Napoleonic wars are still going on. The first book has a fun, flirty battle-of-the-sexes overlaying an undercurrent of deep emotion, and I'm really enjoying the characters. I don't have an official title or release date yet, but it will be out in 2011. Watch my website for more details!

Thank you so much for the wonderful questions.

If you're not following Ms. Dare on Twitter, you should!  I cannot wait to read more from her.